CH 7

While jumping around looking for clues, she heightened her senses to explore the abnormal phenomena occurring around her.

But there was nothing that caught her attention.

“Uncle. Hurry!”

Baek Hwa-seon asked for an investigation into the woman who had contacted her. She wasn’t sure how useful it would be.

But it was better to have it than not, considering it might concern her safety.

Of course, there was a possibility that Crewell hadn’t shown up and the woman had returned safely, but investigating was an inevitable step.

Now that they had just started the investigation, they needed more time to pursue various things like monitoring cameras and library passes, but the urgency of the situation and her impatience were pressing her.

Bang!

Her heart raced as the gunshot echoed through the area.

“Crewell!”

Baek Hwa-seon’s eyes widened in recognition.

It was the same gunshot she had heard when she faced him in Europe. She didn’t think she was being overly sensitive and mistaking things.

There were no signs of a rift, but the fact that a gunshot had gone off in the vicinity was something that needed to be investigated.

Her silhouette followed a faint trail.

ΔΔΔ

The gunfire rang out, reminiscent of the roar of a fierce beast, and in the midst of that angry sound, Lim seon-hee crouched down, startled. Her legs, which had been barely holding her up, finally gave way.

“Mister…” she muttered, never once taking her eyes off Baron’s back.

A complex swirl of emotions, from despair and fear to worry, raged inside her two eyes as she stared at Baron.

It was the weapon of an awakened individual, possessing a more terrifying power than the firearms typically used. Naturally, there was no way to withstand that kind of terrifying firepower.

But what was going on?

“Oh… it hurts like hell.”

Isn’t it right that Baron should have fallen and collapsed, instead of tidying up his appearance as if nothing happened?

“Hey! You can’t use firearms in a fistfight. That’s not fair play.”

Crewell’s expression hardened at Baron’s complaints.

As Lim seon-hee had predicted, the Desert Eagle used earlier had destructive power far beyond its typical firepower. The user was a A-Rank ability user, and the firepower had been modified accordingly, making it a monster weapon for taking down large monsters.

Crewell’s eyes twitched slightly.

‘And you blocked that with your bare hands?’

What was even more surprising was the defense method.

‘Without any flow of force?’

Perhaps it was due to honing his ability as an observer to the extreme?

He was able to “see” the movement of force, which is known as a symbol of an ability user, with his eyes because of his highly trained ability as an observer.

Of course, it was not perfect observation, just examining the flow, but it was enough to be astonishing.

Even with the ability to observe at such a high level, it was still impossible to see how he had blocked the bullets a while ago, and there was no trace of the flow of hidden energy.

Even if he was an ability user in the physical enhancement category, there should have been some flow of force inside, but there was no trace of it.

There was nothing to see except that he had blocked it with his bare body.

“What are you…?”

He asked in surprise. Baron frowned for a moment before answering.

“Before shooting, you should…”

However, Crewell had already made his decision without listening to the whole answer.

‘Just need to check it out for myself.’

As he shifted his attention away the eyes of the observers which scattered everywhere to release the power were withdrawn, Desert Eagle roared again.

Tang! Tang! Tang…

Baron’s expression twisted.

“Damn it!”

He cursed and began to make wild gestures with both hands.

Tatatata…

A sound like roasting beans spread out, and small explosive impacts began to ripple out in all directions.

It seemed like the bullets were bouncing off.

Lim seon-hee was surprised and shrunk her shoulders, but surprisingly, none of the bullets flew towards her. This meant that he wasn’t just deflecting them sideways, but rather tanking them away.

“Tsk!”

Crewell frowned.

He had thought that the intruder, who had been focused only on blocking him would stand still, but he was closing in on him very quickly.

This meant that he had enough room to spare even while blocking the bullets, which made him even more wary of his opponent.

He was momentarily surprised by the speed at which the other approached, but he did not panic.

After all, he was also a high-level ability user known as an A-rank, and a skilled fighter with a wealth of experience.

Stepping back while changing the magazine and firing a shot, at the same time, Crewell pulled out a small bead from within his pocket and threw it.

Pwoof…

In an instant, Baron’s vision was obscured by what seemed to be a smoke grenade, yet despite this, he did not stop.

‘What is this?’

Crewell’s pupils widened in surprise.

Thanks to his observational skills, he was able to see through his opponent’s movements even amidst the smoke, and he was currently vividly confirming the intruder’s actions.

This made it all the more shocking when the opponent approached him without any hesitation.

At first glance, it appeared to be a normal smoke grenade, but since it was made by him, it could also cause sensory disturbances, yet it was not effective at all, which was quite shocking.

Bang! Bang!

Even as Baron chased after him, two more bullets were fired, but despite the shorter distance, Baron managed to deflect them and ultimately caught up to Crewell, forcing him to create some space between them.

“I don’t usually stick to guys like you.”

After blocking Baron’s fist that broke through the smoke, he immediately countered with a punch full of force.

Whack!

‘It hit just right!’

As the solid sensation was transmitted to him, he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

It was a clean hit.

Even a tough monster would’ve had its head blown off by that hit.

‘How did he…take it?’

But it wasn’t over yet.

Swish!

The fist that he had dodged was suddenly holding onto his back.

He was momentarily surprised, and his response was a little delayed, but he quickly caught up. His nimble arms moved to press and shake Baron’s elbows forwards and backwards.

‘Huh!’

But there was no recoil.

‘What kind of power is this…?’

Kwang!

Without warning, he was hit with a shockwave.

