Chapter 209
Chapter 209
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 210
Chapter Title: Infected Thieves
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A man's voice whispered in my ear, leaving me momentarily stunned.
I'd thought he was just a civilian fleeing from bandits, but it turned out he was one himself.
And not just any bandit—he could wield magic.
Caught off guard by the sudden turn, I froze for a second as the man unleashed a spell at me.
Paang!
I reinforced my body with mana and twisted my head aside, dodging the attack.
At the same time, I spun around and slammed a back kick into the man's chest.
"Guh!"
The man flew backward from the blow to his chest, crashing into a tree and collapsing unconscious.
The other two bandits, stunned by my quick reaction, hesitated for a moment before each casting their own spells to attack me.
But bandits who could use magic were still just bandits.
Their spells were low-level, so I easily knocked out another one with a casual swing of my leg.
Now only one remained.
I had questions for this one, so I didn't plan to knock him out like the others.
I conjured a small magic orb and fired it at his shoulder.
Paang!
"Argh!"
The man let out a scream laced with agony.
He crumpled to the ground, clutching at the pain, then looked up at me with eyes full of fear.
"Ugh! H-heh... P-please, spare me!"
I crouched down in front of the man and stared at him silently before turning my gaze to Shakiya.
She looked at me and shuddered, as if she'd encountered a bandit herself.
"What should we do with them?"
At my question, Shakiya approached with a tense expression.
She then examined the man's face closely.
"...I know these guys. They're wanted criminals. They've committed armed robbery and murder."
I looked at the man's face.
He didn't seem like much, but apparently, these were notorious criminals.
Shakiya turned to the man and asked in Nepali.
According to the Interpretation of Outsiders' Benefit, it was: "Where are the rest of your group, and whose blood is on you?"
The man glanced back and forth between me and Shakiya with terrified eyes before answering.
"I-it's my comrades' blood... Th-they're dead. Demons. The demons tore off our kin's arms and legs... Urgh..."
"Demons?"
Shakiya looked puzzled.
Demons...
I instinctively realized what they meant by "demons."
It had to be Jaun.
Jaun had appeared in the Disease Magic Beast subjugation episode, after all.
To survive an encounter with Jaun, though...
Well, Jaun was ruthless, but I'd heard he sometimes toyed with people like this before letting them live.
A twisted hobby, indeed.
That's when Lee Seojun approached me.
"If they're wanted criminals, then the blood on them is from killing someone else, right?"
I shook my head.
"Doesn't seem like it. From what he said, it's their comrades' blood."
Lee Seojun looked at me with amazement.
"...You speak Nepali too?"
"More or less."
I answered and turned back to the man.
He was still groaning in pain.
He'd occasionally laugh to himself like he was losing his mind—looked like some mental issue.
It didn't seem like just from running into Jaun.
...Could these guys be...
That's when Lee Seojun moved as if to approach the man.
I quickly reached out and stopped him.
"Don't get close!"
At my firm words, Lee Seojun flinched and stepped back.
I confirmed he was at a safe distance, then conjured a mana orb at my fingertips and sliced open the man's shirt.
Sizzle...
Soon, black skin hidden beneath his clothes was revealed.
"...Infected?"
Lee Seojun muttered in shock.
I frowned as I examined the man's skin.
I'd only heard about it from the original story and news, but seeing it with my own eyes was far more gruesome than I'd imagined.
It wasn't just discolored skin—it was rotting and festering.
I asked the man in Nepali.
"Did you encounter a black magic beast?"
"Y-yeah. We did... Black magic beast..."
"When?"
"From the demons... We barely escaped, and about ten minutes later..."
"How many minutes ago exactly?"
"I don't know... How should I know? Urgh..."
I looked at the blood clinging to the man's skin with a heavy heart.
It still felt warm, so it couldn't have been that long ago.
If luck was bad, we might run into Jaun here, so we had to be careful.
I stepped away from the man and turned to Lee Seojun.
"Seojun. Do you sense any mana from the black areas?"
"Yeah. Faintly."
"If mana is present, this isn't a disease—it's a curse of some kind."
"A curse?"
I nodded slightly at Lee Seojun's question.
"So if you ever face black magic beasts, avoid close combat as much as possible. Just so you know."
Lee Seojun nodded at my advice.
"...Got it. So what do we do with these guys?"
I turned back to the man.
"Leave them here. No point risking infection by touching them."
Lee Seojun didn't seem thrilled with the situation.
I told him,
"They're wanted criminals. Probably killed plenty of people. No need for sympathy."
"I'm not feeling sorry for them. It's just... heartbreaking that a plague like this is spreading in this country."
"...Good to hear."
I stood up and turned to Shakiya.
"How much farther to the destination?"
"Oh, almost there. Probably fifteen minutes or so."
Fifteen minutes.
I nodded.
"Let's hurry before it gets dark."
At the same time, somewhere in the Nepalese jungle.
—Kweeeek!
A black wild boar impaled by a spear of electric mana collapsed.
Black mana soon rose from the boar's corpse.
Baek Eun-seong stepped closer to observe the black mana.
"Hey, hey! Baek Eun-seong! Stay back!"
"I know. I'm just looking because it's fascinating."
Baek Eun-seong crouched in front of the boar and said.
