Rescue

<You have defeated 1 murdergalsh. You have earned 82,000 XP.>

"Hmm... This is my complete and utter victory. Though the bottom half of my body is now all sticky and gross."

"ALLEN!" Cecil rushed over. She looked at Allen from head to toe, checking for injuries.

"...Now, what should we do?"

"What do you m—Oh no..."

The next instant after sighing with relief at seeing Allen alive and well, Cecil noticed the man who had just showed up. It was, of course, Dagrah.

"I finally caught up with you little shits!" Dagrah screeched. He was so furious that his voice broke.

'Ah, he's really pissed.'

"You aren't getting away anymore!"

'So he's finally caught us. Though I'd already realized he would when the murdergalsh bit me.'

Not a single one of the Bird Es that had been scouting in the sky remained. The moment he had found Dagrah again, the need for scouting had disappeared. He had replaced the cards with more Stone Ds instead.

Dagrah approached, one step at a time. It was as if time had slowed down.

He shot a glance at the dead murdergalsh by Allen's side, but did not seem particularly interested. A mere murdergalsh was not worth his attention.

When he directed his gaze back toward Allen, Allen returned the look and pushed Cecil behind himself protectively.

'I have no more iron balls left, and my short sword is still inside the murdergalsh. My Summons are too slow to match Dagrah's speed. But funnily enough, when I have so few options, it makes it easy to figure out what I have to do.'

"Please stand back, Lady Cecil!" Allen shouted, spreading both hands as wide as he could. "I'll hold him back!"

'Hopefully, he'll focus his attention on me now.'

"What's this? The model servant, ain'tcha? You're putting your own life on the line? That sorta shit really pisses me off!"

Dagrah used some special power to close in on Allen at high speed and kicked him far away.

"Oof!"

'Seriously?! I was looking right at him and he still disappeared from view! My eyes can't keep up at all.'

"Allen!" Cecil screamed, rushing over. However, Dagrah sent her flying with a slap. She lost consciousness from that single blow.

"What's the matter?" Dagrah asked mockingly. "You not gonna attack me? C'mon, bring out those monsters of yours again."

When Allen remained silent, he smirked. "I see. You used up all your MP fighting this monster?"

After shaking his head to regain his cool, Allen returned, "And haven't you used up your MP chasing us too? How about saving some for your trip home?"

Dagrah scoffed. "I obviously have MP potions, duh. Don't put me on the same level as you."

'Looks like we have a chatterbox here. Good, good. So, he does use MP for his skills. This confirms a hypothesis that I'd had all along.'

"Brats like you need proper education."

"What could someone who ran away from the battlefield after a year with his tail between his legs teach me?"

"Y-You fucking piece of shit!"

Allen once again lost sight of Dagrah and found himself blasted through the air. The man was so furious that he felt he had to give the boy a slow and thorough thrashing.

As the blows fell like rain, Allen worked out a certain question in his mind. Specifically, what skills were.

To his understanding, there were three types in this world.

___

First, the kind that Allen had received along with his grimoire when he turned one (e.g., Summoning, Creation).

Second, the kind that he gained by repeating the relevant action (e.g., Sword Mastery, Throwing).

Third, Extra Skills (which Allen did not possess).

___

The first difference between the first and second types that came to mind was whether they cost MP or not. Throwing did not cost MP, but Summoning did—at least, it did during the Creation stage.

This led to the next question: how were skills displayed on the Status screens of everyone else in this world? What Dagrah just said had provided a hint to the answer. His indirect confirmation that he had to spend MP to use his skills meant his Status window most likely looked like the following.

___

Dagrah's Status Window (According to Allen's Prediction)

Skills: Scout {5}, Steal {5}, Swift Foot {4}, Sharp Hearing, Stealthy Steps, Presence Sensing, Sword Mastery {5}

Extra Skill: Tracking

___

Dagrah likely had a basic skill corresponding to his class—like how Allen had Summoning—as well as a few others that branched off of his capabilities as a Scout that became unlocked with each level-up of the basic skill.

'The answer had been in front of my face at the very start. It was written right there in the explanation text for Hell Mode that I read before I came over to this world. The text implies that everyone with a class gets a skill tied to said class. Cecil's Status window very likely has Magic {1} or something similar.'

_

Hell Mode: The only skills you start out with are the ones tied to your class...

_

One way that those with a class were distinct from those without was how much their stats increased upon leveling up.

However, this was something that could only be seen in their Status windows and generally could not be objectively determined or confirmed by anyone else, short of getting Appraised.

Allen had come to the conclusion that there was one other, much easier method to determine whether someone had a class or not: whether they had a skill—or skills—that required MP to activate that could only be developed by repeatedly spending MP.

'Dagrah is so strong because he has a class and he's diligently raised both his level and his skill levels.'

"What a creepy-ass little shit you are. The fuck you grinning about?"

"Guh!"

'To think that someone with a mere one-or two-star class can get this strong! Just how powerful can I, with my eight-star class, get?'

