Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Debt Witch (6)
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1.
As soon as she pinpointed the homunculus's location, Sharon clutched her wand tight and began her incantation.
The large green emerald adorning the wand's tip glowed, sending waves rippling outward.
The barrier's waves copied and overwrote the surrounding scenery like melting wax, swiftly engulfing the entire area.
It was my first time seeing a witch deploy a back-side barrier, and it felt strangely fascinating.
Sharon glanced at her compass and locked in her path.
Without a word, she hopped lightly, kicking off walls and building facades before landing gracefully on the rooftop like a nimble cat.
"What are you doing? We have to hurry!"
Her movements were so effortlessly buoyant, bouncing from spot to spot, that I couldn't help thinking, Could I ever pull that off?
But I couldn't afford to keep her waiting any longer.
Siwoo channeled mana into his toes, his entire body encased in armor, and leaped upward with all his strength, landing smoothly beside Sharon.
Sharon glanced at her compass and spoke.
"Looks like it's around that parking tower."
"But do you really need to change clothes for this?"
Siwoo asked.
In his case, the shadow armor boosted both defense and physical prowess, but Sharon didn't appear to have changed anything beyond grabbing her wand.
"Evergreen's Self-Generating Magic is elemental sorcery triggered by rituals. The robe is such a crucial part of it that it's practically magic in itself."
This was the effortless cool of a true expert.
Beneath her wide-brimmed witch's hat, Sharon's face gleamed with quiet confidence—no trace remained of the teary-eyed debtor fretting over pennies.
She exuded the seasoned gravitas of a witch who had weathered countless trials.
Dependable.
"I'll take point. Follow carefully."
"Got it."
Sharon kicked off and bounded toward the parking tower, alternating leaps between rooftops and utility poles in what looked like water lizard steps.
Reinforcing her body with mana was impressive enough, but her sense of balance was on another level.
Meanwhile, a quiet tension hung in the air.
Siwoo still wasn't used to combat or hunting.
A handful of incidents was all the experience he had under his belt—it was only natural.
Without knowing just how dangerous this homunculus might be, a touch of fear was inevitable.
"...This is what I signed up for."
But no one had forced him into it.
He'd resolved to do whatever he could to protect civilians from harm.
No backing out now.
-Whoosh!
Vast shadow wings unfurled from Siwoo's back.
He streaked after Sharon, gliding through the night streets like a shot arrow.
The wind whipping past his ears, the thrill of defying gravity and slicing through the night air like a bird—it set his heart pounding.
But there was no time to savor the flight.
The compass could detect spatial distortions within 150 meters, and they soon came face-to-face with the homunculus.
In a bustling district starved for parking, the elevator-style parking tower had been built to squeeze every inch from the cramped lot.
As Sharon had said, the homunculus dangled from the tangled steel framework like it was a jungle gym.
I figured Sharon would launch the hunt right away.
Instead, she froze in place, scanning the scene.
Something was blatantly off.
"What is it?"
"Why?"
"Look over there."
Siwoo followed her pointing finger.
A single homunculus glared down at them, growling.
It matched the monsters from Civic Park and the History Station rooftop exactly.
The memory of it devouring that man's corpse in the park overlapped, making Siwoo grimace without realizing it.
"Huh?"
Narrowing his eyes to inspect the tower, Siwoo spotted the anomaly Sharon had noticed first.
There weren't just one homunculus.
Three of them prowled toward Sharon from different spots on the tower.
"Three of them?"
"No time for overthinking."
"Can you take them all by yourself?"
"Just watch."
Sharon swept her cape aside with a flourish and gripped something in her hand.
A 500ml PET bottle of spring water.
Obviously not for quenching thirst.
It was the sacrifice for her elemental magic.
No budget for lavish offerings like before, so she'd cut corners with this makeshift substitute.
Sharon poured the bottle's contents onto the ground, and a magic circle shimmered into existence at the spot.
The water vanished instantly, without even dampening the pavement.
A mystical sight no science could explain.
Pale aqua mana reflections began rippling through the taut air.
At the same time, far more water than she'd poured seeped from the bone-dry asphalt, forming a massive puddle.
A small pond had appeared at Sharon's feet.
-Grrrrr...
-Kieeeek!
Had the combative mana provoked them?
The homunculi lunged at Sharon like predators pouncing on prey.
"These aren't the type to weave complex spells. Homunculi that rely on raw physical superiority are straightforward to handle."
Sharon thrust her wand skyward, and a barrier erupted from the puddle at her feet—towering three stories high in an instant.
A colossal wall of compressed water and mana, like a tsunami frozen in place.
"Just overpower them with even greater physical force."
The homunculi charging like rabid dogs slammed into the sudden barrier, tumbling back with thunderous crashes, but the water wall merely rippled calmly, unmoved.
Even Siwoo would've lost his footing from a single hit like that.
