Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Chain Rampage Incident (9)
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We don't know the opponent's methods.
But since we're the ones chasing them, and they're the ones retreating,
at least we should enter boldly, right? If they've noticed our presence, they wouldn't have left even a single defense unprepared.
I explained calmly, and P and Rosie nodded vigorously.
"It feels just like Master."
"The style is unmistakably Baekdo's, no matter who sees it."
"Huh?"
I recoiled in horror, my face scrunching up.
Cheondo was like that, and now these women too—why were they so desperate to shove Baekdo onto me?
Good thing I was wearing the mask. Without it, they would've seen my pissed-off expression.
-Clap.
P clapped once and extended her hand to me.
"Well, it's not wrong, though. Hey, junior, hurry up and turn around. You're too tall, so kneel."
"Ah, yes."
"Hurry and move aside; I need to do it too."
I knelt down on the muddy ground. P gently stroked my back, then began gathering mana at her fingertips.
She grinned mischievously.
"You're so lucky? An S-rank buffer is the real deal. You can't even get it for money."
"Yes..."
After a moment of showing off, she got serious and began drawing the magic circle, chanting the incantations.
[Physical Ability Enhancement] [Muscle Hypertrophy] [Mana Circuit Reinforcement] [Regeneration Boost] [Magic Protection] [Mana Liberation] [Fierce Resistance] [Overflowing Vitality]... ⟨Buff Chant⟩
Calmly, and at length.
Dozens of sentences of mana symbols engraved across my body, glowing brightly.
The blue glow soon absorbed my mana, corrupting into black, and at the same time, my muscles swelled once.
"Whew, that was freaking tough. I put in everything I could. Hey, Rosie."
"I know, no need to say it."
Next was Rosie's turn.
The gap between supporter and healer was less than a step; their abilities were practically identical.
-Humm!
Rosie's magic layered over P's spell.
From that alone, I glimpsed realms several levels higher, quickly advancing the mysteries of my sword and fists right there.
"All done."
As soon as Rosie's words fell, I stared at my left hand, clenching and unclenching it.
I could vividly feel the air currents splitting in time with my movements.
Incredible power.
Several times—no, ten times stronger than my usual output.
Is this what stats over 10 feel like?
I rose to my feet and lifted my head.
Mana surging from my entire body overflowed, unable to fill me and leaking outward.
"How much time do we have?"
"20 minutes."
"30 for me. Totally different dimension."
Rosie and P locked eyes. I heard the sound of teeth grinding fiercely.
Feeling the unfamiliar movements, I loosened up my body. Should I charge ahead now?
As I bent my legs, P grabbed my shoulder, stopping me from leaping forward.
"You'll need time to adapt roughly. Even S-rank hunters take about a year to properly adjust to our buffs."
"Really?"
"Well, since you're the one Cheondo acknowledged, maybe just a month?"
I slowly turned my head toward the factory and continued.
"How long did Master Baekdo take?"
"Huh, why ask that? Hey, how long did Baekdo take?"
"Just 3 days. Probably the world record?"
I see.
I smirked.
"Adaptation complete."
"What?"
I'm above Baekdo.
-KABOOM!
The block crumbles.
The mud on the broken floor lets out a harsh roar. Brown waves split apart one after another.
Where my toes touched, mana ripples spread outward.
My flashing gaze pierced straight into the sky.
The dawn nightscape flashing by like lightning expanded once, then contracted,
and my extended fist whipped up a gale on its own.
-Kurrrgh!
When that first strike hit the wall.
The steel girders and pipes forming the factory's outer wall tore off like the bare bones of a corpse.
Concrete and cement shattered to pieces.
"Beyond imagination."
I flexed my hands, feeling that power.
It felt like I'd glimpsed Baekdo's world in an instant.
-Grrr.
The ent waiting right in front swung a fist the size of its own body.
The attack I'd barely tracked with my eyes before now unfolded in slow motion.
This time, I controlled my power.
