Chapter 6
Chapter 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 006
Chapter Title: Must Die to Profit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
With even the rooftop sniper taken down, the situation at Kepler's pharmaceutical factory was fully under control.
"No way..."
Lyn Yenitz, walking through the underground corridor, turned back to survey the devastation she'd just passed through.
The site was literally smashed to pieces, littered with bodies charred to brittle husks—victims caught in the crossfire, no doubt. The gruesome scene was proof enough that a fierce battle had raged here moments ago.
Just looking at it told her the mage behind this chaos was no pushover.
'But he came out without a scratch against a mage like that?'
She recalled Kyle's completely unscathed figure.
'...Prisoner number 43471.'
Come to think of it, this was the same guy who'd single-handedly wiped out the Rorione Family's headquarters.
'At first, I figured he was some hardening-type ability user.'
His prison jumpsuit was in tatters, but his body had been fine.
Meaning he'd taken hits but shrugged them off.
That screamed hardening ability at first glance—and it fit the Rorione building takedown well enough...
'But is that level of durability even possible?'
No hardening superhuman she'd seen could tank that much.
Which made her wonder if he had something else up his sleeve.
'Yeah, like...'
Yenitz narrowed her eyes.
'...anti-magic constitution.'
Anti-magic.
A constitution that resisted spells outright—no magic worked on them, or so the rumors went. And get this: it blocked incoming spells but let you cast your own. Total cheat ability.
If he had that, walking through this mess unscathed and dropping the mage would be a breeze.
Spells just wouldn't land.
But she snorted, dismissing the thought.
"Yeah, right."
Anti-magic was exclusive to the Luther Family—Dun City's most noble bloodline, who produced the mayor generation after generation.
'Why would Luther blood end up in this shithole to begin with?'
Even if the current Luther mayor was a playboy with bastards galore, he wouldn't just dump his kids anywhere.
'Anti-magic is noble in itself.'
She shook off her curiosity about Kyle's power.
141 were disposable pawns anyway.
'Wasting time obsessing over prisoner abilities? Pointless.'
All they needed was meat shields. What powers they had didn't matter, as long as they did the job.
She called out to Joseph, who was inspecting the control room.
"So, the goal was the factory data after all?"
"Kepler's manufacturing specs? That's gotta be worth billions of credits at least."
Thanks to Kyle, things had gone smoothly.
The Rockton councilman was watching this project closely, and this nailed it home for him.
141's main gigs were recon or cannon fodder.
But sometimes, they wrapped things up solo.
"We recovered a ton of gear."
"That prisoner?"
She swallowed a sigh at the inevitable topic.
"So, what ability does he have?"
Playing it casual, she asked. Joseph shrugged.
"Said he's always been tough."
"Hardening type?"
"More or less."
"...A hardening type that tanks this much firepower? Shouldn't we swap his bomb collar?"
"Hahaha!"
He laughed, lighting his pipe.
"Bullshit, right?"
"......"
"My guess? Super regeneration."
"Super regen? You're joking."
Super regeneration healed any wound in seconds—a mythical ability, urban legend stuff. Her face twisted.
"But what else explains it?"
"Hmm, fair..."
Least it sounded more plausible than anti-magic.
"Even super regen can't survive instant-death firepower. Dead means no regen."
Yenitz furrowed her brow.
"But he still took down a mage this strong..."
"Yep."
Joseph tapped his pipe.
"That guy's no ordinary prisoner. There's gotta be more we don't know—something that let him overwhelm that powerhouse mage in one go."
"You serious?"
"Pretty high odds, yeah."
Anti-magic flashed through her mind again, but she shoved it down.
'No, no way.'
She pivoted her thoughts.
'Something else... gotta be.'
In truth, he'd just exploited the mage's shock from his suicide stunt—but she had no way of knowing that.
"...If that's true, isn't he dangerous?"
"Eh. He wants citizenship, so he won't go rogue."
He'd been cooperative so far.
'Chasing sentence reduction—eager to ditch 141 ASAP.'
That made him useful leverage.
