City ​​of Witches 368

Chapter 368 – #79_Sewer Rat(3)

#366

1.
Completely ruining the apprentice witch and venting the anger built up against the witch.
And, as a bonus, relieving sexual desire.
If we were to give this plan a name that encapsulates its purpose,
it would be the Water Ghost Operation.

Jack didn’t rate the success of this operation highly.
Even though Border Town was a place where minor witches gathered, they were still witches.
Moreover, no one knew how much the apprentice witch would resist or if she would move according to plan.

Therefore, when the targeted apprentice witch was found wandering alone near their secluded hideout, Jack felt that now was the perfect time.
He believed without a doubt that the heavens were helping him to make this plan a success today.

However, just as he had pinned down the apprentice witch and was about to write the first page of his grand revenge, the warehouse door suddenly opened.
Just as he was lamenting that everything had gone to waste, he heard a voice…

“What the hell are you guys doing?”

Jack rejoiced.
If that moron had properly locked the door, it would have been impossible to break without heavy equipment.
He had easily broken it and entered the warehouse door, which was hard to open alone, so he naturally thought it was a witch.

But it was a man.
And there were nine of them.
If he was a clueless idiot who wandered in, they could just kill him.

“Ugh…! Ugh…!”
“Hey, isn’t that the one-eyed moron from before?”

Turning around, Jack suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.
His average-looking face wasn’t worth remembering, but he definitely remembered that eye patch.
They had bumped shoulders and had a minor scuffle before.

“Did you come here to film a movie by yourself?”

Jack immediately signaled his subordinates.
Judging by how he hadn’t flinched at all when they had a scuffle before, he seemed confident in a fight.
Normally, he would have made sure he knew his place, but now he had to eliminate as many variables as possible.
There was already a manual for dealing with such unexpected situations.

The three slaves who received the signal each pulled out Beretta M9s with silencers from their pockets.
They had managed to get them from the middle managers.
They were useless against witches, but they were incredibly effective killing weapons against humans.

“Goodbye, moron.”
-Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The 9mm Parabellum bullets fired the moment the trigger was pulled would fly faster than the speed of sound and pierce through soft skin and organs.
They were already well within firing range.
If they fired three or four shots in a row, even if they were morons, they would hit at least one.

Every time the gunshots, which the silencers couldn’t completely suppress, echoed in the warehouse, Diana’s body would flinch.

“What are you going to do? The knight who came to save you is dead.”

As Jack sneered, Diana’s face grew even paler.
Even if he was a male witch, could he block all the bullets that were suddenly fired?
He was a fledgling witch, who had just become one, and hadn’t even received a mark.

“Ah… ahh…!”

Just as Diana let out a cry of despair, something unexpected happened.

“What?”
“Did we shoot?”
“Did we miss…?”

The man, who should have collapsed in a spray of blood, was still standing there.
There was no action movie scene where he read the gun barrels with flashy movements and turned his body, or instantly closed the distance and snatched the guns.
He was standing there without moving a finger, as if the bullets had passed right through him.

“You morons, can’t you even hit him at that distance?”
“Shoot again!”

-Bang! Bang bang! Bang! Bang bang bang!

The three men hurriedly emptied the rest of their magazines, but the result was the same.
It was as if they had been bewitched by a fox.

Only Jack vaguely saw what had happened.
The ribbon that had somehow sprouted from his waist.
The ribbon, floating around like seaweed swaying under the water, was deflecting the bullets.
The slaves, who belatedly discovered the ribbon, were flustered.

“Th-that, isn’t that magic?”
“What the hell? How can a man use magic…!”

When the black ribbon, which had been swaying gently, turned stiff like a venomous snake,
Jack shouted.

“Get out of the way!”
“Wh-what… Aaaack…!”

The ribbon rushed towards one of the men who had pulled out a gun.
At the same time, the slave, who was flung into the air like a stuntman on a wire,

-Crack!

His waist folded backward against a solid steel pillar, and he fell limply.

“Ugh, ugh… ugh…”

Looking at the blood-mixed froth coming out of his mouth and his convulsing limbs, it seemed that even if he was lucky enough to survive, he would have trouble walking on two feet.

-Thud! Thwack!
-Thud! Thwack!

Something similar happened again.
Two slaves were hit by the black ribbon, which was swung at a speed that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, and were sent flying.

“You guys should get hit a bit.”

The moment they were thrown around like paper dolls, the man charged first this time.

“Huh? Huh?”

A fierce low kick landed on the pig-man, who had drawn his knife in a fluster, as the man charged at the speed of wind.

“Kuweeeck!”

His knee joint bent sideways, and the 140kg-plus giant spun halfway around and plunged headfirst.

“Aaaack!”

The jawbone of the sturdy, muscular bald man was shattered by a casual backhand blow, and broken teeth scattered.

Jack couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Since he was a child, fighting was what he did after eating.
It wasn’t just a casual scuffle with bare hands, but a brutal knife fight where you had to kill or be killed.

The guys who bragged about learning martial arts or being a mafia enforcer were useless in front of Jack’s knife.
But this was the first time he had seen a fight like this.

How could a mere human have such power?
Well, he had seemed like no ordinary human from the moment he deflected the bullets, but he would disappear in a flash, and then, just when he was visible again, one of his subordinates would be crippled.
With exactly eight screams, all that could be heard in the warehouse were low groans.

“Let her go.”

Siwoo, who had finished off the stragglers without breaking a sweat, glared at Jack.
Jack, startled by his words, realized that he was holding a knife to the apprentice witch’s neck.
He had instinctively realized that he was trying to save the apprentice witch and had taken her hostage.

At the same time, he felt a sense of utter despair.
If the opponent had achieved this through some kind of weapon.
If he had done it with a gun or a knife, he would have used the threat to make him drop his weapon.
Then he would have stabbed him in the stomach with a knife.

