NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 48: Traitor
[Blink Lv. 2] – Allows the user to teleport up to 2 seconds into the future or past. [Restriction] – Maximum of 5 uses per day (24-hour cooldown).
When I first read the content of the skill, I didn’t think much of it other than it being a possible subclass of spatial magic, but seeing it in action completely changed my perspective. It was magic that combined both space and time. During the battle against the Giant Killer, the devil (possessing my body) used the skill a total of five times, and from that, I learned most of the conditions and rules related to the skill.
One of them being that anything in contact with you during the use of the skill will automatically be affected too.
The first instance of this was when the Giant Killer stabbed through my foot. After letting go of the blade, the devil used [Blink] to teleport 0.88 seconds into the past, causing the blade that had just stabbed him to travel back in time to where it was 0.88 seconds ago – which was above the Giant Killer's head just before he had caught it.
I had thought the skill would simply affect "space," but to my surprise, it completely reversed the time of the teleported individual too. The reason the wound on my foot had suddenly disappeared was simply because the devil had gone back in time to a point where the Giant Killer had yet to stab my foot – 0.88 seconds ago.
Another interesting use of the skill was when the devil switched the blade from his left hand to his right by teleporting almost a second into the future and skipping the process of slowly taking the blade from one hand to the other. Although I had an idea of how the skill worked, I still had a lot of experimentation to do before I fully figured it out. For example, what constitutes a 'valid' jump into the future or past? Do I have to constantly calculate the possible positions I can reach within the next 2 seconds? I still didn’t know that yet.
However, after comparing all the things that can be done with the skill, I came to the conclusion that the greatest perk was the healing factor.
In the final clash between the two, both the Giant Killer and the devil had put everything they had into their attacks, but because of that skill, the devil came out completely unscathed from the clash. After receiving the full force of the Giant Killer’s attack, he simply used [Blink] to teleport back in time to before the two of them clashed, appearing in the center of the cave with zero damage from their exchange.
The battle itself was interesting, but I couldn’t really draw any conclusions about the devil's capabilities from the fight. The battle style was a bit reckless at times, but there wasn't anything special I observed during the exchange. What I did draw from this, though, was that the Giant Killer was an absolute monster in combat, more so than I ever imagined.
In the past timeline, he had teamed up with one of our own, and the two of them managed to take down one of the Royal Guards in a two-on-one overnight. I thought it might have been a team effort, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out the Giant Killer was the MVP of that battle.
I’ll have to pay more attention to him in the future.
As I thought this, I reached Leven, who stared at the gun in my hand anxiously as if waiting to be executed. He was in pretty bad shape. His uniform was disheveled, his face was pale, and above all, he was missing an arm.
That's going to take a long time to treat.
“What’s going on? You’ve been acting strange,” a voice suddenly came from behind me, and I answered without turning back,
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been acting completely normal, right, Leven?” I said, looking at Leven, who simply nodded without a word.
“Whatever you say. Let’s leave this place before something else attacks us,” Rin shot back. I turned to look at her, but it seemed she wasn’t talking to me. Instead, she was looking at Ruby, who quickly averted her gaze when she met my eyes.
“When you say something else, you’re not referring to me, right?” I said to Rin, to which she started slow clapping exaggeratedly while saying,
“Wow~ You’re so smart. How did you figure that out?” She said in a sarcastic tone, and I shrugged my shoulders as I answered,
“Ah, well, y’know. It wasn’t easy, but I try.” I shot back, smiling, and she nodded.
“Uh-huh, good job. Ruby, let’s go,” she said, pulling Ruby’s hand as she was about to leave, but I spoke up again.
“Before you go, can I ask you for a favor?” I said.
“Does it involve me getting hurt?” She shot back with a frown, and I simply gave her a warm smile without responding. She glared at me, grabbing onto Ruby’s shoulders and pushing her in between us as she hid behind her.
“W-what?” Ruby muttered in surprise, but she didn’t try to escape. She simply looked at me with pleading eyes, causing me to sigh as I looked at Rin behind her and said,
“Don’t worry, it won't be anything dangerous. You can read people’s emotions using your authority, right?” I said, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.
