Chapter 15
Renya swung the dagger in his hand in a wide arc, but his right arm was already steeped in neurotoxin.
His dulled senses made the Slash Attack blunter than usual.
Slaaash!
The office was gouged at an angle. He failed to cut it as intended.
Moonlight flowed in through the gap in the torn wall.
“Where is he?”
Renya’s eyes scoured the office.
His own blood drops, beaded on the Wire, were catching the moonlight.
“Keuh…!”
A voice was forcefully suppressing a cough.
Renya reacted like a ghost and thrust his dagger.
He delivered a thrust, heavily laden with magic power, holding nothing back.
It shattered the Shield and pierced right through Max’s palm - Stab!
“Cough! Hah, if I had held it in for just one more second, I would have landed a magic attack on your head.”
“Right. What a shame.”
Renya pressed down on the dagger and twisted it.
CRUNCH!
A gruesome sound rang out as his palm was crushed. Bright red blood poured onto Max’s face.
“…!”
The difference in sheer physical strength was immense.
While being crushed, Max spat the blood in his mouth to attempt a counterattack, but Renya lightly dodged the blood aimed at his eyes and showed a relaxed demeanor.
“Have some pride before you die. This is the first time I, someone on the verge of the 4th-tier, have struggled against a 2nd-Tier Mage. And in such a narrow space, no less.”
“Keuk!”
Max, who had been desperately keeping up his defense, manipulated the cables with Psychokinesis.
He pulled down a thick, tough one from the ceiling.
[Death Roll]
He wrapped the cable around Renya’s neck and twisted it to choke him.
Even so, Renya, with bloodshot eyes, did not waver and put his weight onto the dagger.
‘…He’s protecting his neck with magic power.’
Now he has seized the chance to kill Max.
His obsession with not letting it slip away was palpable.
“Usually, mages can’t use magic when pushed to a situation like this. This shows excellent concentration.”
“!”
The tip of the dagger drew so close it filled Max’s vision.
“Feels like my brain is going to burn up…”
He enhanced his body with magic power to push the dagger away.
He was performing Death Roll with the cable on Renya’s neck.
At the same time, he was casting two other spells.
It was a desperate struggle to open up a path to survival.
His head felt like it would split open. To survive, he forcefully operated his Magic Circuit.
[Wire]
The floor was left with only its framework, exposing cables and a dark, empty space.
Inside it, he installed sharp magical threads like a spiderweb.
[Shock]
And the loaded Impact.
His palm wasn’t the place to discharge it.
“Focus it downwards.”
Impact Magic could be loaded into a specific body part.
He would break the panel that both he and Renya were standing on.
Max stomped his foot. - BOOM! The Impact spread, and the floor tilted.
Both of their centers of gravity collapsed, and their fields of vision shifted rapidly.
“You Persistent bastard…!”
Renya, whose dagger was Forcibly retracted, quickly raised his body.
But once the contest of strength was broken and distance was created, the Mage had the advantage.
[Impact Shell]
Struck hard by the Shockwave, Renya rolled over the Wire.
Meanwhile, he cut the cable wrapped around his neck with his dagger.
Max somehow got up and dashed forward.
He didn’t have much magic power left.
[Shock]
A soccer kick to the face.
Renya’s teeth shattered and flew into the air.
“Guh…”
A counterattack occurred even while the combatant was taking the hit. The dagger dug into Max’s thigh.
“Just die already!”
[Shock]
He stomped on the fallen Renya’s skull, but it didn’t crack.
A body that had reached the very edge of the 3rd-tier was disgustingly hard.
“It’s bad manners to put your foot on someone’s face.”
Renya pulled his leg and tripped Max.
A fight as muddy and squelching as a swamp ensued.
Max and Renya’s bodies grew heavy. Every time they moved, it felt like they were slowly sinking into a quagmire.
A dogfight and a mud-wrestling match. Inwardly, he prayed for the other to just collapse already.
“Uwaaaah!!!”
Renya swung his dagger, taking the attacks head-on by relying on his overwhelming physical abilities.
Slaaash - !
Max’s side was deeply cut. The chill of the chunk of iron slicing through his insides gave him goosebumps.
He used Psychokinesis to hold the stab wound together so it wouldn’t open further. It was a reflexive action.
“Ah, this.”
Max knew it because he had experienced it once before.
The back of his neck felt cold. Death was approaching.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heartbeat pounded against his eardrums.
His overloaded Magic Circuit screamed, but Max didn’t stop.
Instead, he used the pain as fuel to run the engine even harder.
‘At this rate, even if I win, I won’t make it back alive.’
