My life is over!
Seeing the ice sword suddenly strike at his heart, only one thought remained in John's mind.
Yet before he could think any further, his weakened body reacted before his brain did.
In an instant, countless densely packed spell circuits rapidly emerged from his eyes, then swiftly spread throughout his body, attempting to draw upon mana and activate a spell to neutralize this fatal ambush.
Yet before the spell circuits mastered by John's flesh could activate on their own, another power hidden within him moved first.
"Buzz!"
Accompanied by a tremor imperceptible to humans, the world seemed to freeze in place.
Vast amounts of pitch-black, flame-like smoke began to form out of thin air behind John's head, boiling before rapidly condensing into a finger covered in wrinkled skin—powerful like an eagle's claw, yet upon closer inspection resembling a withered tree branch.
Then, without anyone noticing, this strange finger passed through John's body like a phantom and ultimately reached the ice sword that was about to pierce his heart.
It gently lifted the blade's edge upward by the slightest arc with its fingertip.
"Ssh!"
Having done so, as though it had violated some taboo, the strange finger swiftly began to steam and distort, continuously releasing great quantities of black mist.
As if its very source had been punished by some force, it shuddered before rapidly collapsing into countless strands of black smoke, which quickly retreated toward John's face.
Yet strangely, at the instant this seemingly chaotic black smoke surged back into John's face,
during that fleeting trillionth-of-a-second moment, it vaguely took the shape of an exquisitely beautiful human face.
With an indescribably subtle curve at the corners of its lips, it lingered briefly over the center of his forehead as it flowed back into his body.
Then, as