#509

True Worth of the Sniper (2)

"Handling trivial tasks isn’t really my specialty."

Lennok sneered as he counted the remaining operatives still standing.

At this moment, with a river flowing beneath the bridge, it was clear that this environment was favorable for Soryu, who possessed ice powers.

Lennok had no reason to refuse Soryu’s offer to take care of the troublesome opponent himself.

Soryu’s figure, obscured among the shards of swirling ice, disappeared instantly and collided with a black-visor operative nodding at the end of the bridge.

Ignoring the burst of cold energy and black waves erupting from behind, Lennok quickly turned his head.

[The dark spirit has been restrained.]

[The caster remains. Are they trying to bind us?]

[The very idea of trying to calculate the odds is absurd...! Take them down!!]

Aegis responded swiftly.

Tat-tat-tat!!

A green visor emitting thick poison from its blade and a yellow visor unleashing two hounds charged forward.

On both the front and back lines, operatives with gray and jade visors unleashed their spells toward Lennok.

As the five figures intersected in place, the surge of mana created sharp curves and began to dance furiously.

Boom!!

Lennok dodged the rain of arrows crashing down from all sides, pushing back the wave of killing intent approaching him.

In the midst of wildly fluctuating senses and cold chills creeping up his spine, he maintained a delicate balance.

Supported by heightened intuition and near-prophetic perception, he tightened and released his mana strings hundreds of times simultaneously from his fingertips.

Screech!!

Magic threads were stretched between stakes located along the main road, arrows shot diagonally by Evelyn, street trees, and overturned vehicles nearby.

In the midst of all these obstacles, Lennok continued to play tug-of-war at the boundary between reality and ideals.

[Damn it, this is...!]

[Can’t reach him. What kind of distance control is this...!!]

He danced in a trance within the waves of invisible threads that eluded detection.

Realizing they couldn’t touch the masked Wizard, who swung his arms as if conducting from the center, the operatives gritted their teeth and summoned more mana.

[He’s trying to use our offensive against us. Adjust your strength.]

[The opponent is a manipulator-type Wizard. Avoid mid-range combat and engage carefully.]

[Readiness for fixed-point bombardment complete. Begin sequential firing to control the area!]

[According to the spirit, the presence is highly unusual. Everyone, keep an eye on its movements...!!]

"You’re overthinking."

Whoosh!!

Lennok, blinking to reverse his position among the operatives rapidly communicating via telepathy, smiled from behind his mask.

"Knowing something vaguely is often worse than not knowing at all."

[......!!!]

The operatives, caught off guard by Lennok's unexpected approach, let out cries of shock, but their bodies reacted mechanically.

The blade of the gray-visor operative intersected diagonally with the dagger of the green-visor operative.

The heavy mace of the yellow-visor operative swung toward Lennok's back under his robe with precise timing.

It was a well-coordinated attack, considering even Lennok's mana manipulation capabilities, striking with a subtle time difference.

However, Lennok didn't use mana at such a close range where he could practically hear the operatives breathing.

Instead, he blinked three times in succession, reversed his direction on the spot, and positioned himself behind the gray-visor's back, merely touching their shoulder.

"That helmet."

Screech...!!

The glass tube in Lennok's hand mercilessly smashed into the visor’s internal goggles.

"Let’s see how tough it is."

[......!!!]

Boom!!!

The chain explosion of a mana resonance incendiary grenade, powerful enough to blow off the head of a Logia, unleashed its force.

Using the momentum of the explosion, Lennok shattered the yellow-visor's abdomen as they rushed toward him from behind, glancing sideways at the rapidly approaching green-visor.

He leaned back, avoiding the dagger thrust by the opponent.

Lennok skillfully manipulated his mana strings with his fingertips to support his own falling body, while simultaneously binding and twisting the enemy's extended blade.

Crack!!

Lennok's absurd mana manipulation allowed him to twist his position while controlling both his body and the opponent’s attack.

Lennok's control over mana, honed through countless battles, was sharp enough for close-range combat against superhuman adversaries.

His blade, swung at subsonic speed, twisted back as if folding, grazing the visor's own helmet.

Sizzle!!

Liquid droplets from the dagger's blade fell, dissolving half of the helmet, revealing the haggard face of a young man underneath.

The dagger’s bent blade aimed precisely at the young man’s neck, yet he didn’t flinch.

Instead of trying desperately to stop his twisted arm, which was caught by mana strings, he struck his own shoulder with his free hand.

Splat!!

Without hesitation, the young man severed his left arm and swiftly pulled out the dagger.

The two were so close that there was no room to extend another arm.

With the dagger gripped tightly between his teeth, he swung his head, splattering poison over Lennok's mask.

It was a range so close that Lennok had no time to deploy mana again.

Just as the poison seemed to reach Lennok’s face...

"Not a bad choice."

Lennok's shadow robe flipped on the spot, making his figure vanish instantly.

Then, from the young man's back, a carapace-like shield structure slammed down.

Thud!!!

"Ugh...!!"

The young man let out a choked groan for the first time.

Lennok laughed as he stomped firmly on the back of the young man’s neck.

