Chapter 48
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched
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Everyone has a plan. Until they get punched.
Clozer saw the pitch-black sword energy surging toward him.
But he didn't panic.
To be precise, he ignored it.
Having lived as an S-rank villain, he'd weathered countless attacks, so he figured that sword energy fired from afar wouldn't pack much punch.
Reading the trajectory of incoming attacks and calculating mana density was as natural to him as breathing.
A sinister smile curled at his lips as he casually flicked his hand, like it was a nuisance.
In response, thick gray mist coiled up and rose, forming a sturdy wall around him.
Mist Barrier
He was confident.
Mist Barrier would deflect physical attacks just like always and absorb magic ones.
No matter how much of an S-rank slash it was, it would surely lose its power and scatter against this barrier.
That's what he was certain of.
Until he got punched.
Until that black slash touched the mist.
Sssizzle-
"...?!"
But the moment the black mana touched the barrier, he realized something was wrong.
"W-What the hell?"
Clozer's eyes shook wildly.
Mist Barrier didn't even activate, let alone have time to mount a defense.
The gray mist he'd trusted as absolute burned away pathetically the instant the black mana touched it, like tissue paper in flames.
He didn't even have time to figure out why.
The sword energy didn't slow down—in fact, it rampaged even more ferociously.
"Ugh!"
Clozer instinctively hurled his body backward.
Slash.
A chilling sound whistled past his eyes.
What scattered in the air were tatters of his clothing and a few strands of hair.
The cold realization that his head would've come off if he'd been a split second slower sent chills racing across his skin.
"What the... What the hell is this?"
He stared in disbelief at the shredded hem of his clothes.
The barrier didn't work?
Did my unique mana fail?
No.
"That wasn't the feeling."
It wasn't like his mana just didn't work. It felt like his mana was forcibly erased by some overriding force...
'Erased?'
That's when it happened.
Thud.
A figure with fluttering black hair landed amid the dust cloud.
She slowly raised her head.
Piercing eyes gleamed through her disheveled black hair.
No reason lingered in those eyes.
Only the eerie madness of a beast stalking its prey.
Her gaze shifted from Clozer to Si-woo, slumped on the ground covered in blood.
"...".
Si-woo's torn clothes, the blood pooled like it had poured out.
And his deathly pale face.
"...Who."
Kim Ye-eun's voice was less human speech and more the guttural growl of a starving beast.
Killing intent heavy enough to crush the air, like she might rip out a throat any second.
"Who."
Crack.
"Dared touch what's mine."
Black haze erupted from her back like an explosion, and soon Ghostly Aura began devouring the space around them.
Ghostly Aura
"...".
Kim Ye-eun raised her sword.
As she locked eyes on Clozer, he felt an inexplicable terror.
A being he'd never encountered in his life.
A primal fear unlike anything he'd ever felt.
In that instant, Kim Ye-eun vanished like she'd teleported at high speed.
"W-Wait a sec!"
Clozer desperately surged his mana, transforming his body into mist, and tried Mist Barrier once more.
Mist Barrier
The moment he completed the barrier, Kim Ye-eun appeared right in front of him.
And reached out with her bare hand, defenselessly.
Clozer sneered inwardly at her simplistic move, plotting his counter.
But contrary to his thoughts, her black-mana-clad hand pierced the barrier without a hint of resistance.
"Shit!"
Before he could dodge, Kim Ye-eun's left hand clamped down on his right shoulder.
And then.
Splurt-!
"Gaaahhh-!!!"
No time to perceive it, no time to register it.
The instant her grip tightened, his right arm tore off pathetically.
Blood spurted from the ragged stump like an intermittent geyser.
He writhed on the ground, groaning in agony.
"A-Argh!! My arm! My aaaarm!"
"...".
Kim Ye-eun stared blankly at him before tilting her head.
That bizarre sight made Clozer's heart feel like it would stop.
At this rate, she'd kill him.
At this rate, she'd devour him.
At this rate...
"U-Uwaaa!"
He thrust out his left hand, conjuring dozens of gray mana orbs, and unleashed them at Kim Ye-eun.
But she didn't dodge—instead, she lunged forward in an instant and swung her sword.
Not even the explosion's roar was allowed.
The mana orbs melted away like snowflakes at the sword's tip.
Their very structure collapsed, scattering as meaningless mana residue.
"What the hell are you!!"
Terror and shock twisted Clozer's face.
He'd handled countless test subjects in his life and studied myriad abilities.
But this power? Unheard of, unseen.
An ability? Could he even call it that?
'Anti-magic? No. Something higher!'
The black energy on her sword seemed to defy the laws of the world.
As if denying mana itself—the very source of all Awakeners.
No way.
