Chapter 23 - Counterattack(1)
“Damn it.”
Arges clicked his tongue and kicked a puddle.
The blood splattered, arcing like raindrops, and was the only thing that represented his chaotic state of mind.
But that was all.
There was no way Kang Woon, who had escaped through a portal, would return.
Seen coolly, it could have been called a near-perfect victory.
He got rid of his subordinate who was a thorn in his side, and he also got rid of the bat-like traitor.
He even took away his weapon, the ‘coin,’ and inflicted a fatal wound on the man himself.
Even if there were variables as long as he was alive.
Not only was there a difference in basic skills, but there were also no buildings nearby to ask for help.
Judging ‘rationally,’ it was clear that there were no variables left.
However, Arges couldn't quell the anxiety creeping up from within his heart.
Not only because he, too, had not obtained a ‘rational’ means to fight him.
Even in the moment he lost his colleague and was betrayed.
The expression that hadn't lost the light in its eyes flickered in his mind.
The one he had shown before, in the village.
Even though the skill gap was so clear that he grimaced in shock every time Arges swung his Morningstar.
The unwavering will was clear in his eyes.
“When do we start the attack? Should we move it up now that there are no more enemies?”
As if displeased by the unsettled atmosphere that continued despite the victory.
One of the subordinates asks, kicking one of Namyr's pieces of flesh, following Arges’s lead.
The piece of flesh flies past Arges and lies scattered in the hallway.
“We’ll move it up. I don't know what other tricks he might pull.”
Arges came to his senses after seeing that piece.
He opened his eyes, seeing a part of the past he had settled as ‘proof of victory.’
The subordinate was right.
There were no more enemies.
The existing enemy had been defeated by him and had suffered damage close to annihilation.
If he was so anxious about everything, the word rational would have no reason to exist.
It was just anxiety he held in his heart because the previous defeat was so shocking.
Arges shook his head, then turned his back and looked at his subordinates.
He shouts while looking at the entire force of this facility, almost over a hundred subordinates.
“Everyone! We advance to Reblen Village!”
“Yes!!”
To Arges's thunderous, leader-like shout, the disciplined subordinates responded with a thunderous answer.
They raised their respective weapons and shouted loud enough to shake the facility.
“Khaha! Let's show those damn bastards who the king of Area 84 is!”
“Uooooooh!!”
Arges responded to that military discipline with a declaration mixed with laughter.
He slung his Morningstar over his shoulder and walked with confident steps, slowly making his way towards the surface.
Every time he took a step, the thunderous sound of footsteps following him echoed inside.
A sound like a march, thump, thump.
A sound that seemed like it could trample a small settlement like Reblen Village just by walking.
At that sound.
He couldn't help but show a pleasant smile at the fact that his dignity and power were not yet dead.
But his expression hardened just before climbing the last flight of stairs to the 1st floor, to the surface.
It went beyond hardening, completely rotting like fruit left out in the summer.
The sun shone through the already open entrance.
A single silhouette, blocking the sunlight, cast a shadow over Arges's face.
“Even though it's only been two days, this is truly tiresome.”
Arges muttered in a voice that sounded drained of strength, touching his forehead.
He dropped his head and sighed, not hiding his sense of futility.
“Looks like you and I both have tough lives, don't we?”
At that voice, the subordinates stopped behind Arges.
The procession halted, and hundreds of gazes turned to the person blocking the entrance.
They tried to grasp the situation in silence, belatedly figuring out what had happened.
“That person is…!”
It was one of the subordinates who broke the uncomfortable silence.
He gasped, huh, as if he'd finally figured out the situation, and panicked.
“Yeah. It's a day late for a funeral and a resurrection.”
As if enjoying the reaction, the shadow spread his arms wide.
He showed off his form as if telling them to take a good look at him.
“Still, two days is enough to work a miracle, isn't it?”