She tsked, curiosity gnawing.
"Too bad the bodycam fried in the blast."
"Hah, tell me about it."
"No other 3rd Platoon survivors besides that prisoner?"
"Nah, one more. Walter. Tough bastard—still kicking."
Whether it was grit or slyness, Joseph couldn't say.
But sly worked too—that was a skill.
"Haa... How long ago did we reinforce, and this happens again."
Yenitz sighed wearily. Joseph chuckled.
"Can't be helped. These ops are disasters waiting to happen."
And in the 8th Special District, they weren't rare.
He stubbed his smoke.
"Let's head back. Reports won't write themselves."
"...Yeah. Let's."
An hour later.
Back at the gulag, Kyle was ushered straight into a one-on-one with Joseph—flanked by guards.
He sank into the plush leather sofa in the office, waiting.
"Coffee?"
"Sure, whatever."
Answering the voice from the break room, Joseph soon approached with two mugs.
"Sugar if you want it."
Kyle maneuvered his cuffed hands to drop a cube into his cup.
The clink of spoons stirring filled the brief silence.
As Kyle shifted uncomfortably under the guards' stares, Joseph spoke.
"Good work. Never expected you'd rack up merits right out the gate."
Wrapping a situation with just one 141 platoon? Rare. Joseph was pleased.
Standard op: 141 scouts intel, then elite SWAT cleans up.
Not because prisoners were weak.
They got dumped into hellholes.
Kyle asked,
"Special sentence reduction, then?"
"Obviously. Month off your time, plus a week no deployments."
"Skip the downtime. Just cut the sentence."
"No downtime?"
Joseph blinked, like he'd misheard.
"Why?"
Most would kill for a break.
Kyle frowned, baffled.
"What good's sitting around? Better rack up merits and bust out sooner."
"...Hate to say it, but aren't you scared of dying?"
"As long as I don't stay dead."
He couldn't die even if he wanted to.
The cops just gawked, dumbfounded.
They muttered:
"One lucky op, and he gets cocky."
"Criminals. Gotta strut or they die inside."
But Joseph saw different.
'No.'
His eyes narrowed.
'He truly believes in his skills.'
Decades on the force had honed his lie detector.
This prisoner meant it.
'No way he'd die.'
'Interesting.'
'Whatever it is, too valuable to burn as fodder.'
This guy could boost 141's record.
'Gotta watch him closer.'
Joseph asked,
"Anything else besides reduction? Name it—I'll hook you up."
"Uh... nothing now. Later okay?"
"Anytime."
Kyle suddenly thought of something.
"How much time off this time?"
"About a month."
'Kinda stingy...'
He rolled his eyes inwardly.
'Leaves me with 47 months.'
Long road—time to grind merits.
"More questions?"
"Nah."
He gulped the coffee.
"Can I go? Getting hungry."
"Yeah. Rest up—you earned it."
"Cool."
As Kyle rose and followed the guards out—
"...!!"
Back in my room, I immediately checked the exclusive ability I'd just unlocked.
"......?"
Stats? What stats?
The unfamiliar term threw me—I scratched my head.
'Dunno what it means, but... get stronger every time I'm killed?'
Fitting for an undying immortal.
'Not bad at all.'
I'll keep dying whether I like it or not—might as well power up each time. Cheat city.
Then a new message popped up.
'Fire Magic tree? What's that?'
A skill tree window appeared, labeled Fire Magic.
Most was blurred out, but the bottom slot was clear:
Basic Fire Magic
Create and hurl a small fireball.
'No way...'
I swallowed hard.
'Did dying to fire magic unlock this?'
The message had said my fire mana understanding increased.
'If deaths unlock powers like this... jackpot.'
Different kill methods, different gains.
'Immortality's strong, sure...'
But it had limits.
Today's win hinged on the mage's flinch from my suicide ploy.
To rack up merits and snag citizenship fast, I needed more than just surviving.
I smirked, stroking my chin.
'Might wanna die on purpose from now on. See what else unlocks.'
Who knows.
'Could open whole new trees.'