Chapter 73: vs. Yang Junggeun and the Aces

Episode 73

Yang Junggeun’s plan was simple and clear.

Using Pung Bitgaram, he intended to lure out and eliminate the isolated thieves who had lost communication with each other.

And now, Pung Bitgaram was pretending to assist one of the thieves to lure them in.

“Sure enough, being alone all this time and then meeting another thief makes him easy to deceive.”

Yang Junggeun muttered with a smirk.

The thieves, currently unable to communicate with each other, were struggling to survive 24 hours alone. They were particularly anxious because they had lost contact with Kim Jin-Sung, who had been giving them operational instructions. So, it was only natural that they would fall for Pung Bitgaram’s persuasion and follow him.

“They’re 100 meters away.”

As the thieves finally appeared at the edge of his radar range, Lee Deokgu informed Yang Junggeun.

“Not yet. Let them come a bit closer….”

Yang Junggeun answered almost to himself, waiting for the right moment to close in. Lee Deokgu recalled the message from Kim Jin-Sung from a while ago.

– We plan to use Pung Bitgaram and that thief to capture Yang Junggeun.

‘Using the same thief as bait….’

It seemed like a wise decision. From Kim Jin-Sung’s perspective, losing one thief wouldn’t be a significant loss.

After a while, Pung Bitgaram and the following thief were within 50 meters, close enough to be seen by Yang Junggeun and his team of seekers. Yang Junggeun gave a command through his smartphone earpiece.

“Now! Start!”

Upon hearing the command, Pung Bitgaram transformed into smoke. The smoke quickly spread, enveloping a large area around the thief, creating a ‘Smoke Magic Circle’ that completely obstructed visibility.

“What… what’s going on?”

The following thief looked around in panic, but Pung Bitgaram responded with a lightning attack without answering.

Boom!

“Argh…!”

The thief screamed and trembled, but didn’t just stand there and take it. He immediately used his unique skill.

“…!”

Pung Bitgaram, in his smoke form, was startled. The smoke around the thief suddenly vanished, and the thief was seen running at full speed out of the affected area. It was clear that the ‘Smoke Magic Circle’ had been completely dispelled.

‘How did he nullify the magic circle and the electric shock… Ah!’

Pung Bitgaram realized something.

‘That guy has a dispel ability!’

A skill that nullifies all magic cast on him, dispel. It explained how he escaped the magic circle and the electric shock in an instant. Pung Bitgaram shouted loudly.

“He’s escaping to the right!”

“I know, idiot!”

Yang Junggeun’s voice was heard nearby. Looking around, Pung Bitgaram saw that the seekers had already surrounded him and the fleeing thief. They had moved quickly while Pung Bitgaram was deploying the ‘Smoke Magic Circle’.

“Huff…!”

Seeing the considerable number of seekers, the thief panicked and tried to escape toward the beach where the encirclement was thinner, but it was already too late.

Zing!

“Argh!”

A laser pierced the thief’s thigh, causing him to scream and fall to the ground. The attack came from Hwang Bokyung, one of the ace members of the seeker team.

“Good job! Now everyone, get ready to unleash your skills simultaneously!”

At Yang Junggeun’s command, the seekers prepared to use their skills on the fallen thief.

“Three, two, one, fire!”

At Yang Junggeun’s shout, the seekers unleashed their skills simultaneously on the fallen thief. The sight of dozens of skills converging on a single spot was truly spectacular. The impact created a series of thunderous sounds.

After a while, the smoke from the aftermath of the skills began to clear, revealing the gruesome sight of the thief’s corpse sprawled on the ground.

“Alright! Now, let’s see who passed the preliminaries!”

As the seekers, following Yang Junggeun’s words, looked expectantly toward the fortress where the announcement would come, Yang Junggeun suddenly sensed danger.

‘…What?’

His gaze instinctively shifted to his feet. A massive circular black hole was forming. Recognizing it, Yang Junggeun widened his eyes.

‘It’s a warp hole!’

Yang Junggeun shouted and leaped to the side.

“It’s Kim Jin-Sung!! Everyone, get away!!”

The seekers reflexively jumped away from the area. Almost simultaneously, a large warp hole formed where Yang Junggeun had been standing. The warp hole swallowed the corpse of the thief that had been left alone and disappeared.

The seekers broke into a cold sweat at the sight. But that was all.

“Whew…!”

“That was close.”

“Did everyone escape? Incredible!”

Luckily, none of the seekers were caught in the warp hole. As they were relieved, they heard a hum from one side, a sound associated with the dispersion of mana.

It was where Yang Junggeun had landed.

“Huh?!”

“What’s happening?!”

A black mana cloud, which had formed without them noticing, was enveloping Yang Junggeun and several seekers. The seekers inside the cloud tried to escape, but it was too late. Yang Junggeun and the seekers within the black mana cloud vanished in an instant.

“Huff…!”

“Where did they go?”

“It looks like a teleportation skill.”

“Is this Kim Jin-Sung’s doing too…?”

The seekers expressed their confusion and shock. Lee Deokgu, with a look of horror, stared blankly at the spot where Yang Junggeun had disappeared.

‘The moment the Eye of Surveillance touched the ground, the mana cloud appeared!’

Using his radar skill, Lee Deokgu had witnessed everything. The Eye of Surveillance had fallen toward Yang Junggeun as he avoided the warp hole. The mana cloud had formed at the same time, resulting in what everyone saw.

‘Was the Eye of Surveillance always this fast? And how can it be used to teleport…?’

Having seen the process in detail, Lee Deokgu couldn’t understand what had happened. He was sure he saw the mana cloud originate from the Eye of Surveillance.

‘I swear, Kim Jin-Sung… who is this man…?’

Fear of Kim Jin-Sung began to grow in Lee Deokgu’s heart.

