Chapter 932
Chapter 932
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 932
Chapter Title: Academy's Savior
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Heavenly Demon Divine Art: Heavenly Demon Asura.
I channeled Heavenly Demon ki into both hands and batted the incoming fireball toward the floor. It exploded on impact, setting the walls and floor ablaze. I delivered a sharp kick into the air; a fierce gust of wind erupted, snuffing out the flames instantly.
"Tsk."
The raptor sucked in a sharp, hissed breath. He narrowed his reptilian eyes, watching my every move like a hawk.
"That power you're using... You're a demon contractor, aren't you? Why is human scum like you targeting us?"
A demon contractor.
It was the term for those who sold their souls for power. In this world, demons were the ultimate enemies of humanity. Thus, anyone who gained power from them was deemed a traitor to the species.
Demon contractors were despised even more than monsters; even villains shunned them as pariahs.
"Does this look like demonic power to you?"
"...It doesn't? Now that you mention it, maybe it’s not..."
His words were irritating. Fine, I could see the resemblance. It was dark, jagged, and destructive, much like demonic power. But Heavenly Demon ki was fundamentally different. Of that, I was absolutely certain.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art: Heavenly Demon Sword.
A black blade of condensed energy flared along the knife protruding from my knuckles. It was a temporary construct—I couldn't maintain it for long. Five seconds at most if I pushed my limits.
"Gah!"
Startled, Ji Seong-o twisted his massive frame to dodge the slash. Even as he retreated, his long, muscular tail coiled around my knee and yanked. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor with a heavy thud.
"Sword energy, huh... You actually had me spooked for a second. If I hadn't looked closer, I would’ve bought it. Heh."
Ji Seong-o mounted my back, his weight pinning me down. He gaped his jaws wide and clamped down hard on my arm.
Crunch! Crack-crunch!
-Right arm crushed!
Armor shattered!
The armor plates shattered under the pressure, and my right arm was mangled. I gritted my teeth, stifling the scream that threatened to erupt.
I tried to rise using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, but the sheer physical mass of the raptor was too much to overcome from that position.
'Makina! Shift the armor to spikes! Now!'
-On it!
Spike-spike.
Steel spikes erupted from the armor's surface, stabbing into Ji Seong-o’s underbelly.
He didn't even flinch. The spikes couldn't pierce his reinforced hide. With a savage twist, he ripped my right arm clean off and began to devour it.
"Gulp. Flesh always tastes best when it’s fresh. Especially yours—you rank quite high among the humans I've tasted. ...I bet your innards are even better. I can't wait."
-Kyaa! What do we do? Your arm is gone!
'Quit faking the panic.'
-Busted? Hehe.
'Makina. Burn all my remaining mana if you have to—boost the output to the max. Can you do it?'
-Are you sure you want to go that far?
'Do it.'
-Limit break! Here we go!
Mana drained from my core into Makina in a torrent. The suit began to glow a menacing red in response.
In the [Academy's Savior] world, if there was one thing my counterpart truly excelled at, it was mana capacity. He’d trained it diligently since he was a child.
The sudden surge in the suit's power physically lifted my body off the ground.
"Wh-what?!"
Panicking, Ji Seong-o gaped wide and lunged for my helmet.
'Should've gone for the head first if you wanted a kill shot. Though even that wouldn't have worked on me.'
Snap! Crunch-crunch!
Unlike my arm earlier, the helmet held firm. The suit's durability had skyrocketed.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art: Dragon Fist.
I unleashed the technique with my remaining left hand. My fist slammed squarely into Ji Seong-o's chest, the impact sounding like a cannon blast. It didn't kill him, but it sent a clear message.
"Gaaack!"
The raptor flew backward, tumbling across the office floor. Dark blood surged from his maw.
'Tch. No mana left for the Divine Art now...'
It was down to pure physical power then. The suit's current specs would be more than enough.
As I closed in on him, Ji Seong-o suddenly slammed himself into the far wall. The concrete crumbled, revealing the night sky several stories up.
"I'll repay this humiliation a thousandfold! Keep that body safe until then! I'll grind you to dust!"
Bleeding profusely and staggering, the raptor bolted outside.
