Body Extract:
Technique.
Speed.
Corporeal Squeezing.
Fifth Killing Technique.
Ron lunged forward, hooking the curved handle of his cane onto a nearby dining table. He flipped it forward, delivering a follow-up kick to drive it with extra momentum. Facing the ferocious wave rushing at him, the table managed to hold out for only a second—no, half a second—but that was enough.
Relying on the table he had just kicked to close the distance to the enemy ahead, Ron spun his body. Using the table as a pivot and his hands for leverage, he unleashed a spinning wheel kick aimed straight at the enemy's neck.
A single slash across the throat would normally be more than enough to claim a man's life, but the creature before Ron proved far more resilient, forcing him to bring his cane back into play.
Ron immediately disengaged his foot from the table, coiling his body back into a solid stance. He watched the horde rushing toward him with absolute composure.
STAB!
Ron thrust the cane violently into the eyes of the creature directly ahead, maintaining his distance from the enemy. He leaped into the air, creating a donkey-and-carrot dynamic to bait them.
"Now!"
Emy shouted instantly. Right after, a beam of light materialized from the sky, piercing straight down into the building they occupied. The light bled into the space, shining directly upon the monstrous horde. Without warning, their eyes began to burn relentlessly, billowing trails of black smoke from their sockets.
"Second wave!"
Emy yelled. Ron bounded off the large creature, tearing his cane free while channeling a strand of Death Magic into it, causing the wood to rapidly corrode and decay.
Technique.
Speed.
Sprinting forward, Ron hooked the cane into a door frame, suspending his body in midair right before the eyes of the anomalous crowd.
Emy thrust her hands forward, causing the floor of the room to radiate a bizarre yellow-red hue. These golden hues formed dozens of randomly arranged squares.
With a snap of her fingers, the ground fractured into cubical blocks, exposing a strange, hollow space beneath the floorboards.
Seeing the horde lose their balance and plunge into that bizarre void, Ron dove down alongside his cane. He funneled his entire body weight into that single wooden staff. Augmented by Death Magic and gravity, he drove downward, crushing the line of enemies beneath him like a piercing sewing needle.
Naturally, Ron had not forgotten the remaining crowd. He hurled one of his shoes forward—only the pin of the bomb attached to it had already been pulled.
BOOM!!!!
Being lighter, it had fallen slower, but Ron didn't need it to detonate directly in front of the enemy; he needed what came after.
A massive cloud of black powder erupted from the blast, raining down over his head and the anomalous crowd.
As they neared the bottom of the void, Ron, balanced atop his cane, glanced at the dead creature beneath his feet. He pulled his weapon free, only to see the wooden staff completely ruined and snapped.
It broke into two fragments, but Ron paid it no mind. He used the pieces to catch the drifting black powder falling from above, and then he struck a spark.
Just a single spark, and it would all be over.
KILLING TECHNIQUE 0: ESCAPE BLOCKADE.
Fire Tactic.
Flicker, Flare~
BLAZE!
BANG!!!
The fire erupted like thousands of spears thrusting from infinity, piercing deep into the space. It incinerated and detonated everything from top to bottom; no one could escape.
Except for Ron.
Using a corpse as a launchpad, Ron bounded upward, clenching his fist to reel in his nylon cords and pull himself out. At the exact same time, Ron used his left hand to wrap his black coat tightly around his body—this was nothing less than the heat-insulated armor layer he had prepared in advance.
However, his left hand—the one he had severed previously and reattached, controlling it via nylon cords—was defying him. The total depletion of his mana prevented it from moving precisely. As a result, though his body remained safe, his face was plunged into the boundless sea of fire.
"EMY! YOU!"
Ron roared, and the nylon cords from above suddenly reeled him in faster. She was clearly helping him.
Ron and Emy, two individuals suffering from critical mana depletion, alongside Mark, a child who hadn't even hit puberty—meaning his core was only at level 2—this situation was an absolute disaster.
Fortunately, Ron successfully climbed out. Unfortuantely, the left side of his face and his hair were scorched to a crisp.
Ron asked Emy to use a spell to shake off the clinging embers. She complied exhaustedly. Only then did he look back down at the recent battlefield.
It was nothing more than a bizarre yellow-red pattern painted onto the floor, dotted with tiny black specks and a vibrant, burning crimson in the center.
That was the nature of Eye Magic; it was highly unorthodox, even more so than Death Magic, which was strictly reserved for the undead.
Ron tapped his ear repeatedly. It seemed he had gone deaf. Perhaps both of his ears had been incinerated by the blast, or simply injured; he couldn't tell.
But the two of them couldn't catch their breath for long. Emy warned Ron immediately—dozens of other footsteps were echoing right beneath the floorboards, signaling that they needed to run.
They failed to notice that hovering directly above their heads were strange, black threads...