Chapter 22 – Second
Although he confidently said that it was an operation to destroy an ancient weapon, in fact, it was so simple that it could be called an operation.
It’s just that I put a page worth of miasma into an iron ball and threw it with all my might.
Miasma neutralizes magic that comes in direct contact with it.
It is deadly enough to melt any metal.
It doesn’t matter how strong the shield he created is.
The iron orb will definitely break through the shield and hit him.
It would be good if it was destroyed by the impact, or even if it wasn’t, the poisonous air in the iron ball would spread and melt away.
It’s a simple but clearly grounded strategy now that he’s been immobilized by freezing magic.
The problem was that it was rather difficult to explain the reason to No. 7.
The fact that I could handle miasma was a secret I had to keep.
A fact that no one I’ve ever met, not even my family, knows.
Kang Ji-ah, who recognized it through his own magic, was the only person in the world who knew about it.
Even because of that, she can’t help but be wary of her assassination history.
“Captain, I will tell you in advance.
I can only last about 2 minutes with the strength of my defensive magic maxed out.
However, judging from the feel of the defense I tried earlier, even lowering the strength to 70 can sufficiently block bullets.
Then the time we can last will increase to 4 minutes, can we do that?”
While I was thinking about it, No. 7, who was carrying me, said.
After thinking for a while, I said.
“No.
He’s not just a weapon.
The moment you feel that your defense has weakened, it may attack with more firepower than before.
In the sense of prudence, try to defend it with all your magic.”
“I will!”
Number 7 answered without hesitation.
But doesn’t he ask what the plan is?
“Aren’t you asking how I’m going to destroy him?”
“Because the captain said it was possible.
I’ll just believe that and focus on defending with all my might.
Are you sure you’re not confident?”
Number 7 smiled and said.
I smiled wildly when I heard that.
“Of course. Trust me.”
Before I knew it, I was about to reach the passageway going down to the basement.
The gunfire had knocked down the stairs earlier, so it seemed like I had to jump down to get to the basement.
Looking back, it seemed that Kang Ji-ah was right behind me.
The complexion was a little off, but it was a great move for a big scar.
It was possible because healing power and durability also fall under the category of body strengthening magic.
I said to Kang Ji-ah and No. 7.
“Decisions come quickly.
We’ll jump down to the basement from now on.
Of course he will detect us and start attacking.
As I said before, No. 7 defends it with all its might.
I’m going to separate myself from the two of you.”
“Are you… Widening your angle?”
Kang Ji-ah asked curiously.
“As a human being, he had guns attached to both of his arms.
If the target is scattered, the firepower will inevitably be halved.
At that level, you can’t intercept my attack.
I’m sorry, No. 7, but defend me well according to my movements.
Jia You stay by No. 7 and return to her ground with her just in case.
It will be difficult for No. 7 to go up to the ground without stairs.”
“Yes!”
No. 7 and Kang Ji-ah nodded.
I waited in front of the collapsed stairs for a while and signaled to enter with a hand gesture.
Jiah Kang and I jumped down at the same time and landed in the basement.
As soon as I landed, I lowered No. 7 from my back and checked the location of the ancient weapon.
He was still chained in ice.
The blue-black ice that had frozen the entire lower half of the body until just now was only about the height of the thighs and knees.
Even a minute late would have been dangerous.
It’s terrifying to think that he has to fight while moving freely.
It was at the same time that I started running and his hands emitted a flash of light.
As expected, the firepower divided into two was weaker than before.
The shield created by No. 7 made a metallic sound as it deflected all the bullets.
It’s really noisy.
With my eyes closed, I quickly moved away from No. 7 and Ji-Ah Kang, widening my angle to about 90 degrees with the ancient weapon in between.
Number 7’s magic barrier slid across the floor and followed my movements.
That’s enough.
Stopping, I took out an iron ball with my right hand and poured a page worth of miasma into it.
The miasma released from my control was sucked into the iron ball, running wild like an unbridled colt.
The shiny surface of the iron ball was dyed black.
I had to throw it away before the iron ball could not withstand the miasma inside and melted away.
As soon as I was about to toss it with my palms tightly gripping it as it began to sway like boiling water, it made a strange sound.
A human face sprouted from the upper body of the sharp weapon.
The inorganic face opened his mouth wide.
