Chapter 70
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Tiakl's Pact
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With her shout, a massive spear plunged down from the sky, erupting in a blinding flash.
The spear stabbed straight into Tiakl's chest, and the flame-shrouded Tiakl let Lee Ru-ri drop limply from its grasp.
After that, spears rained down endlessly, flashing one after another.
Lee Ru-ri quickly righted her posture and checked near her heart. The bright red mark had already vanished.
And a small Tiakl was racing toward her at high speed, trying to etch that red mark back onto her heart.
"Not a chance."
Lee Ru-ri recalled her flowing black hair and shouted again.
"Manifest."
The space ahead, where the small Tiakl was charging, twisted sharply, and the black-haired Zanjerko stepped out, binding the small Tiakl with her long locks.
The flame-wreathed Tiakl screamed, clearly displeased with the situation, and the small Tiakl vanished in an instant.
Zanjerko wrapped Lee Ru-ri protectively with the same strands that had bound the small Tiakl.
Basillahan, who had speared Tiakl's chest moments ago, had already descended to Ru-ri's side.
Zanjerko urged Lee Ru-ri with deep concern.
"Yeah. I'll hold on just fine. Just keep it from dying. I've got homework from Keres to finish."
Basillahan turned to Lee Ru-ri with a sly grin.
"Basillahan, that handsome face of yours is making my heart skip a beat when you smile like that. Do me a favor!"
Shwak!
Basillahan immediately summoned his anaconda legion, unleashing them toward Tiakl before mounting up and charging.
Zanjerko, too, kept trying to restrict Tiakl's movements with her long hair to keep the pressure on.
The flame-wreathed Tiakl and the small Tiakl.
Only one of them could speak at a time.
"That means the small Tiakl is like a puppet under some spell. From what I see, the one in the flames is the real body."
Zanjerko first repeatedly thwarted the small Tiakl's attempts to mark Lee Ru-ri's heart.
Basillahan poised thousands of blades at the flame-wreathed Tiakl's heart, preparing a strike to prevent it from properly controlling the small one.
The flame-wreathed Tiakl cried out in frustration again.
"What's so annoying?"
As the flame-wreathed Tiakl murmured in a low voice, massive flames surged up in an instant.
The small Tiakl slipped into those flames for cover.
Sensing the shift in the gate's energy, Zanjerko and Basillahan hurried back to Lee Ru-ri's side.
"Something big is coming, isn't it?"
"You might actually kill Tiakl if you're not careful. That's not allowed yet."
The three braced for Tiakl's attack while pondering how to push it to the brink.
"Zanjerko, got any ideas?"
"Of course. My dark mana exists to fight for you all."
At Lee Ru-ri's words, Zanjerko gently caressed the wound on her cheek.
The wound's edges closed up, vanishing in moments.
"Huh?"
Zanjerko drew deeply on Lee Ru-ri's dark mana.
Her disheveled black hair on the ground shot up into the air all at once, exuding black energy as it hurtled toward Tiakl at tremendous speed.
Zanjerko's hair strands pierced sharply into the all-consuming blaze.
Tiakl retaliated, spewing flames along the invading hair.
Basillahan blocked those flames, swinging his massive spear to keep them from reaching Lee Ru-ri.
'Should I try the skill from Kaizer?'
While keeping her heals steady, Lee Ru-ri quietly swung the Whip of Wrath at the spot where Tiakl stood.
Foosh.
A glossy sheet of ice formed where the whip struck, and the flames over that area died down.
"Oh, it works."
Meanwhile, Zanjerko's hair had burrowed deep into Tiakl's skin, whittling away at its health.
The moment Tiakl's health dropped from 5 percent to 4 percent...
Lee Ru-ri sensed something off.
"Hold up."
Zanjerko withdrew the hair embedded in Tiakl's skin.
Lee Ru-ri slowly approached Tiakl.
Tiakl was whispering to the small Tiakl, urging it to die.
"You okay?"
"I can't kill you, but I'll hear you out."
At Lee Ru-ri's words, Tiakl clutched the small Tiakl and sobbed.
No longer showing any sign of attacking, Zanjerko and Basillahan approached Lee Ru-ri and Tiakl.
"Zanjerko, something's wrong with Tiakl."
Zanjerko drew closer to Tiakl and caressed its wounds.
Basillahan dismounted, stowed his spear, and spoke.
"Tiakl."
Lee Ru-ri softly called its name, and Tiakl sobbed as it replied.
"Your child?"
"Slaughtered?"
Basillahan's eyes flashed for a moment.
"Hmm, I'm not sure if I can even meet a god."
