Chapter 137
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: The Second Wanderer -3-
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"Ugh... fuck!"
Deganello clutched his dizzying head and looked around, lifting his gaze.
What the hell? Where am I?
Having crossed through the rift in space and opened his eyes, he found himself in an open clearing filled with fresh air and a cool breeze.
Unlike his expectation of being taken to some building room or a dim hideout, the natural, bright environment threw him off, but he quickly pulled himself together and checked out the people watching him.
Two men.
One handsome guy in a different style from himself, and one wearing glasses.
Their most striking feature... their outfits were weird. And their faces showed tension.
Their clothes had a modern, uniform-like feel made from expensive fabric. But since they were men wearing them instead of well-built women, it looked like some unpleasant cosplay.
Spatial teleportation psychics are supposed to be exclusive to the Union...
No matter how he thought about it, only one organization would pull out a criminal like him. But these guys didn't smell like Union members; their greenhorn vibe was suspicious.
If it's a place where weirdos gather, it makes sense... but was the Union in a forest like this?
As the dizziness fully faded and he rose from his spot, the glasses-wearing man's voice rang out.
"Don't move! Stay right there!"
What language is that...?
ZZZT-!
"Kuh..."
A momentary headache twisted and tangled his mind, and then the unfamiliar language slowly became comprehensible.
Deganello mumbled with awkward pronunciation, trying the words for the first time, and asked them.
"Who are you guys? You're not from the Union?"
It wasn't perfect, but his intent got across.
The man without hostility erased and the handsome one with bewilderment put their heads together, whispering, then separated.
The glasses man followed up with another question.
"What do you mean by 'Union'? Are you from the Federation?"
No psychic didn't know the Union. Not knowing was a problem, and pretending not to know was too.
Deganello raised his guard at the off-mark conversation.
Federation? They don't know the Union? These guys are weird...
Moreover, Deganello sensed a heterogeneous power in the men before him, different from any psychics.
It had a subtly different texture from psychic powers.
The energy circulated without freedom, like a mathematical formula.
If it had been a woman he'd first encountered, he'd have tried shedding tears and playing pitiful to gauge her reaction. But he had no desire to do that in front of men.
And above all, they didn't give off the dangerous hero vibe.
Anyway, if they're not Union...
Maybe he could just kill them first and see. If they weren't Union, there was nothing in the world to fear.
The feel of his hands, unfelt for two months while play-acting in restraints at the clinic.
No women was a shame, but his restraint was at its limit; even men would satisfy him now.
The thought that he could unleash that pleasure right away snapped Deganello's self-control completely.
····
The root of Deganello's psychic power was Secret Arts.
A case where occult traditions were passed down and granted power to an individual.
The pinnacle of occult psychics, possessed by the Villain Union and someone in the world.
Paltry compared to Clifford's Tree, Emerald Tablet, or Ars Magna.
Having lived 22 years without meeting famous figures from rumors, he'd never seen a stronger occult psychic in person.
[Dibbuk Box]
A small, dark something appeared in Deganello's hand.
Its form evoked an old armoire, exuding a gloominess like cobwebs would span inside if opened.
Sensing the ominous aura leaking uncontrollably, the glasses guy reached out, starting to manipulate something.
"Stop! The questions aren't over!"
Grrrrumble-!
A mysterious power even he, a psychic, felt for the first time began constricting his body.
But its rigidity was comparable to the psychic restraint suit from the clinic—laughably weak.
These male bastards are pissing me off. No women around~?
Even bound, he glanced around, trying to move his arms to open the box. It was definitely inconvenient in this state.
A clunky feeling like shackles on his limbs.
"Suuuuuuck— Hmph!!"
Deganello gathered breath deep into his lungs and exhaled forcefully, moving his body to shatter the invisible bonds.
Bang!
"Kraaak...!"
The refreshing sensation of the intangible something binding his body bursting coincided with the glasses guy clutching his hand and screaming.
Blood dripping from his hand drew a sneer from Deganello.
"Born retard? You'd make it big as a comedian in the future. Pfft...!"
With his body freed, Deganello opened the box without hesitation.
Creeeak—
The two doors of sickly-colored wood swung open.
Fwooooosh—!!!
Seeing the surging black smoke, he flashed a creepy smile.
"Haaa—"
The Dibbuk Box, said to hold evil spirits sealed by exorcists after expulsion. Otherwise known as the Evil Spirit Box.
Like any innate or acquired psychic power.
Deganello had possessed this power unknowingly and could just use it, reason irrelevant.