Releasing all tension, to kill only the one before me.
In a crude stance, I drew back my fist and slammed it into its solar plexus.
A simple, stupidly brute-force single blow without any technique or finesse.
-Thud!
A massive hole burst open in the ent's chest.
I kicked the chest of the kneeling ent, sending its corpse flying into the wall with the force.
Before overwhelming firepower, weight class differences were meaningless.
I felt the thrill coursing through my entire body.
And at the same time, a sense of responsibility crushed my shoulders. In this setup where I was the sole combatant, what would happen if I collapsed.
-Gulp.
Saliva slid down my throat.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a situation where I could deeply ponder worries like defeat.
-Flash.
Dozens of pale yellow eyes fixed on me. Robed figures encircled me.
Dozens of ents and dozens of cultists concealed their forms while subtly revealing their killing intent.
"Junior, this seems like a lot. They're dead set on killing us, huh?"
P, who had somehow caught up behind me, taunted the enemies. She cracked her knuckles with overlapping hands.
"Ah~ Gonna make it broadcast-worthy again. Without even knowing who we are."
"Shut the fuck up. Can't maintain any gravitas because of you."
Rosie snapped at such P. Despite her voice full of playfulness, their bodies brimmed with ferocious killing intent and mana.
The true pro mindset, where slaying foes and living peaceful daily life felt no different.
Impressed inwardly by that demeanor, I lifted my right foot.
Right now, it felt possible.
"One Step... no."
Probably.
"Heavenly Demon Supremacy Step."
One step stamps the ground.
The massive pressure born from that spot dominates the narrow space itself.
-Kugugugugu!
The earth quakes and the air trembles.
Some ents and cultists, eyes bulging, couldn't withstand the pressure and dropped to their knees.
"Hey, you... that."
Right behind me, P and Rosie stared with eyes round as saucers.
As if they'd never even dreamed of such a technique. Rosie went so far as to clap her hand over her mouth in shock.
"Junior. Did you learn that from Master?"
No.
I smiled at her.
"Stole it."
Just the achievement of that damn stubbornness. Too shabby to call it that, though.
I began gathering mana in both fists. Every pose drawing an arc took a form similar to Baekdo's.
The form of the Wooden Fist Law: Immortal Fruit.
A fist law stance befitting my body, which had accepted Baekdo's essence.
Still incomplete, but I figured it had power in its own right.
-Drip.
The pressure halts.
The enemies blazing with killing intent charge all at once.
P and Rosie drew their respective weapons.
In the brief span where the clock's second hand ticked mere times.
-Bang!
Blood spurting from the cultists' necks painted flowers on the gray-brown floor.
As the battle dragged on, crimson patterns etched onto my clothes.
After a moment's time, my entire body was drenched head to toe in cultist blood.
-Kwang!
I grab a cultist's face and smash it into the ground.
Blood flows out between chunks of shattered cement.
5 minutes remaining.
I exhaled the breath I'd held and scanned the surroundings thoroughly.
"Hoo, hoo."
The pitch-black abandoned factory, with only faint moonlight filtering down.
A mountain of crushed corpses piled there, hides and faces tangled together.
"Is that all of them?"
"Dunno. Fuck."
P replied in a rather rough tone. It seemed she'd depleted her mana on my enhancement and couldn't sustain a prolonged fight.
And the same went for Rosie. She clutched her shoulder, apparently somewhat injured.
As I reached out toward Rosie's shoulder, she whispered to me in the tiniest voice.
"Junior. Hold on a sec, hoo. Doesn't seem over yet."
"Huh?"
"...Someone's still here."
Following her words, I expanded my senses around us.
At the same time, I placed my hand on Rosie's shoulder.
-Humm!
🛡️ Healing Power 🛡️ Wound rapidly closing. "...This."
"Don't ask on purpose. So where's that bastard?"
"No clue. Just caught a glimpse mid-fight."
I clicked my tongue briefly.
