No matter how many mice attack, the elephant doesn't budge.
Rather, with each step it takes, dozens of mice are crushed to death.
For the elephant, it is an incredibly simple task. There's no need to put in effort or pay careful attention.
Whiron was exactly like an elephant wading through a swarm of mice.
Just by flexing his muscles and running straight ahead, the mice fell on their own.
"He's a monster! That thing is a monster!"
"Everyone run away!"
"What madman would try to catch that thing!"
The bounty hunters chose to flee, scared out of their wits.
They came to make money, not to die.The mercenaries also retreated, calculating that the losses would be too great, and the criminal organizations that had joined with half-hearted resolve did the same.
"Everyone get out of my way! I can't guarantee your life if you block my path!"
Whiron's voice, louder than a train whistle, also played a role.
The sound was so powerful that those nearby had their ears ringing and heads spinning to the point that weaker individuals fainted with foam at their mouths.
Even without magical amplification, his pure voice could be heard clearly from a distance.
People who were frightened slipped away with darting eyes.
No one bothered to stop them.
They weren't allies who had joined hands anyway, but competitors who would share in the bounty.
Fewer mouths meant a larger reward for those who remained.
'Even with this, less than half are running away.'
Following the path Whiron had created, Rudger analyzed the situation.
Thanks to Whiron pushing forward like a bulldozer, Rudger wasn't directly targeted, but there were still some attempts to attack him, appearing relatively weaker.
"Die!"
Someone rushing out from an adjacent alley collapsed before taking more than a few steps.
The same happened to others.
Those who fell without knowing why would never rise again.
They were all dead.
"W-what? Why are they all dying?"
"What exactly did he do?"
People seemed to be falling down on their own even though the opponent didn't appear to do anything obvious.
A few keen observers widened their eyes as they looked at the fallen bodies.
"Did he target vital points in such a short time?"
There were tiny wounds on the corpses.
So small that they were difficult to spot unless one strained their eyes to observe carefully.
'But how exactly?'
They soon found the reason.
Around Rudger, something pitch black was floating and drifting.
The scent carried by the wind had a strong aroma of iron powder.
'Magnetic iron?'
Rudger had been piercing the vital points of those who rushed at him with sharp daggers made of magnetic iron particles condensed from thin air.
The dark color and the dimness of the surroundings made it hard to see clearly, and beyond that, Rudger's magical skill was exceptional.
The process of gathering magnetic iron, forming it into daggers, and striking vital points happened in such a brief moment that those who rushed in appeared to just collapse on their own.
"Everyone be careful! He manipulates magnetic iron!"
"Fall back! Rushing in half-prepared will only get you killed!"
Those who were quick-witted swiftly retreated.
Those who were slow to react or had dull minds became prey to Rudger's magnetic iron.
People collapsing like puppets with cut strings.
To an uninformed observer, it would seem like an epidemic had broken out only around Rudger.
Rudger gazed at his enemies with a cold stare.
'From here on, they won't go down so easily.'
Quick wit meant they were experienced and accustomed to fighting.
The ones who remained here, and those who would come next, were the real deal.
Rudger decided to stop toying with the magnetic iron.
"Get out of the way! I'll handle this!"
It seemed similar on Whiron's side.
Someone was boldly stepping forward without fear despite seeing Whiron from a distance.
-Keeing. Thud.
With each step, there was a sound of cylinders and gears being pulled, and the ground trembled.
With a loud hissing sound, compressed steam gushed out fiercely.
A burly man wearing powered armor sneered at Whiron.
"I'll take care of this!"
Confidently stepping forward, he quickly rushed toward Whiron.
The powered armor, moving with thunderous steps, was at least three times larger than Whiron.
A hatch opened in the right arm of the powered armor, which was designed to combat tanks, and a thick stake protruded.
A pile bunker, capable of easily piercing the thickest frontal armor of a tank, was fired toward a human with no armor.
"Haha! This is great!"
Far from being scared, Whiron laughed and threw a punch.
The pilot of the powered armor smiled with satisfaction at this sight.
"What a stupid bastard! Attacking powered armor with bare hands?"
While the mage might be decent at physical enhancement, it was no match for high-output powered armor.
Such prideful thoughts shattered like glass the moment he witnessed the scene before him.
-Crash!
The moment Whiron's fist made contact with the pile bunker, the thick stake compressed and crumpled.
Whiron's fist didn't stop there, pulverizing and blowing away one arm of the powered armor.
"Huh?"
The pilot had no time to be shocked at the unbelievable sight.
Whiron's fist struck the abdominal armor of the powered armor.
-Clang!
With the intense straight punch that pierced the air, the powered armor flew far away.
The powered armor tumbled along the ground, destroying several nearby buildings before finally coming to a stop.
But the fallen machine could no longer rise.
"Hmph. That's what happens when you rely on such weak devices! If you're a man, build up your own muscles!"
After crushing the powered armor with his bare fists, Whiron's eyes gleamed as he looked for his next prey.
Seeing this, Rudger shook his head, realizing his concern had been unnecessary.
'I should just focus on my own tasks.'
Rudger walked slowly.
Though Whiron had gone too far ahead, breaking through everything, Rudger was also following at a not-so-slow pace.
There were those who targeted Rudger like prey.
Bullets fired from a distance.
Rudger immediately activated "Silence of Fire."
This caused the attacks to stop but just for a moment.
Seeing bullets being fired again, Rudger narrowed his eyes.
'Special gunpowder? No, it's different from regular gunpowder.'
Rudger picked up one of the bullets that had fallen after being blocked by a steel shield he had formed from condensed magnetic iron, and examined it.
Normally, bullets are fired with the cartridge ejecting separately, but this one was in a cylindrical form as if the cartridge and bullet were integrated.
