Chapter 1952 – 1952. Fiery
Before stepping out of the barracks, I concealed my presence.
It was a familiar task for me, so there were no issues. Han Harin also hid her presence well. She relaxed her body and blocked her mana. In her case, her physical abilities, excluding her powers, were below D-rank, so as long as she blocked her mana well, hiding her presence wasn’t difficult.
“You’re good. If someone isn’t sensitive to presence, they’d think you’re a regular person. Did you learn how to hide your presence?”
“I learned it at the guild. It’s more effective when dealing with sensitive monsters.”
Han Harin said calmly.
Her guild was Suwol (Water Moon), the second-ranked guild among the top ten. Even though it was a shady guild, it was one of the best guilds in Korea, and their accumulated know-how was genuine.
I stepped out of the barracks.
It was strange.
The sun was still bright, but fog obscured the view. It felt like I was in a foreign country, not Korea.
KWA-AAAAAANG!
A loud explosion was heard. The air vibrated. The fog writhed as if it were alive. The explosions noticeably decreased. It was as if the fog was swallowing the sound.
‘The hunters who came here are fighting monsters.’
Opal was supporting the monsters, preventing the hunters from entering. Some were preparing to retreat.
I carefully walked in the direction the dowsing rod was pointing. Han Harin quietly followed behind me. With my expertise in infiltration, I skillfully avoided the people wandering around.
As I got closer to where the dowsing rod was pointing, the fog thickened. It was now difficult to see even two meters ahead.
“Ugh.”
I grabbed Han Harin’s waist to support her when she almost tripped over a rock.
“…Should I use gravity to calm the fog?”
This thick fog seemed to bother her a lot.
“Don’t. If there are any sensitive ones, they’ll notice us right away.”
The fog was annoying to me as well. Fortunately, I had a skill that was useful in situations like this.
[The Heavenly Eye is opened.]
As expected, the Heavenly Eye pierced through the thick fog. Being able to see made walking easier.
‘I should have done this sooner.’
I held Han Harin’s hand tightly to make sure we didn’t get separated. Sometimes the dowsing rod pointed in directions that didn’t seem like paths, but… I didn’t care. My goal was the treasure that this dowsing rod was pointing to.
At some point, the thick fog thinned out. Now, I could clearly see the trees ten meters ahead.
I saw flames.
The flames, burning fiercely, were over two meters high. They kept burning, but strangely, there was no smoke at all. They didn’t spread to the surrounding trees either. A rope surrounded the flames.
There was a man in front of it.
He was wearing flowing clothes. Having been exposed to all sorts of creative works, I knew it was traditional Japanese clothing. It was the kind of clothes that Japanese Onmyoji characters often wore.
“Who are you?”
He turned around. He looked at us with emotionless eyes. It was Japanese.
“How did you break through the Mayoi barrier and arrive here?”
He asked with a somewhat intrigued expression. This was also in Japanese, of course.
“If you’re in Korea, speak Korean, you punk.”
I retorted in Korean. A wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. Soon, he opened his mouth.
“…My apologies. I didn’t expect there would be any Koreans who would come this far.”
His Korean was as fluent as a local.
“I’ll ask again in Korean. How did you get in here?”
“My treasure detector pointed here.”
“…Are you talking about the dowsing rod in your hand? I don’t sense any special power from it, though…”
“I heard you’re an executive of Baekrim. Did you come to terrorize Korea?”
“I have no interest in Korea itself. What our Baekrim seeks is the reform of Japan. Unless Korea interferes first, there will be no reason for us to get involved.”
“Do you think that kind of talk will be convincing when you’re in Korea?”
“……This time is an exception. Now that the spiritual energy of Mount Fuji has weakened, there is no place in Japan as full of fire energy as this. It will be completed soon, so please wait a little longer. Once this is done, we will disappear immediately.”
“Is that so? Did you think I’d just let it slide? My treasure detector is pointing at that fire. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I’m going to take it.”
He let out a deep sigh.
“Is it excessive greed? How foolish. It’s not too late now. This item is not something you can handle. I’ll open a path for you, so go back.”
I raised my sword and fueled my fighting spirit. I had to see what that fire was with my own eyes to be satisfied. Opposing Baekrim, the worst criminal guild in Japan? If I kill him here, who would know that I killed him?
“Harin.”
“Haa, really…”
She sighed as if lamenting and raised her right hand. The moment she slowly clenched her outstretched palm, the surrounding space, including the man, was crushed.
Thud!
The man, forced to kneel on the ground, let out a small groan.
“Gravity, huh? A troublesome power.”
He drew a pentagram with his fingers. At first glance, it looked similar to magic, but it was different. That was Japanese Onmyodo.
Whoooosh.
The mana inside my body escaped into the sky. Immediately after, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky onto him.
He was fine. His clothes were scorched by the lightning, but that was all. He got up from his spot.
‘It doesn’t seem like he used his power… Is it the effect of those flowing clothes?’
