Ch.140Chapter 140. Before Things Get Bigger (2)

Woooong-

The sound of space vibrating resonated more intensely than ever before, and simultaneously, my headache grew worse.

It felt like someone was forcibly squeezing my head tight.

I thought I had gotten used to it, but it was still difficult.

Woong-

“Ugh.”

As I witnessed the massive rock disappear with the spatial tremor, I closed my eyes.

The moment I closed my eyes, the throbbing headache vanished completely.

‘Somehow I managed to succeed this far.’

Though it was difficult, I felt proud at the same time.

Spatial Severance—my only technique that had worked against Satan.

Rather than simply teleporting something in my sight to another space, this technique sends it into the gap between spaces.

Making something remain in the gap between spaces, rather than simply moving it to another location, was much harder than I’d expected.

‘It’s quite effective, though.’

Sending something into the spatial gap might sound simple in words, but in reality, it wasn’t.

Back when I wasn’t completely familiar with teleportation, I too had been trapped in the spatial gap for a brief moment.

The feeling I experienced then was difficult to explain.

It was like existing yet not existing at the same time.

It lasted only a few seconds, but I could feel my very existence being erased in real time.

A technique that literally makes something disappear from the world.

Satan must have sensed the danger of my technique instinctively, as he feared and avoided my Spatial Severance despite never having experienced it directly.

“Phew.”

I sat down for a moment, clutching my throbbing forehead.

Before properly fighting Satan, I had never trained this hard with Spatial Severance.

There was no need to use such a technique in everyday life.

Simple “teleportation” techniques were enough to defeat most powerful opponents.

But Satan was different.

He confronted me with remarkable flexibility, as if he already knew about my teleportation abilities.

Not only that, but he gradually pressured me as if he already knew how to counter me.

If I hadn’t actively used Spatial Severance in that battle, I would have been defeated.

‘It’s still too slow.’

While Spatial Severance might be more powerful than any other technique, its weaknesses were equally clear.

First, using it caused splitting headaches.

Even if I could somehow endure the pain, Spatial Severance took too long to activate.

No matter how much I tried to reduce the time, it still took 2 seconds.

During that time, I had to focus on one spot to sever that location.

Additionally, the range I could sever at once wasn’t large.

Though training was gradually expanding the applicable range, it was still insufficient.

In combat, 2 seconds is an incredibly long time.

There was no way Satan would stand still for 2 seconds watching me use my technique.

Unless I could somehow immobilize him or bind him beforehand.

“Sigh.”

Just as I was about to take a headache remedy that Yuria had given me, the communication device in my pocket began to ring.

‘What’s this?’

It wasn’t a signal from the communication device connected to the newly formed allied forces.

It was a signal from the device I used as “Ryu,” which hadn’t rung for a while.

During my recent hectic days, I had ignored all contacts coming to “Ryu’s” communication device.

Messages from people who knew Ryu—Elaine, Cynthia, Emily, Professor Amillion, and others.

I felt sorry, but I thought they would understand given the current situation.

“Hmm?”

For some reason, I had a feeling that I should answer this call from Cynthia.

There was no particular basis for it—just intuition.

A feeling that I would regret not answering this call.

“Cynthia?”

“Ryu? Is that really you?”

“Yeah. What’s going on…”

“Hey! Something terrible has happened! I told Professor Amillion and everyone else, but they all just said to wait, and I’m so frustrated!”

“Huh?”

The urgency in Cynthia’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in a long time, was immediately apparent.

As soon as I heard her voice, I could tell something was seriously wrong.

Cynthia had never spoken with such urgency and on the verge of tears before.

Even when Elaine was kidnapped by Kilvis in the O’Neil Kingdom, she wasn’t this distraught.

“It probably reached Lady Yuria too! I think Satan has done something to Elaine!”

“…What?”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard.

The combination of the words Satan and Elaine.

Just hearing them together made me feel uneasy, like something was terribly wrong.

