Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 049
Chapter Title: Wraith King
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Meanwhile, the support team and cleaning team were at a loss for words at the sight unfolding before them.
"What the hell was that fight just now...?"
They all stared up at the top floor where the battle had ended, their faces blank.
Truth be told, when the upper part of the building had been ripped clean off and collapsed onto Kyle, they'd all thought it was over.
They'd tracked Samuel here, but it never crossed their minds that such a powerful mage would be lurking in the shadows.
And yet, here we were.
The Mafia Butcher had taken that attack head-on like it was nothing, then seized the concrete chunks and hurled them right back.
They weren't mages themselves, but they had a basic grasp of magical combat.
And to their trained eyes as informants, it looked like Kyle had outright stolen the enemy's spell formula.
For one mage to hijack and usurp another mage's incantation meant a vast gap in their levels.
That alone was enough to leave them stunned.
'To utterly dominate a mage that powerful in a straight-up magic duel...'
Cash from the support team gaped in disbelief.
'Just who the hell is that guy?'
His skills didn't even look like those of a heretic mage.
For a split second, she wondered if this prisoner was actually from the Magic Tower.
"Guess he didn't survive the Devil by sheer luck after all."
Jim Gordon clicked his tongue at the Butcher's prowess, which exceeded even his wildest expectations.
'The more I see, the more curious he gets.'
As far as he knew, Kyle Clark was a native of the 8th Special District.
Before the Rorione Family massacre, he'd never done anything noteworthy.
'But no way someone with that kind of skill just popped out of nowhere...'
And he was supposedly just barely twenty.
'Is he really from the back alleys?'
Even Jim, who'd brushed it off before, couldn't help but entertain the thought now.
'Plus that insane magical prowess...'
If his public record was legit, it all had to be self-taught.
'That's a stretch, to put it mildly.'
Jim Gordon let out a quiet groan.
'Might poke around personally.'
That was when someone from the support team muttered.
"But... what do we do about that?"
"Ah."
Everyone in the command room turned to the main monitor.
Hundreds of tons of concrete had smashed into one corner, half-collapsing it.
At least he'd controlled his strength somewhat—the building was still standing, even after losing its top and taking a side hit.
Cash spoke into her comms.
"Uh... cleaning team?"
She offered words of encouragement to the silent team.
"Fighting!"
A sharp wind cut through the night sky of the 8th Special District, where not a single star pierced the pitch black.
As Kyle gazed up, a familiar message appeared before his eyes.
Kyle thought to himself as he read it.
'No wonder the settlement message never popped after the Black Forest.'
Apparently, this had all been part of the extended mission.
But it didn't end there.
'Oh.'
Normally, hidden mission completion would've just given regular Skill Points.
'Yeah, least they could do is toss in some Enhancement Skill Points.'
It was a cakewalk, sure, but the opponent was Magic Tower material.
Regular Skill Points always felt a bit stingy.
Lena, supporting the bound Samuel, asked,
"Who were you talking to?"
Kyle turned to her.
"Levebrque."
"Levebrque...?"
"Yeah. Seemed like the family head."
"Heh, so the Levebrque mage family really got involved?"
He looked exasperated at that.
"What the hell is going on? You got beef with the Magic Tower or something?"
"Nah? First time I even heard the name Levebrque was recently."
"Then why the hell are they after you?"
"Beats me."
The 8th Special District Security Stabilization Project sprang to mind.
With the project ramping up, underground press and such had been buzzing about the Mafia Butcher.
If someone wanted to sabotage it, targeting him made perfect sense.
"So Levebrque's trying to disrupt the 8th District's project?"
"Dunno. But they're definitely tied to the Al Kimia Alliance somehow."
The disguised beauty informant had been a well-crafted chimera.
[Lightning Stake] was used without charge, fine, but shrugging off [Internal Force Fist Punch] and moving right away? That durability was no joke.
"Yeah, only Al Kimia's alchemists could whip up something like that."
Lena sighed softly.
