Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: He's Not That Kind of Person (7)
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According to the original story, *Fixer*, when all sorts of metahumans crossed over to Earth.
Most of them were said to have been naturally bewildered by Earth's environment.
The reason was simple.
Unlike the other world, Earth's atmosphere had exceedingly scarce mana.
Much like how one suffers from altitude sickness due to a lack of oxygen in high-altitude regions.
For those who came from a place where the presence of mana was a given, it might have been an environment they found difficult to adapt to.
However, not all metahumans faced the same difficulty.
Among them were races that did not rely heavily on the mana in the atmosphere.
For instance, beastkin, orcs, and goblins, who were inept with mana from the start.
Dwarves and halflings, for whom mana was nice to have but who didn't particularly rely on magic.
And then there were dragons, who were essentially walking generators with hearts that gushed mana.
Those who didn't particularly need mana to live in the first place.
Or those who could solve the problem on their own were able to adapt quickly to Earth's environment.
And among them, the ones who overcame this difficulty in the most unique way were the vampires.
They were a race that used blood as a medium for their magic.
They could solve the problem of insufficient mana with more blood.
Therefore, while the power of most metahumans was uniformly diminished on Earth, vampires were able to stubbornly wield their formidable strength.
It was to the point that a staggering two of the world-renowned fugitives, commonly called the Seven Great Evils, were vampires.
In terms of their danger and strength, they could be considered one of the top metahuman races.
Of course, Drakel was not a vampire of such world-class caliber.
On the contrary, he was a rather old vampire, a ghost of the past who could no longer maintain his youth just by drinking blood.
The very fact that a prideful Noble Vampire was hiding in the underworld, plotting schemes, was a testament to how far his power had fallen from its peak.
‘…Ugh! As expected, the difference in firepower is too great. A direct hit would be devastating.’
A crimson spike flew at a speed that was difficult to track with my eyes.
Its power was so immense that simply blocking it would be a burden, forcing me to practically throw myself to the ground and roll away.
Even if he was past his prime, was it because he was simply on another level?
An attack that was merely a light jab for him was a fatal blow for me if I didn't dodge.
The overwhelming difference in our levels was enough to make my head spin.
‘Well, I already knew it would be like this.’
But I didn't feel any despair over that fact.
I was already aware that there were mountains of people stronger than me in this city.
And if everything in the world was decided by weight class alone, the rulers of Earth wouldn't be humanity, but African elephants!
‘Breaking the walls and floor for me… I could cry, I'm so grateful!’
Drakel's crimson spike was certainly a powerful attack.
So powerful, in fact, that a mere graze was enough to tear away the concrete walls and floor.
But this was actually a good thing for me.
Right now, I didn't have the luxury of using my psychokinesis to break through thick concrete walls.
His indiscriminate attacks were essentially creating weapons for me!
Holding my breath and sharpening my focus, I grabbed the fragments with my psychokinesis.
Then, as if scattering buckshot, I fired them forcefully toward Drakel.
"Hmph, what a pathetic trick…!"
Of course, vampires had a physical durability different from that of humans.
Drakel nullified my attack simply by waving his hand as if swatting a fly.
And perhaps sensing something strange about my psychokinesis.
He stared at me sharply with an expression of utter displeasure and muttered.
"Is this incantationless magic? No, I felt no movement of mana. I have never seen magic that operates in this manner."
"…"
"You! You're using some unknown power!"
It seemed that, having a fundamental knowledge of magic.
He had immediately noticed the essential difference between psychokinesis and magic.
I thought it was a good thing I'd hidden my power as much as possible until now, and at the same time, a firm resolve to finish Drakel here and now blossomed within me.
If I failed to finish him and let him escape.
What would follow… would surely be something I couldn't handle.
‘…First, it’s better to change locations.’
I fired concrete fragments like bullets to keep Drakel from approaching.
Dodging the crimson spikes flying from all directions, I leaped high into the air.
Perhaps seeing me suspended defenseless in mid-air as an opportunity.
Drakel made a massive crimson blade emerge from the spot where I was about to land, one that would be impossible to dodge.
But for me, who could continue to jump without falling thanks to psychokinesis, I simply bounced around at a high altitude, as if mocking him, and continued to fire fragments.
"How annoying… you little insect!"
Perhaps my constant pestering from a hair's breadth away had finally gotten to him.
Drakel's face twisted into a vicious scowl.
Using the thick blood flowing from his body as a foothold, he rapidly closed in on me.
He was so fast it was as if time had been fast-forwarded.
I paid no mind to the closing distance and continued to lead him upwards.
When we finally reached the rooftop.
I, having landed first, spread my psychokinesis as wide as possible to quickly take control of the space.
And the moment the furious Drakel arrived on the rooftop.
As if springing a set trap, I immediately bound his body tightly with my psychokinesis.
*Crrrack…!*
As if in the grasp of a transparent giant's hand, psychokinesis seized Drakel's entire body.
"You dare try such a foolish thing…! Did you really think you could do anything to me with something like this!"
But then, the thing I had feared happened.
As he tensed his entire body, my psychokinetic control began to waver.
So psychokinesis could be broken with greater force after all.
The moment I sensed I couldn't hold him for long, I unhesitatingly fired concrete fragments at the defenseless Drakel.
"Something like… this!"
"…"
*Crack! Cra-crack!*
Sharp concrete fragments, capable of easily denting a car, relentlessly battered Drakel's body.
