Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: To Protect Everyone (7)
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A fused cyborg, created from three individuals merging into one.
Its presence was overwhelmingly more intense than any cyborg I had faced before.
I mean, it was more than twice my height and covered in bulging muscles.
It was bound to look stronger than its rather pathetic previous forms.
But even considering that, the difference in power before and after the fusion was striking.
It wasn't just its appearance that had changed; it had clearly become several times stronger.
Its durability might have even surpassed that of Victor, who was renowned for his toughness.
“Khahaha, you're the first to force us into this form! Our combined name is Trigus! You may be a skilled mage, but we'll make you feel the despair of having no attack that can harm us!”
“…”
No, three voices were echoing at once, so I couldn't understand a word. Just have one of you talk.
I gave a wry look at Trigus's unintelligible shout.
Well… it was probably just useless drivel anyway. It looked pretty stupid, to be honest.
So, paying it no mind, I simply recalled and refocused my scattered psychokinesis.
But it seemed it had no intention of waiting.
Trigus pulled its arms back and charged straight at me.
“Khahahaha! I'll turn every last one of you into mincemeat!”
“W-Waaah! I-It's coming!”
“It's dangerous!”
The force of Trigus's charge was terrifying.
It was so powerful that the ground cracked with every step it took.
How could such a massive body move so quickly?
Without my psychokinesis, even a glancing blow to my shoulder would have been a serious injury.
Unfortunately, however, I couldn't run away with the enemy right in front of me.
The examinees, exhausted and battered from the aftermath of the fight, were still behind me.
If I just dodged out of the way, what would happen to them?
Hmm, an outcome I'd rather not imagine came to mind. The worst.
‘Tch, I wanted to avoid a head-on fight… but I have no choice.’
Extending my left hand forward, I leaped toward the charging Trigus.
Of course, I wasn't using my own pathetic leg strength.
I had simply lifted my body with psychokinesis and launched myself forward.
Perhaps because my frame was small and light, and because I used psychokinesis to push away the burdensome air resistance.
I managed to fly right up to Trigus's face in an instant.
“Fearless, are we… I'll flatten you first!”
Had its reflexes sharpened when it merged into one body?
Surprisingly, Trigus's eyes followed my movements perfectly.
And what came next was a thick arm, like a mace.
A devastating blow that carried a tremendous amount of air pressure just from its movement.
It was like a bunker buster that could shatter a mountain, a strike that made defense meaningless.
‘I knew this would happen. That's why I saved some energy.’
Idiot. A wide, horizontal swing would have been much harder to deal with.
I increased the output of my psychokinesis and slipped to Trigus's side before its fist could smash the ground.
CRASH! A tremendous impact and a tremor shook the earth.
The blow was so powerful that fragments of the ground shot up dizzyingly.
But swinging with such force inevitably meant creating an opening!
I extended my psychokinesis toward Trigus's exposed back.
The distance between us was only a few meters.
At this range, there was no way it could escape the grasp of my psychokinesis.
‘Got it. I'll rip the wings off its back!’
CRUNCH!
I thrust my left hand forward and clenched my fist, visualizing the action.
My psychokinesis applied immense pressure to the round wings on Trigus's back.
My plan was to yank the wings downward with all my might and forcibly tear them off.
The maximum output of my psychokinesis was monstrous, enough to crush even steel rebar.
No matter how durable this cyborg was, it couldn't withstand this power. Or so I thought.
“Ugh, what is this…! It's useless!”
“...!”
But the result that followed left me dumbfounded.
As the captured Trigus struggled and twisted its body, the output of my psychokinesis began to wane.
It was as if my own power was telling me I couldn't go any further.
The result was deeply troubling, as if it were saying just that.
“You damn gnat!”
Realizing it had no way to break free from the psychokinesis itself, Trigus flailed its arms in the air.
Its face contorted as it picked up a nearby rock and hurled it at me with all its might.
Since it couldn't interfere with the formless psychokinesis.
It seemed its plan was to disrupt me, the user, to make me release my hold.
This was very bad news for me, but it was a rather effective judgment on its part.
‘So it's not just a simple brute.’
My psychokinesis requires intense concentration and willpower.
If that concentration were somehow disturbed or broken, my power would naturally weaken.
Therefore, I retracted the psychokinesis from the cyborg to create a barrier and deflect the fragments.
I took a deep breath to compose myself and continued to think.
‘So the wings weren't a weak point. They looked thin and fragile, too…’
I slowly backed away, maintaining my distance from the charging Trigus, rock in hand.
Part of the reason was to keep it in check with psychokinesis while searching for a weak point to exploit.
The other was to lure this troublesome monster away from the examinees.
After firing off my psychokinesis several times while desperately searching for Trigus's weakness, I came to a conclusion.
That as things stood, I had no chance of winning.
“Khaha! You've been looking for a weak point, but one of my combined abilities is body manipulation! Therefore, my perfect physique has no weaknesses! How troublesome for you, you little rat of a mage!”
I had a feeling, but it seems I was right.
It appeared that when the three cyborgs fused, their abilities merged as well.
The diving beetle-like cyborg from before clearly had the ability to harden its body.
If I assume another one had the ability to act as the core for the fusion...
...then the last one must have possessed the ability to reshape its body at will.
In that case, finding a weak point would indeed be difficult.
It could just tuck its vulnerable parts deep inside its body, and that alone would be a formidable defense.
