Chapter 35
“The guy using Shooting Magic can quickly fire a Triple Shot, so keep that in mind.”
Max, having relayed the rest of the information to Usagi, immediately channeled his magic power.
Recognizing that Max was doing something, Usagi kicked off the ground and dashed forward.
Her incredible speed was due to the innate leg strength of a Rabbit Beastman.
The katana in her hand flashed in the moonlight. The blade’s length was too short to be a longsword and too long to be a dagger.
Clang! Claaang!
The Swordsman and the Ninja continued their dazzling swordplay.
The man with the sluggish expression was, just as Usagi had said, a Fighter with very solid fundamentals. He barely moved from his spot, remaining defensive.
However, the intensity that caught Max’s eye wasn’t from him.
Rather, it was Usagi’s seasoned skill.
[She’s sticking to a direction where the muzzle and the Swordsman overlap.]
It was a good choice.
The opponent had also figured it out and tried to shake her off somehow, but she held her ground with flexible movements.
[Should I quickly lend a hand?]
Max focused his concentration.
He was going through a series of motions: decelerating the bullets aimed at him with a Shield after the shooter gave up on Usagi, and then evading.
The overturned vehicles left after Poltergeist ended, the rebars scattered on the ground from the strikes, and the oil drums sitting in the corner.
He grabbed every object he could.
Ruuuumble──!
Caught in Max’s magic power, the heavy objects rose into the air, kicking up dust.
They obscured the moonlight, deepening the darkness of the night.
[I’ll break their textbook formation first.]
The heavy mass of objects poured down on Steiger and the Swordsman with added speed.
Usagi and Steiger quickly dodged out of the way. The Swordsman, ending his aloof attitude, gripped his sword with both hands.
“Whoa, a 4th-Tier Psychokinetic is a Monster.”
Starting with a voice devoid of any sense of crisis, he began to slice away the mountain of objects.
As he cleaved them apart, he even released magic power to push the debris away.
But this was exactly what Max wanted.
This was enough.
Just like with the traffic accident, slamming this much mass into a 4th tier wouldn’t yield anything more than minor injuries anyway.
He used Psychokinesis to suspend some of the severed debris in the air.
Without needing to be told, Usagi began using them as footholds.
Tap-tap-tap!
Max drove rebars into the ground around the Swordsman at calf height, making them stand up like weeds.
It was enough if it hindered his steps even a little.
“Whoa! Annoying…!”
The Swordsman thankfully voiced his honest impression.
At the same time, Max caught a hint of killing intent and formed a Shield.
Bang!
Steiger had opened up a considerable distance and taken up a position alone.
Taking the bullet, Max furrowed his brow.
[He raised Hornet’s output.]
The Shield was pierced as easily as a sheet of paper. The method of decelerating and evading was becoming increasingly difficult.
This was a declaration that he would not spare his magic power and would end this quickly.
[Still, the fortunate part is that a 4th-Tier Mage can’t rapid-fire Hornet. I’ll just secure the footholds here and finish off that side first.]
Since Usagi, having gained footholds, held a slight advantage, he allocated 9 points of his awareness to Steiger and 1 to Usagi.
Max dashed toward Steiger.
“Uh, that’s a bit troublesome. Could you not go?”
The Swordsman, who was dealing with Usagi, asked in a sluggish voice while looking at Max’s back.
He was right.
[He, known as the Swordsman, shouldn’t have thrown away his Shield.]
Steiger didn’t run away even after seeing Max’s charge.
As if to protect his pride, he took the Sitting Shot Stance for the first time, carrying the momentum to kill Max before Max could reach him.
Even so, Max had information about the magic.
[In the Sitting Shot Stance, the Acceleration Magic Circle is applied twice.]
It would be too late if he tried to dodge after seeing it. He had to change direction the moment the magic circle appeared.
The night sky strongly highlighted the flash in front of the muzzle.
[Now!]
Max, who had been running, abruptly rolled to the side.
Bang-bang-bang!
Three bullets lodged into the spot where Max had just been standing.
As expected, with the Acceleration Magic Circle applied twice, it wasn’t a speed that could be dodged by sight.
In the time it took to pull the bolt back and push it forward.
Max arrived. He attempted his fastest attack.
[Shock]
A kick imbued with Impact Magic.
Steiger raised his gun to defend.
Paaang!
Steiger was pushed back three steps.
True to the properties of a firearm imbued with magic power, it didn’t break.
[I can’t give him an opening. If I do, he’ll use it.]
To create the situation he wanted, Max focused on speed rather than destructive power.
[Shock]
He aggravated Steiger’s annoyance with punches and kicks that made it hard to believe he was a Mage.
Smack!
He struck his side with Shock, but there didn’t seem to be a major Impact.
After a momentary falter, Steiger tried to escape Max’s attack range.
[His combat suit is a ridiculously high-end item. It’s insanely sturdy.]
Max didn’t fall back and clung to him tenaciously.