Perhaps because, unlike before, he was now tightly bound by psychokinesis and unable to assume a defensive stance.
Drakel was instantly turned into a honeycomb, his body riddled with holes as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
For an ordinary person, it would have meant instant death.
Even for a beastkin with tenacious life force, it would have been a severe injury.
"Heh, heheh… Mwahahahat!"
But Drakel, despite his gruesome state, simply burst into laughter without a hint of anxiety.
To him, a vampire, and a Noble Vampire of superior blood at that, a few dozen holes in his body seemed to have no effect at all.
"…How long has it been since I last felt pain? Was it when that detestable traitor from my clan stabbed me in the back? Truly… it's a sensation I haven't felt in a long time."
"…"
"Excellent, Ghost. I admit I was underestimating you! To think you would make this body bleed. Consider it an honor, for from now on, I have no intention of holding back like before!"
On the contrary, Drakel seemed invigorated. Unlike his earlier treatment of me as a filthy insect, he now exuded a murderous intent filled with sincerity as he declared forcefully.
"I will be sure to turn you into a ghoul! Pray that your corpse remains intact, Ghost!"
‘What, this power!’
*Piiing!*
A ringing filled my ears as I felt my psychokinesis being forcibly broken.
A wave of nausea, as if my stomach were turning inside out, rose up, but.
I had no choice but to bite my tongue and force myself to stay sharp.
Because Drakel, now free from my psychokinesis, had scattered the blood that endlessly oozed from his body in all directions.
"Perform, Armarium!"
The scattered blood became thorns, blades, and axes.
Every imaginable type of bladed weapon filled the sky.
This was blood magic on a scale and level completely different from the forearm-sized spikes I had seen earlier.
Faster than I could think, I hastily retreated to the adjacent rooftop.
*CRASH!*
The rooftop where the crimson weapons fell was brutally destroyed, as if mauled by a giant wolf.
The power was so immense that the sheer pressure from the shockwave was enough to lift my body into the air.
Drakel's full power was beyond imagination.
Was this the strength of a monster, a named villain from the original story?
It was enough to make my own psychokinesis, which I had been somewhat confident in, feel pathetic.
‘Ugh, I can't… dodge them all.’
I barely maintained my focus, which was nearing its limit.
I had to somehow evade the onslaught of attacks and building debris that surged toward me like a tidal wave from all sides.
I had no choice. My body was too small and frail.
Even being hit by a small piece of debris could immediately become a fatal wound.
But in a situation where fierce attacks rained down like a storm, dodging everything was impossible.
I had no choice but to use my psychokinesis to protect myself from what I couldn't possibly avoid.
I had to move my body as much as possible, striving to evade any attack I could.
This alone made my entire body ache as if it had been thoroughly tenderized with a hammer.
The cloth covering my body was tattered like a rag.
‘It hurts…! And I’m already dizzy as hell…!’
My physical condition was at its absolute worst.
My head began to spin as if from vertigo, my focus finally reaching its limit from the continuous use of psychokinesis.
My body creaked and groaned in pain, as if I had tumbled down a flight of stairs.
And blood even trickled from various cuts on my pale skin that I hadn't noticed, stinging sharply.
At least nothing was broken or deeply cut for now…
Unfortunately, at this rate, that too would be a reality in the not-so-distant future.
"How boring, how dull! Do what you just showed me again!"
The intensely agitated Drakel cackled madly as he endlessly created more crimson weapons.
And just as weapons of all shapes were about to descend upon me from all directions again.
Through my consciousness, which felt like it could collapse at any moment, I saw a path.
‘The first condition to win against Drakel. Make him get serious.’
I used my psychokinesis to punch a hole in the rooftop floor, which had been weakened by Drakel's attacks, and hid inside the building.
My vision dropped, and I felt a tremor from above, as if an earthquake had struck.
It seems he didn't expect me to hide below.
But this was only a temporary measure, buying me just a few seconds at most.
‘A few seconds is enough.’
I grit my teeth and pushed forward, forcing my screaming body onward as if whipping it.
Meanwhile, Drakel, thinking I would try to escape outside, hammered the building's exterior walls with his crimson weapons as if to slice them off.
Thanks to that, I was able to reach the area directly below Drakel without any interference.
‘Ghost Punch!’
*BOOM!*
A condensed mass of psychokinesis shattered the floor Drakel was standing on.
Perhaps he hadn't expected me, who had been so careful to maintain distance, to suddenly get this close.
Drakel wore an expression of someone who hadn't anticipated this situation at all.
But by the time he realized it, it was too late.
I was already rocketing upward from the floor below!
"Ghost!"
*Swoosh.*
I reached a hand out from under the cloth, shaping it as if to deliver a forehead flick.
Perhaps because it was a gesture filled with the strong intent to attack him now.
Drakel, judging that he needed to block, naturally raised both arms to cover his face.
But, you know. That's not the target.
*P-CRACK!*
"Keuk!"
The psychokinetic flick, which I hadn't used in a while, struck the crown of Drakel's head like a thunderbolt.
Was this another unexpected blow? Drakel's body lurched forward.
It seemed my bit of showmanship had worked as a perfect feint. How naive.
‘With this… it’s done!’
I struck Drakel's wide-open chest with my dainty palm.
At the same time, a giant hand made of crimson blood slammed into me from the side.
I managed to block it with psychokinesis a beat too late.
But I felt an impact as if I'd been hit by a truck and was sent flying far into the distance.
It was a cross-counter with a trade-off so bad it was downright unfair.