Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: To Protect Everyone (3)
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The foundation of alchemy lies in mixing things together to create something new.
There were no specific standards for what could be used in this process.
It could be special flowers and the organs of a creature.
It could be a stone from which mana springs forth and embers that never extinguish.
The alchemist's only desire was the absurd dream of creating the most perfect thing in the world.
To achieve that goal, mixing humans with other living beings was no difficult task.
Mira had once sought out all kinds of knowledge to improve her skills in various ways.
Thus, she was belatedly able to comprehend the being before her eyes.
‘Don't tell me this is one of those alchemically modified humans I've only heard about…!’
Alchemy, a discipline that handled mana in a way truly different from magic.
Among its branches, bio-alchemy, the art of mixing living beings, was one of the forbidden fields.
If this were the other world, it would be a matter for the Holy Knights to immediately rush in and lay waste to everything…
Those guys really don't care about the means, as long as they achieve their ends.
Just as I thought, villains threatening the world behind the noble-sounding shield of fighting "for metahumans."
Mira’s hostility toward the Metahuman Liberation Army deepened even further.
“Gheh! If you’re not coming, then I’ll come to you!”
But allowing her thoughts to drift while facing an enemy was a surefire way to reveal an opening.
As Mira hesitated, bewildered by the phenomenon of her magic being drained of its mana.
Brugus charged toward her without a second thought, his massive body thudding against the ground.
“Drat, Framea…!”
“Too late! The woman becomes my meal!”
Mira’s race was Mano.
They were a metahuman race weak to sunlight, who had lived by creating spaces underground since ancient times.
Perhaps because they had to adapt to the harsh subterranean environment.
Her body was far more resilient than that of an ordinary magician.
But that resilience was in no way comparable to a Peacekeeper who had dedicated his life to physical training.
So if Brugus, who had beaten that man to a pulp, closed the distance… she had no chance of winning.
‘Tch, at this rate, I’m done for…! And there are still so many who haven't evacuated to the Sky Garden yet…!’
It was a truly desperate crisis.
No matter how skilled a magician she was, it was all meaningless if she was taken down before she could cast a spell.
Brugus was a monstrous man, over two meters tall with a body like solid rock.
Magic didn’t work on him, and struggling here was pointless.
Is this… the end?
Just as she was half-resigned to her fate, a faint sound reached her ears.
It was like… the distinct sound of a lone wolf dashing through the underbrush.
“Gah?”
“...!”
Fwoosh!
What shot out like a bolt of lightning from between the densely packed trees was a flash of pink.
And that swift flash, leaving an afterimage in its wake, drew a graceful arc as it aimed for Brugus’s neck.
Unable to grasp the situation, Brugus stopped in his tracks out of instinctual danger.
He raised his hands, as thick as cauldron lids, and covered his neck.
As a result, the blade that struck a beat later only managed to carve a wound into his palm.
‘Is… is that… an examinee?’
Only after the sudden flash’s attack was blocked by Brugus did Mira realize.
Its source was the pink-haired girl she had met during the first assignment, Alice.
To think she’d be saved by an examinee.
While Mira was a beat late in understanding the situation, Alice clicked her tongue and lightly retreated.
This was because an enraged Brugus was swinging his arms wildly, brutally sweeping the surrounding ground.
“…Tch, I lost a precious chance to pierce his throat in one go.”
“Graaaaargh! How dare you wound my precious body! Unforgivable!”
Crack!
His vicious forearms, as thick as oak barrels, snapped the trunks of trees in two.
It was a storm of power that would turn a person into a gruesome mess on the spot.
But Alice calmly watched Brugus’s movements.
She weaved in and out at a hair's breadth, drawing him toward her.
When Brugus, his patience finally worn thin, raised both hands and charged recklessly at her.
Alice flowed into his guard with a movement as natural as a dance.
“This little gnat is so… Ugh!”
“Looks like the gnats you know can also sting with a sharp needle, huh?”
“Guuuh!”
Shk-shk-shk!
A series of follow-up thrusts rained down upon Brugus’s wide-open body.
As if tenderizing pork, Alice’s swordsmanship minced his flesh.
But she soon had to roll away to escape.
Brugus had thrown his body forward as if he didn’t care whether he was stabbed or not.
