A bit longer chapter...
...
That night, on the outskirts of the city.
Bloed was sitting outside his metallic tent near a bonfire.
At that moment, he heard movement nearby. Even without looking back, Bloed was able to recognize the owners of the footsteps.
"Regina, Sara, you are back." Bloed said while throwing a small rock to the fire.
Both Regina and Sara were startled. Regina then smiled awkwardly and walked towards Bloed.
"… Master, you are awake."
"I awoke a few minutes ago. However, I could not find any sign of you two. Well, Liu Ying told me that you two had left one hour or so ago, so I was not worried."
Regina nodded quietly. She then stood behind Bloed silently.
An awkward atmosphere filled the bonfire. Only after one minute passed Regina spoke again.
"… Master, I killed them."
"… Everybody?"
"… Sara killed the city lord, and I left the girl alive, but she will be unable to cause you problems."
Bloed heaved a sigh and nodded. "I understand."
"… Sorry for not telling you beforehand."
Bloed shook his head. "Don't worry, I understand. I'm not so naïve or ungrateful to fault you for doing this. Besides, I was planning to kill the city lord too."
Regina smiled. "Thank you."
Sara had been standing behind Regina silently. When she saw we finished speaking, she opened her mouth.
"… How is Gina?"
"I checked on her after I woke up. Don't worry, she is alright. It's just that she overused her ESP ability and needs a bit of relief."
"I'm glad." Sara sighed in relief before putting a concerned expression. "Now I only need to think in a way to get her medicine regularly. Bloed, can I ask you for a favor?"
"Of course."
"Then… The technique Gina needs to be able to train… Can you give it to me? Don't worry, I'll make sure to repay this favor!"
Bloed fell deep in thought. The technique Sara was speaking was the technique to train psychic power. It was the method Bloed told Sara to cure Gina, although it would take a lot of time, and there was the possibility of Gina dying before reaching A-Rank.
But–
"… Wait until Gina wakes up. I need to speak about something with you two." Bloed said. He had already come to a decision about Gina.
Regina interrupted at that moment. "Master, Gina overused her ESP ability? But we did not awaken it."
"She awakened it by herself." Bloed smiled wryly. "Don't look at me like that, I'm also surprised about that. I think that she probably used mana as a catalyst to awaken it."
Regina was surprised. Mana could do that too?
While they were speaking, Liu Ying came out of the metallic tent. She was carrying two servings of food on her hands.
When she saw Sara and Regina, she was surprised.
"You are back? Good, I just finished preparing dinner."
"… Dinner?" Regina frowned. "I thought dinner is my job."
"You were not here so I decided to do it for you." Liu Ying shrugged. "Although don't expect much. Everything I learned about cooking was learned in that place." Liu Ying avoided mentioning the exiled lands because Sara was here. "So you already can imagine the results."
Bloed smiled wryly. "Don't worry about that, I'm sure I have eaten worse. Besides, just the fact that the food was readier by a beautiful girl like you adds a few points to it.
Liu Ying snorted. "Please stop trying to flirt with me. I don't want to be killed by Regina."
And just like Liu Ying said, Regina was looking at them with ice-cold eyes.
Sara and Liu Ying wondered briefly if the chill they were feeling on their backs was real.
As Liu Ying said, her cooking was nothing great, but it was passable, and the group had eaten nothing since the battles in the city, so they ate it ravenously.
After that, Sara offered herself to wash the dishes. Regina wanted to decline and do it herself, but Bloed stopped her and shook her head.
In the end, only Regina, Liu Ying, and Bloed remained seated around the bonfire.
"Master…"
"Hm?"
"The side effects… How bad are they?"
Liu Ying was surprised. "Side effects? Are you referring to the technique you used at the end?"
Bloed smiled wryly when he saw Liu Ying concerned expression. "Don't worry, I'm alright."
"Really?"
"Really."
Bloed then proceeded to explain Liu Ying the technique he used and its side effects.
Actually, [Overdrive] was a very simple technique, and just its name speaks lengths of its effects.
[Overdrive] is a derivate technique of [Enhanced Brain Capacity]. Bloed managed to create it after experimenting with this ESP ability a lot.