But the man had achieved this with his bare hands.
Taking a hostage was only delaying the situation.

“If you move even a little, I’ll stab her.”
“Hic… hic…”
“Miss Diana, it’s okay. Nothing will ever happen. Please trust me.”

Diana, as if moved by his calm voice, stopped struggling and nodded willingly.
Jack felt rage at the sight.

He was finally able to take revenge.
He was finally able to repay the suffering he had endured, being treated like a dog in this hellish Gehenna.
He was caught by a damn bastard with only one step left.

“Y-you, you bastard…”
“Put the knife down and let her go.”
“Fuck you, you moron.”

There was only one thing he could do here.
A final struggle.

Even if he couldn’t completely get his revenge, if he killed the apprentice witch, at least half of his revenge would be complete.
Without hesitation, Jack stabbed the knife he was holding to Diana’s neck.

He had done it dozens of times before.
He knew it without looking.
The exact location where the carotid artery passed.
It was a human’s vital point that could simultaneously tear through the trachea and esophagus and shatter the cervical vertebrae.

However.
There was no hot, bloody flow on the arm that was tightly holding her.
There was no pitiful scream mixed with blood froth.

A thin, paper-like object was blocking the space between the blade and Diana’s neck.
Jack looked at Siwoo in confusion.
His face was distorted with anger.

“Thank you. For being as much of a piece of trash as I thought you’d be.”

And.
The black ribbon that shot out in an instant, avoiding Diana, curved and easily pierced through Jack’s chest.

2.
“Ugh…! Ugh…! Ugh…!”
“Are you okay? I’m sorry… I was distracted for a moment…”

From the moment Jack was sent flying, Siwoo rushed to Diana and wrapped his arms around her.
Diana clung to Siwoo like a lamb seeking its mother’s milk, trying to bury herself in his arms.

Her body was trembling like an aspen.
The stains from rolling around on the dirty floor.
Siwoo felt his teeth grind again.
It was a good thing he had secretly attached a strand of ribbon to Diana when she ran out, or it would have been a disaster if he had been just a little late.

“Hic… hic… hic… hic…”

Diana couldn’t even speak properly, clinging to Siwoo’s collar and shedding tears of utter sorrow.

“It’s okay now. I’ve taken care of all those bastards.”

Diana, who had been trembling and clinging to Siwoo, regained some of her reason with his gentle voice and warmth.
She was now certain that she was safe.

“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault…”
“Woo… woo…”

Diana sniffled and shook her head.
It was true that something unimaginable had almost happened, but it was also Siwoo who had appeared like the wind and saved her.
Her thoughts were as hazy as if her head was frosted over, but she didn’t feel like blaming him.

Jack, who had been writhing and getting up in front of Siwoo, who had been comforting Diana for a long time.
It was amazing that he was still moving, even though he was bleeding more than a bowlful from his mouth.

“Y-you, you bastard…”

Even though Siwoo was soft-hearted, he wasn’t merciful enough to spare a death row inmate who had tried to kidnap and rape an apprentice witch.
He had crippled the accomplices, and he had stabbed the skinhead, who was clearly the ringleader, in the chest with a ribbon.

But Jack had avoided a fatal wound by twisting his body at the last moment.
He had only lost consciousness for a moment, bleeding from his armpit.

If he went out and reported this to the city hall, they would all be hanged or used as materials for magical experiments.
But Siwoo looked at Jack with eyes that held no mercy.
It was a look of contempt that was not mixed with a single ounce of sympathy.

“You dirty witch’s lackey…”

Therefore, he didn’t even listen to his muttering words.
He was not worth paying attention to.
Turning his back on Jack, who was writhing on the floor, he said to Diana.

“I’ll take you outside first. I’ll take care of the situation.”
“……”

Diana nodded slightly, and he lifted her up in a princess carry.

“Cough…!”

Jack followed their backs with bloodshot eyes.
And he clutched the round bead he had taken out of his pocket a moment ago.

This, along with the headband, was an artifact given to him by the Witch of Desire.
It was something he was told to break as a last resort, without any explanation of its use.

Jack wasn’t stupid.
There was no way that the public enemy would have given such great magical items to mere slaves without any compensation.
He didn’t think for a moment that something good would happen to Jack the moment he broke this ominous black bead.

But.
Rather than dying alone without being able to do anything, he would give it one last shot.

“We’re all… going to die together…”

With the heart of a terrorist, Jack threw the black glass bead on the floor with all his might.

-Shwaaaaaa!

Black clouds rose from the shattered glass fragments.
Like ghosts, they quickly darted around the warehouse and covered the crippled subordinates.
The smoke seeped into the nose and mouth of the pig-man, who had been pretending to be dead.

“Wh-what is it…! Get away!”

That was the only last word he could leave behind.
The smoke, which caused the pig-man to vomit and convulse as if he had inhaled sarin gas, seeped out of his mouth again.
After that, the smoke, which had taken the lives of all his subordinates in the blink of an eye, headed for Jack last.

At the same time as a smoky feeling like inhaling exhaust fumes.
Jack’s body trembled.

Was this death?
No.
Jack realized that he was still alive even after time had passed.

His wounds were healing.
A burning fighting spirit filled his heart, and an overwhelming power that was not human enveloped his entire body.
The total number of eyes that had newly sprouted on the red-changed thug’s eyes and arms was 17.
Coincidentally, it was the same number of eyes as the ‘Drowned Witch’ who had driven Siwoo to the brink of death in the past.

But it was different now than it was then.

“Ho, homunculus…”
“Please step back, miss.”

Siwoo hid Diana behind him.

“Bloom.”

With the incantation, the black armor made by weaving shadows covered Siwoo’s entire body.