𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖𝟗: 𝐌𝐜𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏
Kunchai was drenched in the purple liquid, spraying poison at allies and enemies alike.
The poison melted clothes upon contact, and the exposed skin blistered horribly, as if suffering from extreme burns.
“Damn it, Kunchai! Pull yourself together!”
“F*ck you! I’ll kill you all if you get in my way!!”
He was half-mad with surging anger and out-of-control magic power.
Now, he was nothing more than a giant, 2-meter-tall toxic substance, not the leader of a group of assassins who cared for his subordinates.
“Sister, can we kill that thing?”
“Not in close combat. . . How about trying your magic?”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear. . . but. . . I’ll give it a try.”
Min Si-joon condensed magic power at the tip of his staff.
Hundreds of letters and symbols neatly arranged themselves in a large circle, forming a magic circle in an instant.
[Freezing: Instant Freezing]
Intense cold energy surged forward, enveloping the surroundings, and the area began to freeze rapidly.
Zzzzt. . .!
Ice climbed up the legs of Kunchai, who was spewing poison.
“Kuaaagh!! Don’t. . . get in my way!!”
Kunchai screamed and took a step towards Kang Yeo-hwa.
His eyes were already unfocused, and foam dripped from his mouth.
His slimy legs took one step after another towards his opponent, but Min Si-joon’s skill had already covered Kunchai’s entire body.
Kang Yeo-hwa’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Kunchai, who was frozen solid, unable to move.
[Warrior of the Wind: One Shot, One Kill]
Powerful magic power gathered at the tip of the arrowhead and was compressed to its limits.
A single arrow imbued with destructive power capable of piercing through anything.
She pulled the bowstring back with all her might, aimed at her target, and released.
Shwiiing—Pak!!
A ray of light pierced through the air and created a hole in the head of the frozen Kunchai.
“I. . . killed. . . him.”
“Hunter Min Si-joon. Don’t jinx it with such unlucky words.”
As Kang Yeo-hwa was about to retort,
Cheeeeet. . .!!
The ice melted as the venom dissolved it, and Kunchai slowly emerged.
The hole in his forehead had somehow healed.
“Grrr. . . Kuaaagh!!”
Kunchai’s body began to swell larger and larger.
“Dammit! Min Si-joon, if you say something like that again, you’re dead!”
“Hey, who knew I’d be right. . .”
Kang Yeo-hwa dodged out of the way, and Min Si-joon used his skill again to restrain the monster’s movements.
Into this scene, a quiet voice interjected.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Red Ear aimed a magic item at Kunchai and chuckled.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
𝚊ᴡ𝕖𝚋𝙨𝚝ȯ̇ʀ𝕚𝐞ṡ.𝐜𝙤ṁ
“You damn fox!”
The roar of a half-human, half-beast werewolf tore through the darkness.
Volk swung his long claws at the creature.
Kwagagagaga!
The sturdy armory tree was torn apart like paper, leaving a scar on the ground.
However, the attacks he had unleashed so far had not even grazed his opponent.
A red fox with the form of a beast, a transcendent Awakener.
Kiryu flaunted his crimson fur and emitted bright yellow light from his eyes.
The fox, as large as a wild wolf, darted around the battlefield with blinding speed, forcing people to scramble out of its way.
“So you’re the famous Red Fox of the <Yamaguchi-gumi>.”
Seigen stroked his beard and met the fox’s fierce gaze.
“Grrr, damn old man. . . If you had listened when I told you no, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
Kiryu growled.
“That’s funny. Did you think I’d accept such an excuse?”
Seigen slammed his staff on the ground.
A wave of magic power shook the space, and the ground began to crackle.
Black dust gathered at a single point and soon formed a small pebble-sized object.
[Iwanagahime: Tetsuchuujou]
A massive amount of iron sand transformed into dozens of shuriken.
Kiryu could sense that the magic power and divine power embedded in each shuriken were extraordinary.
