Lucky or Unlucky (2)
12:40 on the 12th. The previous chapter was revised.
Empty lot atop Yukseong Mountain.
“Haa, haa, haa… Loxanne-nim, this way!”
Seong Yura walked the path of pilgrimage alongside Kim Deok-oh, her newly recruited bodyguard, when she was suddenly ambushed by an unknown attacker.
They wore black face masks that covered more than half of their faces.
A mixed group of two men and one woman.
Given how they crept forward like wild beasts stalking prey, approaching with a stealthy yet overwhelming momentum, they clearly weren’t amateurs.
They were seasoned villains, stained with blood.
Especially the man leading them.
That man’s elegant dual daggers sliced through Kim Deok-oh’s left shoulder in the blink of an eye, just like two snakes striking.
The man simply shook the blood from his blade with a lifeless expression, as if killing people had long since become routine.
“Ugh… my wound… my left arm won’t move properly…”
Kim Deok-oh was a former hero.
With the church assigning him as a solo escort, his skills were considered quite solid.
But the villains’ ferocious assault proved impossible to withstand.
Having clashed with a few villains before, he could mount some defense, yet this dual-dagger man was on an entirely different level.
The man was the biggest problem here.
Still, he wasn’t the strongest in terms of raw power or destructive force.
If judging purely by might and devastation, the woman wielding the staff and the man with the long spear behind him seemed more formidable.
However, this man’s strength didn’t stem from simple destructive power.
He blended soft and hard swings, used feints, and even pressured from outside the line of sight with skilled precision.
It was an intensely flashy and explosive kind of power that screamed anomaly ability, yet it possessed something sharper— the subtle, piercing strength unique to swordsmanship that went unnoticed at first glance.
A villain who thoughtlessly swung wildly like those addicted to supernatural abilities was far less troublesome than a single, finely honed blade like this man.
“Who sent you?”
At that moment.
“Is it Seong Yura?”
“……”
Loxanne stepped forward and placed a foot in front of the wounded Kim Deok-oh, subtly signaling protection.
She had desperately altered her appearance to avoid detection, but it had clearly been in vain.
They had been attacked after all.
“Is my purpose the target?”
Loxanne knew Seong Yura’s reputation wasn’t exactly stellar and that she had tormented Loxanne herself.
Yet she never imagined Seong Yura would go this far.
Even if Seong Yura disliked Loxanne intensely, they were both followers of the same god and candidates for the saintess.
How could she possibly order an assassination?
This crossed an undeniable line.
As a human and a religious servant, there was no way Loxanne could tolerate it.
“If my purpose is you, leave this man alone.”
But who was she to judge Seong Yura?
Seong Yura wielded immense factional power within the church.
Accusing her would only prompt others to watch from the shadows.
The forces that had once backed Loxanne had already crumbled like sand castles under Seong Yura’s influence.
Loxanne wasn’t even sure she deserved credit for securing Kim Deok-oh’s support.
The church’s situation had grown dire.
In a place rife with negativity and corruption, all Loxanne could do was pray to the divine and endure.
“This man has nothing to do with it.”
“……”
Mateo Evans, the man with the dual daggers, simply stared at Loxanne in silence.
“Nothing to do with it…”
Loxanne’s words couldn’t be denied.
After all, Mateo’s target had never been Loxanne—it had been Kim Deok-oh from the start.
“……”
Mateo raised his sword straight up.
Mana began to flow into the blade.
A purplish sword qi rippled across the edge.
No more time to stall.
He knew Kim Deok-oh’s level now.
Working with his companions, they could dispatch him in an instant.
“……?”
Then, abruptly.
“A presence?”
An unusual aura emerged from the bushes.
Not an animal’s—it was unmistakably human.
More escort personnel?
“Hey, who are you?!”
Absolute silence.
The bushes remained perfectly still.
Mateo glanced at one of his subordinates, Park Soo-young.
She nodded subtly and readied a memorized magic spell.
“Wait, what are you—?”
“Fire Ball!”
Loxanne raised her voice in alarm, but it was too late.
Park Soo-young had already activated the spell the moment she finished the incantation.
A sizable fireball rocketed toward the bushes like a speeding arrow.
As the flames and heat drew near, the foliage began to burn from the outside in.
Just as the fire threatened to consume the interior.
Whip! A blade slash rang out, and the raging flames suddenly collapsed, dissipating like powerless steam.
“Eh? What, what?!”
A short gasp escaped Park Soo-young’s lips.
What just happened? The Fire Ball vanished?
The villains narrowed their brows and quietly observed the new man who emerged from the scorched bushes.
A hint of tension lingered among them.
The stranger wore a tightly pulled cap and a jacket resembling protective gear, with a massive hiking backpack and a pitch-black bow slung across his back.
He looked like a young man in his late teens or early twenties.
Gripping a seemingly ordinary sword, he simply stared at them with a cold expression.
“Who is he?”
He might have been one of Loxanne’s escort team, yet she too looked bewildered.
It seemed unrelated to her.
Then.
“A hunter?”
His mountain gear and unusual recurve bow suggested he might be hunting wild animals or forest monsters.
“He blocked the Fire Ball?”
