Mightiest Melee Magician

Guests.

These unwelcome guests came to Hansen’s house without any warning, and after banging on the door for a bit, they even started kicking it.

“That fucking magician brat. I’ll need to rip him limb from limb…… But for today, you two bitches will die instead.”

“Die? We should sell them both.”

“Well…… The boy doesn’t look half-bad, so there should be some dickhead who’d enjoy him, right?”

“Keke. That’s obvious.”

“……”

They were talking about their disgusting plans without knowing how the future would turn out.

Those gross bastards.

I was thinking of visiting them on the way, but I guess they walked here on their own.

I pulled on the Knuckles of Kunkhan’s Will and suddenly stood from my spot.

Then,

“I-it’s dangerous!”

Hansen hurriedly grabbed my arm.

However, I removed Hansen’s hand from my arm and just smiled.

“Yeah, it is dangerous. So you stay here and protect your sister.”

“Wh-what are you gonna do?”

I lifted my fists and spoke light-heartedly.

“I’ll need to repay the meal.”

“B-but…… I can hear the gang leader of the Gnarled Tree Gang, Nusel. That guy is really dangerous. You won’t be able to—”

“Didn’t I tell you before? I’m pretty strong.”

Then, another shout came from outside.

“I can hear you talking, so stop hiding and get out here!”

“Hear that? They already know. We can’t keep avoiding it.”

I handed a longsword to a shivering Hansen.

“Don’t get scared this time. Do your best to protect the person precious to you.”

“……”

His precious sister.

Hansen’s gaze landed on his sister, and he pushed back the momentary fear that gripped his mind, the look in his eyes changing.

He lifted the sword and gave a slight nod.

“I-I’ll try.”

“That’s a good look in your eye, Hansen.”

Our preparations ended here…

And now, the only thing we had to do was go forward.

I strolled up to the front door and swung it wide open.

“Heng! Now you come out. There’s no use in—”

“Were you looking for me?”

“……M-magician? Why are you…?”

Seeing my unexpected face, some of the thugs took some steps back, and I asked them again with a chilling tone,

“What did you say you were going to do to me?”

“Th-that’s…”

Rip me limb from limb?

Really?

With just a glance, there were over twenty of them…

“With only this many?”

But it was a sorely lacking number if they wanted to even attempt to hurt me.

They weren’t knights who received proper training, nor were they magicians.

“D-don’t get scared! Even if that punk is a magician, we have over twenty people on our side!”

“That’s right! We just can’t give him any casting time!”

“Everyone, jump him!”

The sound of metal sliding against metal could be heard as the thugs pulled out their weapons.

And I charged back at them without a moment of hesitation.

In that moment…

‘Steel Destruction’

I aimed at the longsword of the closest thug.

The new skill I got to learn this time, Steel Destruction, was tremendous.

Kang—!

As soon as my fist met the sword, the sword’s steel blade turned to dust, leaving only the copper handle behind.

“Wh-what just happened?”

“W-wasn’t that guy a magician?!”

Killing their morale.

A sure-fire way to gain the upper hand in a battle.

Seeing one of their swords turning to dust from a single punch, they didn’t dare charge in again.

After an atmosphere like this was created…

The next step was simple.

Since the prep work was finished, the cooking could begin.

I easily kicked forward off the ground and landed in the middle of the thugs.

Then, I punched straight down at the ground.

Creak! Crack!

With my fist as the epicenter, the ground froze over and bound about ten people’s ankles before I flung my fists indiscriminately at the people frozen in place.

If I hit, it exploded.

Chains of explosions burst forth from my fists, and screams could be heard as blood stained the sky.

A 100% real battle without protection from mana barriers or armor.

I only belatedly realized that this was the first real battle where I used lethal magic against people.

But I didn’t stop.

“Ack! Uuuaaack! My arm! My aaaarrrrm!”

“……”

Breaking the oath?

The director would definitely agree with me here.

These ‘people’ were trash that we shouldn’t even feel sympathy or pity for.

There was no mercy.

The moment I hesitated, I would look weak, and these thugs would continue their cruel acts.

I needed to make sure that they understood it here so that they would never bare their fangs again.

Maybe this was a life lesson that I learnt to my core in the academy.

“Th-this insane……”

An exploded arm, a burnt leg flying through the air…

The surroundings quickly devolved into chaos.

Ten people had lost something precious from their bodies and were groaning while collapsed on the ground, their eyes filled with an emotion beyond fear.

It was desolation.

The eyes of those who gave up on everything.

