Chapter 2016 – 2016. Newtype
The Wolta Tribe.
Strictly speaking, they were more akin to a different species than monsters.
Their appearance resembled that of a condor. They had no lower body, and in place of wings, they had arms with seven fingers each. Half of their body, the right half, was made of machinery.
They possessed intelligence similar to humans and were capable of deploying tactical strategies.
The Wolta Tribe’s basic method of combat involved using their wings. They flew freely in the sky, gliding at speeds that, while slower than bullets, were by no means negligible, and attacked with their wings. What one had to be careful of was that they had hands and intelligence. They could use human weapons. They also had their own unique weapons.
Kreeeeeeeek!
The Wolta Tribe’s unique cry echoed in the sky. Jung Su-yeon and I looked up. It hadn’t even been three minutes since we entered the encroachment, and we were already discovered by one of them. The only good thing was that there were no others nearby.
“How are you going to fight?”
Jung Su-yeon asked me. There was a strange expectation in her voice. I could feel her eagerness to see my skills.
“Lightning is perfect for those guys.”
Half of its body is machine? From its perspective, lightning is its natural enemy. Just getting hit by lightning would cause an EMP effect.
I glared at it and dropped a bolt of lightning.
The lightning passed by the creature and struck the gray ground.
“…….”
I had forgotten for a moment. I didn’t have any shooting skills right now. I thought if I dropped it roughly over there, it would hit, but I guess I was mistaken.
‘No, even if I didn’t hit it, it fell really close, right next to it!’
The creature, having almost been hit by lightning, raised its guard.
“It’s not easy to hit a long-range shot anyway.”
I made an excuse without panicking.
“That’s true. Sniper rifles have scopes, but… it’s not like it’s a skill.”
She acknowledged it. That was a relief.
I concentrated. I pulled out the information about the Wolta Tribe that was dormant in my mind. The most efficient way to deal with this guy… there was none.
‘Damn it. I only have basic information about the Wolta Tribe. There’s no information that’s actually helpful.’
I had never faced a dangerous enemy like the Wolta Tribe before.
I clicked my tongue.
All I could rely on was my experience as a hunter. The easiest way to deal with an enemy in the sky was with an area-of-effect attack. An attack that covered an area, impossible to dodge even if seen. Most of the creatures that flew in the sky had weak durability, so if I could just hit them, I could kill them somehow.
‘If only I had the shooting trait, I could just spam lightning.’
Without shooting, there was a high chance that I wouldn’t hit even if I spammed lightning.
‘I’ll aim for a counter when it comes down to attack.’
The Wolta Tribe in front of me had no weapons in either hand. It would glide down using its right steel wing as a weapon.
It glided down. With a slight feint. It was trying to attack using its beak, not its traditional wing attack.
‘That’s not it either. It’s clenching its hand. I can’t see it in my field of vision. I should assume it’s hiding something in its palm.’
Even a small blade, less than 10cm, was enough to kill a human.
I jumped into the air as the creature was falling.
Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) Void Path (虛道).
Stepping on the void, I slashed upwards with the Fire Lotus Flying Blade. The surprised creature forcibly twisted its body in mid-air. In the process, it tried to counterattack me using its steel wing.
My feet went higher. My body spun around as if stepping on the wall and ceiling, and I slashed the Wolta Tribe’s head. The Wolta Tribe’s head fell off with a thud. The headless body flew a little further before crashing to the ground. Half of the creature was biological, so the ground became covered in blood.
“How did you do that?”
Jung Su-yeon asked me with sparkling eyes. They were so sparkly that it was almost burdensome.
“Its attack methods are its wings, beak, and hands. If you just focus on these three, it’s not hard to predict its movements.”
“I’m not talking about the counter timing. Of course, you can see that. You stepped on the void. Not like some forced double jump by bouncing off your body.”
“Ah, that.”
I paused, about to speak.
It was annoying to explain the Thunder Sky Style one by one. She would definitely ask me to teach her the Thunder Sky Style. It wasn’t difficult to teach it.
The problem was that no matter how much of a genius she was, it was impossible for her to master the Thunder Sky Style and achieve greatness in a short period. It would take several more years. That would be a problem for me too. I’d end up playing the role of a real teacher.
“You just need to mix Force and Lightning appropriately. It’s like creating a barrier under your feet with Force.”
I showed her the Void Path directly. Jung Su-yeon stared intently at my feet and then nodded.
“Indeed. It feels like you’re standing on something invisible. Did you make lightning into an invisible wall? They say that the application of a skilled ability user goes beyond common sense… that’s true.”
Fzzzt.
Jung Su-yeon tried to walk in the void, as if following the Void Path, by simultaneously using Force and Lightning. Of course, she failed. It wasn’t a simple technique that could be copied just by seeing it once.
‘…But didn’t her foot pause in mid-air when it was falling just now? As if there was something in the void.’
She tried a few more times before shaking her head.
“It’s hard to practice right now. But I’ve got the feel of it.”
The way she was doing it was different from how I did it. She had given a trait to the lightning. The trait of being solid to the lightning.
‘Did she realize it instinctively? Or is it a characteristic of this world?’
Even so, she was giving the lightning a trait too easily.
Another hypothesis came to mind. My lightning had a level of 12 as a trait. That became a Guardian ability in this world.
‘What Jung Su-yeon stole wasn’t just the ability to control lightning… but the ability of Lightning (Lv.12).’
