Chapter 77
Ellen escaped the crisis thanks to Max’s intervention.
But in exchange, the precariously maintained balance completely collapsed.
Byron, whose confident Surprise Attack had missed, also took a direct hit from Flora’s Flame Magic and suffered considerable damage, but the biggest problem was Max.
“Do you have the luxury to look after others?”
Salazar did not miss the opening and mercilessly tore into Max’s chest with his saw blade.
Whiiir!!!
The rotating chain dug into flesh and muscle, trying to sever Max’s lifeline.
At this moment, Max’s response and counterattack were truly simple and swift.
While he seized the opportunity with the chainsaw, he swung his fist to detonate a Shockwave in Salazar’s face, which was left wide open.
CRACK - ! Struck squarely in the face by a fist laden with Impact, Salazar staggered backward.
Max’s flesh and blood dripped from the spinning saw blade attached to the golden prosthetic arm.
“A counterattack in that state… Surprising.”
Salazar grabbed his nose, which had been twisted by the Shockwave, and forcefully snapped it back into place. He rolled his prosthetic eye with his finger to correct its position.
Due to the direct Impact on the prosthetic eye, his vision flickered like a broken screen, but he had no problem locking onto Max, who was pouring blood.
He was in a state where it looked like he would collapse on his own just by waiting.
The corners of Salazar’s mouth twisted upward.
“Seeing your actions, I’m certain. You aren’t a hound raised by a Corporation.”
“…”
“Were you hired?”
If his rank had been lower, his body would have been split the moment it touched Salazar’s saw blade. However, a Rank 5's body somehow maintained its form and even held onto its consciousness.
But it was an undeniable fact that it was serious.
Because Max had died once before, he realized it more acutely than anyone else.
The moment closest to death since his regression was right now.
“Op… pa…?”
“Oppa!!! Right now - .”
Max raised one hand as if to say he was fine, restricting Flora and Ellen’s movements.
The two needed to focus on Byron, who had taken distance after being hit by the Flame Magic. The Rank 4 elites faithfully performing their support roles were also still around.
Max didn’t spare them a glance and kept his eyes fixed on Salazar.
His consciousness read the wound and devised a countermeasure.
‘…I can’t grab the skin with Psychokinesis.’
The wound caused by the saw blade was a different shape from that caused by a sharp blade.
The usual treatment was impossible.
‘If I’m going to use Psychokinesis, it has to be with the feeling of creating a wall inside… That’s the only way to live.’
As Psychokinesis intervened in the messily mangled, crater-like wound, the spurting fresh blood slowly began to decrease.
Salazar, who had been watching Max’s first aid as if it were interesting, recovered cleanly from the Impact to his head and the noise in his prosthetic eye, and opened his mouth.
“You seem to think those clumsy women will beat Byron.”
Max, spitting out the regurgitated blood, immediately affirmed it.
“…I just made it that way by intervening.”
“Are you having some comic-book delusion that they’ll win through the anger of their ally being struck down? That’s a disappointing judgment.” - Whiiir!!! Salazar’s saw blade began to spin again.
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Ellen’s mind shook upon seeing Max’s wound.
Anyone could see it was critical. She was certain he wouldn’t last long if he wasn’t treated immediately.
“Because of me…”
The Mercenary profession kept death closer than anyone else.
Ellen knew this in her head as well.
But she had never imagined Max dying.
That was why the present, delivering this realization, felt so heavy.
The everyday life she spent with Max in the office flashed through her mind, pushing her consciousness into an abyss.
“Hey! You idiot!”
“…”
“Snap out of it!”
Flora grabbed Ellen by the collar and slammed their foreheads together with a thud!
She glared at Ellen with a burning gaze. But it wasn’t a gaze of reproach.
“Oppa will never die. We just have to kill them all quickly and take him to a Hospital.”
“…”
A negative thought popped into Ellen’s head about where there would be a Hospital in this Wasteland to treat such a severe injury.
But she didn’t spit it out of her mouth.
Because Ellen could tell by facing her that Flora’s mind was also shaking violently. She could see her clenching her molars with all her might to stop her emotions from wavering.
The words she just spat out were a Spell and a wish that Flora was engraving into herself.
“Besides, wouldn’t there be at least one Doctor in this junktown? If we look, there should be some medical supplies.”
“Huuu…”
Ellen exhaled and found her stability.
“…Let go. I’m going to kill that bald bastard.”
Ellen loosened Flora’s hands and stepped forward. Electric Shock gathered in her hands. - Bzzzt!!! She compressed it into the shape of a spear and held it in her grasp.
[Dragon Fang]
A dense killing intent, unlike anything before, erupted from her entire body.
Ellen accurately realized what the emotion of wanting to kill someone was.
The Golden Engraving situated on her horn glowed stronger than ever before. Her pupils took on a sharpness reminiscent of a dragon, bursting with sparks.
“I’m going to kill him. And I’ll save Oppa, too.”
Magic power raged like a storm around Flora.
