Chapter 123
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: It's Walk Time.
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Boom, rumble!
As the battle between Mokryongdae and Eugene intensified, the shockwaves reached all the way to the Leviathan.
The constant rumbling was par for the course.
Vibrations shook the building every few minutes.
Unless someone was extraordinarily dense, no matter how deep their sleep, they couldn't help but bolt awake amid the commotion.
"Hah... A disturbance like this in the Leviathan."
"No idea what's going on."
And so, most of the Leviathan's guests had been roused from sleep, spending the night wide-eyed and restless.
But that was it.
Almost none of them were panicking or rushing to flee the hotel.
This was Hotel Leviathan.
Even during the Heroes' Age when Sword Masters ran rampant, it had protected its guests without fail, earning its reputation as the world's finest hotel.
Unless one of the top ten guilds had stormed in, they felt utterly safe no matter what.
Flip.
Bellos was one of those leisurely guests.
A wine glass in one hand.
A book spread wide open on the table.
A hand slowly turning the pages.
Even with the occasional vibrations, he sipped his wine without a hint of tension—pure relaxation.
Anyone unfamiliar with the scene might think Bellos was in a completely different space altogether.
How much time had passed since the vibrations began?
The wine bottle was half empty.
He had turned the pages five or six times.
Then Bellos murmured softly.
"It's about time."
Clunk.
As if he'd found it utterly boring.
After stretching once.
Bellos pocketed the small bell on the table and stood up.
He grabbed his book in one hand and opened the firmly shut door to leave the room.
Or rather, he tried to.
"Is something the matter, sir?"
If not for the warrior who appeared as if waiting and blocked his path the moment he opened the door.
But he didn't panic.
He simply opened his mouth calmly.
"I can't sleep, so I thought I'd take a stroll."
"A stroll... you say?"
"I've been staying here quite a while, but I've never actually used the internal facilities. Thought I'd drop by for a walk."
It wasn't anything strange.
The Leviathan's facilities were all top-class.
They operated 24/7, so plenty of guests used them even in the dead of night.
...If not for the current situation where all facilities were on high alert blocking intruders.
"Sir, I'm sorry, but movement within the hotel is currently prohibited. For your safety, please wait in your room until the disturbance ends."
One might question the sanity of a guest wanting to stroll amid the building shaking so violently.
Yet the warrior politely requested he stay put.
Of course, if Bellos ignored it, the request would turn into an order or force.
"By regulation, Leviathan guests have the right to use the facilities, don't they?"
"This is an exceptional circumstance."
"Well, can't be helped then."
Bellos nodded along.
Then, holding his book open, he continued softly.
"Guess I'll have to claim compensation for the breach of contract."
The warrior tried to explain.
That a staff member would handle any cancellation fees later. To just quietly return to his room despite any complaints.
But he couldn't say it.
Krunch!
"Since you've arbitrarily breached our agreed contract and tried to confine a guest like some mangy dog, I figure you won't have any grounds to complain even if you die."
As if crushed by an invisible giant.
Bellos looked at the warrior's remains, squished like a tomato without even a chance to react, and muttered calmly.
He glanced around slightly.
"Hm, I was a bit worried given the Leviathan's fame... but it seems my efforts haven't been in vain."
This was the Leviathan.
Even in emergencies, warriors should swarm at any anomaly.
Yet despite a warrior dying right in the middle of the hallway, the silence lingered. Bellos nodded.
"Looks like my crazy comrade and idiot comrade are doing better than expected too."
Ryugangcheol on the outside.
Eugene on the inside.
Thanks to their rampage.
Bellos was satisfied with the Leviathan's state where even a guest wandering wouldn't be noticed.
He recalled the internal layout he'd mapped out over the month-plus stay and smirked coldly.
"Time to enjoy my stroll."
Liberation Brigade's high-ranking executive.
Ranked 5th among the 12 Specters.
The man called by codename Judgment.
The braided-haired man, Bellos, leisurely stepped away from the mangled corpse.
Toward the place where he suspected his target was hidden.
Boom, rumble!
[Oh man, what a mess.]
Yuna Kyung shuddered.
Unlike other guests who were merely uneasy, she had chills every time the building shook.
Thanks to her reincarnation as a bird.
Her senses were sharper than a normal person's, letting her feel far more.
Like the eerie, goosebump-inducing killing intent that exploded every clash between Mokryongdae's Eugene.
Only because she was Yuna Kyung did she just tremble; any ordinary animal would've fainted long ago.
[Team Leader always ditches me at the worst times.]
Of course, Yuna Kyung knew.
If it were her past life, maybe not.
But as a high-level player? No, now just a baby bird, she was nothing but baggage.
