Rakudo snapped his fingers, vaguely sensing the future about to unfold.
“Bang bang bang—!”
Explosions erupted right before his eyes. The shockwave hurled him a good distance away, leaving behind a thick smokescreen that blocked all vision at the blast site. He hadn’t carried so much as a wisp of smoke with him, which let him vanish seamlessly into the chaotic sky. As Rakudo watched the ground falling away beneath his feet, a nightmarish sense of déjà vu clenched his heart, yanking his nerves taut once more.
“My God, I can shrug off explosions, but I sure as hell can’t handle getting turned into meat paste by gravity! Come on, Moti—catch me if you’re out there! I’m no fairy; I can’t fly!”
…
That was what he said.
But Rakudo figured taking that punch would be a damn sight worse than splattering on the ground.
In their earlier clash, the opponent hadn’t even grazed him, yet it felt like staring into pure chaos—a primal crisis where one slip meant sinking into a bottomless swamp. His instincts screamed that it was a threat he had to dodge no matter what.
“Is this the Hidden Boss you were talking about? Damn it.”
The moment Rakudo spotted a shadowy figure slicing through the smoke, his frazzled mind issued a stark reminder to this explosion-loving human:
The crisis was far from over.
Her speed was insane—like a fighter jet chasing down a hot-air balloon. Rakudo prided himself on his sharp dynamic vision, but even keeping her silhouette in sight was stretching him thin.
Still, this was his chance.
At least up in the sky, he could roughly track her direction. That was a hell of a lot easier than fending off a pack of trained assassins. No matter how fast she was, barreling through the black smoke would kick up traces of dust—and that was the perfect way to nail down her exact position.
“You’ve been hit, you bastard.”
Rakudo twisted in midair, righting himself. He pressed his index and middle fingers together, sighting down the line to his target, perfectly aligned with his pupil.
Then he snapped his fingers.
“Pop—!”
The same explosion ripped through the air in an instant, space itself warping into rippling waves.
As the smoke billowed outward, Rakudo’s body began its descent. Drawing on his battle-honed instincts, he used the blast to steady himself—just in case that force-field girl decided to ignore his plight because he’d swiped her candy yesterday and turned it into explosives.
But…
She caught up anyway.
She streaked through the sky like a fighter craft, the earlier smoke nothing more than a harmless mist that hadn’t slowed her one bit.
Rakudo reacted in a flash. He wanted to spam more spells for explosions, but her velocity made such a desperate play impossible. Before he knew it, that black shadow was right on him. Pure self-preservation kicked in—Rakudo thrust out his hand, sparks flaring along his fingertips as he struck flint and snapped his fingers.
“”Bombardment Zone” triggers unlimited explosions in a set area. Damn it—do I really have to dump all my mana this time?”
But only one thought burned in his mind.
It wasn’t idle speculation about this girl-like figure’s identity. It wasn’t even a passing appreciation for her fleeting beauty…
No—it was simply this:
If he didn’t go all out, he was dead.
For the first time, Rakudo was sweating bullets in midair. It was a bizarre sensation, one that—if he survived this ordeal—would stick with him for life.
“Damn it.”
“Crack—!”
The sound of shattering glass. The black shadow seemed to notice something; the hand poised to seize Rakudo’s neck balled into a fist, hurtling toward him like a massive cannon shell. The brutal impact fused with the explosion in a deafening roar.
Rakudo’s ears rang like they were about to burst.
“Someone saved you.”
“You!!!”
“I don’t know who he is, but you two might as well die. It’ll make my life a lot easier.”
A cold voice drifted from behind, slicing into Rakudo’s heart like a knife.
Eyes wide, Rakudo realized he wasn’t plummeting earthward as expected. Instead, he dangled in the air, snagged by his collar. When his peripheral vision caught sight of those wings, he understood—her race let her harness the air currents, soaring like a fighter jet.
It was a terrifying realization.
“Bombardment Zone” was Rakudo’s flashiest, most reliable kill shot. When he had time to set it up, he owned any explosive domain like a fish in water. But against a flying foe—especially one with speed beyond comprehension—the sky was no longer his Domain.
“Hah, you deliberately slowed your speed in flight, accelerated right at the moment of the explosion, then slowed down again to throw off my visual judgment, didn’t you? Impressive,” Rakudo said. He struggled a little, forcing an awkward smile even as cold sweat trickled down his cheeks, dissipating into the thin air a thousand meters above.
Deep in his heart, an unprecedented terror gripped him.
Damn it…
This had been a foolproof plan, prepared with utmost care. He’d spent a full week setting up his domain and traveling alongside the Hero Party, giving it his all—and still, he was powerless.
Silver hair blazed like roaring flames. The girl paused for a moment before speaking softly.
“How many accomplices do you have? Tell me their positions.”
“Damn it…”
So the interrogation had begun?
Though his back was to her and he couldn’t see her face, she seemed like a petite young woman. Yeah, one of those types who looked harmless on the outside but was utterly terrifying beneath.
At the same time, sensation finally returned to his numb right hand. As always, he crossed his index and middle fingers, intertwining them like a pair of bridges.
“Explode! This time, I’ve got you!”
Rakudo spun around with all his strength, lunging to seize her body and drag it into the explosion he’d prepared.
He grabbed nothing. What a shame…
But Rakudo was certain he’d struck the girl—precisely, without a doubt. By the grace of heaven, she hadn’t dodged. Clearly, his good luck had held true this time as well.
And yet…
He was still hovering in midair, his perilous situation unchanged. His desperate explosion hadn’t worked. He was immune to his own “bombs,” but not entirely unaffected by them. The blast that could hurl him a kilometer away was now rebounding onto his charred right arm.
“Cough! Cough!”
It hurt. It hurt so much.
“You know, human, the truth is, I don’t even need to dodge those bombs of yours that appear out of nowhere. Dodging your explosions? Sparing your life for now? That’s just me being nice. Got it?”
“You know, Heavenly Wing Clan—or wait, no… you’re one of the Demon Race. There’s this infamous old drunk in the Elf Kingdom who boozes it up till eleven every night. He hides behind an elder’s title while strutting around, bullying women and kids…” Rakudo ran his left hand through his hair.
“What are you getting at?”
Rakudo pressed on. “That guy was at Soul Tier Layer 5. And all I did was slip five little bombs into his crotch—get me? He blew up into a stew of guts and shredded meat. The magic shield he threw up a second before death? Barely did a thing.”
Rakudo gave a bitter laugh.
“And yet here you are, tanking my full-power blasts over and over without a scratch. What kind of monster from what world are you?”
