Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Jealousy
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Heavy machine guns and dozens of Awakeners' mana attacks poured down on me after I'd turned into a giant.
The bigger I got, the easier a target I became. There couldn't be an easier bullseye than this.
Countless bullets and bombs, along with flashy mana attacks, battered the giant's body.
I could feel the impacts, but there was no pain.
It was only natural, really.
This black giant was little more than a ridiculously sturdy, massive suit of armor.
It was all part of the performance to intimidate the camp's occupants.
A lump of flesh that guzzled mana inefficiently just to bulk up pointlessly.
But to them, it was an impregnable wall they could never breach.
Ignoring their desperate barrage, I formed a massive mana sword in the black giant's hand.
And that mana sword kept growing larger without end.
As the sword swelled, terror spread across the faces of those unleashing their volley.
They seemed to have guessed what I was about to do.
The black giant swung its enormous sword horizontally.
Everything in the blade's path was crushed flat.
-Rrrumble!!
I am a merciful man.
I swung it leisurely, at a speed they could easily dodge.
If they couldn't even avoid that and died, it was on them.
"Gaaah!! Dodge, dodge!!"
"Fuck! Don't push!"
The guard posts, fences, watchtowers, and other structures in the sword's range were smashed and swept away by the black giant's massive blade.
With a single swing, a vast empty field appeared.
Through the crumbled walls, I could see the stunned faces of the survivors.
-Surrender! Surrender, and I'll spare you!!
Seolhwa shouted quickly from beside me.
Her voice was astonishingly loud, almost absurdly so.
Suni's helpful explanation cleared up my curiosity.
It looked like she'd amplified her voice using martial arts.
If I swung this massive sword for real, it would be a massacre.
The soft-hearted Seolhwa must have urged them to surrender out of fear that I might do something drastic.
Fortunately, the remaining troops looked like their will to fight had evaporated.
The battle was as good as over.
I released my mana and returned to normal.
It had been an absurdly inefficient intimidation technique, but it scored full marks on effectiveness.
"Park Un-ho!!!"
That's when Cheon Suho appeared.
Unlike the others, his face was filled with rage and battle lust.
I had no idea why this guy was so obsessed with devouring me...
Well... I could guess.
Jealousy, huh?
"Release my junior sister from brainwashing right now!!"
He popped up out of nowhere and spouted some fresh nonsense.
Jealousy had blinded him.
I pulled Seolhwa's waist toward me and embraced her.
"Ah..."
Seolhwa nestled softly into my arms.
"Y-You bastard!! What shameless act is this?!"
"What act? Seolhwa is mine. She's not a woman for the likes of you to covet."
"What?! I just want to save my junior sister..."
"Bullshit."
I lifted Seolhwa's chin and kissed her.
-Smooch. Slurp. Smack.
My tongue and hers tangled lewdly.
As our lips parted, a transparent thread stretched and snapped.
"Haa... M-My lord... In front of so many people..."
Seolhwa's face flushed with embarrassment.
"Gotta show off what's mine."
I sneered at Cheon Suho, who stood dumbfounded watching our sticky kiss.
"Y-You bastard!!"
Cheon Suho's eyes rolled back as he charged at me.
-Clang!
Seolhwa drew her sword and blocked Cheon Suho as he lunged toward me.
"J-Junior sister, get out of the way!!!"
"Senior brother, repent your sins even now. My lord is merciful. He might forgive you."
"Park Un-ho, you bastard!! Stop hiding behind a woman and fight me!"
Didn't he know who was really hiding? The guy could talk a big game...
He knew I was going easy for Seolhwa's sake... but jealousy had clouded his judgment.
I left Cheon Suho to Seolhwa and stepped into the camp.
"Park Un-ho!!! Where do you think you're going?!"
Cheon Suho tried to charge at me, but Seolhwa wouldn't let him.
She really was too soft-hearted.
I thought leaving Cheon Suho's fate to her might be a bit harsh.
"Junior sister, please open your eyes!! You're being deceived by that guy!"