Yet Sharon didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow under triple the assault.
"And keep this in mind. No matter how harmless a homunculus seems..."
Sharon's wand traced a small circle in the air.
Like an orchestra responding to its conductor, the water wall shifted form.
The enormous barrier levitated, condensing into a sphere.
Compressed down to half its size, the water pressure inside likely exceeded that of Earth's deepest oceans.
"...never drop your guard. Always go all out."
-Swish swish swish swish!
The wand's tip tapped the ground, unleashing dozens of sharp whipping cracks.
Dozens of ultra-high-pressure water streams lashed out from the sphere like whips.
The shift happened so fast that without mana sight, Siwoo wouldn't have caught it.
Denser than mercury and honed to a razor's edge, the streams shredded the homunculi like paper.
So precise and vicious that even the deep gashes in the asphalt kicked up no dust, leaving no trace of the cuts.
"Whoa..."
Siwoo stared at the mangled corpses in a daze.
This wasn't the reckless brawling he did.
Clean, refined magic—efficiently delivering exactly the power needed.
Even after such a pristine takedown, Sharon showed no smugness or pride.
Behind her matter-of-fact calm lurked a flicker of unease.
"Sorry, I wanted to walk you through some hunting techniques, but... something feels off."
"What?"
"It's weird. No matter how I slice it, it's weird."
Sharon cleanly reverse-summoned the floating water and rubbed her chin.
2.
It was my first time watching a back-side barrier dissipate, and the sight was mesmerizing.
Sharon's strike hadn't just carved the asphalt and homunculi.
The parking tower and streetlamp in its path were sliced clean too.
The cuts were so perfect they held their shape without collapsing.
Of course, they soon gave way under their own weight, crumbling like a Jenga tower with a botched block...
Even so, watching the wrecked street corner rewind to pristine condition as the barrier faded filled me with awe.
Worth the hype of the great Keter Duke's magic supply?
After digging the crystals from the homunculus corpses, Sharon and Siwoo changed back into their normal clothes and headed to a nearby pub.
"........."
Siwoo ordered two frosty draft beers and some chicken.
While waiting for the chicken with the beer already in hand, Sharon sat with her chin propped, lost in deep thought, her expression grave.
"What's got you so worked up?"
Gone was the Sharon who'd lit up like she'd won the lottery at the promise of a late-night snack.
Siwoo asked cautiously, noting her troubled look.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Zoned out on you."
"That's fine."
"You said the one on the mountain looked identical to these, right?"
"Yeah, and that's what's weird?"
Sharon downed half her draft in one hearty gulp and drummed the table.
"Homunculi normally vary wildly in appearance from one to the next. But I've bagged six just like these so far. Toss in today's hunt and the ones you've got, and that's over ten identical specimens."
"And that's a problem?"
To Siwoo, barely dipping his toes into homunculus hunting, it didn't hit home as an issue.
Were matching homunculi really that unusual?
"Nah, I can't put it better than 'weird' right now. Could be me overthinking... Guess I'll hit the location point tomorrow and swap some intel."
Location point, huh...
I was curious what it was like.
But stepping into an exile hotspot myself? Not thrilled about volunteering for that.
"Fried, seasoned, and soy-garlic combo, up!"
The long-awaited chicken finally arrived.
Sharon, who'd been mulling everything over with utmost caution, perked up at the savory fried aroma, her eyes widening.
Her gaze locked on the chicken with sparkling intensity, like she'd become a different person.
If Siwoo were her boyfriend, the chicken might've sparked jealousy with that heat.
Siwoo plucked a drumstick and set it on her plate.
"No need to stress about tomorrow. Just enjoy this for now."
"Yeah!"
It was piping hot from the fryer, but she bit into the drumstick without a care.
Siwoo gave a wry smile at the sight.
It clashed so hard with her effortless homunculus massacre earlier.
"Wow... wow... wow...! This is chicken...! Those convenience store ones weren't chicken at all...!"
For Sharon, who'd survived on scraps and discards, genuine Korean fried chicken was a revelation.
Honestly, the store-bought pieces were never crispy, always gamey—I'd never been a fan either.
But this? Perfect harmony with beer. No wonder Koreans lost their minds over chimaek.
A revolution in flavor!
The drumstick oozed juices like an El Dorado of taste; the ice-cold beer was a pit stop for the weary soul.
"Take it easy."
"Thanks...! For treating me to something this good!"
Siwoo quietly piled all the drumsticks onto her plate while Sharon munched away, exclamations flying.
For this moment, bizarre homunculi and crushing debts faded to the background.
Siwoo ordered two more chickens for her sake, and they traded stories late into the night.
Was it the rare joy of it all?
Sharon never noticed.
That an unimaginable tragedy lay in wait for tomorrow's her.
That this world was endlessly cruel and pitiless to the weak.
She had no idea. Not yet.