The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary

Seeing Loren’s sword pointed at him, Mammon made his move. He casually threw Tizona’s armor and underwear behind his back and, without moving from his place, turned his palm towards Loren.

Loren had been expecting him to use magic at any time, so he immediately jumped to the side. But he began to wonder if he had misunderstood something.

One beat later, Mammon clenched the hand he was turning towards Loren, but nothing seemed to happen in particular.

Loren kept his sword ready, but the feeling that he had guessed something incorrectly still stuck in his head. Meanwhile, Mammon unclutched his fist and looked at Loren with an impressed look on his face. He then turned towards Gula, who was glaring at him with a rather grim expression:

“Hey Gula, your pawn is quite perceptive. I was a bit surprised. He could dodge my <<Greedy Robbery>> on first sight.”

“Can I consider that as being attacked?”

Loren’s brain knew that his opponent was an Evil God, the same kind of being as Gula. But in addition to Mammon having the appearance of a boy, his move earlier didn’t cause any perceptible changes in Loren, so he wasn’t sure if he had been attacked or not.

“Hm? What do you think, onii-chan?”

An innocent smile once again appeared on Mammon’s face, and he immediately turned his palm towards Loren again.

Loren knew something was coming and leapt to the side, but he kicked at the ground twice this time instead of once, and moved away a bigger distance than the last time.

“Heh, you’re amazing, onii-chan.”

Mammon said in an impressed tone and clenched his hand, which was turning in the direction of Loren’s old location. Loren had now prepared to dodge as soon as Mammon moved his hand, and he had also understood many things thanks to it.

“Gula, that was an Evil God’s power, wasn’t it?”

Loren asked without taking his eyes off Mammon. Gula nodded.

“Yeah. It’s <<Greedy Robbery>>, the power to forcibly take whatever he’s aware of. You know when it’s activated, right?”

If Mammon’s movements weren’t faked, then Loren believed his power was activated whenever he clenched his hand. From Loren’s impression, this power might seem to be not that big of a deal compared to Gula’s or Luxuria’s at first glance, but it actually was a rather nasty power.

No matter how powerful Gula’s and Luxuria’s powers were, it was still possible to defend against them. But there was no way to defend against Mammon’s power.

The only thing he could do was moving away before Mammon clenched his hand. But if it was during a serious battle where he wouldn’t know when Mammon would activate it, it would be difficult to dodge.

Also, it was easy to imagine what kind of danger he would be in if his possession was suddenly snatched during a battle. If it was his weapon or armor, his combat ability would seriously decrease. If it was his boots, he might not even be able to move depending on the ground’s condition.

Thinking that there was no choice but to land a swift attack before the Evil God could use his power, Loren got his sword ready.

Mammon turned his palm towards Loren again then.

Loren immediately moved away, but Mammon didn’t pursue him. He aimed at Gula, who was standing a bit away instead.

“Ah, not good!”

Gula received her death sentence as soon as she realized Mammon was aiming for her. She reflexively raised her arms to defend herself, but it was meaningless before Mammon’s power. He quickly clenched his hand, and Gula screamed and sat down.

“Has your taste in clothes changed, Gula? Have you always worn such showy things?”

Twirling on Mammon’s index finger was Gula’s hot pants, which she had been wearing just a moment ago. The thing had already been lascivious enough when Gula was wearing it, but seeing it twirling on the finger of an underage boy was an indescribable scene, even if the boy was only appearing to be one. Loren continued to keep a steady grip on his sword and keen eyes on Mammon, but his expression had turned wary.

But Gula, who had her clothes snatched away, couldn’t have the same reaction as Loren. Blushing, she was trying to conceal her lower body as much as possible with her hands while glaring at a grinning Mammon with murderous eyes.

“Mammon, you… Do you think you can get off scot-free, doing something that shouldn’t be done…?”

“If I can’t get off scot-free, will you give me something?”

“Yes, a lot!!”

As if Mammon’s laugh made her snap, Gula screamed. A group of Predators, Gula’s own Evil God power, appeared at the same time. These things ate everything in their way, animate objects or not, and Gula had unleashed a large number of them in her anger. Face twitching, Loren turned towards her, but what happened next made his face twitch even more.

“Aren’t you hot-tempered, Gula? Is it age?”

While Mammon continued to twirl Gula’s hot pants with his left hand, he lightly swung his right arm. Thanks to the power of the King of Death, Shayna, inside him, Gula’s Predators were visible to him, and he witnessed an unbelievable scene: Mammon only swung his right arm lightly, truly lightly, but all the mouths rushed in to bite him were smashed in one strike. Loren was taken aback. He could only watch dumbfounded as countless were smashed into pieces and disappeared.

“Not yet!”

It seemed that smashing the mouths didn’t cause any damage to Gula. As soon as one mouth was smashed, another appeared, and they all rushed at Mammon. But even with their number and speed, not even one could reach Mammon’s body. They were all smashed and vanished into thin air with just a swing of his arm.

“You’ve gotten weaker, haven’t you, Gula? This… Ah, you’re quite full now, aren’t you?”