Inside this box engraved in his brain as Dibbuk Box dwelled damp, subservient entities lending him power—whether true evil spirits or not.
"Long time no see, kids."
The sticky black smoke poured into Deganello's body.
The young man emerging from the rift drew black mist into his body.
Crack! Creak!
His arms and neck twisted in impossible directions, then rewound back to normal like time reversing.
That creepiness went beyond limits, raising goosebumps on their skin.
"Robert! Interrogating him is impossible! We have to take him down somehow!"
Isaac's pupils trembled not in pain but terror, his fingers twisted in multiple directions, utterly shattered.
Robert and Isaac here felt it clearly.
In moments, that thing would become something they couldn't handle. Something terrifying enough to make them vomit.
"I know...!"
Robert realized leaving it be was dangerous.
He clenched his chattering teeth and drew the sword Isaac had given him.
Shing-!
[Radiance]
Activating his attack skill, he focused the power to a single point without dispersion.
Zing—
As light gathered on Robert's sword, Deganello's eyebrow twitched.
"That's some unpleasant power. My friends hate it—."
Smack-!
The straight-flying light struck his forehead, snapping Deganello's neck backward with a crack!.
The greatest advantage of Robert's Radiance was its speed, beyond even skilled knights' pursuit.
"Again! Robert!"
At Isaac's shout, Robert drew up mana once more.
"Shit...!!"
Robert had never experienced true combat in this world.
He had sparred with family knights or in classes, but killing or being killed was a first.
The pressure of real battle made his legs weak, his sword tip trembling.
[Radiance]
Pew-!!
The second skill targeted Deganello's solar plexus.
Crack!
The shaky tip missed the vitals, but the bone-crunching Radiance sent Deganello rolling across the ground.
An attack that would kill any criminal, yet tension didn't leave Robert and Isaac's faces.
It won't pierce...!
Robert's full-power Radiance, maxed with mana, could shatter steel and pierce flesh, muscle, and bone effortlessly.
Yet it only produced a light impact sound, no blood spilled.
"Robert, prepare once more just in case. I'll... finish it."
Fear receded, pain surged.
Isaac, sweating coldly with a wrecked expression, raised his remaining hand to activate a formation.
From the prone Deganello's finger flew a translucent projectile, piercing Isaac.
Pok-
"Guhk!"
Glasses shattering, Isaac clutched one eye and collapsed.
On his knees, he clutched his bleeding face, groaning in agony.
Creak- Crack-
His neck, broken by Radiance, reset as he rose, becoming despair incarnate to Robert and Isaac.
"Whoa~ You're filthy fast? Felt pain after so long; surprised me."
Deganello, ignoring Isaac now, eyed Robert with fascination.
Out of Deganello's interest, Isaac had lost one eye and taken blows to gut and head, passing out.
Had he not desperately deployed a shield with his remaining hand, his organs and skull would have burst, sending him skyward.
Foaming unconscious, Isaac lost interest.
To Deganello, who could count pain experiences on fingers.
Robert, granting the sensation of pain via Radiance's affinity, received utmost attention.
"That light was pretty strong... but why's your body so weak?"
Via Dibbuk Box, he induced cosmic horror hallucinations. Then severed Robert's right arm to prevent resistance, and twisted his guts with psychics.
Unaccustomed to pain, Robert couldn't even scream, blacking out faster than Isaac.
Through control honed by dozens of murders, Deganello pushed Robert to death's edge without killing, then stomped his head laughing.
"Weak even with a sword, but that power's strong and unique—fun. Would've been better if a girl... tchk. Won't hear anyway?"
Deganello pondered what to do with the two, eyes rolled back.
Playing with humans who didn't scream felt like prepping ingredients.
Just decapitate them.
Final beheading was his obsession and taste.
For clean narrative arc, he raised his hand high! Then recalled his own state.
"Ah!"
Before slicing, change clothes neatly for caution.
Unknown location; wandering shirtless would draw eyes.
Hide and scout a few days.
No clue their affiliation or location, no phone.
Find city or houses nearby, tidy quietly, check news or computer for outline.
Hope for a house with a young girl~
Hated returning to boring clinic... If caught, cry and spout nonsense again.
Swish- Rustle-
Deganello calmly stripped their uniform-like clothes before beheading.
Undressing men... ugh.
Experience he never wanted again.
Clap-Clap-Clap-
"Our friend did a huge deed."
"...!"
The approaching man's voice clapping from behind froze Deganello like stone.
The entities in his body screamed and thrashed at the voice, preventing distance.
Union this time?
Gulp-
Sensing his friends' fear, Deganello turned to check the man.