Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: The Masked Intruders
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“Hey. But did you come here to bodyguard me?”
Since she kept using casual speech, I dropped the formalities too. And it wasn’t even under my Kim Sun-woo identity, but Kim Jin-woo. Since she started it, it should be fine.
Ellin looked at me with a momentarily bewildered gaze at my changed tone, then opened her mouth.
“...Huh? Yeah. That’s right.”
“Is that so? Well, do your best.”
I stood up from my seat.
It was about time to get moving. I had no idea when today’s incident would erupt, so I needed to prepare in advance.
That’s when I was about to head off in search of Han Se-yeon.
Thump.
A chilling energy hit me all at once.
Killing intent directed at me.
Soon, multiple surges of mana were felt, and someone behind me swung a sword in a surprise attack.
Whoosh!
I lightly twisted my body to dodge the guy’s attack. Then, I swiftly grabbed him by the throat.
“Argh!”
“Who the hell are you?”
The guy was wearing a mask.
Ellin and I exchanged glances before scanning our surroundings.
Shaaaak—
Around twenty masked thugs burst into the party hall.
Instinctively, I realized these were the main villains behind this incident.
Damn. One step too late?
—Move in.
The thugs used mana to quickly turn the area into chaos.
People screamed at the sudden situation.
“Argh!”
“Security! Where’s security?!”
The security guards finally grasped the situation and intervened late, but they lacked the skill to hold them off.
The thugs were stronger than I’d thought. From Character Appraisal, their ranks ranged from C to A. And there were way more of them than expected.
Considering how the original story treated this as a minor incident, this level didn’t make sense. Was this another butterfly effect?
In that moment, Han Se-yeon popped into my head.
Right. Where was Han Se-yeon right now?
I’d seen her follow Han Se-jin earlier, but had no clue where she’d gone.
And these guys were after Han Se-jin.
Which meant his blood-related little sister might be in danger too.
Tension crept in unbidden. If something happened to her...
I blasted a magic orb into the gut of the guy I’d grabbed by the throat, then focused mana into my legs. I kicked off the floor and dashed forward.
Flash!
Ellin looked slightly startled by my movement but followed behind me.
Thugs spotted me midway and tried to attack, but I calmly took them down one by one.
Thanks to my recent real-combat training with Choi Il-hyun, my senses were sharpened, letting me drop them even faster.
“Gah!”
—Han Se-jin spotted!
—Hall 3!
Hall 3?
If Han Se-jin was in Hall 3, Han Se-yeon was likely there too.
Ellin must have heard the voice too, as she immediately started running.
We arrived at the spot marked Hall 3.
The moment we tried to enter, a barrier went up.
They’d prepared a pre-set barrier. Very organized.
“Tch.”
“Step back.”
Ellin stepped forward from behind me. The Rune Clan specialized in support magic.
Since barrier magic fell under support, she could dismantle a hastily made one like this in seconds.
But right now, every second counted.
Even if the Rune Clan excelled in support, they couldn’t benefit from an outsider’s buffs.
I grabbed Ellin’s shoulder.
“Move. I’ll break it.”
Ellin frowned at my words.
“I’m a support magician. I can undo a barrier like this in two minutes—no, one minute.”
“Won’t even take me 30 seconds.”
“What? That’s...”
Ellin stared at me in disbelief.
Ignoring her, I stepped forward and injected mana into the floor. Blue light emanated from the ground, and the entire barrier began to glow.
I calmly and quickly located the mana sources forming the barrier and altered the formula.
Having dismantled a few before, I could do it far more skillfully now.
Beside me came a voice of astonishment, as if she couldn’t believe it.
“W-what? You’re really breaking it in 30 seconds...?”
[Character ‘Ellin’ is astonished by your ability.]
[You acquire 500 points as a reward.]
Whoooong...
The barrier gradually lost its form, collapsing completely after about 20 seconds.
“Done.”
I dashed forward again as if it were nothing. Ellin stood there dazed for a moment before snapping out of it and following belatedly.
Sensing mana, I kept running until we reached the destination.
And there was a familiar face.
Han Se-jin and his loyal subordinate protecting him, Kwak Byung-jin.
Kwak Byung-jin was holding off six thugs by himself.
His body was covered in wounds—he looked precarious.
Even a quick glance showed several strong-looking magicians mixed in. Impressive he’d held out alone this long.
That’s when Ellin removed her gloves behind me. Without them, tattoo-like magic circles on her hands were revealed.
Soon, blue light began emanating from the magic circles.
Ellin winced in pain. Engraving magic circles on the body was infamous for the burning pain it caused.
That was probably why she was grimacing.
Reacting to the magic circles’ light, light burst from the floor where the thugs stood.
A ring of light formed, binding their bodies.
“W-what is this?!”
“Gah!”
But there was no time to marvel at the tattoo magic circles’ power.
I hurriedly scanned the surroundings.
Where’s Han Se-yeon?
Where was Han Se-yeon?
I quickly looked around the hall interior, but Han Se-yeon was nowhere to be seen.
Whether Han Se-jin lived or died wasn’t important to me.
If he died, it’d just mean one less villain—better for me.
“Tsk.”
I moved again to find Han Se-yeon. She had to be somewhere in this hall.
Then, mana surged from somewhere again. Hoping for the best, I ran toward it.
“...Found you.”
At the spot, I spotted one thug emitting mana and, opposite him, Han Se-yeon.