"But that means the Magic Tower's Levebrque family is colluding with Al Kimia behind the scenes."
He muttered in confusion.
"What's their angle?"
The Magic Tower hadn't meddled in worldly affairs for centuries.
"Eh, who cares about reasons at this point."
Kyle met Lena's eyes squarely.
"I'm just gonna smash anything Levebrque-related from here on out."
"...!"
Al Kimia wasn't off the hook either.
They'd backed Levebrque's plot against him, making them the same trash in his book.
Lena thought quietly.
'Whatever the ringleaders were thinking, they're screwed starting tonight. No more stretching out comfortably.'
Recalling that Black Forest glare, he shivered.
"Oh, and here's Anton or whatever's phone."
He handed it over, and Lena chuckled dryly.
"It survived all that chaos unscathed."
"Probably left it on the table or something. Found it nearby."
If Anton had been carrying it, it'd be toast.
Lucky break for Kyle—now he could set his course clearly.
"Hand it to the support team, see if there's more to dig up."
Interrogating the passed-out Samuel might yield extra clues too.
Then the door opened, and his masked subordinate entered.
"Boss. Cleaning team's starting up. Time to pull out."
"...Poor bastards."
Lena said to Kyle,
"Let's head back before it gets noisy."
Kyle nodded and turned to leave when—
+ All Stats +Additional
Next up would be the usual Death Forging settlement.
'Died once to that chimera, I think.'
Sure enough.
'Some kind of assassination skill, huh?'
That explained how the chimera informant had flanked him in the dark so fast.
But it didn't stop there.
"The flightless basilisk envied and resented the sky king, the dragon." "Thus, the serpent of the valley vowed: 'If I cannot ascend, no one shall.'"
⟨ Dragon-Slaying Trait Acquired ⟩
Lightning Mana
Added Trait: Dragon-Slaying
Spells pierce dragon scales that block mana interference. Bonus damage vs. dragons.
"!!"
One hour later.
"Levebrque?"
Congressman Rockton, who'd rushed over at the news, furrowed his brow unwittingly.
"Levebrque—as in that Magic Tower mage family?"
"Yes. That's the one."
Having heard the full story from Kyle and the support team, Rockton looked dumbfounded.
"What in the world..."
Even he hadn't anticipated the mage family's involvement.
'First Marshall, now Levebrque?'
Sensing something ominous brewing, Rockton apologized first.
"Sorry about this, regardless. Never imagined Samuel would stab us in the back like that."
"No worries. You had no idea, Congressman."
"Thanks for understanding."
Then Cash from the support team spoke up.
"But targeting Mr. Clark means Levebrque's goal was to sabotage the project too, right?"
He nodded at her question.
"Likely."
Kyle Clark was key to the 8th Special District Security Stabilization Project.
Removing him would delay it massively.
"But Congressman,"
Jim Gordon said gravely.
"Doesn't this suggest Marshall and Levebrque are in cahoots...?"
"......"
Rockton fell silent.
The suspicion rang all too plausibly now.
Kyle blinked at the mention.
'Marshall?'
Inspector Yenitz's words flashed through his mind.
—Of course, Mayor Luther and his longtime friend Congressman Marshall too.
'Ah...!'
It clicked.
'Kept wondering where I'd heard it... Wait.'
Then Valone's secret ledger surfaced in his thoughts.
"Wasn't Marshall's name next to Noble Gibson in Valone's ledger?"
'Longtime friend of the mayor, right?'
Rockton, who'd been staring silently, nodded.
"...Yes. That's the problem now."
Marshall, the mayor's closest ally, sabotaging Luther's project? Contradiction city.
"The Marshall Family has backed Luther for ages... Personally, I suspect internal strife in the Luther Family we don't know about, more than Marshall acting alone."
"...!"
The intel team swallowed hard.
"Internal strife..."
"...Someone in Luther gunning for the current mayor. Marshall got poached."
"But Congressman, that means...!"
"Yes."
Rockton rubbed his face with a heavy sigh.
