Ghost Logic -2-
Ghost Logic -2-
As Max released his Psychokinesis, the water that had been forming the shape of a spear splashed onto the ground.
Riding the flow, he counterattacked immediately.
Invisible Psychokinesis extended toward his opponent.
[Death Roll]
The Mage sensed an unknown magical force interfering with his clothes.
He protected himself by wrapping his entire body in water infused with mana.
'Interfering directly with the body to twist it consumes too much mana....'
He had to distribute it well.
There was a reason he usually used clothes or ropes to suffocate targets.
"Huu."
Max moved the steel rebars piled in the factory with Psychokinesis.
At the same time, the minigun-wielder fired a grenade from his left palm—Tung! The grenade slipped through the black smoke rising from the shutter explosion.
However, no explosion occurred inside the garage.
"Fuck, it's a dud! Mage! Blow it up yourself!"
"Dumbass...."
At Minigun's request, Max scowled and launched the rebars at the Mage.
Flustered by the incoming barrage, the Mage took cover behind a pillar before reappearing.
It seemed he was trying to buy time, having realized things weren't going according to plan on this side.
'If we achieved the goal, we should just pull out.'
Whether the grenade being a dud was intentional or a genuine accident was a matter to be judged after everything was over.
While Max confronted the Mage and Hood fought the spearman who had jumped out of the window.
The two Rank 2s who hadn't shown themselves yet were somewhere nearby.
As Minigun aimed his right hand to support Hood.
The water controlled by the Mage clung to Minigun's face.
"Ah, dammit! You're being a nuisance!"
The water lunged like loaches toward his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. It was disgusting how he had to push it away with mana.
It was a ridiculous sight to discuss lethality, but if left alone, he would drown.
'I'll finish this before the others show up.'
Max made his decision and lunged toward the Mage.
Despite being a Mage, the opponent seemed flustered by Max closing the distance.
'He's probably figured out the Wire and Psychokinesis.'
The category the opponent didn't know yet was Impact.
He was certain that if he closed the distance, he would have the advantage, being a veteran of messy brawls.
"Uryaat!"
"What the hell is this guy?"
He floored a mercenary who suddenly lunged at him with a punch.
Max pursued the Mage who had fled into the Ghost Logic building.
"Y-You bastard...!"
Water gathered around the Mage and was fired like arrows.
It was a monotonous attack and application.
'He's the type not used to using his body. He's a slow runner.'
Max used the building's pillars as shields to dodge while drawing up his mana.
Paang!
Psychokinesis shattered the building's windows, sending glass shards flying.
Kwadududuk!
He ripped off all the doors in the hallway and sent them flying.
"Son of a bitch!"
While keeping an eye on the Mage who was moving the water and spitting curses.
Max applied Impact magic to kick off the floor.
—Kung! The distance closed in an instant.
Floating in the air in a parabolic arc, Max aimed his palm at the Mage, who turned around a beat late.
"Nice to meet you."
Compressed impact exploded.
Rank 2 Impact magic.
[Impact Shell]
"Kuheok!"
The Mage, hit directly by the magic, coughed up blood.
His chest was caved in as if struck by a cannonball. He was definitely dead.
'That's one down.'
Max didn't stop.
He headed straight up the stairs.
'Since I'm inside, I'll release the Neon Shade too.'
It was still squirming in his pocket. As expected of a creature deemed impossible to eradicate, it was resilient.
Recalling the blueprints in his head, he headed toward his destination.
'Here it is.'
Max used Psychokinesis to rip the cable ties binding the box and started recording a video.
"Squeak? Squee-squeak!"
When he opened the box, a glowing rat crawled out.
It had been trapped for hours in a narrow box where even breathing was difficult, yet it moved perfectly fine.
"Go get some food."
As if sensing the scent of electrical wires, the baby Neon Shade climbed the wall and burrowed into the ventilation duct.
'Good. Personal request complete.'
After sending the video to the Association, he checked the situation outside.
Hood and Minigun were trying to press the spear-wielding mercenary, but the Rank 1 mercenaries of Ghost Logic were forming a formation and using hit-and-run tactics, making it look like a hassle.
The five Rank 1s who had come with them seemed to be dead already.
'Or they ran away.'
This was an important crossroads.
Should he join the battle to kill the spearman and clean up the Rank 1 mercenaries?
Or should he go straight to the garage and destroy the truck using the dud grenade Minigun fired?
'In principle, the mission comes first.'
Now was the chance, while the two Rank 2s expected to be at Ghost Logic were nowhere to be seen.
The moment Max made his judgment.
A man carrying a large hammer appeared staggering from the end of the hallway.
He was presumed to be one of the Ghost Logic Rank 2 mercenaries who hadn't shown themselves.
"Where have you been all this ti—?"
The man closed the distance at an unbelievable speed and swung the hammer down.
The blunt weapon fell, spitting sparks.
"!"
Max caught the hammer in the gap between his hands.
He caught it in the empty space where Psychokinesis was heavily concentrated.
"Grrrrrr!"
Even though he caught it accurately, it felt like his hands were going to shatter.
