EP.120 Rescue (4)
"Huh?"
As expected, the man's ability sealed Shine's power.
Even though they knew the man could seal abilities, Shine frowned as something felt off.
Watching Shine's confusion, the man gave a smug smile.
"Yes, it's confusing, isn't it? Hahaha! That's why I told you. You Awakened ones can never defeat me. It's useless to try using your abilities secretly!!"
The man's eyes glowed blue once again, and next, Vine's ability was sealed.
Crackle!
"Ugh!!"
It seems Vine had been secretly preparing to use her ability.
Like Shine, Vine couldn't hide her displeasure and frowned when her ability was blocked.
"Hehe, this is when I feel the best. How does it feel to be betrayed by the abilities you trusted so much? Huh? How does it feel to become nothing but an ordinary body! Hahaha!"
The man's gaze glowed blue again and sealed my ability too.
Isn't this a bit overpowered?
Even after sealing three ability users, the man showed no signs of reaching his limit.
'If he could use his ability freely without any numerical restrictions, he wouldn't have run away through the back door. There must be a limit.'
Even after sealing our three abilities, the man acted cautiously.
"Where's the remaining one? I clearly remember there were three women."
"Idiot, she's long gone with the kid."
"....."
Only after hearing my words did the man realize things had gone wrong, his brow furrowing deeply.
"Simply put, you're screwed. It means you won't accomplish anything."
"Well, thanks to you, I've failed. I should thank you properly."
The man who said he would thank me clenched his fist.
"Very painfully, that is."
His fist was bigger than Ariane's face, making it look quite threatening.
But this guy is completely wrong in his thinking.
The others might be shocked at losing their abilities, but I've lived longer without powers than with them.
So.
'I'm skilled at subduing opponents without using abilities, that's what I mean.'
Swish—!
And if I use a scroll that buffs physical abilities on top of that?
Pat pat pat—!
It doesn't matter if he can use abilities other than sealing.
Wham!!
"Urgh!!!"
In pure martial arts, I was confident I wouldn't lose.
First, let's start by landing one good hit for Nairel.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
Awakened ones usually spend their entire lives training their abilities.
How does it feel to lose an ability that's as natural as breathing?
'Probably feels like losing both arms at once?'
Having lost your arms, you become at a loss for how to attack.
That's why this man must have achieved quite a few victories through his special 'sealing' ability.
Panicked Awakened ones couldn't have beaten him.
"You bastard!!!"
Our fists clashed several times.
After exchanging a few blows, I could tell.
He seems to have considerable combat experience, but his movements are unrefined, showing no signs of formal training.
However, judging by the power I felt when our fists collided, his other ability besides sealing seemed to be some kind of physical enhancement buff.
'But compared to his sealing ability, this physical enhancement is pretty weak?'
In reality, the man's physical abilities weren't noticeably enhanced.
Even with his ability boosting his power, my strength wasn't inferior to his.
Think about it.
This guy's been coasting on his overpowered sealing ability.
But what about me?
"Hey, aren't you a bit pathetic? You've sealed our abilities, but you can't even take down one person. Did you accidentally seal your own ability too?"
"W-what?"
For over ten years, I worked as a mercenary hunting monsters without being Awakened.
Shocked by the sudden insult, the man's face turned bright red.
For someone from South Korea, this level of trash talk hasn't even gotten started.
"You'll regret those words!"
Shing—!
Having gotten thoroughly worked up, the man drew a sword from his waist.
'He had a sword hidden?'
This was unexpected...
Though I was honestly surprised, I didn't show it.
Instead, I looked at him mockingly as if to say 'What are you going to do with that sword?'
"Do you think having a sword will make a difference? Or is your ability swordsmanship? Sorry I didn't notice earlier."
At my provocation, the man silently readjusted his grip on the sword.
He showed signs of having learned proper sword handling.
While his fist fighting was terrible, his swordsmanship might be worth watching.
"Die!!!"
With that utterly cliché battle cry, the sharp blade came flying at me.
I stepped back and blocked the sword with a roundhouse kick.
Thwack!
"Ugh!"
The sword that met my foot violently shook.
'I thought he'd drop it, but this isn't enough?'
He seemed puzzled that I remained calm and composed despite having my ability sealed.
"Who exactly are you? How can you have such strength...?"
"Normal Awakened ones probably get helplessly defeated by your ability. But if you just stay calm, you'd realize it's not that big a deal."
Look at the others now.
Even though losing their ability doesn't erase the body they've trained, they're panicking more than necessary.
'The sense of loss from losing their ability is much greater than expected.'
But in reality, losing their ability doesn't make their trained bodies disappear.
Of course, facing a man using abilities while being powerless won't be easy.
'But still, the others shouldn't be completely helpless. This guy isn't that strong.'
Actually, the reason I can fight him equally is because I used a buff scroll before the battle.
In other words, just the physical enhancement from that buff scroll was enough to put me on equal footing with him.
'While his sealing ability is overpowered, he needs allies, not solitude, to be 100% efficient.'
Whatever made him run away to live alone, it was the worst choice he could have made.
'It's opening!'
I wasn't just provoking this guy and stalling for nothing.
I needed time to confirm whether the seal he placed on me could block the shop window too.
And as I suspected, the man's sealing ability couldn't block the 'shop window.'
