I Became the Cute One in the Troubleshooter Squad-Chapter 152: To Protect Everyone (6)

I lightly landed on the ground and opened and closed my fist a few times, surprised by how I felt.

Even after using such a large amount of telekinesis, I could still sense that I had plenty of power left.

"To think I used this much strength and still have energy left... I’m definitely getting stronger by the day."

It was like the sensation of running a 400-meter sprint at full speed and still feeling pleasantly out of breath.

Thinking back to the days when I used to feel dizzy just from beating up a few ghouls, I was genuinely moved.

Maybe it was thanks to having experienced telekinesis on an entirely different level through the Tesseract.

Perhaps knowing the direction I needed to go naturally led my body to grow and adapt.

"If that's the case, then maybe I’ll be able to handle that immense power even without the Tesseract sooner than I thought..."

I couldn’t rely on the Tesseract forever.

If I truly wanted to protect everyone, I needed to grow stronger on my own.

So this was undoubtedly good news.

Not immediately, but at least now the possibility was clearly within reach.

"Whoa, whoa, did that tiny girl really just do that? Is she one of those long-living elf types...?"

"That’s ridiculous. To take out that many all at once... The world really is full of strong people."

"She’s so cute! She’s a fixer too, right? What’s her name? I want to be a fan!"

As I stood there, clenching my fist and lost in thought, the other candidates must have noticed me.

Each of them started murmuring to one another.

Hmm. I guess it was inevitable that I’d stand out if I wasn’t wearing a mask.

Their countless stares felt like they had physical weight, burning against my skin.

But seriously, what kind of personalities do these people have?

They were just moments ago on the brink of death from the undead, and now they’re casually chatting like this.

As someone who’s just a normal civilian without any psychic powers, I found it pretty surprising.

"...No, maybe I’ve got the cause and effect reversed. It’s probably people this gutsy who become fixers. Anyone who breaks down easily wouldn’t last long in this line of work."

On second thought, it wasn’t all that strange.

Every fixer I’ve met so far had incredible mental fortitude.

To truly become a fixer, maybe you need to be the kind of person who can crack jokes even with a knife at your throat.

In that sense, these people were more than qualified.

I nodded ever so slightly to myself, convincing myself of that.

"Thank you so much for your help. We were in real danger, but thanks to you, we’re safe."

"..."

As I gazed absently at the sky, half lost in a reality-avoidant daze, a familiar voice rang in my ear.

I instinctively turned my head toward the voice.

There stood David, his body covered in wounds.

He must have put his own body on the line to protect the candidates.

Seeing how badly he’d been through it made my chest ache for no reason.

Still, I was glad he hadn’t been seriously hurt.

I let out a small sigh of relief inside as I slowly mulled over his words.

Then suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

...Could it be that David didn’t recognize me as Yuria?

"...Come to think of it, David’s never actually seen my face before. Back at the hotel, we were in different rooms. So maybe that’s why he doesn’t know."

It made sense when I thought about it.

Right now, I wasn’t wearing a mask, and my hair color had changed too.

Normally, it’d be hard to realize I was Yuria at a glance.

And honestly, I didn’t want the people at the Troubleshooter Office to find out I had psychic powers.

So this situation, with David not noticing, wasn’t bad at all. No, it was actually great.

"..."

So I responded with a deliberately cool nod.

Then I turned my gaze toward the modified humans gathered in the distance.

If I gave away anything suspicious, he might find out the truth.

And besides, there were still enemies in front of me.

First things first, I had a job to do.

With time being tight, there was no reason to show mercy to the enemy.

"Ugh, gack... Is she some kind of skilled mage?"

"You think she’s stronger than us...?"

"Guh... This is bad..."

Not far away stood three modified humans, staring at me.

One of them had wings on his back like a diving beetle mixed with a human.

Another had a scrawny frame but arms thick as maces in a strange, mismatched build.

The last one was bottom-heavy, sweating profusely and wiping his face with a handkerchief.

Even at a glance, these modified humans didn’t look impressive, but their tension was obvious.

They’d been overwhelming the candidates with undead, only for the situation to flip on them.

Now they seemed afraid they might end up on the receiving end.

Hmm, most of the modified humans I’ve encountered so far were oddly confident.

Could these guys be a weaker type compared to the others?

If so, that was even better.

I could finish them quickly and secure the Seed of the World Tree.

Without hesitation, I drew up my telekinetic power and readied myself for battle.

"Hey! Don’t be scared! She’s just a little girl! If we team up, we can win!"

"Y-Yeah! If we use our combined strength..."

"We can win! We can win!"

"..."

Still, maybe they had their own reasons not to back down.

