Chapter 76
BOOM!!!
An explosion blew away the upper floor of the Oil Sink Building.
The surviving persons escaped the building and landed on the ground.
The sound of the explosion echoed through the Junktown, and a murmur spread.
Realizing that the epicenter of the noise was Salazar’s building, the Valve Family began to gather with their weapons.
“Hah, three tier 5s! This is quite a disaster.”
Salazar muttered.
He could guess from the clash just now.
The individuals who died caught in the momentary struggle of power were two 3rd-tiers. One was Salazar’s subordinate, and the other was a gang member who had followed Byron.
The small elite group Byron had brought along consisted of two 4th-tiers and five 3rd-tiers, a force more than sufficient to be used as escorts or meat shields.
And the Valve Family in the Junktown ruled by Salazar also had a significant number of people. There were three 4th-tiers, and many 3rd-tiers and below.
He felt the possibility that he could still continue his life.
“Byron. Let’s do our best to survive. It doesn’t seem like today is the day we die.”
“…This crazy son of a bitch.”
At Salazar’s encouragement, Byron ground his teeth in anger. Even so, his body was thoroughly prepared for battle.
Byron received a spear reminiscent of a harpoon from his subordinate. His close aides, part of the small elite, also drew their weapons.
A suffocating standoff.
“Phew.”
Maks exhaled and rummaged through his pockets.
He put the Lollipop he had brought from the office in his mouth, the Melon Flavor Ellen had left behind.
Salazar rolled his eyes.
There was the sight of a man putting a candy in his mouth instead of a cigarette. He checked the bodies of the other two women once again.
“All three are free of Cyberware and have no weapons. Are they mages?”
“Who knows.”
“A Corporation that only pursues practical interests wouldn’t have dispatched a soft combination of three mages without a reason.”
Salazar took a deep drag of his cigar and manipulated his body. A sharp saw blade flowed out from his golden prosthetic arm.
WHRRR!!! The magic-infused chain spun, spitting out a metallic screech.
“I-Isn’t that the guy who said he was an Enforcer?”
“Roach, you son of a bitch!”
“No, fuck! I really thought he was a familiar face!”
The assembled Valve Family aimed their guns at maks’s group.
Those holding bladed weapons or blunt instruments kept their distance while reading the room.
Salazar and Byron took advantage of waiting until the Valve Family inside the Junktown had gathered.
However, maks’s group didn’t stay still during that time either, filling their circuits with magic.
Vwoom!
Maks’s magic spread, and the objects on the street rose up as if going in reverse.
Heat surged around Flora, making her surroundings shimmer. Sparks burst from Ellen’s body with a crackle!
“Hmph!”
The first to move was Salazar.
Following his intuition that he was the most dangerous, he threw his massive body at maks and swung his saw blade.
[Kraken]
Translucent cephalopod tentacles appeared around maks. They twisted together to increase their thickness.
A shape similar to a flower bud before blooming became a solid defensive Shield.
CRACKLE!!!
The Kraken was chipped away by the spinning chain, scattering chunks of magic in all directions.
At the same time, Byron also locked onto his targets.
“The opponents are mages! Disrupt their concentration and just chip away at their minds! That’s enough!”
He gave the order to his subordinates and charged toward Flora and Ellen.
“Kaaagh!!!”
Byron’s spear shaft flexed as a vicious barrage of thrusts poured out.
Flora countered first.
[Blaze Fang]
Blazing fangs tore through the dirt ground and surged up.
They collided with Byron’s thrusts, causing an explosion in midair.
“Shoot! Kill those bastards!”
“Grenades! Hurry up and bring the grenade box!”
“Bring everything we have and blast them!”
The Valve Family and Byron’s close aides, unable to keep up with the movements of the 5th-tiers, moved belatedly.
Guns didn’t matter to maks’s group. Unless it was ranged magic, bullets were useless even with a light Shield.
However, the fact that they had to allocate consciousness and magic to the lightly wrapped Shield itself was annoying.
“Hey! Get out of the way!”
Magic gathered between Ellen’s golden-tinged horns, forming a sphere.
Knowing what magic Ellen was going to use, Flora immediately stepped aside.
[Lightning Dragon Orb]
BOOM!!! A mass of Electric Shock was fired like a cannon.
The powerful output smashed Byron, who had just escaped the explosion and planted his feet on the ground, into a building.
“Die, all of you!”
Ellen didn’t stop there; she moved her head, sweeping away the small fry as much as she could.
Over dozens of combatants were burned black by the Electric Shock and died.
Even so, their numbers were still swarming.
In a place where the acrid smell of burning spread, strongly evoking death, the 4th-tier elites moved swiftly, taking advantage of the commotion.
They kicked the subordinates who were shooting from a distance, causing them to stick onto Flora and Ellen’s shields.
“Kieeeek!!!”
“Keugh!”
They pierced through their subordinates with their respective weapons while simultaneously checking the strength of the shields and pulling back.
Flora and Ellen frowned and pushed away the corpses stuck to their shields.
“If you don’t want to be a hindrance to Oppa, get a grip!”
“…You too.”
Flora and Ellen had never experienced a battle like this.
Fighting against large numbers was more chaotic than they had imagined. The thick bloodlust and ruthless actions shown by the outlaws of the Wasteland narrowed their vision and stiffened their bodies.