"To be able to sacrifice a real arm without hesitation, not a prosthetic one... That’s quite impressive. If it wasn’t a real arm, I wouldn’t have responded like this."

The young man spoke for the first time.

"…You knew from the start…! How…!!"

"That's right. I had a rough sense of it."

Lennok slowly turned his head as he spoke.

"I just returned from a particularly difficult battle recently, so it seems my senses haven't dulled yet."

Amrita, the 10th Apostle who reincarnated by taking over Izelle’s body.

An Apostle, mage hunter, formidable warrior, and precognitive fighter, she had been one of the most challenging and dangerous opponents Lennok had ever faced.

Lennok's nerves were sharper than ever after engaging in numerous back-and-forth exchanges in spatial combat against her.

Even knowing he could simply blink away from the poisonous young man's swordplay, he had chosen to respond with mana manipulation instead.

Crack!!

Lennok pressed harder on the back of the young man's neck with his boot.

"Killing you here shouldn't cause much trouble, right?"

From the moment the green-visor had rushed in, revealing his face and severing his arm in an attempt to counterattack, only three seconds had passed.

And it took less than five seconds for Lennok to counter and subdue the young man completely.

It was too short a time for the other Aegis operatives to intervene or adjust the situation.

From the start, Lennok had aimed precisely for that gap, selecting one target to neutralize while preventing the others from interfering.

[.......]

Despite Lennok's cold threat, the other Aegis members did not recklessly charge at him.

Instead, they watched Lennok’s actions intently, with expressions suggesting they had no qualms about the captured comrade’s fate.

To them, the life or death of a captured ally was irrelevant.

Their sole focus was on achieving the one objective they had in mind, cutting off all thoughts and emotions to move forward.

"I have no idea where guys like you came from in the megacity Vulcan."

Crunch!!

Lennok, gripping the mana strings, twisted and broke the other arm of the fallen young man.

"The fact that several special units were established right after the decree was lifted suggests that the city government was already making preparations internally."

[You seem to know a lot about Vulcan.]

The gray-visor operative chuckled darkly.

[Considering you know about the decree and the formation of special units, could you be from Vulcan?]

"..."

[If a Wizard like you were in the megacity, no matter how vast Vulcan is, there’s no way rumors wouldn't have spread.]

The tone of the visor’s voice sounded strangely off.

It seemed more interested in Lennok himself than the captured young man.

But if one could read between the lines of the current situation, they could roughly sense what that meant.

Thinking this, Lennok swiftly pulled the mana strings several times.

Creak!!

The tightly bound mana strings twisted around the young man's limbs, breaking his remaining legs and spine, rendering him nearly paralyzed.

Crack!!!

[...]

"…!!!"

The other operative hesitated at Lennok's unsettling yet precise handling.

To break the limbs of a high-ranking physical adept, without suppressing his mana, using only mana manipulation—what could that mean?

It was proof that Lennok had accurately identified the flow of mana and vitality within the young man’s body and exploited it precisely.

He wasn’t just specialized in mana manipulation; he was a veteran seasoned in combat against humans.

While death might have been preferable, the young man hadn’t expected to be left nearly crippled.

Even he, who had remained expressionless as if numb to pain, showed a clear change in his face.

Lennok glanced at the Aegis operatives and chuckled.

"What, did you think I was going to kill him?"

[...]

"Keeping him alive will make him a useful burden, so there’s no need to kill him immediately. Besides, he seems to have a strong will to survive."

Lennok could sense a fierce desire to live from the young man’s decision to sever his own arm without hesitation.

If he could preserve his life, limbs were expendable.

It was an extreme gamble possible only for someone who had no attachment to replaceable things.

Having perceived this psychology, Lennok intended to keep him alive to force the Aegis operatives into a dilemma.

Would they continue to pursue Lennok relentlessly, even if it meant killing their comrade, or retreat to save him and reorganize?

[We continue.]

The gray-visor operative chose the former.

[Shiavel, don’t resent us.]

"Hah, what’s the point of that now…."

Lennok was about to summon mana again amidst the shaking bridge, when suddenly—

Whoosh!!

A lukewarm breeze brushed against his spine.

From the distant outskirts of the satellite city, so far away it seemed unreachable, came a lone streak of intent, fired from a barely discernible altitude.

But the single, dark green flash was sharper and more menacing than any other attack, racing across the ground.

Screeeeeeeech!!!

As the thick black flash streaked across the asphalt, the road's surface was ripped apart by the impact.

The flash, surpassing the speed of sound, reached a power beyond conventional archery.

Ignoring the intense battle at the theater’s main entrance, the arrow pierced straight through the front entrance.

It shot through the corridor, auditorium, and main hall, hitting its target.

Boom!!!

A deafening explosion, like a missile launch, echoed throughout.

Simultaneously, a swirling black sphere emerged at the center of the blast.

Lennok, seeing two of his adversary’s arms shattered and falling beyond it, slightly parted his lips.

"…That’s dangerous."

It was the peak of archery at full power, executed by Evelyn Marcia.

She had poured her entire microcosm into a single, penetrating shot.

In the midst of a rain of arrows, Evelyn had imbued her own intent, landing a decisive blow on the target with a single, unreactable snipe that even Maya could not counter.