An indescribable roar erupted from the inside of his wide-open mouth, as if his jawbone had been shattered.
[———–!!!]
North!
The roar was very brief.
No, it felt that way.
It was because both eardrums were torn with the sound of paper tearing.
7’s barrier blocks strong physical impact, but it cannot block air or sound.
I don’t know the principle, but did you somehow find out about it and use the sonic weapon?
What’s with all these smart weapons?
My ears feel like they’re on fire.
I gritted my teeth in excruciating pain, but I did not flinch or stop the attack.
It would have been the case even if there was a hole in the stomach rather than the eardrum.
Stopping an attack because of pain, I’ve never been taught to be such a hard hit.
It felt like the passage of time slowed down like a kaleidoscope.
I saw the moment when the iron orb left my hand and pierced his barrier and hit his torso.
Beyond that, I could see the momentary release of the barrier protecting Kang Ji-ah and No. 7’s body.
The pain and shock from the sonic attack caused #7 to lose focus.
The one who started collapsing, scattering the shattered parts from his torso, fired the last bullet as if in a seizure.
Even at the moment when the magic protecting herself was dispelled, No. 7 maintained as much as the barrier protecting me.
Her bullets started pouring down on her defenseless.
“God Eunseo!!”
As I passed through the barrier and ran toward No. 7, a cold judgment flashed in a corner of my head.
It was already too late to save No. 7.
No matter how fast I am, I can’t outrun the bullet.
So you’re not going to run?
You have no choice but to run hoping for a miracle to happen.
In the slowly passing time, I ran with half resignation.
In my eyes, I could see No. 7 looking at me and opening his mouth.
Of course, I couldn’t understand her words in the slow time, and I couldn’t hear anything because my eardrum was torn in the first place.
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
However, I could see that No. 7’s mouth was showing a relieved smile.
Fuck this…!
I spit out a double curse inwardly.
At that moment, I saw Kang Ji-ah, whom I had forgotten because I was so focused on No. 7.
Waiting right next to No. 7, she pushed her No. 7 away just before her bullet hit.
Her blood splattered
The next moment, when I arrived by their side, Kang Ji-ah was lying on the ground with a gunshot wound wrapped around No. 7.
Seeing how No. 7 got up with a puzzled look on her face, she seemed unscathed.
Kang Ji-ah threw her body and took the shot at her No. 7 instead.
I sat down on my knees in front of Jia Kang, who had just collapsed, examining her wounds.
Even at a glance, the amount of blood splattered everywhere was well over 1L.
She suffered four gunshot wounds to her legs, stomach and arms.
What strengthened her body’s durability became rather poison.
Her warhead did not pierce the wound, but lodged in, seemingly destroying her internal organs.
Was in a desperate state.
A wound that could hardly save her life.
As No. 7 and I looked at her devastatedly, her Kang Ji-ah raised her trembling hand and touched her neck.
She looked at me, feeling helplessly at the leather choker around her own neck.
“…”
Kang Ji-ah pursed her lips and smiled at her.
A jolt of electricity ran through my brain.
I couldn’t hear anything, but I knew what she was saying to me.
“Under…”
Unbeknownst to me, a laugh leaked out.
Because I realized what I had to do.
No, I should have done this earlier last night.
It’s late to wake up, but it’s fortunate that it hasn’t flowed to the point where it can’t be reversed.
I reached out on the floor and picked up a sharp fragment of an ancient weapon that had been scattered to pieces.
No. 7, who was shedding tears while holding the hand of Jia Kang, who was no longer breathing, saw me and her body trembled.
She shouted something to stop me, but it was too late.
I held the shrapnel high with both hands and plunged it into my heart.
I felt blood oozing from the wound and the fire of my life rapidly going out.
In the blurred vision, I see Number 7 screaming.
The moment the tattoo on his back burned intensely and emitted light, his consciousness went dark.
…
…
Dazzling
No, physically nothing happened.
My vision was completely dark just before, but I was standing in front of the tent with my eyes accustomed to the light.
It was a familiar place, a familiar composition.
“I came because I wanted to see you and talk to you.
Can’t we go into our tent?”
Jiah Kang was standing at the entrance of my tent.
She spoke to me in a voice that sounded like she was somewhere uneasy.
The intense memory of the bloody fight last night gave off a sense of incongruity.
I feel like I’m getting motion sickness because my sense of time is dizzy.
