Chapter 85 – Scout (3)

— Kill them.

I overheard their conversation and a chill ran down my back.

“Are you sure?”

The Caucasian man asked again. However, the answer remained the same. He calmly nodded and gripped his greatsword. The baldy grinned as he raised his double-edged axe.

“Blame your curiosity.”

Our surroundings suddenly changed as the Caucasian man muttered and darkness engulfed everyone. Kim Suho disappeared and I was left with the bald barbarian in this isolation barrier.

“Haha, big bro always leaves me with the boring work.”

He obviously referred to me, but I couldn’t refute him. His leather armor depicted two golden axes on the chest. This symbolized a hero’s rank. Two golden weapons meant intermediate rank. Since nothing else accompanied the two golden axes, that meant a grade 9 hero.

“Why is an intermediate rank hero doing something like this?”

I asked even though I already knew. The baldy smiled and collected his magic power. A powerful current surrounded his axe and began to heat up the air. Sweat formed on the tip of my nose and dripped down my back. I couldn’t win against this guy. His axe could easily split me in half, but I also couldn’t run because of the barrier.

Suddenly, I had a flash of insight. He seemed like the prideful and reckless type who usually looked down on their opponents. A typical cliché character that always appeared in the novels I read and wrote.

“Huuu.”

I sighed and pretended to pick up a rock from the ground. Instead, I molded the rock completely from aether. I spent 95% of aether to form the rock and used the remaining 5% to form a transparent thread that wrapped around my wrist to the rock. Then I muttered.

“Scan.”

The result was 30%. Although that was above the average, I could’ve been luckier.

“What are you going to do with that?”

The baldy looked at the rock as I thought. Should I just throw it at him? Or tick him off a little?

“I just thought this would be enough.”

I chose the latter. Immediately, his veins popped and my lips dried. Is he going to angrily charge? Or will he carefully approach?

“Why are you so confident?”

The baldy stood on guard. He looked for hidden weapons, but he couldn’t sense any magic power from me.

“You little brat.”

I stared at him and fiddled with the aether rock. The baldy stood with his axe and wondered what I would do.

“I’m going to throw this.”

I would gladly attack first. I threw the rock with all my strength. However, he leaned slightly to the side before it could reach his head. The rock flew by as he smiled. I had expected this. He dodged it since I acted like the rock was special. Now he would let his guard down.

I saved stigma’s magic power for this exact moment.

“Huup!”

I poured all of stigma’s magic power into the aether thread and yanked it with all my strength. Stigma’s magic power shot through the transparent aether thread. The baldy’s smile instantly disappeared as he felt the burst of magic power. He quickly prepared a qi reinforcement. However, the rock returned with even greater power and struck his head like lightning. Thwack! The light disappeared from his eyes. Thud. And his muscular body fell to the ground.

“…”

I staggered towards him. He wasn’t dead yet since djinns had abnormally high regeneration. I aimed a light bullet at the back of his head. I didn’t have enough magic power to switch into a shotgun, but I pulled the trigger without hesitation. KWANG! The light bullet directly struck his head. Psssh… However, his dense skull blocked it from piercing through. The baldy suddenly raised his head.

“GAAH!”

He roared and a huge shockwave struck my stomach even though aether formed a barrier to protect me. It sent me flying into a wall. My vision faded from a mere sound attack and my organs felt like they had ruptured.

“… You son of… a bitch…”

The baldy staggered up as he cursed. His face didn’t look human anymore. His skin had turned black and his eyes glowed red. Most importantly, sheep horns grew out of his head, which signified his devil transformation. I closed my eyes and sighed. This would be my end despite my luck. I should’ve ended things, but I couldn’t.

“I wasn’t going to use this, but you…”

Suddenly, I heard the sound of something cutting through flesh. I opened my eyes in surprise. A black blade had pierced through the baldy’s chest.

“What?”

The baldy stared at the blade piercing through him and collapsed. He turned into dust before his body hit the ground.

