Chapter 223
Chapter 223
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: Inferno Ambush
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‘Now’s the time.’
Kim Tae-jin began to move.
“Huh? Where are you going?”
Park Jin-han asked when he saw it.
Their job was done.
All that was left was to watch those guys struggle from behind and have a good laugh.
But seeing Kim Tae-jin suddenly get up to leave, he tilted his head.
“I want to watch from closer up.”
He answered nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal.
“You sure that’s okay? Get any closer and you might get caught.”
“It’s fine. They’re too busy dealing with those things right now to pay any attention to us.”
“True enough. Mind if I tag along? I’m kinda curious too.”
Kim Tae-jin’s face stiffened slightly as Park Jin-han grinned and spoke.
But only for a moment.
“I’ll go first. If it looks safe, I’ll call you over.”
“Why not just go together...?”
“We might get spotted if we all move at once.”
Kim Tae-jin cut him off.
“Uh, yeah? Alright, sounds good.”
Faced with his friend’s unusually firm expression, Park Jin-han had no choice but to agree.
“See you in a bit.”
Kim Tae-jin turned and started walking away.
“What’s his deal? Did something piss him off?”
He heard Park Jin-han grumbling behind him.
But he ignored it.
He didn’t have the mental bandwidth to react to that right now.
Kim Tae-jin headed as stealthily as possible to the spot he’d scouted earlier.
‘Even this much movement, and that monster’s probably already onto me.’
He might have known they were coming even before they arrived.
“Doesn’t matter.”
Kim Tae-jin stopped walking.
The perfect spot to unleash his skill.
The Ancient Orcs swarming around blocked a clear view of them, but he could already sense their mana.
“That one’s the ‘Spearman,’ that one’s the artist... Found you.”
His target.
The hero who seemed closest to Seo Woo-jin: Kang Byung-gyu.
Kim Tae-jin locked onto his position and began drawing up his mana.
Whooooom—
Was it because of the overwhelming, dizzying surge of mana?
Objects around him reacted, floating up into the air.
‘Just a bit more, just a little more.’
This was the first time he’d ever used this much mana.
But Kim Tae-jin didn’t stop.
He squeezed out every last drop, pushing beyond his limits.
After a short while.
He’d reached his target threshold.
No reason to hold back any longer.
Kim Tae-jin unleashed the brimming mana and opened his mouth.
“Inferno.”
A massive, uncontrollable blaze erupted, matching the skill’s name.
Roooaaar—!
The air itself began to boil from the superheated inferno.
Even the caster, Kim Tae-jin, could barely breathe.
‘This should be...’
More than enough—overflowing, even.
“Go.”
He thrust out his hand, and the flames shot forward.
The Ancient Orcs blocking the path melted away like ice cream.
He felt a trickle of experience points, but ignored it.
He just glared straight ahead, eyes wide.
That was when
a glint flashed in Kim Tae-jin’s eyes.
Someone was blocking the path of the flame wave, like a natural disaster.
‘Seo Woo-jin!’
The man in the black coat, wielding the infamous ‘Karaniel.’
It was unmistakably Seo Woo-jin.
‘No matter how strong you are...’
‘Inferno’ was the most powerful skill in Kim Tae-jin’s arsenal.
He knew better than anyone how strong Seo Woo-jin was, but ‘Inferno’ wouldn’t be blocked so easily...
Shiiiing—!
The flame wave split apart.
As if slicing through tofu with a pristine blade, untouched by even a speck of aura.
It was cleaved too easily.
Absurdly anticlimactic.
The sight of Seo Woo-jin shattering his ultimate skill so casually was terrifying.
But...
‘It’s not over yet!’
He was a bit rattled, but ‘Inferno’ wasn’t his real aim.
He hurriedly drew up his remaining mana.
‘I don’t need raw power.’
His target wasn’t Seo Woo-jin anyway—it was his friend, Kang Byung-gyu.
Just a B-rank non-combat class.
No need for world-shattering destruction or skills that swept everything away.
Speed was key right now.
Speed so fast even Seo Woo-jin couldn’t block it.
And fortunately, Kim Tae-jin had just the skill.
‘Flame Revolver.’
A skill that fired six flame bullets at once.
He modified it, channeling everything into a single shot.
Bang—!
A bullet the size of a knuckle fired out.
It tore through space in an instant, hurtling toward Kang Byung-gyu.
“Perfect!”
Seo Woo-jin hadn’t reacted yet.
No—he couldn’t have.
The ‘Flame Revolver’ bullet was that fast.
That’s when the bullet closed in on Kang Byung-gyu.
“You fucking bastard!”
Seo Woo-jin’s curse rang out.
‘Too late.’
Kim Tae-jin smirked.
No catching up now, even if he scrambled.
He was certain.
