## Chapter 217 – Pursuit
Nora clenched and unclenched her fists, ready for a fight.
Etana yawned in place, acting as if to say, “Come at me if you dare.”
“Heh, so confident. You’re letting me have the first move?”
“…Just hurry up and attack. Or should I come to you? It’s annoying.”
Etana replied dully, as if dealing with a buzzing fly.
“Fine, I’ll come to you then. But!”
“?”
Suddenly, Nora picked up the shackles that had bound her for 400 years.
Then, she yanked them away, tearing them from the rock wall.
Bang! Rumble rumble rumble!
Instantly, the bombs hanging from the ceiling began to explode one after another.
The cave began to collapse in an instant.
“Only if you survive this place first! Hahaha!”
Then, she used a [Space 이동 Scroll] to escape.
“Huh?”
Scarlett wore an dumbfounded expression.
“What the heck? You got me all excited for a fight, and then you break the game?!”
Scarlett wasn’t the only one feeling absurd; everyone was stunned for a moment.
But soon, stones began to fall from above, and they snapped out of it one by one.
“Da, damn it. Let’s get out of here, too.”
“Move it!”
Once it was clear that Nora had escaped, the small fry also hurriedly used their scrolls and disappeared.
‘I thought she’d run away alone… Turns out she’s surprisingly good at keeping promises?’
I stared blankly at the empty clearing.
Honestly, I thought Nora would use the scroll alone and run away.
They brought three scrolls.
There were 26 people.
I thought the six without scrolls would be buried alive here….
‘To think she’d take all nine of them with her.’
She doesn’t seem to be the type to take human life lightly, surprisingly.
I stood up.
“Master?”
Rumble rumble rumble.
An earthquake was occurring, the ceiling was collapsing, and the falling dust and rocks made it hard to see anything.
“Stick close behind me.”
“Are you going to catch Etana?”
“Yeah.”
The Northerner ran away, so what else could I do?
The order was reversed, but I had to hunt the remaining prey.
Just as I was about to deal with Etana, who was left alone, huh? Suddenly, Etana disappeared too.
Scarlett, who had been watching Etana, put her hand on her forehead and sighed deeply.
“Ugh. Those idiots! I knew it. As if Etana wouldn’t have a [Space 이동 Scroll]!”
Right, for this plan to succeed, Etana couldn’t have a scroll.
But there was no way someone of her caliber wouldn’t have at least one scroll.
‘In the end, they just proved they’re idiots.’
Rumble rumble rumble!
“Kyaa! Master! We’re going to get buried alive! Let’s get out before we’re buried alive!”
There was no need to stay here any longer. I took Scarlett and got out.
“Phew. I’m alive.”
Fresh air. Blue sky.
Scarlett plopped down on the ground and let out a sigh of relief.
‘The outside air is definitely nice.’
Rumble rumble rumble.
An earthquake and a loud noise came from the side, so I turned my head.
The cave was collapsing, spewing dust outside as if burping.
“In the end, we just wasted our time.”
“Just because you cast a fishing rod doesn’t mean you’ll catch something every time.”
Sometimes you lose the bait or get caught in the weeds.
I looked around.
The outside of the cave was quiet.
“Did they all use space 이동 to escape far away?”
“Etana might pop out of the cave, you know.”
Perhaps that’s why there wasn’t a single soul nearby.
Scarlett stood up, dusted off her butt, and stared at me with a surprised expression.
“But Master.”
“?”
“How many [Space 이동 Scrolls] do you have? How do you keep having them no matter how many you use?”
“Hmm. I haven’t counted properly.”
I opened the shop window to count how many were left, but then I closed it, thinking there was no need.
“Wouldn’t you say I have over 1,000?”
“1,000…? It would take decades to buy just one, and you have 1,000…?”
“Why? Do you need some? Should I give you about 100, Scarlett?”
Hiccup.
“…100?”
“Yeah. Just say the word if you need them.”
“Wh, what if I use them all up?”
“Then I’ll just buy more. Don’t worry about it. My other bitches use them like crazy too.”
“…….”
Scarlett looked up at me, her mouth wide open, and hiccuped for a while without saying a word. Soon, she grabbed my leg tightly.
“?”
“Hehe, you know you’re the only one for me, right? I’ll go back right away and give you 130 kids, and I’ll work hard to support you from now on.”
“Scarlett.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t people tell you that your flattery is too obvious?”
“Hey. Flattery is supposed to be obvious.”
[She vowed at this moment to serve you for life and never betray you.]