"Gods transcend humans. So a human like me probably can't meet one. Plus, you've been asleep as long as Basillahan, right? Gods might've had a regime change by now."
Basillahan couldn't hold back and burst into hearty laughter at Lee Ru-ri's words.
Tiakl let out a feeble chuckle, equally incredulous.
Seizing the moment, Lee Ru-ri cautiously activated Aura of Submission, and Tiakl's favorability rose.
With Zanjerko and Basillahan's attacks and Lee Ru-ri's heals having already boosted it considerably, it didn't take long to fill the rest.
Ding!
Tiakl, Who Swallowed Hatred's favorability has increased by 10,000,000.
Target's accumulated favorability is now 10,000,000.
Summon contract limit has been lifted.
"Tiakl, how about trusting me once?"
"Hmm, prove it, huh."
Lee Ru-ri pointed at Basillahan and Zanjerko.
Tiakl chuckled softly again.
"Force you? I'm the one receiving help here. I don't have the right."
Tiakl slowly closed its eyes.
Lee Ru-ri carefully raised both hands and shouted toward it.
"Manifest."
As her cry faded, her dark mana bottomed out in an instant, enveloping Tiakl.
"What's different this time?"
When the dark mana dispersed, Tiakl's skin had returned to its original moonlit white.
Its blazing red eyes, like Keres's, had turned to the clear blue of Zanjerko's.
"Even now, you're up to mischief?"
The vanished small Tiakl fluttered excitedly right up to Lee Ru-ri's nose.
She flicked its nose tip lightly and said,
"This one's a puppet, right?"
Tiakl summoned another small Tiakl and continued.
"How many puppets can you call?"
"Yeah."
Tiakl instantly summoned countless small Tiakls at Lee Ru-ri's feet, lifting her into the air.
"If each puppet can mark one enemy..."
"Whoa."
"Wow, she's seriously impressive."
Yang Jeong-hyun was reviewing the list of gates Lee Ru-ri had cleared.
"Mid-level ones around Seoul had about an hour generation cooldown."
"Now... she's in Gangwon Province."
"Assigned a reporter already? How does she move so fast?"
"She always exceeds our expectations, doesn't she?"
"True, better to give up predicting her. Anyway, a second awakening?"
Yang Jeong-hyun paused her conversation with Han Seung-woo and turned to Kim Tae-woong.
"When she returns this time, something will have changed again—that's what Dae-hee and I think."
"Yeah. Her stats already double the new S-rank ceiling Chairman Han set."
"What kind of monster is she...?"
"You're talking about Ru-ri... right?"
Baek Eun-an entered the small conference room where Han Seung-woo's group was gathered, with Jin Mi-seon in tow.
"Ah, Professor Baek! Professor Jin, you're here too. Ru-ri... you know, she's no ordinary girl."
"I figured as much. There had to be a reason my sister and brother-in-law hid her from the world since birth..."
"Yeah, even back when she made a name with the Ghost Crew as a healer with no weapon, I knew she wasn't normal."
Han Seung-woo continued grimly as he listened to Baek Eun-an and Jin Mi-seon.
"The problem is that Han Gyeol knows about it."
"Is there a way to protect Ru-ri?"
"I'm preparing in various ways."
Yang Jeong-hyun seated Baek Eun-an and Jin Mi-seon.
Kim Tae-woong handed them tea and snacks from the side table.
Ham Dae-hee lowered the conference room blinds and closed the door.
"Once the key personnel are all here, we'll talk."
Lee Sang-chun and Kwon Dong-nyeon entered first, followed quickly by S-rank healer Kim Heung-min and A-rank dealer Jang Ji-an.
Choi Si-jin, arriving last, distributed thick stacks of documents.
Han Seung-woo began the briefing.
"The materials you're looking at are evidence of Chairman Han's secret misdeeds over the past 50 years. It took time to gather proof for the oldest cases, but it's more than enough to oust him from the International Hunter Association."
Everyone scrutinized the documents closely.
"Hard to believe there's another lunatic like this out there."
"Seventy high-rank hunters sacrificed to Chairman Han."
"Sacrificed...?"
"Murdered. And note this: the twenty most recent high-rank sacrifices were all killed by Han Gyeol."
"On Chairman Han's orders, right?"
"Yes."
"Father and son murdering like it's breakfast... Chilling."
"And among the victims are Lee Ru-ri's parents and Han Yu—three people."
"If we don't get our act together, one more name might be added?"
"Looking back at Han Gyeol's threats to Lee Ru-ri, not just her, but all our key personnel are in danger."