They forced themselves to rally, showing open hostility toward me.

I guess this wasn’t going to be so easy after all.

I focused my mind, keeping my guard up, and watched them closely.

From my previous fights with modified humans around the Sky Garden, I knew they each had annoying abilities.

The first one I ever met shot spikes with the power of bullets.

Others after that had their own troublesome skills as well.

So it was safe to assume these three had something hidden too.

If I let my guard down just because they looked weak, I’d be in serious trouble.

"I’ll start by probing them..."

I focused my telekinesis on the scattered skeleton bones nearby and lifted them.

Maybe because they were created by Morte, but even the mass-produced ones were as tough as high-grade steel.

Dozens of fragments rose into the air as if defying gravity.

The bones, now airborne, shot forward like arrows toward the modified humans—

And what happened next was completely unexpected.

"Aaagh! It hurts! It hurts so bad!"

"Harden! Uuuugh..."

"Protect me! If I can’t attack, we’ll lose! Aaaagh!"

Shockingly, the modified humans couldn’t even put up much resistance.

The beetle-like one hardened his body to act as a meat shield, but that was it.

With a simple shift in trajectory, I struck the other two,

And in no time, they were covered in injuries from head to toe.

Was it a matter of compatibility? Or was that just the extent of their strength?

I frowned, looking at the pitiful modified humans, then gathered my thoughts.

"They’re not hiding any powers... In that case, I’ll end this now."

I stomped my foot hard and spread my telekinetic power wide, grabbing all the bones scattered across the ground.

The ones I used earlier were only a small part of the broken skeletons.

Hundreds of bone fragments still lay around me.

In an instant, sharp white shards floated into the air across several dozen meters.

It was a majestic sight, like the rings of Saturn forming above the battlefield.

"What... is that?"

"Is that even... real magic?"

The overwhelming number of fragments rising into the air must have been too surreal.

The candidates watching from behind gasped in disbelief.

No wind had been summoned, yet countless objects were floating at once.

Anyone with even a bit of magical knowledge would sense how unnatural this was.

But I didn’t care.

Right now, I just wanted to finish this as quickly as possible.

There was no room to hold back or hide my power.

"Fix, rotate, accelerate... and fire!"

If that was their full strength, then I’d end it without dragging things out.

I spun the bone fragments with telekinesis and launched them with all my might.

Thousands of bones flew with massive force and rained down on the modified humans from every direction.

If I had to name this move... maybe "Bone Fragment Meteor Shower."

"Eeeek!"

"We’re gonna die!"

"Please spare us, Master Olvis!"

The modified humans, terrified by the sheer firepower of the meteor shower,

huddled together and shook as they tried to shield themselves with their bodies.

Their grotesque forms, like awkward combinations of humans and animals, were completely at odds with their cowardly behavior.

But thinking of how they’d been tormenting the candidates earlier, I didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry.

Even if I let them go, they’d just come back with someone stronger.

Better to take care of it cleanly with my own hands.

"Direct hit. There’s no way they can dodge this."

CRACK! CRASH!

Bone bullets infused with telekinetic force tore into the modified humans.

Even from a distance, the sound of flesh being ripped apart felt disturbingly real.

The impact was so intense, the earth itself was torn up and dust flew high into the air.

The candidates hiding behind me gasped in shock.

This was a finishing blow. No matter how tough their bodies were, they couldn’t come out of that unscathed.

Or so I thought—until the dust finally settled, revealing something completely unexpected.

"What the...?"

"Th-They’re still alive!"

"They survived that?! Are they monsters...?!"

"..."

The candidates' voices echoed my own unspoken thoughts.

And in front of me stood a being that had taken my strongest attack head-on and was still standing.

Its skin was shredded and bleeding, sure,

But the damage was clearly far less than expected.

"That form... It’s different now."

But the biggest twist wasn’t that it survived.

The three modified humans had somehow merged into a single, new form.

Massive, beetle-like wings that looked like a cape, brutal club-like arms, a reverse-triangle muscular frame—

It looked like a fusion of all the strengths of the previously weak modified humans.

From a distance, its sheer presence screamed one thing: a real monster.

"UOOOOHHHH!"

"..."

"Uogh?!"

So loud. Is it yelling with three voices at once?

I covered my ears, picked up a rock from the ground, and chucked it straight into the monster’s mouth.

The modified human blinked in surprise, then scowled fiercely and crunched the rock to pieces with its teeth.

There was no trace left of the pathetic creature that had been getting pummeled moments ago.

So it’s definitely gotten stronger. At least stronger than before.

Facing this more powerful enemy, I pulled my telekinetic power to its peak.

I’ll end this in three minutes.

With a confident smile, I stepped forward.