Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 022
Chapter Title: Mafia Butcher
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The sensation of his entire body’s blood drying up from mana usage beyond his limits washed over him.
But it was a pain Kyle was all too familiar with.
The same limit he’d felt when unleashing [Bolt Pulse] nonstop in the sewers.
A limit he’d long since surpassed.
Vitality began surging back into his rapidly revived body.
The alchemists watching this could only tremble in horror.
Menshoff screamed.
“How can a mere heretic mage...!”
Kyle shot him an incredulous look.
Is that really something an alchemist scraping by in these streets should say?
But Menshoff had good reason to be shocked.
Dual-element affinity—more precisely, handling multiple elements—wasn’t rare for any old reason.
It came down to bloodline.
He knew this because, before diving into alchemy, he’d once been society’s elite, lucky enough to rub shoulders with the Mage Tower.
The six founding families of the Origin Mage Tower? Their direct descendants rarely exhibited dual-element traits.
Mages capable of multi-element magic beyond that? Aside from the current Tower Lord, you could count them on one hand.
And someone wielding all five elements plus light and darkness? History knew only one: the Founding Mage, first Tower Lord.
So yeah, he had every reason to freak out.
Dual elements!
No way a street-level heretic mage in the 8th Special District could pull that off.
“You...!”
Menshoff’s face drained of color.
“What the hell are you?!”
“Dean! You need to evacuate now!!”
In that instant, Kyle leaped up the dying colossal parasite like a ramp and swung his fist wildly.
The fist strike connected with the alchemist right in front, unleashing a ferocious shockwave on them all.
BOOM!!
“Ngh...!!”
Victor Menshoff barely rolled inward to dodge, his face twisting in agony.
This can’t be real. It’s impossible!
But no matter how he denied it, this was cold, hard reality.
“Aaaagh!!”
Screams of his minions collapsing under sharp lightning bolts echoed from behind.
The Mage Tower? Have they started meddling in worldly affairs?!
He couldn’t know for sure.
But one thing was clear: the cops had prepped an absurd trump card.
Out of calculations...!
Intel said they had no heavy fire users!
Let alone a lightning-and-fire mage!
Lightning blasts and fire explosions chased the fleeing man.
“Chimera! Get the chimeras!!”
Alarm blared, thick-skinned claw chimeras blocking the hall—but that was it.
BOOM!!
“Kieeeek!!”
The approaching vibrations were terror incarnate.
Menshoff burst into the lab, locked the door, and yelled.
“Destroy all research data right now!!”
“!?”
“Final protocol! Hurry!”
Alchemists frantically pulled vials from their pockets and doused the papers, which began rotting away.
“Parasites breached. Broadcast to all zones: evacuate to sealed areas per protocol!”
“Yes!!”
Then—BANG! A crash echoed nearby.
“...!”
Startled alchemists stared at the locked lab door.
Another spine-chilling BANG!
“!!”
As the vibration knocked flasks off tables to shatter on the floor.
BOOM!!
The door exploded inward as a claw chimera flew in, slamming into the alchemists.
“Aaaagh!”
Silence followed.
From the pitch-black hallway beyond, their faces paled.
“F-Fuck...!”
Menshoff shouted.
“Gas! Gas!”
“!!”
Alchemists hastily donned respirators from their belts.
Someone yelled into the pillar intercom, repeating the call.
“Gas! Gas! I repeat, gas! Gas!”
This’ll wipe every sample in the sealed zone too...!
No choice left.
They rushed to the gun locker, grabbing rifles loaded with strange flasks.
“...Load!!”
Click! Rifles trained on the lab door in unison.
“......”
One gulped nervously.
A chilling, quiet footstep echoed clearly: thud, thud.
Thud, thud.
“Uh-ugh...”
In his grip: the collar of an unconscious minion.
Black tactical gear swaying under flickering lights, wreathed in acrid smoke, revealed his form.
Menshoff’s face went ghost-white as he screamed.
“Fire!!”
Grenades launched, bursting green smoke before him.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
The massive gas cloud swallowed Kyle instantly.
Menshoff smirked at the direct hit.
Stupid bastard!
Taking it all without dodging.
Especially lethal to mages...!
These grenades held a vicious toxin: force-inject hyper-concentrated mana, cause mana overload, and kill via bleeding from every orifice.
Even a Tower mage would puke blood and die inhaling it proper.
“Now! Everyone to the sealed zon—bl-blood...”
Menshoff couldn’t finish.
