Chapter 316
Chapter 316
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 316
Chapter Title: Three-Way Confrontation
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“Save? You’re gonna save me? From who? Who exactly?”
Akiyama was stunned by the absurd word that popped out of Yang Seoho’s mouth.
“Yeah. Rescue. You saw the chaos outside, right? I’m here to get you out.”
She still had no idea what Akiyama was trying to pull off.
But she could guess that separating Akiyama from this place and that gold would solve most of the problems.
“What are you idiots doing? Stop her! Stop that lunatic!”
Akiyama’s shout.
“Keeek!”
“Gyaack!”
Monsters pouring in from all sides.
Grotesque forms where human bodies were tangled with beast or insect features.
Seo Cheonsul would’ve called them yokai or hengeyokai, but these were mutants created by Cure Medical Care’s tech—cultists twisted into abominations.
“Hmm, panicked civilians going berserk or attacking the wrong people? Happens all the time.”
If the threat level was extreme, neutralizing them was fair game.
Vwooooom—
Yang Seoho casually swung her hand—and the gust from her fingertips sent the charging cultists flying.
Crash!
“Gyaack!”
Even so, the cultists kept charging relentlessly.
“But seriously, are you guys even Korean? Line up and show your IDs. Hey, don’t touch me.”
Yang Seoho lightly shoved away the massive claw from a cultist clinging to her left side—
Boom!!
The claw vanished. No—
Crunch!
The severed claw flew off her arm and smashed into the cultists charging from behind.
Crack-crunch!
“Ugh, damn it. If you’re gonna mod yourselves, at least make it sturdy. Hey, you don’t have an ID either?”
Her question aimed at a cultist with a mouth split like an insect’s maw, lined with vicious fangs.
“Say something in Korean.”
“Kyaaak!”
“Can’t talk?”
Crunch-crunch!
The fangs ripped right out.
“Die!”
A cultist lunged from behind, slashing at Yang Seoho with long claws.
Riiiip!
“Hey, what’s with the dangerous bullshit?”
Yang Seoho turned around unscathed. It was supposed to be a finishing blow, but the claws shattered instead.
“Jeez.”
Yang Seoho scanned her surroundings, feeling no tension whatsoever—not even a shred of reality to it.
Blood spraying everywhere. Chunks of flesh. Screams. Death.
This wasn’t a fight.
She just strolled forward casually, like a walk in the fog.
They seemed close enough to touch, but everything scattered like mist the moment it got near.
No interaction possible.
It felt like being surrounded by a meticulously crafted hologram.
Amid endless attacks—and enemies crumpling from their own blows—Yang Seoho wore an indescribable expression.
Disappointment, dejection, sorrow, regret, boredom, ennui, irritation.
“Where’s Kim Sihwa?”
“I told you a million times! We’ve got nothing to do with Kim Sihwa!”
“No Dokgo Gyeom either?”
Dokgo Gyeom could at least put on a show of a fight with his super-regeneration and spatial distortion.
Still soft as ever.
Like clay that squished however you poked it?
“Nope!”
“Boring. Guess I’ll just get to work.”
With that, Yang Seoho kept advancing.
* * *
Rumble rumble rumble!
A massive earthquake hit.
“Ugh!”
Confused voices from all around.
“Wizard? What now?”
Jang Hyeondeok’s question.
The area was a mess. Smoke rising everywhere.
Cultists howling as they rampaged down the streets.
Criminals waving weapons. Cars careening wildly.
KABOOM!
Another explosion.
“They’re luring us in.”
The Foreigner Management Bureau’s movements had changed lately.
“Uh, a trap?”
“Looks like it, but this kind? I’d welcome it. Keep driving.”
“Ehh? There are people on the road!”
This wasn’t a residential area, and at this hour—not daytime—it shouldn’t have civilians milling about.
The Bureau had probably cleared the streets and let the cultists swarm. Most civilians evacuated, no doubt.
So the people visible on these roads now—couldn’t just be regular folk.
Instead of explaining, I summed it up for Jang Hyeondeok.
“Dummy. From here on, think Paju!”
