BCST 10

KWAANG!

The Arcane Blast struck dead center where flames were spouting from the nozzle.

Crackle….

TADADAT!

I ran, leaving the wall crashing down with the machinery behind me.

Once I figured out how that guy operated, everything after that went like clockwork.

[Arcane Blast]

KWAANG!

Destroy what can be destroyed, dodge what can be dodged.

But don’t use Pick-Blink.

Thanks to the earlier 13 consecutive Pick-Blinks, I’d felt my mana reserves go hollow for the first time.

Pushing forward so fast, the scenery of the corridor began to change.

TADADAK!

Clack.

Footsteps.

At some point, the security system’s attacks from Yabok stopped as well.

I couldn’t tell whether it judged further attacks useless, or whether it was preserving this area for some reason.

“This is…”

Decorations worn by human hands here and there.

Posters with geometric graphics and unknowable symbols plastered on the walls.

One poster’s slogan looked familiar.

[Humans give birth to data, and data gives birth to gods.]

I’d definitely seen that phrase before.

There was a group in the game that argued something like this.

Creak, creak.

Beside it, a kinetic art display made noise.

Frames of a human head outline and circular frames overlapped and unfolded in repeated motion.

[Human consciousness is always vaster than language.]

Hmm.

So Yabok really is an Enochist?

Well, when I play a hacker sometimes I do develop that build, too.

It’s the most orthodox way for a hacker to get stronger.

Going in that direction eventually lets you become a ‘ghost’ belonging to the electronic world and an otherworldly being that can directly interfere with the real world.

But such transcendent beings are few even on this continent.

Of course things change if you cross the “Red Line,” but…

[Arcane Blast]

KWAANG!

I didn’t hesitate — I destroyed the kinetic display with magic.

I didn’t want to poke at this stuff and be swept into a story I couldn’t handle.

I already had knowledge of it, and that meant I had the power to control my first contact with that information.

I wasn’t going to squander that privilege.

Besides, this wasn’t an area I needed to pay attention to at my current level.

Eyes forward — focus on this mission.

TADADAT!

I kept moving, and at last reached the door where Yabok was presumed to be.

Corpses fell on both sides of the door like two people having shot at each other.

Between them, a faint form glimmered in the artificial lights in the dark.

“…So it comes to this.”

A long figure sat in a chair.

Cable-made hair trailed from his back, connected to massive machinery, flickering with multicolored lights.

The monitor light before him washed his gaunt face.

Yabok Voykov.

A hacker wanted for stealing Aminov’s corporate data, and the target of my mission to enter Edge Line run by Mia Dunrivi.

When he rose from his seat, his characteristic spider-like hands slid down to his knees.

He looked tired, but his aura was far from weak.

“Rat, are you ready to die?”

At the same time, some indescribable pressure descended on this space itself.

“…Your skills differ greatly from what was known.”

What kind of Level-2 hacker like Kin is this, you brats.

While I silently cursed Mia and Sean, Yabok smiled at me and spoke.

“I hid my whole life. Otherwise, how could I have avoided Aminov’s attention and bought myself this much time?”

Then, as if remembering, he pointed inside the room at a headless mercenary corpse and continued.

“But it seems that ends today. Still, a month — you hid for a long time.”

“You make it sound like you planned the corporate data theft in advance.”

Yabok nodded at my retort.

“Ah, you could say that. Aminov had over-limit goods in hand. It was a pearl necklace on a pig’s neck.”

For a moment his eyes gleamed viciously.

“Black mage. Do you believe there’s a god in the electronic world?”

You ask if I believe in an electronic-world god?

“No? I just know about it.”

Because I played the game, after all.

“…What?”

When Yabok’s eyes widened in surprise at my answer—

[Arcane Blast]

KWAANG!

A gap, you bastard.

Eat this.

I closed the distance in a single breath and penetrated into the space he’d used to hide his body.

For some reason he was connected to machines and hindered in movement.

I thought a hit would be easy, but—

Thud.

Thud.

Two machine arms emerged from behind and blocked my attack with hexagonal gauntlets.

KWAANG!

That came out of nowhere?

Fine — I’ll make an opening by swinging left and right.

[Arcane Blast]

[Pick and Blink]

[Arcane Blast]

KWAANG! BANG!

“Wait…! Let’s talk!”

Pick-Blink is erratic enough that even I can’t predict where I’ll move — it’s unconventional.

But the two machine arms guarding Yabok moved with startling agility.

Bang! Bang!

Damn, are they blocking all of this?

“…I’ve learned every movement you’ve shown on the way here into the algorithm. Now I see.”

Yabok stared at me with sunken eyes.

“That your words are simple deceit. Despite your looks, your behavior is petty and despicable.”

Busted.

Still, I wasn’t exactly lying.

But I had no intention of bringing it up.

According to the setting, naming them or even merely thinking about them could make things dangerous.

“Think whatever you want.”

I shrugged it off to avoid letting my mind drift into nonsense.

Yabok slowly spread both hands wide.

What the—

“Ha — for someone like you to shake me. This must be another of His tests.”

Clack, clack.

One by one, the machine-connected hair strands detached.