It’s back to 24 hours ago, right?
Well, now it’s the morning before the last mission.
It must have been right after the roll call that I had returned to the tent to have breakfast with the crew.
I made my judgment in an instant.
It was a quick reorganization that surprised even myself.
“It doesn’t matter, but…”
I traced my memory and stretched my tail.
Yeah, that’s what I said
“If we’re alone, our doggie will go into heat again…
I’m getting hungry soon.”
“Don’t call it horny…!”
When I teased her with a grin, Jia Kang stuck out her lips.
I giggled and opened the door to her tent and motioned for her to come in.
As if Jiah Kang had been waiting for her, she quickly entered the tent.
She was wagging her tail, looking at me with both her affectionate and anxious eyes.
After this…
I asked Jia Kang what was going on, and she asked me to tell her the truth.
At that moment, I got angry and did something I shouldn’t have done.
It’s different this time.
I returned to do what I should have done then.
“Jia, it’s sudden, but I have something to confess to you.”
“A confession…?”
I made up my mind and told her.
“I know you consider me an enemy.
But you were only half right.
I can handle miasma, but I’m not your enemy.
I want you to believe me.”
“…”
As she spoke calmly, Kang Jia’s mouth slowly opened.
Her tail twitched as if expressing her surprised emotions.
I kept talking to her who kept her mouth shut.
“My unique magic is to control miasma.
Strengthening the body is just an additive effect.
But I swear I never lied about my looks or my age, and I never met your family.
It’s hard to believe, but…”
“Believe.”
Jiah Kang said.
She was still holding her breath in surprise, but there was a straight edge in her voice.
“It’s just a gut feeling, but I know it’s not a lie.
And while living with the owner.
I knew right away that you weren’t like that.
I believe.”
“…Okay.”
“How did you know that I was suspicious of the owner?”
She asked.
“With magic using miasma.
I can manipulate people’s minds or return to the previous day through death.
The first time I had a drink with you, I was actually assassinated by you.
I went back to the past, talked to you first, and took advantage of being alone as an opportunity to manipulate you.
I’ll tell you the proof.
You were trying to poison me with a poison that was formulated in your body.”
Jia Kang, who heard me, closed her eyes tightly.
She answered after a while.
“…It’s a story that’s hard to believe, but I’ll believe it.
Is that all you’re confessing to?”
“No, there are more.”
Rather, this is more important.
“I manipulated your mind into making you feel pleasure when being treated like a puppy by me.
I meant to make you a loyal bitch to me.
And then I decided to forget the grudge I had for being killed by you, and I couldn’t hold a doggie to blame.”
As I spoke, Jia Kang averted her gaze with her blushing face.
It seems that memories of fawning and acting cute as a puppy came to mind.
I kept saying
“I was wrong.
You are human
I’ve never told you the truth
But…”
I looked straight into Kang Ji-ah’s eyes.
“From the day I was assassinated by you, from the moment I realized I was betrayed by you, I’ve been angry.
I pretended to be your master, but I was always holding back my anger.
I… I thought of you as a comrade.”
I said in a trembling voice.
Finally said
She told her the truth.
Kang Ji-ah looked at me with an indescribable expression.
As she pondered what she was thinking, she opened her mouth.
“Did you play with my body and mind with magic using miasma?”
“Huh.”
Kang Ji-ah answered honestly.
She continued.
“If I could control my mind, I wouldn’t have to say this.
Why did you tell me?”
“Because I thought that was the case.
I wanted to tell you the truth.”
Jia Kang heard my answer and nodded her head.
Then she knelt down on her floor and put her hands and head on the ground in a big bow.
Lying down on her body, she said to me.
“It’s already too late, and it’s not something that can be solved with words.
I apologize for my foolish behavior of yielding to an impulse and committing an irreversible thing.
Your anger is justified, and I have no face to say anything about it.
I think it’s only natural that you resent me.
Kill me or let me live, I will follow you.
But… I still have work to do.
I’ll give my life until it’s done…”
Jia Kang apologizes by throwing her whole body on the floor.
Her words were too long.
I grabbed her arm and lifted her up.
Bewildered expression.
I said with a shy expression.
“Obviously, I hated you to death, but that’s it.
You don’t know yet, but you’ve done something forgivable.
…It’s fine now.”