He was an executive of Baekrim, a large-scale terrorist group that shook a country. It wouldn’t be strange if he had special equipment.
“This is troublesome. My location was revealed by that lightning. I didn’t want to antagonize Korea, but… it can’t be helped. This is not my fault, but yours.”
The fog gathered.
The view was blocked in an instant. With the Heavenly Eye open, I could see through the fog, but the problem now wasn’t the obscured vision.
This fog had mass. Its mass was increasing even now. If we stayed like this, we could be buried and crushed by the fog.
“I’ll take care of the fog.”
Han Harin said and waved her hand. Ten black spheres appeared around her. Gravity spheres. Each one was a sphere with a powerful force compressed inside.
The gravity spheres flew in all directions and settled among the fog.
Whoooom!
The gravity spheres began to exert their power and absorb the fog. The density of the fog dropped rapidly, and I could see the man with his arms crossed.
“You handle gravity quite well. But we are fully prepared, and the fog will grow infinitely. How long can you hold out?”
“Do you think I’m just going to stand still?”
I jumped forward. Thanks to Han Harin taking care of the annoying fog, a path was opened.
[Acceleration is used. It lasts for 10 minutes. Remaining stacks: 11]
Crackling.
Lightning flowed along the blade. The lightning then combined with the sword energy to become a blade. I swung the sword in the air.
Thunder Heaven Style (雷天流) Thunder Flash (雷閃).
The lightning blade pierced through the thin fog and flew straight towards him.
The man waved his hand. He grabbed a small knife that popped out from his wide sleeve and parried the Thunder Flash. The Thunder Flash was reflected back at me. I cut the Thunder Flash in half with my sword.
“I want that dagger too.”
“It’s a treasure passed down in my family, so I can’t give it to you.”
“Can you reflect this too?”
[Moment (刹那) is used. Remaining stacks: 10]
[Moment (刹那) is used. Remaining stacks: 9]
[Moment (刹那) is used. Remaining stacks: 8]
[Moment (刹那) is used. Remaining stacks: 7]
I used consecutive bursts of acceleration through Moment and instantly reached in front of the man. I raised my sword. The fog gathered and bound my arms and legs like shackles and restraints. But it wasn’t enough to completely stop my power.
‘Discharge.’
Crackling!
Lightning spread out from my whole body in all directions. It was natural that the lightning flowed into the man’s body. Discharge wasn’t efficient because it consumed a lot of mana, but it didn’t matter when I needed to finish things quickly like now.
Thunder Heaven Style (雷天流) Thunder Light (雷光).
‘Die.’
The blade flashed blue and fell towards the top of his head. It was the moment I was about to split his head in half. Suddenly, the blade veered off and fell onto his left shoulder.
Swoosh!
His severed left arm flew into the air.
“Nue.”
Crack! Before his severed left arm could even fall to the ground, it twisted and disappeared, and a large chicken foot popped out from his shoulder, trying to grab me.
‘I’m faster.’
[The Genius’s Time is activated for 10 seconds.]
Thunder Heaven Style (雷天流) Mind Sword (心卽劍).
I forcibly twisted the falling sword and slashed horizontally. I separated the man’s upper and lower body. The chicken leg that was trying to grab me lost its power and fell down.
“That was nothing.”
I shook the sword in the air, savoring the victory. It was partly because he underestimated me and let his guard down, but… ultimately, letting his guard down was also part of his skill. I, who killed him, was the true victor.
I took out the dowsing rod from my pocket. I checked it just in case. As expected, the dowsing rod was pointing at the flames.
‘There’s something inside the flames.’
I looked inside, feeling the heat of the flames.
There was a heart.
A heart was beating inside the flames. The orange-colored heart was not human.
“This is…”
What is it?
I was slightly flustered by the unexpected item. For now, it seemed like a definitely unusual treasure, so let’s take it.
‘I’ll just put it in my inventory for now and find out what it is later.’
I wrapped my hand in mana and reached out towards the burning heart. I had to touch it first to put it in my inventory.
Whoosh!
The flames flared up fiercely and pushed my hand away. I pulled my hand back, feeling pain. My hand was red. I had been burned in that short time. My face contorted in severe pain.
“It’s the Phoenix’s heart. Those who are not worthy will only be burned.”
The man said. I was startled and looked at him. The man, whose upper and lower body were separated, was talking calmly.
“…Why aren’t you dead?”
“It’s my ability.”
The man’s lower body stood up. I was momentarily distracted by the incomprehensible sight. The man’s upper body shot out like a spring and grabbed the Phoenix’s heart. The pentagram hidden on the floor glowed and revealed itself.
“The finish was clumsy… but if it’s heated up this much, it should be fine.”
Space distorted.
I knew instinctively this time as well. It was a space warp.
“My treasure!”
I couldn’t let it go after coming all this way.
[Moment (刹那) is used. Remaining stacks: 6]
I jumped in without hesitation and grabbed the man’s head.
“Ugh!”
The man’s face was slammed into the ground, and at the same time, the space warp began.
