Chapter 18
[Mana Rampage]
Among the countless stars, it had been the one tucked away in a remote corner.
Its placement almost seemed to say, Do not pay attention to me.
Even so, Jin’s reason for choosing it was simple.
He had never once seen a skill containing the word rampage perform poorly in a short battle.
And now—
Jin instinctively knew that his choice had not been wrong.
His body felt impossibly light, while tremendous power churned within it.
Swish…!
The masked man made a casual gesture.
That was all, yet Jin and Fenrir immediately sprang far apart in opposite directions.
KABOOM!
A deafening crash erupted behind them an instant later.
The steel framework of a three-story rack crumpled under the invisible force, sending packaged supplies cascading to the floor.
In the meantime, Jin closed the distance in a single burst and threw a punch.
Whoosh—Thoom!
The sound of his fist cutting through the air was immediately followed by the sound of it striking something.
A rainbow-colored force field rippled through empty space.
The repulsive force pushed Jin backward, but he immediately drew the Gravis from his waist.
BANG—!!
A golden streak traveling beyond the speed of sound collided with the force field.
He had aimed precisely at the spot he had just struck with his fist.
Thoom!
A shockwave rippled outward from the point of impact, briefly revealing the outline of the hidden barrier before fading like waves across water.
The glowing red bullet still failed to pierce the shield and dropped to the floor.
All of that happened within a single breath.
“Fascinating!”
The masked man laughed and snapped his fingers.
Creeeak—
The steel framework of a nearby rack twisted and wrapped itself around Jin’s wrist like a living creature.
Then came another lightning spell.
BZZZT!
A bolt of electricity zigzagged toward him in a flash of blinding white.
But at that instant, Fenrir’s sword sliced through the steel with a sharp scrape.
Freed from its restraint, Jin narrowly avoided the lightning and leaped high into the air.
Using a second-level rack as a foothold, he spun in midair and drove his heel down toward the masked man.
THOOM—!!
That attack was blocked by the force field as well.
At the same time, the invisible force struck him.
Jin was instantly launched through the air.
He gritted his teeth.
Even though he had anticipated the counterattack and curled his body beforehand, the impact still made every bone in his body reverberate.
What kind of ridiculously overpowered ability is this?
No matter how hard they attacked, the force field absorbed every impact.
The moment they showed even the slightest opening, an invisible hammer powerful enough to crush steel came flying at them.
And as an added bonus, there was the chain lightning.
At this rate, Jin was beginning to understand how Team Rocket felt.
Once again, he realized it down to his bones.
That damned plague doctor was a genuine monster.
There was no doubt about it.
Had Jin been alone, even the grandfather of Mana Rampage would not have saved him.
He would have died without question.
That was why he had to protect Fenrir.
The werewolf desperately buying them time over there.
“ROOOAR!”
Fenrir let out a howl and swung the sword in a wide arc.
The metal structures flying in from all directions were simultaneously sliced in half.
Fenrir continued avoiding the incoming spells while repeatedly striking that sickening force field, but despite the fierce resistance, an invisible force struck the werewolf and lifted both feet from the ground.
Worse still, Fenrir was hurled toward an area littered with metal structures that had been twisted and shattered by magic.
At this rate, they were about to get a werewolf kebab.
Jin intercepted the massive body flying toward him like a cannonball.
Screech…!
He barely managed to stop before Fenrir’s back was impaled.
Jin staggered and asked,
“How many seconds are left?”
“Twenty? Fifteen? I don’t know.”
“Squeeze out a little more strength. It feels like a few more hits will break that thing.”
With those words, Jin kicked off the floor.
The plague doctor appeared as a single point in his vision, growing larger by the instant.
He could even see the force field surrounding him and the tiny cracks forming at its edges.
Just a little more.
Just a little more…
Repeating those words inwardly, Jin wrung out every last trace of mana.
CRACKLE!
The crimson sparks intensified.
His already superhuman speed accelerated once again.
Jin closed the distance at a speed that surprised even him and swung his fist with every ounce of strength he possessed.
KABOOM!
At last, the sound produced by the force field changed.
The sensation against his skin was different.
The feedback through his fist was unmistakable.
Before, it had felt like punching thick, sticky mud.
Now, it felt like striking a heavy steel plate.
So Jin did not stop.
He planted his feet firmly on the floor and unleashed punch after punch without pause.
