Gaia Food -2-
Gaia Food -2-
A figure who spent rough years in the Scrap Forest of District 50 before joining Gaia Food and rising to the rank of executive.
Misumi Renya naturally drew a dagger. He spun the blade fluidly with his hand.
After staring intently at Max, who did not avert his gaze, he suddenly opened a negotiation table.
"I'll let you know first, I'm the only one who noticed the intruder."
"And?"
"Do you have any intention of resolving this quietly and peacefully? I'll compensate you generously."
"Suddenly? You looked like you were going to butcher me just a second ago... saying it was a shame you couldn't let me go in one piece?"
Max's expression crumpled.
An out-of-the-blue and hard-to-understand proposal. It didn't feel like a path to survival had opened up.
"Just the fact that an outsider infiltrated the Product Development Team office makes things troublesome for me. I'll face heavy disciplinary action. If it's severe, my head might roll."
Max's mind remained infinitely cold.
Even in front of a high-tier powerhouse, there was no panic.
That was why the more he chewed on Renya's proposal, the nastier it tasted.
'What a load of absolute bullshit.'
Because killing him quickly and cleaning up neatly was also a method.
"How much are you offering?"
"300 million Credits. Since you'll face a rough time if you return empty-handed, I'll even prepare some materials for you to take back."
"..."
"You just walk out, sell the materials, or take your commission, and it's over. No need for us to draw each other's blood. Your reputation will go up regardless of which underworld you belong to."
Max's mind worked rapidly, connecting the information.
Reasonable deductions began to follow the situation where a large sum of money and even substitute materials were being kindly offered.
Because he was a regressor.
'They must be feeling a lot of pressure from the external eyes fixed on Gaia Food.'
If Max took the fake materials and submitted them to the Mercenary Association, Gaia Food would be at peace for a while.
Perhaps until the day they launched the product and found a backer.
A plan to send Max away with hush money and materials in hand, hoping for that outcome.
Even if he rejected this and continued the fight, if Renya gained the upper hand, he would likely attempt to negotiate again.
However, Max was a man who had rolled around Heize long enough.
He read this tactic on the spot. Rather, he was grateful for the information.
'This might have been the procedure that happened before my regression.'
Max reached out his hand with a refreshed heart.
"300 million Credits. Bring it out in cash."
"That's impossible right now. I'll have it ready within a week in clean, untraceable money."
"Your business manners are a mess. If you conduct a deal that can't even leave a paper trail like that, will the customer be satisfied?"
"You... you do realize I'm being merciful here, right?"
As Max clicked his tongue, Renya's expression crumpled.
"Think about it. If I sell or submit the materials you prepared, do you think I'd be able to sleep soundly, worrying if they'll get caught as fakes?"
"I guarantee it. Such a problem won't occur. Even if it's suspicious, verification will be impossible."
"I find even that fact hard to believe. Like you said, verification is impossible."
"...A reasonable opinion. Then I'll have the money ready within two days."
"Wow, it's nice to see you so desperate to win me over."
As Max chuckled, Renya realized.
This guy had no intention of accepting the offer from the start.
"You have a talent for getting on people's nerves."
"I hear that sometimes. That I can be quite obnoxious."
The conversation cut off, followed by silence.
Renya tapped a rhythm with his fingers. The dagger he held pulsed.
Each of them.
Focused their consciousness on the other's movements.
Deudeudeudeu──!
The start was Max's Psychokinesis.
Computers and desks flipped over all at once, flying toward Renya.
Pabat!
He broke through the obstacles with clean blade work.
Experience was felt in the movement itself.
'Not a single scratch. As expected of a 3rd Tier.'
[Shear]
A 1st Tier cutting magic.
He aimed for the eyes, which had low durability, but Renya read the flow of mana and evaded it.
"!"
Max immediately threw his body over, kicking a chair away.
A dagger traced a trajectory through the space where his head had been a moment ago.
As he stood up using the momentum of his roll, Renya's booted foot flew in.
[Shock]
He coated his elbow in 1st Tier impact magic.
A textbook counterattack.
Paang!
He pushed the kick away, but Max's elbow, where he had concentrated his mana, felt like it was about to shatter.
In contrast, Renya looked interested, as if his leg had no particular problem.
"A mage dabbling in close-quarters combat? Interesting."
"Life is tough if you can't move on your own."
"It's not a bad choice. A person with diverse talents is the kind of talent corporations want."
Renya manipulated the handle of the knife.
─Click! Along with the sound of the lock being released, liquid flowed moistly onto the blade.
The liquid flowing on Renya's blade was poison.
Not a grand poison meant to kill humans reinforced with mana, but a poison manufactured with the goal of stimulating the nervous system.
That was why he said it was difficult to hire cyborg mercenaries who combined nerves and machinery.
For models without detoxification, research, or nerve replacement functions, a mere graze would render them combat-ineffective.
Of course, it would still be effective on Max, who had no machinery in his body.
'Just making him sluggish will make it easier to break him.'