“Ah? Got it.”
Jang Hyeondeok floored it, face saying, *Lawless zone, huh?*
Well, Paju wasn’t *actually* lawless... but that’s how most folks saw it.
Vroooom!!
“You maniac!”
As expected, the loiterers on the road flipped away from us.
“See?”
Incoming fireball. One pissed-off cultist unleashing his ability at us.
BOOM!
But with the barrier rigged tough as nails—the car just got a scorch mark, no real damage.
“Block it at least!”
“Why?”
“Bungbung’s gonna get hurt!”
“You were smashing into anything earlier—what’s this now?”
“Jeez.”
Jang Hyeondeok turned away, out of excuses.
“Kim Sihwa!”
Park Gwangrim darting into the road.
“Uwaaak!”
Screeech!
[Chains of Dominion]
Clink clank!
“Huhk!”
“Gwangrim! Don’t jump out like that!”
“S-sorry, I thought you’d catch me. Y-yes, sir.”
Park Gwangrim’s shaky voice.
“Trusting me’s nice, but... wait, what’s going on?”
“Cheon Geum-daejang’s sweeping through the guards with the Manse Ilwon cultists right now.”
She pointed toward Cure Medical Care.
Faint golden flashes from the big building in the distance.
Along with a small voice...
“Bwahaha! Nice! Show me more tricks!”
Seo Cheonsul’s voice.
Looked like he was hit-and-run among the cultists.
“Good. Gwangrim, thanks for the intel. Foreigner Management’s probably starting a encirclement soon. Get to safety.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“Damn, already started.”
Rumble rumble!
Armed trucks and APCs rolling in from all sides.
Busan Metro’s markings, looking all official.
“No good. Reddie!”
“Kieee!”
Reddie swooping down from the sky.
“Y-you really weren’t seeing things!”
“Yeah, good eyes.”
I’d checked Busan via Reddie’s vision now and then, intervening indirectly sometimes.
“You’re saying... escape on that bird?”
“Huh? No. Nah. What? Get in the car.”
I hopped out as I said it.
“Huh? Just us?”
“...”
Why was this guy such a dunce?
“I’m going alone. You escape with Park Gwangrim. Reddie’ll guide you.”
“Ehh? Wizard solo?”
“Yeah. Time for a driver pro’s second job: Escape with the client. Take Park Gwangrim and go.”
“What about you, Wizard?”
“I’ll handle my exit. Don’t worry.”
“Aww—c’mon—”
“Shut it! Dummy! No time!”
Finally yelled at, Jang Hyeondeok took off with Park Gwangrim.
“Stop! Halt!”
See? That dummy Jang Hyeondeok wasted time—now they’re that close!
Grumbling, I cast toward the road.
[Great Upheaval]
[Spell Enhancement: Range Boost]
Rumble craaack!
Asphalt split—the ground flipped.
Jang Hyeondeok’s Kol van zipped through the gap.
“Kieee!”
Reddie’s cry from above.
“Those three’ll manage.”
I turned without hesitation and shot into the sky.
[L-Grade Robe ‘Wings of the Night Veil’’s Unique Function, ‘Wings of the Heavenly Demon’ activates.
// Wings of the Heavenly Demon: Auto-casts ‘Flight’ spell.]
* * *
“Kraaak!” “Guhk!” “Gyaack!” “Aaaak!”
Pitiful screams from cultists charging to block her slow, steady advance.
No more reinforcements.
The outside ruckus had grown beyond what Wild Guns Security and Ko Gyeongsu could handle alone—
Seo Cheonsul and the cultists, plus random criminals stuck to Akiyama without context, had forced most forces outside.
Yet Akiyama hadn’t lost hope—or madness—yet.
“Too late! It’s begun!”
Akiyama’s desperate yell.
“Huh? What’s begun?”
Yang Seoho half-yawned back.
Ruuuuumble!!!
Vibrations from deep underground.
The ritual stirred to life.
Not because Yang Seoho dawdled. Everything was ready; it just needed one short invocation.
“C’th—ulhu—fhtagn—br—to’ph—shaa’sk.”
