Chapter 005: The Battle of the Sickly Recluse

The humanoid monster’s instinctive dodge allowed Bai Yuxi to twist away and retreat, narrowly escaping its range of attack. He managed to avoid the wild flailing and vengeful thrashing of the sightless creature, which swung its arms madly, clawing at empty air.

Dodging several assaults, Bai Yuxi panted heavily, his breath harsh and ragged. For someone as frail and sickly as him, who had never fought anyone before, this series of violent maneuvers was an unbearable strain. The exertion left him short of breath, and a strange flush colored his otherwise pale and delicate features.

Yet, this state of extreme exhaustion was not brought on by physical weakness alone. Had anyone been close enough, they would have heard Bai Yuxi, his eyes now dull and lifeless, mumbling incessantly, his bloodless lips barely moving.

"Height, 197.4 centimeters; weight, 168.8 kilograms; arm length, 123 centimeters..."
"Arm weight, 18.75 kilograms; punch speed, 24.33 meters per second... E equals one-half m v squared..."
"One-half times 18.75 times 24.33 times 24.33, approximately 5,550 joules..."
"Shoulder joint limit... elbow joint angle... movement speed..."

Numbers and terms seemingly unrelated to battle spilled rapidly from his lips, each word paired with his bizarrely precise and uncanny movements.

When the monster’s fist, massive as a sandbag, came crashing down, Bai Yuxi ducked as if he’d foreseen it, crouching low while slashing his shortsword upward with no apparent target. Just as the monster’s knuckled fist grazed his scalp, missing his skull by mere inches, Bai Yuxi’s sword arced perfectly into the crook of its elbow. With a swift, almost effortless jerk, he drew the blade along the monster’s momentum.

A foul, reeking spray of blood erupted from the wounded joint, and one of the monster’s arms immediately hung limp. Howling, the blinded creature swung its other arm in rage. But Bai Yuxi had already darted under its armpit, crouching by its feet, both hands gripping his sword hilt tight against his chest, the blade braced across his bent knee.

The monster, roaring in fury, swept its arm sideways, but missed as Bai Yuxi ducked away. Its momentum threw its body off balance, and it lurched forward, its knee smashing directly onto the upturned sword.

With another agonized howl, the hulking creature collapsed, crashing to its knees like a toppled pillar of gold and jade. Bai Yuxi, his own frail body swept up by the force, was knocked to the ground, rolling awkwardly and desperately to evade further blows.

Yet the alley that served as a fire escape between the apartment buildings was narrow, and the area enclosed by the barrier was not as spacious as one might hope. Despite his best efforts, Bai Yuxi was soon pressed into a corner by the monster’s long arms and sweeping attacks.

When he finally staggered upright, behind him blazed that dazzling, multicolored sphere of light.

Bai Yuxi’s string of flawless maneuvers had left the blonde girl utterly dumbfounded. This was a humanoid MS-UMA, a near-leader class creature with a danger rating close to level six! Even she and Jason—both “Overlimit Warriors” of level three or higher—had been unable to do it any harm together.

Yet this delicate, sickly-looking boy from the East hadn’t attacked outright. He merely waited, gripping his shortsword, and the MS-UMA blundered into him, losing both its sight and, soon after, an arm and a leg!

Could it be true what the legends claimed—that all Easterners were masters of mysterious martial arts? The infuriating Eastern girl in their team was like this, and now this frail boy, too!

“This isn’t scientific!” Nearly driven mad by the bizarre turn of events, Maya wanted to tear her golden hair out and scream.

But as she saw Bai Yuxi rise, perilously close to the "Multidimensional Spatial Rift," panic set in. With her injured ankle, she had no time to reach him.

"Be careful!"

"Don’t go near the spatial rift!" In desperation, she hurled the blazing sphere in her hand as hard as she could, hoping to draw the MS-UMA’s attention back and give the boy a chance.

The glass orb struck the monster’s back unerringly, and the orange-red flame inside burst forth. But the explosive force of the fire instead propelled the blinded, unsteady monster straight toward Bai Yuxi!

Intending to repeat his earlier maneuver and slip beneath the monster’s arm, Bai Yuxi only managed a single scream before the enraged creature, driven by the blast, crashed into him—hurling both of them together into the radiant, glass-like cluster of light.

Limping forward, Maya stared in shock as human and monster, wreathed in orange flames, tumbled into the spatial rift.

Fragments of multicolored, glasslike space erupted in a sudden, blinding flash, flooding the barrier with dazzling white. The protective wall, strong enough to withstand destruction from any EN-UMA below level ten, melted away like thin ice under the summer sun, vanishing instantly.

The burst of light illuminated the entire residential complex, turning night into day. Fortunately, it lasted only a fleeting instant, and darkness returned as quickly as it had vanished. Though many residents were startled, when they poked their heads out and looked around, they saw nothing of the few who hid in the alley’s shadow.

When the light faded, Maya—who had instinctively shielded her eyes—still saw only white. She blinked rapidly, adjusting to the darkness once more.

But the scene before her left her, who’d been so regretful that an ordinary person had been dragged into this mission, standing agape in disbelief.

The Eastern boy was suspended midair, enveloped in a splendid halo of spatial fragments, his slender body levitated by unseen gravity. As for the level six humanoid MS-UMA, it had already been shredded into a crimson mist by the chaotic shards of space, its remains drifting around the edges of the multidimensional rift.