78 — Chapter 78

It wasn’t long before I found Mihana again.

She seemed to be fleeing desperately, but my movement pace was far superior. If I tracked her presence, finding her was easy. The maze was irrelevant; I could pinpoint her approximate location. I’d undergone extensive training for exactly this kind of thing.

Mihana was twenty meters ahead of me. Fortunately, this part of the path was a straight corridor. The next junction was a bit further off. That said, I had to keep in mind the possibility of her using magic to blast a hole in the wall. Since she could use magic, I wouldn’t give her the time to try anything clever. I’d kill her swiftly.

“Wha—! Oh, crap…!”

Realizing I was closing in, Mihana tried her best to put distance between us. Her feet were slow, as expected. In addition to her lack of raw athletic ability, the fact that she was stumbling from tension and fear played a huge part.

Approaching at a run, I focused on my pistol. If I hit, I was lucky; I went in assuming she’d dodge. I’d use the shots to flinch her and close the distance in one go.

“Don’t run away like that. You’re gonna hurt my feelings—”

I was halfway through a quip while trying to aim at Mihana when my eyes widened. A rod of ice flew through the air and jammed itself right into my gun’s muzzle. I instinctively stopped myself from pulling the trigger.

Mihana had suddenly used magic. I understood that much. However, she had only fired a single ice rod. Was it even possible to drive it with such pinpoint precision into the muzzle of a pistol I had only just leveled? Considering the timing, she would have had to cast the magic before I even raised the gun for it to make it in time.

And yet, in reality, Mihana had pulled it off. She had obstructed my shot with a display of brilliant precision.

“Tch…”

Clicking my tongue, I yanked the ice rod out and tossed it aside. This time, I tried to fire from the hip. Once again, an ice rod sped toward me and dove into the muzzle. Deciding that shooting was useless for now, I holstered the pistol.

“Haah… haah… haha.”

I heard a laugh. Mihana was laughing, even though her voice was thick with tension. I noticed a hint of superiority in it.

“That woman…”

I heard the sound of my self-control snapping. I gripped my knife in a reverse hold and sprinted. I was absolutely going to kill her. I wouldn’t let her off easy. I’d drag her down to hell after she’d tasted the peak of suffering.

“Oh no…!”

As a panicked Mihana swung her arm, a shower of sparks danced through the air. They crackled and popped like fireworks.

“Hey now, don’t underestimate me! Did you think I’d flinch at this crap?!”

I ignored it and charged through. It didn’t matter if the intensity of the sparks increased. Any minor injuries would be healed soon enough anyway. I glared ahead through squinted eyes and felt a genuine surge of surprise.

‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.’

Rather than using the sparks to buy time and retreat, Mihana charged straight at me. Well, that worked for me. I was getting tired of this game of tag.

I thrust my raised knife forward. Just as I was about to catch her, the intensity of the sparks reached its climax. A burst of red-white light exploded in one of my eyes.

“Guh…!”

At the worst possible timing, the flash burned my eye. I swung the knife, but the blade only managed to graze Mihana’s cheek. It was a shallow cut to the skin—hardly what you’d call effective damage. Mihana slipped past me, nearly collapsing as she went.

“Damn it, stop scurrying around!”

I threw a kick as I spun around. In that split second, Mihana tripped and pitched forward. My kick whistled harmlessly over the back of her head.

Several strands of her hair were torn away, but I failed to inflict any real injury.

Still, I had expected as much. Ignoring the setback, I lunged forward to strike her. However, the ground suddenly caved in, catching my foot. My own excessive physical strength had caused the floor to crumble under my weight.

‘Damn it, did my anger mess up my strength control…?!’

With my posture broken, the reach of my fist shortened, carving a hollow arc through the air. Mihana, who was attempting to spin around, was just a hair’s breadth away. If the ground hadn’t collapsed, it would have undoubtedly been a clean hit.

From there, I unleashed a relentless barrage of melee attacks. In response, Mihana continued to evade with a series of clumsy, sluggish movements. Even when I tried to grab her, she would mysteriously slip away at the last possible second. Occasionally, she even managed to counter-attack with magic. None of her spells were life-threatening, but they were steadily grating on my nerves.

“………”

Finally, I came to a halt. I observed Mihana as she tried to scramble away. No matter how I looked at it, her movements were those of an amateur. Yet, she possessed a judgment that allowed her to constantly pick the optimal solution, and luck was clearly on her side. It left me with a jarringly unbalanced impression.

Having tried it, I realized that melee combat was also at a disadvantage. I had a feeling that if I kept this up, she would simply continue to buy time. There was very little time remaining.

I reached into my coat and pulled out a bomb. If precision attacks didn’t work, I’d just have to use an area-of-effect attack. It would be difficult to completely evade an explosion.

“Let’s play catch. Make sure you hold onto this.”

I drew back my arm with a primed bomb. I hurled it at Mihana’s back as she tried to flee at full tilt. The bomb flew in a nearly straight line, closing in on her exactly as aimed. Without stopping her flight, she pointed a single arm toward the bomb.

“S-stay away!”

A blade of ice shot from Mihana’s fingertips. It sliced clean through the bomb’s fuse. The bomb hit the ground and rolled away harmlessly. Even after waiting a moment, nothing happened. It was only natural, given that the spark hadn’t reached the core. Meanwhile, Mihana fled even further.

“Hahaha, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead and let out a dry laugh. With a no-look shot, she had neutralized the bomb using a tiny blade. It was a move that suggested she knew the exact trajectory—no, she couldn’t have done it unless she knew.

I immediately threw another bomb. This time it was a Remote Bomb, detonated by a switch in my hand. With no fuse to cut, it couldn’t be easily disabled.

“Stop being so persistent!”

Mihana made the same motion as before, but this time she fired an ice needle. The needle pierced right through the approaching Remote Bomb. I pressed the switch a fraction of a second later. The bomb didn’t go off. The internal detonation mechanism had been destroyed. It was designed to explode if tampered with, but it seemed she had stopped even that mechanism with a single needle. Even if I had detonated it before the needle struck, she was far enough away that she wouldn’t have been injured. She had neutralized it at the exact threshold of the blast radius.

I still had bombs left, but I knew that even if I tried again, I’d just see the same result.

At that moment, an unpleasant buzzer echoed through the area. Looking at the ceiling, I saw that all the sand in the hourglass had fallen.

『Time’s up.』

The Sage’s cold voice made the short announcement. The entire maze warped and distorted, returning to the original room.

“I… I somehow made it…”

Mihana collapsed onto her rear, wiping away sweat and going limp with relief. She looked completely defenseless, as if she could be killed easily, but that was no longer an option.

I pulled out a cigarette and lit it. I took a drag and exhaled a cloud of purple smoke. Because of my current mood, it didn’t taste very good. What a waste.

“—Damn it all.”

Acknowledging my defeat, I shot a glare at Mihana and spat out the words.