Chapter 63

Chapter 63 – A Tough Relationship(2)

“H-how?!”

Her most powerful magic had turned into an ice maker.

The woman’s eyes looked like they might pop out as she stared at the unbelievable reality.

“What do you mean? Back then, I just let myself die on purpose.”

“Damn it! Everyone attack!”

At the woman’s signal, enemies who had been hiding revealed themselves.

Magic power boiled up from all directions, and soon a magical spectacle unfolded across the dawn sky.

-Boom!

As more than ten spells exploded where Kang Hyeon had been standing, light burst with a thunderous roar.

“He’s like a cockroach! Don’t stop, keep attacking!”

“Isn’t cockroach a bit harsh?”

“...!”

The woman quickly moved away from the voice suddenly right next to her.

‘Oh no, he’s fast!’

However, Kang Hyeon’s movements far exceeded the woman’s expectations. Even though she moved as soon as she heard his voice, her arm was still caught.

“Magic Explosion.”

-Bang!

“Kyaaaa!”

Kang Hyeon used Magic Explosion while holding onto the woman’s arm.

The explosion at point-blank range blew off the woman’s arm along with her armor, sending it flying through the air.

“Lady Yuri!”

“Damn it! Don’t stop attacking!”

The subordinates around were shocked, but only for a moment.

She might be their superior, but they would abandon her if necessary.

That’s how they had been trained.

“Burning flames of...”

A huge mace flew into the head of the man chanting a spell.

-Splat!

The man’s head burst like a watermelon upon impact with the mace. The fragments thoroughly soaked his nearby comrade.

“Huh...?”

The man who was suddenly covered in his comrade’s blood and brain matter froze in place.

“This is more like it! Kuhahaha!”

“What in the...”

The man also didn’t finish his sentence before joining his comrade.

The last thing he saw before dying was the hideous mace covered in various internal organs.

“An Yu-seong! Don’t kill them all! Capture them alive if possible!”

“I’ll try my best!”

“That crazy bastard...”

After that, the enemies continued to be helplessly defeated.

They were certainly among the stronger ability users, but they were no match for Kang Hyeon and An Yu-seong.

“Everyone, retreat!”

Finally, unable to hold out, the enemies fell back.

“This won’t do. Everyone, take the new drug.”

Another man who seemed to be a superior gave the order.

“What are you doing? Take it now!”

“...”

But the men hesitated, avoiding eye contact.

“That’s right. You shouldn’t take drugs like that. So hand them over while I’m asking nicely.”

“Take it now!”

As Kang Hyeon rushed forward, a shout erupted, and the hesitating men finally took out blue pills and put them in their mouths.

-Crunch, crunch, gulp!

The pills were instantly crushed and swallowed, reaching their stomachs.

“Kuaaaaa!”

At the same time, magic power began to boil up throughout their bodies.

“What’s this? Why are they suddenly like that?”

“Brother, at times like this, it’s best to just watch.”

“Why?”

“So the enemies can get stronger, of course.”

“You crazy fool! Move now!”

Kang Hyeon had no intention of stupidly watching the enemies get stronger.

“Uaah!”

With a shout, his sword swung, cutting off the enemies’ heads.

One, two, three.

The enemy heads fell quickly, and as Kang Hyeon swung his sword towards the fourth enemy, it happened.

-Clang

An enemy who had come to his senses caught Kang Hyeon’s sword with his bare hand.

“Grrrr...”

“What are you gonna do after catching it, you bastard!”

Kang Hyeon let go of the sword without hesitation and immediately grabbed the enemy’s face with both hands.

“Magic Explosion!”

Magic spheres generated in both of Kang Hyeon’s hands exploded simultaneously.

-Boom!

“Ugh, this was supposed to be a last resort.”

When used at close range, Magic Explosion also damages the user.

Kang Hyeon frowned at the impact that penetrated his B-grade armor.

“Kyaaa!”

Four comrades died in an instant.

The panicked enemies rushed in from all directions.

“Why are they so fast?!”

These enemies were different from those who had transformed due to drug side effects before.

If those previous ones had transformed into monsters with greatly increased physical abilities, these had become monsters themselves.

-Clang, clang, clang!

Their hands and feet were completely beyond human.

Every time Kang Hyeon’s sword clashed with the enemies’ flesh, the sword rang out.

“Hey! What are you do... Kuhek!”

Kang Hyeon, who was calling for An Yu-seong, was sent flying by a hand as big as a hammer.

Flying through the air, what Kang Hyeon saw was An Yu-seong going berserk while surrounded by numerous enemies.

“Kuhahaha! This is it! Yeah!”

Kang Hyeon had already allowed several attacks, but An Yu-seong was ravaging the enemies without taking a single hit.

Although An Yu-seong’s attacks lacked power due to his insufficient strength, he was clearly overwhelming the enemies.

