Chapter 45

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Translator: 8uhl

Chapter: 45

Chapter Title: Solo Revenge

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Ignoring Teva's glare, Han Seung-woo leaped from its shoulder toward its forehead.

Teva seemed to realize he was aiming for its forehead, distorting its face in fury and letting out a hideous screech.

Undeterred, just as Han Seung-woo was about to smash its forehead with his knuckle...

Teva blocked him with an even more ear-piercing screech than before.

A massive glass blade came hurtling viciously right in front of his nose.

"Seung-woo!"

He nearly got hit by the enormous glass blade flying at his face, but Lee Ru-ri summoned a black rock even faster to block it.

Ru-ri rushed toward Han Seung-woo as he safely landed on the ground.

While running, she hurled another Spear of Lamentation at Teva's chest, chipping away a bit more of its health.

—Kieeeek!

"Seung-woo, it... it looks really angry?"

"It seems like it's gotten truly dangerous now."

As the two finished assessing the situation, Teva raised both hands toward the sky again.

Then, sharp glass blades erupted from the ground where the guild members were clustered.

The guild members began collapsing one by one from the unexpected attack.

"N-No!"

Ru-ri dashed toward the guild members.

She unleashed black mana wildly, shattering the glass blades embedded in their legs.

The guild members who had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠barely dodged the attack supported their severely injured comrades.

"Looks like... we have to give up."

"Sang-chun! Sang-chun, snap out of it!"

Ru-ri collapsed beside Lee Sang-chun, who was drenched in blood.

"H-How could this..."

Han Seung-woo hurriedly ran over to Ru-ri.

"Ru-ri, are you okay?"

"Director Han! Take me first!"

"Got it!"

Kwon Dong-nyeon hoisted the unconscious Lee Sang-chun over his shoulder and headed out of the gate first.

The ground was stained red with the guild members' blood.

Han Seung-woo entrusted Ru-ri to Yang Jeong-hyun and began handling the aftermath.

And so, Light Guild abandoned their conquest of the Inex Gate and all headed outside.

Teva no longer attacked the guild members who had lost their will to fight.

It simply stared silently at the guild members leaving the gate.

"How's Teacher Lee?"

Yang Jeong-hyun asked Choi Si-jin.

"The glass blade pierced through his upper body, damaging his organs... No immediate threat to his life, but given his age, we can't rule out complications."

"Sigh... And Teacher Kwon?"

"Just stay by Teacher Lee's side."

"The reason Han Guild had no choice but to retreat is so blatantly obvious now. Total loss of motivation."

Han Seung-woo entered Yang Jeong-hyun's lab.

"Ru-ri?"

"Just checked on her sleeping and came back."

"I'm worried because Ru-ri's especially sensitive to people getting hurt or dying... Seeing so many bleeding and collapsing at once..."

"How's Teacher Lee?"

"Still the same..."

"It's been four days... I'm worried."

"Director, heading straight to the meeting?"

"Yeah. How are the other injured guild members?"

"Aside from Teacher Lee, everyone just has leg injuries, so they're fine. And Ru-ri used that... weird skill to erase the glass blades completely without a trace, so recovery's quick."

"Good. Teacher, I'll head to the meeting. Keep an eye on Ru-ri just in case."

"Got it. I'll stay with Ru-ri."

At that moment, in Ru-ri's guest room.

'Has Han Seung-woo left?'

Ru-ri had been watching Han Seung-woo leave the room with half-open eyes. Once the door clicked shut, she bolted upright.

It had already been four days. Han Seung-woo had stuck by her side without moving an inch, guarding her until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she stabilized.

Thanks to that, she was going crazy from the stuffiness.

But today, she heard the good news that an urgent meeting had been called, forcing him to head to headquarters.

Ru-ri pressed close to the front door, confirming his footsteps fading away before quickly changing clothes and grabbing her weapons and cubes.

'You dare hurt our Teacher Lee and the guild members? Hoo... Teva, you're dead. Just you wait.'

Ru-ri opened her status window to check the new gate statuses.

She confirmed the coordinates of the nearest gate and cautiously stepped out of the room.

'Better to gather info before charging in blindly. Gotta ask Keres.'

She submitted a conquest permit request at the C-rank gate entrance and pondered while waiting for approval.

'Why can't I raise its favor?'

The permit arrived quickly.

The moment Ru-ri entered the gate, she summoned Residual Shadow.

"Residual Shadow, can you ask Keres if she knows anything about this guy called Teva?"

—Understood.

"Hmm, might as well check out this C-rank while you're gone."

While Residual Shadow went to Keres, she planned to cautiously scout the gate interior.

But she hadn't taken a few steps when Residual Shadow returned.

—You've encountered Teva?

"Keres, huh."

—But it looked pretty unscathed.

"It was a smart bastard. Figured it couldn't take me and Seung-woo, so it targeted the clustered group instead."

—Its level is about the same as mine. It's one of the faithful servants, just like me.

