Chapter 378
Chapter 378
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 378
Chapter Title: Night of the Plaguese Flowers
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Night had fallen deep, but Kim Il-su couldn't sleep.
He was in the underground training hall of Blue Zone's guild house. Ten puppets made of adamantium—the metal called absolute—stood ready, and he wielded a long sword in one hand and a short dagger in the other.
He wasn't using any special skills or pursuing a particular goal. He wasn't even drawing on mana.
He just swung the sword and dagger like a madman. He moved swiftly, sweat pouring from his body.
Ten puppets, and on each one, ten faces overlapped in his vision. They were all different people, but they shared one thing in common.
They were all wearing Soo-hyuk's mask. Si-woo and Ye-ryeong, Hyo-min, Gyu-seong... all his former comrades wore the same mask.
Whoosh—.
Kim Il-su's blade sliced through a puppet. The sword, unenhanced by mana, clanged and bounced off.
Neither the sword nor the dagger could kill a single one. He kept going until he was gasping for breath.
How much sweat had he shed?
"...Stop peeking and come out."
Kim Il-su, catching his breath after pausing, turned his head. Someone was watching him from the corner of the training hall.
"I was watching openly. Not peeking."
She hadn't hidden her presence from the start, nor ambushed him. She'd come in bold as brass, like she wanted him to know.
The voice was familiar. The energy radiating from her felt all too close. So he'd expected the usual mask.
But Kim Il-su flinched at the face Soo-hyuk revealed. Intense turmoil flickered in her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"It's not the face I knew."
He'd long known Soo-hyuk's face had changed.
Quite a few people had now seen Soo-hyuk without the mask, and Kim Il-su knew it differed from the one he remembered.
That's why he'd kept suspecting. The changed face had made him think it wasn't the real Soo-hyuk.
In the end, he'd been fooled by that.
"I just can't believe it. Coming back as a completely different person."
"I felt the same."
Dripping with sweat, Kim Il-su looked at the puppet that had been Soo-hyuk and asked.
"You here to kill me?"
His eyes asked why now, of all times. Kim Il-su genuinely believed Soo-hyuk had come to kill him.
He looked even more unstable than when they'd met a few days ago. It seemed that was the only reason he could imagine for Soo-hyuk seeking him out.
"If you're going to tremble in fear like that, why'd you do it?"
"I didn't think you'd come back alive."
"You didn't?"
"Of course not. Didn't you think the same? Everyone only gets one life. Damn it, why do you get a second chance?"
He hadn't expected this conversation to come up so suddenly. Was that why? His words sped up, his voice rising.
It was the first time Soo-hyuk had seen Kim Il-su bare his emotions like this.
Soo-hyuk let out a hollow laugh.
It was absurd—laughter was all that came out. He hadn't expected this grievance right to his face.
"Is that something you say to me?"
"I know. I know I'm pathetic right now. But what am I supposed to do about how wronged I feel?"
Having vented his resentment, Kim Il-su raised his sword and said.
"Enough useless talk. If you're here to kill me, let's get started. Good thing the night's still young."
If he'd made excuses or rationalized, Soo-hyuk might have been angrier.
But her strangely calm demeanor narrowed Soo-hyuk's eyes.
There was so much he wanted to ask.
Like when exactly he'd planned it. If it was from the beginning. What the reason was.
But now wasn't the time for that.
"I'm not here to kill you."
Soo-hyuk sighed deeply.
"You're definitely not the one."
"What nonsense is that all of a sudden?"
Kim Il-su's half-ruined face twisted. It could be an act, but Soo-hyuk had clearly seen it.
Before sensing her presence, Kim Il-su had been slashing the puppets neurotically. Anxiety and impatience had radiated from his movements.
Plotting some scheme while doing this? And reacting like that upon seeing her?
'This guy's not it.'
Soo-hyuk felt that certainty somehow.
Discomfort was always the guilty one's burden. Fortunately, Kim Il-su was bearing it.
"You know Bang Ji-hyuk?"
He figured a Blue Zone ranker would, but the response came a bit late.
"I remember. He's one of our guild members."
"He had a hallucination bug implanted in his head."
Kim Il-su's face kept twitching.
"For real?"
"You think I'd come find you in the middle of the night for a joke?"
"You've done it before."
"True. And it's your fault we can't anymore."
Growing irritated, Soo-hyuk scratched her head vigorously.
"Anyway."
The conversation circled again. Truth be told, even having a normal talk with this guy was weird enough, so maybe it was inevitable.
If it weren't demon-related, one of them might really have died here, just like he'd said.
"The demonkin are planting seeds."
"...You're really surprising me a lot tonight."
Kim Il-su looked more shocked than ever. It was warranted.
"The seeds you're talking about... are they Plaguese Flowers?"
Plaguese Flower.
It was a flower that grew in places even in the demon world classified as lands of death. The soil where Plaguese Flowers bloomed couldn't sustain humans, most demonkin races, or even ordinary demons.