"Border tensions worsening. Mana stone shortages. If even the 8th District development project to fix it stalls or fails... The political fallout from those blunders won't be small."
His eyes gleamed coldly.
"...Enough to raise doubts about the current mayor within Luther."
"!!"
"Here's what I think."
Rockton continued.
"It's a coup targeting the mayor's political downfall."
The room froze at the bombshell.
Kyle blinked wordlessly.
'Whoa.'
This had escalated into some massive conspiracy out of nowhere.
Joseph stammered,
"S-so they even roped in the mage family Levebrque?"
"Is Levebrque the only one snagged?"
Jim Gordon asked.
"Or the whole Magic Tower?"
"Probably not the whole thing."
Cash adjusted her glasses.
"If it were the Sage and the full Tower's will, they wouldn't bother with messy indirect methods like today. Choosing this way means..."
"Levebrque acting solo?"
"Most of the Tower probably doesn't know. That's why Levebrque's moving quietly."
It made sense.
The Tower's centuries-old policy was non-interference.
Getting caught breaking it solo would be a headache.
"But Levebrque getting involved anyway suggests..."
Rockton picked up.
"Something off-kilter brewing in the Tower too."
Joseph glanced at Kyle suspiciously.
'No way... Kyle coming from the Tower ties into this?'
'Sage sensing internal threats, secretly smuggling out the best bloodline as backup?'
It'd explain Kyle ending up wandering the 8th District.
Then Kyle spoke.
"Point is, digging into Marshall will likely drag Levebrque up too."
Cash nodded.
"Yeah, probably."
"How's the Noble Gibson interrogation going? Still a ways off?"
"Good timing."
Jim Gordon grinned, pulling out a tablet and setting it down.
"Forensic results on Gibson's neural implant just came in 30 minutes ago."
Kyle inwardly marveled.
'Forensicking a guy's brain? Brutal era.'
"So, what'd you find?"
Gordon gave a wry smile at Rockton's question.
"Not much. Defense program wiped most data mid-scan."
But some key bits survived.
"K&A Waterloo."
"Waterloo as in..."
"Yep, megacorp operating out of Districts 9, 11, 12. Makes and distributes home androids and industrial bots... but..."
"They used that network to smuggle military implants into the 8th."
"Bingo."
He tapped the tablet, projecting a blue hologram.
"Gibson's brain scan showed most implants routed through a factory on the outskirts of District 12 before hitting the 8th."
Disguised as industrial goods, they flowed through 9 and 11 into the 8th.
"That factory's been a hub terminal."
"If we nail proof of mass illegal military implant distribution there..."
"We can call in Inspectorate for a full raid on Waterloo."
Gordon continued.
"Luck out, and it leads straight to Marshall."
"They might've cleaned the site already?"
"Scale's too big for that. Multiple hubs likely. They don't know which one we have intel on—worth a shot."
"......"
In the silence, Rockton eyed Kyle.
"Clark. Check your account—the promised pay should be in."
Kyle did: 400 million added, balance at 1.1 billion.
'Eh? 400 mil?'
Surprised, he looked up; Rockton shrugged.
"Hey, the informant survived."
"Uh..."
True.
'[Amon's Fear Curse] left her bonkers, but alive.'
Kyle rolled his eyes subtly.
"Plus, we got some intel off her."
Gordon chuckled.
Her neural chip had solid Al Kimia data.
"About this job, then."
Rockton said.
"Help out, and I'll double your last pay. Double the sentence reduction too. Deal?"
"...!"
Kyle couldn't hide his surprise.
Double was 800 million. Plus double reduction.
No reason to refuse.
'Especially since...'
He narrowed his eyes.
'I've beefed with Levebrque. Gotta get stronger.'
Immortality or not, Magic Tower folks were no joke—as Marie Fleetwood proved.
Today, if Anton hadn't been a wind mage, it'd been tougher.
'And Marshall's likely tied to Levebrque too...'
Whatever they schemed, he wasn't letting them run wild.
"Sure."
Kyle nodded.
"I'll take this one."