The van that passed through the barricade stopped in the middle of the highway. I created a hazy fog around to obscure the view.
While I was drawing attention, Kim Jae-ho and Han Seo-hyeon hid in the darkness. This area is all forest. It was useful for hiding.
I slowly moved my steps.
Cars strewn across the highway caught my eye. And the people dead there too. I roughly ‘tracked’ with mana to see if there were any survivors, but no one was caught.
Everyone was dead.
Except for the small school bus behind Park Sang-pyeon.
“You’ve finally come.”
I answered Park Sang-pyeon’s words:
“When called, I must come.”
With hostages taken too, I couldn’t not come. As soon as my answer ended, a sword came flying.
I took out a dagger from my thigh and blocked his sword.
“Ugh!”
Incredible strength. My body was instantly pushed back. If I hadn’t reinforced my muscles with mana at that moment, I would have been cut.
The sword stopped right in front of my nose. At that moment, his sword flickered. The mana that flickered from his sword as if alive swirled towards my face.
Feeling ominous, I twisted my wrist to deflect his sword and immediately widened the distance.
Ray recognized that mana and warned me.
—Be careful. That mana is extremely dangerous! Even if it just grazes you, it won’t stop until it burns your entire body.
‘Even if it just grazes?’
—Yes! It’s a terribly vicious energy. I don’t know why such a guy is holding something like that.
Only then did I recall an incident I had buried in my memories.
But the thought couldn’t continue for long. Demonic energy came flying.
I quickly pulled my body back to avoid the demonic energy.
“You dodge well.”
Rushing in right after just greeting, your manners are really terrible. It’s funny to expect manners from such a villain, though.
Having barely caught my breath, I carefully examined the dark red sword he was holding. It certainly didn’t look like an ordinary artifact.
The Butcher and the sword seemed almost fused as one. Ominous mana was tightly binding the two together.
Until I completely subdue the Butcher, I won’t be able to take that sword. As long as I can’t take the sword, I’ll have to keep clashing with that troublesome demonic energy.
‘Is there no method to break it?’
Right now I’m just keeping my distance, but I can’t catch him by just keeping distance.
—I think you could scatter its composition with overwhelming mana.
‘You mean just pour out mana and shake it off?’
—Yes. Like pouring sand on a burning fire to extinguish it!
Damn, the more I clash, the more disadvantageous it is.
“Your welcome greeting is rough.”
“Neither you nor I came here to chat. And I’ve already waited long enough.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
Even though I stepped on it as much as possible, it still took 3 hours.
“You should have accepted my invitation. Then you wouldn’t have had to wait.”
At my words, Park Sang-pyeon gritted his teeth. He seems to think I touched his pride.
“Isn’t this kind of invitation much better than that ridiculous invitation?”
I looked around. As if struck by disaster, the surrounding scenery was a mess. The convenience store next to the blood-soaked gas station, the road broken, shattered, and burning everywhere.
“It’s crude.”
“Crude?”
“Yes, crude.”
That’s all I could say.
The place I had written on the invitation was an empty lot with nothing around. At least there was no chance for unnecessary damage to occur like this.
At that moment, Park Sang-pyeon’s demonic energy flew towards the school bus. I quickly pulled out an ice spear and deflected that mana.
“What are you doing?”
“The fish has been caught, so the bait is no longer needed.”
—Crazy bastard.
I agree.
“You. You unnecessarily care about such things. The invitation too, you. Are you trembling afraid that civilians might get hurt? If you’re a villain, act like one.”
At those words, I let out a hollow laugh. Act like a villain, he says.
“Even among villains, not all are the same.”
I looked Park Sang-pyeon up and down.
“Seeing low-level guys like you makes me sick.”
I’m serious.
“Guys who act like they’re something while trampling on those weaker than them. That’s why you’re trying to trample me too. Because you think I’m weaker than you.”
I smiled. My smile wouldn’t be visible behind my mask anyway, but I whispered to him in a voice full of laughter.
“Do you really think I’m weaker than you?”
At my words, the composure that had been flowing on Park Sang-pyeon’s face disappeared. I quickly checked the potion bottles attached to my waist. Five bottles filled with mana stone powder.
The method Ray told me to break that ominous demonic energy is to scatter it with overwhelming mana before it burns my body.
As long as I have these potion bottles, I can engage in quite a battle of attrition.
So dealing with that Butcher is my job.
“Jae-ho and Seo-hyeon, move the children to a safe place when you get the chance.”
I whispered to the two who would be hiding in the bushes, holding their breath. The answer came immediately.
[Understood!]
[Okay.]
The performance of the radio was certain. I was worried because the distance was quite far, but it seems even their breathing is heard clearly.
Paying attention to Park Sang-pyeon’s movements, I said:
“No matter what happens, never confront the Butcher head-on. If you receive his mana head-on, you’ll turn to ashes.”
[What? That’s a big problem, isn’t it?]
