Chapter 21: Abyss City 1.0 (4)

Rohan’s Status Window was useful.

It gave him a real sense that he wasn’t quite dead yet and showed any negative status effects affecting in real-time.

So the bleeding isn’t severe.

His mind remained clear and sharp. His body was also warm, maintaining its temperature.

It wasn’t at an extent where he needed to force a stop to the bleeding or cut off the flow.

With his Consciousness and body still riding the momentum of the fight, it was the ideal time to go and kill the boss.

Let’s go.

Rohan grabbed his hammer and pistol.

The knife he had been using for a short time had already broken in the process of dealing with multiple opponents at the factory.

Perhaps it was a fitting end for a cheap knife. Unable to withstand the force of stabbing and twisting, the handle shattered while lodged in some guy’s stomach.

And as Rohan followed the scent of paint carried by the wind, he found him.

Tssss! Tsssss!

A man with a closely cropped head, wearing a plastic mask, was spraying graffiti on a wall.

He was about 190cm tall, and perhaps due to the thick jacket, his physique seemed rather bulky.

His neck was thick, reminiscent of a quadrupedal animal.

Ku Shaduri.

As Rohan recalled, seeing him up close caused the past memories to resurface vividly.

And then, a short conversation followed.

“I had a particularly good feeling today. I can’t interrupt my work on days like these.”

“Is that so?”

Rohan pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang!

The muzzle flashed, spitting fire.

A bullet was aimed precisely at the head. Shaduri’s head snapped back and then returned.

“Hey, that hurts! Why are you doing this?”

“….”

Failing to penetrate his head, the bullet fell to the ground with a soft metallic clang.

A red wound, where the bullet grazed him, was visible on Shaduri’s forehead.

Firing continuously won’t be of any help for now.

In that case, it was confirmed that he could only use the pistol for suppression.

If he felt the need to free his hands, he could just discard the weapon.

“Tell me. Why did you do this?”

“You’ve lived your whole life sucking the blood out of others, and now you’re curious about the reason when you’re about to be killed. Does that make any sense?”

As Rohan openly showed his disbelief at Shaduri’s hypocrisy, he saw the knuckles on Shaduri’s fist clench with a crack.

“Hoken’s the one who sent you, right? He’s always been jealous of my art, so it’s obvious.”

“Sigh…”

“Oh! Poor, pathetic Hoken. Every time he perceived his lack of talent, he must have felt so envious and hateful of me.”

As Shaduri began to get riled up, building up misunderstandings through his self-monologue, Rohan aimed the gun once more.

Knowing that aiming at ordinary areas was useless, this time he aimed for the eye.

Bang!

As if reading Rohan’s intentions just from the aim, Shaduri dodged it like a ghost.

Then, as if he was sure of something, he smirked.

“Judging by your reaction, it seems it was indeed Hoken who sent you. Right?”

“Oh shut up. While I like talkative women, I hate talkative men.”

“You… Your actions and words don’t match your childish face. It’s pretty amusing.”

Crack.

Shaduri cracked his neck and quickly closed the distance between him and Rohan.

“….”

And the moment Shaduri’s body came within range, Rohan swung his hammer.

Shaduri threw a punch at the same time.

Their fierce movements clashed.

Clang! Kang! Clang! Kagagak!

Small sparks and noise flashed under the night sky.

While dodging the punches, Rohan could clearly feel a difference in strength when compared to the Yard-Pound Brothers.

The impact alone was enough to cause shallow wounds to open up.

Moreover, he wasn’t using his legs awkwardly; his punches were short and sharp.

He was a trained one, in his own way.

I’m outmatched physically. But this much is…

Rohan felt the hammer bounce off Shaduri’s knuckles with every swing, and his palms stung.

This time, he aimed the pistol at Shaduri’s groin and pulled the trigger.

“!”

As a chilling sensation ran down his spine, Shaduri twisted his body desperately.

Bang! Bang!

The bullets hit Shaduri’s thighs and fell.

Without giving him a moment to catch his breath, the hammering continued.

Shaduri let out a hollow laugh and stepped back as the hammer aiming to crush his head came swinging down.

“… At least show a little respect. Your methods are too crude.”

“You’re pretending to be an artist and a madman, yet you’re afraid of having your balls busted?”

Rohan smirked.

Shaduri ran his hand over his bristly hair to compose himself.

“…I don’t think your paintings would be very vibrant.”

“I’m not really interested in painting.”