“How did you…” she muttered, as if trying to recall something from her memories. She hadn’t disclosed this ability to anyone, and by the looks of it, even Ruby seemed a bit confused by the sudden revelation.
“I’ve known since the day you used it on me. Can I assume my assessment was correct?” I shot back without an explanation, causing her to squint her eyes before sighing as if it was just a minor inconvenience. If you wanted to hide it from me, you shouldn’t have used it on me.
“What do you want me to do?” she shot back.
“Just follow me,” I said, taking a step toward a certain location in the cave. Despite not calling him, Leven followed from behind until we arrived at a small group of students lying on the floor, all victims of the Giant Killer. As I looked at each of their faces while simultaneously using [Recall], I called out to Leven, pointing toward his ear. Seeing this, he took out the earpiece that had been connecting him to the Professor and handed it back to me. I tapped it twice, causing a static sound before a voice suddenly answered,
“Yes?”
“How do you think the intruders entered the dungeon?” I said out loud, looking at Leven, who appeared a bit confused, before answering.
“I think they were already hiding inside?” he answered back, and at the same time, a voice came from the earpiece.
“Did you manage to win? We’re still investigating, so I can’t disclose anything at the moment,” Professor Pierce answered, but I already knew the real reason he couldn't tell me. After getting both their answers, I continued,
“They invaded three floors, and each of the floors had a class leader. Unless they can somehow see the future, it would be very hard to pick a floor that each of us would end up in,” I said, causing Leven to nod as he looked at the students lying on the ground. I was sure he already had an idea of what I was thinking, but because most of these students were his classmates, he was restraining himself from saying anything unnecessary.
“What are you doing?” the professor suddenly asked, his tone filled with a hint of worry. I simply kept quiet, keeping the connection open as I walked up to one of the students lying on the ground. I then pointed my gun toward his head as I turned to look at Rin.
“What’re you doing?” Leven asked, looking at the student with a worried expression, but he didn’t seem as panicked as one would imagine.
Good.
From witnessing my dynamic with Rin, he must’ve concluded that I wouldn’t do anything unreasonable with witnesses around, causing him to let his guard down a little. The presence of the two girls on my team, who didn’t seem completely obedient to me, gave him a false sense of security. Just as I expected.
I ignored his question and spoke to Rin,
“What is he feeling right now?” I said, putting my finger on the trigger as Rin furrowed her brow in confusion.
“Huh? That’s not how it works. I can’t tell if he’s unconscious,” she said, but I simply nodded as I replied,
“It’s fine, just try and tell me if it works,” I shot back, and as if quickly catching on to my intentions, she nodded and looked at the boy in question. After a few seconds of looking at him, she shook her head.
“Nothing,” she concluded.
“I see,” I nodded, taking a step away from the boy and moving on to the next target. Rin followed, looking down at the student while using her authority, and after a few seconds, she spoke up,
“Worry… and a bit of fear,” she said, looking at the student.
I looked down at the student, a girl with short black hair. She was the second student the Giant Killer took down, and using [Recall], the scene played out in my mind, confirming my suspicions. I then pointed the gun to her leg and pulled the trigger.
Bang~!
“Mm!?” She suddenly opened her eyes, her face confused as she looked up at me.
“W-what’re you doing!?” Leven shouted, stepping forward, but the moment I turned and met his eyes, he froze in place, his face paling as he glared in frustration. Did devils posses some kind of fear factor in their eyes? Seeing this, I smiled, turning my head away from him and aiming the gun at the girl's shoulder before pulling the trigger again.
Bang~!
“Ahh!? W-why are you doing this?” the girl finally said, kicking off the ground and pushing her body back as she tried to get away.
“You’re the traitor,” I said, taking a step forward and plunging my leg into her stomach.
“Kuh!?” Her eyes widened, her breath leaving her lungs as she tried to speak through hushed breaths,
“I… haah… don’t know what... Haah... you’re… haah… talking about.” She managed to say, but I ignored her words, taking another step closer and kicking her across her face as she recoiled to the floor, blood splattering on the ground.
Mmh...
