Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Massacre
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[S] Lightning Storm
Fires a storm made of lightning at the opponent. The storm's power is proportional to the caster's mana expenditure.
-ZZZZZZZAP!
Lightning Storm blasted out several times. With each passing storm, the man's body charred black from the overwhelming electricity.
-Pssshhhhh...
How much time had passed? The guy finally stopped moving altogether.
"That's why I keep telling you idiots—why try to beat on people for no damn reason? If you'd just lived a decent life, this wouldn't have happened."
The man showed no signs of life anymore, but I muttered to myself anyway.
"Who the hell are you?!"
-Tadadadak!
Thanks to the commotion I'd caused, a bunch of swordsmen—presumably his buddies—came charging in all at once.
I looked at them and grinned.
"Who do you think I am?"
The man at the front of the pack gripped his sword warily and spoke to me.
"We're the Baldena Guild. I'm Han Sungjun, the vice guild leader of Baldena. From your looks and behavior, you don't seem to be from NPS or any other government agency. If you're here like us, on President Baek Juseok's orders to clean up evidence, then let's avoid any more clashes."
That's when one guy from the back shoved his way forward noisily.
-Thwack!
He swung his massive greatsword around wildly, cackling with laughter.
"Vice guild leader, what the hell are you so scared of? This punk not only killed one of our guildmates—he did it to just one guy! Why not just kill him?"
"Guild leader, that guy's no pushover. I confirmed it myself—he spammed Lightning Storm a bunch just now."
At that moment, the greatsword-wielding man—Lee Hyuncheol—laughed as he replied.
"What? Then it doesn't matter at all! Don't you know mages burn out their mana after a few high-rank spells? Don't pussy out on me, Han Sungjun. If you keep acting like a coward, it makes me look bad for putting you in charge as vice leader. And even if this punk can cast high-rank magic, he's still just a squishy mage, right? We're swordsmen. Chosen by the gods themselves."
"Pfft!"
I couldn't help but burst out laughing. That made Baldena Guild's leader, Lee Hyuncheol, glare at me as he spoke.
"What's so funny? You don't seem to grasp your situation. We've got dozens of swordsmen here. This is a secret space built with countless spells and artifacts. Even if we gang up on you, torture you, and kill you right here, no one will ever know."
"..."
"Getting the picture now? But here's the thing—we're not planning to forgive you. If you crawl on the ground, begging us to spare you after we chop off your limbs one by one, maybe we'll consider it."
"I was just so dumbfounded I couldn't even speak."
"Hah, cut the bluffing. We all saw you spam Lightning Storm like crazy just now. You must be out of mana by now..."
Before he could finish, I cast a spell.
-Whoosh!
In an instant, I teleported behind Lee Hyuncheol and placed my hand on his back.
-Hummmmmm...
Mana surged into me in an instant.
"Get off me!"
-Whoosh!
-Thud!
The guy frantically swung his greatsword to force some distance. I backed off, laughing my ass off.
"What am I supposed to do now? I've sucked up plenty of your mana."
Lee Hyuncheol stopped spinning his sword like an idiot or laughing. His face turned deadly serious.
"Don't think you're gonna die easy."
In response, I cast another spell.
I fired a portion of the mana I'd absorbed from him right back at him.
-Piiiing!
A small clump of compressed mana shot forward at blinding speed.
"Hah. Release? You think this weak-ass spell can hurt me?!"
-Clang!
Lee Hyuncheol raised his sword to block.
-SCREEEEEEECH!
A horrifying screech echoed as the sword ground against the mana clump.
-Tssssssss!
Lee Hyuncheol's body was suddenly shoved backward.
"Wha... what the fuck?!"
He gritted his teeth and tried to hold his ground, but the mana clump kept pushing relentlessly without losing any power.
-Clang!
Finally, Lee Hyuncheol flung his sword aside and barely deflected my Release.
-Tremble tremble...
He stared at his shaking hands, thinking.
'Insane... a monster like this exists? I've never heard of anyone like him.'
Baldena Guild operated deep in the underworld, and as its leader, Lee Hyuncheol had intel on most major threats. But he'd never heard of a ridiculous monster mage like this.
