Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Saint of Rome (6)
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“Hah, hah!”
*Thump-thump-thump!*
A woman ran through a narrow, dark alley.
Her platinum-blonde hair swayed.
Her jade-like skin, now sullied with sweat and dirt, she gasped for breath.
“After her!”
“This way!”
Men with menacing faces chased after the fleeing woman.
“Ugh…!”
The platinum-blonde woman took a sharp breath and quickly hid herself in a nook in a corner alley.
Her face was etched with tension and urgency.
“Damn it! Where is she?!”
“She couldn’t have gone far! Hurry up and find her!”
The men, looking anxious, split up to search for her.
“……”
After a brief silence.
“Hah.”
The woman who had been fleeing from the men, Isabella Colagrande, let out a soft breath.
“…I was careless.”
She knew they were targeting her.
But she never imagined that even ‘the Owls’ would get involved.
‘At this rate… it’s dangerous.’
Isabella looked down at her left breast and bit her lip gently.
Her Stigma had lost its light.
The mana she usually wielded as naturally as her own limbs was completely unresponsive.
“And I can’t contact anyone.”
Just how thoroughly had they prepared this plan?
Her smartphone and all other communication-type Holy Relics were completely dead.
‘I have to run.’
There was no other way but to drag this out as long as possible and escape the city-wide net they had cast over Rome.
But.
‘With a body that can’t even use mana…’
How was she supposed to escape the eyes of the assassins positioned everywhere?
“Ugh.”
Isabella grimaced and clenched her fist.
Even if she knew the chances were slim.
Right now, she had no choice but to flee for her life.
‘If I get caught.’
She squeezed her eyes shut, as if she didn't even want to imagine it.
A clean death would be a blessing.
If they dragged her away, she could face an experience more horrific than hell itself.
‘Carefully.’
Isabella crouched low and began to move slowly.
Fortunately, she had the geography of the gypsy village she was in memorized.
Given the maze-like nature of the village, if she could just escape properly—
“There she is!”
“Quick, after her!”
Three men spotted her.
The men who rushed frantically toward her the moment they saw her.
“Tch!”
Isabella’s face contorted as she quickly turned and bolted.
*Thud-thud-thud-thud!*
She sprinted through the narrow alleys.
The deeper she went, the more unidentifiable stenches assaulted her nose.
“Hah! Hah!”
She was completely out of breath.
With every step, it felt like a massive weight was being placed on her shoulders.
Had a body without mana always felt this heavy?
“Hehehehe! You’re slow as hell!”
The men chuckled, leisurely chasing after her.
“Oops! There you are!”
“Kyaa!”
Despite desperately running through the complex maze of the gypsy village to buy time, she was eventually caught.
“Man, I was shitting my pants at first, but this is nothing!”
“Kehehehe! Of course, she’s been hit with the ‘Curse of the Jamiwon.’”
The man grinned, gripping her slender arm.
“Let go of me!”
Isabella twisted her body violently, trying to pull her arm free, but it was impossible to break a man’s grip with her mana sealed.
“Shut up, you bitch!”
*Smack!*
The man swung his hand viciously.
Her head snapped to the side, her cheek swelling and turning red.
“How dare you…”
Isabella bit her lip, glaring at the man with a venomous look.
“Khahahat! Don’t glare at me so fiercely~”
The man stuck out his tongue as if enjoying himself.
“—It just makes me want to kill you more painfully, you know?”
He roughly grabbed her slender nape and licked his lips.
“Agh! Ack!”
Isabella’s face twisted in pain as she dug her nails into the arm choking her.
“H-huh!”
The man flinched involuntarily and took a step back.
But that was only for a moment.
Seeing that her nails, far from piercing his forearm, hadn't even left a small scratch, the man’s lips curled into a grin.
“Ha… Hahahaha! Wow! This curse is killer!”
“Kehehe! You stupid bastard. You knew that and still got scared?”
“Huh? What’d you say, you punk?”
The two men began to raise their voices and curse at each other.
