novelraw Chapter 29 : Chapter 29
Chapter 29 : Chapter 29
Chapter 29. Night Raid and the Truth (4)
Jade Tutlock.
His crime was serial murder.
To be more precise, lust murder.
However, unlike most lust murderers, he wasn't the type to feel pleasure from the act of murder itself.
He derived pleasure from the fear of his victims.
Murder was merely a means to obtain it.
In short, it was like this.
First, he would drag his kidnapped victim into a securely locked warehouse.
Then, he would push a mobile table lined with all sorts of murder tools in front of the tightly bound victim.
Daggers, saws, axes, hammers, chainsaws, pistols, rifles, shotguns, crossbows, and even grenades.
Just by seeing that, the victim would already be half out of their mind.
Because they would imagine in detail how those tools would be used, and what they would look like as a result.
But here, a twist occurred.
Jade wouldn't touch those tools.
Instead, he would untie the victim and say this.
“If you kill me with these within 10 minutes, I’ll let you out of here.”
Saying so, Jade would start a 10-minute timer.
From this point on, the victims would show various reactions.
Some would immediately grab a weapon and try to attack, some would try to talk to Jade first, and some wouldn't be able to accept the situation and wouldn't know what to do.
But as the timer's time decreased, their actions would eventually converge in one direction.
They would pick up a weapon and attack Jade.
Because they would realize that there was no other way.
Jade would not react to those attacks at all and would take them head-on.
And the victims would find out.
That no attack worked on Jade.
The timer's time was running out, and Jade wouldn't budge.
Their anxiety reached its limit, and the victims fell into a panic.
Just a few minutes ago, they thought they could kill the man in front of them and get out, but they realized that it was absolutely impossible.
And so they learned.
That the time left on the timer had become their own lifespan.
That there was no hope from the beginning.
The victims would begin to struggle.
Crying, begging, fighting back, collapsing, going insane, or doing all of the above.
That moment was Jade's pleasure.
The sight of a human being collapsing on their own, engulfed in an irresistible fear.
Humans who, after doing everything they could against him, could ultimately do nothing.
The overwhelming sense of superiority he felt while watching all of this.
That was his pleasure, his delicacy.
And the moment the timer hit 0, he would end this ceremony by killing the victim.
This taste of his was reflected in his fighting style as well.
During combat, he would neither hide, nor defend, nor evade.
He would take his opponent's attacks with his whole body while carrying out his own assault.
In the process, he enjoyed watching his opponent feel helpless, struggle, and sink.
It was the same in his fight with Riman.
He fought while taking all of the flame magic Riman had poured on him.
This was both a performance to show the gap between him and his opponent, and a highly efficient fighting style.
If he had a defensive power that could completely nullify his opponent's attacks, there was no need to make the effort to dodge.
It was more efficient to turn the energy that would be used for that into an attack.
And Riman knew.
He knew Jade's fighting style, his sadistic world of taste.
That's why he was sure that Jade would endure all of his flame magic.
And he actually did so.
Currently, Jade's entire body was heated red-hot.
His body was incredibly hot.
A temperature that would have already turned an ordinary person to ash.
In that situation, Riman said this.
“I never intended to burn you to death from the beginning.”
Saying so, Riman activated a magic spell he had never used before.
Crackle-
Something black began to form in Riman's hand.
It wasn't fire.
Unlike fire, it had a shape, it was hard, and it was cold.
Something that was completely opposite to fire in every aspect.
It was ice.
Crackle!
A long spear of ice was created on Riman's hand.
Magic, [Ice Blast Spear].
Magic that forged a spear from a crystal of condensed mana and cold.
The cold emanating from it violently pushed back the heat around Riman.
And immediately—
‘Javelin throw.’
Riman threw the spear at Jade.
Thwack!
The ice spear, accelerated by mana, flew towards Jade.
And this time too, Jade did not dodge.
The spear hit Jade.
BOOM!!
The spear did not pierce.
The spear exploded.
Simultaneously with the explosion, the cold condensed inside the spear burst out.
A level of cold that would rapidly freeze whatever it touched.
But Jade, who had been hit by that spear, was in an incredibly hot state.
Extreme cold, extreme heat.
The moment the two collided, an enormous amount of steam was generated.
Tssssssss!!
A mist thicker than the smog of an industrial area filled the street.
A fog so thick that he couldn't see his own hand.
In the midst of it, Jade shouted.
“What's this? You're trying to cool me down after heating me up so much?”
This cold was a welcome thing at a time when the heat that had been warming his body was becoming bothersome.
But Jade couldn't be happy.
Because there was no opponent who would do something unconditionally good for him.
‘What are you up to?’
For the first time in this battle, Jade began to think.
‘Are you trying to blind me with a smokescreen and launch a surprise attack?’
But blinding his vision with a smokescreen wouldn't particularly increase his attack power or anything.
‘Fine, come at me then……!’
I'll see how much you struggle.
The moment he thought that.
Whoosh!
Something flew at Jade through the fog.
It was not a fireball, nor an ice spear.
It was……
‘What……?!’
Riman himself.
‘Is he crazy?!’
Jade was bewildered.
‘He's trying to fight me, a close-combat specialist, in close combat?’
For a moment, he thought Riman had used some kind of trump card.
But all Riman was holding was a single knuckle.
‘He's coming at me trusting only a single knuckle?!’
Jade's bewilderment turned into a snort.
‘Well, if you're going to die, what can't you do?’
Crack.
