Chapter 137: This Thing, It's Called a Gun
Cindy's body was suspended in midair, her powerful neck seized in a vice-like grip, like a helpless rabbit caught in a hunter's grasp.
Her face had turned a shade of purple so intense it had gone beyond red, and even her eyes had begun to lose focus.
Then, abruptly, Viktor's hand released.
Freed from his grip, Cindy collapsed to her knees, gasping and wheezing.
Air flooded back into her tightly constricted lungs.
It took quite a while before she ca back to herself, lifting a pair of bleary eyes to stare up in terror at the blurred figure looming before her.
"You... who are you?"
Viktor's expression was blank as he looked down at the man kneeling on the ground from above.
Sothing like a disdainful scoff seed to ring beside his ear.
"Why does every single one of you have to ask who I am?"
Cindy blinked rapidly, waiting until her vision finally cleared enough to make out the face before her.
Her mind went completely blank. As though she were staring at sothing utterly terrifying, her eyes snapped wide open.
Dread surged into them like a flooding tide.
"Vi... Viktor!"
Cindy shook her head violently, her mouth trembling as she mumbled:
"Impossible, impossible....."
She simply couldn't accept it.
Viktor was a Mage. His physical strength—how could it possibly surpass her own? She was a 4th-Tier warrior.
It was absolutely impossible.
She began frantically feeling around across the dark ground, trying to locate her weapon.
But Cindy couldn't even find a shadow of that greatsword.
An ominous premonition crept down from the top of her skull. She jerked her head upward.
Her prized greatsword was held in the grip of an enormous Lava Arm, blazing with a fierce, searing glow—unmistakable, impossible to overlook.
"This... what is this?"
Her gaze went hollow for a mont. Sitting on the ground, she began instinctively shuffling backward.
Extre terror flooded her mind entirely.
The fear in her eyes hadn't diminished in the slightest—if anything, even greater pressure continued to press in on her from all sides.
In that mont, a single thought rose within her: Escape.
Right now. Run. Run imdiately.
But just then, a cold voice drifted into her ears, slow and unhurried.
"Oh, you want this back?"
Like a ray of light breaking through the darkness, hope seed to return.
The enormous Lava Arm gave the greatsword a casual toss, dropping it at Cindy's feet.
The blade crashed against the ground, its imnse weight carving a deep crater in the earth on impact.
The mont Cindy saw it land, she lunged for the hilt and seized it. Only then did a sense of reassurance fully wash over her.
For a warrior, losing your weapon was no different from losing both arms.
Weapon back in hand, Viktor before her seed sohow less terrifying than before.
Even the fear churning in the depths of her eyes faded sowhat.
She staggered upright, face flushed crimson. The Blood Energy within her body surged upward toward her skull, her presence swelling back into a roar.
The Viktor just now had only managed to land a successful sneak attack on her.
She was a powerful 4th-Tier warrior.
In the domain of close-quarters combat, how could she possibly lose to a Mage?
That was sheer nonsense.
The events of monts ago seed to have been written off by Cindy as a fluke.
Cindy clenched her fists, teeth grinding together with a hard, crackling sound.
She would make Viktor understand: a Mage caught within reach of a 4th-Tier warrior was nothing but at on a chopping block.
Without any chance of winning.
A smile spread across her face—confident, arrogant—as she tilted her head back and looked down at Viktor with contempt.
"I'll make you understand, giving that sword back to , you'll regr—"
The words hadn't even finished leaving her mouth before Viktor's figure vanished.
Cindy's pupils shrank sharply. She snapped her focus forward—a knee was already right in front of her chest, filling her entire field of vision.
Fast...
The word hadn't even fully ford before a devastating force slamd into her chest, carrying a trendous gust of air.
Cindy's entire body buckled from the impact. Saliva flew from her mouth beyond her control.
Her already crimson face turned even redder. Her eyeballs bulged outward as though they might pop free the next second.
"You talk too much."
A cold voice sounded beside her ear. Through her dazed vision, she could only watch as Viktor's leg rose.
A brutally fast kick ca crashing down directly onto the top of Cindy's head.
Trendous force slamd into her skull.
Her vision went white. A wave of intense vertigo and confusion swept through her mind, and terror reclaid dominance in an instant.
The greatsword slipped slowly from her fingers.
Under the sheer force of the impact, Cindy's body crumpled like a sheet of paper, completely at the rcy of the blow, and was driven hard into the ground.
