Ch.267Chapter 10. Public Enemy (2)
by fnovelpia
Firearms have a magical power.
Every man has probably handled a gun at least once.
As a child, shooting paintballs at a survival field.
Shooting toys like airsoft guns or water guns.
Above all, shooting plenty of rounds in the military, and even going to reserve training to fire zeroing shots.
Mentioning the military is irritating, but the recoil when pulling the trigger sometimes makes a man’s heart race.
The entire process—manipulating the gun to pull back the bolt, properly shouldering it, pulling the trigger, and hitting the target precisely with the recoil against your shoulder.
If you’re a man, you’ve probably felt a shiver down your spine from that sensation at least once.
And now.
In this world, I can shoot to my heart’s content what I would only encounter during reserve training in my original world.
Not the K2, nor the M16 I encountered at a rural reserve training center while moving between regions, but all kinds of firearms boasting history and tradition from before the Great Cataclysm.
Though it’s a shame they’re not live rounds, I can shoot something that gives an even more thrilling sensation.
Bullets crafted from magical power—magical bullets.
BANG!
As soon as I pull the trigger, the muzzle spits fire.
The Mateless’s doppelgangers try to dodge, but the magical bullet is faster than their movements.
THUD.
With a dull sound, another doppelganger collapses with a hole in its head.
And simultaneously, as it collapses, its head explodes.
SPLAT.
Blood splatters around.
Like a mannequin’s head exploding, debris spreads from the center of the doppelganger and scatters on the floor.
[If you blow someone else’s head off, you should get yours blown off too.]
The magical bullet that precisely pierces the center of the forehead doesn’t just end with lodging in the head.
The magical bullet, difficult to replicate even with special ammunition, carries explosive properties and, following my will, explodes the doppelganger’s head from the inside after penetrating it.
“Kugh…!”
[If it just gets pierced, it’ll quickly regenerate the damaged part. Better to blow it up instead.]
Bang, bang.
I keep firing magical bullets.
I keep pulling the trigger with one arm, but an ability user’s body can easily withstand this much weight and recoil.
It would certainly be easier to aim if I held it with both hands.
That’s the basics of gun shooting after all.
Even pistols are gripped with both hands, so how could I shoot a sniper rifle with just one hand?
“Ugh, arrogant NTR bug…! Die!”
[Sorry, but I’m not the one who gets stolen from—I’m the one who does the stealing.]
But.
[I’ll block them. All they do is rush in and swing their claws…!]
“Both of you explode!!”
Sometimes.
“You two, go together!!”
A man must sacrifice practicality for something else.
[Dangerous.]
[Uh…?!]
I pulled Ymir with one hand while turning my body.
With her waist in my grip, Ymir was about to leap forward but immediately entrusted herself to me, and I shot forward while holding her waist and planting my feet.
Ratatata.
Though it’s a sniper rifle, unlike before, I form magical bullets in quick succession by cutting the magical power flow short, firing a burst of continuous rounds.
The doppelganger rushing toward us stopped in place from the magical bullets’ stopping power, and soon its body began to split dramatically.
BOOM!!
[Self-destruction?!]
[How vicious.]
I landed on the ground still holding Ymir, in the same position I had jumped up in.
[Th-thank you. I never thought it would self-destruct….]
[It’s just one of the doppelgangers. Sorry for grabbing you suddenly.]
[N-no. There wouldn’t have been any damage, but just thinking about being covered in that…ugh.]
Ymir gritted her teeth at the blood splattered on the floor.
At the same time, she extended Dragon Killer forward and lightly clenched her fist.
Bang, bang, bang!
Blade-like golden claws shot forward one by one, piercing through the doppelgangers all at once.
Rather than piercing just one, they penetrate the solar plexus of three or four doppelgangers in succession as they advance forward.
Click!
As soon as she fires the three claws, golden claws immediately spring out from within.
[Aura Blade ejection. I tried copying something from that fantasy novel you sent me before. How is it?]
[Impressive. You might be able to use a gear sword later too.]
Having Ymir around certainly makes combat easier.
Her ability to take techniques I’ve taught her, or ones I’ve introduced through other media, and make them her own is exceptional.
[I’ll take the front, Ymir.]
[I’ll trust you with my back!]
And because of that, I can entrust my back to Ymir.
I turned around to stand back-to-back with Ymir, then spread the magical power flowing through the Goblin Club-turned-sniper rifle to both sides.
Crackle!
With golden sparks, the sniper rifle split into two.
Similar to before, but with about 50% of the black color faded.
Bang, bang!
Since I’ve split one into two, the firepower is halved, but naturally magical bullets fly to both left and right.
It had to be this way.
Otherwise, I couldn’t sweep away all the Mateless creatures secretly crawling up from the factory below.
“Kugh…. How?!”
Bang bang bang.
“My concealment should have been perfect?!”
As the heads of doppelgangers climbing up the wall from behind exploded and fell, one of the doppelgangers that had barely made it up gnashed its teeth and shouted at me.
[I can see you trying to flank us by sending doppelgangers around back.]
“That’s impossible!”
[Here’s my answer: I’m looking five moves ahead of you.]
In truth, I detected them through Qiongqi spread out in the sky, but I have no obligation to tell them that.
We’re in the middle of a time attack here.
