Chapter 196
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: The Seventh and the Eighth (3)
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The leader's fist cleaved through space.
That figure cloaked in lightning was a thunder god incarnate.
Normally, you couldn't track the leader's attacks in that state with your eyes. A brilliantly shining golden trajectory. You could only gauge the incoming strike from that path.
But not this time.
The golden currents pouring from the leader vanished in the blink of an eye.
Thunder God mode was forcibly canceled, fully exposing his black rider suit.
But the leader didn't halt his assault. He swung his bare fist straight ahead.
The flustered leader's hand met Uni's—the girl maintaining her utterly calm expression.
Uni, neatly dressed in her sailor uniform, brushed aside the leader's fist with a casual flick, like swatting an annoying fly.
"Leader!"
In that instant, the completely naked leader went flying into the sky.
He bounced airborne at a speed rivaling the velocity he'd charged in with to smash Uni's face.
"Filthy."
Uni pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, scowled, and wiped the back of her hand.
"You're no virgin, are you? You charged in so boldly, I thought you were."
Uni spat the words as she tossed the handkerchief to the ground.
"Your speech grated on me from the start. Figures you're no virgin. It's making my stomach turn. I wanna go home and shower ASAP."
The leader spun once midair and landed lightly on the ground.
But he didn't look unscathed. He clutched his wrist tightly, grimacing as if the attacker had somehow taken the brunt of the impact.
The intel from Raiderius had been spot on, after all.
Rank 8. Uni, heir to unicorn blood, kept a perpetual debuff active within a fixed radius around herself.
A debuff that drastically weakened the stats and skill potency of anyone with sexual experience. The more experience they had, the harsher the penalty—and as ridiculous as it sounded, it was true.
The range spanned roughly three meters centered on Uni. Step inside, and unless you were a virgin or celibate, you couldn't bring your full power to bear.
"Hey. You, the guy over there."
As I racked my brain for a way out of this mess, Uni turned to me and spoke.
"You seem like someone reasonable. You're the second strongest here, right?"
"……."
"Go fetch Jeong Ji-ham. I don't wanna stir up dust for no reason. Don't make this a hassle."
No sooner had her words left her mouth than lightning crashed from a clear sky.
"You ignoring me!!"
A blinding flash and space-shaking thunderclap hurtled toward the villain's head.
But even that bolt fizzled the instant it entered Uni's range, sucked away like into an invisible barrier.
"Ah... You're kicking up dust..."
"Ugh... So noisy..."
Uni waved her hand through the air to disperse the dust,
while the little villain plugged her ears and crouched low.
"Sis. Mind if I kill one? Might make these idiots listen."
"Yeah... Let's."
The moment the little villain nodded, Uni drew a pair of pristine white gloves from her pocket and slowly slipped them on.
She donned white gloves before getting serious.
Just as the briefing had described.
"Leader! Entering her domain means certain defeat! Keep your distance! Buy time with ranged attacks and call for backup!"
"Shut it! I'm not backing down! Quit yapping and get me a weapon!"
"Damn it! Squads 1 and 2, ready to fire! Squad 3, cover the leader!"
My guildmates sprang into action at my command.
Squads 1 and 2 grabbed their prepped gun-type artifacts and took aim at the villains.
Squad 3—all virgins and celibates—rushed to the leader's side, weapons drawn.
"Vice Leader! Leader's closing in on the villain!"
"Hold fire!"
The leader snatched a sword and charged Uni.
To match his strike at her neck, two from Squad 3 targeted her arm and leg a beat later.
Three blades converging on neck, arm, and leg.
But Uni neither panicked nor rushed. She met the leader's sword with graceful poise.
The back of Uni's pale hand touched the leader's blade. In that instant, his sword adhered to her hand and veered off course. It was disorienting—like she was the one gripping the hilt. As if she clutched the blade itself and swung it.
The leader's sword path twisted. His blade followed the guidance of her hand, clashing with the guildmate's strike aiming for her leg from below.
The leader lost his balance midair, flailing. That tangled him up with the guildmate lunging at her arm—they collided overhead.
"Fire!"
I called the shots to buy time.
All four guildmates from Squads 1 and 2 opened fire.
Artifact attacks bypassed stats and skills.
They could damage Uni regardless of purity.
Same logic for the sword charge.
We'd prepped sharpened artifacts assuming they'd harm her.
"Damn! Even these rush jobs won't cut it?!"
Not just the swords—the bullets couldn't touch her either.
Like the skills, anything entering her zone got flung aside.
"H-Her hair... deflecting bullets?"
Exactly as said.
Her rainbow-shimmering locks moved with a will of their own, batting away the barrage from all directions.
I'd figured it wouldn't deal major damage but would give the leader time to regroup. Yet Uni barely spared the bullets a glance.
"Hmm... Weakened to this degree... You're not just a non-virgin—you're a total slut."
"W-What?! How dare a villain wag her tongue!"
The leader, sprawled on the ground, shuddered in rage and hurled his sword.
It flew straight for Uni's forehead.
But once more, she swept the flat of her hand along the blade, redirecting it. With perfect timing, she snatched the hilt and idly inspected the edge.
"Not an ordinary sword. A proper slash might even sever my arm. Wielding something like this so pathetically."
Suddenly, Uni averted her gaze from the leader and whipped her head toward the incoming bullets.
She moved too fast to track, batting them back.
"Gah...!"
The moment I registered the sword's motion,
every guildmate clutched their left shoulder.
I gripped mine too and staggered back a few steps.
It burned like a red-hot poker jabbed into my shoulder, pain creeping up.
"N-No... way..."
Glancing around, the others mirrored me.
All clutching left shoulders, groaning in agony.
"She... controlled those incoming bullets with that precision... and flung them back...?"
We were in deep trouble.
No intel on Uni being a sword master.
To deflect bullets and neutralize the entire guild at once...
This went beyond "skilled." Only someone awakened to a sword-specialized aptitude—like Sword Saint or Sword God—could unleash such near-divine technique.
"Uni! What if you hurt someone else?!"
"No one died. I just meant a light warning, but it punched holes through. Blame fragile human bodies."
"Ugh... If this messes things up with that guy, I'll snap off your horn."
"W-What... Such a creepy threat..."
"Boil it and drink the broth."
A chill ran down my spine.
She was strong—we knew that—but not this strong.
This is Rank 8? How monstrous are the ones above her?
In truth, Uni cowered before that little villain.
Fear flickered across her face at the horn threat, if only briefly.
The monster who'd crushed us in seconds feared that tiny girl.
"Sh-Shit!"
The leader crawled in panic.
Uni’s debuff covered about three meters.
Escape that, and he'd regain his power.
Re-enter Thunder God mode, evade till backup arrived—we could hold out.
"Gaaaaahhh!!!!"
But it never happened.
As Uni swung her sword, the leader's leg severed clean at the thigh. Knee-up from knee-down, split apart.
No blood from the stump—unclear how.
"Yellow slut. Quiet down. Scream once more, and you're really dead."
"Guh... Hnngh..."
The leader gripped his thigh, desperately stifling cries.
No options left to fight these villains.
The two guildmates who'd flanked with him had lost the will to fight.
"This is your last warning. There's a guy named Jeong Ji-ham, right? Call him. Now."