Ruuuuumble!!
The building’s structure twisted—the floor split, revealing the deep, dark pit Cure Medical Care had dug for ages.
A massive circular hole to the depths.
Whiiiish!
Dank, horrific wind rising from the abyss.
The medium was prepped.
The sacrifice? [Mirror of Wisdom] would suffice.
Ruuuuumble!
“What the hell’s this?”
“A gate to another world.”
Yang Seoho grimaced.
“‘Illegal entry’ vibes.”
A phrase she hated.
“Ha! You don’t get it? My goal isn’t simple summoning—basic ritual. I’m destroying the ancient door to the Abyss—”
“With what? That?”
An out-of-place voice cut in.
“Ha—”
Yang Seoho bared her teeth in a grin.
“Kim Sihwaaaaa!!”
Akiyama roared like a beast.
* * *
“Hey, Akiyama, calling someone by name like that on first meet? Kinda rude. Anyway, that’s what you’re opening it with?”
*That*—the massive golden pillar standing vertical over the hole.
Akiyama’s excavated [Mirror of Wisdom], wrapped in deep-sea cursed gold—shaped into a giant pillar.
Kinda like the one I made in Insuma Village way back.
“Yes! With this sacred golden phallus! I’ll meet the Abyss itself! My mother! The Great Mother who birthed all in this world!”
“That’s what you were prepping? Shoving a giant gold pillar into a huge hole?”
Blech.
Freud would faint from joy.
Akiyama—at my jab—no, hold on—
[System: ‘Enhanced Vigilance’ trait activates.]
Yang Seoho—?
“Uwaaak!”
[L-Grade Accessory ‘Mask of Carcosa’’s Unique Function, ‘Dreamlike Blur’ activates.
// Dreamlike Blur: Auto-casts ‘Blink’ spell.]
Survival auto-engaged to save me. The world blurred—instantly, I reappeared 10m away.
[Blink complete. Cooldown: 864,000 seconds]
“No, too close!”
[Protection Circle]
[Barrier of Might]
Barely in time—defensive spells up.
KABOOOOOM!!
Thunderous boom.
“Hahaha! You’re here!”
Yang Seoho charged with a demon’s grin.
“Hey! Priorities! Priorities!”
“Apprehend illegal alien—top priority!”
Vwooooom!
Her hand rocketed at me, insane force. Not a fist—open, like to snatch and crush—tearing air.
I maxed flight to retreat—casting.
[Balor]
Rumble! KABOOM!
Yang Seoho swatted the lightning aside casually.
Sonic booms erupting everywhere.
“Hey, splash damage on a block? Overkill much?”
Better than last time, though.
Yeah, city center. She couldn’t go all out here.
[Distortion Field]
I dispersed the sonic boom with it—then pulled my ID from my pocket and chucked it at her.
“ID! Eat ID! Resident number’s on it!”
Yang Seoho slowed, snatching it mid-air.
“Young.”
“Yeah, younger than you.”
“Fake.”
Crunch—
“Ugh, damn. Know how much that ID cost?”
“Confirms it’s fake?”
“Okay, but—this ain’t the time to fight me? Akiyama’s trying a mass illegal entry over there?”
“Let him. Or yeah, go ahead. Do it quick if you’re gonna.”
Akiyama gaped at Yang Seoho’s words.
“What?”
“Not enough gold yet. When’re you using that?”
I was just as baffled.
“Hey, uh, Professor Yang? What’re you doing?”
The gold in the wooden containers.
“You dare ignore me! Yang Seoho! Fine! As you wish—behold! Rise, gold of the deep sea! Awaken the Great Mother of Life! Become [Fount of Life], the key to drown this world in primal life-fluid!”
Ruuuuumble—
Evil mana converging on the container gold.
Whirrrr—
Wait, what’s that?
Odd impurity vibe from the gold.
Uh... that’s...
No way?
“Wait! Akiyama! Bad idea! Stop!”
“Too late! Too late! Wail! Tremble!”
“No, seriously—hold on!”
But yeah, way too late.