## Chapter 144 – The Unstoppable Hero Hunter (2)
***
“To be caught off guard, drunk on joy… you’re a disgrace as a hero.”
Ice spikes sharp enough to sever a neck in an instant.
The silver-haired villain, face hidden behind a jet-black mask, threatened the life of the female hero who was trying to call for backup.
“A… Hero… Hunter…?!”
The woman, witnessing the true identity of the ‘Hero Hunter’ that the association had warned them about,
was gripped by mortal terror, her limbs trembling like an aspen leaf.
“To already have such a name… I’m flattered.”
The sight of the hero, terrified at the mention of the infamous ‘Hero Hunter.’
It was proof that even the association had begun to recognize Lumi as a high-risk villain,
and that heroes were starting to fear her.
“I’d like to play with you a little longer… but I don’t have the time.
Quickly attacking heroes and disappearing… that’s the goal.”
– Thwack…
Lumi grabbed the woman’s neck with one hand as she was paralyzed with fear,
and slowly pierced the hero suit and the vulnerable skin of her neck with an ice spike.
“N… No… Don’t…!”
The female hero screamed, consumed by despair and terror.
Those emotions were like a delicacy to Lumi, who longed for the downfall of heroes.
“Stop… Hero Hunter…!!!”
“Hm…? Still alive, were you?”
A man’s voice came from behind Lumi, who was about to stab the female hero in the neck to finish her off.
“Yeah… barely….”
The man, who should have collapsed after being pierced in the abdomen and thigh, was dripping blood,
glaring at Lumi with sharp eyes, his fist raised.
“Even if it wasn’t you… there have been many villains who attacked like this.
I’ve been pierced and pierced again… my body is tattered, but…”
He had suffered abdominal wounds in battle several times over the years,
and had undergone surgery to replace the damaged parts with mechanical devices, judging that further recovery was impossible.
He had lost quite a bit of blood from the wounds in the areas not replaced by machinery,
but his natural resilience allowed him to withstand it.
However, many of the mechanical devices in his abdomen were damaged by the ice spikes,
and the wounds in the areas not replaced by machinery were not shallow.
“Let her… go…!!!!”
The man charged forward to save his colleague and junior female hero.
– CRACKKKㅡ!!!
But before the man’s fist and shout could reach the Hero Hunter,
sharp shards of ice sprouted from Lumi’s hand, which was tightening around the woman’s neck.
“Se… nior….”
It was as if a giant seed of ice inside her body had sprouted, piercing her skin and flesh.
Leaving behind only the last word, “Senior,” the woman died tragically,
and the man, in despair, stopped his charge on the spot and collapsed.
– Crack… Thudㅡ
Lumi threw away the woman’s body, which had been pierced by the ice spikes and killed,
and stared blankly at the man who had collapsed in despair.
“The sight of you squeezing out every last bit of strength to save your captured comrade… it was quite a performance.
But… you need to realize that the ending doesn’t change in the face of overwhelming power, right?”
Then, she praised the man who had tried so hard to save his comrade.
“Why… why are you doing this…?”
“Why am I doing this…? Is there any reason for you to wonder?
You’re going to die soon anyway… so you won’t be able to remember it again.”
– BOOOOOOOOOOMㅡ!!!!
Just as Lumi was about to get closer to the man and continue her second execution,
a huge metal chunk flew in from somewhere, blocking the space between Lumi and the man.
“Tch… so she did manage to call for backup.”
While the man who had been pierced in the abdomen and thigh got up again to draw Lumi’s attention,
the woman who had been grabbed by Lumi’s neck had succeeded in calling for backup in that short moment.
– Whooshㅡ Thudㅡ
Someone who seemed to have thrown the huge metal piece stepped on top of it,
and shouted at Lumi, who was taking a step back.
“Hero Hunter! Finally, I get to see your face?”
A woman with short, slightly blue-tinged black hair gently swaying.
The hero ‘Iron Maiden’ stood on the metal piece, her cape fluttering,
looking down at Lumi with eyes that seemed to say she was the stronger one.
‘That girl… she definitely has a familiar face.’