He had slammed him to the ground while still holding onto his back. His opponent’s attempt to push him away had only caused a greater impact to rebound towards him.

As he breathed in the thick scent of earth from the construction site, he realized one thing.

‘This is dangerous!’

Although he had not fully assessed his opponent’s abilities in this brief exchange, he knew that the situation was not in his favor.

First of all, regardless of anything else, the compatibility itself was not good.

The flow of force!

His fighting style involved reading the flow of force to catch his opponent off guard and launch a counterattack.

“I can’t read this guy.”

Leaving aside his skills and other things, the worst part is that he had to abandon his fighting style.

I can’t believe there’s someone who’s flow of the force I can’t read .

‘I should have changed my approach. Damn it!’

Dirt and dust blew into his lips as he muttered to himself.

“I should have dragged him into the dungeon.”

As someone who always introduced himself as a wizard, he referred to his hideout as a dungeon.

The construction site building visible behind him was his lair, a maze. Although the design was still lacking, he was confident that he could take down an S-Rank ability user inside.

‘Anyway, I have to make it there…’

His usual tactic for dealing with overwhelming enemies was to buy time by using traps or running away.

Did his opponent read that intention?

“Where do you think you’re running?”

The hand clenched into a fist moved to his nape, and a force expected to be above physically possible pressed his throat tightly.

“Kuhh…”

Crewell exerted all his strength to create a force, but the only conclusion was that it was impossible to resist with strength alone.

Tang!

Therefore, he pulled the trigger.

Pak!

He suspected from the sound he heard in his ear that, as expected, it was blocked.

‘I didn’t think it would work anyway.’

He had something else in mind. He felt the pressure on his nape weaken for a moment.

“This is it…”

Bang!

Crewell’s consciousness flew away with a dizzying pain. It was a gunshot fired towards Baron’s head, which he couldn’t see while lying on the ground. Nevertheless, the bullet was fired accurately towards his forehead.

Since he concluded that he could handle the firepower with his bare hands, he simply took the bullet to the forehead.

Although it temporarily relieved the pressure on Crewell neck, he immediately hit the back of Crewell’s head with his idle fist, ending the situation.

“Ah… my head hurts.”

Baron complained while rubbing the area on his forehead where the bullet had left its mark.

As he turned his head, he felt a hot gaze on him.

Sure enough.

“Mister… what on earth…?”

Lim seon-hee looked at him with a trembling gaze and gently opened her mouth. But the gaze that was burning into Baron’s back wasn’t aimed by her.

Beyond her,

He caught a glimpse of a flash of light through the torn barrier.

‘Baek Hwa-seon.’

For some reason, an annoying premonition swept over him.

ΔΔΔ

Crewell!

He was one of the high-level ability users who shook the world as an A-Rank hallucinator. Perhaps it was because of his unique ability as an observer, but Crewell, the A-Rank hallucinator who showed incredible power even in missions involving supernaturals, had fallen.

He lay on the ground with only the back of his head exposed, but there was no mistaking that he was Crewell from the clothes he was wearing. It was the combat uniform unique to Crewell, which was made from the body of a monster.

‘Who is he?’

Baek Hwa-seon’s gaze turned to the man. She could only glimpse through the crack in the distorted barrier, and since she had arrived at the end, she couldn’t accurately determine the situation.

The only scene she could see was that he seemed to have taken a bullet to the forehead.

At the same time, the final blow was struck. As she stared at the man’s back, trying to recall the only combat scene she had seen, he seemed to sense her gaze and turned to look at her, and their pupils met.

Suddenly, a faint smile appeared on the man’s lips.

“Huh?”

His image in her sight scattered like an afterimage.

“What!”

ΔΔΔ

I felt like covering my face, but I knew my clothes and my build wouldn’t let me hide my identity. Besides, time was of the essence.

That’s why I ended up just going for it.

Of course, there were other reasons. After all, I had no idea how to handle Lim seon-hee’s reaction after the situation ended. And there was also the matter of dealing with the aftermath of this mess.

That’s when I noticed a woman named Baek Hwa-seon beyond the barrier.

“Well, they’ve both been exposed to each other’s faces in the library before. I’m sure they can handle the rest.”

I’ll just pass this annoyance on to someone else.

With that conclusion in mind, Baron left Lim seon-hee in Baek Hwa-seon’s care and left the scene.

‘I have other things to do.’

Of course, that didn’t mean he was leaving the barrier.

‘There’s definitely something in there.’

I felt like covering my face, but I knew my clothes and my build wouldn’t let me hide my identity. Besides, time was of the essence.

That’s why I ended up just going for it.

Of course, there were other reasons. After all, I had no idea how to handle Im Sun-hee’s reaction after the situation ended. And there was also the matter of dealing with the aftermath of this mess.

That’s when I noticed a woman named Baek Hwa-sun beyond the barrier.

“Well, they’ve both been exposed to each other’s faces in the library before. I’m sure they can handle the rest.”

I’ll just pass this annoyance on to someone else.

With that conclusion in mind, Baron left Seon-hee in Hwa-sun’s care and left the scene.

“I have other things to do.”

Of course, that didn’t mean he was leaving the barrier.

“There’s definitely something in there.”

Crewell was looking towards the construction site building during his last moments. He just knew something was there.

“Even if it’s not there, I’d have checked it out anyway.”

His instincts as a seasoned mercenary were telling him to go in and look around.

“I hope it’s something worthwhile.”

And so, empty-handed, he went in and came out with both hands full.