He struck.
Struck again.
And kept striking.
During that process, every variety of magic the plague doctor unleashed reduced Jin’s body to a bloodied rag, but Jin did not even register it.
He merely drove himself harder.
The sparks grew darker and denser.
CRACKLE—!!
The light that had swallowed his pain soon began swallowing his reason as well.
What he would have to sacrifice after that was his life.
That was the natural price.
The inevitable sequence of events.
Perhaps it was a small miracle that the force field shattered first.
…CRASH!
As fragments scattered and Jin’s blood-soaked body toppled backward, a thrust like a flash of lightning pierced the masked man’s chest.
“Grrrrrr!”
Fenrir twisted the muzzle into a snarl.
Then the werewolf advanced.
One step.
Then another.
Driving forward with every last ounce of strength.
Behind the masked man was the staircase leading down to the basement—the same staircase he had climbed earlier.
Fenrir forced him backward toward it.
But only briefly.
The masked man seized the blade with his gloved hand and slowly raised his beaked face.
“This is an outcome I never imagined. Truly… delightful.”
His voice carried a sinister tone it had never possessed before.
Black energy surged from his body and began spreading into the shape of enormous wings—
Click.
Jin had already aimed the Gravis at him.
Breathing raggedly, he spoke.
“That’s enough… Just get the hell out of here!”
KABOOM—!!
The gunshot roared like thunder.
Struck directly from barely five meters away, the masked man’s body tilted backward.
To Jin, the entire sequence stretched out like molten candy in slow motion.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The internal clock that had diligently moved its second hand finally completed a full revolution.
Ding—
At the same moment, a deafening explosion that swallowed heaven and earth swept through the warehouse.
It had been a truly awful day.
Jin had bought his favorite instant noodles from a convenience store.
He had happily torn open the package, thinking he would pleasantly satisfy his hunger.
But would you believe it?
The product he had bought solely because it came with a piece of kelp did not contain any kelp at all.
Did that make any sense?
Other people posted proof photos boasting that they had found two pieces, yet this was what Jin got.
He was deeply disappointed, but there was nothing he could do.
He had already put the water on to boil.
So he added the noodles, the soup powder, and the dried vegetable flakes.
Then he roughly slurped it all down.
The problem began that evening.
His entire body started aching, and at some point the symptoms became so severe that he could barely remain conscious.
It felt as though his bones were splitting apart, his muscles were melting away, and his internal organs were burning to ash.
The primal agony made Jin writhe throughout the entire night.
He passed out.
He woke up.
He passed out again.
How many times that cycle repeated, he did not know.
Finally, when the first light of dawn beyond the window faintly colored the world—
A status window appeared before the thoroughly exhausted Jin.
「(Complete!) Crisis」
You have survived.
Reward: XP 3,000
“Raccoon!”
Shouting something completely out of context, Jin regained consciousness.
The first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.
Though there was nothing unusual about that.
When you were a homeless drifter with nowhere to call home, waking up beneath a strange ceiling every day was perfectly normal.
What mattered more was the most horrifying sensation in the world.
His mind snapped awake.
He shot upright and cried out almost like a scream.
“Food!”
At the sound of movement, he turned his head.
A woman with an unfamiliar face blinked at him before cautiously speaking.
“Are you all right?”
Jin answered with trembling hands like a drug addict in the middle of withdrawal.
“No. Not even close. Sorry, but do you have anything to eat? It's urgent.”
“J-Just a moment.”
As the woman hurried out, cold sweat poured down Jin's face.
To anyone else, it might have looked like ridiculous overacting.
But the situation was far more serious than it appeared.
Jin suffered from PTSD related to starvation.
If left alone, it could even develop into a full-blown panic attack.
This time, it was especially severe.
It honestly felt as though he had gone five straight days without eating.
A short while later, the woman came running back.
Jin snatched the plate from her hands and began stuffing the contents into his mouth before even checking what it was.
Chewing furiously, he finally realized—
Oh. Apple pie.
Along with his returning appetite came the color in his face.
“…What's this?”
Only then did he notice the IV needle in his arm.
He looked around at the room, which was filled with medical equipment, before turning to the woman, who was blushing quietly in one corner.
“Hey.”
“…Yes?”
“Where am I?”
“The resistance's safe house.”
The answer came not from the woman, but from somewhere entirely different.
A man entered after pulling aside the tent flap and looked at Jin.