A broad grin covered Allen's face from ear to ear even though he was being endlessly beaten with blows faster than he could follow.

***

An hour later, Allen laid on the ground looking like a ragged dishcloth, with Dagrah standing over him, breathing heavily.

"How the fuck are you so tough? You a Monk class? Is that monster over there related somehow?"

Even Dagrah did not start out with the intention of beating up Allen for a whole hour. He had shifted from torturing the boy to seriously trying to kill him quite a while ago, but due to the stat buffs from his cards raising his HP and Endurance to ridiculous numbers, combined with his spamming of Leaves of Life, Allen had managed to doggedly cling onto life this entire time.

"Are you done attacking me? Then you should turn back and return to Carnel City. Before you get killed."

'He even used his freaking mithril rapier on me! That actually hurt like crazy. Ugh, I'm almost out of Leaves of Life. Once you go down, I'm taking that rapier of yours.'

"Hah! Who's gonna kill me? You?"

"You still can't tell? I see, so you don't have area detection abilities, despite having a Scout-like class."

"The fuck you talking about? Even if you stall for time, you're still gonna die in the end."

"It took you way too long..."

"What do you m—" Dagrah cut himself off as he suddenly noticed the dust cloud being thrown up by someone approaching at an incredible speed.

As he stepped back from Allen and raised his guard, Captain Zenof suddenly appeared before his eyes.

"Hm, are you still alive?" the knight asked calmly.

"Honestly, I'm only hanging on by a thread. Couldn't you have run faster please?" replied the parrot on the Knight Captain's shoulder with Allen's voice.

"Come now, you know I can't run as fast as you. And here you are, still alive. I would say I made it in time."

There was a Bird E circling in the sky above.

When Allen passed through the border checkpoint, he had sent off a Bird E and a Bird G together, the former to find Zenof, the latter to explain the situation to him.

Having already learned about Allen's ability beforehand, the man believed the Summons immediately and promptly rushed over.

'Heh heh. Go get 'em for me, please, Boss.'

Allen was not picky with how his enemies went down. If the Knight Captain would do it for him, then he was more than happy to yield the challenge.

"Hmph, Zenof."

"That's my name."

'Oh? Dagrah knows Zenof? Is it because they were on the battlefield together?'

"Look at this parasite leeching off of a noble, showing up like he's hot stuff."

'Uh, you're employed by a noble too, aren't you?'

"A 'parasite leeching off of a noble'?"

"You heard me. I'm sure you know what I mean. You saw how nobles use commoners like they're disposable pawns on the battlefield, didn't you?"

"Well, can't argue with that."

"Right? And those who fight with their lives on the line for those shitty nobles are shit themselves. That includes you."

"Is that so?"

"What did you get for protecting that stupid fortress for ten years? Now you're only leading a ragtag bunch of sorry excuses for knights here in this godforsaken countryside. What a reward! Sounds like the biggest fucking joke ever."

Right after speaking, Dagrah abruptly disappeared.

The dirt and grass being kicked up into a cloud indicated that he had not fled but was still around, just moving too fast for Allen's eyes to register.

"Allen, stand back," Zenof said, his voice like naked steel. "You'll get caught up otherwise."

"Y-yes, Sir."

The anger in Zenof's voice was so palpable and terrifying that Allen was already backing up before he knew it. He unconsciously stumbled backward even more due to surprise as, in the next moment, an aura sprang up around the Knight Captain's body like a heat haze as he slowly drew his sword.

'I see, this visual effect must be the indicator of someone using their Extra Skill. Which reminds me, Captain Zenof never used it when he fought the orc king.'

Even in a situation like this, Allen discovered a new fact.

"Where do you think yer lookin' at?! Die, you insect!"

Dagrah abruptly reappeared and thrust his rapier straight at Zenof's heart.

However, the weapon stopped at the man's chest, refusing to dig in any further.

"...We fought for everyone's sake," Zenof growled. "Then all my brothers-in-arms died. Every last one of them, leaving me the sole survivor."

"Fuck! How fucking hard are you?!"

Dagrah ignored what Zenof was saying and desperately focused on pushing his rapier forward.

It penetrated the knight's armor, but despite him using both hands, the tip of the weapon failed to draw even a single drop of blood.

'Wow, his Endurance must be really high. So this is a Sword Master. I probably can't even imagine just how much fighting he must have done on the battlefield.'

Clearly, Dagrah's Attack stat was nowhere near enough to hurt the Knight Captain with his rare two-star class, Sword Master.

"We all risked our lives and fought with every last drop of blood we had! No one—no one is allowed to deny what we did!"

Zenof raised his sword and brought it down, bisecting Dagrah's body diagonally from the shoulder instantly.

The slash generated a shockwave that roared a hundred meters into the distance, tearing the ground apart and sending grass and dirt bursting into the air.

Allen gasped at the raw power of the Knight Captain's Extra Skill.

And finally the three-day-long game of chase between Allen and Dagrah came to an end.