Chapter 392: Human World[R-18] (46)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 392: Human World[R-18] (46)
Individually, the corpse-like things pouring from the sky posed no threat to us. The problem, however, was their numbers. This endless downpour was plunging the city’s civilians into horrific chaos.
Screams, explosions, and citizens fleeing in panic. The combat-capable residents who lived here joined in to form a defensive line, but the damage was inevitable.
—CRASH!
—Kyaaaak!
Sword in hand, I looked up at the sky. The things that looked like corpses just kept falling.
‘Are they undead? Or something else?’
Looking closely at the falling figures, I saw they had human forms, but something was off. A rotten stench filled the air, and a sticky black liquid oozed from them.
Just then, Evan Carter gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Fuck…! They just keep fucking falling. Hey, Witch! Can’t you blast that shit with your firepower?!”
Im Hye-rin glared at him and replied.
“Hold on. I’ll give it a try.”
The ground beneath her feet flashed like a red magic circle, and soon, pale blue ether rose in a vortex. Flames flickered to life, and wind whipped around her like a storm.
‘So this is the Witch of Dreadfire.’
It was my first time seeing Im Hye-rin’s true power. On top of that, she was even stronger now, having built up her energy by sharing her body with me.
Her eyes began to glow. A dual-colored light, a mixture of blue and white, filled her irises.
“Everyone, get back!”
At her warning, the surrounding guild members quickly created distance.
She quietly raised her right arm, her fingertips aimed at the blackened sky.
“—Scorching Heat.”
—BOOOOOM!!!
With a deafening roar that seemed to tear through thunder itself, a beam of light shot toward the sky and erupted into a colossal flame. A massive pillar of pale blue fire shot straight into the dark curtain above.
The pile of corpses pouring from the sky was engulfed in the blaze, turning to ash in mid-air. An immense wave of heat washed over the area, and even the asphalt began to melt.
Im Hye-rin’s attack caused a crack to form in the black curtain, which then shattered like glass.
“It’s broken through…!” someone shouted. But the black curtain instantly returned to its original state.
Just then, Ashir’s voice echoed from the sky.
It is useless. An attack from the likes of you cannot break through.
“That bastard!” Evan yelled, his voice filled with rage.
I walked over to Im Hye-rin and asked quietly, “Mother-in-law, what percentage of your power was that?”
“Roughly… fifty percent.”
She answered, catching her breath.
As expected of a barrier created by an S-rank. An attack of that magnitude had barely managed to crack it.
Just then, Ayame from Nagitsune spoke up cautiously.
“This isn’t working. We need to find the core of the barrier and destroy it directly.”
At her words, everyone’s eyes turned to her.
“…The core of the barrier?”
“There must be a center somewhere. A device or a being that’s maintaining the barrier. If we don’t sever that, breaking through will be impossible.”
“The problem is…” I muttered under my breath.
“We don’t know where that core is.”
Jung Ji-hun continued, “In that case… we just have to shake it.”
“Shake it?”
“A barrier like this will usually reveal its core if it’s hit from all four cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west—with a certain level of impact simultaneously. We can use that reaction to track its location.”
Evan Carter crossed his arms and wrinkled his nose.
“Let’s say I take one side, the Witch takes another, and that monkey bastard takes a third. What about the last spot? The rest of these small fry don’t have enough firepower.”
At that moment, Im Hye-rin glanced at me and said, “Don’t worry. We have another S-rank ability user right here.”
Her words made everyone’s gaze fall on me.
“This guy is S-rank?” Evan Carter said, his face a mask of disbelief. Ayame also stared at me, surprised.
“Yes, he is. So we can strike simultaneously.”
At Im Hye-rin’s confident tone, Evan scoffed.
“Ha, this guy is S-rank? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I shrugged and said, “Believe what you want. I’ll just show you with the results.”
“Heh, if you fail, you’ll die by my hand,” he warned.
Nogi Kazuo spoke next. “Then, we of Nagitsune will take the east.”
“I’ll take the west, then,” Evan declared.
Im Hye-rin looked at me and asked, “Seo-yun, which way will you go?”
“I’ll go north.”
“Alright. I’ll take the south.”
With the positions decided in an instant, Im Hye-rin added cautiously, “Will you be okay on your own?”
“I’ll be fine,” I answered curtly. No further explanation was necessary.
Just then, Ayame spoke up.
“Wait a moment. Sending him alone is dangerous. If the north fails, the entire plan to collapse the barrier could be jeopardized. Not to mention it would make tracking the core more difficult… The risk is too great. We should assign at least one more person to him.”
Im Hye-rin looked at me silently, her eyes asking what I wanted to do.
“Alright then, you can come with me.”
“…Huh?”
Ayame’s eyes widened.
“It was your suggestion. So you should come.”
“W-Well, that’s not exactly what I meant by…” Ayame trailed off, flustered.
“Nagitsune has the most people here, and you’re the strongest among the A-ranks.”
Unable to refute my point, Ayame didn’t know what to do and turned to look at Nogi Kazuo.
“Go, Ayame. Escaping is our priority. I’ll send Kato with you.”
“…Yes, Father.”
Ayame nodded, as if she had no choice.
A young man standing next to her stepped forward. He was short but had a sturdy build and sharp eyes.
“Kato Daisuke.”
The man’s eyes were full of vigilance.
Im Hye-rin placed a hand on my shoulder and whispered, “Be careful. And use the ring if you’re in danger.”
“Yes, I will.”
I nodded, then headed north with Ayame and Kato.
