Chapter 131: Hunting Mad Dogs (Conclusion)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 131: Hunting Mad Dogs (Conclusion)
Arseny’s face contorted with shock and panic the moment Seo-un revealed himself.
“I heard you were looking for me, so I came to find you myself,” Seo-un said. “You don’t look very happy to see me.”
“...Do you think you’ll get away with this here? Russia isn’t some weak nation that a place like Sweden can protect you from.”
“If you have evidence, tell them to start a war. Besides, I don’t think a country like Russia can handle me anyway.”
“...”
As Seo-un finished speaking, ten long, sharp strands of Nature Aura extended from his fingertips.
Seeing the perfect manifestation of Aura, a look of grim determination settled on Arseny’s face. He pulled a dagger engraved with a skull from his subspace and drove the blade into the ground before suddenly plunging it through his own palm in a brutal act of self-mutilation.
“You’re really pulling out all the stops.”
The light of the skull floating behind Arseny like an aura intensified. It was clear he had activated a special item, but the rebound from such power would be immense.
[Ding! You have completed the Second Contract with the Dead. For the next hour, your stats will be doubled. After one hour, all stats except for the base 10 will be permanently deleted.]
It was a buff with a staggering penalty—the sacrifice of every stat he had ever accumulated.
Arseny’s eyes sank deep into his sockets. He was using an item he had hoped never to touch, one that could momentarily quadruple his usual power. For a player on the path of a knight, only two things mattered: stats and skills. The thought of his years of physical training vanishing like bubbles was agonizing.
“I’ll kill you. If I strip every item off your corpse, it might be worth the loss.”
Arseny lunged forward the moment he finished speaking, his speed far greater than before.
Whoosh!
Seo-un didn't bother parrying the sword. He twisted his body to dodge and casually stuck out a foot. It was a simple move, but Arseny, who had put all his weight into the strike, tripped over the playful gesture and stumbled violently.
Seo-un didn't need to clash with him to know the man’s strength was now overwhelmingly superior to his own. He was well aware from his experience in Cloyd Survival that his Strength stat lagged behind that of a dedicated knight.
He had never intended to engage in a contest of raw power against a brute clad in heavy armor. From the start, he planned to rely strictly on the martial arts that gave him the advantage. He avoided direct confrontation, opting instead to target the man’s openings using speed and clones.
Avoiding the enemy’s strength to play to his own was the only logical choice.
Thump!
A Penetrating Strike slammed into the stumbling man’s flank.
The Boundless Fist, which Seo-un hadn't used in a while, carried a completely different level of power now that he had grown stronger. Even a light punch sent the massive, armored man flying helplessly. Once a person’s feet leave the ground, no matter how incredible their stats, they cannot exert their full strength.
Boom!
As Arseny tried to twist his body mid-air, Seo-un’s elbow drove down into his waist. Arseny’s mouth fell open as a jolting pain surged through his entire body. The attack, infused with the essence of Penetrating Strike, bypassed his thick armor and delivered the shock directly to his internal organs.
Thump! Boom!
Thump! Boom!
It took over thirty minutes of being subjected to the same relentless pattern for Arseny to realize he could not escape. If Seo-un had wanted to, Arseny would already be dead. Instead, the man was simply toying with him like a soccer ball.
All Arseny could do was gasp in pain from the heavy blows and flail helplessly as he was sent flying through the air. Thanks to his increased Agility, he could see every attack coming, but he had no way to respond. He couldn't block strikes that sent him flying the moment they touched him, as if by magic. None of his skills worked, and the barriers he relied on were torn like paper before Seo-un’s Nature Aura.
The despair in his heart was plain to see in his eyes.
Only after seeing that Arseny had lost his fighting spirit and completely given up did Seo-un drive his Blood Bone Claw through the man’s throat.
“Gurgle...!”
Watching the man clutch his throat as blood poured out in a wet, bubbling sound, Gi-chan shook his head.
‘What a twisted hobby.’
