Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: Chapter 35: The Traitor (3)
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Up until now, every Player Jang Cheon-yu had faced always had an opening.
They wielded just one sword, but she used two.
To her, who had been forcibly trained as ambidextrous since childhood, opponents who used only a single weapon were nothing more than easy prey.
Strike the left, and the right would open up; strike the right, and the left would be exposed. All she had to do was exploit that gap and thrust her sword in.
But this uninvited guest was different.
When she struck from the left, his spear would surely follow to block it. And when she tried to slip through that opening to target his right side, the spear's shaft would somehow be waiting for her blade.
As if he knew exactly where she would swing her sword.
Gritting her teeth, she swung her swords even faster, but the intruder matched her speed in an instant.
It was a relaxed response, as if he were testing how far she could go.
"You sneaky bastard...!"
Frustrated, she yelled and swung both swords upward at the same time.
With all her might, fueled by the determination to finally land a solid hit on him.
"Hmm."
But her opponent remained utterly composed, as if he had read her move again.
The intruder laid his spear shaft horizontally and stepped forward.
He struck her wrists with the shaft, preemptively blocking her attack.
Then, suddenly, he twisted his body.
"Hngh!"
Over the horizontal shaft, he raised his foot and kicked toward her head.
The moment that foot, surging with red mana, connected, her head might explode—that sharp warning flashed in her mind.
She urgently leaned her waist back, and a chill grazed her nape.
Instinctively, Jang Cheon-yu kicked off the ground and shifted her balance backward.
The instant she launched herself away like she was fleeing, the long spear swept through the space where her neck had been.
If she hadn't pulled back, her head would have been severed.
The moment her back hit the ground, she rolled backward to her feet.
Crack.
The spear thrust down from above pierced the gleaming marble floor.
From that point on, the tide of battle completely turned.
"Ugh!"
The momentum she had used to press the intruder moments ago vanished, and now she was overwhelmed just blocking his onslaught.
One slash, then a thrust, and even an attempt to smash her with the spear shaft—it was chaos.
Left eye, right temple, head, left chest, then head again, followed by the center of her abdomen.
Any single miss would mean a fatal wound.
Every moment felt like her life was on the line.
It was a sensation utterly foreign to Jang Cheon-yu.
She had always been the one lording over others, toying with their lives.
Even when Zhang Yang had beaten her, she had never felt her life truly threatened.
Because of that, she lost her composure, and her movements began to falter, unlike at the start.
Unable to block with her weapons, she had to dodge by leaping away from the intruder's attacks.
In the process, the glass wall behind her shattered with a crash.
It was nothing special. The officetel was already a wreck, with debris and destruction everywhere.
The real problem was that, despite this mess, none of her subordinates from the floor below showed so much as a glimpse.
'Even with the barrier up...'
The mana in the area was surging wildly; they weren't idiots who couldn't sense it.
That meant the intruder hadn't come alone.
It also meant she had to abandon any hope of outside reinforcements.
'Last time, those guys made noise from all directions.'
She had waited for them to set up the barrier, bored out of her mind.
But this one had approached completely silently.
His proficiency with the spear and control over mana were both a cut above hers.
It seemed a real pro had shown up this time.
The sense of crisis she had dismissed earlier now blared like an alarm.
But just as Jang Cheon-yu swallowed dryly, something happened to numb her alertness again.
"Your swordsmanship isn't bad, honestly. I was a bit surprised."
And now.
"Let's see how well you handle your mana."
His arrogant eyes, as if grading her skills, snapped her reason.
"I was just gonna kill you, but since you're putting up a decent fight, I'll play with you a bit."
Each following word scraped at her pride.
As her attribute mana boiled over and the air inside the barrier heated up.
"What are you waiting for?"
The intruder taunted her, beckoning with his palm upturned.
"If you don't wanna die like this, put up a fight."
Burn everything you've got.
"Fine, you cocky bastard."
Growling like a beast with a lowered voice, Jang Cheon-yu's swords ignited.
* * *
I had heard that security around the new shelter had been tightened after the previous raid.
Yet Jang Cheon-yu's surroundings were strangely quiet.
'Sure, a few silver plaques are stationed there.'
But it didn't seem like they were protecting her.
'Not even in the same unit, let alone the same floor—what could they do?'
In an emergency, did they plan to punch through the floor and come up?
That would be a terrible miscalculation.
This game had barrier magic that could isolate and extract targets cleanly.
'Well, even without that, I've got stealth now.'
Hunting bounties absorbs all sorts of magic.
Among them was the rank-3 wind attribute spell, Stealth.
'Normally, I couldn't manifest it with my attribute mana.'
Fortunately, Kim Yul had provided a ring-shaped mana storage artifact filled with rank-3 wind mana.
Thanks to that, I could quietly monitor Jang Cheon-yu as she entered alone, fuming.
Even when I approached within a few meters, she detected no mana residue from me.
It meant I could tightly seal my mana in my core.
'The info from the prisoners only said she's fire attribute.'
Nothing beyond that...
'Who would've thought magma.'
A pretty rare attribute.
'And unlike Zhang Lun, her mana control doesn't seem trash.'
Looks like I found the perfect sparring partner to build PvP experience.
That was why I provoked her when she started pulling back defensively.
True to her fiery attribute, she reacted instantly to the shallow taunt.
Continuing the fight like this, killing her wouldn't be hard.
Provoked by my words, Jang Cheon-yu kicked off the ground and charged again.
Boom, thud—!
