Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Divine Power
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KABOOM!
A tremendous roar tore through Agwi's eardrums.
"Grraaaah?!"
The demon who had been choking Han Yoo-jung let out a scream for the first time in ages.
It felt like getting smashed by a giant.
He tumbled head over heels across the pier's cement floor, shattering it several times before plunging straight into the cold seawater.
Splash.
'What the hell just...'
Ice-cold seawater flooded into his nose and mouth.
Instinctively, Agwi tried to swim up to the surface.
But his body wouldn't obey.
His right arm.
The arm that had been gripping Han Yoo-jung's throat was twisted at an unnatural angle, dangling limply.
The pain hit him late.
"Grrrrk...!"
Clinging to the pier railing with just his left arm, Agwi desperately hauled himself up.
The moment he lifted his head, panting raggedly, his eyes shook like there was an earthquake.
"What... is this...?"
It was an unbelievable sight.
The elite squad he'd brought to finish off the Saintess had been completely wiped out.
Every subordinate sprawled on the ground was foaming at the mouth or passed out with limbs twisted broken.
Not a single one was conscious.
'No way.'
Cold sweat poured down like rain.
Naraka, the group Agwi belonged to, wasn't some street thug gang.
Their membership criteria were simple yet brutal.
First, you had to have killed a Hunter before.
Second, you had to keep killing Hunters from then on.
A pack of lunatics.
Unlike terrorist groups chasing grand ideals like purifying a rotten world or becoming the new leaders of the nation,
Naraka's slogan boiled down to just one thing: kill them all.
The reason a bunch of bratty kids throwing tantrums had grown into an organization even S-Rank Hunters feared wasn't anything fancy.
They were just terrifyingly strong.
Each of the fallen subordinates down there was a human weapon who could turn a small city into a living hell if they used their abilities right.
And they got taken out without lifting a finger?
'There's only one guy in Korea who could pull this off.'
The past.
The man who had inflicted an indelible humiliation on Agwi.
Sword Saint Choi Mujin.
He had to be here.
"Where are you hiding?! Show yourself, Choi Mujin!!"
Agwi laughed.
A greater thrill raced up his spine than when Kim Chang-seok had brought the Saintess.
This was exactly why he'd joined Naraka and built up his power—because he knew the man would come.
"Still cowardly hiding like always?! Nothing's changed since you couldn't win with your sword and had your goons lynch me to smash my wrist!"
Agwi bellowed until his throat tore.
But no answer came back.
The waves of the night sea swallowed his cries whole.
"......"
The surroundings were eerily quiet.
......The Saintess was nowhere to be seen.
"Did she escape?"
It felt empty.
The so-called Sword Saint of the world had snatched the Saintess and tucked tail to run?
"Disgusting."
He wanted the hero's praise but hated facing the monster he'd created, huh?
Just like something Choi Mujin would do.
Bloodshot veins bulged in Agwi's eyes.
"Too late to run now."
If he'd been trapped inside Phoenix Guild's barrier, maybe, but now that he'd stepped out on his own two feet, there were plenty of ways to kill him.
"Kuhahahahaha!"
Crawling all the way here so brazenly was your mistake, Choi Mujin.
Die. And fall to hell.
Fwoosh!
Agwi pulled a parchment scroll from his bosom and set it ablaze.
This wasn't your average magic scroll.
The man.
Naraka's ruler who went by the code name of Heavenly Path.
It was a scroll imbued with Lord Indra's divine power.
Black flames enveloped Agwi's body.
"Kehk! Cough... Kehehehek."
In the halted world, Agwi vomited blood and laughed.
With every step he took, blood streamed from his eyes, nose, mouth—every orifice.
The price of defying time was brutal.
His life force drained away in real time, and soul-searing agony racked his entire body.
But Agwi didn't stop.
"Choi Mujin...! Choi Mujin...!"
Lord Indra's power was incredible.
Stopping time itself.
True divine authority no mere human could touch.
In this frozen world, he alone—the scroll's user—could move.
No matter how S-Rank a Hunter, in stopped time they were just easy targets.
'I'll kill him. Kill him. Cut off his arms. Both of them. Like he did to me. No, make him crawl the ground in worse misery.'
Agwi staggered around the pier.
Somewhere nearby, Choi Mujin—frozen stupidly while fleeing with the Saintess—had to be waiting.
But.
'What?'
Agwi tilted his blood-soaked head.
Nothing.
He'd torn the scroll less than a minute after the guy showed up.
Even if he'd run, he couldn't have escaped Agwi's detection range.
Yet Choi Mujin's mana signature wasn't detectable anywhere.
Where the hell...
Step.
A footstep echoed from behind.
His heart nearly stopped.
Hallucination?
No. A clear footstep.
Footsteps couldn't happen in a world where time was stopped.
Agwi turned laboriously.
Step. Step.
Far off in the darkness.
A man in a suit walked toward him, hands in his pockets.