Behind me, I could hear the footsteps of the others scattering to their respective positions.
Ayame walked silently behind me, a look of dissatisfaction still on her face.
“What’s with the long face?” I asked, breaking the silence.
Ayame turned her head. “I doubt you’re really S-rank.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll see soon enough.”
“You bastard, if you try anything funny with my lady, I, Kato of Swiftness, will not forgive you.”
The man threatened, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
I ignored him. I had no interest to spare for a little monkey like him.
My attitude seemed to provoke him again.
“Kisama! Are you ignoring me?!”
As he half-drew his sword, I spoke to him, my voice cold.
“Draw that, and I’ll kill you.”
A cold killing intent radiated from my body. It was true murderous intent, the kind that promised death.
—Flinch.
The man froze, trembling at my killing intent. His hand fell from his sword hilt, and his face went pale.
“Kato! We’re on a mission, so cut the crap and follow quietly!” Ayame shouted urgently. She must have felt the killing intent I’d unleashed, as her expression was tense.
“B-But, my lady…”
“Kato!”
At Ayame’s sharp rebuke, Kato shut his mouth.
I started walking forward again and said, “Next time, I won’t use words.”
My cold voice made Kato shudder.
‘A mere B-rank getting cocky.’
Kato’s skill was at best mid-tier B-rank.
Ayame came up beside me and whispered, “Sorry. Kato is a bit… overprotective.”
“I don’t care. As long as he doesn’t get in the way.”
“Okay…”
There was a subtle change in her voice. She sounded a little more cautious than before.
‘Guess showing them my power is the most effective way after all.’
When we reached the northern edge, the black curtain in the sky felt even closer.
“We’ve reached our position,” I said into the radio.
Waiting on the west side.
East is ready.
Reached the south.
The countdown began.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6…
I raised the Flying Heaven Sword toward the sky. A blue aura began to shimmer from the blade.
Ayame stared at me in surprise.
“That’s…?”
I focused all my internal energy into the sword, preparing a form from the Moon Shadow Sky Sword Dance.
3, 2, 1… Attack!
“Moon Shadow Slash.”
In that instant, the sword force emanating from my blade glowed softly like moonlight. As if moonlight were seeping through the clouds, it struck the barrier from an unpredictable angle.
Ayame muttered in astonishment, “Wh-What in the world was that…”
Kato was completely speechless, his face deathly pale.
The black curtain in the sky rippled violently. The moment my attack landed, a massive crack appeared in the barrier.
Evan’s voice came through the radio.
Success!
This side is done, too, came Nogi Kazuo’s voice.
“We struck the barrier here, but… it repaired itself almost immediately.”
I glared at the barrier as it instantly restored itself.
We succeeded over here, but the barrier repaired itself right away. Ji-hun, did you get the location? Im Hye-rin’s voice came through, also reporting success before calling for Jung Ji-hun.
I’m sorry… I believe my judgment was flawed. I can’t feel anything at all.
Alright, let’s regroup and reassess, was Im Hye-rin’s final transmission.
I looked at Ayame standing next to me.
“Let’s go back.”
She reacted with a start at my quiet words.
“Y-Yes!”
Her reaction was so absurd I almost laughed.
“What’s wrong? Why so tense? Relax, like you were before.”
“R-Right…”
Kato suddenly let out a dry cough.
“Ahem… Please maintain your distance from my lady.”
Without even turning my head, I said, “You, be quiet.”
“Tch…!”
Kato fell silent again. His face clearly showed he wanted to argue, but his spirit seemed to have been broken by the power I had just displayed. He eyed me cautiously and took a step back.
Ayame murmured quietly beside me, “That swordsmanship just now… You really are an S-rank from Korea.”
“Would I lie about something like that in this situation? More importantly, how do I compare to Japan’s S-ranks?”
“To be honest… I don’t think there are many S-ranks in my country who could use a technique like that.”
“Then who’s the strongest in Nagitsune?”
“My father, of course. But…”
She hesitated for a moment, then said in a small voice, “Even my father… if he were to face you head-on… I don’t think it would be an easy fight.”
From behind, Kato cut in, his voice shocked.
“My lady! You can’t just say things like that—”
“I’m only speaking the truth, Kato.”
I was momentarily surprised by how frank this woman was.
“I like your honesty.”
I glanced at her, the corners of my mouth turning up.
“Let’s head back for now. Later… how about we talk, just the two of us?”
“Talk…?” Ayame tilted her head and asked.
“You use a sword too, right? Don’t you think fellow sword users should get to know each other?”
“Oh, okay.”
Ayame nodded. There was no suspicion or wariness in her expression.
On the way back to the rendezvous point, after walking in silence for a while, she spoke up cautiously.
“…Back then, when you touched my chest. To be honest… I thought you were a pervert.”
Her voice trailed off, tinged with embarrassment. But soon, she looked at me again and smiled shyly.
“But you’re… surprisingly a decent person. I misunderstood.”
‘Surprisingly a decent person.’ I almost laughed out loud. I had reached out my hand with clear intent back then.
“Well, I was flustered back then and made a mistake.”
When I shrugged and played along, Ayame whispered quietly, “…But, back then… what you muttered under your breath.”
‘Ah, damn it.’
I was at a loss for words. I scrambled to come up with a plausible excuse, but nothing came to mind.
“That was… you see…”
At that very moment, the sky split open, and corpses began to rain down again.
‘That bastard Ashir has perfect timing.’
I slowly drew my sword.
“Cover my back.”
With those words, I shot forward.