Nanomancer Rising: Divine Alchemist Reborn as Academy's Worst Teacher
Chapter 103: My bait is better than yours!

Chapter 103: My bait is better than yours!

"Or should I just kill you all?"

Cassian froze for a second before gritting his teeth and taking a step back, leaving the job of bashing the invisible barrier to his subordinates.

This was the very first mission in which nothing made sense.

The infiltration of the building went perfectly. The approach to the designated area revealed no problems. Even the attack itself went exactly as it was supposed to, with the crowd being too surprised by the sudden attack right in the commercial middle of the academy’s compound to react.

Heck, even pulling the target into their midst went smoothly, just like the deployment of the quick formation, putting a seal on the target’s mana and then forcing him into the formation that blocked inner activation of mana by all those without the special keystone.

Up until the very last moment when all that was left was to sink their blades into the target, everything proceeded exactly as they planned, trained, and hoped.

And then, everything started to turn weird.

First, even with the formation stopping their target’s mana from circulating properly and thus from supporting the man’s physicality, he didn’t seem to have any trouble moving around... as if he was a mortal without even a shred of mana!

Secondly, when the blades were about to strike him down and end this whole ordeal... They were all stopped by some invisible barrier, unable to push through it regardless of how much they tried or how hard they struck it. Not even the enchanted blades of their weapons could put a dent in whatever it was that held them off!

And as if to make things even worse, after standing up with nothing more than some slight bruises on his hand, with the binding spell still stopping the man from externalizing his mana... He somehow managed to summon a physical blade out of nothing!

All of their preparation, training, and intel they’d managed to gather in the short two days since they received the order were now for naught, with that fucker standing tall and looking down on them along the bridge of his nose while adoring the blade growing out of his wrist in the clear threat.

And his question still hung.

"Will you speak, or should I just kill you all?"

//\\ //\\ //\\ //\\ //\\

Theo gave the attackers time to think their life choices through not out of the mercy of his heart but for a very simple and practical reason.

Getting access to all the possibilities the materia prima offered was one thing. But actually changing its properties and creating something out of it...? If the first part could be done with just his nanites alone, actually putting that thick liquid to use proved a lot more challenging, sapping nearly all of the mana carried by the nanites Theo used.

Doing anything else with it would require him to push out even more of his nanites and right now? Right now, he already put most of his storage into use.

"So?" Theo then asked, pacing within the limited space protected by the barrier of his nanites, "are you guys going to talk, or should we put this incident to an end?"

"Stand down right this moment!"

Before any of the assailants could even react to Theo’s words, Celeste appeared right at the foot of the stage while holding a shining crystal in her hand. "I’ve already locked this place up and alerted the academy guard. You can try to run, you can try to fight, but if you want to live..."

For a moment, a hint of deep wrath flashed in the woman’s eyes as she locked stares with what seemed like the leader of the attackers.

"If you want to live, then lay down your weapons and then lay down yourself. Do anything else and..."

’This girl...’ Theo gritted his teeth, watching how the expression on the faces of the attackers changed.

For the six of them, it was a mix of amusement and determination. They clearly had no plans of getting away with their lives if the mission went south, making Celeste’s threats pure comedy for them.

Surrender? Die during an escape? Die as they stood?

For them, all of those choices meant death anyway!

But it was the changes happening on the leader’s face that made Theo bite down on his lips and gather whatever energy he had left, sensing the tragic direction this whole situation was developing towards.

For, contrary to the expressions on his subordinates’ faces, the leader glanced at Celeste first, only to move his eyes to Theo... and then smile a little.

’Shit.’

Right as the man’s mouth opened up to give a new order, Theo gritted his teeth and recalled the nanites making up his barrier, sucking them into his flesh before using some to push the release of the adrenaline in his body to its limits.

"HUH?!"

With the attackers never stopping their bashing against Theo’s barrier, their attempts suddenly went through. With their expectation to have their attacks halted now working against them, three of the attackers stumbled forward, failing to react when Theo rushed straight past them.

Still, two of those who were just recovering from their failed attacks and one of the stumbling ones managed to redirect their daggers just in time to graze Theo with them.

’Ugh!’

Gritting his teeth through the pain of the cold steel cutting open his skin and tearing his muscles apart, Theo pushed forth, the blade in his hand aimed at the leader’s throat...

But it was only a bait. A shiny thing for the man’s eyes to focus on right as the order finally left his throat.

"GET HER!"

PANG!

Turning to face Theo before he could even finish his words, the leader grinned, revealing that just like Theo’s dagger, his order was merely a bait to get him out of his shell.

Contrary to the man’s bait, however, Theo managed to hide his intentions for just a little bit longer. And now that his blade was stopped by the man’s dagger...

’Surge forth!’

He was close enough for his nanites to rush forth and infuse themselves into the man directly through his skin, becoming the most vile, mechanical poison that there could never be possibly any antidote for.