He had been hidden by the bushes, so the exact details were unclear.
But regardless of whether he had blocked it or not, the witnesses had to die.
So Mateo turned back to Park Soo-young.
She understood instantly and readied another spell.
“Lightning!”
Crack! Crack!
A yellowish lightning bolt shot forward like a spear from the staff’s direction, striking the stranger with blinding speed.
The bolt crackled with dangerous sparks, ready to engulf him.
Even if he blocked it with his sword, the electricity would spread through his body and paralyze him in an instant.
They could kill him easily.
“……”
“Huh?”
Yet the stranger simply swung his sword without hesitation, deflecting the lightning.
It wasn’t just a block—when the bolt touched the blade, it lost its form and vanished.
What was this?
“An anomaly ability user,” Mateo muttered quietly.
The stranger didn’t seem skilled enough to cut through magic.
His sword movements and weight shifts lacked the awkwardness typical of a novice swordsman.
Moreover, the man appeared exhausted, breathing heavily.
Having lived this life for years, Mateo trusted his own instincts.
……Unless he was deliberately faking clumsiness.
“You two, watch the others. I’ll handle the man over there.”
After issuing orders to his subordinates, Mateo began walking toward the stranger.
But then the stranger swung his sword without warning.
Whoosh!
Concentrated sword qi shot forward like an arrow, aimed straight at Park Soo-young.
She was startled.
What? Sword qi projection?!
How could a young guy like him…?!
“Air Shield!”
Park Soo-young hurriedly cast a defensive spell, but—
Crack! Crack!
The opaque shield shattered into pieces.
“?!”
Impressive power.
She hadn’t expected the wind shield to be pierced.
Soon the sword qi slashed across her right leg.
“Kyahk—! It hurts!”
Deep enough to draw blood in streams from her thigh.
Was the bone damaged too? Ugh.
With a significant amount of bleeding, Park Soo-young felt her consciousness fading.
Ah, no. I need to stop the bleeding quickly—
“Huu, huuu……”
She pulled out a cheap healing potion and poured it on the wound, but the recovery was painfully slow.
She limped on one leg, guarding against the stranger and the others.
Pain shot through her leg like a dagger.
p>Endure it. I have to endure it.
“You’re okay?”
“I’m not, so don’t talk to me.”
One of her companions, Lee Han, approached with worry.
Cheap healing potions didn’t fix wounds properly.
It was emergency care at best.
To do it right, they needed a proper medical facility.
“Leader……”
“……”
At the call, Mateo hesitated for a moment.
He wanted to retreat, but Seong Yura wasn’t merciful.
Even if he claimed the mission had failed due to external interference, she would impose the same brutal punishment.
Knowing her cruel nature, he had no choice but to hesitate.
Mateo was one of her more valuable subordinates, so the punishment might be lighter.
But these two weren’t.
They were useful personnel to Seong Yura—replaceable parts at any time.
In a normal mission they might have slipped through, but this involved Loxanne.
She would almost certainly avoid high-level punishment.
After all, Seong Yura was obsessively attached to Loxanne.
Any issue related to her would prompt an extreme reaction.
If they returned now, it was as clear as day what would happen.
“……Huu.”
Mateo exhaled slowly and made his decision.
He would eliminate the dangerous stranger first, then finish off the remaining companions and the target, Kim Deok-oh.
“I’ll have to push it.”
The appearance of the unknown man.
Whether due to anomaly abilities or relics, he had cut through magic and used powerful sword qi projection.
Relaxing now was impossible.
Yet there was no sense of being outmatched.
Mateo had slain countless lives over the past decade, including powerful anomaly users and heroes.
Heroes or anomalies could wield various extraordinary powers, but they couldn’t overcome a mere dagger.
Often people mistake this, but no matter how fiercely a person spits fire, summons storms, or hurls water pillars, the one wielding the ability is still human.
Unlike monsters, humans die when pierced by a dagger.
No matter how strong a hero or villain is, a single dagger strike to a vital point will end them.
Even if an anomaly user had defeated a massive monster that shrugged off conventional weapons and crushed iron like a toothpick, there were still plenty of people who overestimated themselves.
Forgetting that anomaly abilities were merely tools.
Even if they wielded the strongest ones, they remained weak beings who could be killed by a blade to the neck.
“I don’t know if he’s deliberately inducing caution, but his movements don’t seem all that impressive. Then…”
Mateo felt confident.
Until the time he was brutally defeated by the Vigilante and lost his companions before fleeing.
……Wait.
Suddenly.
“A moment?”
An abrupt flashback flashed through Mateo’s mind.
“That sword… where have I seen something like it……”
It looked unremarkable, so he hadn’t paid much attention.
But the dark green jewel embedded in the sword’s pommel—
That memory resurfaced, unwanted and terrifying.
- Those worms who earn their bread by taking lives are here.
Once, a young man wearing a mask and hood.
- Ah, running away?
Bloody and sticky, the building reeking of blood.
- Just like worms, you have no loyalty at all?
Cruel memories of brutally slaughtering old companions.
- Yeah, run like the garbage you are. Your companions will either become monsters or die.
The brutal memory of mocking a bloodied Mateo rose to the surface.