Seo-un’s habit of inflicting despair on his enemies was something Gi-chan had seen since the days he dealt with the pro-China players. Breaking an opponent’s spirit before finishing them off was a side of Seo-un he never showed within the Cloyd game. He was particularly prone to this when dealing with enemies in reality. Even when he took down the Japanese players, he had backed them into a corner and crushed their minds before delivering the final blow.
Seo-un watched until the very end as the man knelt, clutching his neck, and breathed his last. Once Arseny was truly dead, Seo-un began to strip him of his items.
[Ding! All items stored in the Subspace Ring have disappeared.]
The notification rang out as he pulled the ring from Arseny’s finger. He didn't particularly care; he hadn't come for the loot anyway. Gi-chan winced as he watched Seo-un finish stripping the body and proceed to sever the head.
“Ugh. What are you going to use that for?”
“A warning.”
The chill in Seo-un’s brief reply made Gi-chan blanch. When Seo-un’s ‘switch’ was flipped, he exuded an untouchable, terrifying charisma.
Returning to the villa, Seo-un looked down at Boris, who looked miserable with all his teeth knocked out.
— I’ll ask once. Where is Andrei?
Boris looked up weakly at the sound of the translated phone voice.
“Go to hell. You’ll never die a peaceful—”
Thud.
His head fell before he could finish the sentence.
“How many safehouses did you say these guys have?” Seo-un asked.
Gi-chan searched his memory. “According to what we gathered in China, there are seven, including the ones they acquired recently.”
“Seven, huh...” Seo-un checked the time. “Let’s move to the one they got most recently.”
By the time the two entered the city of St. Petersburg, dawn was beginning to break.
“From here on, let’s move without drawing attention.”
Gi-chan nodded and stowed his cloak in his subspace. Emerging from a dark alley with their hats pulled low, the two walked out onto a street that was still mostly empty.
*
When one hour passed, Andrei thought Arseny would return with Boris.
When two hours passed, he thought he might never see Boris again.
And when three hours had passed, Andrei was certain he had lost the two brothers he had spent his entire life with.
He didn't wait a single minute longer. He stood up. Leaving the room, he crushed his phone and ripped out the tracking chip embedded in his forearm. With a stony expression, he shed his favorite clothes and put on tattered rags and a hat. He even pulled a fake beard from his subspace and attached it to his face.
As he headed toward the safehouse, his eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
‘I’ll find out who did this and kill their entire family.’
He had used the families of his targets as bait countless times, but only now did he realize the agony of losing his own kin. Even so, there was no regret or reflection.
Driving a rattling, rusted truck, he left Moscow and headed for St. Petersburg. The safehouse on the outskirts of the city was a place only the three brothers knew about—not even the government was aware of it. It had never been used before. He had acquired it personally, so there was no way its location could have leaked.
Hiding his burning rage behind a dull, vacant gaze, he parked the car and entered a dilapidated apartment building. He climbed the narrow, old stairs and stepped into the hallway, only to pause.
The apartments on this floor should have been empty. He had bought out every unit himself. Yet, there were footprints in the dust-covered hallway.
‘Two people.’
Two sets of footprints. He had personally scattered the dust in this hallway. The footprints led straight to the unit where he had prepared emergency supplies.
Andrei immediately threw himself over the railing.
Crash!
At that same moment, the door to his safehouse shattered, and two figures leaped over the railing in pursuit.
The chase through the city began: Andrei in his tattered rags, and two men in black tracksuits with hats pulled low. Andrei looked back at his pursuers. They were clearly martial artists, judging by their incredible presence and speed. He grabbed a parked car and hurled it backward.
K-boom!
The car hurtling toward them was cleanly sliced in half by Nature Aura, only for a fireball to strike the pieces and cause an explosion. Andrei caught a glimpse of the two figures charging through the flames and moved his legs even faster.
Lightness Skill was his specialty. Lightness and Stealth. Despite being a martial artist, he had chosen to specialize in those two areas rather than direct combat.
As they reached the heart of the port city of St. Petersburg, Andrei began grabbing anything he could reach to throw—and eventually, he started grabbing people.