My sister went to great lengths to sharpen this blade, and all it does is leave scratches?
Alice was flabbergasted by his skin, which seemed to be made of some kind of alloy.
“Aaargh! I won’t forgive you! How dare a wo-woman do this to meee! A woman is supposed to praise me!”
“Woow… Looking at you, I don't think any woman would want to praise you…”
“Shut uuuup!”
Boom!
An agitated Brugus raised both fists high into the air and slammed them into the ground with all his might.
The force was so strong that Alice staggered, her balance faltering on the shaking earth.
If I take a direct hit from that, it could be dangerous…
As she thought this, breaking into a cold sweat, Mira suddenly shouted from behind her.
“Examinee, over there! Get back! Centrum Satellites!”
“Ah, yes!”
“You won’t esca— Wha-whoa?! What is all this?!”
At her shout, Alice leaped back without any hesitation.
The moment she did, all sorts of objects flew toward Brugus with terrifying speed as he reached out for her.
It was a gravity spell that turned the target into a center of attraction for all nearby objects.
Its lethality was far lower than her previous spells, but it was incredibly effective at hindering movement.
As the retreating Alice safely reached Mira’s side, Mira spoke with a voice full of sincerity.
“Phew, thank you so much. If it weren't for your help, I would have been done for. But… your skills are incredible. You’re at the level of an active Fixer.”
“Ah, haha… I’m not that good, Examiner.”
Perhaps because they had met during the first assignment of the Fixer exam.
The two were able to quickly identify each other as allies without much conversation.
So, rather than talk, let's first join forces to take down the monster before us.
Alice pointed the two swords she had drawn from her waist at Brugus and asked Mira a question.
“Examiner. Does that guy have some kind of special ability? I’m sure he must…”
“How did you… No, that man definitely said he absorbs mana from magic. I suppose that must be the special ability you’re talking about.”
“Mana from magic…?! That’s… a truly absurd ability.”
Alice frowned, a look of bewilderment on her face.
Having already encountered three of these self-proclaimed modified humans.
She knew that the ridiculous ability to absorb mana was real.
And seeing the Peacekeeper lying battered on the ground, his physical abilities were clearly nothing to scoff at.
That meant magic was useless, but winning without magic would be difficult as well.
He really is an opponent that even an active Fixer would struggle against.
As Alice’s thoughts raced, she glanced at Mira and spoke.
“Examiner, I know this is a sudden request… but could you play along with a little act? I have a trump card that might just work on him.”
“An… an act…? Uh, um. I understand. The situation is urgent, so I’ll do as you say for now.”
She looked puzzled by Alice’s sudden request.
Asking her to act when that fat monster could charge at them at any moment?
Her bewilderment was doubled by the fact that Alice hadn’t explained the details, likely due to the urgency of the situation.
Brugus, who had been swatting away the tree branches and rocks continuously flying at him due to Mira’s gravity spell.
Finally noticed that magic had been cast on his body and opened his mouth wide to absorb the mana.
Brugus then snapped his head around and spotted Alice and Mira in their strategy meeting.
Spreading his arms wide, he charged toward the two, thumping heavily as he shouted.
“I’ve had enough! I’ll tear you both apart at once and stuff you in my mouth!”
“There’s no way an enemy immune to magic exists in this world! Enchantress Flare!”
“…Huh? Oh, uh. You’re… you’re right! St-stop her! He’s dangerous!”
Vweeeen!
With a high-pitched frequency that tickled the ears, Alice’s sword began to glow with a pure white light.
It looked as if it were wreathed in the holy power that had long since vanished from the world.
Despite his ability to devour mana, Brugus knew little about magic.
His body simply had the constitution to forcibly rip mana from spells; he couldn't use the mana he absorbed.
But even to a layman like him, a sword glowing that brightly could only be the result of magic.
‘Hmph? I see… you don’t know! That young woman doesn’t know I can eat mana!’
Brugus’s unpleasantly featured face twisted into a smirk.
It seemed that since she hadn't witnessed him nullifying Mira’s magic with her own eyes.
She planned to use her own magic to test the truth of the matter.
‘Ghehehek! I’ll give you a taste of despair that no amount of struggling can overcome!’
In that case, this was a golden opportunity for him.
Her sword had only managed to scratch his skin earlier, anyway.
