Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Magi
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I'd been planning to time my wakeup perfectly, but that turned out to be unnecessary.
Someone had kicked our cart hard.
When I opened my eyes, two disheveled bitches were sneering down at us.
"You're awake, huh."
"Kekeke, where should we start cutting?"
One held an axe, the other dual-wielded swords.
Their wild eyes and flicking tongues marked them as half-mad already.
"Ever seen hunters like that?"
"Nope. First time for crazy bitches like these."
Nayeong wrinkled her nose.
The killing intent pouring off them was no joke.
They seemed human... but with something inhuman mixed in.
She's addicted to magi.
'Magi?'
Magi was like a toxin from magic stones.
Magic stones matched their gate's color, but those laced with magi were pitch black.
Every once in a while, when hunting monsters, a black one would drop. The magi leaking from them was lethal to humans.
At first, people thought they were artifacts and tried stripping the casing—only for black gas to erupt, killing everyone exposed as they vomited blood.
After that incident, black magic stones became one of the materials forbidden from ever leaving the gates.
If the great spirit was right and these bitches were addicted to magi, that meant there was a way to survive exposure after all.
'What the hell did that cult do?'
Magi addiction leaves nothing but murderous impulses in the brain. It's been eroding them for too long—purification's impossible. Just kill them.
I'd planned to overpower them and trace their cult links, but these nutjobs made that impossible.
No levels from hunters either, so I'd handle them personally.
'No weapons besides summons? I wanna slice 'em myself.'
I'm melee striker class.
'Then make me a hammer at least.'
I'll make you something better.
No sooner had he spoken than nearby pebbles floated into the air.
The drooling bitches advancing on us froze at the anomaly.
"A mage?"
"Doesn't matter. Pathetic pebbles."
The axe bitch raised her weapon and leaped.
Aiming precisely for my right arm, her swing pegged her at minimum A-rank.
Clang—!!
The sharp axe blade bounced off something.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of incoming stones now enveloped my arm.
Packing on tight without gaps, they swelled several times larger.
My right arm had become a golem's—clad in a massive stone gauntlet.
The axe bitch gaped in horror.
"Wh-what the hell!!"
"What else? Stone fist."
Like Detective Ma Dongchul from Crime City, I smashed her face flat.
KABOOM—!!
A thunderous impact sent her flying far off.
I coiled to pursue when the dual-sword bitch blocked me.
"You bastard... dieee!!"
Her shoulder strike with both swords was too fast to track.
Faster even than the striker swordsman from the Blue Gate.
Clang—!!
Stones spreading over my shoulder blocked the blade.
She retracted fast and targeted vitals relentlessly, but freely shifting stones thwarted her every time.
Backing off, she glared murderously.
Bloodshot eyes burst vessels, beading crimson.
Gnome said kill her, but I took the standoff to probe.
"What are you? Why try to kill us out of nowhere?"
"Why reveal ourselves to a dead man?"
"You saw me fight and still..."
I didn't finish.
Her dual swords twisted unnaturally, skin cracking open.
"Didn't expect this... kekekeke, kyaack—!!"
Black liquid oozed from the splits, coating her blades.
Stretching with the swords, it thinned into lance tips.
The black spears fused to her arms scraped the ground.
Her face was human... but the expression pure demon.
Dangerous. Both arms heavily eroded by magi.
One arm lanced out, narrowly grazing my ear.
Without the stones deflecting it, my forehead would've been pierced.
The second plunged from above; I barely swatted it with my stone fist.
Third, fourth... I blocked the onslaught, but no openings for counterattack.
Nayeong loosed arrows from behind, but the spears split into branches, swatting them aside effortlessly.
Magi-boosted, her attack power surpassed S-rank.
'She's speeding up.'
What a pain, seriously.
Old man, struggling? I'll help.
Undine somehow sounded amused.
Shut it! My turn—no one interfere.
Gnome's voice brimmed with anger.
A magi-soaked wretch dares bother a great spirit?
The ground quaked like an earthquake.
As the dual-sword bitch staggered, a massive boulder erupted right behind her.
Now! Charge!
Pebbles aligned behind me in an instant, shoving me toward her.
I rocketed forward like a slingshot.
Pinned by the boulder, she hurled her spears.
As if calculated, the ground bucked up perfectly for my leap.
Her spears sliced empty air; my stone fist plunged toward her skull.
Crunch—!!
Her head burst like a hydraulic press, upper body half-vanishing before my fist halted.
As the remains hit the ground, the black liquid coating my arm began unraveling.
Wriggling like worms seeking shelter, it looked alive.
Miry mud welled up, enveloping the liquid.
It thrashed wildly, but the mud indifferently rolled it into a ball.
Like a dung beetle shaping beast shit.
Otherwise, it burrows underground and parasitizes monsters, corrupting their magic stones into black ones.
The magi-laced mud ball shrank and vanished.
'How does this parasite humans?'
They implant black magic stones artificially. That cult's up to some shady shit.
'How's a human surviving magi exposure?'
No idea. Once magic stones and artifacts exit gates, it's human territory.
So the cult knew how to handle magi.
Given the results, nothing normal about it.
"What the hell did they do to hunters?"
Nayeong grimaced.
"Looks like the Hunter Agency and guilds don't know everything. Definitely not legit methods."
The sprawled corpse sank into the earth.
Hunter life force—Yin Energy—dissipates on death, marking them foreign inside gates.
Gates don't leave foreign matter be.
Soon, the dual-sword bitch vanished without trace.
"What about the axe one?"
Nayeong asked; Gnome answered.
Neck snapped on impact. Probably fully absorbed by now.
The cult's two assassins gone.
Gate incident, so no immediate exposure—but us unscathed would raise suspicions.
This put us at war with the cult.
No regrets, though.
Just confirmed they were even crazier than expected.
"What's next?"
"We're in—might as well clear it. Level you up."
I took Nayeong's hand, passing Yin Energy and the Gnome sigil.
Ruins terrain, so Gnome took lead.
Behold the might of earth.
The Sylph sigil vessel expanded—no last-time struggle.
"Hah! Hyaaang... s-slow down, too faaaast...!"
"Don't sound like you're having sex."
Nayeong's reactions were as sticky as before.
*
"Kyaaa!! Woojin! I leveled up, I did iiit...!!"
Boss down, she hugged and bounced around me.
Angkor Wat statue vibe; Nayeong soloed it easy.
I activated the Yin Energy Scout for her status.
Level jumped 6 (47 → 53), hitting B-rank at last.
Hunter Agency certification needed, but status confirmed it—pure formality.
Blue Gate (Unregistered) cleared. Congratulations!
[Rewards]
Points: 3,000pt
Artifact: Yin Energy Amplifier
Plenty for me too.
3,000 points, and another king-exclusive artifact.
'Yin Energy Amplifier?'
No clue from the name alone.