I turned only my head, taking in the surroundings once more.
Tower of corpses. Despite their grotesque forms, an eerie silence hung in the air.
The blood traces brushing my nostrils faded in moments. The factory's thick scent of oil and rusted iron dominated the place.
'...Hold on.'
Oil?
-Thud.
Footsteps echoed from all directions.
"Didn't expect to see you here."
Snow-white hair fluttered in time with their steps.
She—no, they—taking the form of 7-year-old children, closed in with nearly identical steps, perfectly encircling us.
"Wanted to greet you in my true form, but it's a shame I can't."
The name naturally surfaced behind them.
Cistus.
In a corner of my mind, a horrific future seemed to unfold.
-Click. Click.
They advanced toward us, maintaining perfect distance like a glass wall between us.
P urgently poked my side.
"...Hey."
"Yeah."
"Escape upward."
No need for a reply.
I scooped up both women and kicked off the ground, soaring into the air.
But even faster, Cistus's bodies began to split.
"Too late."
The girl's flesh erupts. Crimson conflagration swallows the factory interior.
Frozen in shock, I couldn't tear my eyes away.
Mana's special effect.
Mana splitting in a way I'd never seen scattered like fission cores, heat surging upward.
"Fuck!"
P flung her hands out in panic. Her palms were stained with blood she'd coughed up.
Barrier formed of multifaceted properties.
The crimson wave completely engulfs the barrier.
Death danced before my eyes.
"Hey, hey, transfer mana quick!"
At P's urgent cry, Rosie reached for the back of her neck.
The cracking barrier momentarily solidified.
But it wasn't enough.
'Gotta give her my mana...'
The moment I tried to channel mana to her, I blanked out for a second, gauging the magic circle and mana volume.
Ah. No good.
"What the hell are you doing, you fucker!"
"Even if I give it, we can't block it."
Cold assessment.
Even pouring all my mana in, this explosion couldn't be stopped. No hard proof, but my instincts screamed it.
Transfer mana like this, and we die.
Think. Cheondo had given me trials.
Seeing my expression, P screamed with a flushed face.
"Then what, we just die like this, fuck?!"
"P, hold on."
"Why? Why die together like idiots?!"
"No, not—"
Rosie stared at my face, speechless.
No further words came.
I simply fixed my gaze on the barrier, racking my brain to extract its form and state.
-Crackle.
Through gaps in the shattering barrier, that language seeped into my mind.
Heat surges. Skin on my cheeks melts away.
Yet it didn't hurt.
In my throbbing head, the sensation from when I'd first felt mana swirled like a maelstrom.
"Ah."
I extended my hand.
Black mana touched the barrier. The shallow shield began subtly shifting its form.
Mana alone wouldn't cut it, so I burned life force.
-Sizzle, sizzle.
Eardrums bursting. Burning agony enveloped my body.
Blood streamed from my nose.
'We can survive.'
A confident judgment settled in.
In that joy, I squeezed my eyes shut and tears flowed. Tasting it, blood.
The heat ebbed, the barrier lost its momentum.
I, floating midair, went limp and plummeted toward the ground.
-Whoosh.
Wind grazing my cheek.
Senses fading.
"Hey, grab the kid! Heal! Heal!"
"Got him already!"
Held in a woman's arms, I heard Rosie and P's voices muffled in my ears.
Potions sprinkled over my face. Recovery magic blanketed my body.
About 30 seconds?
From my mouth, barely managing breaths, words finally spilled.
"...We fucking lived."
"You bastard!"
Hail the Healing World Tree. Dodged getting royally fucked otherwise.
P hugged me tight with a voice mixed in awe, while Rosie wiped sweat from her brow with a weary face.
Everything seemed finally over.
-Kugugugu.
But most trials don't give a damn about the challenger's plight.
Salt in the wound. Perfect expression.
A colossal beast filling the building had endured the explosion, glaring at us with bulging eyes.
"Gonna lose it."
Death had come knocking again.
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