Chapter 58: Injured……?

Before the operation, Moray handed the bulletproof talisman to Xiunian. Although the talisman would lose its effect after being used three times without someone else's magic power to recharge it, Moray could recharge it for him later.

However, Xiunian's strange reaction at that time left him quite puzzled.

"This... this is..." The shock on Xiunian's face did not seem fake. He looked at the large sapphire with glowing and magnificent golden runes flickering inside, "Is this for me? This..."

"What do you mean, for you? It's on loan," Moray weighed the sapphire. "This is a bulletproof talisman I made. It can withstand three large-caliber projectile impacts, and should block four to five small-caliber ones, though I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, return it to me when you've used it up, and I'll recharge it."

"This..." Xiunian held his breath, carefully taking the talisman, "Does it have a name?"

"A name?" Moray frowned. "No."

"If it has to have one, let's call it the Self-Charging Trigger-Activated Rigid Rune Shield 1.0."

"Self-acc... Ru... what?" Xiunian completely failed to remember it.

"Self-Charging Trigger-Activated Rigid Rune Shield 1.0," Moray explained. "The principle behind this talisman is to calculate the optimal ricochet angle based on the trajectory, and then generate an instantaneous rigid shield to cause a ricochet. Is there a problem?"

"N—no, but maybe let's go with a more artistic name..." Xiunian looked at the sapphire, and the sense of awe he felt just moments ago suddenly vanished.

"Then you come up with one?" Moray raised an eyebrow.

"...I think this name is actually quite good," Xiunian said with a guilty conscience.

Now, Xiunian finally understood why this talisman was named as such.

The moment a muzzle was pointed at him, he immediately ducked down. Most of the bullets flew right over his head, and only Moray, having anticipated his movement, fired a shot straight at his face.

However, he saw that Moray's bullet seemed to collide with something not far in front of him, bursting into a few sparks before deflecting and grazing past the top of his head.

Without any further hesitation, Xiunian flicked his wrist, and several raven feathers materialized in his hand.

He sprinted towards Moray, bending low. Raven feathers continuously flew out, piercing through the palms of several men holding guns.

One of the underlings gritted his teeth and lunged directly into Xiunian's sprinting path—

To his horror, Xiunian stopped abruptly like a ghost, seemingly completely devoid of momentum. Xiunian's right hand gently pinched the corner of his cloak.

With just a single spin, the sharp serrations embedded in the hem of the cloak sawed a deep, bone-visible wound into the man's arm!

The raven feathers flew out in all directions as Xiunian spun, piercing the abdomens of the surrounding underlings.

While the men lay on the ground wailing in agony, Moray narrowed his eyes.

He slowly raised his gun and fired a shot at Xiunian.

Xiunian did not dodge or evade. The bullet struck in mid-air with sparks, deflecting away to hit the cave wall.

Seeing this, Moray put away his gun. "What should I call you?"

"...Gawain," a hoarse electronic voice came from beneath the mask.

"...Cognac." Moray pulled out a mask and gently placed it over his face.

"Do you know what kind of organization you are making an enemy of?" Moray's voice sounded like rumbling thunder after being distorted by magic resonance.

"Then, do you know what kind of organization you are making an enemy of?" Xiunian raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist.

"Hah, I actually don't."

"Then remember it well. We are those who raise the Holy Grail..." The blue light glowing within Gawain's pipeline suddenly shifted to a steady shine, emitting a dazzling white light, "...and those who pursue eternity."

A faint blue light stretched from the corners of Moray's white mask, and spiderweb-like patterns lit up.

Xiunian forced a smile from beneath his helmet.

Three minutes, huh... Hold on, Moray. I'm actually very strong.

Conan, peeking from the upper passageway, sensed that the atmosphere had turned ominous and swallowed hard.

The next moment, the figures of the two vanished from where they stood—

Fists collided, stirring up a wave of air that blew away the dust on the ground.

Fists, legs, palms, elbows—the dull thuds of flesh crashing against armor echoed throughout the entire cavern. The two engaged in a ferocious storm of combat, and the longer they fought, the more alarmed Xiunian became.