'The natural predator of Awakeners themselves?'
"...Hee."
Kim Ye-eun, now right in his face, grinned innocently.
That pure smile was utterly horrifying.
Whoosh-!
The sword traced a line downward, and Clozer screamed as he rolled across the ground.
"Argh!"
Blood gushed from his left shoulder.
Even as he reflexively surged mana to shield it, no resistance formed.
"Legs next?"
"W-Wait! Let's talk this out!"
"...Left? Right?"
"I didn't do it! It wasn't me!"
"Ah, left first, right?"
"You crazy bitch!! I'm talking to you!"
"Yeah, left leg."
"Fuck!!"
With communication impossible, like she didn't understand words at all, Clozer forced himself up and started fleeing.
"Don't run. You're annoying."
She followed him with a delighted look, like a cat chasing a fleeing mouse.
**
Meanwhile, Choi Min-seok kept fighting Flicker while constantly worrying about Si-woo.
But the moment Kim Ye-eun's Ghostly Aura dominated the space...
He grinned like a beast unleashed.
'Good.'
As long as she was there, no one could lay a finger on Si-woo.
Which also meant Kim Yun-seo was safe.
"Hoo..."
Choi Min-seok exhaled deeply.
And turned to glare at Flicker.
His eyes, fixed on Flicker, were bloodshot red.
"There's something I've always wanted to ask you bastards."
He slammed his massive tower shield onto the ground with a thud.
Then cracked his knuckles.
"Giving up? Dropping your shield."
Flicker scoffed.
Dropping the shield?
Wasn't that begging to be killed?
"Then die!"
Flicker kicked off the ground and charged.
His fist tore through the air toward Choi Min-seok's face.
But Choi Min-seok didn't dodge—he stepped forward instead.
Thwack-!
Flicker's fist smashed squarely into Choi Min-seok's face.
His head snapped back, blood spraying from his split lip.
But he didn't budge, rooted like a tree.
"...?"
Flicker's eyes widened.
Something was off.
A direct hit from his fist should shatter bone for anyone.
Yet it rebounded like he'd punched a steel wall.
Choi Min-seok slowly turned his head back.
He licked the blood from his lips and spoke.
"Why do you do shit like that."
He grabbed Flicker's collar.
Bam!
Choi Min-seok's forehead crushed Flicker's face.
"Guh!"
Flicker's nose collapsed with a scream.
But Choi Min-seok didn't stop.
"Why kidnap my wife."
Thwack!
His fist plunged into Flicker's solar plexus.
"Why do that to my daughter."
Thwack! Thwack!
Left and right hooks.
Flicker's body swayed like a punching bag.
He tried a counter kick, but Choi Min-seok blocked it with his elbow and pressed in deeper.
"Dozens, hundreds of times, countless times I've asked myself. What did I do wrong."
His clasped hands rose above Flicker's head like an executioner's tool.
"I don't wonder anymore."
Flicker raised his arms in terror to block.
Crack-!
Both arms snapped under the overhead strike.
He let out a horrific scream.
"Gaaahk-!!"
Flicker dropped to his knees.
His face contorted in agony.
Since becoming S-rank, he'd reigned supreme wherever he went.
Lived as he pleased, did as he wanted.
But now, he felt the overwhelming gap in power.
Why.
He's S-rank too.
Why is the difference this vast.
"Why!!"
His enraged scream echoed emptily into the void.
No one spoke before this overwhelming violence.
Only utter defeat seeped deep into his bones.
"Clozer! Help! This guy's insane!"
Flicker whipped his head around desperately for his ally.
But all he saw was his comrade, an even more pitiable prey being hunted mercilessly.
"Hah, hah...!"
Clozer panted as he fled.
His clothes were in rags, his body a bloody mess of slashes.
"That crazy bitch!"
The woman in his sight laughed innocently, like a child blowing soap bubbles.
To Clozer, it was pure nightmare fuel.
'Confirmed. Nothing works.'
Perfect matchup.
She was useless against him—and every Awakener.
Magic, mana, even trying to infiltrate with mist—nothing.
"What kind of existence is this!!"
Clozer regretted it bitterly.
Unlike him, he'd dismissed intel on her as unimportant.
Because he hadn't known such mana existed.
Hadn't known such power existed.
She seemed born solely to hunt Awakeners.
"Flicker! What are you doing! Finish up and help!"
Clozer bellowed for Flicker.
But all that came back was Flicker's agonized scream.
"Uwaaak!"
He glimpsed Flicker slammed to the ground by Choi Min-seok.
Both arms broken, face caved in.
Seeing that, Clozer thought.
'...At this rate, we're dead.'
He needed to minimize losses.
In other words, for me to survive...