"But Keres, all the ones I've met so far, including you, felt affinity toward me right away? Teva didn't. Any idea why?"

—Because you're not their goal.

"Ha, so it's a full-on enemy."

—Looks like you've stopped asking about the goal.

"You wouldn't tell me anyway. I'll figure it out myself. First, revenge. That thing was seriously unpleasant."

Keres seemed lost in thought for a moment, then sharply sliced the air with her hand blade.

The blood-red lake from their previous visit.

—My little master right now has no way to defeat Teva.

"Ha, why?"

—Because Teva is strong.

"Even with Drayger and Vasilahan's help?"

—They might even get wiped out.

"Can't have that."

—Indeed, farewells don't suit a journey just beginning.

"Keres, you know about farewells?"

—I've been enjoying human news lately. Humans cry a lot over partings.

"Puhahaha! You've got a cute side."

—The important thing is this. My little master is still weak.

"Hey, that hurts my pride a bit... Truth is, compared to before, I'm a little usable now."

—By 'before,' you mean when we first met? Yeah, you were unwatchable with eyes open back then.

"Hey..."

—To defeat Teva without sacrifice, my little master must grow stronger. Strong enough to form a proper contract with me.

"I struggled so much fighting A-rank Drayger and Vasilahan... If I need to contract with SS-rank you... It's beyond comprehension."

—A journey should be lively and bustling by nature.

"Lively... Oh, you mean make more contracts?"

Keres silently stared at Ru-ri before sending her back into the gate interior.

"So that's it."

Ru-ri sat down quietly to organize her thoughts.

"Charging in now could get Drayger and Vasilahan killed. I'm... too weak. Sigh, frustrating, but without Han Seung-woo fighting alongside, I'd have taken a fatal wound too."

She jumped to her feet, looked around, and steeled her resolve.

"Yeah, I need to get stronger. Train with Seung-woo, make more contracts."

Pumped up, she cautiously advanced deeper into the gate.

How far had she gone?

Pong, pong, pong, pong, pong.

'What's that cute sound?'

Ru-ri moved slowly toward the noise in a combat stance.

—Kkrik?

"Eek!"

A monster had snuck up and shot soap bubbles right at her face.

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, her body was pushed back and she tumbled over.

Ru-ri immediately reached out to check the monster's info.

The round Coremi bounced along the ground toward Ru-ri, preparing to attack.

They didn't weigh much, producing that initial pong-pong sound with each bounce.

'If they all shoot bubbles at once, even the entrance could get pushed back.'

Leaping high, she unleashed Extinction.

But the Coremi bounced even lighter, dodging her attack.

'Simple attacks won't work. Have to sweep them with an AoE.'

She immediately fired a barrage of blackened petal rain.

The whirlwind AoE attack swept up the lightweight Coremi, sending them floating helplessly before the petal afterimages shredded them effortlessly.

Toward the Coremi that didn't die instantly, she shouted Heal at full power after a long time.

"Heal!"

'Don't know how much more to safely max it, so keep going for now.'

Ru-ri fired petal rain again to attack the Coremi, then used Heal.

"How many of them are there anyway?"

Ru-ri slowly pushed through the Coremi to count them.

Even just eyeballing it, there were at least 1,000.

"C-ranks are already creepy. The gap from D-rank is huge... No wonder Seung-woo kept stopping me."

Ru-ri alternated attacks and Heals until the Coremi's favor stopped rising.

It didn't take long for the alarms to ring.

"A skill, huh."

Ru-ri quickly checked the new skill from Coremi.

"Cute name, but getting trapped in a giant bubble sounds rough. Knocking enemies back with this when they're charging would disrupt their formation. Anyway, higher ranks mean way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more favor needed. Hidden gate special bosses at 10 million... Getting Stone Sling was a steal, haa..."

Ru-ri let out a deep sigh and quickly dispatched the Coremi while pressing deeper into the gate.

"Ru-ri's gone?"

Yang Jeong-hyun headed straight to Ru-ri's guest room at Han Seung-woo's request to check on her.

But no matter how much she knocked or rang the doorbell, Ru-ri didn't come out.

Worried she might have lost consciousness, she asked the manager to open the door. Rushing in, Yang Jeong-hyun faced an empty room.

After snapping out of it, she informed Han Seung-woo that Ru-ri was missing and pondered where the woman could have gone.

'No matter how I think about it, Ru-ri sneaking out quietly like this alone has to be because of the Inex Gate.'

Han Seung-woo and Choi Si-jin rushed into Ru-ri's room. Yang Jeong-hyun calmed the pale-faced Han Seung-woo staring at the empty bed.

"She was already gone when I got to the guest room."

"Haa... Don't tell me she went to the Inex Gate alone..."

"As reckless as... Yeah, Ru-ri would totally do that."

"Let's check the gate first."

And so, the three hurriedly headed to the Gangnam Inex Gate.