Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: ACT.33 Team L (3)
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Fwoosh!
I immediately swung my sword, but he quickly escaped with a teleport.
I've been noticing it for a while now, but his teleports have almost none of the usual pre- or post-delays.
His proficiency must be quite high.
Watching the teleporter grimace, unable to even clench his fist properly, I spoke to my companions.
“Min Dan-ah, Min Ji-ah. Please focus on protecting them. Their goal is the two of you. They'll try to kidnap you again the moment they see an opening.”
“Leave it to me. I'll be sure to protect them.”
“We're here too!”
Jeong Ha-yeon readjusted her grip on her sword.
She seemed to be reining in her emotions, suppressing her anger.
A good decision.
Especially in a life-or-death battle, it's crucial not to let your emotions take over.
The twins were also full of energy, not the least bit intimidated.
‘Though it seems there's someone who can't.’
“What were you trying to do to my sister!!”
Min Ji-ah charged forward, her face flushed with rage.
The twins flanked her, as if to support her.
Min Ji-ah wasn't really part of our combat force, but to Team L, whose goal was to create the Guide of Madness, she was someone they couldn't kill.
That alone would surely make them more difficult to deal with.
Leaving the teleporter to those four would be enough.
It would be good combat experience for the twins.
“Then, I'll leave it to you.”
Here, I would first subdue the white-haired man protecting the fallen Kang Dae-ho.
It would be troublesome if Kang Dae-ho recovered his strength and rejoined the fight.
Crash!
Just as I thought that and turned, I saw Hwang Chan-jin's face contort in shock.
Hwang Chan-jin's sword was shattering into pieces.
The Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom.
A famed sword that wouldn't even be scratched by a normal impact was breaking apart like shards of glass.
“Nothing can stand against this power.”
The white-haired man's eyes glinted.
Immediately after.
KABOOM!
A massive explosion engulfed Hwang Chan-jin.
“Kuh…!”
Hwang Chan-jin emerged from the smoke, seemingly not too badly injured.
Ice crystals scattered around him.
Did he create a shield by layering ice just before the explosion?
“Hwang Chan-jin! Are you okay!?”
“...More or less.”
He looked dismayed.
The Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom was an item he would have had much use for later, and now it had been destroyed so meaninglessly.
As if he had no choice, he drew Baekseol.
Baekseol wouldn't be able to block an explosion that even the Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom couldn't withstand.
“She has appeared.”
Suddenly, the white-haired man muttered this while looking toward Min Ji-ah.
“Jaeger, fire.”
-Roger.
A voice could be faintly heard from the white-haired young man's communication device.
Immediately after, a flash of light flickered from a distant spot.
‘They've used their heads, at least.’
Revealing your full strength in front of the enemy is a poor strategy.
In comics and movies, villains make grand entrances to create a confrontation, but that's only possible because it's subculture.
Lull them into a false sense of security, then launch a surprise attack.
It's a simple, yet effective strategy.
“A sniper!? Are they trying to kill Min Dan-ah!?”
Hwang Chan-jin urgently tried to move.
Fweee!
A white beam of light, tinged with a faint yellow, drew a line through the air.
If they had one person hidden, the way for that person to create the most synergy is through sniping.
How typical that everyone thinks alike.
“Zeta.”
KABOOM!!
A black bullet flew in from afar, collided with the beam aimed at Min Dan-ah, and exploded on impact.
“Kyaaak!?”
Startled by the beam disappearing right before her eyes, Min Dan-ah screamed.
“Dan-ah!?”
Min Ji-ah, equally surprised, followed the path of the beam with her eyes.
The teleporter let out a small groan, his expression souring.
Team L's goal isn't to take Min Ji-ah by holding Min Dan-ah hostage.
Their plan is to inflict mental trauma on Min Ji-ah, whatever it takes, to awaken her as the Guide of Madness.
Knowing that, what I had to do became even simpler.
The white-haired young man wore a look of surprise.
“So you have a sniper too.”
“For modern assassination, wouldn't ultra-long-range sniping be more fitting?”
Zeta is the incarnation of an assassin.
He's proficient in everything one would typically associate with an assassin, but at his core, he is 'assassination' itself.
He can also serve as a sniper.
Hwang Chan-jin narrowed his eyes and said.
“I wondered why that leader-class entity that was catching the Extreme Demons disappeared so suddenly... You had two leader-class entities?”
“You go get the sniper. There's a limit to countering a sniper with another sniper. I'll use the Army of Darkness to keep the teleporter in check.”
“Kang Dae-ho is an illusionist. Is it possible these guys are illusions created by him?”
He had a point.
But I shook my head.
“I can see through illusions instantly. These guys are real, not phantoms.”
“...Understood. Since I've lost my sword, it's difficult to face him anyway. I'll take care of the sniper.”
Surprisingly, Hwang Chan-jin agreed without protest.
He might have judged it to be a bad matchup.
Judging from the snipe they just used, it's a 'light'-related ability.
It would also be easier for Hwang Chan-jin to handle than for me.
“Even if the ability I'm facing changes, the outcome will not.”
His silvery, snow-white hair swayed.
“There is nothing stronger than this power.”
An unchanging, indifferent expression.
I couldn't sense any tension from him.
He must be that confident in his own power.
And for good reason.
The power he possessed was one of those considered the strongest.
“I was thinking for a moment. About what your ability truly is.”
Shatter. Pulverize. Destroyer. Graviton.
I considered all the top-tier powers related to explosions, but for a power strong enough to easily break even the Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom, there was only one.
An S-rank trait, but one with performance far superior to other S-ranks—a so-called 'overpowered' trait.
