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My body recoils a little from the impact, and then I feel a shadow over my head. Looking up, I see the demi-human is swinging down his sword from above.

“Take this! Heavy Sword!”

He’s probably putting all his might into that attack, but his movements are so wide it’ll hardly hit me. I can easily dodge even after seeing it. His blade digs itself into the ground, but I’m no longer there. He’s the one wide open to attacks now.

“Too slow.”
“Wha-?!”

I slash his defenseless arms with my magic blade, then kick him back. His posture is completely broken after that, so I add four shots from Blak hawk, after which he falls and stops moving.

“Damn youuu!”

Giese shouts angrily, but they’re the ones who started this fight. It’s their fault this is happening to them, and I have no reason to feel bad for them.

“Pierce him!”

His posture is the same as earlier, but I can feel him channeling mana to create a gust of wind to carry his spear. It’s a higher level Skill. Do I block it, or do I dodge? After debating for an instant, I pull the trigger.

“Cyclone Strike!”

The spear thrust pushed by a gust of wind and my magic bullet collided, creating a bright blue flash and a loud bang. I had shot an incendiary round, pooling together all the mana left in the magazine. That was enough to nullify Giese’s Skill.

I return Black Hawk to its holster and jump high above the plume of dark smoke in front of me. Below me I see Giese, who looks immobile, recovering from using his Skill.

I basically repeat what I did with the demi-human, creating a magic blade as I fall back down. My magic blade and his spear collide with a high pitched sound. Giese had barely managed to block my attack, still, he was too late.

I create a second magic blade on my other hand and strike furiously at him. He only has his spear, even if he knows how to use it from greater distances. Now that length is working against him.

My magic blades are shorter, enabling me to use faster and shorter movements. This was spears’ greatest weakness, they become clumsy and awkward once an enemy gets this close.

There’s metallic clinks every time I swing my magic blades. Each of my strikes pushes Giese back as he blocks with his spear, but he’s starting to miss the timing. His defense will crumble soon enough. But I don’t feel like waiting that long.

I aim my next attack straight into his face.

“Kuh!”

He lifts his spear’s handle to block, just like I hoped. As my hand travels forward, I dissolve the magic blade and grasp the spear.

“?!”

Giese flinches, he didn’t expect I would try to take his weapon. I won’t waste that opening. I pull the spear back as if trying to snatch it from him, and slash his stomach with my other magic blade.

“Grahhh!”

He screams loudly, while a stream of blood escapes through the wound as he falls to his knees. I watch him suffer as I try to think rationally about this.

If I’m being suspected of being some criminal, I should ask more about that. They came at me with the intent to kill, so it’s clear they have a deadly grudge against that criminal, which I don’t blame them for. They can just try again later though.

But I spent too much time thinking, I got carried away.

I notice a faint blur in the corner of my eye, so I twist my body instantly, but I’m not fast enough and the thrown blade grazes my face.

My mask gets sent flying into the air, but I have no time to worry about it. I hold my face and jump back before I look at the one who threw that blade.

It was the demi-human who had recovered at some point. I knew I didn’t hit any vitals, but I didn’t think he’d recover this quickly. Actually, now that I think about it, he’s an adventurer so it makes sense for him to have healing potions. I had been too naive.

“Grawr!”

He dashes at me with bloodshot eyes. He’s more nimble than before, which is a bit shocking, but nothing I can’t handle. Throwing his sword had been a terrible decision too.

“Give up already.”

I get rid of my magic blade and take Black Hawk out again, constructing an incendiary round with the remaining mana in the magazine. That’ll give me only one bullet to fight him, but that’s all I need.

I let him get closer enough to be in range and pull the trigger. A bright blue explosion fills the space between us, heat and pressure assaulting the demi-human.

I jump back to reload, and check on Giese. Someone in an overcoat has him on her lap treating him. There’s blonde strands of hair peeking through the hood, so I guess it’s the girl from before. She doesn’t seem to have the means to fight, but it’ll be annoying if she heals Giese.

I still have heaps of magazines for Black Hawk, but I don’t have any for White Viper left. I never had many of those to begin with, and I feel like dropkicking myself for dropping one while fighting the ogres earlier.

“Grrr…grawr!”

After not moving for a while, the demi-human spots me through the smoke and snarls again, baring his fangs at me. Do I fight the demi-human, or do I stop Giese from being healed?

I have two options, but before I get to make a decision, the demi-human forces my hand. I dodge his claws and fangs, then shoot his stomach and legs. The demi-human doesn’t seem to feel anything though, instantly moving to his next attack without even flinching.

It’s almost like fighting a corpse controlled by a Shaman Ape, but he’s still alive. His sense of pain is simply dulled. I can think of two possibilities, adrenaline from his rage, or some form of drug or magic.

Actually, who cares. I’ve tried to reason with him, and I’ve shown him how much stronger I am. It’s not my fault that he insists on attacking. I’ve already tried to wave off the embers, but if he insists I’ll have to fully extinguish his fire.

“Growwwl!”

He roars aggressively, but his legs still aren’t fast enough, and his arms aren’t as sturdy as the ogres or the golem’s.

I continue dodging his attacks and look at Giese. His stomach is bandaged, but he doesn’t look like he’ll be standing up anytime soon. I guess first-aid wasn’t enough.

“Gagh!”

After dodging for a while, the demi-human sinks his teeth into my defenseless left arm. But that was merely where I lured him to be.

The demi-human’s fangs aren’t powerful enough to pierce through my Tyrannoghavial gauntlet, so the best he can do is keep me still. Though that’s not exactly true either, in this situation it’s more like I have him still.

He’s so focused on biting my gauntlet that his legs stop moving, and I get to place Black Hawk’s muzzle on his stomach. The magic bullets could pierce Tyrannoghavial skin, so a simple piece of plate armor can’t stop them.

I purposefully avoided vitals earlier, but it’ll be annoying if he keeps waking up like this. This time I’ll have to put him down. A bullet of compressed mana pierces through his chest and I feel his jaws relax on my arm slightly.

My left hand is still trapped between his jaws, so I create a magic blade again and slide it out. The upper half of the demi-human’s head jumps a little and falls to the ground with a gross sound.

“!”

Before I get to catch a breath, multiple silver streaks rain at me from above. I quickly raise my arms to protect my head, but the falling blades still cut my arms and thighs, which aren’t protected with armor.

It was a short attack, but it still left marks on me.

“I see you have good reflexes.”

The girl next to Giese speaks up. Somehow she feels like a completely different person as earlier.

I ruled her out at first, thinking she had no combat abilities. That was my mistake. Her overcoat falls over, revealing light armor and rows of daggers hung on her waist. The bloodlust surrounding her feels different to Giese and the demi-human’s¹. My instincts are shouting at me. She’s strong.

“But this is the end of the line for you. Make sure to let out some exhilarating screams, okay?”

Her tongue licks her richly colored lips.

1. Robinxen: So she must be the real criminal. They’ve been tricked.