And then, Max felt the flow of magic power he had been waiting for.
Since Shooting Magic was magic where distance was more important than anything else, there was magic to push the opponent away to secure that distance.
It is commonly classified as knockback.
It was normal to shoot a wide-ranging force from the muzzle or palm to push them away, but Steiger had differentiated even his knockback, a technique worthy of a Magic Noble Family.
“Tsk…”
Steiger clicked his tongue in annoyance and struck the ground with the butt of his rifle.
To an unknowing observer, it looked like a posture of using the gun as a cane to step back, but it was the trigger for the knockback.
[It’s here.]
It was the magic Max had been waiting for.
Steiger’s knockback magic forcefully pushed the caster’s front away.
This meant the diagonals were clear.
Max swiftly moved to the left.
As the gun went down, an opening was completely exposed.
“…!”
Steiger’s body stiffened at Max’s response. Max could roughly imagine the face inside the helmet.
He must be flustered that a mere Mercenary had seen through the Steiger Family’s magic without any prior experience.
Max pointed his finger.
A Red Triangle made of magic power appeared over Steiger’s combat suit.
4th-Tier Severing Magic.
[Lacerate Delta]
It was simple. It cut along the triangle.
Because the output weakened as the size of the triangle increased, it was Severing Magic where a sense for size adjustment was crucial.
[It can’t be helped if he dies. Just taking off his helmet later will be enough.]
Due to Bivol’s absence and the Swordsman’s presence, it wasn’t a situation where he could afford to be leisurely, so he fired it without mercy.
Spuuurrt!
Blood spurted from Steiger’s body.
“Keheuk…!”
If not for the expensive combat suit, the 4th-Tier Mage’s body would have been cleanly severed.
[The damn gear advantage.]
Surviving a hit from 4th-Tier Severing Magic was outside of Max’s expectations.
However, Steiger’s wound was not a minor one. Trembling all over, he even dropped his gun.
[I’ll kill him right here.]
Max clicked his tongue and gathered his magic power again.
Trying to use magic power without giving his circuits a moment to rest made his head ache as if it were splitting. The ache was accompanied by a slight dizziness.
The moment he tried to forcefully activate the magic, a blade intervened, aiming for Max’s neck.
Swish!
Max quickly pulled back, but a long slash mark was left from his collarbone to his abdomen.
“Oops, you dodged this?”
It was the Swordsman.
Perhaps he had shaken off Usagi by taking an attack, as blood was pouring from the Swordsman’s back. Shurikens were even embedded in his thigh and shoulder.
[If it weren’t for my Specialized Clothing, the blade would have reached the bone.]
Relieved that he hadn’t died, Max checked on Usagi, who had run up next to him.
She looked as if she had taken a Counter while slashing his back; her eyes twitched in pain and her breathing was ragged.
“Status?”
“…I’m fine. Sorry for losing him.”
“It’s fine. That Swordsman is the weird one.”
Usagi assured him she could still fight.
Thus, a standoff ensued once again.
However, the situation was overwhelmingly in Max’s favor.
Steiger was now incapacitated.
“See, you shouldn’t have wandered off alone and should have stayed behind me. I’ve told you before; you need to trust people a bit more.”
“Fuck, fuck… Fuuuck!!! Cough! Cough!”
Realizing he would have died if not for the Swordsman, Steiger slumped down and raged furiously.
At the end of his outburst, he even coughed up blood.
“It doesn’t look like you can fight anymore, and at this rate, we’ll both die. Can we run away?”
“…Use that.”
“Huh? That’s a violation of orders. I hate getting scolded.”
“I will pay the price and take Responsibility.”
Just as the Swordsman sighed at Steiger’s words and removed the shurikens embedded in his flesh.
Usagi, receiving Max’s signal, quickly formed hand seals.
Pitch-black Chinese characters spread out across the ground from Usagi’s position, forming a unique formation.
[Python Fireball]
A python large enough to easily swallow an adult man appeared behind Usagi and swelled its form.
Then, it opened its jaws wide and shot a massive fireball at the Swordsman and Steiger.
Kabo-o-o-m!!!
Flames soared with the explosion.
The night harbor brightened in an instant.
[This is Ninjutsu? It’s crazy.]
Max marveled.
It was more powerful than most magic of the same tier.
“…They’re both alive. Something is strange.”
Usagi frowned at the sense of incongruity and informed Max.
The python, having fulfilled its role, had already disappeared.
Swaaash!
The fiercely burning fire was scattered by a sword strike.
“I’m taking a month off after this job is done.”
The appearance of the Swordsman, who had dealt with the flames spewed by the python, had changed.
His hair had turned blue, Blue Scales had grown on parts of his face and the backs of his hands, water had trailed his sword path, and even the bleeding from his wounds had stopped.
Max’s eyes widened at the sight of the Swordsman.
[…The Cheongrin Family?!]
A Family that one of the executives of Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals used as his or her limbs.
The Swordsman’s appearance clearly marked him as a member of the group.