Weakness #059
I smashed the medical magic stone with the medical hammer lying nearby. If I had more stones, I wouldn't have needed to do something this crude, but this was all I could find. The blue-glowing crystal soon split into several fragments like shattered jewels. I picked up the smallest piece. It wasn't tiny, but it still didn't look particularly useful. Still, everything in this world has its purpose.
I brought the fragment to one end of the IV stand's metal rod I'd just broken. The inside was hollow, so it felt like the piece would fit.
"A bit big."
Unfortunately, the fragment was too large to slide in cleanly. It only fit when jammed at the very tip. Which was exactly the size I wanted. A magic stone that would sit tight at the end of the metal rod. Enough to trigger a decent little explosion.
What I was making was essentially a mana bomb.
Someone might ask if I even knew the recipe, but the method for making mana bombs was surprisingly well-known. To be exact, both the manufacturing process and their very existence were illegal. But for Koreans living on a cramped peninsula with kimchi refrigerators that had crossed over into this world, that kind of thing didn't matter.
In the face of the safe traditional game known as "mouse fire play," our microscopic level of traditional culture preservation, and our excellent civic consciousness, illegal could easily become legal. If not, then it damn well should have been. Along with scrolls, these things carried the risk of enabling defenseless terrorism. But since magic stones were expensive and could be tracked through mana traces, the authorities mostly looked the other way. Besides, actual terrorists would be better off making real physical bombs in that amount of time anyway.
Thanks to that background, mana stone bombs popped up even in public spaces. On SNS, posted by influencers obsessed with showing off. In online communities, by attention-seekers fishing for recommendations. On video platforms, by creators chasing views. A quantum-legal reality where illegal and legal coexisted both before and after observation. Court precedents flipped faster than the neighborhood slut flipping positions. The lawyers might have been tearing their hair out, but the citizens' box of practical knowledge only grew richer by the day.
It was the perfect environment for me to put my in-game knowledge to practical use. Information that had been simplified into a "crafting function" in the game had become a bizarre encyclopedia of forbidden techniques. Mana bomb recipes, mana trap recipes, one-use weapon recipes, high-efficiency bandage recipes, the German shouting method, the sizzle-sizzle German cooking method, and so on.
It was clearly against the values of my previous world, but I decided to set that aside for now. The justification that I needed to learn this to survive, combined with the coaxing from my wicked childhood friend, created a flawless self-rationalization.
And so the product of that time and the preparations of the present came together to create a single tool. It was hard to believe I'd made it with only four materials.
I should buy Sua noona a meal later.
A decent-quality magic stone, flammable disinfectant, a bit of magic, and someone skilled at mana manipulation. That was how you made a mana bomb.
But that wasn't the end of my preparations. I stacked several different scalpels together and wrapped the handles tightly with tape and bandages. The result wasn't great for slashing, but it would work perfectly for stabbing. I'd have to throw it away after a few uses, but a few uses were all I needed.
I then inserted the smallest piece from the mana bomb into the end of the metal rod. The way mana flowed grotesquely across the surface showed I'd cast an unstable basic spell to overload the stone itself. Feed it just a little more mana, and it would explode.
It was an excellent weapon. I was about to head straight for the door when I changed direction and approached the window instead. The squire was still there, staring intently inside.
"What the hell is he doing?"
The eyes behind that thick helmet couldn't even begin to guess what I'd created. Of course not. He was just a cheap-life knight who'd never seen disinfectant or a mana bomb before. The only two things he knew were that he'd come here to wage a holy war to purify the demon race and the demon world, and that the great World Tree protected them.
Now it was time to test whether the World Tree truly watched over them.
With a casual expression, I pressed the metal rod with the embedded mana stone against the glass. It must have looked pointless. Just a thin rod? What was I going to do with a magic stone stuck on the end? Take on six opponents alone? Sure, he was a bit tall, but that was it, right?
"Is he insane?"
They'd completely forgotten the truth of their chronic starvation. They didn't realize they were even losing to a mere demon-race schoolgirl. In the middle of that delusion, faint mana flowed into the metal rod pressing against the window.
Crack!
With a flash of light, the entire reinforced glass window spiderwebbed with cracks. The fractures were so severe they ruined its identity as transparent glass. The squire stumbled back several steps in shock. The ones attacking the door also turned their heads at the strange noise.
