You Know About Unknown? (2)

"Unknown, you said?"

Dark Snake's serpentine eyes flared wide. For a moment, his whole body shuddered.

Stark terror flooded those eyes.

"A named villain like Unknown, in a dump like this industrial zone? That's impossible! That psycho is the one who hunted Horror Hole!"

Just hearing the name Unknown was enough to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set him off.

Well, I suppose that tracks.

Horror Hole — the A-rank villain I'd hunted. He was a named villain, a man who'd slaughtered countless people for his own twisted ends. Not just hunters — villains, civilians, it didn't matter. A corpse collector. A blood-crazed lunatic whose methods of killing were pure sadism.

He'd climbed to A-rank in a shockingly short time. By the time I took him down, he'd already surpassed what an A-rank villain should be capable of.

In reality, he was probably past A+.

Of course, I'd one-shot him with a tutorial scam.

"So shut your damn mouth!! You little punk...!! I nearly got my ass handed to me by those arrogant bitches just now... huh? I'm Dark Snake of the Viper Clan! Looking at you, you're clearly some academy cadet bottom-feeder, and you're calling yourself Unknown...? Hah?!"

He barked at me like he was trying to intimidate me. I didn't so much as blink.

"Yeah. Just kidding."

"You little shit! You think I'm a pushover?"

He was.

Still, small fry or not, he had a trump card ready — just like now. In a crisis, he'd shed his skin and pretend to flee.

But the fleeing one was the fake. The shed skin left behind was the real ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body. And when he used his molting skill, his durability plummeted — but in exchange, his speed and his wind authority grew dramatically stronger.

Not that it'll be particularly hard.

The old me would have run the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠second I crossed paths with him. I would have flinched at the killing intent of a villain who'd murdered so many people.

But things were different now. The effect of ninety mental fortitude was extraordinary. I was so full of confidence that the guy genuinely looked like a pushover.

It wasn't arrogance. Cold calculation said my current combat power was enough to win.

He was carefully sizing me up. The more unfazed I stayed, the more tense he seemed to get. The hidden title was probably playing a part, too.

I toyed with the medal once more.

The gold medal — my reward from the re-exam.

It was a rare item mixed with the mana stone of a high-tier flame monster. Mana stones had all kinds of uses, but without proper purification they were dangerous — you couldn't just use them carelessly.

Especially anything circulating through the underworld.

But this medal had been provided by Theia Academy. Fully purified, it was a fairly useful piece that boosted flame elemental affinity. The problem was that I hadn't been a mage.

Fwoooosh—

And yet, right now, a fireball was roaring to life in the palm of my hand.

With this gold medal, I'd forged a new authority to follow the Goddess's Faithful Guardian Knight. I could use flame magic now.

"Who the hell do you think you are, impersonating a top-tier villain like Unknown? You've got some nerve... you wet-behind-the-ears little shit!!"

Dark Snake snarled at the sight of my fireball. With a rap sheet of over twenty crimes, he tried to cow me with a vicious glare — but I wasn't the slightest bit afraid.

He's nervous. That one.

Authority attributes were heavily governed by elemental matchups. He was a wind-attribute authority holder. Flame magic — wind's natural counter — would deal serious damage even on a graze.

"What are you staring at?! You think I'm gonna flinch at some trash-tier magic like that?"

And there was a reason he was yelling like that.

While deliberately talking at me, he'd been carefully stirring the wind around us from the start. That poisoned wind of his.

Shhhraaaak—

The sound of air tearing came from right behind me. Wind-borne projectiles laced with poison. A graze would mean toxin symptoms. Worse, the attack had come from my blind spot — hard to react to.

And thanks to the molting effect, the attack speed was even faster.

"Die, you bastard!!!"

Just as expected — he shouted like he'd already seized the upper hand. But a moment later, he was stunned.

I casually dodged his attack.

"Y-you dodged that? An attack from behind?"

He had every right to be shocked. I hadn't even turned my head. Of course, with my current physical stats alone, it should have been impossible.

Sorry, but my mirrors can see behind me just fine.

A mirror floated in the air above Dark Snake. That mirror was reflecting every inch of my blind spot.

My first-awakening authority had been all but useless in combat. Using a Theia Crystal — that system gem — I'd deleted one of the existing trash skills.

