## Chapter 636 – 636. God’S Atlantis
636. God’s Atlantis
We left the city and entered the forest.
“The bandits erased their tracks here.”
Lilsne pointed to the ground. There were only leaves and dirt. But she had no reason to lie to me, so it seemed her eyes, as a ranger specializing in tracking, saw something different.
“Did the tracks end here?”
“No. It’s difficult even for experts to completely erase tracks. And these bandits’ skills are terrible. They did try to set up some fakes, but in the end, they headed west.”
“Let’s move.”
Lilsne started running. She changed direction a few times along the way.
“We’ve arrived at the Alborg bandit’s hideout.”
“There’s nothing here?”
“There’s a barrier set up 50 meters ahead. The reason the security forces have repeatedly failed to subdue them is probably because they couldn’t find the bandits’ hideout due to this barrier.”
“The enemies haven’t discovered us yet, right?”
“Yes. If they had, they wouldn’t be staying still; they would have rushed out of the barrier.”
“Well, they’re bandits, so they probably don’t have any tactics. That’s good for us. Let’s go back to the city and call the security forces.”
“……”
Lilsne didn’t answer.
“Lilsne?”
“Yujin, there’s a 62 million penny bounty on the bandit leader’s head. If we capture him alive or kill him and bring his head to the security forces, we can get the entire bounty.”
I was relieved. I was worried she might agree to call the security forces as I suggested. She was blinded by the bounty, just as I had planned.
“Yujin, you’re strong enough to easily deal with bandits, aren’t you?”
“……I’m not as strong as you think.”
“Master once said that you were as strong as he was. You and I, the two of us, can definitely subdue the Alborg bandits.”
“……I don’t have a good feeling about this. Let’s play it safe.”
“Opportunities like this don’t come often. Yujin, do you know how much you get as a reward for reporting them to the security forces instead of catching them yourself?”
“I’ve never done bounty hunting before. How much do you get as a reward for reporting?”
“If there’s a bounty of over ten million, the reporting reward is 0.5%. We’d only get 310,000 pennies if we reported them. Just 310,000 pennies!”
It was less than I thought.
I pretended to be in thought. I couldn’t just accept her proposal outright. The acting was crucial now. I had to completely deceive her, a ranger.
“Yujin, please. You can have 60% of the bounty. So…!”
“……Let’s split it 50/50. I might be in charge of the fighting, but you’re the one who found this place.”
“Thank you!”
Lilsne’s face brightened.
From her perspective, today was a lucky day. She got a dress worth a house for free and was going to get a bounty on top of that. But her luck wouldn’t last until the end.
“Should we just charge in right now?”
“According to the security forces, the Alborg bandits number over 30. I recommend a slow hunting method.”
“A hunting method, you mean?”
“We set up a perimeter and wait for the bandits to come out on their own. And when the bandits come out… we hunt them down one by one.”
“They might get a whiff of us and run away in different directions. If they scatter at once, it’ll be hard to catch them.”
“Our goal is to retrieve the clothes the bandits took and the bandit leader. If we achieve those goals, it doesn’t matter if we miss the small fry.”
“They could all rush at us at once. It might be better for us to sneak into the barrier.”
“Most barriers alert you when an intruder appears. Sneaking in is difficult.”
“Did you come here to play? Huh?”
At the unfamiliar voice, we both turned our heads at the same time.
A middle-aged man in his 40s with frizzy black hair and a scar on his lip appeared. Alborg Madekas. He looked exactly like the portrait on the wanted poster.
Then his subordinates came out and surrounded Lilsne. All the bandits except Alborg wore masks on their faces.
I drew my Hwaryeon Flying Blades, and Lilsne nocked an arrow on her bow.
“Looks like you came to find your lost items. You fools. Do you even know where you are?”
“……”
Lilsne released her arrow first. An arrow imbued with mana flew through the air toward Alborg’s head. Alborg raised his hand and blocked it with his bare hand. Lilsne’s face hardened.
I stepped in front of Lilsne. A bluish sword aura and red lightning flashed on the blade.
“I’m warning you. At the very least, I can take half of you with me.”
“The Lightning Slash of the Aplan Legion. Oh, how scary. But what a shame?”
Alborg fanned the air with his palm.
“We’re not idiots, so we wouldn’t have just come out without a plan, right? It should be taking effect soon, right? Aren’t you dizzy?”
“Dizzy, my foot… Huh!?”
I staggered. My posture crumbled.
“W-what the…”
“It’s a sleep gas that’s expensive enough to make you curse. It’s definitely worth the price. Heh heh. A Lightning Slash and an elf… I’m getting a lot today.”
Thud.
I turned my head slightly at the sound of her falling. Lilsne had already collapsed on the ground. Her green eyes were shaking back and forth. Soon she would fall asleep.
I also collapsed on the ground.
“Hahahahahaha!”
I heard Alborg laughing heartily.
About a minute passed in that state, and then Alborg said.
“Get up. The elf is completely out.”
I got up.
The sleep gas I had given Alborg a few days ago was definitely effective. If I hadn’t blocked my mouth and nose using mana, I would have fallen asleep too.
‘It’s a relief that I successfully blocked the sleep gas using mana.’
Of course, if I had failed, I would have used Complete Recovery and ruined the whole plan. I couldn’t trust the bandits in front of me.
“Oh. That elf is top-notch, isn’t she?”
“We could make some money selling her.”
“I want to have a taste before we sell her.”
The bandits giggled as they looked at Lilsne. When I released my killing intent and lightning surged from my body, the bandits were terrified and backed away.
“She’s mine. If you touch a single hair on her, you’re all dead.”
