The Protagonists Are Murdered by Me

Chapter 232 - Day 19, Month 1, Year 607 (Astiella Square)

[Day 19, Month 1, Year 607]

When I opened my eyes, the back alley I was in a moment ago had changed into its older, rustier form. It was only a brief moment for me, but everything I was seeing with my own eyes had aged. Even though time traveling was only a little different from dimensional travel, it still left me with a strange feeling.

Numerous torn or shriveled leaves lay on the floor of the back alley, the ground was dented and the walls were cracked. The paint which was coated 10 years ago is almost completely erased now.

[Protagonist Partellian]

[Level 109]

When I checked the protagonist’s information, his level had risen considerably. If his growth was compared to other protagonists, it was far behind their pace. But since he was gradually accumulating knowledge from a young age, it was clear that he would be a protagonist with a higher growth limit than any other protagonists I had met till now. Afterall, while most protagonists only make themselves stronger, the protagonist of this world will completely overthrow this world’s principles, common sense, culture and technology.

-You really arrived on the correct date.

-Even when I knew the date, I couldn’t travel to the precise date… You are truly amazing.

“Haha…”

I wasn’t the one who was amazing though, the system was the one who was amazing.

“By the way, I don’t think science has been spread out yet. This place looks even worse than before.”

I looked around the town slowly, but I didn’t see anything related to science anywhere. On the contrary, the alley looked similar to the old neighborhood in Korea, which had now become a really outdated alley

-Don’t be deceived. Even at this very moment, Science is still moving in full swing. Today is the day where the first scientist, ‘Partellian’, also called as the god of electricity, appears in history for the very first time.

“Hmm… For a protagonist who was blessed with the power of protagonist correction, I supposed 10 years was enough to master science.” And by now, it’s likely that he was already armed with countless inventions and all kinds of scientific equipment.

Since his level is still not that high yet, I can still easily deal with him even when he is armed to the teeth. But if more time passed, I don’t think that would still be the case. Afterall, the science brought by Partellian might have evolved to the point it could call the ether dispenser I used garbage.

-It’s a bit embarrassing to say this with my own mouth… but there’s a very wide gap between the rich and the poor when it comes to magic in the Vivienda Empire. Since magic has existed for so long, families that have existed for a long time hid their technique from the masses and passed them only to their blood relatives. Thus, those without affluent families had a limit to what they could reach no matter how hard they tried.

“It’s the same wherever you go. Even in my hometown, that was also the case.”

-So… It could be said that the situation in which the poor have no choice but to continue to be poor and the rich keep getting richer has been maintained for nearly 100 years.

Therefore, the complaints of the lower classes piled up. However, it didn’t explode since in this magical world, the magic possessed by the lower classes could not overcome the magic of the upper classes. They had no choice but to hold it in and live on.

However, sometimes, some people from the lower classes who cannot stand it, will commit violent crimes.

“Hm… So, in other words, there’s a reason why this alley is getting older, isn’t it?”

As I was walking around the streets that were littered with garbage, I was able to vividly feel that it had changed considerably from 10 years ago. At that time, there were still many people selling skewers on the streets and the overall atmosphere of the alley was lively. But now, it was deserted and gloomy. People around the alley had dead eyes; they had lost their vitality. It was clear evidence that they only live on without any aspiration whatsoever.

-However, Partellian appears while carrying a pamphlet in which he promotes what science is.

I took one of the aforementioned pamphlets and read it.

A talent for magic? Not required.

Magic knowledge of historical family? Not required.

Anyone can learn and use it as long as they want to study!!

-Partellian reveals the identity of science for the first time in ‘Astiella Square’.

Then, when I walked towards the square, I could see it.

“How long will we live while being trampled on when it’s because of the environment that we cannot learn magic!!! Why do we have to suffer for not being able to learn?!?!?!?! Let’s stand up on our own and fight against them!!!! The power of science will be enough to be independent of them!”

At the top of the square, where the old structures were piled up one after another, the main character, Partellian, who had grown into an adult, used a ‘microphone’ to spread his voice. A device which required no mana at all and yet could perfectly replicate magician’s voice amplification spell.

In addition to the microphone, Partellian also gave the pamphlet about science to the people who had gathered. And most of them were captivated by it.

But,

“Do you think you can fight magic with something like this? Absolutely impossible!”

There were still those who did not fully trust in science.

-Soon, an incident will occur where even those who do not believe in science will start changing their beliefs.

Then, five wizards with their robes flapping because of the wind, appeared over the sky of the square.

“Hey, it’s magicians!!!”