“…”

I stared at the Chameleon Troupe’s boss in a daze. She coughed and spoke.

“Nice to meet you.”

“What?”

Boss calmly looked at me. I somewhat understood why she was here. The Chameleon Troupe had interfered with Packhorse Master’s conquest, but I didn’t understand why she kept appearing in front of me.

“We’re running into each other rather often, huh.”

“Of course,” Boss answered somewhat sarcastically. “I was watching over you.”

“What?”

Boss handed me a business card. It wasn’t a guild card belonging to Li Xiaopeng this time.

[Jeronimo Mercenary – Yi Saeyeon.]

It was a mercenary group second only to the Vast Expanse. In reality, it served as a cover for the Chameleon Troupe.

“Jeronimo?”

My eyes widened. I was truly surprised. An important event unfolded before me, but had diverged from the original story.

[She stood before Shin Jonghak. He already knew her as they had met multiple times before.

“Nice to see you.”

She appeared out of nowhere and greeted him. Shin Jonghak laughed.

“Aren’t you showing up too often?”

“I couldn’t help it.”

She slightly smiled.

“I was watching over you.”

She handed Shin Jonghak a business card that read Jeronimo Mercenary. Shin Jonghak’s eyes glimmered when he saw it.]

***

“…”

In Dorm 6’s penthouse, three people sat in a circle and silently watched each other. None of them wanted to lose, which led to this situation. It all started when Yoo Yeonha casually asked.

Since we ran into each other, would you like to come for a night snack at my place?

She had said these empty words out of formality. However, Rachel accepted the offer.

The table in front of them only had a single bag of chips.

“Would you like some juice?”

“No thanks.”

Yoo Yeonha could no longer endure the awkward atmosphere, but Rachel refused. Another 10 minutes of silence passed. Chae Nayun grew bored and sprawled on the couch as she scratched her belly half-asleep.

“I’m curious,” Yoo Yeonha spoke to Rachel. “How did you find out?”

Rachel knew what she vaguely referred to. She was asking about Kim Hajin.

“I found out naturally.”

Yoo Yeonha smiled scornfully at Rachel’s nonchalant reply.

“But you don’t know why that person is hiding his power, right?”

“…”

Rachel closed her mouth. She honestly didn’t know. Chae Nayun woke up from her sleep and interjected, “Hey, what are you talking about?”

Yoo Yeonha smiled triumphantly. “Well, that’s not something easily found out.”

Rachel glared at her, annoyed. Yoo Yeonha leisurely stood up and brought some orange juice over. Then Rachel asked, “Does knowing change anything?”

“It changes everything. Isn’t that obvious? Like how Essence of the Strait is bigger than most government guilds.”

“No, what I’m talking about is…”

Rachel wasn’t too concerned about Kim Hajin. However, she didn’t want to lose to Yoo Yeonha.

“Rather than finding out by myself, it’s better to wait for that person to tell me.”

Yoo Yeonha’s face immediately stiffened because she had privately investigated Kim Hajin. He didn’t ask for it, and it didn’t serve any public interest.

“At least, that’s what I think.”

With that, Rachel stood up. “Then I’ll be off. It’s getting late.”

Rachel walked to the door as Yoo Yeonha glared at her.

“Wait, why am I the only one out of the loop? Hey, Yoo Yeonha, are you sure you’re speaking in Korean?” Chae Nayun grumbled in frustration.

***

“Huu…”

The barrier finally shattered as Kim Suho appeared with a haggard expression. James laid unconscious on the ground while Kim Suho held onto a branch. I knew Kim Suho would win. Of course, Misteltein was still amazing even without awakening. That djinn perfectly suited Kim Suho since he also used a sword.

“You won?”

“So did you.”

We looked at each other and laughed. Then Kim Suho put on a serious face.

“I don’t think this is an ordinary branch.”

“Oh yeah? To me, it looks amazing at first glance.”

“Really? How?”

“Take a seat.”

First, I sat him down. I could hardly stand from the physical and mental exhaustion.