The clash of spear and swords echoed with a weight hard to believe from mere weapons.
"Dieee!"
Magma—manifested mana—splattered everywhere with each swing of Jang Cheon-yu's swords.
Soon after, she even unleashed an AoE spell.
The already cracked marble floor began to bubble and boil.
I hastily erected a barrier and floated into the air just as the marble melted.
A radius of about 2 or 3 meters turned into lava.
"Huh."
I didn't know the spell's exact name, but it was one hell of a sight.
Not particularly threatening, though.
'We're in a high-rise.'
Sure enough, the officetel's floor, turned to lava, sank with a gulp.
It pooled awkwardly in midair, unable to pierce the double barrier of the same rank.
If she'd cast that outside, and on a larger scale, it would've been a headache.
Without flight magic, there'd be no counter.
But the geographical advantage here halved the spell's power.
"Tch."
Jang Cheon-yu realized it too and soon dispelled the magic.
She smirked up at me, still perched on my barrier.
"Floating away suits you. Chicken."
She was trying to get under my skin, in her own way.
'Alright then, I'll play along.'
With a smirk, I kicked off the barrier lightly and muttered.
"Sure, but I look better charging in first. Suits my style."
The concentration of attribute mana in my spear thickened, sparking more intensely outward.
In that state, I dove from above, thrusting the spear straight down.
Lightning and magma clashed again, erupting in brilliant flashes.
The meeting of flames wasn't light.
The spreading heat continued igniting the sofa leather, curtains, and anything flammable.
Then, out of nowhere, at the most random timing, my eyes narrowed.
The barrier behind Jang Cheon-yu rippled for a split second.
No—it definitely rippled.
'What the hell was that?'
I wasn't using a standard shop-bought barrier stone today.
To prevent any target escape, it was a double barrier custom-made by a high-rank spatial mage.
'It should far exceed normal barrier hardness.'
Only a seriously skilled mage could breach it.
Plus, barriers don't ripple like waves when breached.
They crack like glass and collapse.
'Not normal, but...'
It happened right in front of me.
'A relic?'
No surprise if someone had an artifact that nullified or ignored barriers.
But uncertain, it nagged at me.
First at 12 o'clock behind Jang Cheon-yu.
Then 10 o'clock, 4 o'clock, and even overhead—the same phenomenon.
Soon, the entire barrier showed similar ripples.
"Fuck, what the...?"
Jang Cheon-yu seemed clueless about it too.
But before she could retreat.
A hole punched through one rippling section of the barrier with a pop.
Then, the most absurd thing happened beside Jang Cheon-yu.
Empty air tore open with a rip, and a black hand emerged from it.
The first to react wasn't me or Jang Cheon-yu.
「Trait Capitalism activates.」
「System switches to support mode. Support target: Player Kang Hyun-woo.」
「Detecting abnormal connection. Attempting to block.」
The System reacted faster than anyone.
"......!"
But sadly, no time to check the sudden messages.
A black object shot from the hand slicing through the air, hurtling toward me.
A black rod, fist-thick and about a meter long.
Seeing it, I didn't retreat or dodge—instead, I accelerated and thrust my spear deep.
Nearly instinctual.
The abruptly surged attribute mana sparked violently, filling the surroundings densely.
Result: Stab!
Distracted by the phenomenon beside her, Jang Cheon-yu let her guard down, and my spear pierced her neck precisely.
At the same time, the black object from the hand impaled my abdomen.
"Kuhk!"
Even as Gold Rank, my body wouldn't take a scratch from a full-force knife thrust by an average adult male.
For something to pierce it—overwhelming power.
The force sent me flying back.
I slammed into the wall with a fist-thick rod embedded in my gut.
But even that wall couldn't withstand the momentum hurling me.
It cracked and crumbled on impact.
One, then two.
I punched through two walls before crashing into the edge of the double barrier.
And as it shattered too, I was flung outside.
"Kay!"
Lily Evans's voice rang out—she was supposed to wait nearby and form her own barrier.
But I couldn't respond.
In the split second tumbling to the floor, the interface graphics filling my vision began glitching.
「Infected with #@&|**. Infected entity begins proliferation.」
「Purify the infection entity immediately.」
[Warning]
Failure to purify #@&|** will result in forced termination.
Time Limit: 00:15:00
Unlike usual, the message window had bolded text, and a red-tinged system window overlaid my view.
A few words especially caught my eye.
'Infection, Purification, Forced Termination.'
It took exactly 12 seconds to grasp the situation.
After glancing at the timer now at 14:48, I immediately pressed a hand to my abdomen.
Gripping the black, meter-long, fist-thick rod embedded in my stomach.
"Kay, don't!"
Ignoring Lily Evans rushing over to stop me.
"Hup."
I took one deep breath, gritted my teeth, and yanked!
"Hngh!"
Despite my toughened body, pain wasn't trained away.
An intense agony whitened my vision, slamming my brain.
"Uwaaaah!"
To stay conscious, I deliberately screamed, jolting my senses.
'B-Blunt the bleeding first...!'
In that fleeting moment clinging to awareness, blood gushed with each heartbeat, pooling thickly.
Purification timer still had over 14 minutes—handle bleeding first.
"Hngh, hup."
With trembling hands, I pulled potions from storage.
No time to uncork properly—I snapped the glass necks with my fingers.
Pouring in three or four stopped the visible bleeding.
Glancing up to check time, my brow twitched.
'18 minutes?'
The timer had increased.
Damn System