“What the hell?!”
From the very start, I couldn’t help but curse.
Just look at the size of that ignorant spell!
It was like they just splattered a NASCAR design across the sky.
Thanks to that, it took me ages just to figure out the shape of the spell.
But I had spent two days checking out books in the library, so thankfully, I could identify the type of spell pretty quickly.
‘Fire System. Segmented type.’
It was a typical explosion spell split into an explosion part and a detonation part.
At least that was a relief.
If I could disable just one of them, the spell wouldn’t work.
‘Wait, what the…?!’
Stat 18. That’s double the computational power of an average person, and I was pouring it entirely into cracking the detonation spell.
Yet, every single time I got close to a security vulnerability, my attempts ended in failure.
It was because of the encryption.
This spell had the obnoxious feature of changing the key code every 10 seconds.
That meant I had to navigate the entire reverse-engineering process and gain the key code within 10 seconds. Before the code changed again.
“Argh!”
It was a matter of mere seconds.
I was just a heartbeat away from being able to break the spell.
It wasn’t as complicated as Alexia’s barrier, but this damn encryption was making me fail right at the critical moment.
Well, I couldn’t do anything about it now.
I wanted to hold back my abilities as much as possible, but I had no choice but to use them here.
‘Selection and Concentration. Spending 1 second on computational power.’
The moment I activated my ability, I felt my mind split into thousands of threads.
Along with that, colorful, geometric patterns began to appear in my head.
Only 3 seconds until the key code resets.
Among the patterns, I spotted a faintly glowing dot.
When I touched that dot…
Control of the detonation spell passed to me.
“Yesss!”
I felt my tension release as I opened my eyes.
My temporarily blocked sight and hearing returned.
“Next is a speech from the commander of the Imperial Army, General Roman von Byrne.”
“Phew. That was cutting it close…”
By now, the intelligence agency must be in a panic.
They had to blow up the spell, but the key code wasn’t working.
I wondered if they had figured it out yet.
That the detonation spell was completely out of their control.
Now it was time to seal the deal.
I looked up at the sky and accessed the core of the spell.
However, it wasn’t about activation.
It was about dismantling the core.
With a simple gesture, the core of the spell crumbled, and soon the entire spell shattered into pieces.
“It’s done.”
It’s finally over.
I had poured all my mana into the activation, concealment, and encryption of the spell, leaving no capacity to re-cast it again.
Even if it were to be re-cast, I would just stop it again.
Right now, they must have thought they were intercepted by the Imperial Police and were rushing to escape.
“Wait a second…”
Really?
Could the kingdom’s intelligence agency be such pushovers?
According to their setup, the assassination of Roman was directly linked to the survival of the kingdom, and they undoubtedly believed that.
So, would they give up just because one spell got countered?
At the very least, Hertlocker wouldn’t.
He would come for Roman without fail.
Since the spell failed, this time he would come personally.
And it was up to me to stop it…
“Shit.”
Of course, it’s me again.
I sighed and browsed the shop.
A battle was about to start. The one featuring the protagonist, Hertlocker.
So I had to spend every single coin I had saved up.
After all, he might just barely survive.
[Purchased 1 Forbidden Elixir.]
[Purchased 1 Forbidden Elixir.]
[Purchased 1 Forbidden Elixir.]
Without hesitation, I bought three Forbidden Elixirs.
The price had gone up by 1 each time, and when I bought the last elixir, it cost a whopping 5 coins.
Leaving me with just 1 coin left.
I uncorked the elixir and poured it down my throat.
“Ugh…”
No matter how many times I drank it, it was disgustingly bad.
It felt like drinking some harmless slop for health.
Anyway, holding back the urge to vomit, I downed all three with not a single drop spilled.
To check the effects, I immediately called up my stat screen.
[Displaying Stats.]
[Vitality: 16]
[Strength: 12]
[Agility: 5]
[Physical Strength: 5]
[Mana: 1]
[Mana Sensitivity: 1]
[Mana Sensitivity: 75]
[Computational Power: 48]
“What the heck?!”
I couldn’t help but let out a curse the moment I saw it.
All the stats that would help in battle were unchanged.
But my computational power had increased by 30!
I had drunk 4 elixirs, and all of it went to computational power?
Damn, is this random or cheating?!
“Shit…”
With no time to complain, I suppressed my anger and jumped off the roof.
At this very moment, Hertlocker must be rushing to kill Roman.
I had to arrive first and stop him.
As soon as I entered the corridor through the window, I turned a corner.