“Ugh, ooh! They are trying to kill us again!”

The magicians looked down at the ground from the sky with a proud expression on their face. To be able to float in the air like them, someone had to be in at least 5 circles. However, that was not all. What differentiated the magician over the sky of the square and other magicians was the mark on their robe.

-They are magicians of the magic tower.

Partellian looked nervous, but he still said confidently. “I had expected some magicians to come to this place.”

Then he pulled out a long black rifle from his waist. It had a bunch of blue tubes hanging around it, and the holosights were incomplete and bad looking compared to holosights I knew, but I still know the identity of the weapon.

-Pro-professor, what is that…?

“… it’s an energy melting gun.”

Energy melting gun, a gun specially developed to melt the protective layer which could be found in a monster’s skin.

However, since the cost of making one of those was astronomical and because it was so heavy that it was impossible to carry, it was an object that was not fully developed on Earth. However, in just 10 years after his fateful encounter with Science, Partellian, the protagonist of this world, had developed it. Moreover, it was small enough to be carried.

-It looks similar to the ‘mana melting gun’ used by future androids.

“There’s something like that in the future?”

-There is. And it’s a terrifying gun which can pierce through the wide-area protection fields set by magicians with just a single shot.

When Partellian aimed his gun at them, the magicians all snorted and cast a shield spell around their body. Well, I know why they did so. There’s no way ordinary people who they couldn’t feel mana from could use a magic artifact. At best, they would only attack with a non-magical attack.

Then, a blue flash started to flicker on the tip of Partellian’s gun. And moments later, it shots towards the magician.

“Uh, uh…?”

The shield of one magician was pierced by the blue laser. Not only that, the laser also pierced his chest. Then, the magician’s lifeless body fell to the ground.

“What is this…”

Belatedly, the remaining magicians tried to cast attack magic on Partellian. However, before they could do so, ten people holding the same gun as Partellian appeared from the back of the square and started firing at the magicians.

Although their aiming skills were poor, the wizards floating in the air could not dodge the laser because they could not move quick enough, and in the end, all five wizards died in less than 10 minutes.

“Ah….”

Silence descended on the square.

“WOOOOOWWWW!!!!”

However, it was followed by a fanfare right after.

How could they not do so? Afterall, someone from the lower class of the society, who couldn’t wield magic at all, had just defeated a magician with ‘science’!

Of course, most of them were young wizards, and they weren’t any good except for their floating magic, but that didn’t matter to them. The fact that someone from the lower class killed the magicians, who not only came from the noble family, but were also excellent enough to be affiliated with a magic tower was enough for them.

-The news about anyone could beat magicians as long as they know how to deal with the products of science and technology, which they called ‘inventions’, will spread quickly from now on.

“Tsk… This is why villains are so useless.” In fact, if those magicians hadn’t used floating magic, the outcome of the battle would be different.

“But well… I can’t fault them too much since the reason for their existence in the first place was to make the protagonist’s victory look more dramatic.”

-Yes?

“Forget it, it’s nothing… Anyway, it all changes if a magician isn’t defeated here, right?”

Using magic in combat was something I didn’t normally do. But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t confident in doing it.

“If I kill Partellian here as a mage, it won’t go against the ‘probability’, so there shouldn’t be any problem. Let’s go right away. Flowerpot, time to pay for your meal.”

-You don’t even give me a meal….

I deliberately kicked the ground with some power to make the people aware of my presence. Then, I used the same floating spell like the magicians from earlier to create the same dramatic effect as them.

Those poor bastards couldn’t control their floating spell properly, that’s why they died. However, I am different from them.

After clearing my throat, I purposely shouted loudly.

“Partellian! You’re trying to seduce the people to use demonic magic! Are you going to bring back the demon that disappeared 100 years ago due to the sacrifice of the great heroes?”

“What, what?”

“Demon?”

“What do you mean!”

In fact, the only way for demons to appear in the human world was through humans who give their soul to the demon in exchange for power. However, it’s not necessary to tell the people here about that. Afterall, a MSG was needed for the story to be more juicy.

“Who are you?”

“Me? You could say I am a more professional magician compared to them.”

“It doesn’t matter who you are!!! We will kill all magicians!!!”

“Wait, then why did you ask?”

At that moment, Partellian pointed his gun at me.

‘Hey, are you ready for that?’

-Yes…

‘Tell me for sure!’

-It’s done…

As soon as I received the answer from the flowerpot, I waved my hands towards the incoming laser. Then, the blue laser fired by Partellian bent and flew to the direction far away from me.