As he drove his knee into Renya’s abdomen like an awl, he internally grabbed his circuit and forcefully stretched it. It was a gamble.
Enduring the burning pain, he formed the shape.
Max’s mind and knowledge had always been at the 5th tier.
It was a paradoxical, crazy stunt that was only possible because he knew exactly what structure the 3rd-tier needed to form.
The moment he failed, the circuit would be torn to shreds and shattered, but he didn’t hesitate.
“Critical point…!”
He didn’t need any grand resolve or enlightenment.
Max simply craved more magic power and stronger destructive force. His body and mind just had to answer that demand.
“Make it. Right now.”
The magic power trapped within the narrow frame of the 2nd-tier split with a loud CRACK!
It flowed along the shape of the newly formed circuit.
It was a refreshing sensation, as if mint flowers had bloomed in his consciousness.
“…My fortune for today was definitely bad luck.”
“?!”
Renya, who had allowed the strike with the resolve to endure it, was pushed back by an unexpected force.
Max’s physical strength was completely different from just a moment ago.
“I’ll have to take this more seriously from now on.”
He forcefully clenched his torn, ragged hand into a fist.
And aimed his fingers at Renya.
3rd-tier Impact Magic.
[Compression Bullet]
A bullet of compressed Impact flew through the air.
··
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Under the old bridge in the 56th District, the Gray Ditch.
The back door of the Mercenary Association vehicle, which had been quietly waiting, opened.
“Pant…! Pant!”
Max had returned. His entire body was a mess.
Keeping his life-threatening wounds from opening was the best he could do.
Max let out ragged breaths and pulled the device containing the data from his coat.
The Driver stepped on the accelerator as soon as he secured the item.
“Max-nim, we will head to the emergency room immediately.”
* * *
Flora woke up in the morning and sent a message to Max.
She was asking if it would be okay to come over and deliver the food her mother had made today.
However, no reply came even after lunch and into the afternoon.
“Is he really busy?”
She didn’t know the details of a Mercenary’s work, but he might have taken a request and gone far away.
“…”
If it were the usual Flora, she would have just waited for a reply.
But there was a strange ominous feeling that triggered her Beastkin’s Intuition. The feeling was too bad to just sit still.
“Should I go take a look while going for a walk near his office?”
Flora packed the side dishes and headed to District 27, where Max’s Mercenary Office was located.
‘It’s quite far if you take the subway.’
Flora arrived in District 27 on her own, without the Family’s vehicle.
It felt refreshing to come all the way out here after only commuting back and forth to Minerva Academy every day.
It definitely gave her a real feeling of an outing. She could see quite a few fascinating shops, too.
[Max’s Mercenary Office]
After checking the sign, Flora went up the narrow stairs.
Looking inside the office, I saw the lights were off.
She knocked lightly with her hand. It was quiet, with no response.
“This presence… It feels like someone is inside, though?”
Flora considered the possibility that Max Steiger might be intentionally avoiding her.
But having a hunch that it wasn’t in his nature to do so, she took out her Smartphone.
Ring - Ring - .
She tried calling Max Steiger.
He didn’t answer. However, her perked-up ears caught a sound.
“I hear it. From inside.”
The sound of a vibration could be heard from inside the office.
Did he collapse? Did he suddenly lose consciousness?
Flora, who had been standing still and letting her ominous imagination run wild, turned the doorknob, and the office door opened. It wasn’t locked.
“…Excuse me?”
Flora quietly entered and placed the side dishes she had brought on the desk.
“Hm?”
At the same time, her nose twitched. She closed her eyes and sniffed.
Among the scents lingering in the office, something familiar was mixed in.
“Huh, this scent?”
It was similar to Ellen Clements’s scent.
However, it was faint, as if quite a bit of time had passed. On top of that, various other smells were layered over it, making it hard to be certain.
“Probably not.”
Flora shook her head.
Logically, there was no reason for Ellen Clements to be here. It must just be someone who coincidentally had a similar scent.
Step. Step. Step.
Flora approached the room where she felt the presence.
It was likely Max Steiger’s Personal Space.
The smell of disinfectant leaked through the crack of the closed door, along with a faint scent of blood.
The closer she got, the stronger the smell of medicine became.
“…O, Oppa. Are you inside?”
Flora knocked lightly on the door, spitting out the incredibly awkward title and informal speech.
“It’s okay if I open it, right?”
When she carefully opened the door, a dark room welcomed her.
A thick smell of medicine, reminiscent of a Hospital operating room, wafted out strongly.
Flora cautiously poked her head in.
“!”
She saw Max sleeping, heavily wrapped in bandages.