At this life-or-death moment, Elias didn't care how much his current posture resembled a soccer star's sliding knee celebration.
After dodging the dagger, he performed an extremely awkward turn on the beach.
Before he could even steady himself, the revolver in his hand barked, driven by muscle memory.
"Bang!"
At such close range, the enchanted bullet wrapped in silver flames flew accurately toward the back of the mystic-turned-assassin.
Just as Elias thought he had it in the bag...
"Buzz—"
A thin, oval, pale blue light shield emerged without warning behind the mystic, enveloping his entire body.
That was a mage's dignity and their life-saving trump card.
"Tch."
Elias's heart sank.
However, just as old Edmond had analyzed earlier, this unlucky mystic's spirituality had been overextended to the limit while being controlled by the siren.
This shield flickered twice like a light bulb with a bad connection.
"Crack."
A crisp sound, like an eggshell cracking.
Under the impact of the enchanted bullet, the shield shattered as easily as low-quality glass.
With the obstruction gone, the bullet finally buried itself firmly into the mystic's back.
"Pfft."
The man's stiff figure suddenly froze, and the energy dagger in his hand, which was about to swing again, instantly dissipated.
He coughed violently several times.
Along with the sharp pain brought by the shot, the mental link controlling him seemed to be physically severed.
A trace of human clarity and terror returned to his previously dead eyes.
He turned his head with difficulty to look at Elias behind him, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something.
Was it a plea for help? Or a curse?
Elias would never know.
Because the mutated siren had already charged in front of them.
To a monster that had lost its mind, anything blocking its path—be it enemy or ally—was just troublesome trash.
How could it care about this bait in front of it, whose value it had already squeezed dry, whose spirituality was exhausted, and whose life was hanging by a thread?
"Roar—!!!"
The siren let out a violent roar, and its thick, massive claw swung out fiercely with a foul wind.
"Bang!"
A sickening thud, the sound of bones shattering instantly.
"【Arcane Ward】. It's a pity his spirituality wasn't enough."
In his mind, old Edmond sighed with regret.
Immediately after, Elias watched helplessly as the mystic's body was sent flying by the sharp claws, crashing heavily onto the distant reefs, motionless.
Dead.
Completely dead.
This was the first time in Elias's life that he had truly seen a living person killed right before his eyes.
Whether in the peaceful, rule-of-law society of his previous life or the island life of this world—which was eerie but at least hadn't seen large-scale combat until now—this was a first.
Old Edmond's remains didn't count; those were just an old corpse, a specimen.
But this... this was the fading of a fresh life.
In that moment, Elias didn't feel fear or disgust.
A complex mix of emotions welled up in his heart.
It was a reflection on the fragility of life and a refreshing realization of just how insane this world was.
"Bastard!"
Elias squeezed the words through his teeth.
The siren's bloodshot eyes had already moved past the corpse and were locked onto him.
Using the momentum from his previous roll, he quickly opened up a distance of over ten meters.
Raising his right hand, the revolver's muzzle flashed.
"Bang!"
The last bullet in the chamber roared out, carrying all his dissatisfaction with this shitty night.
But that wasn't enough.
At the same time, his left wrist flicked, and the enchanted dagger was hurled out like a streak of silver lightning, following close behind the bullet!
This still wasn't the end.
Elias's 【Rational Circuit】 seemed ready to ignite at this moment.
He spread the five fingers of his left hand, his spirituality surging wildly.
Several clumps of white, heatless flames drifted from his hand like ghost fires.
【Hexfire】!
This spell dealt no damage and had no impact; its only function was to be bright—to reveal the invisible.
Under the cold moonlight, these clumps of white 【Hexfire】 were exceptionally blinding, like miniature flashbangs, wobbling as they drifted toward the siren's face.
The mutated siren had clearly never seen such dirty tactics.
Its vision had been enhanced, making it extremely sensitive to light.
Dazzled by this sudden burst of intense light, it let out a pained hiss and instinctively closed its eyes, its four arms flailing wildly to disperse the light spots in its vision.
Meanwhile, Elias's 【Moonlight Veil】 also temporarily failed due to the intense light, revealing his form.
But that didn't matter anymore.
In that brief one-second window, the balance between life and death was shattered.
The bullet and the dagger hit almost simultaneously!
"Puff! Puff!"
The bullet arrived as promised, precisely boring into the gap between the hardest scales on the monster's brow, exploding into a flower of blood.
And the enchanted dagger pierced deep into the monster's right abdomen, right up to the hilt!
Holy power erupted within its body.
"Roar—!!!"
Even a body strengthened by mutation couldn't withstand such a strike to its weak points.
The monster's massive, mountain-like body was knocked backward by the shot, its supporting tail stumbling as it crashed heavily onto the sand, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
"Strike while it's down!"
Taking advantage of this opening, Elias didn't stop for a second.
While moving rapidly to the side to find cover, he fished out the only three bullets left from his soaked pocket.
