Chapter 49: A New Codebreak (1)

Fueled by rage, the first thug who was riled up by Magnus's taunts charged forward, eager to be the first to strike. With one arm held high, he clutched a hatchet tightly, ready to split open Magnus's skull as he shouted, "You're dead!"

Yet, despite the looming threat, Magnus stayed calm. He simply observed the charging man with the detachment of someone watching a film unfold. It wasn't until the hatchet was swinging down towards him that Magnus reacted. His mind's processing power had long since surpassed that of any normal person. To the point where he could even keep up with the twins' superhuman movements during their battle.

To him, the man in front of him seemed to be moving roughly fifty percent slower than what a normal person would see, if not slower. With this altered perception of time, Magnus didn't need to be a trained fighter to spot the vulnerabilities of someone blinded by anger.

Gotcha...

Magnus narrowed his gaze to the lower half of the man's face as he executed a script through the Command Console in an instant. In that moment, Magnus shifted his stance, as every part of his body was being guided on tracks, smoothly sidestepping before launching a counterattack. The kick was so swift that the attacker didn't even see it coming. A distinct crack rang out as Magnus's foot met the man's jaw.

The light in the man's eyes dimmed as he slumped to the ground, unconscious, but Magnus wasn't finished. His kick had made an impression on everyone still charging at him.

A few of them immediately started slowing down, planning to attack from a different angle, but two of the remaining twelve were already too close to back out of their attack now. Both were armed with daggers—one aimed for Magnus's stomach, the other at his chest.

Glancing between them both, Magnus calculated and simulated his moves in his head before executing them in reality. He quickly backstepped, just as the blades were about to graze him. Then, reaching out, he grabbed both of his attackers' arms. To the two men, Magnus's grip felt like an iron clasp; it was so tight that it felt like their bones might snap at any second.

"Ahhg!"

"Ugh… Le- Let go!"

Their cries echoed as the daggers slipped from their grasp and clattered to the ground. Despite their struggles, they couldn't free themselves or even budge their arms. Instead, they dropped to their knees under the excruciating pain of Magnus's grip tightening slowly, desperate to escape.

However, even when they kicked at Magnus's lower body, it didn't feel like they were kicking a person; instead, it was as if they were striking a wall of iron. His entire body remained unmoved by their thrashing, as if it were anchored in space.

Ignoring their cries, Magnus glanced behind and noticed one of the grunts who had paused his attack earlier, now rushing at him with a knife, thinking he found an opening since Magnus's hands were full. But he was sorely mistaken. As more lines of source code streamed into the Command Console, Magnus's right arm lashed out.

It looked like Magnus was trying to swat at something behind him, which caused the grunt he was holding to be yanked along by his arm. The grunt's body swung through the air in an arc, as if weightless, and such a sudden acceleration resulted in a sickening crack filling the air as the grunt's arm broke.

"Huh-" Before the knife-wielding grunt, running up behind Magnus, could react, a human body and its full weight slammed into him. The impact was so powerful that he lost consciousness the instant his head hit the ground. At the same moment, Magnus let go of the arm he was holding onto with his right hand.

Inertia took over as the grunt, who had just been used as a weapon, was sent hurtling through the air before slamming into the nearby wall of a building, likely breaking some other bones in the process. As he fell to the ground, his body simply lied there. Whether or not he was still conscious or was simply in too much pain to let out a whimper was anyone's guess.

"Not a bad attempt. Sadly for you, though, as long as I can hold it, there's almost nothing I can't use as a weapon, including people," Magnus remarked to the man twitching unconsciously at his feet. He then turned to the remaining grunt he still held.

Witnessing his counterpart's fate, the man shivered under Magnus's calm, mischievously grinning gaze.

"Please… don't hurt me; just let me go. I swear, I'll never bother you again!" he pleaded. Magnus tilted his head, seemingly considering the plea.

"Hmm, alright," he responded, eliciting a shocked look from the man, followed by a self-deprecating smile.

"Really?" The man felt relief for a moment as he sought clarification; however, that relief was crushed as he was met with a mocking laugh from Magnus.

"Pfft, no. You tried to stab me. But don't worry, I will let you go." Without warning, Magnus lifted his left arm at such a high speed that it sent the man hurdling into the air. Casually stepping aside, he listened to the man's short scream as he flailed in the air while falling before finally crashing heavily to the ground.

In less than three minutes, the number of combatants had dropped from thirteen to nine. Witnessing what had just occurred, all the men surrounding Magnus had clearly given up on the idea of just charging in.