Lumi quickly began to search her past memories, which seemed to be dormant somewhere,
for Iron Maiden’s face, which she seemed to have seen somewhere before.
‘The hero name Iron Maiden…,
and a female hero with that kind of appearance… she must be S-class.’
The hero ranking system is generally known to have A, B, and the lowest C-class.
However, this is only what is known to the outside world.
In reality, the association separately classifies the most powerful heroes among the A-class as S-class.
The association did not reveal the existence of S-class heroes to the world in preparation for dire situations,
and most ordinary heroes are hardly aware that S-class heroes exist.
However, Lumi knew some of the confidential information within the Hero Association,
and was also well aware of the existence of S-class heroes.
‘This… I might have met someone I shouldn’t be fighting….’
She was certain about the existence of S-class heroes,
but she didn’t know how strong those who were called world-class powerhouses were.
‘Of course, if I fight her here… I’ll be able to see how strong she is.’
Lumi decided not to avoid the battle with Iron Maiden, thinking that she would figure out the opponent’s abilities and strength.
If the situation turned against her and became dangerous,
she could always go to Chaeryeong’s clone, who was always hiding nearby, waiting.
– Tapㅡ!
“Well… there’s no need for long speeches, right? You’ll want to hunt me, a hero…,
and I have to subdue you here and capture you.”
Iron Maiden jumped down from under the huge metal piece towards Lumi,
creating metal blades around her and rotating them, revealing her will to fight.
“Then… let’s begin!”
– Shuaaaaaatㅡ!!!
Several metal blades flew towards Lumi along with Iron Maiden’s energetic shout.
“Not a chance.”
– Screeeeeechㅡ!
A solid ice wall rose up and blocked the metal blades that were flying towards Lumi,
and the metal blades scraped against the ice wall as if trying to break it.
– CRACKKKㅡ!!!
But ice spikes that sprouted from outside the ice wall pushed the blades away,
and the pushed-away blades returned to Iron Maiden’s side and orbited around her.
“Oh… so you’re definitely an ability user who uses ice?
If it’s ice… how about this…!”
Iron Maiden pulled the metal piece that had separated the man and Lumi towards her,
and transformed it into a rotating blade with huge, sharp톱날.
‘That girl’s ability… is it the ability to manipulate metal…?’
– Whirrrrrㅡ
And she sent it flying towards Lumi along with the blades orbiting around her.
– Screeeeeeeeeechㅡ!!!!
“There’s no way that mere ice… can stop a metal톱날, right?”
The previous attack seemed to simply scrape the ice,
but this time, she changed the method to rotate the blade and grind down the ice barrier.
‘The cutting power of the blade is considerable… I won’t have a chance if I just keep defending….’
She was focusing all her attention on continuously freezing the ice so that the ice barrier would not break,
but the cutting power of the rotating giant blade was so great that it was difficult to block.
She took her left hand, which was supporting the barrier, back,
and created thin, sharp ice spikes from her fingertips and fired them.
– Shuaaaatㅡ
“Ugh…! That was close!”
– Shatterㅡ!!
Then, Iron Maiden retrieved the giant톱날 that had been grinding down the ice barrier,
transformed it into a thin, flat shape, and quickly blocked the transparent ice spikes that had flown in.
“Hoo… I almost got a hole in my body there.
Judging by your considerable combat sense… this won’t be easy.”
It was a situation where she could have been caught off guard if she had reacted even a little later.
Iron Maiden took a deep breath as if she was surprised.
“Come to think of it, among the ice ability users I know… there was a very amazing friend.”
Iron Maiden’s remark, seeing the ability to manipulate ice, was as if she knew Lumi.
“Well… judging by the way you dress and act, you don’t seem like that friend, but…”
She didn’t seem to be sure that the villain in front of her was the hero ‘Ice Queen,’
and had a slightly doubtful expression.
“Now… let’s get serious. ‘Hero Hunter’!”
Then, she changed the metal wall that had blocked the ice back into several sharp blades,
and took a full battle stance as if she was going to focus on the battle again.
Bearing the name of S-class, she had to stop the heroes from being sacrificed any further by subduing the ‘Hero Hunter’ in this place.