Seo-un quickly caught a person who had been thrown along with a pulled grenade, turning his back to shield them.
Boom!
Shrapnel flew in all directions, shattering the barrier Seo-un had hastily deployed. However, that was the limit of modern weaponry. Seeing the shrapnel fall harmlessly, Seo-un carefully set down the boy and resumed the chase.
‘Damn it!’
Honestly, if it hadn't been a child, Seo-un wouldn't have bothered catching them. Since he had caught the first person, it was obvious the bastard would keep using the same trick to slow him down.
Seo-un’s prediction was spot on. Andrei headed for the city center, where tourists were plentiful. Seo-un intentionally maintained a certain distance to give Andrei space, which stopped the man from recklessly throwing people behind him.
Whiz! Smash!
Just then, a flying dagger struck Andrei’s back, shattering his barrier in one go.
Whiz!
As more daggers began to whistle through the air, Andrei frantically twisted his body and unleashed a barrage of magic behind him. They were only low-level spells like Fireball, but in broad daylight, the sight of flames and explosions naturally drew the attention of every civilian.
Pop!
Seo-un’s face twisted in annoyance as he dispersed a Fireball with his fist. Before he knew it, dozens of helicopters equipped with cameras were hovering over the city. Sirens wailed as evacuation orders were broadcast, and armed troops began to cordon off the area.
Despite this, many civilians in St. Isaac's Square hadn't been able to evacuate yet. They stood frozen in terror, watching a spectacle they couldn't have seen even if they’d paid for it. The sight of magic exploding and the head of the Statue of Emperor Nikolai being sliced off was pure horror.
Andrei, fleeing desperately, ducked into the crowded square the moment a flying dagger grazed his Achilles tendon. He desperately hoped for government reinforcements to arrive and shield him.
— Don’t use magic for anything except defense! Seo-un commanded via Voice Transmission.
— I know!
Even without the warning, Gi-chan knew better than to use magic recklessly in a crowd.
After a period of attrition, Andrei was finally cornered. He lunged toward a group of young students trembling in a corner, shielded by several female teachers. A desperate Seo-un unleashed a flurry of flying daggers.
Thud! Thud!
Rather than wasting time blocking them, Andrei took the hits and landed beside the children. He spat blood and twisted his lips into a smirk.
“Kyaaaaah!” The teachers screamed.
Rip!
“Shut up!” Andrei ripped the daggers from his chest and shoulder. As a ball of crimson flame formed in his hand, Seo-un could no longer move. “I’m not dying alone.”
Seo-un couldn't understand the words, but the man’s actions made his intentions clear.
— Do you have a shot?
Gi-chan, who had moved out of Andrei’s line of sight, replied: — I have a shot, but since he knows magic, he might sense the mana fluctuation and throw that Fireball immediately.
— I’ll try to distract him. Don’t mess up. They’re just kids.
— Got it!
Seo-un raised both hands, twisted his lips, and pulled out his phone to use the translation app.
— Aren’t you curious if your brothers are alive?
“I already know they’re dead,” Andrei said firmly.
— Still, shouldn't you recover the bodies? If you leave them, they’ll just become food for wild animals.
“We never lived thinking we’d have a graceful death. We were prepared for this.”
— Is that so? I was going to give you these, at least.
The moment the translation finished, Seo-un pulled two heads from his subspace and threw them toward Andrei. Even the man who hadn't wavered for a second couldn't help but look away as his brothers' heads rolled across the square.
The moment rage and sorrow tangled in Andrei’s eyes, Seo-un sent a Voice Transmission.
— Now!
Cr-crack-crackle!
“Aaaargh!”
A bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking the man directly on the crown of his head. As the electrocuted man screamed and tried to hurl the flames at the children, Seo-un’s hand swept across his throat.
Thud.
“Kyaaaaaah!” The teachers screamed frantically, trying to shield the children’s eyes.
At that moment, gunfire erupted from all directions along with warnings to surrender. Seo-un didn't even blink. He hung the three brothers' heads on the equestrian statue in the square.
