Chapter 31
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 031
Chapter Title: Riffraff [5]
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I was about to crack a little smile but flinched instead. Damn it.
Logically speaking, wasn't this a repulsive situation? Getting a kick out of some poor guy with no grudge against me bowing like that? I'm not Magneto or anything—what the hell was this?
Snapping out of it, I realized I was thinking like a total sadistic nutjob. Was it because lately, every other thought in my head had been calling non-awakeners scum and trash?
I straightened my face and looked at Seong Mun-yeong and the Sowol-in pinned beneath him. As he tugged the rope to finish tying him up, I said,
"That’s gotta hurt. He doesn’t look like he’ll suddenly pull a knife and swing it, so go easy."
"Got it."
Maybe because we were on a mission, even that cocky punk was behaving today.
And with that, I shook the idiotic thought that non-awakeners deserved this out of my head. I didn’t want to despise myself like I just had, so from now on, I’d have to consciously hold back those kinds of thoughts.
Meanwhile, our situation was relaxed enough for this kind of self-reflection. No other Sowol-in had shown up on my mental web, and I’d already killed all the Deathclaws.
At this point, the fight was pretty much over, right? That’s what I was hoping when...
「Awakener Sanctuary, requesting support! Awakener Sanctuary, requesting support!」
The radio clipped to my chest blared.
The Awakener Sanctuary was calling for backup. It seemed even the soldiers at the guard post behind those sturdy walls couldn’t handle whatever had shown up.
Time was of the essence. As I prepped for Teleportation, the radio revealed the enemy’s identity.
「Awakener, Awakener Sowol-in! Force Field Exoskeleton and Force Field Blade―」
I Teleported twice in quick succession, as far as I could, to reach the spot.
Having Teleported outside my line of sight twice in a row so hastily, I felt dizzy. So I didn’t Teleport again and just ran to the destination.
The main gate of the containment facility came into view. That infamous iron gate, sturdy enough to stop unauthorized Ice Ability users from escaping, hadn’t held the intruder back for even a moment.
Stepping over the crumpled gate on the ground, I entered the facility. The scene that greeted me made me close and open my eyes in an instant.
A thick stench of blood. The fishy reek from a soldier split in half at the waist and another cleaved from head to crotch. A fate too grotesque for any human—like something out of a B-grade gore flick.
The other soldiers were all dead too, throats slit or limbs hacked off, and there were at least twenty of them at a glance. The one who’d radioed me was lying there with his guts spilled out. He’d wiped them all out in less than five minutes.
Seeing the limbs scattered on the ground made my body freeze for a moment.
The image of me in the illusion, legs severed, flashed through my mind again.
A chill ran through me as every hair on my body stood on end.
Did the illusion transfer the emotions from back then too? Even though it wasn’t something I’d actually experienced, I could feel burning pain in my legs.
I hesitated a bit because of it, but I didn’t hesitate for long.
Running deeper into the facility, I spotted him.
A Sowol-in.
Probably an Awakener.
He looked about 190 centimeters tall—huge overall, but skinny. And the sword he gripped...
What the hell kind of sword was that?
The blade had to be at least three meters long, just eyeballing it. But it didn’t look heavy. Long, but narrow and thin.
Even if I smashed it with my hammer, that elongated blade wouldn’t break. A Force Field Blade would encase it without a single gap.
This Awakener Sowol-in had already sliced one person apart in the facility with that fancy sword of his.
A quick glance showed a middle-aged woman’s head separated from her body, lying there.
And beyond him, the huddled Ice Ability users... They were trembling, terrified they’d end up the same way as that woman.
I looked at the decapitated woman again. She seemed about the same age as Councilor Park Mi-hyeong. Probably stuck living in a place like this because she didn’t have the money, but still.
Our eyes met. The moment I saw those dead fish eyes, all tension and fear vanished.
"Hey."
I growled, and the Sowol-in turned around.
The face I’d seen early in the illusion turned toward me. His mouth opened, spewing words I couldn’t understand.
"What’re you yapping about, you fucking bastard."
I pulled the trigger on my Hunter Rifle at the bastard still rambling. Bang!
The selector was on single shot. I wanted to unload full-auto, but I only fired once, mindful of the Ice Ability users behind him.
The cannon round hit true, slamming into his Force Field Exoskeleton.
That was the signal to fight.
There was no element of surprise. Even after taking a cannon round, the Sowol-in kicked off the ground unfazed.
Force Field Exoskeleton. Like last time, this fucker’s ability turned Awakeners into game bosses. A single cannon round barely fazed him—like taking a jab.
And just like that one Deathclaw that leaped to helicopter height, his jump power was dizzying.
He kicked off once, and in the next instant, he was swinging that sword right in front of me. It felt less like a jump and more like Teleportation.
In the illusion, I must’ve lost both legs because I couldn’t keep up with that insane speed.
But I was far superior to illusion-me. Whether reflexes or Teleportation speed.
Unlike him, I truly Teleported.
His back came into my view. As his sword cleaved through the space I’d been in—and the walls on either side—I switched the selector to full-auto.
