Dark Moon
"Damn it. He's already 3-Class? Suitability rate of at least seventy percent. 211, 14 — grab any allies still breathing and fall back. I'll handle him myself."
Belhaga's order dropped like a hammer. My plan to hang back and watch the situation unfold went up in smoke on the spot.
Disobeying a direct order is serious… No choice, then.
I started running again.
I reached the battlefield amid the ruined city. The situation was worse than I'd imagined. Numbers 72 and 105 were dead. Number 54 had his right arm and left leg torn off — a few more minutes and he'd be gone. Number 14 was the only one still intact. His body was soaked in blood, but at least all his limbs were attached.
I sprinted over to 14 and helped him support 54.
Neros was locked in combat with Instructor Belhaga.
"211…! At this rate, 54's going to die!"
"…We already finished first aid. All we can do is get him to the rear. Whether he makes it is up to him now."
14's face twisted. Looking at that expression — like he was about to burst into tears any second — he and 54 must have been close.
I kept my mouth shut. Anything I said here would only earn me 14's resentment for nothing.
As we moved toward the rear, I stole glances at the fight between Neros and Instructor Belhaga. Neros was estimated at 3-Class; Belhaga was 4-Class. By any common sense, Belhaga should have crushed him outright — but reality rarely bothers with common sense.
Amazingly, Neros and Belhaga were fighting as equals.
Belhaga swung a fist. Neros didn't dodge — he met it with a punch crackling with electricity. The one driven back wasn't Neros. It was Belhaga.
"Of all things, a Lightning Dragon lineage. My luck today is absolute garbage."
"Hahaha! This is the power of a dragon!"
Neros was laughing. His eyes rolled wildly, like a junkie high on something.
"Drunk on power, are you? Well, fair enough. You got your hands on strength like that in an instant."
It was an elemental mismatch.
Neros was a Lightning Dragon of the thunder attribute. Belhaga was a Water-attribute Battle Mage. The advantage belonged to Neros.
"Water Wall."
A pillar of water erupted from beneath Belhaga's feet. He rode it skyward. Frost gathered around his right fist. Putting his full weight behind the blow, Belhaga drove his fist down at Neros.
"Ice Shock."
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Everything below Neros's head froze solid. He didn't lose his composure. Looking down at his own iced-over body, he just smiled.
"I am a dragon. Did you really think something like this could kill me?"
"We're just getting started. Bubble Room."
Water droplets wrapped around Neros's body. Belhaga drew his fist back right in front of him.
"My water punches hurt. A lot."
The instant before Belhaga threw the punch, the ice and water droplets gripping Neros shattered. The fragments drove into Belhaga's body. Gritting his teeth, Belhaga still drove his fist home.
BOOOOM!
Neros's right shoulder swelled — then burst. He'd lost his entire right arm from the shoulder down.
"GAAAAAAAH!"
Neros screamed. Belhaga grinned. Certain of victory, he raised a finishing fist — and that fist never came forward. Neros's long, razor-sharp tail had punched straight through Belhaga's body.
"…A tail that wasn't there a second ago? Even for a mutation, that's too fast. It wasn't high suitability after all… It was a rampage…"
Belhaga's body collapsed. Neros didn't grant him a clean death. As if avenging his right arm, he tore Belhaga apart with his remaining arm and tail.
We're screwed.
Belhaga had died far too quickly. He needed to buy us at least five minutes — and not even one had passed. 14, 54, and I hadn't even put a hundred meters between us and Neros.
"We need backup… We have to call for support!"
14 hammered the radio. It was dead. I couldn't see them, but I could feel mana and magnetic force blanketing the area. The source was obviously Neros.
To get a signal out, we'd have to leave this space entirely. Problem is, that's impossible.
Neros's gaze was already locked on us. His legs slammed into the ground. With a boom that shook the earth, he was on us in an instant.
"…211. Take care of 54."
14 yanked the dagger strapped to his thigh and charged Neros. There was no time to stop him. Neros watched 14's movement and snorted a laugh. A reptilian left hand — already far past human form — swept forward wreathed in current. 14's head went flying. It tumbled through the air and hit the ground with a wet thud.
He hadn't lasted a single second.
A dog's death.
The words wouldn't leave my head.
"Just you left, then. You're the one who blew my men's heads off, aren't you? I won't kill you as easily as the others."
Just me?
I realized belatedly that 54 was already dead. There was no reason to keep supporting a corpse. I let go. 54's body dropped limply to the ground.
And my future's going to look just like that.
The situation was hopeless enough to make me want to give up entirely. But rather than die quietly, I decided to thrash until the end.
I clenched my pistol tight. Neros's body still hadn't fully shaken off Ice Shock. Everything below the head was locked in blue ice.
A body that doesn't die to Ice Shock… So the eyes. You can't train eyes. I should be able to put a bullet through them.
The odds of success were paper-thin. This was a monster that could sense and deflect a sniper shot from a kilometer away.
Thud.
Neros walked toward me, savoring the moment.