“Wh-what?”

“You could only beat those magicians from before because they are weak. Your toys will not work against those who are experienced.”

In fact, there were quite a few ways to counter a laser attack. One of them was to make overlapping prisms to refract light, or to use the exact same light to cancel the attack altogether.

However, in the face of his attack just now, there’s no need to do that. The output of the gun Partellian used was at most at the level of D-rank, and the defense penetration was only at B-rank. Which means, even if I block it with some normal shield, it wouldn’t harm me.

But, again. MSG is important.

“Damn… let’s all fire together!” As one of Partellian’s men shouted, lasers shot towards me from all directions. But without moving my body, I simply cast a blue shield around my body. And a few seconds later, it all stopped.

‘The output seems to have been lowered a lot for portability… Moreover, it seems like the gun didn’t have any aim correction function.’

Obviously, Partellian’s ‘energy melting gun’ was superior to that of the Earth. But, the other parts of technologies that make up that gun were so crude that they couldn’t produce proper output. To put it in an example, it was like an engine of a maglev train from the 21st century being added to a train from the 18th century.

The fight progressed one-sidedly even though I only used flashy magic to add a dramatic effect to subdue Partellian’s subordinates.

If I kill Partellian here, everything will return to normal.

‘I must kill you as soon as possible…!’

While preparing for a wide-area magic spell, I concentrated and saturated the magic by even adding bits of my lifespan on top of the mana.

However, Partellian managed to get away by using strange science tools, a bizarre energy barrier suit to withstand my attack, using a pair of flash bombs and some kind of shoes to instantly move to another area. But there were bound to be limits too on those items. So, in the end, I could corner Partellian to a dead end.

‘Please, die.’ I desperately hoped and shot a white beam towards Partellian.

Paah! Shhh! Shhh!

Suddenly, however, several humanoid creatures, which didn’t have flesh and were wrapped in strange mechanical devices, appeared from thin air, and blocked the beam in front of Partellian.

My expression hardened, and at that moment, a message appeared in front of my sight.

[The protagonist faces a crisis.]

[Protagonist correction has been activated.]

“Damn it!” As I hurriedly backed away, ten androids glared at me with their ferocious red eyes.

Each individual was on a different level from the one I had killed before. It made me wonder whether they mastered swordsmanship in that brief moment they fought me because even their movements were more fluid and sharp.

-Enemy in sight.

-I will eliminate the enemy to preserve history.

Princess Sahar, who was watching the android, said in a nervous voice.

-They are the Type C. You can think of them as elites which have been upgraded by at least two levels compared to the android you killed last time. But… Since their energy wavelength is enormous, they shouldn’t have been able to time travel… So, how…

“That cursed protagonist’s correction!!!”

As I quickly retreated, the androids’ beams scanned the spot where I was standing.

-Unbelievable!!! They shouldn’t be able to send an android back to 10 or 100 years ago!

-Even sending one individual is hard for me since I don’t have enough energy, so how…

“Isn’t this a bit harsh? It’s never been like this before!”

Then, belatedly, the client spoke in a subdued voice.

<Seodam…You know that to kill the protagonist, you must have a valid reason and a story.>

“Of course.”

It’s always like this. I can’t just kill a protagonist with regression ability because their ability will be triggered by the protagonist’s correction. The same works for the protagonist with reincarnation ability, since they will only reincarnate again.

Therefore, I had to create a reasonable story which justified the death of the protagonist. And so far, I have been hunting the protagonist with such methods.

But this time, for the first time, that method didn’t work.

<I’m guessing that that the story of being ‘defeated by magic and dying’ will never work to Partellian.>

“What kind of nonsense is that….”

All the protagonists I had hunted so far didn’t have such hunting conditions. It was as if someone had intentionally made sure that Partellian could not be hunted.

– Apparently, something is being planned at the headquarters of ‘Stella Horizon’. If we don’t stop their energy, they’ll constantly send androids back to the past.

-If that’s really the case, we won’t be able to change the past.

In other words, both Aracelli and Empress Sahar could not just sit still and wait.

And if the act of sending androids to the past was the ‘protagonist correction’ in action, we just need to find that energy source and remove it.

-We’ll move too from now. Yoo Seodam, we failed to hunt the protagonist in this time frame failure. So get out of here.

-The next coordinate is Month 3 day 27 year 609! You must hurry!

Finally, the voices of the two women faded away. Each of those androids’ abilities exceeded S rank, so it was difficult to deal with them, so I had no choice but to run away.

[…Moving 2 years into the future.]