Ch.18Light That Should Not Be Taken (4)

The pursuers’ movements had changed.

Najin vaguely noticed this fact. Those who had been scattered and acting alone were now moving in pairs of at least two, or as many as three or four.

‘Killing six of them in two days seems to have had an effect.’

Day 2 since drawing his sword and beginning his escape.

In those two days, Najin had killed six pursuers who were acting alone. After taking down one or two and beating them, he got a feel for how to deal with them, so killing six wasn’t difficult.

Ambush, induce carelessness.

Hide his strength, then overwhelm them in an instant.

The combat techniques he learned from Ivan and Offen were effective even against the Order’s shadow operatives. Though that wasn’t all there was to it.

Clench.

Najin silently clenched and unclenched his hand repeatedly. The injury he had sustained in the battle with the drug addict Hakan. His arm, which had barely been able to move, had now recovered enough to swing a sword.

‘It seems like it’s not just my recovery speed that’s improved.’

His body was full of strength and his mind was clear.

When he focused his eyes, he could clearly visualize how his opponents would move, and he could now freely control the flow that pushed his body. Could this also be the influence of Excalibur?

…Perhaps it wasn’t that King Arthur was great, but that Excalibur itself was simply overpowered?

For a moment, just a brief moment, Najin harbored this irreverent thought. Of course, this was Najin’s misconception. All Excalibur had brought to Najin was rapid healing ability. The other elements were things Najin had possessed from the beginning.

Simply because he had resolved to cross the line and run.

Because he had removed the restrictions he had placed on himself.

As a result, the talents Najin originally possessed had merely begun to bloom rapidly. He had already accumulated sufficient experience. Najin’s growth curve, on the verge of blooming, was rising steeply.

“…Huff.”

Najin, who had been observing the movements of the pursuers, exhaled deeply. For the past two days, he had created the impression of wandering aimlessly through the underground city. As if his purpose was hunting, not escape.

That performance seemed to have worked properly.

Misunderstanding Najin’s purpose as hunting, the pursuers had begun to move in groups… and as a result, gaps had formed in the net they had cast over the underground city. Now it was time to move on to his original purpose.

Just one last time.

He needed to put a definitive end to this.

Three pursuers moving together. Only after they entered a dark alley did Najin close the distance. The underground city had many narrow alleys, and naturally, the alley walls had many footholds. Stepping from one foothold to another, Najin approached them.

How to face multiple opponents at once.

Najin smiled bitterly as he recalled the combat experience he had engraved into his body to the point of nausea during his battle with the drug addict Hakan.

Of course, comparing mindless addicts to the Order’s shadow operatives would be quite disrespectful to the latter… but well, what did it matter?

‘At least these guys don’t explode like addicts.’

I won’t be discovered by others when I kill them.

With that thought, Najin kicked off the alley wall and plummeted toward the ground. The three pursuers, noticing the presence of the falling Najin, immediately formed a formation.

The one at the front swung his sword to counter Najin, seemingly intending to create an opening for the remaining two to thrust through. Najin captured all these movements in his sight.

And in doing so, Najin realized that information about him hadn’t been properly conveyed yet.

‘You shouldn’t counter.’

Just as Najin’s falling sword was about to clash with the pursuer’s sword, it flashed white. Fragments of sword energy that he summoned in an instant enveloped Najin’s sword.

‘You should have dodged.’

Though he called it a fragment, what Najin had wrapped around his sword was clearly sword energy. And Najin knew well how terrifying the cutting power of this sword energy was. He clearly remembered his iron sword being cut by Ivan’s sword energy, that moment when death had approached right before his eyes.

With a sword not wrapped in sword energy.

One cannot counter a sword wrapped in sword energy.

Crack!

The moment the swords collided, the pursuer’s sword shattered. Najin’s sword, which had shattered the sword and continued forward, immediately dug into the pursuer’s shoulder and cut through his body.

‘One.’

The combat pattern they had envisioned was predicated on one person countering Najin’s sword. By shattering the first condition, Najin had completely collapsed their plan.

Splatter.

Amidst the spraying blood droplets, Najin immediately lowered his posture. Avoiding the two swords thrusting from the darkness, Najin dragged his sword, wrapped in sword energy, low.

Pursuers who cannot wrap their swords in sword energy have limited attack options in a narrow alley. Their blades would bounce off the walls. But not Najin. Najin swung his sword horizontally while maintaining a low posture.

Scrape.

The blade that cut through the wall with the help of sword energy. One managed to dodge, but the other couldn’t. The pursuer whose ankle was cut off began to tilt. Najin briefly thrust his sword into the nape of his neck and then withdrew it.

‘Two.’

Blood spurting up. A corpse tilting and falling.

After dealing with two, Najin turned his head. What met his gaze was a pursuer who had lost two comrades in an instant. Due to the deeply pulled robe, his expression wasn’t visible, but Najin noticed that his eyes were trembling.

Tap.

As Najin took a step forward, the pursuer stepped back. Disadvantage from information asymmetry. Seeing the boy approaching with drawn sword energy, the pursuer immediately turned around and began to run.

The roles of prey and hunter had been reversed.

Najin didn’t chase after the fleeing prey.

Instead, he pulled out a throwing weapon from the bracelet tied to his wrist. Something he had hunted and looted from the pursuers. Holding it in his hand, Najin aimed at the fleeing pursuer.

He had never handled throwing weapons before, but he had seen how they handled and threw them. Having seen it, mimicking wasn’t difficult.

Thump.

