SSS Awakening: I am the First Legendary Mage

Alex instantly created dozens of tiny Mana Threads beneath the soles of his shoes. The threads dug into the monster’s skin and anchored him in place before he could lose his footing.

Blood sprayed from the severed fingers, but the Wild Orc didn’t hesitate and immediately swept the side of its palm toward him.

The attack covered almost the entire width of the monster’s thigh, leaving Alex nowhere to dodge. If that hit Alex, things would get ugly. Just as he prepared to jump away, the Wild Orc suddenly lurched sideways. Stefan had finally moved.

Ignoring his own injuries, Stefan charged forward with his shield and rammed into the Wild Orc’s supporting leg. Alex had already severed the tendon there moments earlier, so the giant immediately lost its balance.

The enormous body tilted to one side, and the sweeping palm missed Alex by several meters.

Alex didn’t let the opportunity slip away. He sprinted up the falling body while the two Mana Daggers merged into a Mana Short Sword. The blade carved a huge gash from the Wild Orc’s waist all the way to its upper chest, splitting muscle after muscle as dark green blood burst into the air.

The Wild Orc roared and instinctively swung its hand toward Alex. After losing its balance, however, its movements had become noticeably slower. The attack struck its own stomach instead, tearing the wound open even further.

Alex continued climbing without slowing down. Within moments, he reached the monster’s neck and swung the Mana Short Sword horizontally. Several major blood vessels burst apart beneath the vibrating blade, sending another torrent of dark green blood pouring down the monster’s body.

The Wild Orc staggered for another brief moment before its enormous body collapsed. Alex pushed off the giant’s shoulder just before it struck the ground and landed safely several meters away. The impact shook the surrounding streets, but Alex’s attention never left the monster.

His eyes remained fixed on the Wild Orc, ready in case it somehow stood back up. At the same time, he kept checking the nearby streets for other monsters that might have been drawn by the noise. Neither happened.

The Wild Orc’s Origin Energy rapidly dispersed into the air until the suffocating pressure completely disappeared. That should have meant the monster was dead, yet no notification appeared before Alex’s eyes. The absence of a notification immediately put him on guard.

Alex turned toward Stefan at the same time. Unlike Alex, who hadn’t broken any bones and whose internal injuries were relatively minor, the blond man looked as though he already had one foot in the grave. Blood streamed from his eyes, nose, and ears, while both of his arms hung at unnatural angles. Judging by the amount of blood he had coughed up, his internal injuries were likely even more severe.

Despite wielding what was clearly a high-ranking shield, Stefan had been of little help. He had managed to hold the Wild Orc back for less than a second. If Alex hadn’t stepped in, the monster would have crushed him to death.

In truth, Stefan had only gotten in Alex’s way. Alex would have fought more effectively without his intervention. Even so, Stefan had stepped in because he genuinely believed Alex was about to lose, and die.

Alex looked at the battered man for a long moment. The words that came to mind stayed unspoken. This wasn’t the time for them.

"Get out of this area," Alex said calmly.

"Wh... what?" Stefan asked, blinking through the blood covering his face before looking at him in confusion.

"There still hasn’t been a notification. The Wild Orc is already dead, which means the spear has probably been thrown. We’re still being counted as participants in the battle," Alex explained.

Stefan froze as realization dawned on him.

"Then... we both need to leave," Stefan said.

He coughed up another mouthful of blood while trying to stay on his feet, and Alex couldn’t help being impressed that the man was still conscious after everything he had endured. Stefan almost certainly possessed a high-rank Technique, or his body would’ve given out already.

The problem was that Stefan clearly wasn’t planning to leave first. He remained standing where he was, obviously waiting for Alex.

Without wasting another second, Alex grabbed him by the collar and hurled him away with all the strength Advanced Body Reinforcement could provide.

Stefan crashed through a pile of rubble several streets away. He was already seriously injured, and a few more bruises wouldn’t make much difference. More importantly, the throw wasn’t nearly powerful enough to kill him, but it was enough to force him out of the danger zone.

Alex slowly turned toward the sky. Battle Instinct screamed at him to run because there was no guarantee only one spear would descend this time, nor any reason to believe it wouldn’t be stronger than the previous one.

Logically, retreating was the correct choice.

Yet Alex remained where he was. His heart pounded against his chest while every injury from the battle throbbed in pain, but he refused to take a single step backward.

The direction the previous spear had come from was also the direction of his sister’s high school.

If Wild Orcs stood between him and his sister, then avoiding every battle would only force him to take longer detours. Every minute wasted searching for safer routes increased the chance that something would happen to her before he arrived. Alex refused to let that happen.

He would fight and grow stronger. It didn’t matter if his bones broke, his skin burned, or his blood vessels burst. Every monster standing between him and his family would die. No matter the enemy, Alex would fight, and win.

Without hesitation, Alex began shaping Mana. He used everything he had learned from Mana Blade Spell to build a stable structure of a bullet casing before applying the compression techniques from Mana Bullet Spell.

Finally, he sharpened the tip until the construct resembled a giant sniper round made entirely of glowing white Mana.

Alex reached into his inventory and pulled out his wand. He created five strands of Fire Element Mana through it. One became two, then three, until all five bright blue strands floated before him.

The strain hit immediately. Controlling so many spells and such a large amount of Mana at once felt as though his mind were being torn apart. Alex responded by forcing even more compressed, unstable Mana into his brain, pushing Battle Instinct and his focus even further despite the danger.

The world around him dulled, leaving only his spells, and the incoming danger.

Blood trickled from his nose while the blood vessels in his eyes burst one after another, staining the whites crimson. He barely noticed because his entire concentration remained fixed on the glowing strands before him. Nothing else mattered.

One by one, the five strands twisted together into a single Mana Cable. Alex guided it through the open back of the Mana Bullet casing before compressing more and more Fire Element Mana inside it. He pushed the payload until it reached nearly twice the amount he had ever managed before.

The pressure inside the spell became terrifying. His skull creaked beneath the strain as though it might split apart at any moment, and every instinct warned him that a single mistake would detonate the unstable Fire Bullet in his hands. Even so, Alex never slowed down.

Every thought in his mind revolved around the spell taking shape before him. It was the strongest Fire Bullet he had ever attempted to create, and despite the danger, a faint smile slowly appeared across his face.

..

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