From the looks of it, nothing had happened to her yet.
Unaware I was watching, the thug approached Han Se-yeon.
I kicked off the floor and charged forward. I poured mana into my foot and slammed a powerful kick into the thug’s side.
Boom-!
“Gaaaah!”
His body flew into the wall with a loud crash.
“J-Jinwoo-ssi?”
Han Se-yeon’s voice called out to me. I approached her.
“You okay?”
She nodded at my question. Her face was pale with fear.
“No injuries?”
“Y-yes. None.”
“Phew.”
That was close to a dangerous situation.
“Urgh. You bastard!”
I turned to the thug.
The impact had knocked off his mask, revealing his face.
I used Character Appraisal to check his mana rank.
Mana Rank A?
Higher than expected. His mask looked different from the others too—maybe he was the leader.
Tension started building.
I hadn’t really faced a proper A-Rank villain before.
But I wasn’t scared.
I’d grown quite a bit. With all my abilities, I was confident I could handle an A-Rank villain.
Yeah. This was an opportunity.
The ‘Victory Bulletin’ effect had cycled today anyway, and I wanted to test it on an A-Rank foe.
“Han Se-yeon-ssi, hide somewhere safe. Actually, stay near here. This spot’s safer.”
“No. Jinwoo-ssi, let’s evade together.”
Han Se-yeon said to me with a stiff expression. Her concern brought a smile to my face.
“I’ll end it quick.”
With that, I faced the enemy before me.
[Activating effect: ‘Victory Bulletin’.]
[Target is ‘Kim Jin-taek’.]
[If victorious against the target, acquire random additional stats or traits.]
...Alright then. Let’s do this.
I pulled a mana elixir from my pocket and dumped it into my mouth. The long-forgotten bitter taste made me wince.
[‘Amplified Mana Elixir’ effect: Mana recovery speed increased by 500% for 5 minutes.]
[Drug Amplification effect: Elixir efficacy and duration increased by 20%.]
That’s when he manifested a flame spear and rapid-fired it at me.
The manifestation and release were half a beat faster than usual—tough for most to dodge.
But my reflexes had improved greatly lately.
I read the attack and twisted my body to evade.
Boom-!
The flame spear crashed into the wall behind me and exploded.
“Tch.”
He clicked his tongue at my movement.
Then he manifested magic again. Not just one this time—five flame spears shot toward me.
Dodging wouldn’t solve everything.
It might even hit Han Se-yeon.
So I deployed the new ‘Barrier’ I’d been practicing to block the spells.
Barriers consumed a ton of mana, but with the elixir, I could maintain it easily.
“Not bad.”
He muttered upon seeing my moves.
Ignoring him, I activated every ability I could.
No reason to drag this out.
[Activating effect: ‘Heart of Great Nature’.]
[Activating effect: ‘Fighting Spirit’.]
Power surged massively through my body as the abilities kicked in.
Plus the mana elixir—I had practically infinite mana right now.
Sensing my change, his expression hardened momentarily.
I charged forward at full speed.
Flash-!
Like a flash of light, I closed the distance to his face in an instant.
As expected of an A-Rank magician, he quickly summoned a fire pillar to block my approach.
That’s when I activated ‘Instant Acceleration’.
Everything around me slowed in perception, letting me see the fire pillar’s rising motion clearly.
I swiftly dodged to the side, slipping behind him quickly. Then I manifested magic right away.
Whoooong...
Mana swirled and compressed above my hand.
The brief 2-second Instant Acceleration ended.
Perception returned to normal. But the situation was already in my favor.
Perfect back position.
Magic compressed and ready in my hand.
Couldn’t get better.
I pressed the magic orb right against his body.
Completely defenseless, he couldn’t dodge.
I released the spell.
KABOOM-!
“Gaaaaah!”
His scream pierced my ears.
System messages flooded my vision.
[Successfully defeated A-Rank villain ‘Kim Jin-taek’.]
[Causality rises by 0.75.]
[Causality reaches 10.]
[One Authority unlocked.]
[Victory against target!]
[Victory Bulletin effect: Strength +0.2, Mana +0.2, Mana Control proficiency +3%, Mana Amplification +5%.]
I blankly stared at the messages.
Longer than expected. Scanning them, one stood out.
Causality hitting 10 and unlocking an Authority.
“Jinwoo-ssi, you okay?”
Then Han Se-yeon approached with a worried face. I snapped to and looked at her. She was checking me for injuries, looking quite frantic.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
The incident today was quickly suppressed. The Special Task Force deployed, and with Ellin’s binding magic tying up all the thugs, they were all captured.
From what I heard, it differed slightly from the original story I knew.
In the original, it was an attack by a single criminal group called ‘Tetra’. This time, multiple crime organizations had allied to target Han Se-jin.
Seemed the escalation came from Han Se-jin stirring up more places than in the original.
My intervention boosting Han Se-yeon’s position probably contributed too.
And ‘Ellin’, who shone by subduing tons of thugs, drew the eyes of the Special Task Force and some reporters.
Of course, I was on their radar too, but her standout performance overshadowed me a bit.
Rather than my feats, reporters seemed more curious about my connection to Han Se-yeon. They kept asking weird questions—worried they’d spin articles in odd directions.
“Thanks for today.”
Han Se-yeon repeatedly thanked me and apologized.
She felt bad for dragging me into trouble just because she invited me to the party.