The intense running and rolling earlier had made his already meager ammunition situation even worse.
According to his usual habit, he would have six rounds ready in his pocket for emergencies.
But a few bullets must have fallen into some sand pit.
This was all he had left.
"Click, click, click."
He skillfully flipped open the cylinder, dumped the casings, reloaded, and snapped it back into place.
As a young man from the twenty-first century, Elias naturally understood the importance of a finishing blow.
Although he had aimed for the head with that last shot and it looked like a hit...
He couldn't be too careful.
"Go!"
With a thought, Elias controlled the clumps of 【Hexfire】.
They drifted like floating lanterns toward the fallen mutated siren, illuminating the chaotic battlefield.
He raised his gun, approaching step by step.
"Be careful."
Edmond's voice sounded in his mind, carrying a hint of caution.
As the distance closed.
Elias's 【Malice Perception】, which had calmed down after the battle seemed to end, suddenly began to sound a frantic alarm!
"Buzz—!!!"
That malice wasn't a deathbed wail, but a coiled, sinister intent!
"It's not dead?!"
Elias's pupils constricted.
Even a headshot didn't kill it?!
Without hesitation, and without even stopping his pace, he fired a rapid succession of shots at the shadow on the ground.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three bullets, accompanied by muzzle flashes, streaked out in a triangular formation!
However.
The moment the first bullet hit the monster.
That massive body, which had been motionless, suddenly sprang up as if it were on springs.
It wasn't dead at all!
It was playing dead!
"Whoosh—"
A foul wind surged.
The thick, massive fish tail whipped sand and gravel, sweeping toward Elias with the force of a thousand pounds.
It was too fast!
Too close!
There was no time to dodge!
Elias only had time to let out a short cry of alarm as he desperately retreated a few steps.
Then, he instinctively crossed his arms in front of his chest.
Attempting to minimize the damage.
"Thud!"
A dull thud.
Even though he had retreated a few steps to reduce the impact area, the end of the fish tail still grazed him.
Just a graze, yet the massive force felt like a speeding truck hitting him.
He finally understood a bit of what that mystic had just gone through.
If it hadn't been for those few steps back, he likely would have met the same end as that guy.
No, probably worse.
Elias felt as if he had instantly lost all sensation in his arms as he was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the beach.
But that wasn't the end.
Momentum carried him sliding across the coarse sand, plowing a long, shocking trail until he slammed into a reef and stopped.
"Cough! Cough, cough..."
Elias curled up in pain on the ground, his mouth filled with the taste of blood and sand.
"Damn it!"
He cursed while coughing, his voice trembling.
Both his arms felt broken, completely unable to be raised; the slightest movement brought piercing pain.
His ribs were likely in bad shape too; every breath felt like two knives were stabbing into his chest—at least two were broken.
And that was with the 【Moonlight Blessing】 strengthening his physique.
If he were an ordinary person, that blow probably would have snapped him in half.
Elias gritted his teeth, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.
Even so, he stood up unsteadily.
He was afraid that the damn monster would strike while he was down.
In this godforsaken place, lying down meant death.
The cold moonlight poured over him, and the 【Moonlight Blessing】 began to work at full capacity again.
Elias could clearly feel a tingling itch at his wounds—the sensation of bone and muscle being forcibly bonded and repaired by spirituality.
Although slow, it at least kept him from collapsing immediately.
He raised his empty gun, his eyes glaring fiercely in the direction of the monster.
However.
Where was the monster?
The empty beach only left behind a pool of blue blood and a crawling trail leading into the sea.
That mutated siren, after that single strike, hadn't pressed the advantage but had fled instead!
It was scared too.
"Fuck! It escaped again!"
Elias looked at the churning white waves on the sea surface and cursed in disappointment, his empty gun drooping weakly.
This thing was practically as slippery as a loach!
"You did quite well."
Edmond's voice carried a rare hint of comfort and praise.
"That siren was at least at the level of Scale Two."
"This achievement is enough to brag about for a year if you were to tell anyone."
"Heh."
Elias gave a bitter laugh, not feeling like there was anything to brag about.
"I just hope it's not more than Scale Two the next time we meet."
"We don't know how it evolved."
He limped a few steps to confirm he wasn't crippled, then his gaze fell on the mystic's corpse in the distance.
"I suggest we go see if that mystic has anything useful on him,"
Edmond said.
"He's dead, but he was a Scale Two believer of magic; he should have plenty of good stuff on him."
Elias paused, looking at the body slumped on the reef in a twisted posture.
"Old Ed, are you even human?"
Elias sighed, his feelings complicated.
"I'm a ghost,"
Edmond replied matter-of-factly, without a hint of guilt.
"Besides, why let it go to waste?"
"When the people from the Seventh Agency arrive, this body will be evidence, confiscated property."
"Then you'll just have to watch blankly as others take the good stuff."
Elias looked at the corpse and remained silent for a few seconds.
"...Sorry, brother."
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