Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Executor Raid
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "I didn't want to do this in a crowded place, but it can't be helped."
The agents' bullets had struck his left thigh and side,
yet the Executor showed no change in expression as he stared in the direction the shots had come from.
"Wh-what was that sound? Gunshots all of a sudden?"
"It's a villain!! A villain's definitely attacking!!"
The moment the gunshot rang out in the ears of the civilians using the rest area,
without distinction between customers and staff, they all assumed it was a villain raid and frantically fled outside.
"Kyaaaaaaa!!"
In an instant, the rest area turned into pandemonium as people surged out like a tide,
and the once-noisy building interior transformed into a silent battlefield.
"From the Union?"
Blood dripped steadily from his wounds as he walked step by step toward the agents still aiming their guns at him.
"I know Union agents don't operate alone.
Where's the hero who brought you here?"
The Executor had clashed with Union agents and heroes dozens, hundreds of times.
He had never once seen agents attack a villain solo without a hero present.
"What does it matter? Your body will be paralyzed soon. Surrender quietly."
The bullets the agent had fired at the Executor weren't ordinary rounds—they were special ones.
They looked like regular bullets, but packed enough anesthetic to knock out an elephant in 30 seconds,
and upon impact, the potent drug rapidly seeped into the bloodstream.
Unlike heroes, who could almost all be assumed to have supernatural abilities,
agents often lacked them.
That was why they carried specially crafted weapons like anesthetic rounds.
"Surrender quietly... I've heard that line countless times."
Yet even after quite some time had passed since taking two anesthetic rounds,
he moved his body freely, as if utterly unaffected.
"Hm. Anesthetic rounds, huh? Familiar stuff."
He dug his fingers into the spots on his thigh and side where the bullets were embedded,
and without a hint of pain on his face, pulled them out and examined them.
"Bullets like these are useless against me. Hurry up and tell me where the hero is.
I don't have time to waste on trash like you."
"Wh-what?! You bastard...!"
- Kwaaddduddududuk—!!!!
In the narrow gap between the agent reaching for his gun and the Executor,
sharp ice spikes erupted with a crunching sound.
"...That's far enough."
Worried that the agents, overconfident in their anesthetic rounds' effectiveness, were in mortal danger,
Lumi, who had been hiding and waiting for her chance, finally revealed herself before the Executor.
"Finally showing yourself? These agents nearly lost their lives."
"That won't happen again."
"Impressive confidence."
- Kuduguguguk... Kkigigigikit...!!??!!
A razor-sharp axe blade protruded from the gap in his forearm muscles.
"But... how long that confidence will last is questionable."
Having seen Lumi's ability, he seemed quite intrigued,
as a faint change appeared on the Executor's previously expressionless face.
"Haaa!!!"
- Kwaadddudduduk—!!!
Lumi thrust both hands forward, and countless ice spikes sprouted from the floor,
engulfing the Executor as he assumed a combat stance.
- Sreung... Shwaaaa—
Before the stalactite-like ice spikes could pierce his body, like those in a limestone cave,
he twisted swiftly and sliced them cleanly at the base.
The severed icicles fell to the floor with a thud,
and shards of broken ice scattered across the ground.
"Ice, huh. Threatening."
- Kwaadddudduduk—!!!!
The Executor was touching a piece of icicle he had sliced off, which had fallen and shattered.
This time, ice tendrils shot toward his body.
- Chaeng—!!
Lumi tried to freeze him the same way she had attempted with Chae-ryeong before,
but the axe blade on his arm blocked the ice tendril.
"Blocking it... doesn't mean you've blocked it...!"
However, the ice enveloped the axe blade that had blocked it, wrapping around it further,
and in an instant, froze his arm and shoulder solid.
"...!!!"
- Kwajijijijik—!!!
The Executor boldly severed his freezing right arm.
Judging that leaving it would freeze his entire body in seconds,
he made the drastic decision to amputate.
"Kuhak...!!"
He hadn't flinched at the Magical Aquamarine’s hydraulic blades,
but slicing off an entire arm—not even a finger—was a different level of pain.
As if to prove the agony he felt,
a massive geyser of blood erupted from the stump of his severed arm.
"Kuhuhuhu... Uwaaaaa!!!"
In pain bordering on death, he roared with a force that shook the rest area,
and from the cross-section of his severed arm, an enormous grinding sound began.
- Kuduguguguguguk—!!! Kkigigigigigik!!!
"Uwaaaaaaaa!!!"
His roar echoed all the way outside to the parking lot.