As he hugged her and said this, Kang Ji-ah in her arms trembled.
She said as she buried her face in my chest.
“Can I ask you one last question?”
“What?”
“Have you ever manipulated me into loving you?”
I said in a firm voice.
“No. I don’t manipulate like that.
My way… Oops!”
Before I could finish my words, Kang Ji-ah raised her face and kissed me with her lips.
The momentum was so intense that if I had to move, I would almost fall backwards.
It was a passionate kiss.
Jiah Kang clung to me as if to take all of her saliva.
It wasn’t just her tongue.
She wrapped her arms deep behind my back and her legs entwined around her stomach.
Clinging to me like a baby koala clinging to her mother, she exhaled her desperately choking breath.
She had her saliva dripping from her mouth, leaving an obscene trail all the way to the bottom of her chin.
Kang Ji-ah, who was still unfamiliar with her kiss, quickly pulled her lips away.
She whispered, looking at me with her blank eyes as she caught her breath.
“I love you, master. I love you…
I’m sorry I couldn’t be honest with you until now.
I love you more than anyone else…”
“I have something to tell you.”
I said to Jia Kang, giving her a smile.
Her kiss was so long that I couldn’t speak for several minutes.
I bowed her head as she was sitting and whispered to her.
“「Jia Kang is a puppy even upside down」.”
“…”
Upon hearing her keyword, Jia Kang’s movement stopped.
I was sure as I looked down at her in her hypnotic state as time stopped as she held me tight.
Teaching is complete
She lost her family at a young age, struggled with relationships, and was ignored by her teammates.
In the meantime, she hides a secret that is more important than her own life.
The stress accumulated in Jia Kang’s heart was so great that she could not express it in words.
PTSD symptoms represented by nightmares every day.
The clock in her heart stays on the day her family was massacred.
Her outwardly cool appearance and strong will are a kind of defense mechanism to protect her fragile spirit.
It is like the shell of a crab hiding its soft flesh.
Peeling off the shell reveals a scarred inner heart that is at an age where loneliness and childishness abound.
Jiah Kang is looking for someone she can rely on, someone she can trust, and someone who can comfort her.
I want human warmth.
Her pleasure, the sense of security that her last week gave her.
It feels good when you meet me.
The day I met her, she doesn’t have nightmares.
She acts cute to me and feels pleasure when treated like a dog.
Even if it is due to my suggestion.
Jiah Kang can never forget that.
She can’t help but love me.
I told her the truth about her.
She gave her the secret of her life.
It was to tell her how much I valued her.
“Whoa…”
I can’t help but be angry
Her answer is right next to her, but she’s blindfolded and wandering around in her wrong place.
In such a state, if her true feelings are pointed out to a doggie, she will be pissed off.
She got her first button wrong in the first place.
She’s not for frivolous reasons like revenge.
I’m just manipulating it because I want to eat it.
In the meantime, I forgot the most important thing.
Furious that she was betrayed by her comrades-in-arms.
He surrendered himself to her rage at being murdered and manipulated her.
Has it been so long since she met the person she wanted to manipulate that she lost her senses?
She realized it when she saw Jia Kang, who died after saving No. 7.
They say that human nature emerges from the crisis of life.
Kang Ji-ah sacrificed her life for her husband in her last moments.
It is a noble nature.
Even so, she is a woman with a hatred and vengeance in her heart that is so great that it gnaws at reason.
It’s too precious to ruin it with poison or pleasure.
I want to see what kind of life she will lead, with her noble nature and dark impulses at the same time, manipulating, fucking, and preserving her original mind as much as possible.
I thought as I stroked the head of Kang Ji-ah, who was clinging blankly to my arms.
No. 1, you said.
I am deeply affectionate.
He said he couldn’t let go of the person he gave his heart to.
You have a sharp side
I definitely agree with you.
But I couldn’t figure out the essence of a person.
Inherent magic is the human soul itself.
The love of a manipulator is not common.
Kang Ji-ah, I told you before you died.
That you love me
Of course I love you too.
Not just you, but everyone worthy of being manipulated by me.
I’ll give my life as much as I can to save the one I love.
I will do everything in my power to help you find your enemies and avenge them.
Don’t let you die
Won’t give it to anyone
I’ll keep you by my side for the rest of my life
“Love you.”
I said quietly as I held Jia Kang tightly in her arms.