As the shadow finished his words, light finally entered the eyes of the figures at the bottom of the stairs.
Their eyes adjusted to the sudden light, and they identified the silhouette.
And.
As if to prove their expectations were correct.
Kang Woon was greeting them with the corners of his mouth raised.
Kang Woon, who had definitely been stabbed madly in the abdomen by Namyr, was standing fine on his two legs.
Seeing him, the subordinates reacted similarly by gasping, being flustered, or murmuring.
But soon, that reaction, trusting in Arges and the recent victory, turned into aggression.
They shouted boastfully, looking at the blood seeping thickly from the bandage wrapped around his abdomen.
“Leader! We'll take care of him!”
“That's right, leave it to us! A mere ghost like that!”
The subordinates, judging they could easily win since the Leader was also there, tried to appeal to him.
They struggled desperately to gain merit and rise to a higher position.
Arges stopped the subordinates' remarks by raising his hand.
Then he slowly moved his feet and climbed the stairs.
He countered Kang Woon's confident smiling face with the same composure.
“This is absolutely ridiculous. Can't you tell the difference between recklessness and courage?”
However, Arges had far more composure.
As if to prove the difference, he raised his remaining arm and pointed at Kang Woon.
Pointing, he reminded Kang Woon of his current situation.
“You have no allies, and you don't have that means called a coin. Your strength is also insufficient compared to mine.”
“…….”
“And yet you intend to stop me? Why?”
At the facts Arges spat out one by one, Kang Woon's smile gradually turned into a bitter one.
There was nothing wrong with his statements, and because of that, he couldn't easily refute them.
“Umm….”
So Kang Woon scratched his chin and looked at the ceiling.
He paused for a long time, pouting his lips.
He rolled his eyes here and there, even making a continuous ‘hmm’ sound as if reconsidering his answer.
That went on for several minutes.
Arges, judging this to be a simple stall for time, lost his patience and lowered his Morningstar.
But, as if he had been waiting for that very impatience.
Kang Woon scratched his head and smiled nonchalantly.
“Sorry. I don't think I need a reason to kill an annoying bastard.”
“Your mouth is still alive. Unlike your colleague.”
Arges twitched an eyebrow at the provocation.
To him, the man named Kang Woon was truly surprising, pathetic, and ridiculous.
He was an opponent he had only met for two days.
He wasn't someone related to the village, nor did he have someone to avenge.
He could run away if he wanted to, and considering the difference in power, that was the right thing to do.
But he wasn't one to act rashly, trusting in his abilities.
Arges had already killed countless such people.
So he could tell he wasn't that type.
And above all.
He had an indescribable will.
A ‘groundless’ will, with a light in his eyes that seemed to say he would win.
In fact, unlike the worried expression he had until now.
Kang Woon looked into Arges's eyes with a determined gaze.
He looked at the hundreds of subordinates lined up behind him.
“You're right. Right now, I have no allies, and no means.”
“Hoh.”
“I have no method, and I don't even know if I can beat you at all.”
While forcing a laugh, he couldn't completely hide his emotions.
Kang Woon broke into a cold sweat, which he hadn't until now.
But his voice alone didn't tremble.
Kang Woon, who confidently continued speaking loudly until the end.
“So I challenge you to a ‘one-on-one-duel’.”
“Ha!”
In the end, at the end of his words.
He pulled out his greatsword and aimed it at Arges's face.
He showed his blade, leaving only a distance of about two heads.
“If you have even a speck of honor left in you. Come at me now!”
Kang Woon declared confidently.
He spoke of honor, inviting Arges onto his stage.
He proposed the true final act of a one-on-one match.
Arges scoffs at the proposal.
It wasn't because he was audacious.
It wasn't because Arges was someone who valued honor.
“If you take my life here. I will no longer interfere. I-”
“Stop being ridiculous.”
Arges cut off Kang Woon's rambling.
Because judging coolly, there was no reason to accept the proposal.
