"I'm a mercenary paid to hunt down a criminal known for causing disasters. I even suspect he had something to do with what happened to this city." Betty's words caused Lex's heart rate to go up.
"He caused this disaster…?" The way Alex spoke made her unconsciously back off.
There was a demonic redness appearing in his pupils. A toxic gas breathed out.
His face contorting with fury.
There was no way he would forget the hatred he'd buried deep in his heart.
'The culprit who killed mom…!' He felt his mind twisting. His throat becoming numb.
Then he remembered the funeral.
Sadness extinguished the flames of rage within him. Leaving only smouldered ash.
"Sorry… My mom died recently. Anyway, I hope you're sure he's the culprit." Lex apologised to the both of them after regaining composure. It was too much.
He shouldn't have shown such a look.
Throwing around emotions in front of new people was something only children did.
'I should act more mature.' Lex made up his mind that he'd hold in his anguish.
At least until he saw the perp himself.
"This is just my speculation. However, I am sure he's involved in what happened here somehow." Betty and the young man behind her overlooked his reaction.
"Back up a little. What the heck was that thing earlier?! You have eerie energy…" A cautious look appeared in Ryan's eyes upon seeing how his body was reacting.
'How should I explain this?' Lex realised his mistake in showing his abilities early.
He couldn't exactly say he was learning a Forbidden Technique that used Red Wind.
Not everyone was open-minded.
"That's… an ancient technique passed down by my family. Consider it a family heirloom." He mixed small truths with big lies. The latter being that it wasn't theirs.
Since he was doing them a favour for not nitpicking about them, they better show the same level of courtesy. The fact he could see a box of MagiTech nearby was enough evidence to put them in prison.
"Really? It looks like an evil technique to me." Although he said that, Ryan oddly didn't react much. Seemingly not that disturbed by knowing about his powers.
Betty also stayed silent.
"We all have our secrets. The most important thing here is whether we can work together." Lex was the first one to offer his hand to assist them in fighting.
"You're more pragmatic than I thought you'd be. I know a student like you would find my methods detestable." Betty spoke up about noticing his glances to the side.
Towards the crate of MagiTech.
"Vigilantes are Heroes too. You might say you're a hired mercenary, but you also want to end this city's madness. Or am I wrong?" Lex smiled and reached out.
Offering her a handshake.
Betty looked between him and the handshake, then gave a short smile.
Returning back to her expressionless look straight after. Like she'd hid a treasure.
Truthfully, her smile was beautiful.
Lex simply didn't have the courage to tell her that. Deciding to focus on progress.
"Agreed." Betty started at him.
"Ahem! I get that he protected you and all but-" Ryan was immediately interrupted by her gaze: "…Whatever. We gave our names. Now is the time you talk to us."
"I don't mind answering you. Ask away." A confidence came from Lex's attitude.
"Who are you really?" There was more suspicion in the initially happy-go-lucky guy. He didn't seem the type to act so cautious. The incident earlier must've-
No, he really shouldn't blame others for his mistake. Anyone would get guarded.
"My name is Lex. I'm a 'Hero' of the Hero Class." Lex's words sounded incredible.
This caused Ryan to doubt.
"That's also a Class?" Oddly enough, it didn't seem like Ryan knew much.
Did he not learn about Classes before?
But that was impossible. Everyone, even those of the Rosemary Expanse, were aware of the thirteen classes bestowed by the Thirteen Graces of mythology.
It was like meeting a British person who didn't know the legend of King Arthur.
Completely illogical.
"Don't mind his wording. Apparently, he says he came here from a land lost in time." Betty cleared his confusion by giving him a very questionable answer.
"That's right! I'm the number one Ace Striker of the Valkcry Abes!" Ryan flexed his thick arms and abs. Sounding sincere about being from an ancient civilisation.
That too being a well-known ruins visited by many priests of Harmonic Theory.
'Oh, I see her problems…' Lex looked at Betty in pity from seeing such a partner.
It looked like this makeshift team was something the duo created on the fly.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing. Anyway, are there any others you want me to work with? I'm starting to understand the reason you're together, I just wonder what you'll do afterwards." It wasn't hard to see what Lex meant.
A mercenary likely from another city, and some self-proclaimed 'time traveler'.
They may work together briefly, but it was hard to say if they would in future.
"I have my own ideas. I'm gonna keep Ryan with me since he's real strong." This praise from Betty made Lex turn towards the delusional boy with a surprised look.