Suicide? No. His body morphed mid-air into a pterosaur, and he took to the skies with a screech.
-What? He can turn into a pterodactyl? That is a weirdly specific ability!
"Complete Recovery."
My body healed instantly. The devoured right arm regenerated in seconds, and my mana pools refilled to the brim. Shrrrk. The suit shifted, encasing my new limb once more.
'Makina. How long can the suit hold this output?'
-If you just sit still? Maybe 15 minutes.
'That’s more than enough.'
I leaped through the hole in the wall. The suit propelled me 10 meters upward in a flash, but gravity soon began its inevitable pull.
"Kekekeke! Idiot! A wingless fool trying to fly? Know your place, human!"
Ji Seong-o halted his escape, circling overhead and mocking my descent.
'Makina. Give me wings.'
-Sigh. What am I, a magic cat? Wings don't just—oh wait, they do.
It was Makina's mechanization ability at work.
If she could turn parts of the suit into artillery, wings were well within her parameters.
Jagged steel wings sprouted from my back—they looked less like biological appendages and more like high-powered jet boosters.
Vrooom!
My body rocketed skyward. Ji Seong-o flapped in alarm and tried to flee. He was too slow. As if reptilian membranes could ever outpace a jet engine. It was laughable.
I overtook him in an instant and seized him by the nape of his scaly neck.
'Ultimate ready. Finisher time.'
I spun once in mid-air and plummeted toward the earth with him in my grip.
"Mecha Slam!"
I commanded Makina mentally to ramp up the speed to maximum velocity.
-Any faster and even you’ll be in danger!
'Just do it.'
-Fine! Don't blame me if we crater!
The back jets roared at full throttle. With Ji Seong-o pinned beneath me, we tore through the air and slammed into the asphalt.
BOOOOM!
Dust billowed outward in a massive shockwave, leaving a small crater in the middle of the road.
Ji Seong-o, having fallen from over 300 meters, reverted to his human form—he was utterly wrecked. His body looked like shattered pottery, blood and gore spilling across the pavement in a grizzly display of broken bone and torn flesh.
I rose slowly. My body screamed in protest, and the copper taste of blood filled my mouth. The impact had been so great it had overwhelmed the suit’s dampeners.
The armor itself was cracked in several places.
Click.
I heard the sound of a camera shutter. Looking up, I saw a man in his early thirties filming me with a smartphone. Our eyes met through my visor; he gulped and stammered.
"C-can I ask your name?"
There was pure fear in his eyes, yet he kept filming instead of running. It was annoying.
'Makina. Voice modulator. Use the mechanical filter.'
-Got it!
"I am Red Light."
"I-I'm Kang Su-yeol, a manager from Hero Management! Here... here’s my card!"
I glanced at the card but didn't take it. I had no need for a recruiter's contact info.
"I'm no hero."
"I know. But... that man you just killed was the A-rank villain Ji Seong-o, right? Doesn't that make you a dark hero? I... no, my company can help you!"
A dark hero.
They were vigilantes who operated outside the jurisdiction of the Hero Association. Most were officially branded as villains, yet the citizens often hailed them as alternative saviors.
"No need."
"P-please reconsider!"
I ignored him and fired my jets, soaring back into the night sky.
"Red Light-niiiiiim!!!"
Kang Su-yeol’s voice faded into the distance. I didn't look back.
I flew toward a deserted mountain range far from any CCTV coverage, then pulled a spatial transfer scroll from my inventory to return to my dorm.
"Deactivate transformation."
The Stormbreaker armor disengaged, and Makina ended her possession, returning to her 60cm-tall form and floating lazily around me.
"Hey. Wouldn't it have been smart to team up with that guy? A manager makes everything easier. Even dark heroes get unofficial support if they have the right connections."
"I have no interest in associating with trash like that. And I told you—this is just a game for me."
It was stress relief. Pure and simple.
And I was steadily farming Good karma points. This time, I’d scored a total of 2 points.
"It’s still such a waste! That dinosaur had a 12 billion won bounty! Don't you care? Twelve billion! Do you know how many buildings you could buy with that?!"
"Chump change. Pass."
I sank onto the sofa, wincing as my body continued to throb from the impact.