Once it ended, the blood gushing from his arm abruptly stopped.
"Hoo..."
The reason for the sudden halt to the massive bleeding.
Just as he had formed and extracted an axe blade from his arm earlier,
he had now extracted blades from the stump, covering the cross-section entirely.
Not only that, a massive longsword had grown in place of his arm.
"That was close... I nearly became one with an ice block."
- Shwaaaa— Chaeng!
"Kuhuk...!"
The Executor shot toward Lumi in an instant,
swinging his longsword to cleave her abdomen.
But an ice wall she quickly conjured blocked his blade.
"Excellent speed in both offense and defense. But it's not enough."
- Shwaaaa—!!
He pushed his blade through the ice wall, shattering it,
then spun his body rapidly, attacking Lumi simultaneously with the longsword and axe blade.
- Chaeng—! Chaeng—!!!
Lumi kept conjuring ice walls at the last second to block the Executor's assaults.
- Shwaaaaak—
"Kyaaaa!?"
But soon, an attack she couldn't fully block or dodge grazed her leg and shoulder,
and blood spurted from the wounds.
- Thud—
"Uwak?!"
"No more places to run, ice-wielding hero."
To make matters worse, her back slammed against the wall with a bang,
trapping her in a hopeless siege with no retreat.
'What do I do...? I need to break the wall or floor...,
but my ice spikes don't have the power to do it...!'
Breaking the wall or floor to escape his pressure, or breaking through head-on were her only ideas.
However, the rest area's walls and floor were sturdy, unlikely to shatter under ice spikes,
and charging straight ahead would surely be blocked by his axe blades.
- Shuuu—!!!
The Executor strode toward the cornered Lumi,
swiftly swinging the longsword blade on his left arm.
- Buwoong— Kwajijijik—!!!
"Kuhok...!"
But suddenly, an attack struck the Executor from somewhere,
causing him to groan in pain mid-swing and crouch.
A massive halberd axe embedded in his back, he collapsed to his knees.
"Huerk... Can't... breathe...!"
From his right shoulder—where he had been shot—to his left side, he bore a large, deep wound,
and with a giant halberd axe piercing near his spine, blood fountained out.
"Hoo... This thing's fucking heavy."
"Wh-who... are you...?"
A rugged black-haired man panting heavily, catching his breath.
It was Si-yoon who had planted the halberd axe in his back.
"Master... no, Oppa! Are you okay?"
Ji-woo came running from behind him as he caught his breath.
Si-yoon had borrowed Ji-woo's ability 'Weapon Manifestation' to attack the Executor.
"Not... just one, huh..."
The long, massive halberd axe plunged deep enough to nearly pierce through his back.
It was the only weapon from the 'War of Champions' character he could manifest.
"Kuhak...!"
Unlike earlier when he roared and severed his arm,
this time the damage seemed far graver; he couldn't even stand, vomiting blood.
Blood from his body dyed his long black hair red,
and his corpse-like skin grew even paler.
"Grraaaaa... Uwaaaaaaaa!!!"
Yet the Executor still had strength left to rise,
unleashing a monstrous roar fueled by inhuman power and stamina as he charged at Si-yoon.
A final desperate lunge, one could call it his death throes.
- Kwaadddudduduk—!!
But due to the heavy damage, his wind-like movements had slowed visibly.
Lumi quickly seized the moment, firing ice tendrils that froze his entire charging body solid.
"It's... done. Okay...!"
The Executor's body, frozen solid around the halberd axe, thudded onto the rest area floor,
and only then did Lumi sigh in relief upon confirming he was perfectly encased.
"Wh-who are you? Another hero here to help?"
Lumi approached Si-yoon, who stared dazedly at the frozen Executor.
"Ah... not a hero. But I'm... kinda close with the heroes.
Anyway, those wounds look pretty deep. You okay?"
She hadn't taken major damage from the Executor's blades,
but several glancing blows she couldn't fully block had left her with notable injuries.
"It hurts, but... I'm fine. I need to report the situation to the other agents...?!"
Lumi tried to stand alone, insisting she was okay, but stumbled and fell.
Her wounded leg wouldn't support her properly.
"Kyak?! What are you doing?!"
Si-yoon scooped up the struggling Lumi in a princess carry,
leaving the frozen Executor behind as he walked out of the rest area building with Ji-woo.
At first glance, Si-yoon seemed like a hero who appeared to rescue Lumi,
but there was a very clear reason he had suddenly shown up to save her.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Status: Imprint Stage 1 (Corruption Level 0%) 'Mission... success...!'