"You have an Innate Gift?"
"What makes you say that?" Ryan looked disgusted by his sudden look of interest.
"Innate Gifts are usually strong." Lex put the emphasis on 'usually' from his own experience. Even now, his Gift was only useful against infinite magical poisons.
Which could be considered a great passive for protection rather than power.
"You're wrong. I got a Combat Gift." The answer made Lex lose all his interest.
Why? Because it was a natural rule of reality that Combat Gifts had limitations.
You couldn't pass down a Transcendent Gift without fulfilling the conditions needed for 'Bestowal', and research was needed to create any sort of Combat Gift.
Besides how easy they were to learn, the power of such ordinary Gifts were weak.
"That's amazing. I only have an Innate Gift that keeps my body 'Empty' of whatever I don't want." Lex naturally shared his details. Showing them he had good faith by not holding back on them.
Even praising Ryan's ordinary Gift.
"Alright, that's enough of this. Welcome to the team." Betty shook his hand.
The AI servants watched silently.
"Project Scavenger was the one who saved you. Thank her for it." Betty just realised where Lec was looking and picked the AI's tiny body in her hands.
Holding it up in front of the youth.
"Err… Ahem… Thank you." Lex wasn't sure what tone to use, but managed to say it.
The little one nodded back.
"We have another ally who went out recently to scout. She'll be back any second." Betty then casually introduced the second mysterious person she knew.
Apparently, her name was 'Rin'.
She held back on any deeper information out of hesitation. It made him curious.
Was she worse than Ryan?
"Were you the one who blew up that skyscraper?" Lex finally asked this point.
It was on his mind for a while.
"I did." Betty didn't hide her actions.
If it was done any other time, someone would've called that explosion terrorism.
"I saw what you buried under all that rubble." Lex's words made both Ryan and Betty turn their gazes to him in surprise of this. The incident was still recent.
Many thoughts went through Betty's mind regarding his superior espionage skills.
She realised she'd underestimated him.
"You're better at me at what I do." This was not mere praise. Both understood it.
"That so~? Now isn't that a fortune." Lex wasn't going to explain every little thing.
Some details were left unsaid.
He'd expected they'd make small-talk a little more. Maybe get to know each other better. However, Ryan was dutifully doing his job of blocking intimate interactions.
"…Rin is taking too long." These words from the muscled sportsman were heavy.
Betty immediately assumed the worst.
"Could they have captured her?" Her words were serious, but not too clear.
"Who took this 'Rin' girl? Was it the same person who caused this disaster?" Lex wanted to immediately find the guy and assassinate him. This was his specialty.
The true Sub Class he had achieved.
"Yes, but not exactly right. Our base of operations was recently destroyed. So we had Rin scout the area in case we were found again." Betty's words shocked them all. They had realised something.
All three of them looked at through the windows. It was Lex's first time doing so.
He realised that their 'new base' was also a skyscraper. Just nearby from the other.
Thanks to his great eyesight, Lex was able to see what was moving down there.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
There was SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) Team that was infiltrating below.
They didn't have vehicles, but seemed to have got to this place by walking alone.
And there were a lot of them coming.
Dozens of people dressed in black and wearing some kind of wolf cosplay were heading up. The closer he looked, the more Lex realised that this wasn't that.
It wasn't simple 'cosplay'… He recognised all those costume-like physical traits.
They were the same as those under the rubble of Betty's previous base of ops.
That wasn't a costume!
"There's never a dull moment…" Lex was at least happy he got to sleep before this.
There was only one problem.
The golden rays of dawn were passing through the windows and into the room.
Their vision was about to get darker.
There was a chance those 'wolves' would deliberately choose to go a slower pace.
Waiting for night to come.
In this apocalyptic city where food, water, and working LED lights were scarce, the night was the worst. There was a high chance of dying if they were careless.
Moreover, Lex was sure they had rifles as firearms. It was capable of killing them.
"Do you have any MagiTech weapons I can borrow?" He chose to be bold.
"They're there in that crate over there. It doesn't look like we'll be able to save everything, so get what you need." Betty generously gave her team permission.
Lex was now included.
He dived towards the crate with Ryan behind him. The latter was simple.
He took a total of seven blades.
Each one wasn't a Mystic Tool, but simply swords of differing Coloured Steel.
Black, white, red, green, blue, brown, and purple. All put into different holsters.
Some on his waist and others on his back. It was a bit messy of him to wear.