Casual as a stroll.
"What... is this...?"
Agwi couldn't believe his eyes.
The man had no black flames symbolizing Indra's power.
He wasn't moving through stopped time via a scroll like Agwi.
Side effects of time stop?
Not even that. Not a drop of blood on him.
Agwi could barely take a step without his guts twisting in pain, so how was this guy...?
"Y-You're... Lord Indra...?"
Nothing else explained it.
This was the realm of gods. Forbidden to humans!
The god must have descended out of pity for him.
Agwi nearly dropped to his knees in rapture.
But the man shot back irritably.
"Indra?"
His voice carried a hint of anger.
"You're the kidnapper, right?"
"...Yes?"
The man stared at Agwi's face and broken right arm before speaking.
"You're the one who ordered the Saintess's kidnapping."
"That's me, but... Krhek!"
Before Agwi could finish.
Thwack!!
His vision flashed, body flying into the air.
"How was the taste of seawater? Want some dirt this time?"
His wrecked body slammed into the ground.
"Keurk!!"
Agwi writhed in agony.
His mind was a blank.
Even standing required immense life force.
In this stopped time.
Counterattack? Dodge?
Against someone that fast, how?
Smack! Thud! Crack!
"S-Spa...re...!"
Try to rise after one hit, and ten more flew in.
Stagger after ten, and a hundred rained down like a storm.
Invisible.
The punches' trajectories, the man's movements.
Play dead and hold his breath? He'd grab the collar, force him up, and deliver two hundred.
What Indra? Just a thug.
Bam!!
In his fading mind, Agwi's last thought wasn't revenge on Choi Mujin.
World conquest? Eradicating Hunters?
Didn't care.
"P-Please... spare me... spare...!"
Like all the countless Awakeners he'd killed, he begged pathetically for his life.
Collar gripped, getting pummeled... pathetically.
"Still talking? You're pretty tough."
Thwackthwackthwackthwackthwack!
After that, Agwi's consciousness didn't last long.
No way.
The fake hero propaganda from the Association was real...
Blue Vest actually existed.
Whew.
I roughly tied up the unconscious kidnappers with ropes and dumped them by the pier.
Maybe thanks to all my contributions.
I could borrow some mana suppression cuffs now, but as you see, situations like this...
Couldn't capture all dozens of kidnappers who tried to gang up on the Saintess.
Just beat them till they passed out, and if they got up, beat them again.
That was the best I could do.
Leave the rest to the authorities.
"Controlling my strength was a pain."
One wrong hit and limbs would've flown off, so I had to handle them gently.
'Didn't realize there was someone else who could move that fast besides me.'
I looked down at the man passed out with his arm broken.
Slow as a caterpillar compared to me, but still moving in a slowed world.
Could be a real threat to other S-Rank Hunters.
'Villains are scary. Safety first.'
Weeeeeng!
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Soon, dozens of police cars stormed into the pier.
Screech!!
"Special forces! Everybody out! Surround them!!"
"Don't move!!"
The detectives leaping out looked pretty sharp.
Maybe tightened discipline after the Viper case, or they leveled up from field experience.
Their movements were definitely sharper than before.
Especially Inspector Kim Hana—her mana quality felt different.
"Oh. Captain."
I waved enthusiastically, happy to see her.
The squad leader charging ahead sword in hand, Inspector Park Cheol-su, froze.
Seeing the pile of kidnappers on the pier, his jaw dropped.
"What... the hell is all this...?"
Unable to process, he just blinked.
I approached and greeted him warmly.
"Great work out there, Captain."
"...Who are you? Do I know you?"
"No... just. You looked like a captain, haha."
Such a dumb slip-up.
Got too excited and forgot I wasn't wearing my mask.
"So Blue Vest took care of all these by himself?"
"Yes. Said they were a terrorist group that kidnapped the Saintess. He had to take her to the hospital and asked me to report it for him."
"I see."
The captain stared at me before someone called and he ran off.
'He didn't figure it out, did he?'
Probably just a vague sense of familiarity.
Not just any mask—the one-of-a-kind S-Rank thief artifact that disrupts recognition in Korea.
No way he'd suddenly mistake me for Masked Man.
"You're the reporter, right? I know you're busy, but we need your statement at the scene."
"I refuse to give a witness statement. Ask Blue Vest."
Kim Hana peered up at my face intently.
Her eyes sparkled.
"Have we met somewhere?"
"......First time. I'm just an ordinary citizen."
"Really? Hmm... Well, you're the handsomest guy I've ever seen."
Kim Hana tilted her head, then grabbed my arm.
"I'll treat you to some tasty seolleongtang. Just tell me what happened, okay?"
"I'm more of a pork backbone stew guy..."
"Okay, got it. That it is. Come on, this way!"
"No..."
Kim Hana dragged me off.
I took down a villain organization single-handed, but couldn't fend off one policewoman.
Ironic.