Jade clenched his fist, aiming for Riman's jaw.
Swoosh!
Riman dove into Jade's close range half a tempo ahead of him.
At that moment, Jade sensed that the end of the fight was near.
And that intuition came true.
Stab.
The very next moment.
Because Riman's blade had pierced through Jade's chest.
* * *
There's a disaster that happens in the kitchen at least once when you're cooking.
The experience of shattering a glass or ceramic dish by pouring cold water on it after it's been heated.
This is a phenomenon that occurs due to thermal expansion.
Objects expand when they are heated, and this is thermal expansion.
However, when a specific part of an object in a state of thermal expansion is rapidly cooled, that part rapidly contracts.
Some parts expand, some parts contract.
A crack occurs at the interface between the expansion and contraction, and eventually, the dish shatters.
Of course, sturdy metal dishes and the like can withstand this kind of cracking.
But in any case, it's a fact that this thermal expansion and rapid cooling cause considerable damage to an object.
And Jade's Carapace was no exception.
Riman poured flame magic and trapped the fire with [Coloration] to heat Jade's body to the extreme.
Until a sufficient level of thermal expansion occurred throughout his body.
Immediately after that, he hit him with the [Ice Blast Spear] to rapidly cool a part of his body.
In a situation where thermal expansion had occurred to its limit, a rapid contraction occurs.
Crack-
A crack appeared on Jade's proud Carapace.
Creating a weak point on Jade's body by force using thermal expansion and rapid cooling.
This was Riman's strategy.
It was a hairline crack.
A crack thinner than a hair, and shorter than a single finger joint.
In terms of damage alone, it was an embarrassingly small amount of damage.
But it was a different story if you could pierce through that crack and land an attack.
Then what would you use to pierce that crack?
A means to instantly penetrate a very thin gap.
It was a sword.
The moment the mist erupted, Riman rushed at Jade with the Caterpillar Sword in his hand.
Jade's vision was blocked by the mist.
On the other hand, Riman had pinpointed Jade's location through [Detection].
Until just before he dove into close range, Jade didn't react.
And finally, the moment he entered Jade's range of perception.
Riman openly drew the Caterpillar Sword.
The Caterpillar Sword, a sword that looked like nothing more than a knuckle to an unknowing person.
‘He's pulling out just a knuckle against me?’
Jade let his guard down.
Through that gap in his guard, Riman dove in.
Mana was infused into the hilt, and the blade was ejected at high speed.
Swoosh!
The hairline crack on his chest.
A blade even thinner than that tiny crack, pierces through.
Stab.
The blade pierced through the Carapace, passed the skin, and tore through muscle and internal organs.
This was possible because this was reality, not a game.
In the game, there was no such tiny crack, and you couldn't exploit such a crack.
Because it was impossible to implement such minute details.
But this was reality.
Anything could be implemented as long as the principle was correct.
That's why this was a strategy that was only possible in reality.
“Kuhk……!”
The blade was stuck in his lung.
Jade was bewildered.
“You bastard……!”
The Carapace was pierced.
The Carapace, which could withstand an anti-tank shell head-on, was pierced by a single sword.
But it was just a sword.
It didn't pierce his heart, it just cut around his lung.
Of course, it was a fatal wound.
But this stab wound wouldn't turn the tide of the battle.
Jade thought so.
Riman thought so too.
That's why Riman didn't stop.
[Heat]
Tssssss……!
The blade stuck in his lung instantly heated up.
No matter how enhanced a human was, they couldn't train their internal organs.
The heat instantly turned his lung into boiled meat.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
Jade swung his fist in a desperate struggle.
An unavoidable distance and angle.
Riman deployed his barrier.
[Protection] triple stack.
Ssssh!
He deployed a triple-layered barrier.
It might feel like overkill as a response to a single punch.
But Jade's fist deserved such treatment.
Crack!
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!!
The barrier was shattered in an instant, and Riman was sent flying over ten meters, rolling on the ground.
“Guuk……!”
Riman barely managed to get up.
‘Damn it, my arm……!’
His left arm was broken.
Even with the barrier, a fracture occurred.
No, to be precise, it was thanks to the barrier that it ended at this level.
Without the barrier, it was a punch with the power to tear off half of his upper body.
‘This monster bastard…….’
Riman looked at Jade.
Fortunately, Jade's condition was worse than Riman's.
It had to be.
Riman's only injury was a broken bone, but Jade's insides had been seared with high heat.
In fact, one of Jade's lungs was completely destroyed.
Jade muttered, with blood dripping from his mouth.
“You son of a bitch”
Was it because his lung was damaged?
His words slurred out of his mouth.
A definite fatal wound.
Nevertheless, Riman couldn't completely let his guard down.
That guy's lung was half destroyed, but as an Enhanced Human, he could still move.
But Riman's stamina was at its limit.
Continuing the battle or escaping was almost impossible.
‘Damn it……!’
The strategy had worked perfectly, but the finish was sloppy.
In fact, it couldn't be helped.
Because the location of the crack that appeared when transitioning from thermal expansion to contraction was random.
Step.
Just then, Jade began to move slowly.
His steps were headed towards Riman.
‘Damn it……!’
Jade began to approach Riman, who couldn't even move properly.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it……!’
The moment death began to approach, one step at a time.
Ruuuumble-
Suddenly, a flying vehicle stopped above Riman's head.
Riman looked up at it.
“You son of a……”
An Ork Corporation aircraft was floating there.