“The Sinclair mansion has been destroyed and Elaine is gone! Only the word ‘Satan’ was left at the mansion!”

“What?”

I almost dropped my Black Shadow Sword.

What did I just hear?

**

“Then what about Lord Satan?”

“I’ll deal with that guy. Once he’s gone, the rest of the humans are nothing.”

Satan was speaking with a rather satisfied expression while sitting in a chair covered with soft wolf fur.

As he spoke, Satan glanced at the blonde girl lying with her limbs bound in one corner of the cave.

The unconscious girl, Elaine Sinclair.

The girl who had been with Ryuyeong, the leader of the Black Shadow Corps, and who was clearly Ryuyeong’s weakness.

That man named Ryuyeong, who used abilities similar to Crescen from long ago, would likely do anything to save this woman.

Even recklessly walking into a trap if told to come.

“Best to crush a sprout before it grows.”

Satan muttered with satisfaction as he turned his gaze away from Elaine.

It had been quite some time since he had brought that woman here, so the humans must have noticed by now.

Which meant the news would soon reach Ryuyeong.

‘I need to kill him for good this time.’

Until meeting Ryuyeong after his resurrection, Satan had no worries at all.

Even though his power was less than before and the quality of monsters had deteriorated, these were minor issues.

As long as there wasn’t a madman like Crescen from the old days, humans could gather all they wanted—it would be like eggs hitting a rock.

But when Satan learned there was a human named Ryuyeong who used the same techniques as Crescen, his mindset changed rapidly.

Although he was inferior compared to the old Crescen, he was someone who knew how to use “that technique.”

He couldn’t afford to waste time and give the guy any chance to grow stronger.

From that moment, unwanted old memories kept surfacing in Satan’s mind.

Memories of being helplessly defeated long ago.

The sensation of being overwhelmed by something that seemed impossible to overcome.

He never expected to keep recalling these bad memories even after returning to the world.

“While I deal with him separately, you lead the monsters and advance.”

“Yes, understood!”

Arte responded firmly to Satan’s words, gaining confidence.

After being completely defeated in the recent battle, Arte had been slightly intimidated.

She had lost to the humans despite leading monster troops enhanced with Satan’s power.

Although Arte could control tens of thousands of monsters, this actually worked against her in large-scale battles.

It was especially problematic when the battlefield was divided.

It was incredibly difficult to monitor and respond to three battlefields simultaneously with one mind.

Moreover, Arte didn’t trust the stupid monsters and had conditioned them to follow only her orders.

As a result, many monsters stood dumbfounded on the battlefield, waiting for Arte’s commands and were easily defeated.

If Arte hadn’t tried to control the situation perfectly and had instead given the monsters freedom to move on their own, the situation would have been much better.

“This time I will not fail!”

“Good, do your best.”

Satan responded halfheartedly to Arte’s loyal words while lost in thought.

Arte and the monster horde she controlled were merely meant to divert attention and intimidate the humans.

What really mattered was killing Ryuyeong.

With him gone, there would be no humans who could threaten Satan.

‘Where should I lure him to?’

Satan and Arte were each lost in their own thoughts in the spacious cave.

Satan was thinking about where to bring Ryuyeong and how to deal with him, while Arte was determined to properly utilize her monsters this time.

Perhaps because they were absorbed in their thoughts.

Neither of them noticed the slight movement in the cave.

Twitch-

The tips of Elaine’s bound fingers were desperately moving.

Though pretending to be unconscious, Elaine had actually been awake for some time.

The cold cave floor against her cheek was beyond chilly—it was painful—but she endured.

Twitch- Twitch-

Elaine was moving her fingers with all her might.

“Let’s set the time for three days from now. Arte. Make sure he knows we have her.”

“Yes!”

As Satan finished his thoughts and gave orders to Arte, Elaine heard his words and moved her fingers even more desperately.

She was firmly determined not to be a burden to everyone this time.