Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Outlaw
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After continuing to beat and interrogate the bastards, I learned their boss was in Jocheon.
And it seemed they'd sent nearly half their forces.
Once I'd gotten all the info worth knowing, two of them survived.
I stored their corpses in my Inventory.
I don't really like putting bodies in my Inventory, but dragging a cart over to clean up this many would be a pointless hassle.
'Should I just wipe them out after all?'
I pondered what to do with this band of raiders.
They weren't a real threat. But they were annoying.
If I didn't clean them up, I couldn't be sure they'd give up, so I'd have to keep dealing with them steadily.
It wasn't hard to smash anyone who came.
But fighting here meant dealing with the bodies, and I didn't want that right now. So it wasn't a great idea.
'Yeah, better to wipe them out.'
It seemed mentally cleaner to just finish them off neatly.
"My lord. I'll come with you."
Seol-hwa must have sensed my decision to clean them up, as she asked to join me.
But these guys might not be the end of it, and crossing paths by chance would just be a pain.
"You stay here and watch the kids."
".......Are you worried about another attack?"
Like with those dog bastards before, empty-house robberies were always the problem. But if Seol-hwa guarded it, it'd be solid.
"Yeah.....there was that incident before. No. Go to the Celestial Sect with the kids until I get back."
"The Celestial Sect.....Understood, my lord. Please take care."
I'd placed the Celestial Sect nearby for times like this, so I might as well use it.
"It looks like he's heading toward Jocheon."
Jang Seo-won gathered his forces at his subordinate's report.
He planned to go with a small elite unit to avoid clashing with the Celestial Sect by bringing too many troops.
Still, he'd apparently handled quite a few of those numerous raiders.
Of course, Jang Seo-won never thought those ragtag raiders could do anything to Park Un-ho anyway.
Jang Seo-won knew a fair bit about the raiders too. Naturally, their troop quality would've been nothing special.
Through steady surveillance of Park Un-ho, he knew the man wasn't the only Awakener there.
His women, who occasionally hunted monsters, were Awakeners too.
If the raider boss had thrown everything at him, it might've been different, but it seemed he'd underestimated Park Un-ho.
Thinking about it, pouring that many troops in wasn't exactly underestimating him.
But the strongest one there—Park Un-ho—had left his post.
Fortunately, he'd moved more easily than expected.
Cheon Su-ho's advice on his personality had proven somewhat useful.
Even so, he hadn't expected Park Un-ho to head straight there alone.
'Is he that confident?'
That place was now practically an unguarded castle with just women and kids.
And Jang Seo-won's target wasn't Park Un-ho—it was the generator.
"Let's get ready to move."
His adjutant, Im Gu-jae, left the meeting room to prepare for departure at Jang Seo-won's order.
"What do you think? If we hit that place, will the Celestial Sect react?"
Jang Seo-won asked Cheon Su-ho.
"Probably not. The Celestial Sect had their junior sister taken. They can't have good feelings toward Park Un-ho."
"Hm....Good."
"Take me with you on this."
"That man isn't there."
Cheon Su-ho harbored resentment toward Park Un-ho.
And Jang Seo-won knew he was diligently training for revenge.
"Revenge matters. But saving my junior sister comes first. Please."
"Your junior sister seemed pretty free for someone supposedly dragged off by him...."
Jang Seo-won had learned from surveillance that Baek Seol-hwa hunted monsters with Park Un-ho's women.
"Sigh... My junior sister is very rigid. Her staying there is the result of the Celestial Sect's defeat. She's upholding that thoroughly. Or maybe it's for the women and kids there."
Cheon Su-ho was strong.
There were four Awakeners there, including Baek Seol-hwa.
Cheon Su-ho said she was about as strong as him.
If he, who knew her, handled her, things would be much easier.
Cheon Su-ho being from the Celestial Sect was a slight concern, but Jang Seo-won decided including him in the op was best.
"Fine."
"Thank you. I won't forget this favor."
-Budda dada.
The last survivor of this raid was riding hard on a motorcycle in front of me.
I followed on a bike I'd looted from them.
I preferred cars over motorcycles, but the roads were in terrible shape.