“Damn... This feels oddly unfair.”

More precisely, his pride was hurt.

-Swoosh!

Two Magic Arrows flew through the dust cloud.

“Hup!”

The two Magic Arrows flying through the dust cloud were visible.

‘If I’m hit, it’s over!‘

It was a technique with an ominous power.

Jeong Seon-gu focused all his attention.

His sense of time slowed down, and the trajectory of the arrows became clearly visible.

‘First, one arrow.’

He bent his back backwards to avoid the arrow flying towards his head.

‘The other arrow!’

Another arrow narrowly grazed his side.

‘Phew...’

As Jeong Seon-gu let out a sigh of relief, he saw Shin Seong-a running towards him.

‘Hmph. She must be out of magic. Now you’re finished.’

His waist, which he had forcibly twisted to avoid the arrows, slowly returned to its normal position.

In his slowed sense of time, she was still far away.

‘Just a little more...’

The moment he regained his balance. He would dash forward like lightning and pierce that white neck, staining it with blood.

‘What’s that?’

Then he saw her throw something as she was running.

‘A glass bottle?’

It didn’t matter what it was.

Even if an arrow came flying, he was confident he could settle into position and deflect it in that time.

‘Hmph, useless struggle...’

-Crash!

“Get rid of it!”

Finally, his slowed sense of time returned, and Jeong Seon-gu, having regained his balance, quickly struck away the glass bottle flying towards him.

“What is this?!”

As the glass bottle shattered, the unpleasant green liquid inside covered Jeong Seon-gu’s face.

“Huh...? Aaaaargh!”

And then Jeong Seon-gu’s face, covered in the liquid, began to melt.

The liquid was part of the poison that Kang Hyeon had received from Shin Tae-gil.

-Just in case, you should keep some too.

-Understood.

Shin Seong-a thought she didn’t need poison, but she kept it because Kang Hyeon gave it to her.

That poison saved her from crisis at a crucial moment.

“What is this?! Aaaah!”

Jeong Seon-gu screamed madly while grabbing his melting face.

Shin Seong-a approached his side and whispered in his ear.

“I still have one bottle left.”

“What?!”

Shin Seong-a raised another glass bottle.

-Crash!

Kang Hyeon had given her two bottles of poison.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Now your face looks a bit better. Yeah.”

Generally, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid dissolve skin immediately upon contact.

However, for ability users with much stronger skin than normal people, they were actually not very effective as weapons.

“Urrrgh...”

But whatever was mixed in the drug that Shin Tae-gil handed over, it had such strong acidity that even Kang Hyeon’s skin would crumble in an instant.

“I’ll kill you. Kill! I’ll kill you!”

Finally, Jeong Seon-gu raised his head, and his face was completely crumbled.

With his skin peeled off and muscles exposed, he glared at Shin Seong-a with murderous intent.

However, what entered his eyes were two arrows flying at high speed.

“Aaaaargh!!!”

Jeong Seon-gu, with arrows stuck in both eyes, let out a chilling, desperate scream.

“You look much better now than before. Kind of cute in a way.”

***

Ippotranslation

***

The officials who appeared to clean up the scene.

Shin Tae-gil, who was leading them, was furious.

“Mr. Kang Hyeon. What are we going to do?!”

“I had no choice! Can’t you see my condition?!”

It was a fierce battle that even partially destroyed Ronald’s armor after a long time.

Although it was a B-grade armor with self-repair function, the armor that rarely broke in the first place was completely in tatters.

“You should have kept at least one of them alive, shouldn’t you?”

“How could I keep them alive when these guys took some weird drug and went berserk? I barely survived myself!”

“Sigh...”

At this rate, the plan to catch the enemy’s tail had completely failed.

It might even drive them further into hiding, creating a sense of crisis.

“Mr. Kang Hyeon.”

Then a familiar voice was heard.

“Where have you been... What’s that?”

Shin Seong-a was walking over, looking quite haggard. She was dragging a man on the ground.

“Urp, urp!”

“Blegh!”

The employees who saw the man Shin Seong-a was dragging retched.

Even for them, who had seen numerous corpses, the man’s condition was disgusting enough to induce vomiting.

“He’s one of them. Probably someone in quite a high position.”

“Ah... I see. Good job.”

“Thank you.”

Kang Hyeon, who responded with a sour expression, continued speaking.

“But you know.”

“Yes.”

“Is that thing... Alive?”

Kang Hyeon asked with an uneasy face, looking at the man whose skin had melted, exposing facial muscles, with arrows stuck in both eyes.

“He’s still breathing, so don’t worry.”

“...”

Kang Hyeon silently nodded at Shin Seong-a’s words.

‘How can I not worry seeing that...’

Somehow, Kang Hyeon was starting to feel a bit afraid of Shin Seong-a.