The two of them moved their magic and glanced around.
While continuing his battle with Salazar, maks was reliably keeping the clinging and interfering 4th-tiers and 3rd-tiers in check.
The level of his experience was different. Even if they wanted to help, they couldn’t see an opening to intervene.
It didn’t feel like he was a fellow tier 5 Mage.
[Lupa]
A Wolf Pack made of flames appeared around Flora, who had finished casting her Unique Magic.
Awoooo - !!
Desperately ignoring the pouring bullets and the thrown Meat Shields.
Just as she was about to order a pursuit prioritizing dealing with the interfering 4th-tiers.
The bald man who had been smashed into the building by Ellen’s electric cannon, Byron, walked out through the billowing black smoke.
His clothes were burned away by the current, exposing the Cyberware installed around his heart.
“Young ladies, your magic is quite spicy. I’ll have to tear your limbs apart to teach you a lesson.”
Byron gripped his spear and took a stance.
“…Go and burn him.”
At Flora’s command, the wolves kicked off the air and lunged at Byron.
Pouring magic into his spear to briefly push back the Wolf Pack, Byron repeatedly moved using the Junktown buildings as footholds, aiming to evade pursuit and close the distance with the mages.
“Crazy, a flying bald guy!”
At Byron’s spider-like movements, Ellen shifted her position and activated her circuits.
Flora also moved breathlessly to reduce her exposed angles and prevent him from closing the distance.
To Flora and Ellen, the tier 5 bald man was the biggest problem.
However, the 4th tiers and 3rd tiers following him were also experienced in their positioning.
Whenever they tried to concentrate or aim their magic to deal with them, they would repeatedly interfere by aiming for their backs, swinging swords, or striking their shields with blunt weapons.
They were slowly but surely draining their magic.
[We need to find a breakthrough.]
The two of them knew.
If this war of attrition continued, they would be at a disadvantage.
“Girl! Pick up the tempo!”
“Be… quiet!”
Flora and Ellen overwhelmingly lacked real combat experience.
But they knew each other. They had clashed and studied each other throughout their Academy life.
Flora could clearly picture how Ellen would react to a situation, and Ellen could do the same for Flora.
Because of that, they weren’t getting tangled up, and their coordination was somehow working out.
If even this hadn’t been achieved, they would have already allowed the approach of Byron, who had lived his whole life as a cruel gang member.
··
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Maks dealt with another 4th-tier subordinate while exchanging blows.
Salazar inwardly admired him but spoke up to get on his nerves.
“Those two are accompanying you. Their output is amazing, but their movements are clumsy.”
“That’s what’s cute about them.”
“Haha! Even so, they won’t last long. Byron isn’t an ordinary guy. I didn’t join hands with him for nothing.”
“…”
Maks had no intention of continuing the conversation.
He gathered and fired an Impact at Salazar, launched a Severing, and widened the distance once again.
He landed on a building railing.
With minimal magic, he twisted the guys away who were continuing to shoot from around him.
He kicked off the railing to avoid the charging Salazar and moved again.
CRASH!!!
The wall of the building collapsed entirely from Salazar’s sawing.
Maks crunched on the remaining candy and racked his brain. Salazar was already charging this way.
[I can’t find an opening to use my Unique Magic. He’s experienced.]
Salazar had a different style from Chris Garland.
Geum Jonghwa dazzled the eyes with his flashy sword, but Salazar simply moved his body to apply pressure.
However, they also had something in common.
The fact that both of them knew how to kill a Mage was evident. From their combat style, it was the form mages hated the most.
They would evade or cleanly defend against lower-tier magic to induce waste and mental fatigue, but they would read the presence of Unique Magic and, like ghosts, recklessly close the distance.
[He also seems certain that I’m paying attention to Flora and Ellen.]
Even though he hadn’t glanced at them even once, Salazar showed that he had grasped where maks’s awareness was directed.
[They said he was a former Soldier… He’s definitely an annoying guy.]
Maks grabbed a group of the Valve Family with telekinesis and threw them at Salazar.
“G-Godfather!”
“Please! Spare me!”
“Godfather! It’s me! It’s me, Roachhh!”
His subordinates cried out for him to save them, but Salazar didn’t care.
Without showing a hint of hesitation, he chopped up the flying subordinates. Covered in blood, he pursued maks.
Maks and Salazar continued a Persistent probing battle to find an opening against each other.
The precariously maintained balance ended up being affected by the outside.
Byron, who had been moving at a moderate speed and observing their magic, finished his Assessment.
[These women… Their output is all Monster-like, but their patterns become monotonous during sudden changes.]
Seeing the endlessly flying magic, Byron came up with a bold move in his head.
WHIIINE! Overloading his prosthetic leg for the first time, Byron kicked off the wall of the building. He tore through the air at a speed he hadn’t shown until now.
He narrowly dodged the incoming magic by a paper’s breadth and instantaneously closed the distance with Ellen.
“!”
The tip of the magic-infused spear tore through the spherical Shield and advanced.
However, it didn’t lead to a gruesome picture.
Maks fired a Shockwave and twisted the spear’s trajectory.
As a result, a problem inevitably arose on the other side.
“Do you have the luxury to look after others?”
Salazar’s saw blade tore into maks’s chest.