Chapter 68: Index Finger
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 68: Index Finger
17
Damn it, how did things end up like this?
Hiding behind a tree with a pounding heart, Lee Su-ho was forcing himself to hold his breath.
This was because creatures that screamed 'I'm a dimensional entity' were lumbering around the forest, searching for him.
“Oppa, oppa, what do we do?”
Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Kim Seo-a, was sobbing, at a complete loss.
Terrified, she seemed to be in a state of panic.
“Fuck, can't you be quiet? Stop fucking crying. If they find us, we're both dead.”
Normally, he would have kindly comforted her, but with their lives on the line, he was on edge and revealed the personality he usually hid from his girlfriend.
“Hic.”
Perhaps because he was so different from the boyfriend she knew, she became even more frightened, letting out a hiccup.
Seeing the boyfriend she trusted most act like this terrified her even more.
“Fuck, cover your mouth. What the hell are you hiccuping for? Are you crazy?”
“Hic, hic.”
As Lee Su-ho, who was two heads taller than her, spoke with an unfamiliar rage, she quickly covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
But the escaping hiccups showed no sign of stopping, and Lee Su-ho's irritation grew worse.
“Fuck, you're being such a fucking nuisance...”
Just as Lee Su-ho cursed and moved to clamp a hand over her mouth, his body froze.
A vine was coiling around the tree they were hiding behind.
In that instant, his face turned deathly pale.
Crack, craaaack!
The tree was torn away, and with their cover gone, the two of them were completely exposed.
At the same time, a Delparis came into Lee Su-ho's view.
The moment it saw them, the creature whipped its vines in all directions and let out a roar.
“Kiiieeeeeek!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Kim Seo-a screamed right after the Delparis did and collapsed to the ground.
“Oppa, oppa, what do we do!”
Trembling in fear, she frantically reached out for Lee Su-ho, only to realize the space beside her was empty.
The moment she lifted her tear-streaked face, she saw Lee Su-ho running for his life.
“O... ppa?”
Watching Lee Su-ho already running far into the distance, her face turned deathly white.
“Where are you going! Oppa, what about me!”
She tried to get up and call after him, but Lee Su-ho didn't answer, running desperately.
Meanwhile, her terrified legs wouldn't hold her, and she kept collapsing.
And in that moment, a shadow fell over her.
“Hic, hic.”
Her teeth began to chatter.
The moment she forced her stiff neck to turn, she saw the Delparis was right in front of her.
“N-No!”
Just as she tried to crawl away, the Delparis's vine swung down toward her.
Sensing death, she scrambled frantically on the ground to escape, but she was too slow.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Swoosh!
In that instant, she realized her body had been lifted into the air.
A look of bewilderment crossed her face as she belatedly realized someone had picked her up.
“Stay still.”
The man who spoke that single phrase as he stopped, holding her tucked under his arm, was someone she knew well.
The weird guy who was always clashing with Lee Su-ho.
It was Kang Ha-chan.
“Aargh!”
Just then, Lee Su-ho's scream echoed from the distance.
The Delparis's vine had wrapped around his waist as he desperately tried to escape, and he was being slammed into the ground.
“Si-ho.”
Just as Kang Ha-chan said the name, Ha Si-ho appeared near Lee Su-ho.
Leaving that side to her, Kang Ha-chan immediately kicked off the ground.
The Delparis, realizing it had lost its prey, swung its vines at him again.
“Kiiieeeeeek!”
In that moment, a vine wrapped around his wrist.
A life-or-death moment.
Crack!
Cracks began to appear on the vine touching his hand, and soon, with a sizzling sound, it shattered.
“So this is the effect at 0.1%.”
“Kieeeek!”
The Delparis shrieked in pain and swung another vine.
Kang Ha-chan skillfully dodged the vine and immediately aimed a pure white gun at the creature.
Bang! Bang!
Bullets containing 0.1% of his power, not his usual Brain Thunder, were fired in rapid succession.
The flying bullets embedded themselves one by one into the Delparis's body.
In that instant, red sparks erupted across the Delparis's body.
Fzzt!
Thanks to that, the Delparis's body trembled and stiffened for a moment.
Seeing this, Kang Ha-chan skidded to a halt and set Kim Seo-a down.
“Wait there for a second.”
As soon as he said that, a single red bullet began to form in his hand.
A Brain Thunder bullet, filled with an aura completely different from before.
All the aura in his body began to be sucked into that single shot.
“Kiiik!”
The Delparis, which had just started moving again, tried to swing its vines, but before it could, red sparks began to fly around Ha-chan's body.
Watching this from where she sat on the ground, Kim Seo-a's eyes trembled wildly.
It was only natural. She could feel a power radiating from him that made the Delparis she had been trembling before seem like nothing.
She was a hunter, too.
Witnessing this level of power up close, she felt something beyond fear, something vast and overwhelming.
Click—
And in that moment, with the sound of metal clicking into place, a flash erupted from the muzzle of his gun.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The light ignited, and a moment later, an intense blast of sound hit her ears. She couldn't think straight through the deafening ringing.