A brief opening created by their carelessness.
‘I have to run now…!’
It was a chance that wouldn’t come again.
Isabella desperately endured the pain of being choked and lifted her foot.
She planned to kick him in a vital spot with the heel of her shoe and then run.
“Hey, hey. Cut the crap and just hold on to that bitch so she doesn’t get away.”
“I’m holding her tight right now…”
“Huh? Look at this bitch.”
But.
Before she could land the kick, another man noticed her movement.
“Kehehe! To think she’s still trying to escape in this state.”
“Guess she lives up to her name, huh?”
The men looked at her as if she were pathetic.
“Now, now, don’t be so sad, missy.”
“If you come with us, only fun things will happen from now on!”
Eyes filled with slimy lust scanned her body.
‘No… way.’
Her consciousness began to fade.
Isabella’s shoulders trembled slightly from the fear that was slowly consuming her body.
‘Not yet.’
There was still so much she had to do.
“I won’t…”
Without achieving anything.
Like this.
So pointlessly.
So meaninglessly.
It couldn’t end—
*Zzzzzzzzzzzzzap!!!*
A blue lightning filled her vision.
As if an angered god was delivering divine punishment.
A blue thunderbolt fell from the sky, sweeping through the area.
“Aaaaaargh!”
“Wh-what the?”
The men panicked.
Between them.
*Swoooosh!!*
“Keuk!! Aack!”
A spear wreathed in blue flames danced.
Blocking their escape route, sealing their movements.
Covering all eight directions, the sharp spearhead tore the men’s bodies to shreds.
“Kuaaaaaaaargh!!”
“My, my aaaaaarm! Keuk! Gurgle!”
In an instant, the three men became dismembered corpses rolling on the ground.
“…Huh?”
Isabella’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t comprehend the situation.
She rubbed her bruised neck and lifted her head.
What she saw there was.
“Are you all right?”
A young man with curly black hair.
And gentle eyes that were comforting just to look at.
“Mr. Oh-jin…?”
Noerang.
The Wolf of Vega was standing before her.
“How did you get here… Ugh!”
*Stumble.*
Isabella swayed as she tried to get up.
Oh-jin took her hand and let out a faint smile.
“I followed the scent.”
“…Excuse me? M-my scent?”
Isabella looked down at her own body with a flustered expression.
“Phaha! I’m kidding.”
“Ah! Th-that’s mean!”
Perhaps it reminded her of her first meeting with Oh-jin.
Isabella’s cheeks flushed red.
“I told you I didn’t follow your scent that time!”
“Hahaha! I know.”
Oh-jin gave a slight shrug.
“I was just passing by when I heard a scream.”
“Ah.”
A short gasp escaped Isabella’s lips.
“…Thank you.”
Her eyes welled up with tears as she bowed her head deeply.
Oh-jin looked down at the bowing Isabella and,
“Don’t mention it.”
*Grin.*
He smiled brightly.
‘Perfect.’
It was worth using Heukcheon and tailing her since early this morning.
‘The timing was flawless.’
The goal of this plan wasn't simply to save her life.
It was to indebt her to him, to make her follow his words in the future.
‘It’s different from the Valhalla Guild.’
Although he and the Valhalla Guild were currently in a cooperative relationship, it didn't mean he could freely give them orders and instructions.
But.
‘Knowing Isabella’s personality, she won’t be able to refuse the words of the person who saved her life.’
Especially if that person ‘desperately’ protected her with his own life on the line.
He would be able to have her in the palm of his hand, to control her.
“First, let’s get out of here.”
Oh-jin gripped her hand.
“Ah, yes! Understood!”
*Tap-tap-tap!*
He ran through the alley, holding her hand.
“There they are!”
“Damn it! Who the hell is that guy?!”
Before long, other assassins appeared.
Oh-jin’s eyes glinted sharply as he observed them.
He could feel the distinct mana of the ‘Black Star’ from them.
‘So it was the Black Star Society after all.’
The Black Star mana he felt around him wasn't from just one or two individuals.