That's why she hadn't forced herself to follow Rimon.
But that was that, and this was this.
After dozens of minutes battered by the storm of killing intent, Yuna Kyung couldn't help resenting Rimon.
[I gotta grow up quick and go independent just to spite him...]
Krunch.
[Huh?]
Mid-grumble.
Yuna Kyung tilted her head.
Her animal instincts picked up a sound.
Like a snack crumbling.
Or fruit being squished.
Very faint and subtle, yet unnaturally clear in her ears.
[Did the maid sis step on something again?]
She briefly thought of the clumsy maid who cleaned Rimon's room daily, always dropping or breaking things.
But Yuna Kyung frowned suspiciously.
It wasn't just the Leviathan's chaos making her dismiss it.
The moment she heard it.
She faintly felt something.
An ominous chill as sinister as the lobby's echoes.
[...Should I check real quick?]
After agonizing.
Unable to shake the unease, Yuna Kyung toddled to the door.
She recalled Rimon's order to stay put, but peeking out briefly should be fine.
But the instant she space-moved out.
Yuna Kyung froze.
[...?!]
Floor soaked in blood.
Mangled flesh chunks.
Protruding bone shards amid them.
The once elegant hallway now like Hell's Gate #1. After a moment of shock.
The ex-PAB agent Yuna Kyung coldly assessed.
'This is... guard warriors? Attacked by an intruder? No, the intruder's still on the first floor?'
Glancing at clothes and weapons in the gore.
She confirmed Eugene raging in the lobby via lingering killing intent fragments amid vibrations.
Then thought furiously.
'Another intruder? Couldn't sneak here from outside... Internal? Infiltrated as a guest? How?'
Leviathan doesn't accept just anyone.
Strict ID checks standard.
Especially post-Black Dragon Construction massacre and affiliate attacks, they screened guests rigorously.
If an intruder was inside anyway?
'From the start! Before attacking Black Dragon Construction!'
Knowing Seven Dragon Society would hunt them after the raid, hiding in Black Dragon Clan's heart.
Pure madness.
Discovery meant no escape, just gruesome death—a suicide mission.
But not surprising.
They were Liberation Brigade Specters.
Psycho criminals' execs.
'Why though? What's the goal?'
The question wasn't how, but why.
Risking it all to infiltrate Leviathan.
Yuna Kyung spotted bloody footprints to the elevator and snapped her head up.
'Penthouse!'
The elevator near Rimon's room went straight to the top-floor penthouse.
Li Chingwei's courtesy for easy visits, but created a bypass skipping security.
If the intruder knew and came here?
'Targeting Princess sis?!'
Yuna Kyung panicked.
She sometimes forgot living close, but Li Chingwei was a Seven Dragon Group heir.
Money or utility, plenty of criminals targeted her.
Normally fine, but now Leviathan was chaos inside/out, key forces tied up.
Meaning almost no guards for Li Chingwei.
If a monstrous Liberation Brigade Specter targeted her...
'T-Team Leader! Gotta tell Team Leader!'
[Team Leader! Big trouble here!]
Yuna Kyung urgently sent a Flame Flower message.
Thankfully, Li Chingwei's gift allowed long-range comms.
If Rimon wasn't abroad, he'd telepath and rush, insta-killing any intruder.
...If things were normal.
[Team Leader? Hello? Team Leader?]
Clutching her ankle ring, fidgeting briefly.
Like tossing a stone in a bottomless swamp.
No matter how many messages, just echoing void. Yuna Kyung groaned.
'Flame Flower's blocked!'
Should she find a phone?
Fidgeting, Yuna Kyung suddenly felt her feathers bristle.
Instinctively, she darted behind nearby porcelain.
Ding.
Right then.
The elevator doors opened wide, someone stepping out.
"Hm... Thought they'd hide in the penthouse with tightest security, but looks like a miss."
Shoes caked in blood like swamp mud, yet clothes spotless. Braided hair.
Bellos exited the elevator.
Closing his book, he muttered.
"No choice. If top's wrong, start from the bottom."
Step, step.
Bellos walked slowly.
Crossing the hall to another elevator, lips curling.
"Might see more blood than expected."
Like anticipating a festival.
Grinning with pleasure as he descended.
Yuna Kyung clung to the porcelain, trembling.
Not just the overt killing intent in his voice.
His mutter's content.
'Bottom? Leviathan's basement facilities?'
Yuna Kyung shivered.
Bank rivaling central vaults, jewelry, casino, etc.
Basement had every high-end spot criminals covet.
But among them.
One flashed in her mind.
[My kids!!!]
Thinking of her siblings' daycare, Yuna Kyung freaked out.