Taking a step forward, Najin threw the weapon. The weapon, making a whistling sound, deeply embedded itself in the pursuer’s leg.

“Ugh!”

The pursuer fell with a cry of pain. By throwing another weapon at him, Najin finished him off.

‘Three.’

After looting necessary items from the corpses, Najin went deeper into the alley. This was enough. Najin now began to run toward his real destination.

The place Offen had told him about.

Toward the only exit that could lead him out of this underground city.

2.

Shortly after Najin left the alley.

The two pursuers who entered the alley frowned upon seeing the corpses of their comrades. Were they defeated despite being in a group of three? By a single boy born and raised in this underground city?

‘Nine have fallen in two days.’

Nine plus three.

A total of twelve had died. While they might not have pride as shadow operatives, they did have a minimum level of self-respect.

Nevertheless, the mission had to be carried out. They suppressed their anger and investigated the traces Najin had left behind. During their investigation, they frowned. Strange traces had been discovered.

‘The sword is completely shattered.’

The sword their comrade had been using was completely shattered.

Moreover, there were long traces as if the wall had been split. Traces that couldn’t be created with an ordinary sword. Traces of sword energy.

The target was supposed to be 18 years old.

An 18-year-old boy using sword energy?

Could he have used Excalibur? But if so, brilliant light would have poured out. While they were struggling to accept this situation.

Tap, someone entered the alley.

They quickly turned their heads toward the source of the presence. Fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn’t the boy they were targeting. A mercenary who had volunteered to cooperate in this matter was standing there.

“…What’s the matter?”

Do you have something to report?

In response to the shadow operative’s question, Offen nodded.

“Yes, there’s something urgent I need to inform you…”

Stringing together plausible words, Offen took one step, then another toward them. By the time they frowned at Offen’s contextless words, he had already narrowed the distance to within five steps.

Five steps.

The distance Offen had set for himself.

Offen took a large step forward and drew his sword. Sword energy imbued the sword as he drew it. Seeing Offen’s suddenly changed demeanor, the shadow operatives moved belatedly, but it was already too late.

Swords clashed a few times.

Blood splattered a few times.

After creating two corpses, Offen exhaled briefly and left the scene. Before leaving, Offen smiled as he confirmed the traces of sword energy that Najin seemed to have left. It seemed Najin was doing better than he had expected.

The number of pursuers Najin had killed in two days was six.

However, the number the pursuers knew was nine.

The remaining three were Offen’s doing.

Pretending to cooperate, he had read their movements and struck them from behind when they were isolated. All while making it look like Najin’s work.

This should be enough. With this much smoke screen, Najin’s true objective should be perfectly hidden.

All that remained was to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Assuming the worst of the worst, Offen moved toward the final destination Najin would have headed to. What Offen was wary of wasn’t these shadow operatives.

The Knight, Berlo.

He too was pursuing Najin.

It seemed he hadn’t yet noticed Najin’s true destination, but one couldn’t ignore the possibility. Since he had decided to do this, Offen intended to see it through to the end.

‘…I don’t know why I’m going through all this trouble.’

But he didn’t feel too bad about it.

Offen had been living day by day, drunk, as if dead since falling into this city. Though he had wasted time meaninglessly, there was definitely something that shone within that wasted time.

A light that didn’t belong in this underground city.

A light he couldn’t possess.

Perhaps Offen was projecting his past onto that light. A starlight he had reached for but could never grasp. That’s why Offen hoped.

That the light would not be trampled upon.

3.

Najin ran along the path Offen had told him about.

Najin realized that the destination was getting closer. The sound of water falling, whoosh, had begun to be heard. Najin recalled the map in his mind.

The waterfall marked on the map.

To reach that waterfall, he had to pass through a mine shaft.

An old, unused mine shaft. Since the end of the shaft led to the waterfall, the moment he entered the shaft, his escape was as good as successful. Najin, running toward where the entrance of the shaft should be, felt his heart pounding.

It wasn’t far.

Soon, he would be able to leave this city.

Even though he hadn’t crossed the waterfall yet, he couldn’t help but feel excited. Because the possibility of going outside was beginning to appear. With each step he took, someone’s voice echoed in Najin’s ears.

“Pitiful thing.”

“Why were you born in a place like this?”

These were the words the boy had heard all his life.

“You will rot here for the rest of your life.”

“You can never go outside. You’re destined to die mixed among trash like us…”

These were the taunts the boy had heard all his life.

Trixie’s dying words, the sneers of the organization members he had dealt with, the voice of the drug addict Hakan, all continued to circle Najin’s ears.

You cannot rise.

You will rot here for the rest of your life.

Your talent will only make you miserable.

Stories he had ignored until now, or sometimes cut off and turned away from. But not anymore. Go ahead and talk all you want. Go ahead and laugh all you want. Because I will leave this place and go outside.

A smile formed on Najin’s lips.

With each step he took.

With each step closer to the mine shaft, the voices echoing in his ears disappeared one by one.

As he ran and ran like that, Najin arrived at the entrance of the mine shaft. All voices had disappeared, and only one voice remained in his ears. The voice of someone Najin couldn’t shake off until the very end echoed in his ears.

“Don’t cross the line, Najin.”

“If you cross the line, I’ll have to kill you.”

Najin stopped in his tracks.

The entrance to the mine shaft was visible right in front of him, but he couldn’t take another step. Because there was a figure guarding that place.

“You came.”

The being who had drawn a line for Najin.

The owner of the voice still echoing in his ears.

“I’ve been waiting.”

One-eyed Ivan.

The last line Najin had to cross, the great wall, was there.