Mammon had come to some understanding by himself. No more mouths were coming at him. Gula was still sitting on the ground, but her breathing had become laborious. Grin still on his face, Mammon continued:

“The Evil God of Gluttony’s power is very strong, but it comes from hunger. Once you’re full enough, you’ll become weak.”

“Gngh…”

Gula gritted her teeth, but was unable to make any comeback. She just silently glared at Mammon.

“So you’re stronger if you are fast?”

Come to think of it, even Gluttony couldn’t continuously eat without stopping. It was only natural that once her stomach was full, her power would calm down until she became hungry again. In short, even though Gula wasn’t completely full now, her stomach was quite full, and so she had become weaker compared to other Evil Gods – At least this was what Loren guessed from Mammon’s words.

“Th-that’s one way to look at it, I guess?”

“I don’t fight kids.”

“Even if he’s a kid, he’s still an Evil God… But Mammon really is a kid, both in looks and thinking.”

Gula said and looked at Mammon. He was playing with the hot pants he had snatched from her, stretching and twirling it. Unthinkingly, she half rose up to attack him again, but Mammon beat her to it. He carelessly threw the pants at Gula, and her attention went after it.

“I’ll get the top next.”

As Gula thought she was over, Mammon turned his palm towards her. He just needed to clench that hand, and her top would be peeled away this time. But before he could, someone kicked at him from the flank with all their might.

“Lapis-chan?!”

Lapis, who should have been staying with Tizona, had moved to right beside Mammon before anyone noticed. When he was preoccupied with Gula, she kicked at him with no reservation. The impact should be quite big, but Mammon still held his ground somehow. He immediately turned his palm from Gula to Lapis. Still in kicking stance, Lapis was unable to dodge. Mammon clenched his hand, and she jumped back while covering her chest with both arms, her cheeks lightly dyed in scarlet.

“What a surprise attack. And with such strength. Onee-san, are you human?”

Mammon asked, a piece of white cloth in his hand. He was about to spread it out to let everyone know what it was, but he immediately threw the cloth away to dodge the greatsword coming from the opposite side of Lapis’ kick. He turned to confront Loren.

“Another surprise attack? Isn’t this getting boring?”

“Shut up. You’re a bit too young to be taking off women’s clothes.”

“I’m older than you though, onii-san?”

“Then don’t call me onii-san!”

Loren slashed at Mammon with ferocious force. Mammon deftly repelled it with both hands. Loren paid it no mind and slashed again, and Mammon showed discomfort for the first time.

“You know it won’t work, don’t you?”

“Well, if one strike is not enough, then I’ll make ten or twenty strikes!”

Loren swung his swords, paying no mind about whether his strike would be received or repelled. Even if it didn’t work, it would turn Mammon’s attention to himself, and his attacks wouldn’t allow Mammon to use his power. With the greatsword coming at him like thunder tearing through air, he wouldn’t be able to turn his attention to anywhere else.

“Even if you slash at me a hundred times, you still won’t hit me… Gah?!”

Mammon was handling Loren’s attack with an easy smile, but a kick coming from behind sent him flying. Loren shifted to avoid colliding with him. He bounced off the ground once, then immediately got up.

“It’s the one-san with bad foot habit!”

The one that kicked him was Lapis, who had temporarily withdrawn from the frontline. When his attention was on Loren, she had given him a kick as a return gift for earlier.

But even though Mammon had been sent flying a good distance away, he didn’t seem to sustain any injuries. He immediately turned his palm towards Lapis again, but was interrupted by a flurry of sword strikes from Loren, forcing him to turn to defense again.

“You’re such a trouble, onii-san. That greatsword is in the way!”

In between defending himself, Mammon turned his palm towards Loren. Loren immediately realized that he was trying to use his power to snatch his sword, but he kept attacking without care. He had resolved to hit him with his bare hands if his sword was snatched. Mammon looked at him with a mocking expression and clenched his hand.

“Eh?”

Mammon’s dumbfounded exclaim reached Loren’s ears. He didn’t feel the sword vanishing from his hands. He could still feel its solid weight. He swung it directly at Mammon’s side.

Mammon belatedly rose his arm in defense, but his small body was blown to the side as it had been earlier. Loren gave chase, thinking that even if he had defended against that slash, he might have taken some damage due to the impact. But Mammon immediately got up and flicked off Loren’s new strike.

“Why? Why?! Why can’t I get it?!”

Mammon sounded flustered. Without stopping his attacks, Loren looked down at his hands. His greatsword, the target of Greed’s power, was still in his hands. It was an unbelievable thing, not only for Loren but also for Mammon and Gula.

“How? No way!”

“Does it mean you’re opposing my power?”

“I don’t know! Whatever, just be silent and let me beat you up!”

The fact that he was unable to use his power sent Mammon into turmoil. Not missing that chance, Loren began to invoke self-boost while continuing slashing at him with even higher speed.

Xem: Is it just me? Or does this brat resemble somewhat Kazuma with his <<Steeeaaaal>>?