Throughout all of this, Viktor hadn't even raised his hands once.
Behind him, the Lava Arm extended and snatched up Cindy's greatsword once more.
He looked down at Cindy lying face-first on the ground, his voice carrying unmistakable contempt.
"Heh. Is that all?"
That tone—dripping with mockery—was enough to send Cindy's mind into complete disarray.
If before it could be explained away as a sneak attack—
How was she supposed to explain this?
She lay motionless on the ground, her whole body aching, and forced her head up with great effort.
But before she could even look up at Viktor, the greatsword was tossed back in front of her once more, resting quietly on the ground.
As though waiting for Cindy to pick it up again.
A cold voice reached her once more.
"Get up."
"We continue."
Cindy painfully extended her arm, wrapped her fingers around the hilt.
Propped herself up. Slowly rose to her feet.
As a 4th-Tier warrior, Cindy's physical constitution had reached a terrifying degree of resilience.
Despite the consecutive beatings, she hadn't sustained any serious injuries.
The pain on her body amounted to nothing more than surface bruises and scrapes.
But the damage dealt to her mind was sothing her physical wounds couldn't begin to compare to.
This ti, Cindy took it seriously.
She held the greatsword horizontally before her, legs bending slightly. Trendous presence began coiling at her feet, poised to erupt at any mont.
Her eyes had gone bloodshot. The ground beneath her feet cracked and fractured under the pressure.
Just as she was about to launch herself at Viktor—
Viktor did it again, appearing before her a second ti, hurling a rapid kick.
The speed was extraordinary—an afterimage blur—giving Cindy no ti whatsoever to react.
A sweeping roundhouse kick ca in hard, landing squarely against the side of her neck.
The force of the impact seed to scatter every drop of warm blood coursing through her veins.
Cindy's powerful body was hooked as cleanly as though by a razor-edged scythe, face-first, and driven violently into the ground.
The already fractured earth shattered further.
The breath was knocked from Cindy's throat. Both hands lost their grip once more.
The greatsword was once again taken up by Viktor.
"Is that really all you've got?"
"Continue."
Through her daze, all she could do was hear Viktor's unhurried voice again.
That weapon was tossed back beside her once more.
Cindy stood up again...
Once. Twice. 3 tis...
But the outco was always the sa.
No matter how fast or how savage Cindy's movents were, before Viktor, they were nothing more than toys.
In a single exchange, she would be knocked flat every ti.
Her body remained unhard, but her mind was on the verge of collapse.
The surviving warriors watched from a distance as their leader was thoroughly pumled by a Mage, sweat pouring down their foreheads.
"What... what kind of monster is this!?"
Shock swept through all of them. Their bodies stiffened, unable to move.
Whether from fear or disbelief, they began to question everything they had ever known about the world.
None of them even noticed that a group of hooded dark figures had appeared, soundlessly, at their backs.
Cold air spread, slowly, between the bodies of those warriors.
Their vision went dark. Consciousness left them entirely.
The shadows wiped the remaining blood from their blades, then sheathed the daggers.
Leon returned to Leah's side.
"Miss Leah, the small fry have all been dealt with."
Leah gave only a quiet mhm, her gaze still fixed on Viktor's direction, not moving away at all.
In a daze, she seed to recall:
Last ti, Viktor had done exactly this.
Against a Kingdom warrior, he had dismantled his opponent using nothing but close-quarters combat.
Fighting warriors in lee—he seed to enjoy it endlessly.
Finally, Cindy stood up from the ground one more ti.
Her eyes were downcast. Her expression was dark. Her gaze had gone sowhat vacant.
She stood silently in place, letting the sea wind buffet her powerful fra.
The greatsword was tossed back down at her feet once more. Viktor stood where he was, watching her with detached indifference.
Amid the howling sea breeze, Cindy laughed—wearily, helplessly:
"Ha ha... ha ha ha."
"What a disgrace..."
As a renowned Adventurer from the south—a 4th-Tier warrior.
She had been pinned down and beaten raw by a Mage.
If word got out, it would be a complete and total humiliation to her na.
Her composure seed to have shattered. Even her mind was beginning to fracture.
Cindy did not reach for her sword again.
She only slowly moved her hand to her waist.
And then—
As though sensing sothing dangerous, Leah's eyes went wide. Her voice cried out on pure instinct.