“How's your body feeling?”
“Oh. You.”
It was at least a familiar face.
The man who had helped smuggle Jin and Fenrir into the city at the beginning of the mission.
Albus.
That was his name.
Finally recalling it, Jin asked,
“So why am I here? What happened to the warehouse? Has a lot of time passed?”
“Whoa, easy. I'll explain everything.”
Dragging a chair over beside Jin's bed, Albus sat down heavily.
“First of all, the warehouse collapsed. Completely flattened.”
“Then…”
“That's right. The mission's complete. Once you get back, you'll receive your share of the payment.”
That was welcome news.
Still, there were too many unanswered questions for Jin to celebrate just yet.
He simply raised an eyebrow, silently telling Albus to continue.
“You're wondering how you ended up here? Nothing too dramatic. That werewolf carried your unconscious body back to our rendezvous point.”
“Oh. Fenrir.”
Only then did Jin remember the beastman he had fought alongside.
His companion?
His friend...?
Whatever she was, he hurriedly asked,
“What happened to her?”
“Same as you. She spent several days bedridden. But she recovered faster than you and went back to Downtown the day before yesterday.”
“…What?”
That bastard.
Then what was I supposed to do?
Was our comradeship only worth that much?
Having lost his driver overnight, Jin trembled with a profound sense of betrayal.
Then another thought struck him.
“…Wait. Several days? How long was I unconscious?”
“Today's the fifth day. For three of those, we genuinely thought we'd be preparing your funeral.”
“Huh?”
“You probably don't know since you survived, but your body temperature reached forty-eight degrees Celsius. According to the attending physician, your proteins had begun denaturing, your internal organs were hardening like stone, and your optic nerves had been damaged badly enough to leave you blind.”
Blind?
Without thinking, Jin touched around his eyes.
A side effect of Mana Rampage?
That seemed unlikely, considering he could see Albus rambling on in perfect detail.
Knowing full well how absurd his own regenerative ability was, Jin shrugged and joked,
“That doctor's a complete quack.”
The woman standing quietly in the corner visibly flinched.
She lowered her head and silently left the tent.
“…Her?”
“Her.”
An awkward silence settled over the room.
Albus cleared his throat.
“Well, you're alive, so that's what matters. I heard you're some kind of enhanced human too. Is that right?”
“Something like that.”
At this point, denying it would have been ridiculous.
Jin nodded and voiced the last question that remained.
“There was some kind of monster guarding the warehouse.”
Albus's expression immediately changed to one of I knew this was coming.
“I can't give you a definite answer since I didn't witness what you two encountered myself. But based on what we found... that facility wasn't just a logistics warehouse.”
His voice dropped.
“We couldn't stay long because TB cleaned up the site incredibly fast, but we found several bodies beneath the ruins. Not TB guards.”
“They were mutants.”
“The kind that would've gotten right back up the moment mana was pumped into them.”
Mutants?
Now what's that supposed to mean?
Jin frowned.
He had a bad feeling about where this conversation was heading.
And he was right.
“Still don't get it? TB has joined forces with the dark mages. Those lunatics... maybe Mutetown isn't even their real objective anymore. If this is as serious as it looks, even the city government—which normally doesn't consider us human—might finally be forced to act. Damn it…”
Albus wore an expression of absolute gravity.
To Jin, however, it was hard to grasp the significance.
Are mutants some trademark of dark magic?
So that plague doctor was a dark mage?
And he's working with TB.
“I know you may not believe me, but we didn't send you there because we expected to find something like this. We only intended to cripple one of their supply hubs and disrupt their logistics.”
He lowered his head.
“Still... I'm sorry.”
Seeing Albus apologize, Jin scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“Forget it. I didn't die.”
Downtown was full of nothing but bastards.
Because of that, Jin had always been weak against sincere apologies like this.
Besides, the status window that had screamed at him to run away the whole time had ended up saying, You survived, and even rewarded him with a generous amount of experience.
All things considered, Jin decided he had not come out at a loss.
Groaning, he eased himself back onto the bed.
Then Albus spoke again.
“No. Around here, nobody works for free.”
“Besides, we gained a lot thanks to you.”
Jin's ears perked up.
He groaned again as he forced himself back into a sitting position.
“So?”
“What are you trying to say?”
Albus smiled.
“What else?”
“Your reward, Solo.”