‘…This is a terrible matchup for my psychokinesis. In the end, there's a limit to its output. There's no way I can overcome that ridiculous physical defense.’
As I thought, this was the problem with psychokinesis.
I can easily defeat opponents weaker than me, no matter how many there are.
But I can't defeat a single powerful enemy that my psychokinesis can't handle.
To think I can't do anything without relying on the Tesseract.
This has been a chronic problem, one that's persisted ever since my first fight with Drakel.
I wonder if the fused Trigus, right in the middle of our fight, noticed this as well.
It continued to hurl debris at me to disrupt my psychokinesis, speaking in a mocking tone.
“Khahaha, looks like you're starting to struggle. Your power is getting weaker.”
“…”
“For your information, I can keep rampaging for hours! I'll just hold out until the end and beat you to a pulp! Ah, but that face of yours is quite nice. I'll cut off your head and display just the face like an ornament! Khahahaha!”
As if in response to its words, I stopped circling the cyborg.
Trigus let out a grotesque laugh, thinking I had fallen for its taunt.
Then, it opened its stance wide and charged recklessly toward me.
It must have concluded from its experience with my psychokinesis that I couldn't possibly breach its defenses.
In a way, it was a fairly logical assumption.
If it ignored defense and went all-in on offense, it would be that much harder for me to dodge.
And if it could just take me out, the examinees here wouldn't be able to defeat it.
In other words, this was a calculation based on rational judgment.
And that was exactly what I needed.
‘It took a little while... but thankfully, it's been over three minutes.’
Muttering this to myself, I glanced down at the palm of my clenched right hand.
There, a strange, pure white mirage shimmered, like something transparent was wavering.
An instability so great that it felt like it would vanish forever if my concentration faltered for even a moment.
But within that instability was a presence like a single, blazing sun.
“Ghahahaha! Dieeeee!”
“...!”
Trigus charged with ferocious momentum, as if to crush the very ground beneath it.
Having waited for the perfect moment, I thrust my right hand, holding the mirage, toward it as it closed in.
Perhaps it was because I had been persistently keeping my distance and firing off psychokinesis, like a cat teasing its prey, rather than throwing a single punch.
Trigus was a fraction of a second too late to react to my outstretched hand...
...and that became the decisive, fatal mistake that settled the match.
“Uh, ugh...? Kugh, uwaaaah!”
CRUUUNCH!
With a dizzying blast that felt like my body was lifting off the ground, the flesh in front of my right palm disintegrated.
It was as if its skin, which had been impervious to every attack until now, was being ground away by a drill, like cookie crumbs.
And I couldn't completely escape the aftereffects of that power either.
A minuscule residual current flowing from the mirage tore sharply into my right arm and shoulder.
I couldn't help but grimace as my blood splattered into the air.
But compared to Trigus, which now had a gaping hole in its chest, my injuries were practically a scratch.
“K-Kuh… I-Impossible… Th-The ultimate being… I…”
Clutching my lightly shredded right arm, I quickly hopped backward.
It was a fatal blow, but Trigus was still conscious.
I needed to avoid getting caught in any last-ditch attacks.
But perhaps because the organs in the center of its chest, from front to back, had been utterly pulverized...
...Trigus only coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground.
“D-Did he do it...?”
“That person… he took down the monster in a single blow!”
“Uooooh! We're alive! We're alive!”
I guess the outcome was obvious even from a distance.
I could faintly hear the joyful voices of the examinees.
Yeah, seeing them so happy... makes practicing my ultimate move in secret feel worthwhile.
Well, they're probably more happy about the fact that they're still alive.
‘This is the first time I've used it in a real fight… It's pretty taxing. I didn't expect the recoil to be this strong.’
Alright, let's review.
The issue of my psychokinesis's firepower has been holding me back for a long time.
With Drakel, with Victor, with Lexi…
I've had more than a few experiences where I felt utterly helpless because my psychokinesis didn't work on someone stronger than me.
They say even a cornered mouse will bite a cat.
It's just too frustrating to be unable to struggle at all before a powerful foe, isn't it?
That's why I came up with this.
By condensing the outward-pushing force of my psychokinesis into an infinitesimally small point, I can draw out firepower exceeding my normal output…
Ah, this is an evolution of the psychokinetic flick I developed before.
If I had to give it a name, it would be something like Psychokinetic Flick Max.
‘The name is a bit lame, but its power is at least several times my psychokinesis's normal output. It's more than worthy of being called an ultimate move.’
Of course, being an ultimate move didn't mean it only had advantages.
First, the consumption of mental energy and concentration is absurd.
And it takes over three minutes of concentration just to use it once.
Crucially, this Psychokinetic Flick Max can't leave my palm.
Which means I have to risk my own body and lunge at the enemy to use it.
It only worked this time because my opponent left himself wide open.
If Trigus had been even a little more cautious and tried to keep its distance, it probably would have failed.
To think I have to accept so many drawbacks just to increase my firepower a little.
It's a technique I really can't use unless it's a situation like this.
‘My right arm hurts… Still, just in case, I should probably put off healing it for now.’
I cautiously approached Trigus, with the large hole in its chest.
And with a solid psychokinetic barrier in place, I confirmed that all its life signs had completely stopped.
Man, winning one fight is really tough.
Feeling that more than half of my concentration was already gone, I let out a shallow sigh.
Just then, David, realizing the situation was over, approached me.