“Even if it's just obstinacy, I like your attitude of resisting to the end.”
It was unreasonable.
It was recklessness born from all his plans coming to nothing.
Even if there was a plan, it was just a foolish strategy that relied on the opponent being stupid.
“Why should I listen to the demands of a loser?”
So Arges clicked his tongue, tsk, and shook his head from side to side.
He was disappointed that the unknown adversary who had defeated him had fallen so low as to be unreasonable.
“Ha! Are you a man without even honor!?”
“I'm a man who has no magnanimity to spare for a loser.”
Kang Woon urgently argued with Arges, but Arges had no intention of continuing the conversation.
“Arges, you bastard!!”
“Everyone!”
So, just as he had done until now.
He looked back at his subordinates, raised his arm high.
“Kill him.”
The hand signal meaning to charge.
A swift downward motion of his arm.
He just showed it.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!!”
“I'll kill you!! Kyahahahaha!!”
As soon as the signal was given.
The subordinates, eager to earn merit, all ran up the stairs.
They held their respective weapons, their eyes bloodshot, to kill Kang Woon.
“Keuk!”
As the subordinates rushed at him, Kang Woon didn't even resist and urgently left the entrance to flee.
For someone who had confidently blocked the entrance, it was a very shabby escape.
With one arm, he clutched his injured stomach.
With the other, he gripped the handle tightly so as not to lose his greatsword.
It was a pathetic sight, making one wonder if he was even capable of a proper fight, let alone a one-on-one duel.
“Hahahaha! Run, run! Die while running pathetically!”
As if quite enjoying Kang Woon's pathetic appearance.
Arges clapped his hands and laughed until all his subordinates had passed him.
He laughed until tears fell, until not a single subordinate was left around him.
“Khehehehehehe! Why did you mess with our organization!”
“We'll turn you into mincemeat just like that traitor bastard!!”
The subordinates were the same.
They just hurled taunts at the back of the frantically fleeing Kang Woon.
The sight of a hundred men chasing just one person was quite a spectacle.
Kang Woon fled without answering the taunts, and they simply pursued him.
The organization's facility was located in a ‘lush forest’.
But they didn't notice that the place they were running now had become almost a flatland, with trees cut down or burned away.
“Damn it, so you're going to play it that way, huh!?”
Kang Woon fleed.
As if to even reduce his weight.
In the middle of his escape, he threw his greatsword on the ground.
“You think you can get away by doing that!?”
“Kiehehehehe! This is flatland, our home ground! There's no way you can escape by doing that!!”
The subordinates mocked Kang Woon's foolishness and continued the pursuit.
Soon, the result was just as their mocking words predicted.
The pursuit ended with Kang Woon's defeat.
Kang Woon was surrounded in a circle tightly formed by about a hundred men.
He was surrounded by those approaching him with grim, gleaming weapons.
“Khehehe, this is what gave the Leader a hard time? No way.”
“Why don't you cry out loud~? We might let you live~?”
The subordinates were full of themselves.
They overestimated themselves, saying they had easily surrounded the one who gave the Leader a hard time, and didn't stop their taunts with their captured victory as an excuse.
And in their midst, Kang Woon had his head bowed.
As if unable to even find words, he stood still with his head pathetically lowered.
One arm clutching his abdomen, the other arm pathetically lingering in the air.
“Foolish. Why did you oppose us.”
To him, one of the subordinates stepped forward and delivered the final sentence.
He was the subordinate who had reported Rekenhate's defeat to Arges.
Currently close to the leader of the pack, he extended his arm just like the Leader.
He intended to put an end to this fleeting ill-fated connection.
He intended to return with this merit and take the now vacant Aide position.
And as if predicting that death.
Kang Woon raised his head.
He certainly thought so.
That his time to die had come, and he was seeing his life flash before his eyes.
That he had paused to brace himself for death.
“Heh.”
But.