Then Natasha, rummaging through her bag behind him, slipped on gloves and gripped a syringe-like magic tool.
"Baek Eun-seong, move. Time to extract the disease mana."
"Okay."
As Baek Eun-seong stepped aside, Natasha approached the boar's corpse.
Pook!
The syringe's needle plunged into the corpse. The rising black mana smoke filled the syringe.
This syringe's name was the "Mana Extractor."
A tool used for extracting mana in various researches.
"Okay. Got the material for now."
"So we can make the disease vaccine with this?"
"Yeah. Well, technically not a vaccine—it's a drug that fools the curse."
Natasha injected the black mana from the syringe into a transparent flask filled with water. The water turned black, becoming a dark liquid.
She dropped a pill into the liquid.
The black liquid absorbed into the pill, emptying the flask.
"Done~ Eating this will make curse mana emanate from your body, fooling other curses. Who wants to go first?"
"Hmm. I'll pass."
Baek Eun-seong grinned and stepped back.
"I'll pass too. Companions first."
Jin Do smiled and retreated.
Ska glanced around, then chuckled and made an X with his hands.
Natasha narrowed her eyes at them.
They thought it was untested. Didn't want to be guinea pigs.
"Sigh."
Natasha sighed deeply and popped the pill into her mouth.
The effect was immediate.
Black mana began emanating from her body.
"Ooh."
Those around watched her in fascination.
"Feel anything weird?"
"Nope. It's just the mana extractor's form—looks convincing on the surface."
"Hmm."
Natasha dusted off her hands and moved forward.
"Time's ticking, so let's find the next magic beast. We need to beat the Association to the lair, right?"
One hour later.
High above the Himalayas, a massive bird made of blue mana soared through the sky.
"After investigating, the 'black magic beasts' aren't infected monsters or magic beasts."
Yoo Ah-yeon, riding her summoned bird, spoke into the communication magic tool.
[If they're not infected, what are they?]
"They're familiars. More accurately, summoned servants."
[...Familiars?]
A trembling voice came from the communication tool.
"Yeah. I saw it with my own eyes. The 'Disease Magic Beast' uses black mana to summon black magic beasts."
[Whoa. All those magic beasts are familiars? Disaster-class monsters are on another level. So killing the main body should end it?]
"Probably. The problem is..."
Yoo Ah-yeon looked down at the black magic beasts gathered on the ground from the sky.
"We have to take out that many to reach the main body, and that's the hard part."
[Forget the main body—even stopping the next invasion looks tough.]
The black magic beast horde had invaded villages four times total.
Yoo Ah-yeon had stopped two of them alone.
But the new black magic beasts outnumbered the previous ones by far.
Even as a top-tier area-of-effect wizard, Yoo Ah-yeon had limits holding them off solo.
"...Wonder how long the barrier will hold."
A powerful barrier enveloped the Himalayan range.
It was a super-massive barrier created by fifty high-rank barrier mages dispatched by the Association.
That was the reason.
[Sis, any other info?]
"Hmm. Other info... I found the lairs."
[...Lairs? Like dragon lairs?]
"Yeah. Total of four lairs found. I think the Disease Magic Beast sticks around this area to protect them."
[Hmm. Lairs...]
A thoughtful voice came from the communication tool.
Lairs were dragons' hideouts.
Dragons usually didn't stray far from their lairs where they stored treasures.
"The Association's guessing now that this mysterious 'disease' might actually be a curse, right?"
[Yeah.]
"I think it's a curse too. And maybe the curse's core is hidden in a lair."
[Reasonable suspicion. Got it...]
Kuuuung!
Then it happened. A massive mana surge rippled out, shaking the surroundings.
Startled by the sudden event, Yoo Ah-yeon looked down at the ground.
An immense mana pressure bore down.
The grand barrier made by the Association's barrier mages was crumbling fast.
"...What the hell?"
▲ O O O.
Black mana blanketed the snow-white mountains.
The ground magic beasts, their eyes turned red, went berserk.
—Kieeeek!
A dragon's roar erupted from somewhere, shaking the area.
Then the 'Disease Magic Beast' appeared in the sky.
Its massive wingbeats unleashed a huge gust.
Yoo Ah-yeon realized instinctively.
The black magic beast invasion had begun again.
But she and Tebella were quite a distance apart.
Without her, the area-of-effect wizard, Tebella had no power to stop the magic beast invasion.
"Head back!"
At Yoo Ah-yeon's shout, the bird flew swiftly toward Tebella.
But the magic beasts charging at Tebella moved faster than the giant bird.
Yoo Ah-yeon gritted her teeth.
At this rate, everyone might die in the invasion.
As despair set in.
Wuuung!
A small magic circle appeared above Yoo Ah-yeon's head.
Mana gathered atop it, and a magic orb dropped at high speed.
Paang!
The summon dodged nimbly, barely evading.
But a new magic circle formed where it had been.
Then another.
One more nearby.
The circles spread like ink in water, filling the sky.
Soon, like a downpour, hundreds of spells bombarded the ground.
Yoo Ah-yeon panicked at the sudden mana barrage and urged her summon to flee.
She escaped the magic circles' range after dozens of close calls.
"...What is this?"
Yoo Ah-yeon stared dumbfounded at the scene.
The black magic beasts called disasters were being swept away and slaughtered by the disaster raining from the sky.