"What the hell..." Some were still reeling, totally thrown by the feats a seventeen-year-old had just pulled off. On the flip side, others were trying to wrap their heads around the sudden leap in Magnus's abilities compared to what they had heard.

"I thought he was supposed to be a mage? Why the hell is he fighting like a knight?" They had all kinds of questions; however, the only real one on their minds was what to do next. The smart move would have been to rush Magnus as a team. Logic stated that no matter how quick someone was, facing off against nine attackers all at once was a tall order, especially when they had a size advantage.

However, that's also where the problem arose.

The group of men surrounding Magnus barely knew each other, much less trusted one another enough to coordinate an attack, leaving them in a bind. However, hidden behind the crowd circling Magnus, two familiar figures, Bif and Isen, were deep in conversation.

"Man, I'm glad we hung back. I had been wondering how Zeth got so badly injured when he had his crew around, but now it's all making sense," Bif remarked. He and Isen had only seen Magnus from a distance before, and though Bif had no plans to take him on personally at the time, he was always curious about what Magnus was capable of, and now he had his answer.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that either. Still, it doesn't really matter how strong he is, now does it? All we need is a single hit," Isen said as he reached into a pouch attached to his side. One would have expected him to pull out some kind of weapon, but instead, he pulled out a normal-looking brick.

Bif nodded, "Of course, we wouldn't have bothered coming here if you didn't have that thing. Plus, there's a bigger reward if we bring him in alive. The only question now is: how do we get you to hit him with it? Even when those four came at him all at once, they didn't even graze him." While Bif was talking aloud, it was more to himself than to Isen as he pondered their next move.

The standoff between Magnus and the others gave Bif time to think.

As it stood right now, Magnus was using [Self Body Puppetry] to its absolute limit. Throughout this entire encounter, besides talking and looking around, his every action and movement had been executed by the Command Console. Now that he had upgraded his body, he didn't have to worry so much about any errors he made in combat being fatal. He could still get hurt, sure, but even if he accidentally got stabbed in the arm with a knife, as he was now, the knife wouldn't even make it halfway through.

But the fact that he wasn't completely invulnerable was also something that Bif picked up on.

"Alright, I have an idea. I'll use myself as a decoy. He's been dodging any weapon-based attacks, so even if he's tough and can brush off hits, he can still be hurt. I'll try to catch him off guard mid-dodge, and while he's occupied with me, you strike at him from behind. Make sure your aim is clearly off, and strike for his clothes."

Hearing the plan, Isen gave Bif a puzzled look.

"Are you sure? He'll definitely attack you if you rush him alone." To that, Bif smirked confidently.

"Probably, but I'll be fine. Have you noticed how he's been knocking us out and breaking bones but hasn't actually killed anyone? I'm betting he's doing that on purpose. He's no killer. Plus, a few fractures are a small price to pay for the amount of money we'll get for capturing him; hell, we would probably be able to afford to pay the church to heal us. Just make sure you don't screw up," Bif asserted confidently.

Isen, convinced by Bif's words, nodded in agreement.

"Alright then." And so, the plan was put into motion. Stepping forward, Bif began to make his way to the closest group of grunts to them and began to put on an act.

"You cowards, if you're not going to attack, then I'll do it!" His voice shifted dramatically from the calm tone he used with Isen. Shoving a few of the grunts out of the way, he snatched the two stiletto knives one of the grunts was holding.

Normally, the man would have grabbed Bif by the neck for taking his weapons. But the tension was so thick, that no one wanted to make a scene—not even him, especially since Bif seemed so fired up to confront Magnus when everyone else hesitated. Of course, this commotion that broke through the silence immediately caught Magnus's attention.

Oh? One of them's already got enough motivation to launch an attack?

Turning to Bif, Magnus didn't say a thing. Words were unnecessary; any more taunting wouldn't do anything as things were now. They locked eyes for a moment of silence before Bif charged forward.

Mapping out Bif's path of attack in his mind, Magnus immediately began visualizing a counter in his head to execute with the Command Console. However, in the midst of his visualization, before they had even closed the distance, Bif flipped one of the stiletto knives he had in hand upside down, holding it by its blade, and prepared to throw it.

Oh, so that's what he's aiming for.

Realizing Bif's plan, Magnus promptly discarded his previous visualization, replacing it with a new one. Simultaneously, Bif threw the stiletto knife straight at Magnus as he continued his seemingly straightforward charge. As the projectile closed in, the visualization executed itself. Magnus leaped back, executing what seemed like a back handspring.

While in mid-air, the thrown stiletto knife just narrowly missed him. Landing on his hands, Magnus was halfway through the back handspring when Bif entered close range, almost close enough to stab Magnus with the remaining stiletto knife he had on him.