I pulled the trigger, and golden lines poured from the muzzle. Cannon rounds hammered his Force Field Exoskeleton in succession.
He didn’t just stand there and take it.
After a few hits, he spun and kicked off the ground again.
Then it was the same as before. Before I could even blink, he was in my face, that Force Field blade flashing before me.
I could roughly track all his movements this time, but I didn’t Teleport.
The Ice Ability users were still behind me. If I dodged now, they’d all get sliced.
I stood my ground, pouring cannon rounds nonstop.
And as his Force Field blade dug halfway into my neck, my kick slammed into his gut. A textbook front kick, clean as could be.
A Physical Enhancement-powered front kick. A normal person would’ve had a hole punched through their stomach, but the Sowol-in’s Force Field-protected body flew backward.
I aimed the Hunter Rifle’s muzzle at his airborne body. More cannon rounds pummeled him as he sailed away.
Moments later, his body exploded in midair.
I watched his blood and flesh spray.
Ah...
It was my first time killing a person, but it didn’t feel like a big deal. They say in war, killing enemies with just cause dulls the shock—and it was something like that now.
Anyway, I won. He seemed like a powerhouse Awakener; a massive rush of euphoria flooded my brain. The crowd in my head chanted my name...
I shook my head to clear the euphoria.
My head lolled. Blood was spurting from my neck, and in the window reflection, half my neck was sliced through.
The sudden blood loss made me dizzy, but it didn’t matter. It’d heal soon enough.
I clamped my hand over my neck to stem the bleeding and asked the Ice Ability users,
"Everyone okay?"
A half-decapitated guy asking that must’ve been shocking. The Ice Ability users gathered here just trembled and groaned instead of answering.
Still pressing my palm to my neck, I pressed for a response.
"Everyone here’s accounted for, right? No one kidnapped except the dead ones?"
When I got specific, one woman answered.
"Three! Three got taken!"
"Where to."
I extended my mental web toward where she pointed.
Sensing a group there, I Teleported over. Sure enough, I spotted the ones I’d detected.
One burly Sowol-in presumed to be an Awakener, two minions. And the three Ice Ability users they were dragging along.
"You beggar bastards, stop."
The three Sowol-in turned to look. The two minions flinched, and the burly one seemed a bit surprised, but that was it.
Soon, the burly one’s scrutinizing gaze fixed on me.
No fear in his posture—he had to be an Awakener too.
Unlike the skinny one from before, this guy was muscled. Not as bulked up as me, who’d packed on more than a bodybuilder, but his sleek, athlete-like muscles weren’t ordinary either. Definitely Physical Enhancement physique.
And he was carrying a three-meter sword too. Its blade shimmered with the telltale haze of a Force Field Blade.
Physical Enhancement plus Force Field Blade ability.
The most common combo among Sword World Awakener lords. I’d read about it in the Awakener Hunter manual...
"Save us!" "Help!"
As the captive Ice Ability women wailed, the Awakener brute opened his mouth.
"Ak o Seath?"
He seemed to say something, but I couldn’t understand. I glanced beyond him.
A purple-shimmering Gate rippled in the distance. I had to end this here...
Damn it. Checking now, I’d emptied the magazine earlier. Not a single round left.
By the time I swapped mags and came back, they might slip into that Gate.
Rushing off for my hammer wouldn’t work either—that ridiculous Force Field blade would slice right through...
As I eyed his sword, the brute seemed focused on my weapon too.
From his glances, he’d been watching my Hunter Rifle the whole time.
No wonder—they’d been in contact with our world long enough to know which weapons were threats. They knew a Hunter Rifle could shred a Physical Enhancer in seconds.
I decided to pretend I was making a generous offer.
With a loud thunk, I dropped the Hunter Rifle to the ground.
As the brute’s eyes widened mid-sentence, I raised both hands to eye level.
Taking a basic fighting stance, I extended my right hand forward and beckoned with my fingers. Then I taunted him.
"Come at me."
The brute would get it, even without understanding the words. The gesture was clear enough.
Plus, I doubted he’d reject my “generous” offer and swing that sword. Look at me—I’d been treated like hot shit as an Awakener for less than a year, and even I was arrogant enough to call non-awakeners scum.
How arrogant would a guy who’d lorded over as an Awakener in Sword World be?
Of course, if things got dicey, I’d Teleport out—but I didn’t need to.
A clank. Metal hitting stone.
Just like I’d dropped my Hunter Rifle, he set his sword down on the ground.
Then he assumed a stance that looked similar to mine—probably their world’s fighting pose.
So the bastard knew hand-to-hand too, but that didn’t surprise me. Like how medieval knights trained wrestling and swordsmanship according to the Hunter manual, Sword World aspirants trained martial arts and swordplay. Those were the triggers for Physical Enhancement and Force Field Blade.
The brute started stepping in. I mirrored him, probing each other—then he moved first.
With a sound like a drumbeat, his fist tore through the air toward me.
By the time his shoulder twitched, I’d already shifted my upper body side to side. I leaned left, letting his fist sail past. My fist grazed his extended arm and smashed into his face.
And with that, the fight began. My first real scrap in four years since leaving the Octagon.