Kang Woon's expression as he raised his head seemed far from despair, resignation, or transcendence.
Not a single connection to such emotions could be found.
It was.
Not the expression of someone who had been chased down and was facing death.
It was a smile.
An expression that tore the corners of his mouth wide, mocking those standing around him.
An expression confident of victory because his plan had fallen into place perfectly.
Absolutely.
It was not the expression of someone facing death, facing defeat.
“…What?”
At that expression, he felt uneasy and muttered to himself.
He was the one who had reported the news of ‘Rekenhate's’ defeat to Arges.
He had faced the expression mixed with ‘humility and composure’ that Arges had made upon hearing that news.
So he was bewildered.
Because Kang Woon now wore the exact same expression as Arges back then.
“Keuk, everyone!”
Having felt uneasy up to that point, there was no reason to waste time.
He urgently lowered his arm to eliminate any variables by using the subordinates who hadn't grasped the situation, but.
Kang Woon suddenly placed both hands in the air.
He wiggled his hands in the air as if trying to grab something.
Soon, in both hands, he gripped ‘something’ that was created from light in the air.
“Why did you oppose me?”
The one closest to him saw.
He saw that what was summoned in his hand was a ‘pistol’.
And he saw that it was a pistol engraved with Rekenhate's mark.
“What, is this-”
What is this?
Was Kang Woon a spy sent from Rekenhate to purge Arges?
If not, was he a rich man who could buy Rekenhate-made weapons on the black market?
If not even that, was he an angel sent to cast them, the sinners, into hell?
He didn't know.
He knew nothing.
He only knew that he had been splendidly deceived.
He realized it was a plan to provoke and separate only the hard-to-defeat Arges.
And then to annihilate the relatively weak ones, themselves, to have the ‘one-on-one duel’ he wanted.
But it was too late.
No, he couldn't have known until it happened in the first place.
Because, of course, it wasn't rational.
Because he didn't know he could suddenly summon a Rekenhate-made weapon.
Because he didn't know he would execute a plan not to escape, but to lure out only the subordinates.
It was irrational.
It was so very irrational.
And swept up in that irrationality, they were going to die.
And the time to regret not noticing that irrationality beforehand.
Did not exist.
“…Twin Pistol Barrage.”
Kang Woon muttered the two words quietly with a smile.
“Keok!”
“Keo-eok!?”
Then, a bursting sound and bullets flew out from the muzzles of the pistols he held.
The bullets that flew out tore down the bodies of the two men standing in the front line.
But the guns didn't stop with a single shot.
Simultaneously with the firing, Kang Woon's legs began to step.
His body, 360 degrees, spun round and round in a circle.
It started to turn continuously.
And as he spun round and round, he sprayed bullets from the pistols in all directions.
“Ueok!”
“Kek!”
“Kkuek!”
The sound of tang, tang, continued several times, tens of times, hundreds of times.
It made a 'drrrrrk' sound like a machine gun.
Countless casings fell, and as many people fell as there were casings.
“What is this, eok!”
“Aaargh!”
“Heo-ak!”
The subordinates surrounding him in a circle fell without distinction, from front to back.
They collapsed, spraying fountains of blood from where they were shot.
They fell, shedding red droplets like spider lilies.
It was like.
A dance performed alone.
Blooming profusely around the spinning black flower.
It was a field of crimson flowers blooming on the flatland created by fire.
A beautiful yet cruel flowerbed that tolerated no survivors who did not become flowers.
Kang Woon's dance only stopped when not a single survivor was left.
It only stopped when he stood alone on this vast flatland that Maletta had burned.
“Ha.”
It was tens of seconds after Kang Woon finished firing that Arges, hearing the bursting sounds, rushed over urgently.
“Kang, Woon. You bastard….”
After confirming that all of his subordinates had become corpses in an instant.
It was only a few seconds later.
That Arges's expression became stained with anxiety and horror.