The opponent's fighting style was growing increasingly violent, and his punches were getting heavier. Xiunian was gradually finding it difficult to keep up.

Well, naturally, because things like glowing pipelines were just aesthetic enchantments that changed automatically with the mood, and he didn't actually have any full-power mode—at least not for the foreseeable future.

Moray frowned. His control over the overload mode was still insufficient; as the fight dragged on, his strength was becoming harder to rein in!

Then, simply put, he wouldn't rein it in anymore.

Moray threw a punch, and as Xiunian met it with his own fist, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

The force was too light!

Moray was sent flying backward, slamming heavily against the cave wall.

But since they were acting out a scene, they had to commit to the end. Xiunian had no choice but to press the attack, even drawing his twin blades to slash at Moray!

"...Are you sure?"

Moray pulled a button from his coat. Xiunian's eyes narrowed, and he abruptly halted his footsteps, retreating in a hurry.

"I've planted explosives in every corner of this cave." Moray's "mouth bled," dripping from beneath his mask.

He removed his mask and forced a smile. "The geological conditions here were unstable to begin with. That boat slipped out because the rocks blocking the cave mouth collapsed, but that's just the beginning. The cave itself is about to cave in."

"Do you mind if I speed up the collapse?"

Xiunian came to a halt and slowly sheathed his blades.

The pipelines on his body flashed a few times before reverting to their original flickering state.

"...Ruthless." The hoarse electronic voice came through as Xiunian retreated while keeping his guard up against Moray.

To buy more time, he threw two of the organization's goons into the sea. The water wasn't deep here, and the two weren't severely injured, but if Moray wanted to save them, it would cost him time.

After that, he boarded the organization's speed boat and tossed five suitcases filled with gold onto his own speed boat.

Then, he climbed aboard his own speed boat and sped away into the distance.

Conan, who had been watching the entire time, wore a complex expression.

What on earth was that guy...?

Some kind of masked superhero?

Those who raise the Holy Grail? Those who pursue eternity? What kind of organization was this?

However, Conan's acute senses picked up on one fact.

That person who called himself "Gawain" hadn't killed a single person.

This made his first impression of this organization slightly more favorable.

Moray pulled himself up by the wall, put away his mask, and "coughed up a large mouthful of blood."

Conan's heart skipped a beat. DNA samples! If he could get his hands on them...

Moray entered the water and hauled the goons in black suits ashore.

He glanced at Conan at the top of the cave and loaded the underlings onto a speed boat.

After pulling out the raven feathers from their bodies and making a pretense of bandaging them with the medical kit on the speed boat, Moray raised his right hand and pressed down hard under Conan's watchful eyes, then drove away on the speed boat. A beeping sound began to echo from various parts of the cave.

Not good!

Conan's expression changed drastically. The outer and inner layers of the cave were connected by a staircase leading downward, but a large portion of the steps at the very bottom were piled high with gold bricks. Now that the gold bricks had been removed, the path down was accessible, but given Conan's size, he might not be able to climb back up.

With no other choice, he had to abandon the corpse of Goro Kinoshita down below and the "pool of blood" Moray had coughed up, turning around to run toward the cave exit.

A few minutes later, he watched as the cliff behind him plummeted dozens of meters, plunging the cave along with it into the sea.

(No exaggeration, even without explosives in the original work, the whole thing sank anyway.)

"Cognac..."

Conan muttered as he ran. Aside from Gin and Vodka, he had learned the name of yet another member of the Black Organization—or perhaps an undercover agent.

And what about that new organization that had suddenly popped out of nowhere? What was their goal?

What did raising the Holy Grail and pursuing eternity mean? And what did using the Knights of the Round Table as codenames signify?

Damn it, he usually never paid attention to such mystical nonsense!

Outside the cave, the moonlight shone brightly, and the search for the escaped staff members on the island was still ongoing.

Conan stood up, left the cave, and hurried back toward the village.