“Now then, gentlemen. You have tormented my granddaughter. You will die a gruesome death.”
As Seigen’s dry, sand-like voice faded, the shuriken tore through the darkness, flying in all directions.
“Kuaaagh!!”
“What the hell is this!?”
“Kill Seigen first!”
Amidst the horrific screams and blood splattering, the red fox swiftly charged towards Seigen.
After all, any ability would disappear if the caster was killed.
Just as the fox’s sharp teeth were about to reach Seigen,
[Kamaitachi: Type 2]
A giant weasel, faster than the wind, sliced off Kiryu’s snout.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
𝙖𝘸𝙚𝙗𝚜𝔱𝕠𝚛𝙞𝙚𝚜.𝚌𝘰ṁ
Ah-sul chased after Jiang Chen with Ah-ming.
Although Jiang Chen was an ordinary person with no magic power, Ah-sul could clearly sense his presence.
“Ah-ming, 2 o’clock.”
“Got it.”
Even in the pitch-black forest.
Ah-sul dodged obstacles as if it were broad daylight and even gave accurate directions.
Compared to the years he had lived without sight, this was a piece of cake.
Not long after they began tracking their target, they discovered Jiang Chen and the others.
Since Jiang Chen was not an Awakener, he was probably not very fast and hadn’t been able to get very far.
Ah-sul kept a certain distance from them and observed them carefully.
He contacted them immediately, being careful not to alert them to his presence.
‘𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙤’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙣? 𝙈𝙘𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩? 𝙄𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢?’
His gaze fell on the figure wearing a clown mask, who was hiding a sinister aura.
His instincts, honed from his profession as a tracker and countless experiences, were telling him something.
‘𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙜𝙪𝙮. . . 𝙃𝙚’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.’
At that moment, the figure of another clown standing next to McJester disappeared from his sight.
Ah-sul was startled by the sudden disappearance of one of his targets and increased the intensity of his magic power detection.
And the opponent detected by his sensing ability was—
“Found you.”
He was muttering, standing right in front of Ah-sul.
“Huff!”
Ah-ming swung her mace.
However, the clown mask easily dodged the attack.
Pak!
He kicked Ah-ming in the abdomen, sending her flying.
“How dare you!?”
Black ropes sprang out from all sides, binding the opponent’s entire body and dragging him closer.
“You think you can restrain me with these ropes?”
The clown’s voice echoed with disbelief.
“You’re going to die soon.”
“By you? Me?”
“Hehehe. You’re going to die by my hand.”
Kooo—Woosh!
At that moment, two men landed from the sky with a loud noise.
The clown mask stared at them silently.
They were two people he didn’t want to see in a situation like this.
“Sorry, we’re late.”
“We caught some stragglers on our way here.”
“N-Never mind.”
Chu Ha-min and Hwang Jeong-gu laughed as they unleashed their magic power.
Ah-sul’s role in this ‘Doberman’ operation was simple:
Track down Jiang Chen.
This was the most important mission that no one else could do except Ah-sul.
Therefore, Siwoo had instructed them in advance to coordinate with Chu Ha-min, the leader of the external surveillance team, to make the arrest.
“Hunter Chu Ha-min and. . . Hunter Hwang Jeong-gu.”
The clown mask sighed, twisted his body, and broke free of the ropes.
“You can’t reach Sir McJester.”
“What are you talking about? You think you can stop us all by yourself?”
Chu Ha-min approached with a smirk.
“I can at least buy some time.”
“Oh, let’s see how long you can last.”
A massive amount of magic power surged from Chu Ha-min’s body, and his entire body was covered in red armor.
[Asura: Golden Rampage]
With explosive propulsion, the red figure shot forward, and Chu Ha-min punched the clown mask in the face.
Paaaah—Agh!!
The clown mask was knocked backward despite having a magic shield, as the impact traveled through his body.
“Ugh! Not bad. . .”