Max's expression crumpled.
'This guy?'
Blackened veins crawled up his face like spiderwebs, and his eyes were nothing but whites. He was even muttering to himself while drooling.
'...White Rampage.'
It was an illegal doping drug containing powerful narcotic components.
The addiction was so terrible it was impossible to overcome with individual will.
'This is dangerous.'
When used, reason flies away, pain is forgotten, and physical abilities rise insanely, but the skeletal structure that cannot withstand the movement breaks, and muscles undergo necrosis.
As a side effect, mental derangement follows, so even if the effect is good, it's considered cheap stuff.
'Even if it's cheap, it's not something easily obtained.'
Of course, there would be various routes.
But the biggest route Max remembered was the stuff Cheonmyeong Pharmaceuticals used to supply to the sub-sub-contractors they had disputes with.
"Kihit!"
Similarly, another guy high on the drug appeared at the end of the hallway. He was a guy with four artificial eyes embedded in his face.
In one hand, he held the corpse of a woman in a suit. Looking at the clothes and the ID hanging from the corpse's neck, she wasn't a mercenary but an employee of Ghost Logic.
'Aren't these the mercenaries hired by Ghost Logic? What's going on?'
Holding a sword dripping with blood, he jumped down to where Hood and Minigun were.
As if unable to even distinguish between ally and enemy, screams erupted from outside.
'If nothing else, I can tell their entry was delayed because they were high.'
Max twisted his body, letting the hammer slide to the floor.
With an explosion, the hallway collapsed. He moved his mana the moment he fell.
[Wire]
'This guy's strength itself is close to Rank 3.'
However, the lack of reason, the senses dulled to the point of not knowing pain, and the madness became weaknesses.
"Uwoooooo!!!"
The guy who came down with him, covered in dust, swung the hammer.
The blunt weapon flew toward his flank, smashing the wall like it was Styrofoam.
[Shield]
Jjaeng!
The shield, compressed to the size of a plate, shattered instantly.
It was a vibration like being beaten with a metal pipe while rolled in a straw mat.
"Keuk!"
Max was sent flying out the window.
At the same time, the wires connected to his body and the wall were pulled taut like a bowstring.
Piiing!
The head of the guy with the hammer popped right off.
Max rolled across the top of the garage before finally standing up.
"Tui! Ah, this really isn't something a person should do."
He spat out the backflowing blood. His stomach felt nauseous, and his whole body ached.
He searched his pockets, but there were no candies to wash away the taste of blood.
"...."
Standing on top of the garage, he looked down.
"Ki, kihit!"
One swordsman who had entered a state of frenzy due to doping.
Not only Hood and Minigun, but even the Ghost Logic mercenaries were all dead.
He was playing by stabbing the corpses repeatedly.
'He has quite a few wounds, but not enough to be effective against someone high on drugs.'
He quietly cut out the floor beneath his feet with Wire.
He scanned the garage with Psychokinesis.
'There it is.'
The grenade that had ended up as a dud.
He lifted it with Psychokinesis. And threw it.
"Kyaaaak!"
The guy playing at carving up corpses reacted like a ghost.
He turned his body to slash the incoming grenade.
"Heup!"
Max moved his mana while gritting his teeth.
[Bind]
Rank 2 Psychokinesis. It increases density to compress the target.
It was only for a very brief moment, but it fixed the opponent in place, stopping them as if they were a specimen.
"Kiaaaaa!!!"
"Stay still... for a bit!"
Just from holding the thrashing guy, blood flowed between Max's lips.
And the thrown grenade arrived.
This time, it exploded without a problem.
Peoooong!!!
Just as Minigun had boasted, it was an explosion powerful enough to cleanly blow away an armored car.
The drug addict's torn limbs and crushed artificial eyes fell from the air with a tududuk.
The battle was over.
"...."
Max suppressed the urge to lie down right then and there and went down to the garage.
The back door of the target truck was open.
What was packed tightly inside was a familiar item.
'White Rampage? How many are there?'
Were they trying to help another company's dispute?
Ghost Logic, which couldn't even take care of itself properly?
'This reeks. I'll pretend I didn't see this when I report.'
Max headed to the driver's seat.
After fiddling with the navigation and skimming through the documents piled on the passenger seat, there was only one destination.
'Gaia Food.'
It was a food company Max also remembered.
A company that targeted the poor, not the upper class, as customers. It wasn't an exaggeration to say they were responsible for the lower districts with their cheap food.
Even if they were small now, they would grow in size as one of their food items became a huge hit.
'It's a place that didn't really have any disputes in the past?'
He didn't know the reason why Gaia Food would need White Rampage.
And in such a large quantity at that.
'I'll just keep it in mind.'
Max searched the body of Minigun, whose body had been split in half, to find grenades and sticky bombs.
He pushed the things that would cause an explosion into the garage with Psychokinesis.
When he threw in a grenade, a firestorm erupted in the garage, melting everything.
Max, satisfied, called the Association.
"...Yes. Please send a vehicle. One will be enough."
..
..
After returning to the office, Max spent time recuperating and organizing.
The day he had promised Flora dawned.