If they bloomed here? And not just one?
Imagining it was hard enough; it would become reality.
"Yeah. It suddenly swelled up and burst. If you're suspicious, Hielz has the seed's blood— she can verify it."
"You really think I'm a bastard, huh."
"Not wrong."
Apart from the shock, Kim Il-su seemed to accept why Soo-hyuk had come. Fair enough— one of his guild members had a hallucination bug in his brain.
"How long until they bloom? Did they just start planting?"
"Tonight."
"Tonight?"
"I lost the one planting them. Or rather, it never showed itself."
Soo-hyuk looked up. The ceiling blocked it, but the sky was busy right now.
"Hielz is searching hard. Our guild members too."
For a brief moment, as she mentioned guild members, Kim Il-su's pupils trembled.
Catching that look, Soo-hyuk snapped irritably.
"I don't know if that expression's real or fake, but don't give me those wistful eyes. No one's without a backstory, but a guilty bastard like you has no right to pull that face."
"Now you're controlling my expressions too?"
"Not just expressions— life and death too. Not tonight, but like you said, I'll come kill you someday."
At Soo-hyuk's words, Kim Il-su relaxed instead. Hearing that confirmed tonight wasn't his execution day.
"Why tell me all this?"
"Help out. Wake everyone up."
Finishing what she had to say, Soo-hyuk turned. On her way out, she glanced back.
Her gaze landed behind Kim Il-su. Staring there for a moment, she started walking again.
Pop—.
With a light step, Soo-hyuk vanished from the spot.
Confirming she'd left, Kim Il-su felt the tension drain from his taut body.
"Fucking bitch. Showing up out of nowhere and causing a scene..."
Swish—.
A shadow appeared beside him. It was Jang Se-ri.
On her way out, Soo-hyuk's final glance had been at her.
"She noticed me."
"I know. No way she didn't, that one."
It was the first time Jang Se-ri had seen Kim Il-su acknowledge someone like this. He seemed the type who wouldn't even respect an archmage or the Heavenly Demon.
Standing there a moment, Kim Il-su changed into the clean clothes Jang Se-ri had brought.
He wanted to shower off the sweat, but he still had more sweating to do.
"Wake everyone up."
Kyaaahhh—!
A dragon's roar echoed through the night sky.
Vulcanus's bellow, having lost its Dragon Lord, was louder and fiercer than usual.
The sleeping city awoke to the sound. Hielz, astride Vulcanus's head, faced the wind as she scanned below.
Her reddened eyes caught familiar faces throughout the city.
Si-woo and Ye-ryeong, Hyo-min, Jin-un and Unhyang.
They were the comrades bound under the name Blue Eyes.
Normally, she'd handle this alone. Track the demonkin's location somehow, eliminate it, and uproot the seeds.
But now, her comrades moved with her.
All of them exceptionally skilled.
Tick, tick-tock—.
Transparent orbs formed around Hielz.
The orbs morphed into eyes, floating around her.
Eyes without substance, ghostly ones. An advanced magic for tracking and surveillance, and Hielz had conjured dozens at once, scattering them.
Meanwhile, Ye-ryeong zipped around faster than anyone, leaping between buildings, combing every suspicious presence.
"What the hell is this all about, seriously."
Just moments ago, she'd been happily drinking and laughing. Now, sober as could be, she bounded across the night sky.
She should have been resting plenty for tomorrow's match, but this happened.
But seeing Soo-hyuk's message, she couldn't sit still.
It said just to sober up, not what to do. But everyone who got it knew exactly what was needed.
The group scattered to search. That's how Ye-ryeong ended up sweating in the dead of night.
Her feet screeched to a halt as she raced through the city. Her assassin's sharpened senses caught something alien.
A tiny difference, one she'd normally miss.
"Ugh, those damn things."
Irritated, Ye-ryeong melted into the shadows.
Racing through the dark, she reached an alley. There, someone crouched on the ground.
"What're you doing?"
The disheveled man muttered to himself. With a hallucination bug in his head, he was half out of his mind.
She thought to remove the bug first, but then—
Wriggle—.
The small flower before the man twitched, then rapidly swelled enormous.
Shwaaah—.
Blood-red petals bloomed wide. Like a fairytale beanstalk, the giant flower bared teeth and gaped its maw.
As the fully bloomed flower prepared to spew pollen—
Shwick—.
Slipping like on ice, Ye-ryeong scaled the Plaguese Flower's stem, slashing with her dagger.
Dozens of lines scored the flower. Nothing emerged from its open mouth, and its writhing stopped.
And soon—
Shwaaaah—!
Plaguese blood sprayed toward the sky.
Its proudly unfurled petals crumpled and rained down. Dodging the downpour on a rooftop, Ye-ryeong fumed again.
"Are these demon bastards insane?"
Killing intent poured from her.
"They dare pull this shit with us here?"
As if she'd ever been annoyed, Ye-ryeong shot off again.