Mosaz Cartel (3)
I swallowed one of the purple fireballs.
Mana Surge
A tremendous power began swirling around my body.
The mana I'd depleted from spamming spells at the entrance refilled to max in an instant.
The sensation of magical energy surging through every nerve was crystal clear.
Everyone on the first floor was taken care of. Time to head up to the second.
Sound Control
I reactivated Sound Control, mapping out a 3D layout of the second floor via echolocation.
Unlike the first floor, the second had offices lining a corridor.
With all the chaos I'd caused downstairs, reinforcements would swarm me soon enough.
So, I'd hit them first.
Stone Skin
Crack!
My outer layer hardened as I crushed the second-floor steel door and charged in.
Instantly, a spinning kick pulverized the skull of a guy waiting on the left.
I already knew everyone's positions. It was like running ESP hacks in a game.
I chanted.
Aqua Ball
Blood spraying everywhere coalesced above my palm.
Water Jet
I compressed the blood into a dozen daggers and hurled them.
Clang!
"Gahk..."
These blades could slice through a monster's massive tentacles. The blood-edged knives pierced concrete walls, shredding the enemies beyond.
Shwick!
Right after, a guy hiding in the rear swung a bat at me from behind.
Stone Skin
Crunch!
My instantly fortified defense shrugged it off; the bat shattered instead.
"Wha...?"
I smashed the idiot's skull as he blurted that out.
Crunch!
The second floor was a breeze too.
Compared to those threatening tentacle monsters, this was child's play.
As I cleared the corridor like that,
Thud... plop...
Suddenly, something round like a grenade rolled in from somewhere.
Stone Skin
I activated my defensive spell and just stared at it.
Fzzzzzt—Boom!
A metallic explosion rocked the second floor.
Weeeeeeen—
Ringing filled my ears.
From the ruins of the trashed office beyond, through the dust cloud, a woman's voice rang out.
"You actually tanked it."
"..."
"Knew you'd block it with that damn magic anyway. But get this?"
A woman emerged from the dust. She wore a gaudy, colorful coat like a solver's, and casually tossed an energy rifle at my feet.
"...Look at this."
Fizzle... pop...
The mana battery flickered unstably.
I knew what that meant.
"Smart girl like you gets it, right? The spot you're in."
Magic nullification.
She'd thrown a pulse grenade that sealed magic in a radius, like an EMP. Not for direct damage, but to cut off my spellcasting entirely.
I stared at her blankly.
Her lips curled into a smirk.
"Yeah, we're just normals. But sometimes weaknesses turn into strengths. Magic nullified? No skin off our backs. Unlike you, who relies solely on it."
Reinforcements from the third floor? Over a dozen shadows gathered behind her.
"You're done, witch. Boss is pissed."
Click-click-click—
The dust cleared, revealing cartel members aiming all kinds of weapons at me.
"Poor bitch... Better beg for death now."
They looked all cocky.
"...You're all real idiots."
I just spat that out.
"What...?"
"Why the hell would I let a magic-null pulse grenade hit me without reason? Didn't it cross your mind I had a plan?"
"...?"
I'm not some moron wandering without a Plan B. Meaning, I had ways that worked even without magic.
Hell, I'd welcomed the grenade.
Chance to test tricks I rarely used.
Purple fireballs trembled above my hand.
"...!"
The pulse grenade blocks direct-damage spells.
Put differently, buffs on enemies? Fair game.
I chanted.
Blessing Enhancement x3
Whoosh—
I burned three collected souls to max out my 'blessing.'
Snap!
Clean
I snapped my fingers to unleash the blessing.
Fwaaah!
A blinding white flash swept the room, eye-searingly pure.
No explosion, no flames. Just obsessive cleanliness scouring everything.
You know this? Everything has a lethal dose.
Even essentials like water or oxygen turn toxic in excess. That's the world's rule.
Blessings too.
"Urk...!"
The cartel grunts and their leader collapsed, faces draining of color.
The human gut hosts trillions of microbes aiding digestion and immunity.
Overloaded Clean classified even those beneficial bugs as contaminants and erased them.
Meaning, they lost the complexity of life, reduced to odorless meat lumps.