“...What?”
Because thud.
Footsteps that should’ve stopped echoed on.
Thud, thud, thump.
A blood-gushing alchemist’s corpse hit the floor.
“I suspected as much. Hiding a trick like this, huh.”
Kyle dropped the collar casually, facing them unfazed.
“Weird parasite freaks, and now poison gas. Do you alchemists have no lines you won’t cross?”
“Y-You... how...!”
No way...!
Menshoff’s eyes bulged at the realization.
“You inhaled that ultra-toxic mana and... controlled it all?!”
Kyle tilted his head.
What’s he on about?
He had zero clue about the gas’s mechanism.
Felt weird inhaling it, saw the alchemist in his grip spew blood and die, so he’d just kept spamming [Baal's Minor Curse].
“What... are you...!”
“Enough. Surrender quietly.”
“Grrr! Why...!”
Menshoff trembled.
“Why does an irrational freak like you exist in this world...!”
Bloodshot eyes glaring, he pulled a vial and yelled.
“I won’t accept this!!”
Too slow—Kyle struck first.
CRZZZACK!
“Aaaagh!!”
Menshoff collapsed, paralyzed; the alchemists lost all will to fight.
“C-Crazy...!”
“Monster...!”
“R-Run!!”
“Hiiik!”
They scattered into vents and halls; Kyle clicked his tongue.
This’ll be a pain.
Capturing Victor Menshoff alive cleared the mission.
But letting those non-humans go felt off.
Chasing one by one? Some’d slip away.
Ah, might as well test it.
The magic gem from Marie Fleetwood.
Wide-area lightning scatter, perfect here.
“Uh, pretty sure...”
Focus on targets, grip hard.
Target himself and the fleeing alchemists.
Need to die for the new skill anyway.
As Kyle pulled the gem from his pocket.
Menshoff, paralyzed on the floor, muttered inwardly.
Fine, even if it ends like this... as long as the sealed zone holds.
Gas’d ruin surface samples, but underground data’d survive.
Veritas alchemists and decades of research preserved? They’d rise again.
That comforting thought shattered.
“Like... this?”
Kyle clenched the gem—Menshoff felt ice down his spine.
Th-This mana...!
Sensing doom, he screamed through numb lips.
“Aaaah!!!!”
Lightning prickled from the center.
Even Kyle panicked at the ominous aura.
“Huh?”
Artificial thunderclouds filled the lab.
Deafening thunder—lightning roots pierced fleeing alchemists.
“Gaaah!!”
“Aaaagh!”
Massive bolts hammered the hideout.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
Kyle stared at the bolt crashing overhead, dumbfounded.
...Wasn’t it supposed to be minor?
Do Tower folks lack common sense?
BOOM!!
Eardrum-shattering blast—the lab floor collapsed.
When Kyle revived amid the ruins, he snapped to.
“Whoa...”
He gaped at the sight.
A colossal facility hid right below the lab.
Peering into the massive pit: alchemists’ wails under debris.
“M-My leg! My leg!”
“S-Someone!”
“Respirator...! My respirator!!”
“...!”
Meanwhile, Jeff of 1st Platoon reached the upper levels, peering down through the prickling air.
The lab below: wrecked by gas and lightning.
Only one stood on two legs amid it: Kyle Clark, the Mafia Butcher.
Impressive.
Moonlit Path’s exec wasn’t blowing smoke.
That magic’s chill reached him before arrival.
A bit closer, and he’d have been caught in the blast.
Prison rumors don’t do him justice.
Not convinced Kyle could topple Gerald Hudson yet.
But innate dual-element wielder, powerhouse mage? Burnt parasites and this scene proved it.
More shocking: no exhaustion after such output.
And this wasn’t his first spell—post-multiple fights.
Just how much mana does he have...?
Jeff whistled inwardly.
Anyway, Veritas School—one pillar of Al Kimia Alliance—is toast.
By one man’s hand.
Huge deal.
Gotta report to the boss pronto.
The Mafia Butcher who crushed Rorione Family.
He’s a real monster.
With that, Jeff melted into shadows.
Unbeknownst to Kyle, ‘Mafia Butcher’s’ rep spread in the underworld.
Meanwhile, in the trailer’s command room.
The bodycam fried from the lightning surge; main monitor showed pure noise.
But everyone saw it live.
Kyle Clark mowing parasites, subduing Victor Menshoff.
In the stunned silence, a cop stammered.
“T-Team leader. That...”