If he absorbed the magic enveloping the blade, he judged that he could take the hit with his body.
Thus, Brugus spread his arms, brazenly exposing his body as if inviting her to attack.
While she’s panicking over her blade being stuck in my body, I’ll crush that slender frame with all my might!
Unfortunately for him, that would be Brugus’s final thought.
Slice!
Brugus’s body was cut diagonally from shoulder to waist, as if it were room-temperature butter.
His massive frame simply collapsed backward, guts and blood spilling out in a futile display.
“Gah, gaah…? Wh-why… my body… Ma-magic isn’t supposed to… work…”
“That’s because this isn’t magic. Ever heard of plasma? Ah, maybe you don’t know much about science?”
“Ghe-ge-gek… Impossible…”
The reason Alice’s attack worked on the modified human Brugus, who absorbed magic, was extremely simple.
In the first place, Alice had a rare constitution for a metahuman: no mana flowed through her body.
Therefore, what flowed through her sword was not magic… but plasma, generated by consuming fuel.
No matter how tough a body is, unless it's on a completely different level like a dragon's, even the strongest defense is meaningless before the ultimate firepower of a living being.
His fatal mistake was assuming it was magic based on Alice and Mira’s incredibly clumsy acting.
“That… was amazing… I never knew you could generate such firepower without magic.”
“Haha, but this thing… its fuel consumption is pretty bad, so it’s hard to use unless the opponent takes it head-on like that. If he’d been even a little suspicious, I probably would have only managed to cut off his arm.”
We were lucky, Alice said, scratching her head with an embarrassed look.
Then, as if remembering something she had forgotten, she shouted loudly in the direction she had come from.
“It’s safe over here now! Everyone, hurry!”
“Hey, Miss Examinee. Who are you telling to hurry…?”
A somewhat weary Mira tilted her head in confusion.
Just then, a group of people emerged from the direction Alice was waving.
A quick glance revealed more than ten people, and there were even two or three fairies among them.
Mira understood immediately. She realized they were the stranded examinees.
“Is… is it really safe?”
“Eek! A c-corpse!”
“This one… looks similar to the modified human we saw earlier…”
“Ex-Examiner Mira! Miss Alice, you did it!”
The examinees, looking battered and worn, showed expressions of pure joy at Mira’s presence.
With dangerous individuals roaming the Sky Garden.
The fact that an active Fixer had come to their aid was an immense relief.
But their joy was short-lived.
One of them suddenly noticed a strange woman walking out from deeper within the forest.
“Uh, there’s someone over there…”
The group’s gaze naturally shifted toward the stranger.
Could it be another stranded examinee? Or another enemy?
As their wariness grew, the woman’s figure came into full view.
“Oh my, Brugus is dead? I thought he would have lasted quite a while… Well, I suppose this is the fate of a defective product that can absorb mana but can’t even use magic.”
The woman who emerged from between the trees had her hair in a slicked-back ponytail.
In silhouette, she might have looked like an ordinary human woman.
But the six eyes on her face and the four arms growing from her back made her abnormality terrifyingly clear.
Mira immediately gathered her mana to be ready to cast a spell, stepping to the very front of the group and asking with a serious face.
“…A modified human?”
“Correct. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to ask you all to die. You’re getting in the way of Lady Olvis’s objective.”
Kzzzzzt…!
At the ends of the four arms extending from her back, mana condensed to a degree that was visible to the naked eye.
The pressure was so intense that its heat could be felt even from a great distance.
This is… dangerous!
The instant Alice, who recognized the terror of that mana better than anyone, raised her sword, the situation was already over.
“What, a dud? Stop shooting off lights like that, it’s confusing. You annoying pests.”
“Ugh…?! Who— Kyaaaaah!”
Krrrumble!
With a flash like a lightning strike, the woman with the ponytail was suddenly charred black, her eyes rolled back in her head.
And from the very back of the group, a single, overwhelming presence walked forward nonchalantly.
Alice, sweating from the completely unexpected turn of events, let the tension drain from her body with a hollow laugh.
After all, this familiar, overwhelming power… belonged to only one person she knew.
“You kids have been through a lot. Leave the rest to the adults and get some rest.”
It was the arrival of the walking disaster, Tempest.