Chapter 39: Do or Die

Raive watched as blood splashed after getting hit by a bullet... The enemy, that is.

Beyond his notice, the three who stayed behind were already locked onto him. One of them was using a gun, while the other two were in the middle of casting their skills. Seeing how slow the activation speed was, it was easy to tell that they’d barely even used it.

A combination of negligence and panic made them even slower now.

The problem was the one with the gun.

He was just about ready to pull the trigger with Raive up on the ceiling. A crazed grin crept onto his lips as his finger pulled the trigger—

BANG!

—but then a bullet flew over, blowing off his entire trigger finger at the base, and continued on until it struck the forehead of the man standing behind him.

"Hiss...!"

Pain sharp enough to blur his vision assaulted his senses.

Blood spurted from his shattered finger, and from the forehead of the other man whose chanting had been cut short. Raive glanced at it and frowned.

’Hazel is exposed now!’

Earlier, he used his own gunshot to cover for her, making them think that his ability was related to guns. But now, since he wasn’t even holding his gun at the ready, they should’ve figured out Hazel’s existence by now.

Two enemies and the boss still remained, and as expected, the one casting her spell and the boss glared at the end of the corridor with bloodshot eyes.

Raive was now short on time.

Even if the "zombie" rushed toward the last two enemies, it couldn’t do anything against them. At most, just swinging its limbs like a baby flailing about.

And once the enemy figured that out, they would—for sure—focus fire on Hazel.

"Move!" Raive roared as he kicked off the ceiling. "I’m in a hurry...!"

WHOOSH!

Like a falling meteor, he swung his blade down.

But the short pause he’d taken watching the drama unfold behind him earned the scythe man enough time to bring his weapon up, blocking the slash and letting it slide off along the scythe’s curve.

"...!"

Raive hadn’t expected that.

He was left mid-air, falling along with his own sword. With such little room to maneuver, a single hit here could easily spell his end.

Thankfully, only the scythe man stayed focused on him.

And since he was using both hands to prop the scythe, he could only use his legs to attack.

A kick came from below, aimed at Raive’s liver.

If that landed, he would definitely get incapacitated for a good while. And a moment was more than enough for the scythe to swing across his neck.

"Kuh...!"

So he forced his body to react.

He released his sword’s hilt and drew his sidearm, keeping his eye on the incoming foot. It was hard to tell which would land first, but Raive didn’t lose focus.

He aimed the gun forward and pulled the trigger.

At the same time, the kick landed, jolting him off-balance mid-air. Pain shot across his liver, curling him up involuntarily.

He nearly threw up everything in his stomach.

Still, he forced it down.

His shot landed in the man’s right chest—badly off-target thanks to the kick. It wasn’t fatal, but a 9mm round at that range should still stun him for a moment.

Raive fell and rolled across the ground.

The scythe man dropped too, clutching his chest, struggling to breathe. Neither of them was in any state to attack again.

Ignoring the other two, still focused on Hazel’s position, whoever recovered first and got their weapon back in hand would be the one to survive. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"Ugh..."

But the winner had already been decided beforehand.

Someone who’d already suffered the pain of death, with a pain tolerance far higher than most. Someone who could still move even with an arm cut off.

Raive!

He raised his pistol, aiming it straight at the fallen man. Green eyes stared back in shock, while Raive just offered a bitter grin.

BANG!

He pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew true, striking dead center of the man’s forehead.

Barely any blood splashed from the wound as his head whipped backward, and he dropped flat onto the floor.

"That’s nine down..."

Raive coughed, his smile barely holding.

The fight that had started so lopsided was now down to an even two-on-two.

BANG!

TING!

But if asked whether it was really equal, then even Raive would answer with a big fat no.

Hazel’s ability was technically support-type—the power to control elements or objects around her. Raive’s fell under the same category, and arguably worse, since he couldn’t use it in combat at all.

The enemy, meanwhile, had a battle-type skill that let him fire with 100% accuracy. The woman had a defensive support-type skill capable of deflecting even a sniper round, as they’d just seen.

And beyond that, she could shift it into a crowd-control variant too.

"...!"

Raive noticed, a moment too late, that his foot had locked in place.

He couldn’t lift it, much less move it sideways! He was literally a sitting duck, with his head served on a silver platter to the enemy.

The cowboy aimed his revolver toward Raive.

But knowing that he hadn’t "reloaded" it just yet, Raive was sure that invisible, unavoidable attack wouldn’t come this time. A faint silver lining within his dire situation.

At that point, Raive had no other choice but to fight back.

’It’s do or die...!’

He raised his own gun in answer.

Two barrels, pointed straight at each other.

Then, both trigger fingers moved at the same instant.

BANG!

The two bullets shot forward and, to everyone’s shock, collided mid-air and slid off each other. One buried itself in the ceiling above Raive’s head; the other cracked into the tiled floor.

"Tsk!"

The cowboy clearly hadn’t predicted that. He ground his teeth and fired five more shots.

Raive fired five in return.

He was so focused that the world seemed to slow to a crawl around him.

With each shot, he adjusted his aim slightly before firing again. The recoil tore at his wrist, but he held on, biting down on the pain.

And then, all five pairs of bullets ricocheted off one another, scattering around them.

Not a single shot landed.

"Heh..."

After seeing what happened, Raive couldn’t help but laugh.

Although he looked confident, as if what just occurred was completely under his control...

’F-Fuck!!! I probably used up all the luck for my whole life just now...!’

In truth, he was just desperate.

And lucky, on top of that.

If possible, he didn’t want to die and restart, after all.