"Are you acting cool?" Lex couldn't help but think Ryan was acting crazy now.
Did the stress get to him or something?
"What's wrong…?" Ryan didn't seem to understand why the newbie said that.
"Seven swords of different elements? Are you saying you mastered all of them?" A sarcastic tone appeared in the annoyed Lex's voice. This was a serious situation.
It had to be taken more seriously!
"Precisely." Ryan left him flabbergasted.
Unable to say a word as he watched the young man swing one of the blades.
His swordsmanship was hideous.
He simply swung it around like a bat. Not even knowing how to manage a katana.
Lex sighed. He focused on arming himself instead of wasting any more time here.
There were a variety in this small crate.
The katanas of seven different Coloured Steels were gone, but that was alright.
He couldn't use them anyway.
Only those who had awakened an Affinity for Attributes could utilise such weapons.
For him, Mystic Tools were more useful.
Like the MagiPistol he found laying around in the crate. It looked really good.
Seemingly a classic model.
"Better pick something fast." Betty's words made him think about it deeply.
Holding onto too many MagiTech weapons will become a hindrance to mobility. Having too many options also made it harder to focus on efficiency.
He needed a long-range weapon first.
A red MagiPistol came into his hands at that moment. It was a particular type.
The gun widely known as 'Desert Eagle'.
A heavy, hard to use MagiPistol with intense blowback. The recoil was harsh.
It being made of Red Steel made it worse.
He checked the cartridge. There were no bullets. Only a high purity block of Red Steel. Using the 'Life Data' of his personal Limiter, he connected to it.
A mini supercomputer made the firearm.
It looked like he was pulling on the chamber after putting the cartridge back in. Something that would ordinarily be done to check the mechanisms inside.
But this was a little bit different.
In reality, Lex was connecting to the onboard supercomputer controlling the Red Steel. There was only two magic recorded by the mini supercomputer:
'Explosive Round' and 'Blast Shot'.
Every other technological marvel in the past few years was erased just for that.
This wasn't a wand, but now a real gun.
Unlike what old versions of these kind of MagiTech weapons were used in the past.
One gun was for his right hand. Now he decided to find a gauntlet and blade.
Both for his left hand.
He searched around and found a grey ring that was hidden right at the bottom.
It looked like a simple iron ring.
However, the colour itself was something that drew Lex's attention towards it.
After all, the colour meant the Attribute.
If red meant fire, then grey meant 'metal'.
A rare and highly sought after property.
He put it on and checked the archived spell within. It only had one function:
'Steel Hardening'.
This wasn't that great, but the fact that it came as a ring was worth keeping close.
He chose it as his second armament.
The third weapon to be chosen was a green MagiBlade with 'Wind Reading'.
The ability to read the flow of air.
This was in anticipation of losing his eyesight. Where he'd navigate blind.
After picking his main weapons, he chose to immediately start using 'Wind Reading'. The MagiBlade green lightsaber started to read air flowing downwards.
Vaguely sensing what floor the 'wolves' made it to. He told his new teammates:
"They're on the tenth floor already out of a hundred. It won't take long before they reach the floor we're on. They just need to climb seventy more floors." Betty nodded when she saw what he used.
"You always good with equipment? Even I wouldn't be able to read that far." This made her curious about this recently self-proclaimed 'Hero'. He was TOO good. Almost as if he trained real harshly.
Why would a Hero need to do that?
"Let's just say I needed to use tools." Lex didn't want to reveal his assassin traits.
No one would trust him if he did.
…No wait, this wasn't his school anymore.
And the other party was a mercenary and crazy guy. Wouldn't it be fine then?
"Do you have a plan?" He asked the girl.
"Can't you use your Step Method to defeat them?" Betty was a bit nervous.
It looked like she didn't have explosives set up. Likely because this base was too new. If they had time, then they'd be able to use the same tactic to escape.
Without such an extreme method, the only option was fighting or being chased.
None of them were equipped for a city spanning chase with these werewolves.
"My weakness is guns." After all, Lex couldn't anticipate the trajectory of rifle bullets. They sprayed too fast for him to do anything against. He may even die.
"Then do YOU have one?" Betty seemed to believe that he also had nothing.
"Just one. I hope you both listen." It was at that point he started laying groundwork. Showing the natural charisma required of being a leader.
His true face as someone who used pragmatism to get to his goals revealed.
Ready to sharpen his blade for 'that guy'.