In that moment, I felt my breath catch.
I came face to face with Hertlocker, who was running from the end of the corridor.
“…”
“…”
Both Hertlocker and I stood frozen in place.
Then, we looked at each other in silence for a moment.
It was broken by—
“Wow. We meet again like this.”
Hertlocker’s cheerful greeting.
Of course! We had only crossed paths once at the café, as strangers.
“Yeah. Somehow, I thought we would meet again.”
“Are you enjoying the event?”
“Absolutely. It’s been quite delightful. How about you?”
“Haha. It’s not going well for me. I’m not even in the mood to enjoy it.”
That was understandable. The intelligence agency’s meticulously planned operation had fallen through.
A brief awkward silence sank between us.
The only sound was Roman’s speech filtering in through the window.
“Where are you headed? The viewing area is in this direction.”
“Oh. I need to speak to the hosts.”
“I see. Then I hope your matter gets resolved.”
“Haha. Thank you.”
We awkwardly smiled at each other and resumed walking.
Moving quietly toward one another.
Should I try to take him out from behind?
In that moment, we crossed paths.
And at that instant, a feeling of discomfort crept over me.
Now was the time.
‘Selection and Concentration. Spending 3 seconds on Mana Sensitivity.’
Immediately, I activated my internal circuits, converting all the mana energy I had into pure mana.
With that, I’d have enough to fight for at least 5 minutes.
Feeling my body filled with energy, I—
*Thwack!*
“Kugh!”
I hurriedly twisted my body and aimed a kick at Hertlocker’s head.
Reacting at breakneck speed, Hertlocker raised his arm to block the kick, and he went rolling backward.
With Hertlocker gliding back, a dagger appeared in his hand.
What the hell?! How did he sneak that in…?
“It’s you, the one who disrupted the spell.”
“Well, I wonder what you mean by that.”
“Given how quiet the guards are, it seems you aren’t working with the Imperial Police. Are you trying to stop me alone?”
“…”
Hertlocker peeked through the curtain and chuckled to himself.
This lunatic is really something.
If I wanted, I could notify the Imperial Police right now and surround the venue, capturing this bastard here.
But I didn’t want to do that because he was still one of the crucial characters for the ending.
Such a lack of gratitude from this son of a…
“Go ahead. If you can break through.”
“Not happening.”
Hertlocker prepared to lunge at me, dagger in hand.
My only target was simple.
I had to make Hertlocker abandon the assassination of Roman and escape.
Roman couldn’t be killed, nor could Hertlocker get captured by drawing the police’s attention.
It seemed impossible, but I had no choice but to try my best.
*Wham!*
Hertlocker lunged at me.
The blade shot forward like a flash, and I barely ducked to evade—
“Damn it—”
However, I promptly got hit in the face by his shin as it swung around too fast.
Feeling myself crash through the window, I grasped onto anything nearby.
“Damn it…!”
I ended up grabbing hold of Hertlocker’s pant leg.
We shared a brief hug as we fell freely out the window…
*Gah!*
“Ack!”
We hit the ground and rolled a couple of times.
I felt like at least one rib had cracked. No, maybe two…
The silver lining was that we were outside the plaza.
Having been ejected from the building, Hertlocker should now abandon the assassination and make a run for it.
I would estimate it would take at least 2-3 minutes before the Imperial Police would notice the chaos.
That should be more than enough time for Hertlocker to escape.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
But to my surprise, Hertlocker clutched his dagger and assumed a combat stance again.
Hell no, you crazy bastard, just run!
“Don’t you know the police are about to surround this place?”
“There’s enough time for me to take your head and get away.”
“Damn it—”
Hertlocker dashed at me once more at lightning speed.
It was nearly impossible to keep up with him visually.
Barely dodging the trajectory of his blade, flashes erupted from all around us.
What, is he trying to use magic while engaged in hand-to-hand combat?!
“What the—?!”
But before those flashes could shoot toward me, my computational power deactivated the spells first.
Having five times the computational power of an average person allowed me to disable these petty spells in an instant, no matter how many they were.
Once all the magic was blocked, a rather interesting expression spread across Hertlocker’s face.
I thought he might finally be scared enough to run, but—
“You’ve got quite the tricks!”
“No, just go away already…”
Such cheap shots wouldn’t cause our protagonist to falter…
This time, Hertlocker charged at me solely with his body and no spells whatsoever.
Even though I had beefed up my body using the internal circuits, I couldn’t react in time.
“Oh crap!”
