Ten Minutes Alone
Thump! Thump!
My heart raced, pounding harder and harder, and with every beat the pain sharpened.
I've been lucky until now.
My other awakenings had taken place in circumstances where I couldn't feel this kind of agony. Maybe that was why I'd completely forgotten just how brutal the pain that came with awakening could be.
"Gahk!"
No matter how I rolled across the floor, the agony didn't fade—it kicked back with even greater force. It felt like my bloodlines were being seared away from the inside. Perhaps because of the elixir I'd last consumed, the pain spread through my veins along with my blood, burrowing deeper with each pulse.
Just hold on a little longer...
I clenched my jaw and did everything I could to suppress the torment.
"We will now commence the training operation."
The demon subjugation operation was classified. Externally, it had been announced as a joint training exercise between the Geumgang Guild and the Awakeners Association.
"I'm counting on you all as well."
President Bang Hak-shik finished his address and came over to where our Special Detachment was stationed.
"We'll do what we can."
"Please don't push yourself too hard either, sir."
Guildmaster Han Min-joon and Team Leader Woo Sang-shik each offered a word to the President.
"I'm counting on you too, Han Jin."
"I'll do everything within my power."
With the ability he'd gained from his fourth awakening, it seemed like Woo Sang-shik could at least manage to bind the enemy's movements.
Mana Absorption
Regenerates mana with each successful attack.
A skill that replenished mana every time he landed a blow. Having endured that much pain to obtain it, the effects were well worth the cost.
"Well then, let's move out."
With that, the Association President departed the building alongside the main force.
"Then let's get ready as well."
True to his reputation as Han Min-joon, the moment the President left, he stepped forward with practiced ease and began directing Team Leader Woo Sang-shik. The man clearly knew what he was doing. A short while after the main force departed, we too emerged from the association building, roughly five minutes behind.
"We enter immediately after the main force breaches."
The briefing we received upon exiting the building differed from the operation plan we'd been given beforehand. We were clearly supposed to go in thirty minutes later.
"It's a decoy plan. There could be eavesdroppers, after all."
"Was this coordinated with the President as well?"
Being an association employee through and through, Team Leader Woo Sang-shik was the first to ask whether this deviation had been cleared with the President.
"Of course. Even Hak-shik is in the loop."
"In that case, I have no objections."
Guildmaster Han Min-joon looked at me, and I shook my head to signal I had no issue with the change.
"Then let's depart."
"Yes, sir."
We headed straight for Goyang City, where the main force had already gone ahead.
BOOM! BANG! CRASH!
It was loud outside. That was Envy's first thought as she opened her eyes.
"What the hell is going on..."
Ramen, who was always beside her whenever she woke, was nowhere to be seen either. Just as she was growing irritated, the door burst open and a demon from her faction rushed in.
"Lady Envy! We're under attack!"
"Attacked?"
It didn't make sense. This was a place crawling with demons. An assault on a stronghold like this? Impossible.
"What idiot dares invade this place?"
"Th-the Association!"
"The Association?"
At that word, veins bulged across Envy's face. She despised the Association—because they never gave her, an F-rank, any respect. By any rational standard it was an absurd grievance, but that was precisely why Envy hated them.
"President Bang Hak-shik and the Geumgang Guild have also been confirmed on site."
"The President AND the Geumgang Guild?"
A joint front of a major guild and the Association. And the Association President on top of that.
They've walked right into their own graves!
Envy rejoiced at the fact that she could finally kill the President with her own hands.
"Our faction is holding them off for now, but we're outnumbered and the situation is deteriorating rapidly."
"I'll go myself."
"You're going personally, Lady Envy?!"
The faction demon was stunned. Envy was as reluctant to lift a finger as Sloth herself. Coming from someone like her, volunteering to take the field was genuinely shocking.
"Then get out there and reinforce them already."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The demon said that and left the room. And the moment he stepped out, his head fell.
"Sorry, but I can't let you send reinforcements."
"Who's there?"
The faction demon had been killed in a single strike. Whoever had done it was no weakling. Having witnessed her subordinate's death right before her eyes, Envy's face contorted.
"You knew about the attack, didn't you?"
"You think I knew about the attack?"
Envy looked at the three standing before her with pure incredulity. Guildmaster Han Min-joon of the Geumgang Guild. Team Leader Woo Sang-shik of the Association. And Han Jin—the one she'd been aching to meet all this time.
"I'm in a good mood today."
The instant those words left her mouth, the three of them and Envy collided.
"Is this really the base?"
"According to the reports, yes."
A shabby, dilapidated building. A ruin so decrepit it was a mystery how it was still standing. A demon headquarters in a place like this—even a stray dog passing by would burst out laughing.
But there's definitely a powerful demonic energy radiating from within...
Demonic energy of this caliber belonged to an executive-level demon who'd served one of the Seven Great Demons in my previous life. But the owner of what I was sensing now wasn't an executive at all.
To think Envy was this weak.
The distinctive signature woven into the energy was unmistakably Envy's own.
After a short wait, the main force came into view.
"We are now commencing the demon purge operation!"
"A demon purge?"
The President's sudden announcement stirred the assembled hunters.
"We've obtained classified intelligence that this location serves as a demon stronghold."
With each word from the President, the atmosphere grew heavier, more charged.
"Today, here, we will subjugate the demons!"
"Whoa!"
True to his reputation as Association President—despite the tension crackling through the air, morale among the hunters surged.
"We're going in!"
"Whoa!"
With that shout, the main force charged toward the dilapidated building.
"Damn it!"
"It's the Association!"
"The Geumgang Guild is here too!"
The demons were caught off guard, but they adapted quickly, holding their ground and continuing the fight.
"Let's head in as well."
Five minutes into the battle, the Special Detachment and I entered the dilapidated building.
"Looks like they've all poured outside."
"I'll locate Envy's position."
With that, Team Leader Woo Sang-shik began his detection sweep. It was probably precisely because of his detection abilities that he'd been assigned to the Special Detachment in the first place.
Might as well try locating her myself.
Detection Footwork. Seek.
Perhaps because my mana had grown, the range I could perceive was noticeably different from before.
Let's see... the top floor?
"She's on the top floor."
Almost simultaneously with my own discovery, Team Leader Woo Sang-shik pinpointed Envy's location as well.
"Then let's head up quickly."
"I'll take point."
With that, Team Leader Woo Sang-shik donned his gauntlets. With them equipped, his combat power was genuinely formidable. If we fought right now, whether I'd win or lose was anyone's guess.
Though if I used Limit Break, that calculation might shift...
We pressed forward, cutting down demons along the way. I cleaved through one ambushing from behind with my dagger. Team Leader Woo Sang-shik subdued another charging head-on with his gauntleted fist. Guildmaster Han Min-joon bisected the ones that kept popping out from side passages with clean sword strokes.
"Finally, the top floor."
"Everyone, stay sharp."
Our Special Detachment's objective was, above all else, to bind the enemy's movements. Buy time until the main force finished dealing with the other demons and came up to reinforce us.
At that moment, a demon burst out through the door ahead. Without hesitation, Guildmaster Han Min-joon cut it down before it could even complete its lunge. We entered the room.
Doesn't look like there are any traps or mechanisms.
Even probing with my footwork, nothing unusual registered.
"Sorry, but I can't let you send reinforcements."
"Who's there?"
A tone sharpened to a blade's edge, obvious to anyone within earshot. Well, having just watched her subordinate get decapitated right in front of her, of course her mood would be sour.
"You knew about the attack, didn't you?"
"You think I knew about the attack?"
At that reaction, Team Leader Woo Sang-shik spoke with open disbelief. And the reply that came back was somehow even more absurd.
Wasn't there supposed to be a spy?
Granted, the President had only mentioned it as a possibility, but if there wasn't one, that was a win for us.
Well then, time to start binding her movements.
All members of the Special Detachment shifted into combat readiness. Envy studied us slowly, deliberately, then spoke in a voice barely above a murmur.
"I'm in a good mood today."
Before I knew it, she was already in front of me.
CLANG!
I reacted fast and swung my dagger, but it was stopped dead by Envy's bare hand.
"Han Jin!"
Seeing me under attack, Guildmaster Han Min-joon lunged toward me, but Envy was faster.
"You two are in the way."
"Who the hell do you think you are—!"
The instant Envy's words left her lips, purple vines erupted from the walls and bound the two of them where they stood.
"Tch."
This was a binding technique Envy used constantly. Those caught in those vines would gradually lose stamina, and Envy would grow stronger in direct proportion to what she drained.
Duration: ten minutes.
For those ten minutes, I'd have to face Envy alone. Only ten minutes—but ten minutes that would feel like an eternity.
"Now then, let's have some fun, you and I."
With that, Envy lunged at me again.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
I parried her attacks with my daggers, steel ringing against something that shouldn't have been harder than metal. But I was reaching my limit.
My body can't keep up.
My brain registered everything perfectly—but my body lagged behind what my mind demanded of it. Every time my daggers met Envy's hands, tremors ran up through my wrists and into my shoulders.
There are people watching, but I don't have a choice.
If I kept fighting with just my daggers, I'd collapse in less than five minutes.
Basic Footwork. Illusion.
Using Illusion, I bored into Envy's blind angle and swung my dagger in a tight arc.
CLANG!
But my blade couldn't pierce her skin. It bounced off as if I'd struck tempered steel.
Demon Armor...
A technique that channeled demonic energy, accessible only to the Seven Great Demons or their executives. My daggers were Legendary grade, but my stats were too low to draw out their full potential against something like this.
"You... use some interesting techniques, don't you?"
BANG!
Without even a breath to recover, Envy's attack came hurtling toward me. Basic Footwork. Dark. I masked my presence and closed the distance from a new angle—but Envy located me with trivial ease. Basic footwork couldn't fool her.
Shadow Footwork. Shadow Pressure.
A higher-tier technique, perfected through the attribute transformation I'd received as a reward for reaching 150 mana. And at my current level, I should be able to briefly seal her movements.
CRUNCH!
But my hopes were dashed as Envy shattered Shadow Pressure and stepped free with terrifying simplicity.
"Techniques this unpredictable... they actually make me jealous."
Damn it...
The technique I'd deployed to stop her had only inflamed her namesake further.
Let me hold off on footwork for now.
If I kept using it, my life would be forfeit. Instead, I channeled the lightning attribute into both daggers, electricity crackling along their edges.
"Hah..."
Even with lightning wreathing my blades, my stamina was already spent. Prolonging this head-on fight any further would be suicide.
Focus on deflecting.
Envy charged at me once more.