In response, Magnus quickly bent his arms like a spring and propelled himself upward at an extraordinary speed, launching himself into the air so rapidly that Bif couldn't hit him. Even though he knew this kind of attack wouldn't work, even Bif was slightly thrown off by how agile Magnus was in such close quarters.

Still, it won't matter; you can't dodge in the air!

As that thought raced through Bif's mind, Isen suddenly rushed in from behind Magnus while he was still airborne, brick in hand. He had carefully sneaked behind Magnus, hiding in his blind spots, and now it was time to launch his attack. As he rushed in to strike, he kept Bif's words in mind and didn't aim for Magnus's body but instead targeted his fluttering uniform.

Another one? Well, whatever. His trajectory is off; he won't hit me. I can focus on the first one for now, then I'll deal with him.

Magnus was about to shift his focus back to Bif when Isen, who was just a few meters away from him, unexpectedly triggered something, completely catching Magnus off guard.

[Command Console]

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↑…

[WARNING]: A glitch has been detected!

Initiating Debugging Protocol…

Debugging Protocol Activated…

[Debugging Protocol]: Initial glitch has been designated as Codebreak-005.

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Users:Magnus_Wright:\>

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The announcement from the Command Console was so sudden that Magnus's mind paused for the briefest second. At that moment, Islen had already started to swing at the edge of his academy uniform. As for Magnus, with his body still half a foot off the ground, he wouldn't land in time in order to rebound or dodge, even if he wanted to.

We got him!

Or so Bif and Isen thought. But inside Magnus's mind lived two entities, one quickly rousing the other from the shock.

[Master, we have to move!]

Prompted by this urgent call, Magnus shook off his mental freeze. With Basker's help, his mind was suddenly ramped into overdrive, forming an entirely new visualization within a fraction of a second, faster than anything he'd done before. Upon execution, Magnus did something that was quite literally impossible. He dodged in mid-air. This wasn't a simple matter of bending his body while in the air to gain momentum; no.

Instead, it was as if he was being controlled by an invisible hand. His entire body was suddenly yanked out of the way of Isen's strike path and placed directly on the ground. It happened so fast and suddenly that both Bif and Isen couldn't even process it. And by the time they did, it was too late.

Wait! Shi-

With momentum too great to halt or divert his swing, Isen's brick ended up grazing Bif's head, knocking him out cold, and before Isen could even regain his bearings, Magnus's foot struck his cheek, sending him flying off to the side, knocking him unconscious before he even hit the dirt.

Rising slowly, Magnus took a deep breath, his eyes sweeping over the remaining group of men encircling him. The air seemed denser now, his tone reflecting the shift.

"So, anyone else looking to get their bones broken today?" His words seemed to trigger something in all of them, evoking a singular emotion as their eyes shifted from Magnus to the multiple men scattered on the ground around him, either knocked out or completely immobile due to their injuries.

That fear seemed to be the last straw.

"Fu... Fuck this..." The words escaped from one of the grunts at the forefront, his anxiety palpable as he stepped back.

In a domino effect, the other grunts around him followed suit until, ultimately, they all ran. Disregarding the potential consequences, they spun around and fled in random directions, anywhere to put distance between them and Magnus. Watching them scatter like that, Magnus let out a sigh of relief.

Well, that didn't go quite as I expected. Who would have thought the first time I ever moved my own body like that would be in a situation like this?

With the Command Console, Magnus could manipulate objects spatially by visualizing their movement along trajectories or adjusting their positions in three-dimensional space. Having committed the intricacies of his own body to memory, he could theoretically move himself as well if he targeted his own torso.

However, he had never attempted it due to the risk that something might go wrong.

Well, whatever. What's really important is figuring out what triggered the Command Console.

Up to this point, the only time he's come across the Debugging Protocol is when he triggered it himself by creating a script. But since he didn't do anything this time, which meant it came from something else. Looking around him, Magnus's eyes scanned across the ground, crossing out all the things that couldn't have been the cause, until they settled on a brick.

Hmm? A brick? Now that I think about it, the Command Console did alert me around the same time that guy came running at me with that thing. Plus, I don't remember seeing a single building in the city that uses bricks like these.

For a moment, he considered whether or not he should pick it up, but he quickly dismissed that idea. The debugging protocol had been activated by the brick's presence, but it hadn't started analyzing it just yet. If he had to guess, it was probably proximity-based, and if it was anything like the last few times, once it began its analysis, he wouldn't be able to use the Command Console, which would leave him wide open.

In that case, I should wait for a bit, at least until 'they' arrive.