But that certainty was premature.
Fwooooosh—!
Gray energy began enveloping the world.
His body froze.
The sheer overwhelming force made it feel like the world had stopped.
Kim Tae-jin, the Ancient Orcs, even his own friends.
Everyone was rooted in place, unable to move an inch.
Only Seo Woo-jin moved freely through the space.
* * *
‘You motherfucker! You piece of shit!’
Seo Woo-jin cursed inwardly.
He’d suspected some ulterior motive.
But he never imagined it would target someone else.
His rage boiled over.
If it had been aimed at him alone, he wouldn’t be this furious.
He could’ve blocked anything thrown his way.
But not others.
They could die to Kim Tae-jin’s pathetic skill.
No—the trajectory and mana packed in meant certain death.
He’d clearly used it with intent to kill.
‘I’ll kill you.’
Revenge for Sung Yu-ra?
He got it?
None of that mattered now.
Daring to target his friend erased any mercy from Seo Woo-jin’s mind.
But that could wait.
First, he had to stop that damn thing.
Seo Woo-jin began cycling his chaos energy like mad.
One loop, two.
With each surge through his mana circuits, it grew larger.
At the same time, overload hit his body.
Even his superhuman physique strained under the reckless, frantic operation.
Nothing like his fight with Am-gong.
Muscles tore, bones twisted and creaked.
Yet Seo Woo-jin didn’t stop.
Passing out from exhaustion here was a million times better than letting Kang Byung-gyu die.
‘Faster! Fuck, faster!’
Kim Tae-jin’s skill was nearly at Kang Byung-gyu’s face.
He hadn’t noticed yet.
It was that fast and stealthy.
Any moment, his head would be pierced in a blink.
Seo Woo-jin unleashed every ounce of strength he had left.
The scenery stretched long.
Everything slowed, and only he dashed forward, stepping on air.
As if he’d entered a different time flow alone.
‘Just a bit more!’
He shot toward Kang Byung-gyu at light speed.
‘Just a bit more!’
One meter, fifty centimeters, ten.
‘Karaniel’ closed in right behind the flame bullet.
‘Too late...’
But the blade didn’t reach.
‘If I’d been a little faster.’
One second.
No, 0.1 seconds quicker to notice and move, and he could’ve blocked it.
Seo Woo-jin glared at the bullet about to pierce Kang Byung-gyu’s forehead, eyes filled with regret and fury.
Just before his head exploded,
‘Huh?’
Something appeared.
A simple metal plate.
Thin, not particularly thick.
It materialized between the bullet and Kang Byung-gyu without Seo Woo-jin noticing.
Claaaang—!
The ultra-thin plate was pierced effortlessly by the flame bullet.
But it was enough.
The bullet hesitated piercing through.
A fraction shorter than an instant.
That gave Seo Woo-jin’s ‘Karaniel’ the precious gap to catch up.
Slaaam—!
‘Karaniel’s blade smacked the red flame bullet aside.
The bullet vanished pathetically.
“Huh?!”
Kang Byung-gyu finally realized what happened and stumbled back in shock.
“W-what? What just happened?”
First a massive flame wave appeared out of nowhere, then Seo Woo-jin cleaved it.
Already bewildering, and now Seo Woo-jin— who’d been far off— had swung his sword right in front of him...
He couldn’t help but be stunned.
But Seo Woo-jin couldn’t explain.
‘Huff—huff—!’
The strain made his whole body tremble.
His breathing tore at his throat, muscles screamed.
The long-forgotten agony dizzied him, but he gripped onto consciousness and turned.
“...You?”
Kim Da-hye stood where he looked.
She clutched her sketchbook, staring blankly this way.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kang Byung-gyu asked, still clueless.
But Kim Da-hye ignored him, nodding only at Seo Woo-jin.
“Yeah.”
In that desperate moment.
The thin plate that saved Kang Byung-gyu.
She’d ‘summoned’ it.
He let out a hollow chuckle.
How had she noticed what no one else, not even him, had?
In that frantic chaos, how’d she think to ‘summon’ that?
Even with her growth, a mere C-rank Kim Da-hye making it happen was tough.
Near impossible.
Yet she did it.
Seo Woo-jin had a ton of questions for her.
But he held back.
He could guess her answer no matter what he asked.
‘Just did.’
She’d say that for sure.
Seo Woo-jin swallowed all his questions and spoke.
“Thanks.”
It was enough to thank the friend who’d helped save another friend.
If she hadn’t summoned that plate then.
If the bullet hadn’t slowed for that split second.
He never could’ve saved Kang Byung-gyu.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say his friend survived entirely thanks to Kim Da-hye.
Seo Woo-jin bowed deeply to her with genuine sincerity.
Kim Da-hye replied.
“No big deal.”
What a steadfast girl.