Max extended his Psychokinesis toward the dagger.
Renya held his ground and curled his lips. It seemed he had no intention of falling for such clumsy tricks.
'Directly grabbing him with Psychokinesis isn't the way either.'
With the difference in Tier, mana capacity, and physical ability, trying to intervene directly with Psychokinesis was a waste of mana.
Using Psychokinesis on a superior opponent feels like applying a joint lock that refuses to snap.
It's similar to a situation where the opponent resists with strength and cannot be toppled.
'Then.'
He recalled the blueprints he had seen in the vehicle.
Kwareureureu!!!
Max used Psychokinesis to tear the office floor and ceiling, hurling them at Renya.
The structural framework was visible, as were the laid-out electrical wires.
Renya, swatting away the flying junk with mere gestures, lunged forward.
He concentrated his mana, compressing it onto the blade.
[Shield]
─Kkaang! It cracked in a single blow. It looked like it would break with a tap.
Renya's follow-up roundhouse kick, delivered while swinging the dagger, shattered the Shield and struck Max.
He was slammed into a corner, accompanied by the pain of his abdomen twisting.
However, it was enough.
The magic was constructed.
[Wire]
The interior of the development team office was filled with threads imbued with sharpness.
Renya, about to continue his attack, tapped the threads appearing before his face with his blade, showing curiosity.
"I might be feeling this excessively because I'm ignorant of magic, but you've been showing unpredictable spells since a while ago."
"..."
"A person like you will become a source of trouble if left alive for long."
Max moved his body with heavy legs, recklessly pulling on the wires laid in the ceiling and floor.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Reading Max's movement in a short instant, Renya swung his dagger.
The back of Max's hand was slashed.
Diing!
The lights Renya had turned on when entering the office went out.
Darkness filled the sealed office.
""...""
It became quiet.
Neither Max nor Renya made a sound.
'I have to endure.'
Max suppressed his breath. Because of the kick to his stomach, a cough accompanied by blood threatened to rise.
Furthermore, the slashed back of his hand was a problem.
He lowered his hand below his heart and used Psychokinesis to strongly compress his forearm.
He focused on preventing the poison from spreading.
He had to settle this before the moment of inevitability arrived.
Max moved the cables and wires he was holding with Psychokinesis.
Seueu──.
A wire brushed against Renya's suit.
Simultaneously, Max aimed with his palm.
[Impact Shell]
"...!"
Renya's body was slammed into the wall by the impact magic.
Lacerations were left as his back, shoulders, forearms, and thighs touched the wires Max had installed.
"A rat-like tactic. You'll survive a long time in Heize."
Renya, regaining his posture, made a decision.
He had to kill him.
The higher-ups told him to coax the intruder and send him away with money and substitute materials, but it was difficult to suppress a guy like this without killing him.
If he kept holding back his strength, Renya himself might end up bleeding.
Renya closed his eyes to find his opponent.
Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness might lead to him being struck.
'He's making noise all over the place with Psychokinesis. He's no ordinary fellow.'
Even when focusing on his hearing, the distracting noises didn't stop.
'Cutting the installed wires requires a larger movement than usual. If I cut them, he'll be able to predict the direction and position I turned my body.'
While Renya was sharpening his senses.
He felt a tiny amount of liquid flowing over the wounds torn by the wires.
'...Liquid?'
Is it sweat dripping from above? Is the bastard hiding on the ceiling? Is it a trick? Can I open my posture?
But it was none of those.
Because the sensation in Renya's right forearm floated away.
'Poison!?'
This was the poison he had made. He was certain.
Whether Max had caught the toxin flowing from the blade with Psychokinesis or extracted blood from where he was cut.
The poison had infiltrated through the lacerations caused by the wires.
[Impact Shell]
─Tukwang! An impact flew in.
Unlike before, he was late in protecting his internal organs with his arms.
[Impact Shell]
Successive impacts flew in.
Renya's entire body shook. He rolled over the wires.
"Keo-heok!"
Blood surged back up.
He tried to find the door to get out, but his sense of direction was strange.
"A brat whose blood hasn't even dried on his head...!"
Sensing a crisis, Renya released a massive amount of mana.
With the intent to completely cut through even the office walls made of special materials.
The dagger was swung wide.
At the time Max was continuing his battle with Renya.
Enri Crimsonhowl was watching a rerun of a cooking program in the living room.
It was then that she called out to her daughter, Flora, who was about to go to bed.
"Flora."
"Yes?"
"The dish being shown now. It looks a bit tricky to make, but doesn't it look delicious?"
"Uh... it looks delicious."
"Then shall we feed our daughter and also bring some to Max~? Could you go through a little trouble tomorrow, dear?"
The request to deliver side dishes to Max Steiger.
Flora didn't have any particular aversion to it, so she nodded.
"I'll ask him if I can go when I wake up tomorrow."
"I'll make it before I head out tomorrow~ You make sure to eat some too, dear."
Flora entered her room, satisfied with the sight of her happy mother.