Then, as her vision slowly returned, she looked up and realized she could suddenly see the sky.
All the trees that had been there just moments ago were gone, revealing the sunset-stained sky at the edge of the horizon.
“Uh, ah, ah.”
The Delparis that had filled the forest was nowhere to be seen, as if it had been turned into a handful of ash.
Ha-chan, treating the forest he'd just obliterated as a matter of course, lowered his gun and looked over at her.
“Are you okay?”
He spoke with a kindness that was completely different from her boyfriend.
Unlike the informal speech he'd used a moment ago, it was polite and formal.
Staring blankly up at his face as tears welled in her eyes, she found she couldn't meet his gaze for some reason.
It was because he had helped her without hesitation, even though they didn't get along.
But somehow, it felt like it was more than just that.
She was ashamed of how she had acted toward him based on her prejudices.
And strangely, looking at his face, backlit by the sunset, stirred an unidentifiable emotion within her.
18
Thanks to Si-ho's brilliant coordinate setting, I'd wiped out all the Delparis in the forest with a single Brain Thunder. I let out a long breath, feeling the exhaustion wash over my body.
No matter how many times I experience this, I can't get used to it.
‘I need to learn how to control it soon.’
Being a glass cannon like this in every fight is just too inefficient.
Still, since the coordinates included not only the Delparis but also the artificial dimensional gate, no more dimensional entities should appear in the park.
Besides, using my ability against the Delparis for the first time had a greater effect than I'd imagined.
If I train this well, it seems like it'll be exceptionally effective against dimensional entities.
‘First, let's head back.’
As I was thinking that, my eyes fell on Lee Su-ho's girlfriend, who was sitting dazedly on the ground.
It seemed she was in a daze after her near-death experience with the Delparis.
“Um, Lee Su-ho's girlfriend?”
Her gaze slowly lifted toward me.
It seemed the noise from the Brain Thunder blast had left her with tinnitus; she didn't seem to hear me well.
“Are you okay?”
She met my eyes for a moment before lowering her head for some reason.
Ah, well, after how she treated me, it makes sense she'd be ashamed if she has any decency, now that she owes me her life.
“Kang Ha-chan! Roll!”
The moment I was trying to understand her, I heard Baeksan's sudden shout and reflexively rolled on the ground.
What am I, a dog obeying its master's command?
When I got up after abruptly rolling, I saw three daggers stuck in the ground where I'd been.
The way they immediately started corroding the earth upon impact was like they were advertising they were coated in poison.
“What the...”
As I stood there, bewildered by the sudden ambush, someone burst out from the part of the forest I hadn't blown away.
Holding a dagger in each hand, it was none other than one of Lee Su-ho's group from earlier.
Why him?
For a moment, my mind went blank at the incomprehensible sight, but thanks to Baeksan's intensive training, I pushed myself up and tried to dodge the daggers he swung.
But my opponent was far more experienced than me.
As if mocking the movements that had served me well against Lee Su-ho, he instantly aimed for my neck and thrust his dagger.
Screeech!
Just before the dagger could pierce my neck.
A figure suddenly appeared in front of me and blocked the dagger with just their index finger.
Four translucent white tails swayed behind her back, and ears of the same color sprouted from her head.
It was none other than Eunhyeon, who worked as Baek Seol-hyang's secretary.
I glanced back and saw Baeksan clicking his tongue with his arms crossed, as if he'd already known Eunhyeon was there.
He was probably planning to possess me if things went south.
“So you were targeting Sir Kang Ha-chan after all.”
“Targeting me?”
As I asked back with surprised eyes, she smiled while watching the man who had quickly distanced himself from her.
“Yes. Miss Ha Si-ho has been appearing around you frequently lately. Their plan was likely to use the chaos to take you hostage and draw her out. A typical move for the remnants of Girasung.”
So he was hiding among Lee Su-ho's group, waiting for a chance.
Meanwhile, one of her tails began to turn blue.
“No, I suppose it wasn't a plan, but a final act of desperation.”
“Damn it!”
The man threw dozens of daggers and kicked off the ground to flee.
But it was only for a moment.
The man who had kicked off the ground was, at some point, running back toward us.
It was clearly not his intention. As his eyes widened in shock, Eunhyeon's tail shot out, grabbed his neck, and slammed him to the ground.
“Keuk!”
A single scream escaped him, and then he stopped moving, apparently unconscious.
“The silver fox is an illusion-type sorcerer.”
Baeksan offered a simple explanation to help me understand.
It seemed the man had already been caught in Eunhyeon's spell.
“With this, thanks to you, Sir Kang Ha-chan, we've caught a Girasung remnant. Thank you.”
As she spoke, she looked at me with her uncovered eye and gave a bewitching smile.
“So, please, I'd appreciate it if you kept it a secret from Miss Baek Seol-hyang that I used you as bait.”
How can I refuse when she asks with a smile like that?
‘More importantly.’
So the Girasung remnant wasn't Eunnamu.
I let out a subtle sigh of relief and recalled what I had told Ahyu.
...That Ahyu, she hasn't already gone to catch her, has she?