The Mage of Primordial Chaos

Chapter 233 - Paintball (1)

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

Level One Shadow Magic - Vanishing Shadows.

I sank into the cloak of night, and quickly moved towards the sound of gunshots. More were coming up now, and that helped me better determine where my two prey were and which direction they were heading in now. Right now, they appeared to be directly in front of me, and were also heading in my direction. I decided to just hide in the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike in order to secure the double kill.

There were 10 participants in this fight in total - Feng Mian, Qing Yue, Yu An Xue, Yu An Yan, Mei Gui, Lan Xiao Su, Obsidia, Xiang Peng, Amane, and I. Flaria was forced to stay behind with Old Man Leng once more, since I wasn't about to let her use a gun.

Hm...maybe I should consider giving her a pistol or something? Something that's simple to use and can't cause too much damage...oh, wait. They're coming.

Immediately ceasing all other thoughts, I slowly pulled out Ace from its holster, already pre-loaded with the special paint bullets Old Man Leng had given me.

Man, I hope no one forgets to switch into these special harmless bullets. Otherwise, some serious stuff could happen - stuff I didn't want to deal with.

In any case, the two people were getting closer and closer to me. Close enough that I could hear their voices.

"Nya! You cyan't cyatch meow!" one of them, the one in front, exclaimed in a taunt-like fashion. This was Amane, of course.

Behind her, another girl ran. "Tch...come back here, you damn catgirl!" she yelled in frustration, before unleashing a volley of bullets at poor Amane, who yelped and scrambled to dodge all of them. Somehow, she succeeded.

By the rapid fire rate of the second girl's gun, I could tell it was an SMG. The only one out of the ten of us who got an SMG was Yu An Yan. Her voice also matched as well, further confirming my conclusion. Incidentally, Amane's win condition was that she had to touch her targets, since she didn't use a gun. However, against an SMG user like Yu An Yan, that would prove to be difficult.

Yu An Yan and Amane, huh...well. Amane can probably sense me with her demihuman instincts, but Yu An Yan will make for easy prey. She's stubborn and rushes into things without thinking...this is a good opportunity to make her learn.

It appears Amane didn't sense me after all - she was too busy using her keen senses to avoid the bullets. Either that, or she knew, but wanted me to take out Yu An Yan for her. She ran straight past me, and Yu An Yan did as well, following right behind her. And as soon as she did, I stepped out of the shadows of the wall, cancelling my Vanishing Shadow spell, and aimed Ace at her back. Had this been a real fight, I would've aimed for the head to secure the kill. But in this case, the back was enough.

I pulled the trigger, and my bullet slammed into her back.

"Wha-" Yu An Yan gasped from the impact, nearly falling forward. Despite these bullets not doing any actual harm, they still had the velocity of a real bullet, meaning the impact hit pretty hard. There would probably be a bruise afterwards, but nothing more.

A bright red gas began emitting from where I struck Yu An Yan, and she turned around in surprise to find me staring at her, my smug grin hidden by the buildings' shadows. As an aside, I wasn't wearing my mask, since there wasn't a need for that here.

"You...ugh, damn it..." she muttered, clenching her fists in frustration.

I chuckled. "Next time, don't rush into a narrow corridor without thinking. Especially when you know I can use every element of magic - Shadow included."

She sighed. "Yeah...that's a big issue of mine. I realize that."

At least she knows. As long as she is aware of her own flaws, she can slowly get rid of them. That's good.

"Now then...Amane, how long are you just going to hide up there and watch?" I asked, looking up. She had scaled the walls upwards, onto the roof of the building using her claws. It appears she had been trying to land a surprise attack on me, but alas...

"N-Nya! Hyow did you knyow?!" she exclaimed in surprise, appearing to be shocked.

"Tsk tsk..." I wagged my fingers. "Your movements are still too loud. I can hear them."

Well, that's a lie. Compared to average people, she's already an exceptional assassin with her quiet movements. In fact, just now, I had detected her not through her movements, but through my Third Eye. I had it constantly active, since I had mana to spare after recharging it with the help of the girls after the fight with Apoxyia.

That being said...her movements were still audible. I'm sure if I listened really closely - if I hadn't been talking with Yu An Yan - I would be able to hear her, not to mention the variety of Sound Element spells and Blessing Element spells I could use to improve my hearing. Therefore, I lied to her so that she would continue striving to improve.

Now then...Potentia Excitant: Salire.

With one swift jump, I leapt up onto the roof of the building directly across from Amane, and she backed away in carefulness. Pulling out Ace, I took aim and shot - but at the exact same time, I used my ability to instacast to use a single spell:

Level One Time Magic - Tempus Accel.

I used this spell on the bullet itself, causing it to accelerate suddenly. This made Amane's dodge timing slightly delayed, and my bullet hit her square in the shoulder.

"N-Nya!" she yelped, clutching her shoulder in pain. Shortly after, a red gas began emitting from where I hit her, and she pouted, puffing her cheeks out. "Mou~Xuwan Kwai!"

I shrugged. "Sorry. I'm not showing any mercy."

Suddenly, I felt a bullet whizz past above my head. Had I been any taller, I would've been eliminated right then and there. I immediately turned to the direction that the bullet had come from - and I saw the building I had just been on earlier, where Obsidia was. I narrowed my gaze.

Perhaps...I should've eliminated her right then and there. She's a problem.

Keeping this in mind, I dropped back to the ground, where she couldn't get a clear hit on me, and decided that she would be my next target.

*****

(Obsidia's Perspective)

Tch...wind. I missed that human's head by just a little. How unfortunate.

But...it seems he knows where I am now. I should move positions quickly.

I began moving from roof to roof once more, constantly listening in for footsteps to see if anyone was following me. I settled down on a decently tall building, and laid down Whisper once more, waiting for the right time to strike.

*****

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

Hm...she moved. Quite far away too, at that. Ah...whatever. No point going all the way over there to hunt her down. She wouldn't be bothering me for a while, I think...and besides, I'm picking up on someone else on my radar now...

I switched directions, turning left. I then slowed down my pace, crouching down and moving forward carefully. Just as I reached the end of the corridor and was about to turn again, however, I accidentally kicked a metal can on the ground, and immediately, a volley of three bullets struck the wall across from me, narrowly missing my head. I grinned.

Sneaky...but not enough.

A pulse rifle. That signified Yu An Xue. Thanks to me accidentally hitting that can, she knew I was here, and had laid down some warning fire. Undoubtedly, if I turned right now, I would be met with a barrage of unavoidable bullets, resulting in my elimination. 

So...how was I going to get out of this situation?

I looked up, and smiled.

Level One Sky Magic - Flight.

Landing on top of the roof, I slowly peeked over the edge, but three bullets once again narrowly flew by, just barely missing my head.

Hm...? How did she know I was up here?

The first time was because I accidentally stepped on a can, making a loud, crunching noise. But this time, I purposely made sure not to make any sound, and yet...she could still predict that I was going to try and hit her from up here?

Yu An Xue...she was either just extremely aware of her surroundings, or she has a trick up her sleeve I don't know about. From my Third Eye, I could sense that she hadn't moved a single inch from where she was standing. But I also knew that the moment I peeked my head out here, I would get shot.

Well, this is troublesome. What do I do now?