Thanks to the time earned by landing her magic on Byron, who had failed his gamble, she was able to finish her Calculation just like Ellen.
[Crimson Moon]
The Wolf and the Full Moon was a single symbol holding a vivid image.
A mass of flames containing the colors of the Magic Noble Family floated up beside Flora.
“Girl, I’m going to finish this as fast as possible, so don’t get in my way.”
As Ellen regained her usual voice and showed confidence, Flora surprisingly felt her heart calm down.
“You just follow my lead. I’ve already got the hang of it.”
“Don’t act all high and mighty by yourself. I’ve figured out what to do, too.”
Max, having fixed his mistake, hadn’t confidently claimed the two would win without basis.
Flora Crimsonhowl and Ellen Clements.
These two were the youngest Rank 5s with no precedent in the history of Haze. They possessed talents recognized as those of an Unparalleled Genius.
The talent officially recognized by the incredibly picky Magic Noble Family wasn’t simply limited to an understanding of magic and rank.
The talents of the two were a perfect hexagon. It operated astutely even in combat, accumulating experience at a speed on a different level from that of ordinary people.
That was why, the moment they experienced and recognized a single failure, Flora and Ellen were the types to never make the same mistake again, extending their branches to grasp even other variables.
Flora and Ellen, having newly refined their minds, made their move.
Byron, who had just resolved the overload on his prosthetic leg, sent a hand signal to the few remaining Rank 4s and Rank 3s before grabbing his spear.
“Fuck.”
Byron’s condition might have been better than Max’s, but it could by no means be called good.
His Artificial Skin had melted from Flora’s magic, leaving his Cyberware transparently exposed.
‘That damn bitch… It’s not an ordinary flame.’
The heat was stuck inside and wouldn’t cool down. If he didn’t constantly suppress it with magic power, it would slowly melt and dig into his machinery.
Thanks to that, his Cyberware flashed warnings and caused minor malfunctions with every movement.
He even had to consider the possibility of its stopping completely if he dragged out the time.
“There are two directions.”
Wait for Salazar to intervene after taking care of the male mage, or for Byron himself to put an end to it.
Byron shook off the killing intent that made his skin tingle.
He aimed his spear at his opponents.
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Max was in a state where intense movements were restricted.
If he were to kick off the railing like earlier, the wound would tear open beyond what he could Handle.
Staying still in place while stopping the bleeding with Psychokinesis was the best course of action to hold onto his precarious lifeline.
Therefore, it was a moment that required a decision.
“Do it. I have to do it.”
Max released the Psychokinesis that had been stopping the bleeding.
Blood began to trickle out again.
At Max charging full speed straight toward death, Salazar showed a faint hint of bewilderment for the first time. It was the look of facing an incomprehensible lifeform.
Max released even the minimum amount of magic power he had been holding onto to form a Shield and withdrew it into his heart.
He cleanly abandoned his defensive measures.
“Knowing how to stop the bleeding is enough.”
Without moving his body from its spot, he immersed his mind in the flow of magic power.
Max scraped together even the minute signals needed to control his physical body. He poured every process into his magic Calculation.
With the intuition that he was attempting something he hadn’t shown before, Salazar kicked off the ground and lunged at him.
Max calmly went through the procedures in his own world.
“Hmph!”
It was the moment Salazar tried to split Max in half with his saw blade.
Max grabbed his own clothes with Psychokinesis and pulled himself backward.
“!”
The saw blade grazed perilously close before his eyes. Salazar’s attack slammed straight into the building’s rooftop.
The floor collapsed from the Impact, and a cloud of thick dust surged up.
Salazar raised his head from beneath the collapsed building.
Being buried under such debris wouldn’t even leave a scratch. He was perfectly fine.
“That mage bastard…”
The regret of missing his attack wasn’t great.
In Max’s current state, let alone moving, just being shaken was a fatal wound in itself.
Even if he dodged the attack, he hadn’t really dodged it.
From Salazar’s perspective, there was only one annoying thing.
He was standing on the debris, looking down at him, with a body whose death at that very second would not be surprising.
“That kind of evasion method won’t work twice.”
It was the moment Salazar bent his knees and tensed his thighs to jump toward Max.
He felt a heavy pressure crushing his entire body.
Following that, a chilling shadow was cast.
[Sword of Damocles]
A massive sword materialized in the air and plummeted toward Salazar.
BOOOOM!!!
The chunks of iron scattered across the junktown rattled from the crash of mass.
However, Max did not stop. It wasn’t enough to reach a conclusion.
Chris Garland had also survived this magic and chased after him.
“Not yet, not yet.”
Max, having successfully manifested his offensive Unique Magic, was still not stopping his bleeding.
He poured his remaining magic power into his circuits without sparing any, immediately continuing his Calculation.
He was actually grateful for his fading and dulling senses.
Because even the headache that followed when forcefully manifesting magic became dull.
“…”
Blood flowed from Max’s eyes and nose due to the overload that had reached the point right before his brain would break down.