The same eyes as those left standing.

Clang! Clang!

“M-magician, p-please… please spare us……”

“I-I beg you, sir. P-please… p-please……”

The others dropped their weapons to the ground and kneeled.

They had felt in their bones that they couldn’t afford to go any further.

Of course……

“……You fucking bastard! If you move even an inch, I’ll kill this lass.”

Not everyone chose the same option.

* * *

* * *

It was natural that, when five people were together, one would make a different choice.

And usually, this would be the wrong choice.

Everyone bears the consequences of their own choices.

“You shits! Stand up right now!”

The man who looked to be the leader of the Gnarled Tree gang had somehow gotten into the house and taken Hansen’s sister hostage.

Holding a dagger to her neck, he shouted orders to his underlings who had lost all will to fight.

“You stupid bastards! Stand up right now and kill that magician!”

“……”

However, none of them could move.

Their minds had already been dominated by fear.

I walked a step closer to him and asked,

“Are you their leader?”

“That’s right! I am the 3rd generation leader of the Gnarled Tree gang, Bloody Wind Nusel. If you understand, then don’t you dare think of getting closer and kneel on the spot you little shit!”

“……”

I didn’t know how strong he was…

But Hansen, who was protecting his sister, had already been stabbed in the stomach by Nusel’s dagger, leaving him collapsed on the ground.

I needed to solve this.

I took one more step closer to him.

However…

“I told you to stop!”

Nusel’s sword lightly cut Hansen’s sister’s neck as he held it tighter.

“Ack!”

“……!”

A line of blood formed on her neck.

As I stopped moving, Nusel laughed loudly and shouted,

“Hah! You think I won’t kill her? You’ll see about that. If you move even a finger, I’ll kill this girl on the spot!”

“……”

“If you understand, then kneel right now, you bastard!”

A hostage…

Damn it.

We hadn’t learned how to deal with this at the academy.

No matter how fast I could get there and smash Nusel’s head in, I wouldn’t be able to stop Hansen’s sister from getting hurt.

The Chieftain’s Will…

If I was to summon the visage of Kunkhan, I could use further range spells.

But that was still difficult.

After seeing the huge ogre, Nusel would become frightened and use his dagger first.

Then, what could I do?

My eyes landed on the collapsed Hansen.

‘If it’s from there…’

If I was where Hansen was, I could run at Nusel before he could stab Hansen’s sister.

However…

“……L-let my sister go.”

Hansen struggled to even sit up……

I needed to do this myself.

There was only one method I could think of.

I didn’t know if he would fall for it or not……

But I would use an illusion to trick Nusel while simultaneously using Invisibility to get closer.

This was the best I could do.

“Alright. I’ll surrender, so let his sister go.”

I acted a little flustered before lifting both my hands into the air.

Then, after slowly going on my knees, I cast an illusion.

As the illusion of me kneeling was formed, I used Invisibility.

“Kekek! I don’t know where you came from, magician, but you were so confident before. What a good sight.”

It was a success.

I had totally gotten his attention.

However, there was no time.

Since I didn’t use a dummy and it was just a hallucinatory illusion, it couldn’t talk, and if someone went to touch it, their hand would pass right through it.

“You dumb bastards! Get up right now and tie up that magician! I’ll slowly torture him to death until he begs for it!”

“……”

After someone came up to me, it would be a race against time.

I needed to finish it before that.

“I told you to stand up! What are you hesitating for?!”

“Eh? Ah, yes.”

Thankfully, the underlings were dawdling after looking dazed for a second, letting me approach Nusel as quickly as possible while using Invisibility.

One, two, three…

After getting closer to him in an instant, I readied myself to charge at him.

However,

“……!”

Someone ambushed Nusel faster than me.

It was Hansen.

Hansen, who was collapsed on the ground, moved fast as lightning and stabbed his longsword into Nusel’s neck.

“K-kueuk…”

It had happened in an instant, too fast for even Nusel to understand what happened.

“Haah… Haah…”

Hansen’s face was in shock, as if he didn’t understand what happened himself.

But he regained his senses immediately, pulling his crying sister away and behind him.

“I-if you get any closer… I’ll kill you all like I did with your leader.”

“……”

What was this?

This intense pressure.

I could feel it instinctively.

That, at the edge of that abyss, Hansen had grown a step stronger.

And…

“You still dare to fight?!”

“……”

That my gut feeling wasn’t wrong.

Hansen, who was shouting at the thugs while exuding this intangible force……

Had talent greater than anyone else.

——