Lilsne was mistaken about one thing. She seemed to think I was as skilled as Kang Myungjin, but my true skill was beyond Kang Myungjin. If I went all out, I could take care of the bandits in front of me within five minutes.
“Calm down. You’re scaring the kids.”
“Kids, my foot.”
I picked up Lilsne, who had fallen to the ground. She was light.
“Hey, you haven’t forgotten the contract, have you?”
“You better make sure you fulfill the contract. I paid the advance.”
“Isn’t there something more important than the advance?”
“I’ll give it to you a week from now, as agreed.”
“If you break the contract, I’ll break your skull myself, so don’t forget it.”
“That’s what I should be saying.”
I picked up Lilsne and moved into the forest. My destination was a secret place I had prepared in advance.
‘It’s going smoothly.’
***
‘It’s about time.’
I put the manga I was reading into my inventory and got up from the chair. There was a mirror in front of me. A mirror tunnel.
‘First, let’s change clothes.’
I changed into bandit clothes. I didn’t like them, but I had to do it to be perfect.
I used my unique trait, ‘Deception (SS)’.
My face began to change.
‘To be precise, it’s not changing, but rather, it’s being overlaid by the Deception (SS) unique trait.’
The changed face was that of a man with a face similar to Alborg’s. I made my skin a bit darker and created scars on my neck and forehead, as if they had been cut by a sword. It became a menacing face that anyone could see.
‘Next, I need to change my physique too.’
I made it a little bigger than my original physique, and I also lowered the muscles in my body a bit. I also changed the important genital area.
The me in the mirror was no longer Seong Yujin but a completely different person.
But all of this was deception.
I stroked my face with my right hand. I could feel the texture of my original features.
‘If I use Deception (SS) here…’
Even the texture of my face that I felt through my palm changed. No, it was deceiving.
It was an ability that I couldn’t use well before because my mana stats were insufficient.
‘I can only maintain it for two hours at most. If I drink a mana potion, I can probably do it for about three hours.’
After carefully checking my appearance and texture by touching my own body, I opened the door and went outside. I walked down a windowless corridor. It was very dark.
Creak.
I opened the iron door at the end of the corridor. A single candle flickering quietly on a wall sconce illuminated the surroundings.
It was a wide and eerie space. There was a space hidden by a wall in the back, and on the right, there were brutal torture devices. And in the center of the room, a blonde elf girl, Lilsne, was lying on the floor.
Her wrists were tied behind her back with ropes. The ropes were connected to the ceiling, so the range she could move was very limited.
After a while, her body twitched. Her heavy eyelids fluttered and then opened.
“You’re awake. Did you have a sweet sleep? Huh?”
“……!!”
Lilsne was startled and jerked her upper body up.
“…Where am I, and who are you?”
Lilsne maintained her composure. It was a facade. Her eyes were shaking slightly. There were not many people who could maintain their composure in this situation.
“Here? It’s a slave training ground. These days, you have to train female slaves to a certain extent before selling them to get a high price.”
“……What’s your relationship with Alborg?”
“Alborg? He’s my brother. My brother brings the slaves, and I’m in charge of training them. You’re a top-quality product that came in after a long time, so I’m very excited. I wonder how much I can get if I train you and sell you.”
“Where is he?”
“Ah, that guy? He’s not worth as much as an elf girl, so I told my subordinates to just throw him somewhere. He’s supposed to be strong, so I’ll starve him for a few days to break his spirit so he can’t even crawl.”
“……”
Lilsne quietly tried something but failed, and her face darkened.
“Were you trying to raise your mana? Heh heh. It’s useless. I gave you a special drug. You won’t be able to use or even feel mana for the next few days. Heh heh.”
It was a lie. I had pressed her pressure points instead of giving her drugs. Lilsne didn’t know about pressure points, let alone blood points, so she had no choice but to be fooled.
“W-what are you going to do to me?”
“I told you, I’m going to train you. And remember, my name is Alborgue. What’s your name?”
“I don’t have a name to give to someone like you.”
“Oh, really?”
I took out a knife from my pocket. I pointed the sharp blade at her cheek.
“Let me warn you. No matter what screams you let out here, there’s no one who will save you.”
“Weren’t you going to sell me to a slave trader? If I’m a product, who would buy a flawed product for a high price?!”
“That’s true. But there’s a very good medicine called a potion in this world. It’s a mysterious item that can instantly heal the skin if you peel it off and pour a potion on the area.”
“……”
I tapped her cheek with the cold blade. Lilsne swallowed hard.
“I don’t want to use potions either. Potions are expensive. So, elf slave, let’s get along well. And… what’s your name?”
“Li… Lilsne…”
There was fear in Lilsne’s voice. Deception (SS) and [Acting] were working properly.
“Okay. Lilsne. First, let’s check your physical condition.”
I pulled the ropes that were tying Lilsne’s wrists. As the ropes were pulled, she had no choice but to stand up. I tied her ropes differently. A position with her arms raised above her head was more visually appealing than having them tied behind her back.
The knife moved from Lilsne’s neck down, slowly cutting through her leather top. When it reached her chest, her pink underwear was visible. Her chest size was about a B cup. It was just the right size to fit in my hand.
“W-what are you doing?!”
“I just told you. I’m going to check your physical condition.”
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
A siren sounded.
“Tsk! The barrier is activated? What are the guards doing? You just wait here for a moment. I’ll go check what’s going on.”
“What…?”
I opened the door and ran out into the corridor. Then I went into my room, deactivated Deception (SS), and returned to my original body. I took off all my clothes, used Deception (SS) to create wounds on my body, and entered the detention room where Lilsne was.
Then, I acted as if I was shocked to see the tied-up Lilsne.
“Lilsne! Thank goodness! You’re safe!”
“Y-Yujin?! What’s with that look?!”