'Not content with sucking my mana—he's putting out that kind of power with just Release?'
Anxiety and fear began to bloom in Lee Hyuncheol's heart.
'Can I win? Even if the whole guild piles on, can we win?'
No easy answer.
Lee Hyuncheol issued a command to his guildmates.
"Everyone, activate your auras."
At that moment, a green glow rippled from the swords of dozens of Baldena guild members all at once.
Choi Juwon looked at them dismissively.
"Swordsmen are all the same—they think aura is some miracle cure. A real master would realize how outmatched they are without even using it and come groveling to me."
Choi Juwon reached out into the air, absorbing ambient mana as he continued.
"Baldena Guild, was it? You worm-infested trash. Know your place. I've run into pathetic fucks like you plenty of times in my life, but I let most of them live. Forgave them and sent them packing so they'd never try it again. Know why? Because I'm human."
"You think I got anything good out of living like that? Just contempt, mockery, and pure malice. If I'd just ripped apart every bastard who thought I was shit without holding back, I wouldn't feel this fucking disgusted right now."
Lee Hyuncheol yelled incredulously.
"Hah, you're fucking crazy. Save your sob story for your mommy, you dumbass."
-Whoosh!
In a flash, Choi Juwon teleported right in front of Lee Hyuncheol.
-Slash!
-Drip drip...
Blood poured from Lee Hyuncheol's eyes. He screamed in agony like a madman.
"Fuck! Kill this bastard! Kill him now!"
At that moment, Choi Juwon teleported to his blind spot again and sliced off Lee Hyuncheol's left ankle with Wind Cutter.
-Thud!
"Aaaah... arghhh!"
Wracked with excruciating pain, Lee Hyuncheol began to wail. His guildmates couldn't bring themselves to get close—they just watched from afar, hesitant.
Choi Juwon placed his hand on the fallen Lee Hyuncheol's body and chanted.
"F... fuck...!"
Lee Hyuncheol thrashed wildly, trying to shake Choi Juwon off, but Choi Juwon dodged his attacks with spells and clung on relentlessly.
"Wh... what the fuck are you all doing?! Get over here and kill him, you fucking morons!"
Lee Hyuncheol screamed desperately, but no one came to his aid.
Lee Hyuncheol was Baldena's guild leader—the strongest fighter there.
Yet now, that guild leader was getting utterly dominated by a mage none of them had ever seen before. Not just losing—he was being crushed, humiliated.
'Anyone who gets close dies.'
They all sensed it. The overwhelming power of the mage before them, and the fact that the first to charge would end up a mangled corpse.
"You goddamn cowards...!"
Lee Hyuncheol cried out, but all that answered were Choi Juwon's repeated chants.
With each repeated absorption, Lee Hyuncheol's face grew more gaunt, soon shriveling into a skeletal husk.
"Pl... please stop... just kill... me..."
"It hurts... please... kill..."
-Thud!
In the end, with every last drop of mana drained from his body, Lee Hyuncheol perished on the spot.
Nothing remained but bones.
That's when Han Sungjun spoke up, looking at Choi Juwon.
"We'll surrender."
Choi Juwon replied.
"Surrender? Who said you could? Earlier you all powered up your auras thinking you'd gang up and kill me. You think it's fine to swarm when it's easy, then apologize and run when it's not? Cut the bullshit and come at me. Tearing me apart is your only shot at surviving."
Han Sungjun thought to himself.
'That fucking prick. Tried to let him off nice, but he's a hopeless retard. Soon as I get out of here, I'll call in favors from other guilds and rip him to shreds.'
Han Sungjun calmed his rising fury.
'For now, gotta play along to escape. Bide my time.'
With that, Han Sungjun spoke to Choi Juwon.
"We're truly sorry. We don't know who you are, but we've made a huge mistake. If you spare us, we won't breathe a word about you—we'll live quietly like mice. No more crimes, we'll live right."
As Han Sungjun finished, Choi Juwon reached into the air and cast a voice transmission spell.
In the ensuing silence, Choi Juwon's face twisted viciously as he said.
"I get the urge to rip the mouths off anyone who lies to me."