Moreover, it didn't have the pungent smell characteristic of gunpowder.
Sniping shots cut through the darkness towards him.
Seeing the bullets that left white trails, Rudger realized what principle they used.
"Bullets using compressed steam, huh."
The principle of guns is to use the recoil from gunpowder explosions to propel bullets.
In other words, if there was enough pushing force even without gunpowder, it could produce power similar to a gun.
On this island, compressed steam made this possible.
The kinetic energy created as the high-pressure accumulated steam dispersed pushed the bullets, creating power similar to conventional guns.
"Silence of Fire" was a magic that suppressed the ignition of gunpowder, not a spell designed to block the dispersion of moisture.
'To think they could create such things even without special gunpowder.'
Compared to conventional thermal weapons, the power might be lower, but that's relative.
The power of bullets fired at close range is more than enough to kill a person.
'But this can't penetrate my defense.'
The magnetic iron surrounding him had already transformed into a black cloud like ink.
Though it looked like smoke, it was a cloud with a density higher than most rocks.
It was an attack that could never be penetrated by anti-personnel firearms.
The enemies must have known this too, yet they continued to waste ammunition.
Bullets that were scraped away by the magnetic iron joined Rudger's cloud, increasing its size.
At that moment, something flashed from afar and a large shell flew in.
Bang!
If Rudger hadn't quickly condensed the magnetic iron to form a circular shield, he might have been directly hit.
'A shell?'
He had been maintaining "Silence of Fire" just in case.
Despite this, the fact that a projectile of such power flew in meant that it also utilized steam.
"He blocked that too!"
"This is crazy! What the hell is that!"
Rudger spotted a tank in the distance.
It was clearly not a weapon meant to be used for capturing people.
Judging by its not-so-fast speed, it seemed like it wasn't chasing them but had been waiting, knowing they would come.
'It's obvious who informed them.'
But they had overlooked something.
Personal weapons didn't work on him, but neither did weapons beyond that.
Rudger advanced without hindrance.
The sight of Rudger moving with a black cloud was like witnessing a natural disaster for his enemies.
Even in the midst of this, Rudger subtly spun out threads of magical power, shooting them one by one at the surveillance cameras watching him.
As he continued to move, the barrage of bullets that seemed like it would never end finally stopped.
It wasn't because they had run out of strength or had retreated due to exhaustion.
"Finally, they've arrived."
Even within the black cloud, Rudger could see the outside situation clearly.
Those who had been shooting at him immediately withdrew at the appearance of new guests.
The newly appeared figures were mages from the New Magic Tower.
"So this is the one who dared to attack our magic tower."
"To mess with the New Magic Tower from Isla Machina. Did your liver not just swell but burst out?"
"No need for capture, just kill him. Many of our comrades have already suffered because of him."
The war mages were determined to kill Rudger.
Seeing that they knew what he had done, they must have received a full report in advance.
To send people even knowing that he was of the Lexer rank meant...
"So there's a mage of the same level here."
It was a mutter to himself, but someone heard it and replied.
"You're quite perceptive."
Along with the reply came a sensation of large-volume magical power.
Rudger took all the black clouds he had and turned them toward the direction of the voice.
As the black cloud moved, it condensed more firmly and created 10 layers of large barriers in front of Rudger.
A massive heat source flew in and hit the steel wall.
The first wall evaporated, and so did the second.
The third, fourth, and fifth walls were also easily penetrated.
The sixth, seventh, and eighth walls managed to block the attack but not completely, melting and slumping.
The attack was finally stopped at the ninth wall.
Even in cloud form, it was an attack difficult to penetrate with ordinary firepower, but the opponent instantly destroyed 8 out of 10 compressed shield layers.
Judging by the speed and scale of the attack, it wasn't even a large-scale magic, yet it had this power.
The ability to easily use this level of magical power meant that the opponent was also a 6th-rank archmage.
"Oh? You blocked this? I'm truly surprised, as it was an attack I launched as a carefully planned surprise."
The opponent revealed his frustration, seemingly wounded in pride that his attack had been blocked.
Rudger gazed at the opponent who had launched the surprise attack.
There stood a man with snow-white hair slicked back.
His skin was white, and his ominously glowing eyes were bright yellow.
He wore white clothing reminiscent of a lab coat, a black metal mask with gold trim on his mouth, and while he was thin, he was quite tall, giving him a somewhat grotesque appearance.
"My, you're clearly not an opponent I should be fighting."
The man spoke with exaggerated fear, his speech strangely drawn out.
"You say that while pulling tricks."
Rudger said this as he drew in the remaining magnetic iron and scraped the ground strongly, destroying the area.
The ground split and crumbled, and the magic secretly being formed beneath the ground was foiled before it could activate.
"...Oh?"
The man in front of him exclaimed in surprise, not expecting this attack to be thwarted.
This reaction was genuine, without any pretense.
"Hmm. I heard that the opponent was a 6th-rank mage, but this is not good at all."
The man who trailed off at the end of his sentences bowed politely to Rudger.
"My name is Andras. A Lexer mage of the Bourgeois faction."
With his hands behind his back, Andras narrowed his eyes as he stared at Rudger.
"You know why I'm here, don't you?"
No sooner had those words ended than light flashed in the sky and high-heat magical power fell on Rudger's head.
Falling like a meteor, it caused a massive explosion in the surroundings.
The shock wave of the explosion sent bounty hunters who had been secretly watching flying in all directions, and all surrounding buildings and structures were torn apart by the air pressure.
A surprise attack disguised as a greeting.
But as the smoke cleared, Andras' eye corners twitched slightly at the scene revealed.
"Is that all?"
Rudger, with his entire body shrouded in a black shadow, asked as blue light gleamed from behind his crow mask.