"Stop—"
But no matter how fast her voice was, it could not outpace the sound that tore through the night sky.
Bang!
A sharp, heavy gunshot rang out across the night.
In Cindy's right hand was a revolver.
Strange red patterns were engraved along the barrel, twisting like a bloodthirsty hound.
The black muzzle still curled with slowly drifting smoke.
In that mont, everyone froze.
The surroundings seed to grow very quiet.
A blood-soaked hole the size of a bowl had opened in Viktor's chest.
As though sothing had reached in and gouged a wound into his chest with savage force.
Thick, scorching blood dripped continuously, staining the ground beneath his feet entirely crimson.
Leah's mind went bzzt—and crashed.
"Ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Cindy threw her head back and laughed, her voice tearing from her throat.
Her limbs convulsed in a kind of manic frenzy.
"You didn't see that coming, did you—you didn't see it coming!"
Madness churned behind her eyes.
As everyone stared on in disbelief, she slowly raised the gun in her hand, gazing at it like sothing priceless.
In the moonlight, the silver barrel etched with red patterns glead brilliantly.
"Warriors, Mages..."
"None of them can compare to this entirely new kind of weapon! Ha ha ha ha ha..."
Suddenly, Cindy's voice cut off.
Because Viktor, still standing where he was, moved.
Without even blinking, he reached one hand into his own chest.
From inside that wound, he extracted a smooth, jet-black bullet.
He held it up before his eyes, not even glancing at the injury on his chest, and examined it for a mont.
"A southern-made firearm weapon. Uses a specially crafted Magic Crystal as its power source."
A flash of green light. The wound in his chest began to close.
Even the tear in his clothing sealed itself under the restorative magic, returning to pristine condition.
Within only a few seconds, the injury from monts ago seed like nothing but an illusion.
And that low, steady voice continued:
"The damage output isn't particularly high. A single shot probably isn't even enough to kill an ordinary 2nd-Tier Knight."
"1st-generation product?"
As though seized by an overwhelming, chaotic terror, Cindy's eyes went wide—she seed to spiral toward madness.
She raised the revolver with savage force, aiming directly at Viktor, and pulled the trigger again and again.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
After emptying every last round, Cindy ignored the hollow click click click of the empty gun and kept squeezing the trigger.
She was in a complete panic, scrambling desperately to reload.
And yet—
Those several fired black bullets seed to have been forcibly halted, suspended in midair before Viktor's face.
Their montum had been stripped entirely. They fell quietly to the ground.
"Why... why..."
Cindy completely lost her nerve. The bullets in her hands were trembling so badly that several of them spilled from her fingers.
She managed—barely—to load the magazine. But the revolver rose into the air on its own.
Cindy's eyes went wide. She lunged to snatch it back, yet could only watch helplessly as her prized weapon ca to rest in Viktor's hand.
Viktor held it, turning it over and examining it for a mont.
Then.
He extended his arm, leveling the muzzle directly at Cindy.
As though swallowed entirely by darkness, Cindy felt a cold sensation begin at the base of her spine and spread through her entire body.
Her mind went blank. All she could hear was Viktor's voice, matter-of-fact, sounding in her ear like a simple reminder.
"Watch carefully."
"This is how it's used."
As the last word fell, Viktor redirected his arm.
The muzzle turned toward the surging surface of the sea.
Streams of Magic Power began coiling around the barrel.
Hmm—hmm—hmm—
Ring after ring of Formation circles wrapped around the gun barrel, as though charging it with power.
The red engravings on the body of the weapon seed to co alive, resonating with a low, deep growl.
Viktor slowly squeezed the trigger.
BOOM!
A sound like a roaring thunderclap tore through the air.
In an instant, a colossal jet-black shell seed to burst free from the barrel, firing out from the Formation rings at the muzzle.
The force of it whipped Viktor's Coat into a wild frenzy, shredding the wind around him.
At a speed no one could track, only the faintest distortion of the air above the sea could be perceived.
The shell, carrying a terrifying pressure wave, slamd into the surface of the ocean.
Waves dozens of ters high erupted skyward.
A howling gale tore across the sea, draining the sky and earth of all color.
The shockwave went on and on, until even the surface of the dock was completely subrged beneath the spray.
Only when the waters slowly receded and the sea gradually returned to calm—
Cindy stared blankly at Viktor.
All strength drained from her body. She crumpled to the ground where she stood.
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