'Right, it wouldn't make sense if this could be blocked.'
How long had I been forced to work as a mercenary because I wasn't considered an Awakened when I had this ability?
The shop window being accessible meant the item window was accessible too, and inside were plenty of usable weapons - not as good as the unique equipment used by SSR characters, but decent enough.
"And here I was, scared thinking you were something special. Hah! Is this all you've got? I've never seen such a huge disparity in abilities before. This is like putting pearls on a pig's neck."
As if determined not to get riled up by my provocations anymore, the man's expression hardened as he charged toward me.
When the man's sword swung at my shoulder, I pulled out an axe from my item window.
'It's heavy.'
Unable to use weight control, the axe felt quite hefty in my hand.
This weight wasn't really a problem for using it though.
'Actually, this kind of weight is what makes swinging it satisfying.'
CLANG!!!!!!!
"Impossible!!! This can't be!!!"
The man was shocked seeing me suddenly pull out a weapon.
He seemed to lose his composure more at seeing me seemingly use an ability than at his sword being blocked.
"Huh? How can I suddenly use this? Aren't you in trouble? You were bragging about your sealing ability, but the duration is too short. Premature, perhaps?"
I said to the man with feigned innocence.
"Don't lie!! You must be using some kind of trick!"
Though he said that, the panic was evident in his voice.
His eyes flashed green once again.
He must have sealed my ability once more.
Though he denied it, he clearly didn't trust his own ability and tried sealing it again.
"You sealed it again, right? Wait. Let me try something."
Speaking as if concerned for him, I pulled out another weapon.
This time it was an iron club.
"Ta-da."
"DAMN IT!!!!!!!"
The man, seemingly in tremendous shock, swung his sword while unable to contain his rage.
CLANG!!!
However, his attack was easily blocked.
After all, randomly swinging a sword isn't going to cut through an iron club, is it?
"What now? Looks like your ability doesn't work on me."
"That's impossible. That's impossible!!! Die!! Just die and disappear!!"
As if determined not to let anyone live who was immune to his ability.
The man charged desperately.
But compared to me, who had worked as a mercenary in real combat for over 10 years, his swordsmanship was nothing but empty flourishes.
"Die!!!!"
"Hey now."
How rude of him to tell me to die right to my face.
It seemed this fellow needed a proper lesson from me.
I ducked down and tripped him.
"Ack!"
Having wildly swung his sword in excitement, how could he maintain his balance?
"Being that slow, it doesn't matter how good you are with a sword!!"
WHACK!!!!
CRACK!
"ARGH!!!"
The iron club struck the fallen man's abdomen.
Though I hit his abdomen, the sound of breaking bones suggested that unfortunately, his ribs were probably shattered.
"Cough, cough!! Ugh..!!"
The man rolled away from me, clutching his abdomen as he struggled to get up.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Having no intention of letting him recover quietly, I continued attacking him with the iron club.
The axe was good too, but since this guy needed to be kept alive, the iron club seemed more appropriate for tenderizing him.
"You should've just stayed back posturing and using your ability. Running away after losing all your minions is what led to this mess."
The iron club cut through the air with a vicious sound.
CLANG!!!
The man hurriedly dodged the iron club and swung his sword, but when sword and iron club collided, it was the man who was pushed back.
"Honestly, even if my ability was sealed, I don't think you would have lost to someone like him."
"Ugh!!!"
Right now his subordinates would be fighting the knights and teachers.
Yet their so-called leader had tried to slip away and run, proving he wasn't worthy of leading anyone.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
"Aagh!"
WHACK! THUD! WHACK!
THUMP!!!!
The man was desperately trying to escape, covered in dirt and dripping with sweat.
But his escape wasn't very effective, and his whole body was already covered in dark bruises.
"That Mister seems to be enjoying himself, doesn't he?"
"He looks excited to me too."
"I've never seen Mister having this much fun before."
Like tenderizing meat, Mister was enthusiastically pounding that man.
Even knowing that guy rolling around was a bad person, it was getting awkward how much sympathy kept welling up.
"Hah, hah... It's been a while since I moved this intensely, I'm a bit tired. Hey. Are you dead?"
Mister kicked the fallen man's body with his foot.
The man didn't move, probably unconscious.
Given that Awakened ones have good endurance and don't faint easily, I couldn't help but be impressed by Mister who knocked him out with pure physical force.
"Oh? My ability's back."
"He must really be unconscious."
Mister seemed to notice that too, as he stopped beating the man and was catching his breath.
"Mister~!"
"What... I told you to hide and attack when it was dangerous, but you ended up doing nothing."
Ariane, who had been hiding with invisibility, released her ability and appeared.
Ariane's face was full of disappointment.
"Thanks to the poison you secretly applied, his stamina was draining rapidly, so you helped too. And let's block this guy's eyes first. From what I observed, he seems to use his ability through his 'sight.'"
"Wow~ You figured that out even during all that?"
"You fought amazingly well. That was incredible."
Ariane showed a hint of concern as she looked at the bloodied man lying on the ground.
"But he's not dead, right?"
"We have so much information to extract from this guy, how could I let him die from just this much? Fran will make sure she doesn't die."
We all nodded at Mister's words.
If it's Fran, she'll be able to cleanly heal even someone who's been beaten this badly.