Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist-Chapter 85: Uzumaki Chains [II]

As Koya fell through the dark hole, the screen highlighted everything perfectly for HeroGod watching through the FaceTime connection.

"I don’t really know why you’re so surprised by basic combat maneuvers." Koya said calmly as he extended his sword outward with concentrated mana and created a deep dent in the tunnel wall to slow his descent.

He was almost at the bottom now... The hideout below was brightly lit with industrial lighting and had several impact craters scattered across the floor with clear evidence that people regularly jumped down this entrance shaft like he was doing now.

"You’re literally like a god in your world. Shouldn’t this kind of thing be completely normal to you?"

If the White King was considered the god of this world, then HeroGod was the undisputed god of hers.

Every major city in her dimension had massive statues dedicated to her, calling her the God of Heroes. There was virtually no crime or corruption in her realm according to her.

Everyone feared her power... except her wives, he supposed. Also, her children weren’t technically biological offspring but rather adopted individuals she’d taken under her wing.

All in all, she was an absurdly overpowered entity.

"It’s been so many years since anything interesting happened..." She actually pouted at the camera for some reason, and Koya thought she looked genuinely cute making that expression. "I can’t even remember the last time we had any sort of real action in my world, so just let me enjoy this vicariously through you."

"Ahem... I’m not cute. I’m the God of Heroes." she added with mock dignity.

"Yeah, right," Koya said with a sigh.

He didn’t even want to know how she could somehow sense his thoughts through the camera connection, but that was apparently just another aspect of her ridiculous abilities.

He dropped down into the light, landing on the ground in a perfect crouch. There were several White Hall members in this room... this appeared to be some kind of lounge area and about fifteen of them were sitting around casually, drinking alcohol from bottles and glasses.

They all looked at him simultaneously and he looked back at them.

They blinked at each other for a long moment.

"Shouldn’t you guys... start fighting or something?" HeroGod asked while also blinking in confusion at the awkward standoff.

They couldn’t hear her obviously, but the moment she spoke those words, someone in the back pulled an alarm lever on the wall.

BLARE BLARE BLARE!

"INTRUDER ALERT! WE HAVE AN INTRUDER!" One of them shouted at the top of his lungs while the others immediately dropped their drinks and pulled out various weapons from holsters and sheaths.

Koya sighed and activated his Sensory skill, scanning the entire underground complex systematically.

The facility wasn’t that massive, but there was definitely another floor even deeper underground that was sealed off and accessible only through an elevator or similar mechanism.

There were definite limitations to what they could build underground without the city’s higher-ups discovering it, but his scan detected approximately thirty two White Hall members total throughout the base.

There were also several hostages being held on the side... locked behind a thick reinforced wall in what appeared to be holding cells.

However, he quickly located the treasury room containing various treasures, including distinctive chain-like objects that matched the description.

’I see... so those are the Uzumaki Chains.’ Koya thought analytically.

He hadn’t been told exactly how the Order had discovered their location or what specific abilities they possessed, but his mission objective was crystal clear: retrieve them. ’Alright then, let’s get started.’

The first White Hall member charged at him aggressively and slashed downward with a standard-issue sword.

The guy was just a three-liner and Koya tilted his head smoothly out of the blade’s path, then delivered a devastating kick directly to the man’s chest.

BOOM!

The White Hall member went tumbling through the air from the sheer force, flying backward until he crashed into the far wall with tremendous impact.

SPLAT!

His entire face and skull crushed against the reinforced concrete, splattering brain matter and blood.

"Oh wow! That was brutal!" HeroGod commented enthusiastically. "Nice form on the kick, too!"

A second attacker who’d been maintaining distance pressed both hands flat against the ground and began channeling mana.

WHOOSH!

Sand erupted from nowhere, summoned through earth manipulation, and spread across the floor rapidly.

It wrapped around Koya’s feet and ankles, hardening like concrete to lock him in place.

"Watch out, he’s immobilizing you." HeroGod called out helpfully.

"I can see that..."

Another White Hall member came stabbing forward with a spear aimed directly at Koya’s face. Koya parried the thrust easily with his Order-issued katana, redirecting the spear’s trajectory, then counter-stabbed forward in one fluid motion.

PIERCE!

His blade went straight through the attacker’s head, penetrating skull and brain.

"Oooh, clean kill!" HeroGod praised. The sand mage yelled in panic and loosened his sand technique, giving Koya mobility again.

Suddenly, one of the White Hall members in the back raised a firearm and fired several rapid shots.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Koya immediately drew his sword back from the corpse and grabbed the dead spear-wielder’s body, using it as a makeshift shield. The bullets carved into the corpse, tearing through flesh but not penetrating completely.