“How cold. You’re a brat I don’t like, from head to toe.”

Through that brief exchange, Shaduri became certain.

That youthful appearance must be a disguise. He’s a scary one.

Otherwise, it didn’t make sense. He couldn’t accept it.

To Shaduri, those movements looked too sharp to have come from simple professional training.

It was something built from piles of bloody experience, simply a terrifying kind.

I need to finish this quickly.

Sensing the man’s approach, he had taken the drug in advance, so the effects were definitely kicking in.

Thanks to that, he had the upper hand in physical ability.

However, he still couldn’t gain the overall upper hand and find an opportunity to land a decisive blow. The man kept dodging his fists like a rat.

If the drug wears off before this ends…

A lapse in concentration.

Sensing that particular atmosphere in Shaduri’s gaze, Rohan charged forward.

Crack!

The hammer slammed into the forearm that Shaduri had hurriedly raised to protect his head.

“Tch!”

Then, as he saw Rohan’s gun move fluidly, Shaduri channeled Mana into his fist and released a fierce punch.

Hit directly by the knuckle, the pistol shattered with a crunch and scattered into the air.

However, Shaduri couldn’t rejoice on having gotten rid of the bothersome weapon as he had seen Rohan release the pistol mid-swing.

Thud.

Rohan’s now free hand grabbed hold of Shaduri’s arm, as if to warn him to not escape, and raised the hammer dramatically.

As Shaduri’s attention was naturally drawn to the weapon, attempting to counterattack,

“!?”

Shaduri was startled and pulled back, feeling a strange sensation from the hand Rohan was touching.

Instead of pursuing, Rohan simply nodded with satisfaction.

“Hmm, as expected.”

“You… You did something.”

The remnants of Rohan’s Mana. Shaduri forced a smile and rubbed his forearm.

The sensation flowing through his skin was indescribably strange.

That’s confirmed.

The suspicion Rohan felt while using his Skill in the chaotic fight against Shaduri’s subordinates was cleared.

He was now certain.

The Mana consumption for Weakness Induction varies depending on the opponent’s skill.

In addition, past a certain level, the target would start to sense the abnormality caused by the Skill.

And as was often the case with vague explanations, there were elements like this that could only be grasped through experience.

“You seem to have a pretty good Skill, huh, you cheater?”

“Enough.”

“….”

“Don’t even think about talking.”

As Rohan cut him off and stepped forward, Shaduri leaned forward and took an aggressive stance.

He seemed to have scraped the bottom of his Mana reserves, as his presence was more intense than before.

A tackle?

It wasn’t a bad strategy. He was big and had the upper hand in physical ability, so he’d want to grab him.

Shaduri’s thoughts were as clear as day.

Having been hit in the arm earlier, he would have braced himself for a direct hit.

However,

One hit with the hammer and he would understand.

What kind of change had occurred in his body.

“Hah!”

Shaduri kicked the ground like a bull with a thud and threw himself forward.

A tackle flying straight at him.

There was the variable of shifting the timing with deceleration or acceleration.

Despite this, Rohan didn’t think too hard and swung the hammer down like he was playing whack-a-mole.

“….”

The Princess, having arrived near the meeting point, was hiding out of habit.

Glancing at the watch on her communication device, she saw that the appointed time had just passed.

What should she do in this situation? Should she just return?

It was difficult to make a decision readily.

And she didn’t want to radio the Elders either.

Let’s wait 10 more minutes.

Making her final decision, the Princess leaned against the wall and sat down.

And just like that, how long had she sat there, staring blankly at the starlit night sky?

The 10 minutes she had promised herself had definitely passed.

Step. Step. Step.

She could hear footsteps from afar getting closer.

The Princess, still sitting, took out a small mirror and cautiously checked outside.

Is he the VIP the Elders mentioned?

She could see one man and he didn’t appear to be just passing by.

And in the first place, this wasn’t a place where one would just pass by anyway.

Come to think of it, didn’t the Elders say ‘guests,’ plural…？

She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure. Her memory had become hazy as of lately.

Having lost her certainty, the Princess decided to observe the person for a while.

He didn’t give off the same delinquent vibe as the people the Elders had summoned last time.

He also looked to be around her age.

Despite that, the unusually intense atmosphere made the Princess hesitate as she observed his actions.

The man stood in place, fiddling with his Smartphone.

Then, as if searching for someone, he looked around.

“…”

Observing this quietly, the Princess gathered her prepared equipment, stood up, and made her presence known.