[Arcane Blast]

I didn’t just stand watching — I fired an Arcane Blast — but—

KWAANG!

As before, the machine-arm gauntlets blocked it.

Tudududuk.

Meanwhile, every network cable connected to Yabok snapped.

“Repay the one who hindered my sacred ascension ritual with that wretched life.”

“Di…”

Raal.

Screech!

Yabok’s crow-claw brushed right by my narrowly twisted neck.

Drip-.

Thin blood trickled down the throat.

“Di? That’s all your last words will be?”

If not for the [Sense] warning, that would have been dangerous.

My vision filled with a flesh-colored blur.

Before I knew it, he closed to almost touching distance.

In an instant five black blades plunged under my chin.

[Shield]

SFX: SHAAK!

My shield shattered in an instant.

Damn.

I rebounded with a partial counter and delivered a series of kicks to his abdomen.

Wham! Thud!

But Yabok absorbed them lightly with elbows and knees.

He spun and snapped back his leg.

[Shield]

SFX: PAAK!

The localized shield covering the hit area held without breaking.

His body flew backward from the impact, though.

[Arcane Blast]

SFX: PAKJIK!

“It doesn’t hit.”

Yabok evaded lightly.

“Is that so?”

[2-Chain]

KWAANG!

The Arcane Blast ricocheted off the wall and detonated behind Yabok.

“Ugh!”

The shock made him drop to his knees, face twisted in rage.

Seeing that, I also landed on the floor.

Tadak.

“You little tricks…!”

“A bookworm style. Can’t counter what you’ve never seen?”

Because it was obvious he’d be watching, I never showed him chain attacks while clearing the corridor.

Also, at 50% power, I guess I couldn’t finish him in one go.

I could have taken him this time — shame it didn’t work out.

“Crr… If only you weren’t just flesh.”

Yabok still looked pretty pained.

That told me he’d pumped his cyberware into speed and thrown away durability.

Makes sense.

Honestly, the first attack had been pretty bleak.

If he’d been durable, we’d have been screwed.

Just as I was smiling at the clear tide of victory—

Yabok muttered softly.

“…I didn’t plan to use it here because of the machines.”

[Gravity Field Focuser]

Suddenly my body felt heavy.

At the same moment—

Skeek!

“Missed.”

I narrowly avoided his attack with Pick-Blink.

“…It was my only outfit.”

The long, torn top fluttered pathetically.

I’ll go do some real shopping when this is over.

“By the way, Yabok.”

“What?”

He eyed me warily at my call.

Charging mana into both my hands, I asked.

“I heard you put a sensitivity sensor in your fingers. Isn’t this sexual assault, then?”

“Nonsense!”

An opening.

[Arcane Blast]
[Double Shot]
[2-Chain]

Arcane Blasts flew like lightning, bouncing off the walls.

[Gravity Field Focuser]

One of them slammed into the ground.

Ssssh!

Another was avoided as Yabok bent his waist.

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m in the process of algorithmic learning. I won’t be hit twice by the same attack.”

I know that too.

KWAANG!

At that moment, a blast from behind changed Yabok’s expression.

“Damn!”

It hit directly.

“Why don’t you use the gravity focuser?”

Did he say because of the machines?

Tsk, tsk.

This is why when you fight you should shut your mouth like I try to.

Information leaks everywhere.

No matter how well the two machine arms block, I can just chain past them.

“You must be protecting something you don’t want messed with. Let’s see what it is.”

I might sound like a villain, but I’m not.

He’s the thief wanted for stealing — I’m not the bad guy here.

“This scum!”

[Pick and Blink]

Inside the machine arms?

No.

[Arcane Blast]
[2-Chain]

The machine arms pitifully attempted to block, but the Arcane Blast simply sailed over the two arms like a joke.

KWAANG!

At 25% of original power.

But enough to break complex machinery.

Kaboom!

“Inooom! I’ll never forgive you! How dare you!!”

Ugh.

Has he never learned that excitement makes attacks simple?

Ssssh.

I dodged a stabbing attack from behind and delivered a clean uppercut to the jaw.

Thwack!

“Urgh!”

Die.

[Arcane Blast]

No, I can’t kill him.

[3-Chain]

Like a sparkling snake, the Arcane Blast wrapped around half a turn.

Rumble—

“You dodged.”

Feign.

Yabok increased distance and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

“…It’s hard. Very hard.”

It always is.

Once damage accumulates, the situation turns sharply against you.

I’d preserved my HP, but my mana had been heavily depleted.

Still, with my remaining mana I could finish him.

The advantage was completely on my side.

He seemed to realize that; his face darkened.

But apparently Yabok had one more trick left.

“One — I haven’t been idle either.”

As he spoke, Yabok’s eyes shone unnervingly dangerous.

“I’ve analyzed not only your attack patterns over this time, but also your mana patterns, black mage.”

That AI or algorithm — deep learning?

Is he really trusting it now?

“…And I’ve just discovered, through the ‘Cosmic Map’ distributed by my clan, a contract pass linked to you.”

A contract pass?

Wait.

“All black mages share the same weakness. I will reveal your contract holder’s true name, and banish you from this world forever.”

Oh no… I’m totally screwed.