"Hole."
The ground dropped out. Neros's right foot plunged into the pit. His body lurched. I aimed for his eyes and pulled the trigger.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
The slide cycled, spitting rounds. Neros shielded his eyes with his forearm. The bullets that hit his arm ricocheted off and clattered across the ground.
"Keheh. I knew the second you locked onto my eyes. Not bad — but clumsy."
I kept pulling the trigger. On the off chance, I aimed for the vitals — throat, heart, groin. Useless.
Click-click.
Empty. Neros closed in and swung a fist. The bracelet Lexy had given me flared, activating a 4-Class barrier. CLANG! The barrier caught the blow.
"A barrier, is it? Amusing. Let's see how long it holds."
"……"
While the barrier held, I searched for a way out.
…There is a way. The conditions are met. All but one.
What I lacked was time.
I didn't have nearly enough of it to construct a spell formula.
No matter how hard I wracked my brain, there was no way to buy more. My last resort — the 4-Class barrier — would shatter within thirty seconds.
Time. I need time…!
In that desperate moment — as if a god had decided to bless me — time slowed. Neros's fists hammering the barrier crawled. The barrier itself, shuddering under the impacts, became visible to the naked eye.
Charna
Remaining Stacks: 6
A notification window floated before my eyes — similar to a game system window.
Charna?
The moment I moved my hand without thinking, I snapped back into normal time. I registered that my hand had moved at tremendous speed.
Temporary cognitive acceleration and physical acceleration? To awaken another ability at a moment like this…
A smile tugged at my mouth.
Neros paused. He studied me with vertical reptilian pupils, then tilted his head.
"Gone mad with fear?"
"…Heh. The conditions are set. Looks like the gods play favorites."
"Definitely lost it."
I activated Charna.
Charna
Remaining Stacks: 5
Neros's fists slowed again.
In that stretched world, I opened my Astral. I accepted the awakening I'd been forcibly holding back. My Astral expanded, growing sharper and clearer. Seven additional mana roads unfurled through my body.
With that, I rose to 2-Class — twelve mana roads in total. The moment I stirred mana through them, Charna ended and real time resumed.
Using the mana roads ends Charna. Astral belongs to the mind, so it isn't affected?
I roughly understood.
Charna
Remaining Stacks: 4
I triggered Charna again. In the elongated time, I calculated the spell formula.
It was complex. And there was a hard limit to the formulas I could compute — my magical knowledge itself was shallow. But given enough time, it was enough. The core of the formula, I would cover with my ability.
The magnetic force blanketing the area. The mana he's scattered everywhere. The conditions are more than sufficient.
Just as Belhaga had said, Neros was in a rampage state. He couldn't control the mana he'd flung in every direction. I opened my Astral fully and seized the abandoned lightning mana. My talent made it trivial. Neros never noticed — not even at the end.
The formula was complete. All twelve mana roads spun up, weaving the spell. Simultaneously, I unleashed the ability that generated thunderbolts. Ability and formula fused into a single magic.
HMMMM.
The atmosphere vibrated. My hair stood on end, foreshadowing something terrible.
Neros's leisurely expression hardened in an instant. He looked up. A magic circle hung in the sky. Lightning from all around was gathering toward its center.
The magic circle looks flashy, but the formula composing it is only 2-Class. The real core is the ability that generates thunderbolts.
That idiot dragon-kin had scattered lightning mana everywhere for me — the output problem was solved.
All that's left is time. And the 4-Class barrier is buying me that.
Sensing something wrong, Neros dropped the act and concentrated mana into his one remaining hand. Current crackled viciously around his fist.
The 4-Class barrier shattered. The shockwave hurled my body backward. I coughed blood — but putting distance between myself and Neros was a net positive.
"It's complete."
"Don't make me laugh! You think a nobody like you can take me down?!"
Neros charged. His judgment was correct. Common sense said that if a mage died, any magic in progress vanished with them.
And speaking of common sense — lightning outruns sound.
Thunderbolt
5-Class Lightning Magic
Compressed lightning slammed into the earth.
Neros, struck dead-on by Thunderbolt, vanished without even a scream. Where he'd stood, only a crater three meters across and a charred scrap of tail remained.
5-Class lightning magic: Thunderbolt.
A spell I should never have been able to use at my current level — forced into existence through special circumstances and my ability. The aftermath, of course, was brutal. My mana was completely drained, and half of my twelve mana roads had gone offline.
Even so, I was satisfied.
I survived.
More than that, I'd confirmed my magical talent once again. Even with an ability involved, a 2-Class mage casting 5-Class magic was a miracle in itself. And the one who'd made that miracle happen was none other than my own talent.
If I'm going to survive in this world… magic is the only way.
Exhaustion crashed over me. I closed my eyes. The tide of sleep pulled my consciousness under, bit by bit.
Doesn't matter if I pass out. Those bastards will come collect me on their own.
When I woke, that miserable barracks would be waiting. That part, I truly regretted.