A two-star authority meant a maximum of two skill slots. I'd used the gem to delete a skill, then practiced in the gaps at the construction site until I'd forged a new one.

A skill that expanded my vision, just like this. Creating a new type of skill — not some generic one — was extremely difficult. But for someone who knew the game systems of the original, Full Moon's Grey City, inside and out, it was no problem at all.

"Kh..."

He edged backward, tense. Right now his durability was rock bottom. His speed had become blistering — but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a direct hit from my fireball, his elemental counter, would be fatal even if I was two ranks below him as a hunter.

"What's wrong? Where'd all that big talk go?"

"......"

Cold sweat was running down his face. I checked the title currently active against him.

I smiled at him and spoke.

"Sorry, but I need to wrap this up quick. Before Aegis comes back."

Dark Snake's face went deathly pale.

Shiiing—

Blade-sharp wind came flying. He tried to counterattack at even greater speed, but the Fear debuff from Unknown left him full of openings.

I calmly dodged his strikes and blocked the dangerous poison-laced attacks with my authority's shield.

Whooosh—

Then I hurled a fireball.

"Eek!!!"

The sight of a counter-element flame skill made him panic. He scrambled backward in a hurry.

That's a fake, though.

I didn't miss the opening that appeared in that instant.

Baaang—

I swung my holy knight's sword and delivered the finishing blow.

Meanwhile, Aegis — who had gone chasing after the fleeing Dark Snake.

An Yumin brought her sword down with a frustrated cry.

"Tch! This was a fake!"

Ha Yeeun's expression hardened as well. Of course, she wasn't using holy magic to track the vanished Dark Snake's trail.

She was checking the live chat of Saintess TV, which had descended into chaos in real time over the failed villain capture.

Watching that, Song Sia let out a small sigh.

Lately, Ha Yeeun wasn't even worth expecting anything from.

Right in front of them lay Dark Snake's body, reduced to a shed skin. She spoke to An Yumin, who was striking the husk as if taking out her frustration.

"Calm down. Let's go back to where the first shed skin was. That's probably the real body. He's a low-rank villain — he couldn't have gotten far yet."

Looking resentful, An Yumin spun around in a hurry.

"Let's go after him right now. This is a villain with serious crimes on his record. We have to catch him."

An Yumin's body shot forward at a sprint. Song Sia was briefly startled by the sight. That movement speed was far beyond what an academy freshman cadet should be capable of.

She hurried after her.

She wasn't this impressive a hunter before. Her skills really did improve because of Lee Junwoo.

For roughly the first two years of high school, An Yumin's grades hadn't even been comparable to Song Sia's or Ha Yeeun's. An Yumin had barely scraped the middle ranks, while the other two had been top-tier.

Even though An Yumin's mother was a famous hunter, people had assumed the talent simply hadn't carried over to her daughter.

But Lee Junwoo was the only one who saw that talent for what it was.

Even the high school instructors had dismissed An Yumin. But Lee Junwoo had been different.

For two years of high school, he'd managed An Yumin's training schedule in such meticulous detail that you could have called him her personal trainer.

Then, in her third year of high school, An Yumin succeeded at her second awakening. She became Aegis's main dealer — just as she was now.

Lee Junwoo...

Song Sia, who didn't even understand her own emotions, had no grasp of other people's feelings either. But even thinking about it rationally, she could tell.

A man dedicating himself to one woman for three years was something that could never happen without any feelings at all.

And Song Sia had often witnessed Lee Junwoo's eyes following An Yumin.

That airheaded Ha Yeeun seems to think Lee Junwoo likes her, but...

She was probably misunderstanding because of that blonde-tanned punk look of his. But Lee Junwoo was kind and gentle to other people, too.

To me as well... he was.

Song Sia had grown up from childhood as a machine of her family, stripped of emotion. The hunter guild Valhalla's Apostles — ranked among the greatest guilds in Korea — but the truth of what lay behind it, no, its true nature, was little different from a massive underworld organization.

Song Sia's father was the guild master of that very guild.

"Associating with worthless, insignificant people is an insult to the family's honor!"

Words she'd heard countless times since she was little. That was why Song Sia had treated Lee Junwoo — that kind but incompetent man — like he was air.

I did... at first.