Several seconds of tension passed. Then a few more. Just as a small sense of relief began to bloom in their minds, the shattered window collapsed inward and crashed to the floor.
Cleanly. Completely. Revealing me standing there.
The reflexive actions drilled into them since childhood took over. Hatred overwhelmed reason. Their hands flew to the swords at their waists, and they stepped forward with heavy feet.
I should have been intimidated by their overwhelming presence. But what caught my eye were those small blue fragments. What were they? Why had he thrown magic stones? Could we ignore them?
The moment those three thoughts ended, the mana bombs disguised as ordinary magic stones detonated in flashes of light.
Boom. Boom-boom!
White cold air froze the atmosphere in an instant and swallowed them whole. The chill was enough to stop their breath, cold enough to make them unable to open their eyes.
I seized the opening and leaped through the window. A frontal assault against opponents reinforced by steam engines. Relying solely on obscured vision would have been suicidal, but I had something else to count on.
"The j-joints!"
"The steam engine cooled down!"
"Gaaah...!"
No matter how much magic was involved, it was still a heat-operated engine. The scattered cold had temporarily reduced the steam engines' efficiency.
Six slowed knights. One ordinary hunter. It was a fight I could win.
I closed in on the nearest squire.
"Huk... Huh?!"
By the time he saw me, it was already too late. I'd already circled behind him before he could react. He had only a moment to be shocked by the abnormal speed that seemed like magic before another strange sound from behind confused him further.
"Crazy, of all places?!"
Hiss—! The sound of escaping steam. I'd stabbed the critical part of his steam engine with a mana-infused scalpel dagger.
These guys have the exact same weak points as they did in the game.
Whether now or in the future that Gray Zone dealt with, the structure and weaknesses of steam engines never changed. And striking that weakness meant more than just reduced function.
The squire tried to shut down the overheating engine. Naturally, it was impossible. Removing that heavy steam engine alone was beyond him.
"You f-fucking son of a—"
Boom! The steam engine on his back exploded. The massive components tore into his body along with the blast. His internal organs were shredded, and massive bleeding followed. Blood finally poured from the helmet's vents as he collapsed. Dead.
I didn't have time to admire the kill. I moved forward quickly and stabbed the next squire's steam engine while he was still disoriented. The space was narrow, so I simply shoved him backward to die on his own. When a blade came flying at me from the front, I parried it with my scalpel dagger.
"You bastard!"
"You think that'll work?!"
Inferior physique, reduced engine efficiency, and an unprepared fight. The terrible combination narrowed the squire's focus dangerously.
I knocked his sword aside, quickly retreated, and struck the same spot again. A large amount of steam poured from the torn gap this time, slightly obscuring the surrounding view.
At that moment—
"You son of a bitch!"
With a battle cry, the squire's kick flew toward me. Time was already accelerated, so I'd seen it coming ages ago. The instant I grabbed his leg, the sword in his hand swung down. I poured mana into my fist and smashed his knee.
Crack. A horrible sound. The swinging sword stopped. I withdrew the mana from my grip and shoved the now-incapacitated squire backward, toppling him.
The next attack should have come immediately, but nothing arrived. When I turned my head, I saw something almost surprising.
"F-fuck..."
"Hey... what do we do...?"
Two squires pointing trembling swords at me. When I took one step forward, they stepped back. They looked ready to bolt in fear.
If I let them escape, who knows what'll happen.
I made the rational choice. I pushed my superpower to its limit and charged straight at them. The squires couldn't even mount a proper response. Whether they tried to run or not, they could only helplessly experience their steam engines exploding.
Boom. Boom!
With the successive explosions, the fight was over.
I stared down at the scalpel dagger whose blade had snapped despite being infused with mana.
"Can't use this anymore."
The broken weapon clattered to the floor, leaving me empty-handed again. Still, I was grateful to have overcome the crisis and headed upstairs.
Rustle. Rustle.
I was about to, at least. The sound made me stop in my tracks.
"A sack?"
A large burlap sack had been left in the corner. But something strange must have been inside, because it kept wriggling.
Wondering if it might be dangerous, I carefully opened the sack.
"......?"
"Hic... hiiik... S-save meeee......"
Inside was Shannon, face covered in tears, snot, and drool, fearfully biting her own tail.