‘As expected, wealth is good. You can even buy loyalty.’
Scarlett hugged me, rubbing her breasts against me, and took my hand, placing it on her butt.
As if saying it was okay to touch her as much as I wanted, she put her hand over mine and rubbed her own butt.
“Anyway, there’s no reason to stay here, so let’s move.”
“Yes! But Nora and Etana have disappeared. How are we going to find them?”
“Hmm.”
That was definitely the problem.
Normally, I would have searched with [Omniscient Observer’s Viewpoint], but I hadn’t made physical contact with either Etana or Nora.
[Omniscient Observer’s Viewpoint] is a skill that can only be used on targets with whom you have made physical contact.
Scarlett stroked her chin.
“At least we can summon Etana, even if we can’t find her. We also know the source from which she gets her information.”
That’s how they lured Etana to this cave.
“Can you summon her right away?”
“It’s hard right now. After moving once, it takes time to access the information again…. It’ll probably take a few days.”
“I see.”
Thinking of Etana, who hated being bothered, I could understand.
“Hmm. I said it like it would be helpful, but now that I’ve said it, it’s not really helpful. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Thanks to you, I was able to prioritize. While we wait, let’s catch the Northerner first.”
But Scarlett also said she didn’t know where the Northerner had gone.
She tried contacting those who had disappeared with her, but no one answered.
“Doesn’t she have a country or city she frequents?”
Shake shake.
“She’s been on Earth for less than 500 years, so we don’t know.”
To be precise, they judged a fresh-faced girl who had just come to Earth for about 10 years as dangerous. They brought her to the Rocky Mountains and sealed her, so no one knew her habits or anything.
“If Nora decides to go into hiding, it’ll probably be impossible to find her.”
“Hmm.”
Of course, she couldn’t live without being caught forever, but it could be years.
I couldn’t leave it like that until then.
I had occupied Luzgard and already seized Asia, effectively holding the world in my hands, so I didn’t want to drag out such potential anxiety for long.
‘Besides, the Numbering ability is said to get stronger over time.’
It’s a headache-inducing variable. I should have made physical contact somehow.
“Why don’t we borrow the power of the Luzgard family? If we move America and Europe through them and mobilize hundreds of millions of people, we can find her even if it takes time.”
That was the best option for now. But I shook my head.
“I don’t think we need to do that.”
“Yes? What do you mean….”
I closed my eyes and examined the specific memories and experiences that were flowing in, and smiled.
-Hmm. So you’re going to wait here and then carry out the plan when Etana appears?
-That’s right.
-Not a bad idea. I like it because it’s simple. So, do I have to kill time here until then?
-…Unfortunately. It’ll be frustrating, but please bear with it.
-No. It’s okay. I’ve endured 400 years. What’s a little more? But you know.
These were the memories returning as my clone was being unsummoned.
-Cough.
-Ah, sorry about your dead friend there. It’s been 400 years since I threw a punch, so it wasn’t easy to control my strength. Sorry.
The ghost who was hit by Nora’s first punch in the cave and buried in the wall. My clone, who had been lying still, pretending to be dead, had just returned to me.
I smiled as I looked at the activated [Omniscient Observer’s Viewpoint].
‘Did making physical contact while being hit satisfy the requirements?’
In short, it meant that real-time tracking was now possible.
‘I planted a clone among the ghosts just in case, but I didn’t expect it to come back like this.’
I quietly closed my eyes, opened them, and took out a scroll from the shop window.
“Found her.”
Scarlett’s eyes widened.
“Yes?”
“Nora is in Pripyat right now.”
“Really? How?”
“How do you think I’ve been able to find you every time? It’s the same principle.”
“!!”
Only then did Scarlett solve one of the mysteries in her head, and muttered with a disgusted expression.
“How many abilities do you have, Master…? How can you have so many abilities that others can only get one….”
“Is that important now? Let’s go, to catch the Northerner.”
Then, Scarlett, startled, waved her hands.
“Wa, wait a minute. I’ll just go back to the settlement first and prepare to give birth to Master’s child with a pure heart. You’re not catching Etana anyway, so you don’t really need me….”
Yeah, no exceptions. I grabbed Scarlett, who was running away right away.
“Hwaaaa! No! Let me go!”
I picked up Scarlett and moved to the ghost town where the Northerner had fled.
While rubbing her pretty butt.
***
Old building.
Plants growing profusely.
A silence that had settled down to a bizarre degree.