The moment he got up, a sharp knife flew towards his face.
In an instant, a magic circle formed around the clown mask, and a thin coating appeared in front of him.
Thud!
The knife, which seemed to be about to pierce his face, was sucked into the coating.
[Planar Restraint: Paper Magic]
An ability that could trap non-living things in a two-dimensional plane.
“I can’t let you live after showing me this ability.”
The clown mask took out another coating he had kept in his pocket and released the ability.
Pew!!
The bullets that had been trapped in the plane flew towards Hwang Jeong-gu as soon as the ability was released.
“Ugh!!”
Hwang Jeong-gu barely managed to slow down the bullets’ movement with [Telekinesis].
Seeing this, Chu Ha-min lunged at the clown.
The tide could turn completely depending on the coating hidden on his body.
“You’re too hasty.”
Another [Planar Restraint] was released.
A grenade with the pin pulled exploded right in front of his eyes with a loud bang.
Kwaaang!!
“You crazy bastard!”
Chu Ha-min fell backward but was unharmed thanks to [Golden Rampage].
The clown mask trapped the grenade fragments that flew towards him in [Planar Restraint] and immediately released them towards his opponent.
Hwang Jeong-gu blocked the attack with a magic shield.
“That son of a b*tch’s skill is no joke.”
“Tell me about it!”
Chu Ha-min replied curtly and charged his fist with magic power.
As his overwhelming power was concentrated in one place, the clown mask focused all his attention on it.
Chu Ha-min signaled with his eyes.
Hwang Jeong-gu charged towards the enemy, scattering steel balls like buckshot.
The clown mask used his ability to trap the steel balls in the coating.
However, before he could release the steel balls, Chu Ha-min’s fist struck a beat faster.
Pakii—Agh!
A huge shockwave surged from the center, knocking all three of them backward.
“Dammit—What the hell just happened?”
Chu Ha-min supported his upper body as he pushed away the shattered [Golden Rampage].
The steel balls couldn’t have had this much power.
“Whew. This was a gamble, but it worked out somehow.”
The clown mask staggered to his feet.
“So? How does it feel to be hit by your own fist?”
“My fist. . .?”
As Chu Ha-min’s punch flew towards him, he activated [Planar Restraint].
Before the fist could land, he trapped only the magic power on the surface, changed its direction, and released it again.
If the opponent’s fist had touched [Planar Restraint], it would not have activated, violating the rules of the skill.
The clown mask had executed a truly instinctive gamble.
Chu Ha-min and Hwang Jeong-gu were speechless at the unexpected counterattack from an opponent who was more skilled than they had thought.
Just then—
“What are you guys doing?”
A very welcome voice rang out from behind in this situation.
“Master!”
“Senior. . . You’re late.”
【𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐞𝐭.】
A round, plump doll looked at them and clicked its tongue.
“Senior, I think the pet is insulting us.”
“It’s okay. You guys are getting your asses kicked.”
Siwoo looked at his disciple and junior and agreed with Pre’s words.
“But that guy is so good with his skills. . . Honestly, it’s hard to catch him.”
As Hwang Jeong-gu grumbled, Siwoo frowned.
“Hey. Why are you being stupid?”
“Huh? You said to capture the key figures.”
“That’s not what I was talking about.”
Siwoo smacked Hwang Jeong-gu on the head.
“Don’t even think about capturing him alive from the start. Think about killing him. And then you can capture him right before you kill him.”
Does that make sense?
Hwang Jeong-gu wanted to retort, but Siwoo’s eyes were sincere, so he could only nod.
“I’m going to catch that Jiang Chen guy or whatever behind you.”
“Wait. You can’t go near Sir McJester.”
Siwoo cut off his words, and the clown mask took out a coating.
However, Siwoo ignored his words, and the clown mask immediately released his ability.
No, he tried to release it.
That is, until Siwoo’s dagger, imbued with magic power, sliced off one of the clown’s wrists along with the coating.