Chapter 15
Chapter 15
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: I Don't Like Hurting People (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This was my first real battle since crossing into this world. What I needed right now was calm and cold precision. Even if the enemy in front of me was human, I had no room for hesitation.
The moment I took a step forward, the entire building began to freeze over. Considering this rooftop was the stage for facing this guy, it might seem a bit over the top.
Ae-ae-eng-
It was to trigger the villain alarm. The siren that blared whenever ability usage exceeded a certain threshold. Now that it was ringing, there was no need to fight quietly. The guy seemed to realize it too—beneath his black face, his mouth split into a sly grin.
"Not planning on keeping it quiet, huh?"
"My ability isn't the quiet type."
"Fine by... me."
With that as the signal, the black orb forming in his hand grew even larger. The rooftop was crumbling, the building collapsing. His ability was that dangerous.
Creeeak-
Before overwhelming power, human life was fragile. But conversely—that same power could protect those lives. I froze the outer walls of the collapsing building. People scrambling out in panic—thankfully few in number, they all evacuated in moments.
Then the building collapsed. My body plummeted, floating buoyantly as it tore through the air. He was in the same boat. But neither of us saw this as the end in each other's eyes.
...Tricky one. His attacks shattered before they could land. Ice spikes rising from the ground, arrows scattering from the sky—they all crumbled upon touching the black sphere.
"Just like in the original story."
He absorbed any attack that entered his vision. What caught my eye was the slight tear in his clothing. Probably from an attack coming from behind. Just like in the original, he couldn't absorb what he didn't see.
In that case—make it invisible. With that thought, I clenched my fist. A scene from the manga—he'd used sand back then, if I remembered right.
Ice pillars erupted from the ground. They charged fiercely as if to impale him, only to shatter against the black sphere in an instant. But then, an ice orb swallowed his body whole. For a split second—the briefest moment. The instant I clenched my fist, hundreds of spikes burst from within the sphere, stabbing into him.
Puuk-
A transparent ice orb formed, red blood staining its surface. But it just beaded there, neither flowing nor pooling—an ambiguous amount that made me frown.
He's still alive.
The thought had barely formed when a powerful suction pulled from behind. A black sphere had appeared there without warning. When did he slip out...? Not that I'd expected that to take him down.
"That one hurt a bit."
"Good."
I exhaled ice and retreated. What I saw was the guy, slightly changed from before. His bowler hat and scarf in tatters, revealing his full black face.
"...It's been a while since it got this bad. That was my favorite hat."
"Too bad."
Despite calling it his favorite, he flung the torn hat to the ground with a flick. As his scarf unraveled, fully exposing his face, he let out a deep, relieved breath and spoke.
"I came here tailored to that Zenon guy. Things got a bit messed up. You know something about it, right?"
"...I just came because someone told me not to go."
"Sigh. Yeah, telling someone not to do something just makes them want to more. Anyway, since the plan's derailed, mind if we speed things up a bit?"
At his words, I glanced around. Several new faces had appeared—ones that weren't there before.
A gang-up? Didn't see that coming. Bitterness rose from my throat into my mouth. Taking down even one black hole user was tough—now multiples? As I rubbed my arms, my body felt noticeably colder, though not drastically. Still, far beyond a normal person's.
Since my ability lowered my body temperature with use, I couldn't maintain peak firepower forever. Aisha didn't just spew ice either... Could I pull off her style?
I could manage one big technique...
The hesitation was brief. About ten surrounding me. A single big burst might take a few, but not all. I dispelled the ice barriers around me and stared at the black-faced guy.
"Giving up already? Well, we'd prefer no fight. In return..."
"Not giving up."
Kwaduduk-
A small ice pillar rose before me. It shattered into shards, sculpted like an artist meticulously carving with perfect precision, gradually taking form.
What emerged was a single sword.
Its long, transparent blade let everything show through, as if drawing in the surrounding scenery. The arc it traced in the air was blue, its path holding the night itself. To the villains, the scene looked like a work of art—they stared dumbfounded.
Aisha called her swords by name each time she drew one. I remembered seven in total. This, the first, was named:
Sword Number 1: Moonlit Night Sword.
A name that suited this night perfectly. I'd never held a sword before, yet my grip was straight and poised, as if trained. When the tip pointed at one villain, my body shot forward.
#
Panic.
That was the emotion stirring in the villains. Under Hera Carmen's orders—the goal had probably been to take out that male student, Zenon Carmen. The moment some girl showed up, the plan went sideways.
'Isn't the practical exam in pairs?'
That's when Hera's words came to mind.
-Those two are on the rocks. They'll probably split up.
Meaning this girl came alone. He ramped up his power to end it quick, but her response was unexpected.
Ae-ae-eng-
She deliberately triggered the alarm. Maybe to call other heroes, but that wasn't her only goal. Freezing the whole building—it was a setup to unleash massive firepower.
Zenon's ability was 'exploding anything he touched,' while his was 'black hole.' The orbs he created absorbed anything within his field of vision. Great against Zenon, but...
'...Fuck.'
He couldn't close in. Ice arrows flying from the sky, spikes from the ground, spears from above—they pinned him in place with clear intent. As if she knew his ability's conditions inside out. Attacks from behind increased.
Abilities had limits. Augmentation or mutation types taxed the body; generation types like his drained the mind. But this girl ignored her limits, endlessly firing devastating ice.
'Limit reached.'
As that thought hit, a massive ice orb engulfed him. Ding—a warning bell in his head. He had to evade now. A simple black hole wouldn't dodge this...!
In a flash, he phased through with his black hole for a teleport, but couldn't land a hit on her. One-on-one was too much. Judging that, he called in the backup villains for just such a moment.
Ten including himself—surely enough to handle her. With that confidence, he eyed her leisurely. Warm weather contrasted her cold breaths, frosting the air.
She's at her limit—
He had no choice but to think so. After using her ability that much, she had to be tiring. Sure enough, she cleared the surrounding ice.
Things were going his way. As he approached, saying so, an ice pillar rose. Still resisting? He clicked his tongue. Would've been better to surrender. Ten villains versus one student—the odds were clear.
The girl gripped the sword sculpted from the pillar and aimed it at them.
"Haha."
Foolish. Didn't she even calculate the odds? He squeezed out his last strength to form a black orb. That ice sword would decompose before touching—
Seogeuk-
Before his thought finished, he saw something flying through the air. Spraying blood, connected to someone's wrist.
It didn't take long to realize that wrist had once been his.