‘Just how many of them are there?’
The number of assassins surrounding this gypsy village was far greater than he had expected.
‘Four hundred… no, is it over five hundred?’
It felt strange to invest this many people to capture a single 6-star Awakened.
‘Well, it’s good for me.’
Thanks to them, he could paint an even more perfect picture.
“Hoo.”
He took a deep breath and charged forward.
He thrust his spear forward, stabbing the charging assassins.
*Stab!*
“Keuk!”
“Damn it! What the hell is this guy?!”
The assassins shouted curses in a panic.
They seemed clumsy for trained assassins, but their skills were more than adequate.
*Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!*
The assassins barely managed to parry Oh-jin’s ferocious assault.
But that was all.
The fiercely burning blue lightning gradually began to push them back.
*Twang!*
“Kugh!”
“Wh-what is this now?”
Wires densely covered the narrow alley.
Blue lightning crackled fiercely along the wires.
*Zzzzzzzzzzzzap!!*
“Aaaaaargh!”
Acrid smoke filled the air, along with the screams of the assassins.
*Thud!*
The assassins blocking the path collapsed on the spot.
“Wow…”
Isabella let out a short gasp, looking at Oh-jin.
But that was only for a moment.
She took Oh-jin’s hand and ran forward.
“This way leads to a place with many forking paths!”
“I know.”
He had already surveyed the area over the past six days and memorized its geography.
“Then quickly…”
“No.”
He shook his head and approached one of the fallen assassins.
‘As I thought.’
Rummaging through the corpse, he found a red, blinking Holy Relic.
It was probably a communication Holy Relic planted for tracking.
‘In that case.’
I might as well make use of it.
“Mr. Oh-jin?”
“Just a moment.”
Oh-jin tied the Holy Relic to the end of his wire shooter.
*Twang!*
He fired the Holy Relic toward a point he had scouted beforehand.
‘The most difficult place to track.’
Unless they smashed through the buildings in a straight line, they would have to take a significant detour.
“This way.”
Oh-jin took her hand and entered a nearby old apartment building.
“Weren’t we escaping?”
“We’ll be caught anyway if we keep running.”
The number of assassins forming the encirclement was at least five hundred.
And that was just the number he could confirm by their presence; in reality, there were likely more.
“We need to hide somewhere suitable before moving again.”
Well, even then, they wouldn't be able to shake them off completely.
But it was better than a frontal breakthrough.
“…Yes.”
Isabella nodded and followed Oh-jin into the old apartment building.
It seemed no one lived there, as the inside was completely empty.
“Whew. Let’s rest here for a bit.”
Oh-jin plopped down on the floor and let out a short sigh.
He took off his jacket and spread it on the floor.
“You can sit here.”
“…Thank you.”
Isabella carefully sat down on the floor.
“……”
“……”
A sudden, awkward silence fell.
“…Mr. Oh-jin.”
Breaking the awkward silence.
Isabella spoke cautiously.
“Mr. Oh-jin, why… are you helping me?”
She stared at Oh-jin with trembling eyes.
*Smirk.*
A faint smile graced Oh-jin’s lips.
“Didn’t I once say that a good deed done for a reward is still a good deed?”
“…Yes. You did.”
“Then let’s just call this a good deed as well.”
“……”
Isabella’s eyes wavered.
“But I have no reward to give you…”
“You don’t need to give me any reward. You don’t volunteer to help the gypsies because you want something in return, do you, Ms. Isabella?”
“B-but! This is different from that!”
How could casually helping others be the same as risking one’s life to protect someone?
“If you insist.”
Oh-jin maintained his gentle smile.
“There is one thing I’d like to ask of you.”
“What is…”
He slowly reached out and covered her trembling cheek with his hand.
‘Gaze into her eyes. Keep your voice calm.’
Creating the atmosphere he wanted.
It was now as natural to him as breathing.
“Just like now… I hope you’ll stay by my side from now on, Ms. Isabella.”
Kyah.
‘That was epic.’
Fucking cool as hell.