Chapter 294
Chapter 294
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 294
Chapter Title: The End of a Long-Standing Feud (2)
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Poof!
Just when I thought I'd cut him down cleanly, Clover's form turned into a cotton doll with a puff of smoke.
A substitution doll, huh.
An item that teleports the owner a short distance away when attacked, letting the doll take the hit instead.
It could only be crafted, requiring a large amount of hard-to-get materials.
What a well-prepared bastard.
“Kuh…!”
As if he hadn't expected me to come at him like this, Clover wiped away a cold sweat, his face contorted.
Even so, the distance a substitution doll teleports you is only about 10 meters.
Catching up was easy.
BOOM!
Clover himself didn't seem to have low stats, as he managed to block my attack by narrowly deflecting it.
Still, the difference in our strength was clear.
“To come at me like this…! Are you really going to make this choice!?”
“Ask me a hundred times, and the answer will be the same. You die here.”
This bastard has to die here.
If I don't want to create troublesome loose ends.
“Jeong Ha-yeon-ssi! Please save me!!”
Clover's expression changed in an instant as he cried out in a desperate voice.
Then, he raised the corners of his mouth in a smirk, as if asking if I would dare continue.
“What are you smirking at.”
“Keuk!?”
In the past, I would have stopped.
But things are different now.
I'll kill him no matter what he says.
Even if this incident completely severs my ties with Jeong Ha-yeon.
Even if it means I become a target of ‘Judgment’ later on.
Clover had clearly crossed a line I had drawn, to the point where I had to take that risk.
“Ha-yeon-ssi! Jeong Ha-yeon-ssi!!”
Even as he narrowly dodged my attacks and kept calling for Jeong Ha-yeon, there was no response from the building.
I didn't do it, but it's a good thing.
I pressed my attack even harder.
“Damn it…!”
Unable to hold out any longer, Clover bit his lip, pulled something from his coat, and immediately used it.
[The current target is in an invincible state.]
“…Pacifist’s Pledge?”
An item that grants temporary invincibility but prevents the user from harming anyone.
However, since you can still act, just not move from your spot, it was an item often used for tricks like an ‘invincibility escape’.
“You’ve been using some expensive stuff.”
“…”
Unable to open his mouth, all he could do was glare.
I stopped and sheathed my sword.
Using this meant he had a way to escape from here in this state.
“Even if you have multiple Pacifist's Pledges, you can only use it once. With this, you've just lost one of your two lives.”
Failing to kill him here is annoying, but I can definitely kill him the next time we meet.
It seemed my meaning got through, as Clover's expression subtly changed.
“Kim Se-hyeon! You found out where Cromwell disappeared to!?”
Jun Bo-ra rushed out of the building, her face bright.
As if drawn by her voice, Han Hyeok-jun, his eyes demanding an answer from me faster than anyone else, smashed through the building wall again.
“Se-hyeon! Where is Cromwell!”
“You know, this is our guild’s property, so I’d appreciate it if you treated it a little more gently….”
Yaogami said wistfully, his eyes on the mostly demolished building.
“He's in Fukuoka. If we go now, we won’t be too late.”
“The west of Japan… a place close to our country. That’s quite a distance from here. How did you find him?”
“That’s…”
Clover was already gone.
Does he have a skill that lets him vanish without a trace?
Or did he use some kind of item again?
I glanced over at Jeong Ha-yeon, but she turned her head away completely, as if to say she wouldn't interfere.
‘No need to mention that I got the information from someone I’m not even sure is an ally or an enemy.’
“Kyuu.”
Rasty rubbed its head against my cheek.
…Could Rasty have been the one who blocked the sound earlier?
‘No way.’
The Dragon of the End is a species that can use magic, but unlike typical fantasy dragons, they can't use it from a young age.
I chuckled, scratching Rasty’s head as I answered.
“I used my Stigma to track him. He didn’t leave a completely clean trail.”
“Then we don’t have time to waste. Let’s move now. Jeong Ha-yeon-ssi. I know you’re a teleporter. Can you take us directly to Fukuoka?”
“Directly will be difficult. I don't know the coordinates there. Unless you at least have a map…”
“I’ll give you one.”
“…Where did you get that?”
“I figured if I had a map, I might get a rough idea of where Cromwell was, so I went into an old government building and found one. The moment I got it, I felt the ferocious energy of that… Superhuman Strength guy? The one we fought at the beginning. It seemed like you were fighting too, so I headed straight there.”
So that's what happened.
Maybe thanks to venting his anger by destroying the building, he seemed a little calmer than before.
Still, I have no idea how he'll change the moment he actually confronts Cromwell.
“Alright. Then I’ll teleport us to Fukuoka right away.”
“The distance from here to Fukuoka is considerable. Will your mana hold out? It might be better to return to Osaka and get help from the onmyoji….”
“Hmph. There's no need for that.”
“…?”
***
“To think a long-distance teleport of this magnitude is possible…?”
Yaogami muttered, his face a mask of shock.
“Unbelievable. Even for an S-rank, teleportation should have a limit of 5km. I’ve never even heard of a teleport that spans tens of kilometers.”
“But Jun Bo-ra can actually do it. I don’t know how either.”
“Praise me more. Respect me more. Put me on a pedestal.”
Jun Bo-ra's ego swelled.