"Well, *I* care! I need rewards for all my hard work! How could you do this to me? A little incentive would make me work even harder! We’re partners, aren't we?"
Since when was a slave considered a partner?
Makina kept nagging me until I’d had enough. Threats only worked temporarily; she’d just start pestering me again later.
"Here."
I summoned a spirit orb and tossed it to her. Like a dog spotting a treat, her eyes widened and she zipped through the air to catch it.
"A spirit orb! A delicious spirit orb!"
She snatched the orb and stuffed it into her mouth, her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk’s.
"Mmm. Hehemm~"
She looked absolutely blissed out, as if she held the world in her hands.
'Is it really that good?'
I popped one into my own mouth. It was tasteless. I spat it out immediately.
Now that I thought about it, I remembered eating one while in a state of spirit possession a long time ago.
'...The memory is fuzzy, but it was actually tasty then.'
Makina scrambled over and snatched up the orb I’d spat out with her tiny hands.
"Mine!"
"I literally just had that in my mouth. Aren't you grossed out?"
"D-dirty? I'll just wash it! You think I’m passing up a spirit orb over a little spit?"
"I wonder if you’d eat one if I shoved it in dog shit."
Makina’s face crumpled in horror, her eyes beginning to well up.
"Y-you jerk! Washing fixes everything! You wouldn't really do that... right? If you do, I’m telling your mom!"
"I'm kidding. Here, have another one."
I tossed her a second orb, and she beamed. As a spirit, these orbs strengthened her bit by bit. Even if she wasn't a typical spirit, the changes were subtle but present.
For reference, the thunder owl Moka had been eating them steadily and was nearing the advanced realm lately.
I turned on the TV. The screen was already blaring breaking news about 'Red Light.'
???
Go Yu-rim, the Chief Enforcer of the Korean Hero Association’s Enforcement Division 4, accepted a single document from her subordinate.
It was a dossier on the current hot topic: Red Light. An A-rank hero herself, known as the 'Gold Lady,' Yu-rim frowned as she looked at the folder.
Most of the pages were blank.
"What is this? Why is there no basic information?"
"We’ve done everything we can, Chief, but there’s nothing. He hides his identity with incredible thoroughness."
"We found his blood at the battle site, didn't we? And we have the samples from the C-rank villain, Park Seol. That should be enough to fill half this page at the very least."
"It’s all there. On the back."
"...You expect me to believe this report?"
"It’s all true. It appears to be some kind of specialized ability."
Yu-rim glanced at the data again. It defied logic.
The genetic analysis from both the blood and the semen concluded that Red Light’s genes were not human. More precisely, they didn't match any known living organism on the planet.
It was as if someone had fundamentally tampered with the DNA at a molecular level.
The blood cells resembled twisted demonic faces; the sperm looked like miniature clown visages. It was utterly abnormal. Science simply could not uncover Red Light’s true identity.
"At least he’s acting as a dark hero, so that’s a small mercy."
"A dark hero? Don't be ridiculous. He raped Park Seol."
"She’s a villain too, and he didn't kill her. In her line of work, you could argue she got lucky, couldn't you?"
"Lucky? I’d rather die. What does the upper brass have to say about this?"
"They’ve ordered us not to publicize the incident with Park Seol."
"So they’re going to brand him a dark hero and try to use him."
"Even if we told the public the truth, they wouldn't believe it. And given the victim is a villain... public opinion will remain firmly on his side."
Ordinary citizens in this world suffered daily at the hands of villains. When a villain was killed or humiliated, it provided a sense of catharsis. Especially in the case of Ophid, the group behind high-profile assassinations and child kidnappings. No one was losing sleep over their misfortune.
"Dark hero my ass. He’s a villain. Have his grade and bounty been set?"
"Yes. Villain Rank B. Bounty: 6 billion won."
"Fair enough."
Ji Seong-o, whom Red Light had eliminated, was an A-rank villain on paper, but his actual skill was B-rank. Starting Red Light at B-rank was a logical step. He would likely climb higher soon enough.
"What are our orders?" her subordinate asked. Division 4 was now officially handling the Red Light case.
"What else? We have no leads. Leave him be for now and focus on the cases we can actually solve."
"Yes, Chief."