“Antimatter. Am I right?”
Only then, for the first time, did the white-haired man's eyebrow twitch faintly.
“So what if you figured it out? If you want that sword of yours broken too, I won't stop you.”
Antimatter. A substance that exists in theory but cannot be controlled, one that causes a massive explosion the moment it reacts with matter.
But is there anything in this world that isn't matter?
In effect, the Antimatter trait held an advantage over everything.
It was an equally difficult power to obtain, but he already had it, so there was no point dwelling on that.
The important thing is that I possess one of the few powers capable of countering that trait.
“That doesn't mean I can't fight it.”
“To say that, knowing about this power... how interesting.”
Something wavering unstably above his hand caught my eye.
Antimatter.
The moment it escapes his control, just touching the air would cause a massive explosion through pair annihilation.
“Did Graham order this?”
“...”
The white-haired man kept his mouth shut, offering no reply.
So he won't give up any information.
I recalled the incident with Jacob a while ago.
The player from Pentagon Eagle who had kindly and thoroughly told me about the organization of 'Progressors'.
He had a badge on his clothes that seemed to signify his membership in that organization.
And that same badge was brazenly displayed on the man before me.
It was a strange symbol, like a mix of an S and a V.
If they formed an organization, they must have a name.
I guessed it was probably the initial of that name.
‘They must be infiltrators from that organization who've snuck into Pentagon Eagle.’
Pentagon Eagle has a significant impact on the story, and it's a major guild in the United States.
If they could work from the shadows and get Pentagon Eagle under their control, it would make it easier for them to do whatever they wanted.
And they were likely doing the same thing not just with Pentagon Eagle, but in other countries as well.
“Antimatter is the ultimate power with no counter.”
“I'd think so, until the mid-to-late game.”
“You speak as if that's not the case later on.”
“It's the strongest, true, but that doesn't mean there's no way to deal with it. Didn't I say so earlier?”
Shhhhh...
I moved the darkness.
The most representative effect of the Lord of Darkness: Annihilation.
If it explodes by touching matter, then the solution is to get rid of all the matter.
“After all, antimatter does nothing if it doesn't touch matter.”
Swaaak!
Darkness spread out in all directions.
Like a wave, it eliminated all the air in its path, creating a temporary vacuum.
Just then, the man seemed to use his ability, but nothing happened.
The explosions from before were all caused by him scattering the opposite of the air's components into the atmosphere.
With no air to react with, of course nothing would happen.
With this, I've blocked his indiscriminate, wide-area explosions.
‘Though it's tricky to control, as I have to maintain a vacuum around me while ensuring it doesn't affect my own breathing.’
It's manageable.
It was worth it, practicing mana control every single day without fail.
My time in the Training Grounds must have had a significant effect as well.
“Indeed. Quite impressive. I didn't think of this.”
“Roberto! Be careful! These guys are no pushovers! This is the Korean difficulty for you!”
“You think we'll lose?”
“I don't know about that!”
“Right. As long as we don't lose.”
So his name was Roberto.
Is that why they're Team L?
Roberto stared at me with his calm, silver eyes.
I can't create a vacuum all the way to where Roberto is.
For now, by creating a vacuum only around myself, I've eliminated the risk of being attacked by explosions in the air, but I haven't completely countered his antimatter.
“I figured there'd be someone with Lord of Darkness.”
Roberto nodded.
The floor was littered with the remains of the Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom.
If you try to attack with a weapon, he instantly destroys it by annihilating the matter composing the weapon with his antimatter power.
And that's something the user himself can apply.
Shhhh!
Countless iron filings were scattered into the air.
If there's no matter, he'll throw some matter first and then make it collide with antimatter.
That must be Roberto's aim, but.
“It's no use.”
I swung my arm, controlling the darkness.
As if painting the air black with a brush, the darkness moved with my arm, annihilating all the iron filings.
A trait that only works when it touches matter.
So, I'll annihilate every bit of matter there is.
That was my countermeasure to the 'Antimatter' trait.
Fwoosh!!
However, it seemed Roberto had also predicted I would do that.
In the brief moment my vision was obscured by the darkness moving to erase the iron filings, Roberto swung his sword like a flash of light.
‘I thought you'd do that, too.’
From Roberto's perspective, no sword could possibly stop him.
‘However.’
I raised a corner of my lip slightly and swung the Black Moon Divine Sword to meet his attack.
KABOOM!!
A great shock shook the very ground.
A roar that sounded like an explosion.
But the explosion that should have occurred did not.
As we locked blades in a contest of strength, Roberto muttered in disbelief.
“It's not being destroyed...?”
“Of course. Because you wouldn't know.”
Antimatter isn't a single thing that opposes all matter.
It's about creating particles that are the exact opposite of each type of matter to cause pair annihilation.
That is the true nature of the Antimatter trait.
But this implies one other thing.
“As long as you don't know what the Black Moon Divine Sword is made of, you can't destroy this sword.”
Kwang!
A black bullet flew toward Roberto's brow.
Roberto immediately pushed my sword away and threw himself back to dodge the bullet's trajectory, but he soon narrowed his eyes.
He must realize he's made a mistake.
Giving me distance also gives me time to use a major skill and approach, and Roberto's stance was already broken.
“Damn...!”
He hurriedly tried to counter my attack, but even that was thwarted when spikes erupted from beneath his feet, putting him in a dilemma.
“Shattering Moon.”
Swaaak!
The Black Moon Divine Sword was swung.
KWAAAAA!
A black sword aura, condensed to its absolute limit, swallowed Roberto.