Man, the noise from this guy's bike was hard to get used to.
'Did he crank the sound up on purpose?'
I wanted to slam a Mana Spear into the back of his head over that racket.
But I held back.
There were originally two, but one died pierced by my Mana Spear while fleeing.
If this one died too, I'd have to search Jocheon myself.
I wasn't about to kill him in a fit of anger and then wander around hunting for their boss without a clue where he was.
Even if the boss was strong, he was probably just C-Rank Awakener level at best.
Running a group like that meant some power hunger, but if he were higher rank, he wouldn't hole up in a dump like that.
"Is this the place?"
"Y-yes."
It was a big 4- or 5-story building with "Home Plus" written on it.
The glass ground-floor sections had been boarded up and reinforced with plywood.
Scanning showed quite a few people inside the mart building.
Seemed he wasn't lying.
Realizing his usefulness was at an end, he was watching me nervously.
"Good work. Go on."
"Huh?"
He looked stunned at how easily I let him go.
"........."
"Th-thank you!"
The bastard bowed to me and sped off—not toward the mart, but the opposite way.
'That's why quick-witted guys are...'
I formed a Mana Spear and hurled it at his exposed back as he fled.
-Puk!
The launched Mana Spear pierced his chest.
"You...bast..."
He couldn't finish his words and collapsed.
"Not that way—the afterlife."
I couldn't afford the blunder of letting trash like that live.
In this fucked-up world already short on people, scum like him were better off gone.
'Not like letting him go would make him turn over a new leaf...'
If I'd let him loose, who knows how many innocents he'd harm.
By killing him, maybe I'd saved dozens of good people.
'Well.....I never planned to spare him anyway...'
Still, I could call it a good deed for humanity. Two birds, one stone.
I formed black armor covering my body with mana. Then I headed toward the big mart across the six-lane road.
I pulled a spear from my Inventory and gripped it in my left hand.
With my physical abilities boosted, using it left- or right-handed was no big adaptation issue, but I planned to throw the precision-needed Mana Spears with my familiar right hand.
As I approached the main entrance, the doors opened and two armed guys came out.
They weren't Awakeners.
"Wh-who the hell are you?"
"Is this the Jaji-something or Jeoji-whatever joint?"
"This fucker knows and still came?"
They tensed up, faces hardening as they raised their guns.
My huge frame in full black armor looked suspicious to anyone—natural reaction.
"Anyone here think they're innocent?"
"Wh-what the fuck are you babbling about, you psycho..."
I could see the raider flinch at my sight, but his mouth was still alive.
The spear in my left hand shot out, slamming into that live mouth.
"Guhk!"
The spear pierced the raider's mouth and out the back of his neck.
The guy next to him was dazed by the sudden event.
"Are you innocent?"
"Y-you fuck!"
The remaining one snapped to and tried to pull the trigger.
-Puk!
But before he could, my fist smashed his head to pieces.
I left the two bodies and entered the mart.
"Found something decent to sca—...huh?"
A grubby guy with a cigarette dangling from his lips froze stupidly as he saw me enter.
"Are you innocent?"
"What...bull...krrk!!"
I stabbed a spear into his gut.
"F-fuck..."
Tough bastard—despite that, he swung his gun at me.
-Bang! Bang!
-Ting. Ting.
The bullets ricocheted off my armor, and he despaired.
I dragged him, impaled on the spear, inside.
"Aaaagh!! Pl-please!!"
The writhing with the spear in his belly must've been unbearable.
"Gunshots? What—what is it?!"
"What's with all the noise?"
"Fuck....who's fighting now!?"
Raiders started appearing one by one.
Some Awakeners, some not.
Seeing me and the screaming guy on my spear, their grubby faces hardened.
"Fuck. Who the hell is this guy!!"
"A-an attack!?"
"Are you innocent?"
"What bullshit is this, you crazy fuck!!"
A white ice orb shot from one guy's hand at me.
I swung the impaled guy to block it.
-Boom!
White frost spread, freezing the guy on my spear solid white.
-Crack.
The frozen corpse shattered off the spear.
"What're you doing! He's an Awakener! Take him down!!"