The faded, gray city greeted us. I silently looked around the city of death, where not even the wind blew.
‘Is this Pripyat?’
CNM’s selection of the world’s seven most bizarre places.
Pripyat, a land that became uninhabitable due to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion.
It was quite a plausible place for the undead to live.
“Hmm?”
I heard someone’s puzzled expression.
I turned my head towards it.
A gray-haired woman, wandering around the ruins like a leopard in the wild, was looking at us.
“…….”
Around her were unidentifiable chunks of meat and puddles of blood.
‘All the ghosts agreed to seal her, they said.’
In other words, the reason she took nine people with her wasn’t because she valued human life, but for revenge.
Blood flowed from the chunks of meat, quietly widening the size of the puddle.
Just as the blood flowed over and touched the bottom of my shoes, the Northerner, Nora, completely turned to us and asked.
“Who are you?”
I answered calmly.
“Hunter.”
“What?”
“I heard that a strong and tasty female escaped from the zoo. I’m going to capture her and raise her myself.”
“Huh? Are you talking about me?”
Nora looked at Scarlett’s butt hanging on my shoulder and smiled.
“Is this a local gang? Well, in this kind of security, a foreign woman would look like a commodity. Or a tasty prey…. But little girl. Just go when I’m saying good things. Honestly, you’re my type, but if you mess with me, your dick will disappear.”
Then, Nora glanced at the corpses of the ghosts scattered on the ground and looked at me again. As if saying, “If you’ve confirmed the difference in level, get lost.”
She still didn’t know who I was.
When I stood still, Nora shook her head and kicked the ground.
Bang!
The ground shook and disappeared from view in an instant.
‘…Did she move 500 meters with one leap?’
This was like a legendary Pokemon.
I identified her location and went to find her again.
“It’s you again? Why is this neighborhood so small.”
Bang!
“Huh? What are you? Are you my paparazzi? Why are you so persistent?”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A bitch who disappears from view in an instant every time I find her.
‘This won’t work.’
At this rate, the day would end with me chasing her around.
So, before Nora could run away, I threw the lure I was carrying on my shoulder to the ground.
“Ouch. What is it! If you’re going to put me down, at least tell me in advance…!”
“…Scarlett?”
Nora, who was about to run away again, paused.
Scarlett’s face stiffened.
“You’re Scarlett, right?”
“Who’s Scarlett? I’m Ashley.”
“You’re shameless, so you’re Scarlett.”
“I’m telling you, I’m not….”
“If you’re not Scarlett, I’ll smash your head in right here.”
Then, Scarlett, who had been pretending not to know, smiled brightly and waved her hand.
“Oh my. Nora, long time no see! How have you been? When did you get out? You should have contacted me when you got out.”
Her change of attitude was truly top-notch.
There was no such thing as this shamelessness.
But the other person seemed to know Scarlett’s aspects well, so she didn’t care much.
She smiled and said.
“Ah, I’ve been doing so well that I didn’t think I needed to contact you separately.”
“Really? That’s great….”
“Thanks to trusting the wrong bitch, I couldn’t see the sunlight for 400 years, so I didn’t have any other thoughts in my head, just anger.”
“…….”
Nora grinned, showing her teeth, and Scarlett smiled awkwardly, sweating profusely.
“Ha, haha. Hey Nora, I have something to say about that time.”
“Yeah, I have a lot to say to you too, sis. Should we start by pulling out one of your toes?”
“E, eh? Why my perfectly fine toe?”
“Am I talking about my toe right now? Stop joking around and choose. Which toe should we do it with?”
Nora began to crack her neck.
Her eyes were filled with madness. She wasn’t trying to run away anymore.
No, she was about to chase me to the end of the earth.
‘As expected, there’s no better bait than Scarlett for catching ghosts.’
I’m glad I brought her.
When I grabbed Scarlett’s hair and pulled her away, ah. Scarlett came along without resisting.
Nora smiled at the sight.
“I see. So you’re a hunter and you captured Scarlett?”
“Correct. And now it’s your turn.”
“Interesting. Okay, fine. Let’s fight. But I can’t guarantee your life.”
“Ah. That’s what I wanted.”
I loosened my wrists and ankles.
A transcendent-level ability user, the owner of the Numbering ability, which is said to be the best among them.
The Numbering ability is said to get stronger over time, and Nora is 794 years old.
Let’s clash directly and experience how powerful it is and what its effect is.
‘I’ll decide how to hunt Etana through you.’
We lowered our stances and watched each other.