Without microbial helpers, human bodies can't sustain life. Skin bacteria vanish, flesh sloughs off; gut flora dies, organs fail. Bloodstream microbes gone, immunity runs rampant like a wild horse.
A spotless hell, not a speck of dust or germ left.
I strolled past the wax-doll horrors, murmuring,
"Too clean can be a sickness too."
Dwayne's face paled as he listened to the frantic emergency reports over the comms.
What the hell was going on?
Dwayne had gotten the report that the witch was captured alive, so he'd dropped his guard completely.
He had no clue what trick she'd pulled, but that's when the nightmare began.
While everyone relaxed, the witch stormed in without warning and turned the cartel upside down.
Took out Hugo on first, Maria on second, then third, fourth, fifth... floor by floor annihilation for the Mosaz Cartel.
...Could they really beat a monster like that?
Magic-null grenades, crushing traps, shocks, gas... every trick failed as she bulldozed through.
A slum outfit like Mosaz Cartel was never in her league.
No idea why something like her rolled into the residential zone, but messing with her was dooming the organization.
Should've left her alone from the start.
Dwayne regretted it. Best to avoid her.
Without the 'boss,' no one here could handle a witch.
...The witch was coming soon.
Dwayne clenched his fists, waiting.
As an exec right under the boss, he trusted his premium body augments and heavy armament.
Go down fighting, at least hurt her.
...That's what he steeled himself for, staring at the stairwell door.
......
"...?"
Something was off.
The witch, who'd steamrolled the cartel, suddenly stopped.
"...What the?"
Dwayne muttered anxiously.
Knock knock knock!
"...!"
Someone knocked.
The voice that followed was familiar.
"Exec, it's Hugo! Open up!"
"Hugo...?"
"Yeah, please! Fuck, the witch is chasing me. Can you help?"
Creeeak—
Dwayne cautiously opened the door.
Hugo looked beat to hell.
"Hugo...? That really you?"
Hugo panted,
Crackkk—
"...Yeah, it's me. Close the door quick. She's... coming up."
"Get in fast. What happened?"
Dwayne let him in and asked. A survivor was good news.
Hugo especially, with mage-fighting experience, would be useful.
"When my team got magicked on first floor, I hid my presence and survived."
"Oh."
"Tailed her upstairs sneaky-like. Got spotted on eighth and ran."
"...I see. Witch still on eighth?"
Crack—
Hugo nodded at Dwayne.
"Barricade first. Gotta buy time."
Solid plan.
Hugo and Dwayne blocked the door with furniture.
"Whew... tense."
"Boss's magic attribute?"
"Fire. You didn't know?"
Hugo's basic-knowledge question felt off, so Dwayne glanced back.
Something was wrong.
Hugo smirking creepily, lips curling.
"You, what...?"
"Hahaha..."
Whoosh!
Twistcrack—
Bones twisting grotesquely, Hugo stood.
"Do I... look like real Hugo?"
"You...!"
Dwayne realized the witch's trick and reached for his waist.
Shing!
His folding spear extended like a baton, heating up at the tip. He stabbed Hugo's heart without hesitation.
Squelch!
"..."
But.
Hugo didn't fall, even impaled.
Splorch!
Dwayne yanked the spear back, ripping out the heart—but it had been dead and blackened long ago.
"Shit...!"
Whirl!
Hugo—no, the 'Hugo thing'—eyes rolled back, whites only, possessed.
Vrrr—
...It slowly opened its mouth.
A cyan flash surged from its throat.
"Geeeeeek—"
Zzzing!
A zombie-like groan, then blinding light flooded the ninth floor.
Sizzle—
Flesh bursting, a massive explosion engulfed everything.
BOOOOMMMM!!!
"Gahk...!"
The wrecked ninth floor.
Dwayne, body shredded, lay bleeding out.
Wondering how she did this to his expensively augmented self.
Creeeak—
Soon, the ninth-floor door opened. The witch stepped in.
Clack.
She crushed Hugo's scattered remains underfoot and spoke.
"...Lightning Bolt. First time puppeteering a corpse's nerves, but easier than I thought."
Lightning Bolt
Bloody Dwayne rasped a roar.
"You... you...!"
"Hey mister, got a question."