Then it made sense. If it was Lightning (lv.12), she could easily give traits that were familiar to lightning. For her, who had been training her body every day, the trait of being solid would be very familiar.
We walked a little further. Three Wolta Tribe members appeared at the same time.
“Are you going to use that foothold again this time? Fighting the Wolta Tribe in the air… that sounds fun.”
“Fun, my ass. Even if you can walk in the void, they’re winged creatures. It’s much better to fight on familiar ground. And there’s no need to fight troublesome enemies.”
Hunters had the right to choose their prey. They didn’t just hunt indiscriminately just because prey appeared.
“This time, we’ll go easy. They have a fatal weakness.”
The three Wolta Tribe members flew in from different directions. I created lightning on my right palm. Fzzzt. The lightning gathered and formed a sphere.
I gave this sphere a trait. The EMP trait.
As I clenched my fist, the sphere of lightning exploded, and a pulse spread in all directions. The Wolta Tribe, half of whose bodies were machines, fell to the ground and writhed.
“EMP…! You can use it like that too. I see how foolish it was to just drop lightning or throw lightning.”
Jung Su-yeon was constantly impressed. The way she looked at me seemed to have changed slightly.
I finished off two of the fallen Wolta Tribe members, and Jung Su-yeon finished off one. There were said to be seven Wolta Tribe members, so there were three left.
Once we killed one, we could consider ourselves to have avoided last place. There would be other Guardians in this encroachment besides us.
‘There’s a hill over there that’s perfect for hiding… If I asked her to have sex behind there, would she? She wouldn’t, would she?’
Jung Su-yeon was more serious about battles than anyone else. She wouldn’t.
“Can’t you control the EMP you just used as you want? Like, only disabling the machines you want?”
“It’s possible if I fine-tune the EMP and shoot it out. But wouldn’t it be more powerful and efficient to just detonate it all at once?”
“My smartphone broke because of your EMP just now.”
“Ah.”
That was unexpected. My smartphone didn’t break even if it was hit directly by an EMP, thanks to the entertainment app.
“…I’ll buy you a new one.”
Jung Su-yeon accepted it as if it were natural.
While walking together, we found traces of people. Footprints. The Wolta Tribe had no lower body, so they had to be human.
Jung Su-yeon suddenly grabbed my hand.
Our presence became faint.
“What’s this?”
“It’s one of my abilities. Faint presence. It works 100% on ordinary people, but be careful because Guardians will notice if you get too close.”
“You’re wary of Guardians. Ah, is it to kill Guardians and steal their abilities?”
“I don’t kill Guardians indiscriminately just because they’re Guardians.”
“……Is that so?”
I don’t think she killed indiscriminately in the original story either. But didn’t she kill me?
“I only kill those who get in my way, or those with bounties on their heads.”
“Did I ever get in your way?”
“You had a bounty on your head.”
“What kind of crazy person?”
Even in the underworld, weren’t they afraid of the Cheonil Group? They would track down the client and the one who accepted the request to the ends of the earth.
“Me. I put a bounty on you as soon as I saw you. About 2,000 won. I bought a drink with the bounty on the way back after killing you.”
“…Coke? Cider?”
“Pine Tree Eye.”
“You crazy bitch. Do you eat mint chocolate too?”
“It’s in the fridge. Want to share some?”
“What about pineapple pizza?”
“I order it sometimes.”
Is she really crazy? Those were things that I, a gourmet, couldn’t even touch. I was reminded once again that I was entangled with a crazy woman. But I couldn’t give this woman to anyone else.
“Why did you put a bounty on me?”
“You were a degenerate. I thought you were related to the Glory Society. And I wanted to steal your abilities as well.”
An easy target that couldn’t be missed was lying defenseless, intoxicated by drugs. The reason she killed me was understandable.
“What’s the Glory Society? Why are you chasing them?”
“They’re the scum of society. They’re trying to manipulate South Korea to their liking. They stole my father’s research and killed him… my enemies.”
A chilling murderous intent flashed in her eyes. But she quickly contained it. As cold as usual. Hiding her emotions.
“I’ll tell you more about the Glory Society later. I’ll need your help too.”
“It’s your revenge, but you need my help?”
“I’ll use everything I can. You’re no exception. Not even my body.”
If things continued like this, I would keep getting tired. So I had to find and eliminate the Glory Society as soon as possible. Then Jung Su-yeon’s venom would subside.
I stopped walking. I sensed the presence of another person through my senses. Jung Su-yeon, who was holding my hand, didn’t seem to notice and kept walking forward before stopping.
“Why?”
“There are people nearby.”
We moved forward more cautiously. Three men were gathered. Around them were two Wolta Tribe corpses and five human corpses. It seemed they had just finished a battle.
“…Manipulator.”
Jung Su-yeon muttered, looking at the man with the Taegeuk tattoo on his face.
“Manipulator? Is he famous?”
“A 200 million bounty criminal. He has the ability to manipulate threads. The guy next to him is… the Mind Destroyer. 300 million bounty.”
The Mind Destroyer was a middle-aged man who was only 150cm tall. He was frowning deeply and drinking beer.
“Mind Destroyer?”
“As his nickname suggests, he has the ability to destroy the minds of his targets.”
“Ah… I see.”
Did I miss out on Absolute Mind for nothing?
