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Volume 1 Chapter 2-1: Voice

 

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「Haha that’s dangerous kid.」

My fist had been easily caught and the hand that had been molesting Lucy’s breast struck out and sunk into the pit of my stomach.

「Ugaa」

A voice like a frog being squished came out of my mouth.

My vision flickered as I couldn’t help but fall to my knees. I forced my neck to bring my head upwards but the Captain didn’t continue his attack. He just stood there laughing.

「Elves are so weak, what the hell did you think you were doing with that skinny body? Hm?」

He smirked as he spoke those words with a gentle feeling. I couldn’t deny his words.

That man was over 180 cm in height. A large build with tight muscles. His arms were like logs.

Compare that to me…160 cm, thin, and measly muscles.

What’s more my current pathetic state kneeling in the mud said everything.

「Plus you don’t have to worry. Even if you don’t do this I’d still take you with us.」
「Why take Cyril!? You said that the quota only needed three more! With me there should be three!」
「Well this idiot attacked me….plus you’re beautiful so killing you would be a waste. I decided you’ll be my woman so as expected we’d need one more.」

Lucy’s face was stained by deep despair.

「Oioi, you really like this guy that much? Then if you choose another guy to take this one’s place I’ll let him live. Of course you have to be the one to make the decision okay?」
「But…..that sort of…..I can’t do that to them….」
「Then it can’t be helped.」

That man’s laughter echoed through my mind.

Even though the kind Lucy could sacrifice herself she couldn’t possibly force someone else to be sacrificed.

For my sake….she was struggling, suffering, and crying with all her might.

I have to do something…..I can’t beat them hand to hand.

Then the only thing left is magic. Elf magic is far superior to human magic.

If I can activate a magic formula then I can awaken the huge magical power within my body….I can manipulate the mana of the natural world.

「ku」

My head was splitting with pain, a horrible screeching noise echoed throughout my mind as a magic formula floated through my mind like a cloud as if it would disperse at any moment.

The trembling magic flow in my mind lost its direction suddenly.

The magic killing function of my collar was working perfectly. If I focused harder and had greater willpower I could shake it off….that kind of thing did not come to pass.

「Are you just stupid?」

I heard those words as his foot crashed into my chin.

I was knocked pathetically onto my back.

How miserable.

「Just give it up. You can’t do anything with your pathetic body. In the first place you elves and your weak bodies have nothing else but good magic. If that’s gone then you’re just livestock you know? Don’t cause me anymore trouble.」

Power and magic……I didn’t have enough of either. My own wretchedness made tears spill from my eyes. This was the first time I’d felt this kind of despair.

If only I had the power…..

『Then stop turning your eyes from the truth. Face your own self. You have the power. Luckily this body is excellent. You have a good set of eyes. You saw his attack as it was coming right? Then you just need to follow the movements carved into your soul. I’ll teach you. This is our power!』

The voice within my mind filled my head as I felt battle techniques, knowledge, and experience soak themselves into my body and engrave themselves deeply.

Up until now I had rejected this sensation.

But now….I would no longer resist it. If it gave me power then I would even sell my soul to a demon.

I was changing…having parts of me filled in. In this place there was no fear. I was returning to my true self.

My body rose up unnaturally like a robot from my pathetic posture on the ground and stood firm.

「What’s wrong with you? Those gross movements…did I hit you too much and you went crazy?」

I completely disregarded the Captain’s voice. I gripped my hands open and shut a few times and jumped a bit. I lightly stretched my arms and legs.

My mind was clear. My field of vision expanded.

Information ceaselessly flowed into my mind.

Activate slight magical interference.
Finished analyzing noise pattern interference.
Small scale spells no longer hindered.

Scan body type and condition with magic….adjust to body within memories. Adjustment complete. Temporarily disable techniques that cannot be reproduced with current body. Construct most optimum pattern for this body and reflexes. Set up reflexive actions.

Checking completed processes. All Clear.

Enemy ability evaluation. Negligible Threat.

I felt a smile lifting the edges of my lips. I focused on Lucy alone and opened my mouth.

「Lucy thank you for protecting me. But it’s alright. I won’t let them take you and I don’t intend on dying. I’ll save you so just wait a bit.」
「Stop! It’s impossible! You’ll die Cyril!」
「It’s alright now. Don’t cry anymore.」

Lucy was crying. I had to stop that this instant.

Words weren’t enough. I had to completely remove the source of those tears.

Those men were simply obstacles to that end.

「Human. You made Lucy cry…..so please die.」

My physical damage wasn’t light. I had a small cerebral concussion and the damage to my stomach reduced my body’s performance.

But so what? I could defeat this type of enemy with all my limbs broken.

「Hoho~ you’re saying some cocky sh** brat. Don’t regret it. I’m gonna pull out your heart right here and now.」

He swung his arm back exaggeratedly and punched towards me.

I can see it. Not just my vision. The sound, the smell, and the movement of the atmosphere on my skin.
All the necessary information flowed into me.

All that was left was to let my body move as it needed to.

The most important aspect of close quarters combat was time.

A series of decisions had to be made within 1/10th of a second. These decisions couldn’t be made with normal thought processes.

That’s why training beat the basics into your body until those movements became instant……they were reflexive.

Originally memories and knowledge could not compensate for this sort of thing….however I used magic to engrave these things into my body. The spells were set to continually optimize the movements of my body. My body had been reborn as a smoothly operating machine.

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