As the gunner paused to reload his weapon... Koya threw the body aside and simultaneously hurled his katana like a spear with tremendous force.

WHOOSH!

The blade tore through the air and pierced directly through the gunner’s skull.

THUNK!

He dropped dead instantly and Koya immediately moved, sprinting at enhanced speed. The sand mage was spreading his technique across the floor again in an attempt to trap him but Koya ran along the vertical wall using mana to stick his feet to the surface, defying gravity completely.

He reached the sand mage within seconds and re-summoned his katana to his hand by raising it and cut through the mage cleanly, bisecting him at the waist.

SPLASH!

A concentrated pulse of high-pressure water shot through the space where he’d just been standing.

He turned to face the water-affinity user... a White Hall member who was chuckling nervously, clearly regretting drawing attention to himself.

Koya activated Speed Blitz.

BLUR!

He crossed the distance in a fraction of a second and cut through the water mage horizontally.

The other surviving White Hall members started backing away slowly with genuine fear in their eyes now.

Suddenly, the temperature in the entire room dropped dramatically. The air turned frigid and breath became visible as frost started forming on surfaces.

A blue crest user walked inside calmly and he took one look at Koya and his Order uniform.

"You’re from the Order," the Blue Crest stated coldly. "But you don’t look like one of the Top Ten assassins. Who are you?"

HeroGod was practically eating popcorn at this point, leaning forward with excitement. "Ooh, mini-boss fight!"

The Blue Crest stomped his foot hard against the ground.

CRACK!

Ice spread rapidly across the entire floor, covering everything in slick frozen surface. The remaining grunts slipped and fell to the ground, unable to maintain their footing while the Blue Crest moved in a smooth slide directly toward Koya’s position, using the ice like a personal highway.

「Ding! Automatic Analysis Complete」

「Opponent: Blue Crest - Ice Affinity」

「Assessment: Recently ranked up and relatively easy to defeat with current capabilities.」

’Good to know,’ Koya thought. The Blue Crest raised his hand and ice crystallized rapidly, forming a gleaming sword in his grip.

"Let’s see if Order trash can handle a real Blue Crest!" He shouted while slashing forward. Koya blocked with his katana.

CLANG!

The ice sword was surprisingly durable since it was reinforced with concentrated mana and they exchanged rapid strikes.

The White hall member created additional weapons mid-combat... ice spears that shot from the ground, frozen chains that whipped through the air, and crystalline shields that blocked counterattacks.

Koya matched him blow for blow, but deliberately didn’t use his katana for offense yet. Instead, he focused on Blood Burst with his other hand.

BANG!

A grunt who’d been trying to crawl away had his head explode from compressed blood pressure.

BANG!

Another grunt died the same way.

The man noticed but couldn’t divert attention... Koya was keeping him completely occupied with defensive maneuvers and evasive footwork.

BANG BANG BANG!

Three more grunts died in rapid succession and one managed to scramble into a side corridor and escape but the rest were dead in a few more seconds, now it was just Koya and the White Hall member.

"You bastard!" The ice user roared and created dozens of ice spears floating in the air around him. "Ice Rain!"

All of them launched simultaneously at Koya from multiple angles and Koya weaved through them with enhanced speed and perception, dodging by millimeters then he closed the distance and grabbed the man’s wrist before twisting

Bones snapped and the ice sword shattered completely. The Awakened screamed and tried to pull back, creating an ice barrier between them however... Koya punched through it.

SHATTER!

His fist connected with the Blue Crest’s face.

CRUNCH!

The ice user stumbled backward, desperately creating more ice constructs while Koya drew his katana finally and cut through every ice defense in one clean arc then stabbed forward.

PIERCE!

The blade went directly through the Blue Crest’s skull and the ice user’s eyes went wide with shock, then became empty.

He collapsed and Koya withdrew his blade and flicked the blood off.

"That was actually pretty good technique," HeroGod commented. "Though your footwork could still use improvement. You’re telegraphing your movements slightly."

"Teach me the right way then." Koya replied.

...

The last survivor pressed himself desperately through the small maintenance vent that led from one hallway to another, hidden behind a vending machine. His face was pressed against the metal grating, staring ahead into darkness.

His heart beat wildly in his chest like it might explode and he held his breath, trying not to make any sound whatsoever.

There was the sound of casual footsteps approaching from the corridor behind him. The Hunter from the Order was coming and he couldn’t even bring himself to breathe properly.

What kind of absolute killing machine was that person?

The footsteps stopped directly in front of the vending machine then paused.

"They have apple juice here? Interesting selection." The Order assassin’s voice was conversational, like he was talking to someone. "What are you talking about... apple juice is amazing. It’s refreshing and has good sugar content."