Against Seolhwa, Cheon Suho couldn't even use his full strength.
In that mental state, he had no chance of beating her.
'Denial has its limits. Believing in brainwashing for real is comical.'
There were no real brainwashing superpowers back in my original world.
I'd heard of abilities that could briefly muddle someone's thoughts.
'Or maybe there were, and I just didn't know.'
I pulled a greatsword from my inventory, slung it over my shoulder, and casually headed toward the boss, Jang Seowon.
I crossed the broken barriers into the camp, but no one dared stop me.
Fear was the only thing on their faces.
And there stood Jang Seowon, wearing a hollow expression.
"Haha... You're an absurd monster... I'll get the generator running for you, so can't you just leave?"
"What kind of obvious nonsense is that?"
Jang Seowon couldn't escape responsibility, unlike the others.
He knew it too.
"Then I'll have to make my final stand. I kept it just in case, but I never thought I'd end up as the test subject."
With those words, Jang Seowon reached into his pocket.
I considered just killing him, but decided to watch his last words play out.
He pulled something out.
A syringe filled with a dark liquid tinged faintly blue.
He jabbed it into his forearm.
It reminded me of the mana stone refinement drugs that had trended briefly in my original world.
'The color looks a bit darker...'
Drugs made by refining mana stones and injecting them into veins had been a fad back home.
They enhanced the body for regular people.
I'd wanted to try it, but it was pricey at the time.
By the time I could afford it, the side effects were public knowledge.
The side effects were real, but so was the effect.
If you were lucky, you could get half-assed Awakening results.
But luck... that was the issue.
If you were unlucky, the side effects turned you into a monster.
Not a proper monster like from gates, but a malformed human freak.
Still, humans have baseless confidence that it'll be different for them.
Countless wannabe Awakeners trusted their luck and became human freaks.
Jang Seowon's sclera vanished, his eyes turning pitch black.
Dark red veins bulged prominently across his face.
His muscles swelled, straining his uniform tight.
"Th-This... Hoo... I can kind of understand that confidence of yours now."
Jang Seowon seemed euphoric from the sudden surge of power the drug granted.
His hand turned toward me.
-Boom!
I felt something shoot toward me amid the sound of air bursting.
But it wasn't visible.
Was this Jang Seowon's ability?
I raised my hand to block the attack.
A solid impact hit my palm. No particular attributes, just raw force.
Pure physical power, but invisible.
It would've been pretty threatening to anyone else.
-Pew pew pew!
Innumerable invisible mana attacks poured from his hand.
I dodged roughly, deflected some with my sword, and closed in.
Then I swung my greatsword.
He ducked his head easily to evade and swung an invisible dagger at my side.
The dagger was invisible to the eye, but my heightened senses fed me the info as if I could see it.
I drove my knee into his hand.
-Crack!
His wrist snapped.
"Kugh!"
Even with his wrist broken, Jang Seowon didn't panic and backed away.
He seemed like a special ability Awakener, but his physical prowess rivaled enhancers.
Excelling in both mana manifestation and physical ability was impressive.
Maybe the drug's doing.
Either way, he was a unique Awakener.
"Hoo... To think it'd be this much... Aren't you overdoing it? Now I have no choice."
Jang Seowon pulled out another syringe and jammed it into his forearm.
"Grrraaagh!!"
His broken wrist regenerated to normal.
-Rip!
His uniform tore, exposing his bare upper body.
Those dark red veins... it looked just like...
"Just a zombie..."
-Raaargh!!
He let out a beastly roar and charged.
He was faster than before.
But whether from side effects or whatever, any trace of reason was gone from his face.
He was just a monster now.
Nothing more to see.
I severed his wildly swinging right arm with my greatsword.
The impact staggered him, but he showed no pain and swung his left arm.
-Slash!
The greatsword accelerated beyond its size, slicing off his remaining left arm and cleanly severing his neck.
-Thud.
Jang Seowon's headless, armless corpse collapsed.
A pathetic end.
The countless people in the camp swallowed hard as they watched the scene.