The tips of his blade were aimed at my eyes.
His knee was hitting my solar plexus.
Next thing I knew, I was trapped in a corner.
There was no escaping.
No matter where I dodged, I was bound to receive a fatal injury.
So all I could do was fight back.
Using the last 1 second of my ‘Selection and Concentration.’
‘Selection and Concentration. Spending everything on Agility!’
Instantly, I began seeing the trajectories of his strikes as if they were slow motion.
As soon as I dodged the paths of his knife and knee, I aimed a kick at Hertlocker’s ankle.
It all happened in less than 1 second.
*Smack!*
“Huh?!”
But my kick was blocked by Hertlocker’s arm.
This bastard… he blocked that?!
His left arm seemed to be injured, flailing a bit, and he took a cautious step back.
I could tell he was starting to take me seriously as I suddenly became faster.
Now it clicked.
The reason Hertlocker was so hell-bent on killing me…
He sees me as a target far more dangerous than Roman.
I had single-handedly disabled a carefully constructed spell from the intelligence agency and could go toe-to-toe with the kingdom’s strongest forces.
Naturally, he would try to eliminate me by any means necessary.
But he was gravely mistaken.
The only reason I could hold my ground was that I had drawn on my ridiculously overpowered abilities.
Now that I had used up ‘Selection and Concentration,’ I had no more means to contend with him.
I could feel my mana, accumulated from dismantling the spells, dwindling down to nearly empty.
I needed to settle this quickly.
Otherwise, I was really going to die.
“Run away. This is your last warning.”
“Who are you to tell me to run?!”
He lunged at me again.
This meant he was determined to create a mutual destruction scenario.
That’s why the trajectory of his blade was glaringly obvious.
But just because it was predictable didn’t mean I could dodge it.
*Thud!*
“Ugh!”
The blade plunged just below my solar plexus.
An unbearable jolt of pain surged through me, causing a groan to escape my lips.
Having successfully landed a hit after I dodged all his earlier attacks must have surprised Hertlocker.
“Huh?”
His astonished face quickly turned pale.
His right arm, attempting to pull back the blade, was now firmly trapped in my grip.
His left arm was already broken. What happens if I take his right one away too?
*Crrack!*
“Ahhh!”
With a light twist, I broke his bone, and a delightful scream erupted.
Now both of his arms were sealed, and our distance was too close to use legs efficiently.
I immediately covered Hertlocker’s face with my hands.
If I apply enough pressure, I could crush his face.
That would probably leave him dead or at least severely disabled.
Perhaps sensing his fate, I saw the glimmer of fear in his eyes through my fingers.
“Gah…!”
But I decided to let him go.
I shoved him away, tossing him aside.
Hertlocker staggered back, flailing his arms as he stood up.
“Surround this area! There’s an intruder here!”
“Block the rear entrance! Hurry!”
As shouts echoed from all directions, I hurriedly scooted away.
Good, run far away, you bastard.
“Ugh… ugh… damn it…”
As the tension drained from me, I felt the pain I had almost forgotten rush back in.
I had been slashed earlier, and now blood was gushing out of the gaping hole in my abdomen.
Damn it. It’s in the same spot where Mary stabbed me.
If that’s the case, I’d probably die within a minute.
‘Shop…!’
I needed a recovery potion.
Recalling I still had 1 coin left, I opened the shop screen.
A basic recovery potion should be purchasable for 1 coin.
People might look at me strangely if a potion suddenly appeared out of thin air, but now wasn’t the time to care about that.
I was about to die, after all.
[Basic Recovery Potion]
[Price: 2 shop coins]
“Damn it—”
But then, a problem arose.
It required 2 coins.
Wait a sec, what about the quest?
The quest involving stopping the terrorism was supposed to reward me with 10 coins, right?
When is that going to come in?
[Quest: Ensure no one dies at the venue.]
[Difficulty: ★★★★★]
[Reward: 10 shop coins]
As if attempting to solve my doubts, the quest screen popped up.
The completion condition for the quest was that no one at the venue, including myself, could die.
“Haa…”
That meant I was included too.
If I died, it would mean quest failure.
You have got to be kidding me.
“Ugh… ugh…”
A chill began to creep over my entire body.
Just a moment ago, I thought I was burning up.
Now, however, I was shaking all over, my skin turning pale.
I saved Roman.
I saved thousands of lives.
I let Hertlocker escape.
And yet, I’m the one who’s going to die here.
Just as my consciousness began to fade, I felt a warm sensation at my fingertips.
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