He’d been doing that the entire time... talking to apparently nobody.

"Well, I do need coins to actually use the machine though."

In a flash, Koya grabbed the entire vending machine and threw it sideways. It hit the ground hard and glass shattered everywhere while bottles rolled across the floor.

A blood burst tore through the air and the hiding White Hall member’s head exploded inside the vent.

Koya picked up a can of apple juice from the scattered drinks and popped it open, taking a long drink.

"Are these all of them? Damn... they were quite weak overall."

"Not exactly," Koya said aloud while finishing the juice and crumpling the can. He pulled out his sword again. "The rest are deeper underground. That’s where the main base and treasury are located."

He walked forward past the broken vending machine debris and approached an elevator hatch embedded in the floor.

It was sealed shut with electronic locks.

"If they were even slightly intelligent, they would’ve disabled this completely," Koya commented while taking out a bloodied ID card he’d looted from the corpse of the Blue liner.

He pressed it against the scanner slot... The whole elevator system had been turned off remotely.

"Nice try on their part," Koya said.

"So what are you going to do now?" HeroGod asked curiously.

"Destroy the ground, obviously," Koya replied while covering his entire body in Fighting Spirit energy.

BOOM!

He slammed his foot into the tiled floor with tremendous force, the tiles vibrated violently ad web-like cracks started spreading outward rapidly.

BOOM!

He did it again.

BOOM!

A third time.

CRASH!

A massive hole shattered through the floor completely, breaking through enough reinforced concrete for him to drop down to the lower level and he jumped through without hesitation.

As he fell through the air, he could see the ground of the second underground floor below. The rest of the White Hall members were gathered there... approximately fifteen more.

Except for one person who was running toward the treasury that he’d already mapped out with Sensory.

"No more Blue or Red Crest users visible... their organization is actually kind of pathetically weak." Koya observed while continuing to drop.

The White Hall members on the ground collectively shouted upward.

"SHOOT HIM DOWN!"

Four-liners among them summoned their elemental affinities simultaneously.

WHOOSH!

Rocks hurled upward through the air like projectiles.

FWOOSH!

Fireballs followed.

Koya leaned his body and used one of the flying rocks as a stepping stone, pushing off it to change his trajectory mid-air and spun while dodging the fireballs as they passed harmlessly by.

They really didn’t have any kind of rare or interesting affinities... it was just basic elemental manipulation.

Koya landed directly on top of one White Hall member and cut through him before the man could even scream before waving both hands in a crossing motion like scissors while flipping backward through the air.

A sword came flying at him which was thrown by another attacker and he dodged it by millimeters.

While airborne, he activated a spell... Blood-red pods formed throughout the entire room... spherical constructs made of compressed blood mana.

The White Hall members looked around in confusion. "What the hell are these things?!"

The pods suddenly transformed into tendrils made of pure blood.

STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB!

The tendrils lashed out everywhere simultaneously, piercing through bodies with deadly precision and everyone died instantly except one.

A tendril had taken off his entire leg at the thigh. He was screaming in agony, but still desperately shooting fireballs at Koya with his remaining hand.

The flames hit Koya’s skin and immediately vanished, turning into harmless red wisps. They didn’t harm him at all... the user was barely putting any mana into his attacks due to blood loss and shock.

Koya walked over calmly and kicked the man’s head directly into the ground with tremendous force.

CRUNCH!

His skull shattered and brain matter splattered across the floor.

"Oh, that’s nice... You’re pretty brutal Mateo." HeroGod commented.

"We have to make sure they’re dead... someone could have some sort of regenerative power, you never know."

He used the same bloodied ID card on the door of the treasury.

ACCESS GRANTED!

The heavy door slid open with a pneumatic hiss and inside was a vault filled with various treasures but on a central pedestal in the middle of the room, there were twin chains glowing with purple energy.

And standing at that pedestal was a red liner with a thick beard.

"Damn you, Order scum!" He shouted while grabbing both chains and throwing them directly at Koya.

Koya moved to dodge backward... but the chains connected anyway though it was not an attack.

They wrapped around his wrists and forearms, binding him and the chains suddenly gained an intense purple glow.

"Good! The Uzumaki Chains beseech you to tell the truth!" The Red Crest declared triumphantly. "I command you to tell me who you are and where from the Order you came from! Who sent you on this mission?!"

Silence... Even HeroGod raised her eyebrows with concern. "Koya, are you okay? Can you move?"

Koya raised his head up slowly and pulled backward on the chains with raw physical strength.

The Red Crest went soaring through the air toward him, completely off-balance. Koya then pulled out his katana and slashed forward horizontally.