—

### “You seem surprised.”

Kim Jin-Sung’s voice echoed softly in the basement’s fourth floor.

Around Kim Jin-Sung, who stood calmly, were numerous summoned Quagmire creatures that he had prepared in advance.

And…

“Ugh…!”

“Damn it…!”

Yang Junggeun and five other seekers, gritting their teeth and surrounded by the summoned creatures, faced Kim Jin-Sung with tense expressions.

‘To be honest, I was surprised too. I didn’t expect that I could fuse a skill that had already been fused once.’

In front of Kim Jin-Sung, a skill fusion notification window appeared.

—

▶ The skill ‘Mana Hawk – Teleport Skill Equipped’ and ‘Eye of Surveillance’ have been fused.

– The flight speed of the ‘Eye of Surveillance’ summon increases significantly.

– The ‘Teleport’ skill can now only be used while the ‘Eye of Surveillance’ is active.

– When using the ‘Teleport’ skill, all creatures within a wide range around the ‘Eye of Surveillance’ summon are instantly teleported to a designated location.

– It is also possible to teleport from the designated location to where the ‘Eye of Surveillance’ was.

– The ‘Eye of Surveillance’ summon vanishes immediately after using the ‘Teleport’ skill.

– The maximum teleportation distance is 40 meters.

▶ The skill ‘Mana Hawk – Teleport Skill Equipped’ has vanished.

▶ 5,000 Beast Karma points were used as the cost for the skill fusion.

—

Kim Jin-Sung had fused the upgraded ‘Mana Hawk’ skill, previously combined with teleportation, with the ‘Eye of Surveillance’ skill. This allowed the ‘Eye of Surveillance’ to retain the benefits of the upgraded ‘Mana Hawk’ skill and use the teleportation skill. The original upgraded Mana Hawk skill was consumed in the process.

‘If this kind of continuous fusion of existing fusion skills is possible, theoretically, it can be upgraded indefinitely.’

The newly upgraded ‘Eye of Surveillance’ had significantly enhanced capabilities. The maximum distance increased to 40 meters, and with the ‘Demon Physique’ trait, it extended up to 80 meters. This made it possible to transport Yang Junggeun and the others to the deep basement fourth floor easily.

“Calling for reinforcements, huh? Now you have to fight with just four others.”

“Ugh…!”

Yang Junggeun gritted his teeth at Kim Jin-Sung’s taunt, unable to retort. He then pressed the microphone button on his smartphone earpiece and shouted loudly.

“All seekers, quickly descend through the underground passage!! Kim Jin-Sung is here!!”

Yang Junggeun’s urgent cry seemed almost desperate.

“Tell the hunting and defense teams to come down the sewers!! Now!!”

—

“What? Even the defense team?”

“All the people in the fortress? …Hello?”

Several seekers questioned the situation, but no further voices came through the earpiece.

“Uh…”

“What should we do…?”

The seekers looked at each other, unsure. With Yang Junggeun, who made all the decisions, gone, confusion set in quickly.

Then, they heard a cautious voice.

“Um, then….”

Everyone turned to look at Lee Deokgu.

“Let’s move to the underground passage for now. We can help Junggeun, and there might be other thieves hiding besides Kim Jin-Sung.”

The seekers glanced at each other again, then nodded, seeing no better option.

“Alright, let’s go quickly.”

Lee Deokgu turned and began moving swiftly towards the underground passage he had memorized. Over a hundred seekers naturally followed him. Glancing back, Lee Deokgu bit his lip, overwhelmed with emotion.

‘I’ve finally reclaimed the leader position!’

Though branded as a ‘failure’ by Yang Junggeun, Lee Deokgu had been the only other person to lead in this round besides Yang Junggeun. There was always a chance someone unexpected might try to take the leader role, but Kim Jin-Sung had predicted this wouldn’t be an issue.

– Everyone saw you being disrespected by Yang Junggeun. Knowing how burdensome the leader role is, no one will readily step up.

In such a situation, if Lee Deokgu stepped up again, they would follow him. And they did.

‘After moving through the underground passage as Kim Jin-Sung directed….’

Just then, an announcement was heard from the fortress.

—

[The seekers have captured a thief. The seekers have secured 24 preliminary passers.]

—

Lee Deokgu turned his head towards the fortress.

‘Kim Jin-Sung said this announcement would have a significant impact on the subsequent operations.’

The seekers paused, listening attentively to the broadcast.

—

[We will now announce the seekers involved in the capture….]

—

The fortress speaker began announcing the confirmed preliminary passers.

—

“Even calling the defense team?”

Kim Jin-Sung smirked.

“Am I that intimidating, to call even the defense team from the fortress?”

“Shut up, you bastard!!”

Yang Junggeun shouted, his voice filled with rage.

“You made a mistake, you bastard. You may handle me alone, but with the four of us, we’ll tear you apart!”

“Oh… really?”

“You’ll regret teleporting all five of us together, you worthless piece of trash!”

Yang Junggeun’s eyes brimmed with murderous intent. Kim Jin-Sung, however, seemed more intrigued than intimidated.

“Then make me regret it.”

As Kim Jin-Sung finished speaking, the Quagmire summons moved. They lunged at Yang Junggeun and the others.

“Hyaah!”

With a shout, Yang Junggeun struck the ground with his palm, creating a subspace magic circle. The surroundings turned misty due to the magic circle’s effect.

“Fool! Didn’t you know that if I don’t want it, no one can enter this subspace?”

Yang Junggeun, smiling triumphantly, shouted. True to his words, none of the Quagmire summons, which should have attacked already, could enter the magic circle even after some time.

“Now, face the five of us alone in my territory!”

With Yang Junggeun’s shout, the seekers around him assumed attack stances against the lone Kim Jin-Sung.