[Enhanced Brain Capability] is a passive-type ESP ability. Normally, its effects are shown as long as Bloed has psychic power.
But [Overdrive] is different. It can be considered as the only active technique of this ESP ability. It works forcing his brain to work over its capacity for a brief while, granting Bloed abilities beyond his ESP Rank.
Of course, Bloed is still just at C-Grade ESPer, so even [Overdrive] is unable to make him able to use [Molecular Disintegration] directly. However, it allows him to perform many more calculations than before.
The rest is related to Leto. Using the same technique Bloed used in his saber, Bloed added a lot of tiny magic circles to each particle on Leto's body. These magic circles combine each other, and together with the increase in Bloed's calculation zone brought by [Overdrive], they allow Bloed to use [Molecular Disintegration] with more freedom.
The result of that were [Gungnir] and [Svalinn]. One is a giant rifle that shots [Molecular Disintegration] against a target, and the other is a barrier that uses [Molecular Disintegration] to stop any attack coming towards Bloed.
By the way, [Eitr], the armor that Leto transforms into when Bloed is in [Overdrive], doesn't use [Molecular Disintegration]. It's just an armor that increases Bloed's physical capabilities and grants him the ability of flight.
Unfortunately, [Overdrive] has rather serious side effects.
Besides the fact that Bloed can only use it for ten seconds before losing consciousness, once Bloed uses [Overdrive] he will be unable to use psychic power for the next three days.
In other words, he becomes a normal person after using it.
Due to that, [Overdrive] can only be used as a trump card or a desperate move.
Liu Ying nodded when she heard Bloed's explanation.
"But even so, that technique is incredible! You can probably fight a demigod in that state!"
Bloed shook his head bitterly. "Impossible."
"Huh?"
This time, it was Regina who explained.
"Demigods are stronger than you think. Even the weakest of them will be able to avoid master's attacks when he is in [Overdrive]. And [Overdrive] lasts only ten seconds, so master will be a sitting duck after that time passes.
"In fact, even defeating more than 2 A-Ranks will be hard. Today's situation was a bit special because the A-Ranks were under the control of the creature and rushed to attack master. But in other circumstances, the A-Ranks would have retreated after they felt the threat of master's attacks. And in those circumstances, it would have been great if master manages to kill three of them.
"It's even worse if the A-Ranks are people. People are wiser than beasts, so they will probably take defensive measures as soon as they feel something is wrong. In these circumstances, even killing two A-Ranks is hard."
Liu Ying was stunned. She had not thought about that.
However, Bloed was not so naïve. In fact, he knew clearly about the limitations of [Overdrive].
In the end, it was better to not use it if it was not necessary.
The group fell silent after hearing Regina's explanation. For a few minutes, none of them said anything.
Bloed, though, thought that this was a good chance to speak with Liu Ying.
And it seemed as though Liu Ying was thinking the same thing because she bit her lips and looked at Bloed.
"Bloed, about leaving. I know I said I was going t–"
"Stop." Bloed extended his hand and stopped Liu Ying from continuing. "Before you continue speaking, there is something I want to tell you."
"Huh?"
"… Liu Ying, do you want to form a team with us?"
"… Huh!?" Liu Ying was startled and stared at Bloed and Regina in surprise.
Bloed smiled and scratched his cheek. "I know it's sudden, but to be honest, I like to spend time with you. Besides, you are strong and I consider you my friend. I would love it if we can continue traveling together."
Liu Ying opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, unable to speak.
"Of course, if you don't want, you d–"
"I want!" Liu Ying exclaimed and stood up abruptly. "Of course, I want!"
Bloed and Regina looked at Liu Ying, surprised by her reaction. Liu Ying blushed and grabbed the hem of her skirt.
"… Sorry, but I want to be with you as well… Regina, Bloed… You two are my first true friends since I lost my family… I-I feel happy when I with you… Sometimes, I even forget about my family… so…"
Bloed smiled softly. "I understand. Then, welcome to the family?" Bloed looked at Regina.
Regina smiled as well. "Welcome to the family."
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P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels