Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: The Intruder's Escape
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Roar... Boom!!
The Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie specialist guard teams arrived at Basement Level 3.
They held their positions as per Charlie's orders, standing their ground. But as time dragged on, their expressions grew increasingly grim.
"Something's off."
Explosions of mana that felt like Ignito's kept resounding from Basement Level 4.
Along with it came an energy none of them had ever sensed before.
The clash between the two was so intense that the heat reached all the way to Basement Level 3.
But what worried them wasn't the heat. It was that 30 minutes had already passed since they took their positions, and the battle with Ignito was still raging on.
Thud. Thud thud!
"Ugh..."
An immense wave of heat assaulted the guards from the staircase connecting Basement Level 4.
The guards, who had covered their faces, all grimaced in unison.
To feel this much heat from this distance.
It was yet another reminder of Ignito's fearsome reputation.
But at the same time, their worries only deepened.
To endure this level of heat for an hour and still keep fighting Ignito.
They were the elite guards tasked with protecting GHO's heart, proud of their own skills. Yet they couldn't even imagine engaging in such a battle.
"What kind of intruder could this be..."
Not just the team leaders, but even the team members were filled with thoughts of needing to go help Ignito.
But they lacked the courage.
They felt like they'd just end up as collateral damage in a fight between whales.
"What should we do..."
The guards could only clench their fists and stand there, helpless.
They could do nothing but cheer for Ignito silently.
Ignito's flames clashed against the Extremity and scattered.
Through the dispersing flames, Yong-un burst forward, closing in on Ignito.
And as the Extremity surged through his fist in a swing, Ignito's body repeatedly turned to flames and vanished from the spot.
In the midst of their ongoing exchange of blows.
"This is weird."
Ignito voiced his bewilderment for the first time.
Roar.
From the lower right, Ignito swung his right hand upward to the left.
Flames erupted from the tips of Yong-un's feet where he stood, swallowing him whole.
Bang!
But the wave of mana infused with Extremity instantly dispersed Ignito's flames.
Watching this intently, Ignito tilted his head and spoke.
"You... You're not holding back on me or anything, right?"
The Extremity Yong-un unleashed was undoubtedly threatening.
As a Royal Class who had covertly aided GHO, Ignito had been through countless battles, but this was the first time every attack of his had been completely blocked.
Yet, to Ignito, Yong-un's movements—dispersing his flames and trading punches and kicks—seemed utterly awkward.
Like someone wearing ill-fitting clothes, or hiding something.
"This is really pissing me off."
Ignito's smile hardened for the first time.
And then he unleashed a mana operation on a whole different level from what he'd shown so far.
'It's getting hotter?'
The flames blazing everywhere surged and wild, altering the nature of his mana.
"If you keep that up, I can't take you away peacefully."
The flames around Ignito, which had been swaying gently in the wind, extinguished with a pop as their mana properties shifted.
But only for a moment.
Pop! Roar.
The crimson flames glowed blue, transforming into azure infernos several times hotter than before.
These azure flames emitted mana twice as potent as Ignito's previous red ones, which Yong-un had easily scattered.
"You need to get serious. Or you'll die."
Did he think Yong-un was hiding his power against him?
Furious, Ignito's azure flames roared with suffocating heat and powerful mana waves.
Like oil igniting, the blue flames raced across the ground, instantly enveloping Yong-un's body.
And then an even fiercer Extremity wave erupted.
Bang!
"See? I knew you were hiding something."
The wind from the Extremity scattered even Ignito's azure flames, now unleashed in earnest.
'Did I get greedy?'
But despite scattering them effortlessly, Yong-un was in a bind.
This was the result of his greed to test a Royal Class's power.
A martial artist's blood didn't cool so easily, even back in reality.
He'd made a troublesome situation even worse.
Tsking at his own actions, Yong-un glanced around.
'Can't drag this out anymore. Time to bail.'
He'd felt enough of the Royal Class's power.
He vaguely sensed another layer of strength within, but his current situation wasn't good enough to handle that.
If he weren't an intruder, maybe.
But not now.
Whoosh.
He drew up the Extremity even denser and more intensely.
"Oh! Finally ready to get serious?"
Ignito's face lit up with delight at the sight.
And that massive misunderstanding became Yong-un's opening.
Bang!
Until now, Yong-un had relied purely on physical strength for speed, but now he channeled Extremity through his entire body to move.
A speed several times faster than before.
"...?!"
It was startling even for Ignito, who had adapted to the previous pace.
As Yong-un closed the distance in an instant, Ignito wiped the smile from his face and surged his mana.
And then.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Boom!!!
He triggered a massive explosion around his body, starting from azure flames.
Boom boom boom.
Basement Level 4 and the entire GHO building shook as if struck by an earthquake.
"Tch."
At the center of the explosion.
Azure flames blazed around Ignito like a sea of fire, illuminating the surroundings.
But nowhere could Yong-un be seen.
It had been a calculated move on his part, but it was perfectly countered.
Whoosh. Whoosh whoosh.
Sensing no presence from Yong-un, Ignito whipped his head around wildly, scanning the area.
At that moment, he detected Yong-un's presence from the wall of fire leading to Basement Level 3.
"...Trying to escape!?"
Roar.
The brief feint had bought Yong-un enough time to flee.
Ignito's azure flame wall—which even a viscount-level demon couldn't easily dismantle—split in half, and Yong-un stepped out.
"Where!!"
Ignito, who could teleport anywhere his flames existed, instantly pursued and reached out toward Yong-un's back.
Startled, Ignito's eyes flashed green for a moment, and from his outstretched hand exploded long chains of flame like iron shackles.
The green flames—visible only when he went all out—shot toward Yong-un as if to ensnare him.
Once more, Extremity rippled to scatter the green flame chains.
But.
Clang.
These green flame chains were different.
The Extremity weakened the flames' intensity, but the chain form held firm.
'Too bad, but no choice. Can't let you get away.'
The green flame chains coiled around Yong-un's legs as he tried to flee, poised to sever them.
And in that instant, as they burned hotter than even the azure flames to amputate his legs.
Slash!
In Ignito's eyes, the cleanly severed cross-section of the green flame chains flew off in slow motion, dispersing.
The green flame chains that Extremity couldn't scatter...
Had been neatly sliced.
Ignito, eyes wide in shock, froze in place from the impact of his trump card being blocked, watching Yong-un's retreating figure.
"A martial arts-type hunter..."
Gripping a long sword he'd never seen before in his right hand, Yong-un strode up the stairs to Basement Level 3.
"...wasn't it?"
By the time Ignito snapped out of his shock, Yong-un was long gone.
With his incredible speed and ability to conceal his presence, the moment Yong-un escaped the flame barrier, the game was over.
"He... got away? Ha... hahaha."
Ignito had 'perfectly' let Yong-un defeat him.
Thud!
An explosion erupted on the stairs from Basement Level 4 to Level 3.
The specialist guards assumed it was Ignito, following the hottest blast yet.
But.
Whoosh!
"Wh-what..."
A fierce gust cut through the midst of the specialist guards.
The tremendous wind that instantly shoved aside the heat forced the guards to brace their back feet and steady their stances.
Something was wrong.
For it to be Ignito's explosion, it felt like something had passed through the wind.
"Alpha Team Leader! Did you see what happened?"
Bravo and Charlie Team Leaders rushed to Alpha Team Leader.
The de facto leader of the specialist guards.
But he gave no answer to their questions.
No...
More precisely, he couldn't speak.
As Alpha Team Leader's eyes widened, his head tilted back.
'I definitely... saw it!'
Before the explosion and wind.
In the slow-motion replay of his memory.
Swoosh.
A black-masked man moving at an eye-defying speed.
His eyes met theirs as he shattered the guards' encirclement in an instant and soared toward the stairs leading above ground.
"Alpha Team Leader!"
Unable to bear seeing Alpha Team Leader staring blankly at the upward stairs like a dazed man, Charlie Team Leader shook his shoulders violently.
The force made Alpha's head loll back and forth, finally prying open his tightly shut mouth.
"He got away..."
"What? Explain clearly!"
"The intruder... got away."
Bravo and Charlie Team Leaders exchanged glances, their faces twisting.
And then, a voice came from the stairs leading from Basement Level 4 to 3.
"I let him go too. What chance did you guys have?"
Ignito.
Extinguishing the flames blazing over his body, he ascended slowly.
'Ignito... failed?'
The team leaders and specialist guards all fell silent.
The expression on Ignito—the ever-playful, brimming-with-confidence Ignito—had changed.
An expression they'd never imagined seeing on him.
The look of defeat.
"Reverse Eyes."
As soon as Ignito stepped into the Basement Level 3 corridor, he burst into flames and in an instant seized Alpha Team Leader by the nape.
Lifted into the air by Ignito's immense mana, Alpha grimaced, but before he could speak, Ignito acted first.
"Let's have a talk."
"I..."
Roar.
Practically abducting him, Ignito's crimson flames engulfed both him and Alpha Team Leader, vanishing from the spot in an instant.