Before I could answer Han Seo-hyeon, a huge sword rushed towards me.
—Oh no!
I leaned back.
“Ugh.”
The sword burning with dark red fire passed over my head. Dark red demonic energy clung to my body, but as Ray advised, I drew up mana and scattered it.
“How did you extinguish this fire?”
Park Sang-pyeon’s eyes widened.
The space where his mana had grazed flickered as if scorched by fire. A fire that greedily flickers even with nothing to burn. Everything touched by that fire would burn until death.
“Did you think you’d be invincible just because you got something like that?”
—You’re pretending to be calm. 10% of your mana disappeared just to extinguish that small fire.
As Ray said, that fire is no ordinary fire. 10% just to extinguish a tiny spark.
If I engage in close combat, I’ll definitely lose. As expected of someone who has risen to the Top. He didn’t come this far with mediocre skills.
I drew up mana and created two ice spears in the air. The ice spears immediately flew towards Park Sang-pyeon.
Thud, thud!
It would have been nice if they had hit, but Park Sang-pyeon easily avoided the spears. The ice spears that failed to hit Park Sang-pyeon split the asphalt and stuck in. But in that gap, small ice balls fly towards him again.
Park Sang-pyeon deflected the ice balls flying towards his body with his sword.
—This will never end!
After that, I sent various attacks made of water attribute, but there was no effect. Water wasn’t such a destructive attribute to begin with.
But the ground was getting wet due to the water attribute magic I had thrown.
—Are you thinking of using lightning?
‘If it’s urgent.’
There are many eyes watching this place now. I poured water at the auction wearing this mask. Naturally, people thought I was an awakener with water-related talent.
Ice can somehow be overlooked. In fact, among those with water attribute talents, there are many cases where they transform the water itself to create snow or ice.
But ‘lightning’ is different.
That’s clearly a different talent from water.
‘People with complex talents are rare.’
There are some awakeners known to have complex talents, but they can be counted on less than ten fingers worldwide.
What if I were to use lightning here?
‘Not just Korea, but the whole world might focus on me.’
Of course, I plan to reveal all my talents someday. Certainly, complex talents are rare enough to be perfect for attracting everyone’s attention.
But not now.
Even now, this mess happened because I received more attention than I deserved.
So for now, laying low is the right answer.
It’s only been about four months since the organization called Weltschmerz appeared, and all this happened.
‘So I’ll save it as much as possible.’
—Somehow it feels like you’re setting up a future plot.
I’m serious. I won’t use lightning if I can help it. But just in case, I’m making the surroundings wet.
I was planning to use lightning immediately if Kim Jae-ho or Han Seo-hyeon became in danger.
I drew up the mana from my bracelet.
“Ugh.”
Output 35%. Was it too much? My head rang even though I only exceeded my maximum output by 5%.
Ten ice spears as big as a human torso. Let’s see if you can dodge this.
I threw the ice spears towards Park Sang-pyeon. Throwing the ice spears wasn’t the end. As I threw the ice spears, I moved the ground.
Park Sang-pyeon stopped in his place.
“Fuck, what’s this now.”
Ten ice spears flew towards Park Sang-pyeon as he cursed, looking at the ground that had caught his legs.
He struck down the ice spears flying towards him from that spot. Huk huk, I could see the dark red mana bursting.
Now’s the time.
My mana was already at the bottom from keeping him in check. I quickly poured the mana powder I had stored in the potion bottle into my bracelet.
Good, now there are four potion bottles left.
“Aaaah!”
Park Sang-pyeon’s gaze, having succeeded in striking down all the ice spears, turned back to me.
“To use such petty tricks.”
For someone saying that, he has quite a few scratches on his body. Park Sang-pyeon’s gaze was completely focused on me. After exploding mana by twisting his sword into the ground, Park Sang-pyeon immediately headed towards me.
“Alright.”
I’ve just fully charged my mana.
I drew up mana to meet Park Sang-pyeon rushing towards me.
I create ice and throw it at Park Sang-pyeon, and he strikes it down. If he gets too close, I pull out my body using mana, and then use mana to push him back again.
It was a tedious war of attrition.
Meanwhile, Kim Jae-ho and Han Seo-hyeon approached the school bus and diverted the children. The children screamed in surprise at Kim Jae-ho who suddenly invaded the school bus, but soon realized he had come to help them and obediently let themselves be held.
Han Seo-hyeon, who was physically weak, sent the skeleton instead.
“Kyaaak!”
I barely held back laughter when I turned my gaze at the scream coming from inside the school bus. The face of the child coming out in the skeleton’s arms was pale.
One way or another, it’s still a rescue.
“You’re doing such cute things!”
The Butcher realized it too, but he couldn’t turn his gaze towards the school bus.
“Here comes a big one.”
Park Sang-pyeon’s face crumpled as he saw the ten ice spears floating above my head.
“Again, fuck.”