"I really hate mind control spells." Koya said coldly.

SHING!

Bones suddenly erupted from the Red liner’s body and the point where Koya slashed was completely defended by hardened bone plating.

CLANG!

Koya’s blade bounced back from the impact and the chains clattered to the ground as the Red liner let go of them.

The man’s face went absolutely pale with shock.

"The Uzumaki Chains are artifacts meant to force absolute truth-telling and complete obedience to my will..." His voice was shaking. "So why... why aren’t you affected?! How are you resisting?!"

Koya didn’t answer. It was his Thought Aegis skill which granted him mental resistance against compulsion and mind control effects though the chains had almost penetrated through it... almost.

’I guess I have something useful to practice mental resistance training with later,’ Koya thought while taking a proper combat stance.

HeroGod folded her arms with a joyous expression on her face, leaning forward eagerly.

"Alright, this is going to be good! Do it exactly like I said earlier... work on your footwork first and your body positioning will follow naturally."

The Red liner roared and charged forward, bones extending from his arms like bladed weapons while Koya dashed to meet him and they collided.

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Koya’s katana struck against hardened bone repeatedly. The Red liner was creating bone armor across his entire body while simultaneously generating offensive bone spikes.

"Your feet! Adjust your stance!" HeroGod called out. Koya shifted his weight distribution slightly.

His next strike had significantly more power behind it.

CRACK!

It actually damaged the bone plating... The Red Crest stabbed forward with a bone lance extending from his palm and Koya dodged to the side, following HeroGod’s earlier advice about not telegraphing movements, perhaps it came with the technique but he could work on it...

He cut through the bone lance instantly and then kicked the red liner in the ribs.

BOOM!

The man went stumbling backward and created more bone defenses desperately while Koya pressed the attack relentlessly.

SLASH SLASH SLASH!

His katana struck the same point repeatedly.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

The bone armor was breaking down under sustained assault and suddenly...

SNAP!

Koya’s Order-issued katana shattered completely, the blade had reached its limits against the incredibly hard bone material.

"Your weapon broke!" HeroGod announced. "Switch to hand-to-hand Mateo!"

Koya immediately dropped the broken sword and shifted to pure martial arts... His bloodline awakening had dramatically increased his physical strength and he bolstered it with fighting spirit.

He threw a punch and his fist slammed into bone plating, bending it inwardly and then Koya adjusted his technique before throwing another punch forward... This one had twice the force.

SHATTER!

The bone armor broke completely and his fist connected with the Red liner’s ribs and the bones of the man snapped internally.

The Red liner coughed blood and tried to create distance but Koya didn’t let him and gave him a kick to the knee.

The man’s leg buckled and before he could defend himself, Koya followed with an elbow to the face making the man’s nose shatter and then Koya kicked once at the bone-covered face making the man stagger.

CRACK!

He kicked again and the force was much stronger this time, bending in the bone mask and he kicked a third time with all his enhanced strength.

SHATTER!

The bone mask exploded completely then he grabbed the Red Crest’s head with both hands and slammed it downward into the ground with devastating force.

The skull crushed against the floor and brain matter as well as blood followed. Koya leaned to the side slightly, catching his breath while staring down at the corpse... It had been a tough battle, but definitely not the toughest he’d ever fought.

"I guess I should loot this place properly and free those hostages I detected." Koya said while walking toward the treasury shelves.

HeroGod nodded approvingly. "Mateo... you did very well today. I’m genuinely proud of your growth, and you’ve given me an excellent show. I’d definitely like to watch more of your missions later."

She paused, her expression becoming more serious.

"Anyway, this is the first time I’m attempting to send items across dimensional boundaries, but I’ll find as much as I can from my archives that will help accelerate your growth and development."

Koya gave her a genuine nod and smile of gratitude. She saw his face clearly and her lips parted slightly, then closed.

"Later, Mateo. Stay safe." She cut off the FaceTime connection. Koya stretched his arms and back, working out the tension from combat.

"What a genuinely good day this turned out to be."

However, that positive feeling ended abruptly as the entire underground facility suddenly flashed with red emergency lighting and a mechanical voice echoed through hidden speakers:

「ALL MEMBERS OF THE WHITE HALL HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED ELIMINATED. SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN INITIATED. FACILITY WILL DETONATE IN T-MINUS FIVE MINUTES.」

Koya looked at the blinking red lights and sighed deeply.

"Fuck."

[Author’s Note]

And February has come to an end... Damn. I’m glad and I hope you’re enjoying this book so far cause I am enjoying writing it and I can’t wait to write more of Koya’s story. Happy New Month!