Chapter 36: Kid

[Critical Hit!]

[-417]

―

Jaxir coughed, a scarlet arc of blood leaving his lips as he collapsed to the ground.

Marti stood over him, scratching the back of his head, half awkward, half amused.

"I really thought that was going to be harder." He said, his eyes blinking. "Wait, you didn’t―."

BANG.

Marti’s gaze flashed and he tried to move out of the way, but he was a bit late. He hadn’t even noticed when Jaxir pulled out a Vestigem Card. When had that happened?

Concussive Wave sent him flying away.

[-2]

Marti flipped through the air and landed deftly on his feet, but before he could close in the distance again, Jaxir activated another Vestigem Card.

No, not just one. Two of them.

―

Name: Overflow (+30%)

Grade: Common

Description: The next healing ability you use heals for 66.67% more than normal

Recommended Classes: Healer

―

Name: Full Restore (+40%)

Grade: Common

Description: Remove all debuffs from a target and heal 46.67% of their max HP

Recommended Classes: Healer

―

[+261.3]

Roll of the dice activated, applying a +30% boost to the first card and a +40% boost to the second.

Instantly, Jaxir was back up to more than half his health and had flipped to his feet.

He didn’t say anything, just looking down at his chest.

In the distance, Marti was still blinking in surprise. He had never seen Vestigem Cards activated that fast. Even with his speed, he couldn’t react.

Usually, because Vestigem Cards were so expensive and rare, people weren’t used to using them. Activating them was almost like completing one of those paper mazes with a pencil, except you had to do every dead end before you found the "exit".

This was essentially the process of filling the circuits of the Vestigem Card with your Mana.

If you weren’t used to activating a particular card, activating it was a lot of running into dead ends by accident before you finally managed to get to the real end.

But Jaxir had activated three cards in less than a second. And the last two, he overlapped, filling them at the same time with a slight time deviation so that one could buff the other.

Was Jaxir really so familiar with three different Vestigem Cards?

"Uh... sorry." Marti said with a chuckle, still rubbing the back of his head.

Jaxir still didn’t reply, the blood that soaked his robes through felt so very stark. Sunlight beamed through the foliage of the tall trees, catching spots of it just well enough that it reflected a deep darkness.

The original bright red wasn’t even clear anymore, having seeped into the fabric and darkened considerably.

Marti suddenly vanished, rushing forward in a whirlwind. If Jaxir was going to be distracted, he would just end this, then. No need to beat around the bush anymore.

Pa. Pa. Pa.

Marti dodged out of the way of a sudden magic bullet, leaping to a side only to find another in his way. He dodged again, just to find a third.

Jaxir looked up, his gaze placid.

A cold shiver ran down Marti’s spine for some reason. He had faced some very powerful bosses already. In fact, this was a character reset for him.

But something about the dullness in Jaxir’s eyes sent tingles through his body.

Marti’s eyes narrowed and he slid back in a crouch, balancing himself on his knuckles and a thumb as his palm wrapped around his short sword.

Slowly, he unsheathed his second blade. Mana pooled out of his feet.

Streaking lines rushed out of the corner of his eyes as he activated his L1 ability: Dash.

He blazed a path toward Jaxir, ducking and rolling as another magic bullet came for him. However, his forward momentum carried him the rest of the way.

By the time he popped back up to his feet, his blade slicing up in a beautiful arch, he was already within a meter and a half of Jaxir.

BANG.

He was sent flying with another Concussive Wave.

"What the fuck!" he said in the air.

Pa. Pa. Pa.

Marti quickly sliced apart two magic bullets that came for him, but the third clipped him perfectly, launching him just a little bit higher into the air.

[-11]

Jaxir’s mouth moved, his chants ringing. He didn’t even seem to react to the low damage output. He simply concluded that Marti was wearing very good items.

It wouldn’t matter in the slightest.

’What is that chant?! I’ve never heard it before!’ Marti roared in his mind.

Fracture.

Chi.

The echoes of broken glass filled the air, space fragmented and splitting into jagged dark gold lines around Marti.

He spun through the air, and just as he landed, the last of Jaxir’s chants likewise ended.

He couldn’t even dodge. How could he? He didn’t have a double jump ability, not yet, not at this level.

He could only watch as his shadows wrapped around him radiating a dark edge and just the slightest hints of a black gold air.

Bind.

Marti’s eyes widened as he watched his Abilities get locked down.

Fracture and Bind? That was impossible. How would he not be able to recognize the chant? Unless―

Marti’s eyes widened. Jaxir had cast them both in far too quick succession. That should be nearly impossible.

"Shit." He cursed.

But the sentiment wasn’t nearly great enough for what happened next. Jaxir held out his staff, three orbs of rotating Twinkle Mana appearing in the air.

They grew to the size of his head instantly, and then in a blink, they doubled in size, looking like miniature stars radiating with the echoes of solar flares.

They wrapped around one another and shot forward.

Marti immediately turned and ran. His mana was completely locked down right now, he couldn’t even activate his Vestigem Cards.

He couldn’t die here, there was way too much good equipment on him.

He looked over his shoulder as the three rotating spheres closed in the distance. Just a bit more. If he put some more distance, they should lose enough damage that he wouldn’t be crippled.

Jaxir wouldn’t have time to charge up another attack like this―not at this distance―before the timer for Bind ran out.

Marti cursed again as he realized he hadn’t calculated for Fracture too. Even if they weakened―

A shadow suddenly fell from the skies before Marti.

"What the―!"

BANG.

A mana bullet the size of his head slammed right into Marti’s forehead at basically point blank range.

[-62]

He was sent flying, and right into the path of the three rotating magic bullets.

BOOM.

[Critical Hit!]

[-637]

Marti landed on the ground, bouncing several times in a severely crippled state.

That didn’t stop Jaxir from completing another chant and casting Bind on him again.

Marti looked up to find Jaxir standing over him.

"Hey," Marti coughed, "we don’t really have to do this, right? Let me give you some money and you can let me―."

Jaxir stuffed the head of his staff into Marti’s mouth, muffling the rest of his words.

All Marti could see was the steely cold eyes of someone without the slightest hint of patience.

BANG.

**

"Who the hell is going to tell me where Marti is?!"

A valiant woman dressed in beautiful, form fitting violet armor slapped her palms on the table. The cavern around them was so bustling that the only reason people looked over at all was to wonder how such a slim waist could hold up such a large chest.

Most of them probably wouldn’t have minded a little more commotion even if it had been quiet, though. So long as it came from her, of course.

Her three squad members just shrugged their shoulders.

"I told the guild that I didn’t want a kid on the team either, no matter how talented he is." A gruff looking man eventually replied. "I bet you he went off to look for Jaxir Chance on his own."

The valiant woman ground her teeth. They had explicitly told Marti not to do that, especially after they got clarification that Jaxir had, in fact, cleared a Nightmare Dungeon on his own.

They were supposed to scout out the situation, find an opportunity, and take him out together.

In fact, that was just Lieutenant Doren’s plan. Mylene had pulled Kaina aside personally to tell her to look for a more clever method if possible, hinting at the fact the village head probably didn’t like Jaxir very much right now.

But now Marti was missing and they had no idea where he―.

Kaina froze as she got a notification.

―

[Squad member "Marti Torres" has died]