[Haaah!]
Ymir swings Dragon Killer in a scattering motion.
Golden slashes fly like crescent moons, cutting doppelgangers in half, followed by X-shaped crossing slashes that fly along the ground.
SWOOSH!
“KYAAAAH!!”
The doppelgangers touched by Ymir’s magical power melted away and vanished.
Just like with Dueoksini, the Mateless’s doppelgangers turned to ash and were purified by Ymir’s sun-like magical power before disappearing.
[There’s no reason to hesitate anymore.]
Ymir emitted even stronger magical power with a voice full of conviction.
[If nothing human remains after being purified by my magical power, it means you’re not even human but a demon!!]
She swings Dragon Killer without hesitation, sending out slashes.
“Shut up!”
“Those who mix NTR into pure love are the real demons!”
“You who help the Goblin are more like a demon!”
The Mateless, who only know how to fight hand-to-hand, try to get close enough to attempt self-destruction, but not once have they succeeded.
[They’re endless.]
[Are they multiplying infinitely? Then targeting the main body would…!]
[I don’t think it’s infinite multiplication. They’re connected in parallel. There are many individuals, but ultimately it’s finite multiplication.]
Ratatata!
[If we keep eliminating them, eventually one will remain. That’s the main body. Well, it would be nice if eliminating the main body would kill the rest.]
I continue firing magical bullets to blow up doppelgangers while backing up to match Ymir’s advance.
[Even if there are doppelgangers elsewhere, once all the entities here are dead because of the barrier….]
Crackle!
I recalled the magical power forming the gun, returning it to its club form.
Then I turned sideways, hugged Ymir from behind, and jumped upward.
Whoosh.
Despite jumping quite high while hugging her from behind, Ymir comfortably settled into my embrace.
Instead, she extended Dragon Killer downward.
[If not from behind, then from below.]
“T-this—”
Whiiing.
A golden laser from Dragon Killer poured down.
The hands of doppelgangers that had just jumped onto the factory roof all began to be purified and vanish in Ymir’s light.
Bang.
Gathering magical power in my feet and kicking the air, I made a large double jump forward while holding Ymir.
Ymir continued her light bombardment downward, and I slowly fell while holding her and turning my body.
“T-this…!”
[Ymir. That’s not how you’re supposed to use that. It’s not a beam cannon.]
[How about calling it my own fighting style?]
[…Hmm, come to think of it, that might be right.]
If one handles close range, the other handles long range.
[Back me up from behind. I’ll cut off the doppelgangers’ necks from the front.]
[Not smashing their heads?]
[Drop the prejudice that I always use blunt weapons.]
If Ymir is going to bombard, I can switch to a form suitable for close combat.
[I prefer using blades too.]
Click.
I create a magical blade at the end of the club, making it like a crescent blade.
[It’s cleaner to cut them neatly than to have flesh exploding when you smash them.]
Slash!
I swing the pole widely, cutting off a doppelganger’s head.
As the headless doppelganger’s body falls backward, Ymir aims her claws at the head flying toward the sky and fires a beam.
Fizzle.
The doppelganger turns to ash and vanishes.
Currently, no doppelganger can inflict damage on us.
They might cause psychological damage from the grotesque slaughter, but even that should become familiar by now.
[How long are you going to keep sending just doppelgangers?]
“…Heh, hehehe.”
[First Dueoksini, now you—you demons are good at creating minions but terrible at fighting yourselves.]
“Oh really?”
Snicker.
All the Mateless simultaneously aimed their hands at us.
“Then, try fighting against your own combat style.”
[……!!]
[No way…!]
[Cheating, huh.]
“It’s not cheating, it’s called ‘mirroring’!”
Ratatata.
From all directions, the Mateless’s fingers began flying like bullets.
Their speed was as fast as magical bullets, and the swarming fingers seemed about to explode.
Even worse, red droplets of blood shot out like beams from the fired fingers toward us.
In a split second, I understood the Mateless’s combat style.
Using doppelgangers to learn the enemy’s patterns and counter with the same techniques.
A type that gathers data and uses it directly.
Just like utilizing what happened on Angel Island in Thailand, it’s a combat method that accumulates knowledge and applies it directly.
BOOM!!
A golden sphere unfolds in front of me.
[What should we do? Are we going to… reveal all our tricks?]
Ymir asks in a tense voice while blocking finger bullets and beam cannons coming from all directions.
[The way to deal with such demons is—]
[Nearly infinite.]
Click.
[For example.]
I turned the club back into a gun and aimed the muzzle at the Mateless.
[Use an ability they can’t copy.]
An ability that even the demon of omniscience cannot understand, one that can never be obtained through knowledge acquisition.
[Seven magical bullets I possess.]
I pull the trigger.
One, two, three.
Holes appear in the protective barrier, intercepting the finger bullets.
[Six bullets shall hit their targets.]
I fire more magical bullets.
Four. Five. Six.
Beyond the bullets, they pierce the heads of three doppelgangers.
[The final bullet shall pierce the demon’s heart.]
To the demon of omniscience.
[I am the Marksman. Come, great angel of death.]
I use a power that simply “reaches the result.”
The seventh bullet, a fatal magical bullet that will definitely fly toward someone and kill them.
[Execute. Samael.]
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