Divine Retribution Descends

"……"

The instant the seal came undone, Mitsu wordlessly drew Dark Red Shadow.

"O Savior, stay right where you are!"

Unddung gripped Conviction and went on high alert, while Corneline threw a barrier over me and me alone. She must have concentrated it on me so the shield wouldn't get in the way of the fight.

"So what now?"

I asked the fat guy with complete confidence, but he just looked perfectly at ease, as if this too had been part of the plan.

"I suppose it was never going to be that easy."

Why was this guy's Korean so fluent?

"I didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠want to resort to this either, you know."

As he said it, he pulled something like a remote from inside his coat. Sensing something off, Mitsu swept her katana toward his wrist — but the fat guy's resolve was a hair faster.

Click.

The remote went flying, wrist and all. I watched with a look that asked what he'd just done, and the fat guy spoke through gritted teeth.

"I was given orders to blow the whole building the moment I lost the artifact."

"What…?"

That meant he was about to self-destruct.

"My family's livelihood depends on my life, you see."

The fat guy was suddenly planting his own death flag.

"That's why I can make a stupid choice like this."

And with those words, the building itself exploded.

The kin were tough enough that the blast didn't do them any real damage. I was safe inside Corneline's barrier too, but—

A hand clamped down.

As I plummeted toward the ground in the collapsing building, a Chinese hunter snatched me up — barrier and all — and hauled me into the sky.

"She's falling!"

A hunter with wings sprouting from his back was dragging me off somewhere. Judging by the way he was talking into a comms unit, snatching me barrier and all had been the plan from the very beginning. We climbed until even Mitsu's dying scream faded out of earshot.

"I wonder if they're okay…"

Looking down at the wreckage, I could see Chinese awakened piled up in heaps, which made me a little worried. Not about my kin, of course.

"Mitsu's probably furious."

I mean, there was no way my kin would lose to a bunch of hunters. If anything, I was worried about the Chinese hunters who were about to get wrecked by her.

"Do I even get enhancement EXP for killing people?"

Not long after, a status window popped up telling me enhancement EXP was coming in. Mitsu must have been giving them a lesson in how to be good hunters.

After flying for who knows how long, we arrived at a building so lavish it made the previous one look like a shack. The bird-type hunter who'd kidnapped me set me down with surprising care, then dragged me inside — barrier and all. When we ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reached the upper floors, the executives of the Tianming Guild came into view.

They were talking among themselves in Chinese, so I had no idea what they were saying.

Crack!

Judging by the way they were slamming their weapons down on the barrier, it wasn't a friendly conversation.

"You think you're going to break an EX-rank barrier by hitting it like that?"

There must have been a Korean interpreter, because they understood me and started getting pissed.

"What are you even going to do about it?"

Judging by the executives' reactions, they hadn't accounted for Corneline's barrier at all. I was talking a big game on the outside, but honestly I was terrified on the inside. I'd been worried the barrier might drop if I got too far from Corneline.

They'd been so confident about the kidnapping, after all.

The guy who looked like their commander said something to the interpreter, then addressed me.

"The Tianming Guild has no intention of making you our enemy."

Not exactly something a kidnapper should be saying. I gave him a sour look, and the interpreter kept going.

"We want only one thing. Your enhancement ability."

"No thanks."

The nerve of kidnapping someone and then making demands like they had the high ground. The interpreter translated my answer, and they nodded like they'd expected as much.

"If you don't cooperate now, things will only get worse for you."

As he said it, the man who seemed to be in charge showed me a screen of my kin.

"……"

Unddung and Mitsu, lying there in a wretched heap. Corneline was the only one still holding on, her barrier deployed.

"This was filmed just a moment ago. By now, even the last remaining kin should have fallen."

I just stared without saying a word, and they chuckled, pressing me to cooperate again.

"……Pfft."

Ah, that was me laughing. I tried to hold it in. Didn't work.

"You thought you could fool me with that?"

When they heard that through the interpreter, the Tianming Guild executives' faces crumpled. To be fair, if I'd only seen that footage, I might've fallen for it completely. But the system windows kept popping up for me.

If Trust hadn't leveled up, I might've panicked and dropped the barrier.

"Is this a China thing? You guys even fake videos?"

"Joking around like that… it seems you still don't grasp the situation."

Once the doctored footage was exposed, they switched to a different threat.

"Tianming's SS-rank hunter will arrive shortly to subdue them."

This one actually sounded genuine, but it didn't scare me much.

"I just don't see Mitsu losing."

I ignored the executives and tried to reach my kin through the group chat on my phone.

Corneline's voice sounded more excited than usual. Thank god I'd put a tracker on my clothes for situations like this — just like when I'd been separated from them on the cozy Demon Realm Island.

"I already taught them how to read it, so they should be here soon."

I could've escaped into the Mirror World right then and there, but I had to wait until the kin arrived…

"It's not like these guys can even touch me. Might as well go live?"

It'd also let the kin know I was safe.

My sudden stream title sent the viewers into a frenzy.

"The Tianming Guild kidnapped me, but they can't even break the barrier so they're a bunch of scrubs. I'm fine, apparently!"

The executives stared at me like I was insane the moment I went live, then draped a thin cloth over the barrier to block out the light. This would've been great content, but they covered the camera so you couldn't see a thing.

"I'm fine! I'll tell Corneline to start streaming, so go watch that!"

With that closing line I ended the broadcast and sent Corneline a message.

An alert chimed on my phone along with her reply.

A stream title that could only have come from Corneline. The feed showed her ditzy face filling the frame, with Mitsu's slaughter-fest faintly visible behind her.

"Ooh! At last, the day this body's standing rises has come!"

Mitsu and Unddung were caught on stream, cutting down the endlessly incoming Chinese awakened one after another.

"The Savior's location lies in this direction!"

Corneline had a barrier up on herself and was either barking orders or supporting with more shields — that was her whole contribution.

They were drawing closer to my location, bit by bit, when—

BOOM!

A single awakened slammed down through the floor and made their entrance.

His presence was on another level. Unddung went rigidly on guard.

"So this is the guy the executives were counting on?"

The self-proclaimed SS-rank hunter charged Mitsu, opening the fight with a heavy greatsword. Unddung tried to intercept, but one blow sent him flying — so the guy was definitely a high rank.

"Stand aside."

Not that he was any match for Mitsu.

She slipped every swing of that greatsword like it was nothing. Dark-red energy gathered along her katana as she closed the distance.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a single stroke, the SS-rank hunter crumpled, consciousness gone.

The viewers were in shock. So was I.

"Did the Chinese just cook up their own ranking system?"

If he'd been a real SS-rank like Mitsu, they would've cleared Hard Mode a long time ago.

"……!"

The Tianming Guild executives must have confirmed that the man they'd been counting on was dead, because their voices shot up.

"Did they actually think this would stop us?"

A few of them had clearly lost their nerve — I could hear footsteps running for the door.

"It's already too late."

On the stream, the lavish building I was sitting in had started to come into view.

"Mwahaha! At last, it is this body's turn to shine!"

Corneline locked the camera in place and strode forward with her chest out.

"Corneline, drop the barrier this instant!"

"Mitsu Unni shall watch and bear witness! Now is the hour to display Lord Angel's divine power!"

Mitsu looked ready to bolt forward at any second, but Corneline pinned her in place with a barrier and gathered her focus.

Corneline's one and only offensive skill — the same one she'd used to clear Hard Floor 7. She was about to drop Heavenly Punishment.

I messaged Corneline after the fact, but no reply came.

"Corneline, answer me!"

The building shuddered, and the sound of a magic circle unfolding grew louder, and louder, and louder.