I wanted to tell her not to get too carried away, but even I was astounded by the ‘beyond common sense’ teleportation abilities Jun Bo-ra had recently started showing.
It was enough to make me wonder if she’d obtained a unique teleportation-related trait that I didn’t know about.
Though, checking with Extreme Eye didn't reveal anything of the sort.
The only difference from before was that her Teleport skill had become S-rank.
As far as I knew, S-rank Teleport didn't have any such additional effects.
“This is no time for that. Even if we know Cromwell is in Fukuoka, we might lose him if we don’t know his exact location.”
Han Hyeok-jun cut off the conversation and tried to spread his mana.
Seeing him so hasty, it seemed his emotions hadn’t calmed down much after all.
The effect of the ‘Blood for Blood’ trait doesn't activate in that state.
That must be why he's in such a hurry.
“Stop. You said Cromwell goes into hiding the moment he knows he's being chased. Using mana for detection could alert him.”
“But if we dawdle, we’ll be too late!”
“The more urgent the situation, the more calmly you need to think. You know that, right?”
In any case, Cromwell's destination was already set.
Cromwell’s ultimate goal was to join the Order.
He would have to make contact with their Southeast Asian branch, and their methods for picking him up were limited.
‘The Order’s Southeast Asian branch was in Shanghai.’
Currently, besides me, only Salvatio possessed a warp gate.
So, if they were coming to get Cromwell, it would be one of two ways: by plane or by ship.
However, since Cromwell has an extreme phobia of flying, the options were narrowed down to just a ship.
Therefore, Cromwell was headed to one place.
The port.
“I think it’s over there.”
Jeong Ha-yeon said, looking at a point in the sky.
“How do you know?”
“Because I can see the mark of an evil person.”
With Jeong Ha-yeon’s words added to the mix, my guess turned into certainty.
“That direction is where the port is. Don’t tell me he plans to leave by ship!”
“Then this is no time to waste. I’m teleporting, so grab on again!”
In an instant, our vision shifted with a whoosh.
And then, the face we’d been searching for appeared just a short distance away.
Among the people strolling through the port, a man in a white coat stood restlessly biting his nails, staring endlessly at the horizon.
It was Cromwell.
“Cromwell…!”
Han Hyeok-jun roared like a savage beast and shot forward.
Noticing our presence, Cromwell clicked his tongue with a ‘tch’ and backed away.
“Stop them! Stop those bastards!”
At his command, the numerous people wandering nearby moved in unison.
So he wasn't alone.
He had his subordinates disguised as civilians.
“Get out of my way!!”
Because he had rushed so far ahead alone, he was outnumbered, but Han Hyeok-jun, blinded by rage, charged on without a care.
“We should help too…! What are you doing? Why are you stopping me?”
“Han Hyeok-jun asked for this. For us to let him finish it with his own hands.”
“Ugh….”
Fwoosh!
As flames danced through the air, those who tried to block Han Hyeok-jun fell like autumn leaves.
However, there were some among them who managed to hold on.
Not because they were strong.
But because they used the same flames, they had a resistance that allowed them to endure.
They were using a replicated version of Han Hyeok-jun’s power.
“The artificial players should have been blocked by the system for illegal replication…!?”
“Hmph, those were a much older version. They didn't even have proper security measures, so they were destined to end up like that soon enough. Science progresses daily. I couldn't possibly give the latest version to those bastards who were only thinking of sucking me dry.”
Cromwell sneered at Yaogami.
In a relationship where they were both trying to use each other, Yaogami was the one who lost.
However, neither side had won.
As long as he couldn't escape into the arms of the Order from here, Cromwell had lost as well.
Cromwell himself seemed to think he could escape, as he pointed at Han Hyeok-jun with a vile smile.
“Thanks to you becoming my test subject, my research has borne such fruit. It’s all thanks to you, Han Hyeok-jun. I will never forget your contribution. No, I can’t forget it. After all, I can still produce your clones. My first goal after returning to the Order and receiving proper support is to mass-produce much more stable clones of you! After that, I’ll be able to properly understand the Power Factor and create true third-generation players!”
Cromwell burst into laughter.
Some of those wielding the power of flames took off their hats, revealing their faces.
Faces identical to Han Hyeok-jun’s, without the slightest deviation.
They were Han Hyeok-jun’s clones, the very ones Cromwell had just mentioned.
“How far do you intend to mock me.”
Han Hyeok-jun gritted his teeth with a sharp grind.
It was unforgivable.
The very fact that clones with his exact appearance were following Cromwell, his sworn enemy, was.
“For your information, these clones are drastically more advanced than the ones in the Korean research facility. I used various chemicals to enhance their bodies and push their mana adaptability to the limit. In other words, they are fakes superior to the real thing.”
The clones blocking Han Hyeok-jun’s path each created a sword of fire.
Creating something with a form out of mana requires a considerable amount of it.
They were clearly on a different level from the clones at the research facility, who could do little more than swing flames around.
“…How absurd.”
However, Han Hyeok-jun let out a hollow laugh, as if deflated.
“Fakes superior to the real thing?”
KWAAAAA!
Han Hyeok-jun’s mana exploded outwards.
A sword of fire, with a density and size incomparable to the ones the clones had created, absorbed all the flames in the area and grew even larger.
“Do you think a fake can ever beat the real thing.”