— Let’s get out of here.
— Yes!
He could feel the presence of Ability Users closing in from all sides, but they weren't enough to catch them. By the time they slipped away and returned to their lodging, not just Russia, but the entire world was in an uproar.
In their hotel, they turned on the TV to see the Russian President delivering an emergency statement.
“...This incident is a clear act of provocative terrorism by foreign Ability Users against our nation... The three individuals murdered were our own Ability Users and innocent citizens...”
“Basically, he’s threatening to track us down to the end of the earth,” Karina translated.
The two men nodded.
“Let them try,” Seo-un said casually, leaning back on the sofa and sipping a beer.
Karina watched him for a moment. “Calling them ‘innocent citizens’... that’s going to get them a lot of flak. Everyone knows they were the government’s assassins. The nerve.”
“The job’s done, so let’s head back soon,” Gi-chan said.
Seo-un nodded. “Yeah. I’m starting to crave kimchi stew.”
Karina looked at them in disbelief. “If you leave the country now, you’ll obviously be suspected.”
“Let them suspect. Tell them to arrest us if they have proof.”
The moment he finished speaking, two people entered the room. It was Seo-un and Gi-chan. As soon as the two identical doubles entered, they smirked and vanished with a poof!
“We’ve been moving through public areas with plenty of CCTV, so our alibi is solid. Let’s go.”
Karina nodded blankly, stunned that Seo-un had arranged even that. “Right... L-let’s go.”
As they reached the airport to board their private jet, men in black suits blocked their path.
“As you know, there has been a terrorist attack. Because it involved the murder of innocent Russian citizens, foreign Ability Users are barred from leaving until the investigation is complete.” The man speaking glared at Seo-un.
“Translate this for me: ‘My alibi is solid. Get lost, I’m busy.’”
“No need for a translator. I speak Korean well enough.” The man’s face contorted. “The fact that you’re here means you’ve been watching us. You should know better than anyone, then? I don’t recall committing any terrorism. I was just doing some sightseeing.”
“We’ll find out once we investigate.”
Karina stepped forward. “We are under no obligation to be investigated by Russian authorities.”
The man pushed aside her ID. “Given the situation, we must conduct an investigation.”
There were twelve of them, clearly Ability Users around the level of Blue or White Swords. They looked formidable, but they were no match for Seo-un.
“Hey. If words won’t work, I’ll have to force my way through. Like she said, you have no authority to detain us. And from what I saw, the terrorism was committed by those ‘innocent citizens’ of yours. Taking hostages, threatening civilians... Shouldn't you be giving an award to the foreigners who protected your people?”
The man’s face reddened. “Footage of the scene hasn't been broadcast yet. How do you know that?”
“Oops. Maybe I saw it in a dream?”
At Seo-un’s blatant mockery, a powerful pressure erupted from the man. In that instant, Seo-un’s eyes changed, filled with a chilling madness.
Whoosh!
With an illusory sound, the twelve men found themselves unable to move a muscle. Seo-un walked through the group as if taking a light stroll. The moment he stepped past them, all twelve men coughed up blood and collapsed.
“Gah...!”
“This counts as self-defense, right?” Seo-un asked.
Karina nodded. “Yes. They tried to lay hands on us when they had no right to detain us. Sweden will handle the aftermath. Please, get on the plane.”
The man, unable to stop them, glared at their retreating backs. “This humiliation! I will remember this! If you think Russia will just sit back and—”
The man couldn't finish as Seo-un suddenly turned around and walked back toward him.
“I don’t care if you remember. I hung those bastards' heads there specifically so you would remember. But sitting back would be the best thing for your country. Because the next time I set foot here, I’ll come as a real terrorist. I promise I’ll make your government non-functional then. Make sure you tell the people at the top.”
Seo-un whispered the words into the man’s ear so that no one else could hear.
“The next ones I target will be the President and the members of Parliament who run this country.”
Having used Silence to say exactly what he wanted, Seo-un walked away with a light step. Only after the private jet had disappeared into the sky did the man finally stand up, his face pale with terror.