Ch.560Chapter 21. Blood Pack (20)

Battle God interrupted the one-on-one battle.

He poured dirty, petty reality onto what was supposed to be a dream match.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a hero saving another hero.

Heroes are meant to save people, and Battle God was simply doing what he should.

But because of this, what people saw was a villain being put at a disadvantage.

-Isn’t this, a bit too much…?

Sympathy for the dog catcher, Black Taejo, began to grow.

A steadfast appearance unlike Armored Taejo.

Though he stood against heroes, the situation made him seem like a villain who wasn’t quite villainous.

If he had fought viciously or dishonorably against Cheok Jun-gyeong, or taken hostages, there would be no room for sympathy.

But Black Taejo showed integrity as a villain, and because of that, when Battle God intervened, ordinary people began to sympathize with Black Taejo.

Of course, everyone understands a hero coming to rescue another hero.

But when people start to question that intervention, that’s a different story.

Especially if the Shaman was also getting involved and cornering Black Taejo.

Especially if Battle God immediately launched an attack against Black Taejo.

[Attacking an injured opponent? Justice is truly dead.]

My appearance, blocking Battle God’s attack, actually led to a situation where people felt anticipation.

[Get lost.]

“!!”

I blocked Battle God’s fist with my hand and extended my leg toward him, kicking him in the abdomen.

BOOM!

Battle God stretched his arms downward to protect his abdomen.

My foot struck his arm, and with a powerful explosion, his body flew backward.

[Good reflexes.]

“You bastard!”

Battle God glared at me with a reddened face.

“What are you aiming for…!”

[I could have finished you in one blow. What a shame.]

If Battle God hadn’t instinctively lowered his arm, my foot would have struck slightly below his abdomen, shattering his cradle.

Of course, one successful attack wouldn’t break the cradle of an S-rank.

But landing even one hit could make Battle God flinch.

As a man, as a male—

Or rather, as someone whose weakness as an ability user is exposed outside the body, he couldn’t help but be flustered.

[Stand down, TZ-039.]

I stood in front of Black Taejo protectively and turned my head back.

[I’ll handle this.]

“I can still fight!”

Black Taejo shouted angrily as he tried to step forward.

“I’m not broken yet!”

[It’s not your time to fall yet. Don’t you have someone else you need to defeat?]

“…Kuk!”

Taejo gripped his staff tightly and gritted his teeth.

“Someone I need to defeat…”

Black Taejo, who hadn’t shown much emotional change even against Cheok Jun-gyeong, now gritted his teeth with a voice mixed with irritation and anger for the first time.

[No. Isn’t there someone you need to kill?]

There’s a young Taejo, a young hero who’s an S-rank detector.

[Don’t forget your assignment. The one you need to kill isn’t Cheok Jun-gyeong or Battle God. Return to headquarters and focus on ‘repairs’.]

“…Understood.”

Black Taejo retreated.

“Where do you think—”

“Think you can get away?”

As soon as he turned and jumped off the bridge, Battle God and the Shaman tried to chase after Black Taejo.

[Where do you think you’re going?]

BOOM!

I slammed my Goblin club into the ground.

Immediately, a wall of green glowing magical energy appeared behind me, and the eyes of the two S-ranks changed instantly.

“You, madman!”

The Shaman stopped with a curse and jumped far back.

“…Haaah!!”

Battle God crossed his arms in front and threw himself at the magical wall.

SCREECH!!

A sound like something being ground in a swirling vortex.

The mana shield surrounding Battle God’s body collided with the wind barrier I had deployed.

“Uooooo!!”

CLANG!!

The blade wind wrapped around Battle God’s body as if to grind him up, but Battle God ignored even the blade wind and tried to break through the wall.

[Tch.]

This is why it’s troublesome to deal with those who rely solely on brute strength.

I clearly put up a barrier to prevent him from crossing, yet he’s trying to break through it with pure force.

[But, too bad.]

I reached toward the barrier and pulled it lightly.

[If I had wanted to let you through, I wouldn’t have put up a barrier in the first place.]

“What?!”

The wind wall I had spread out suddenly began to curl from both sides.

[Got you.]

“!!”

Like a thin sheet curling into a circle with elasticity, the barrier instantly wrapped around Battle God.

CLANG!!

A sound like a steel shredder grinding garbage, or a fast-spinning saw blade cutting through an object, rang out.

Blade Wind Hell.

Most beings cannot survive in this vortex, and all that can escape are blood and flesh ground up like in a blender.

That’s the common end experienced by those who have died from this technique.

“Uooooo!!”

[Anyway.]

With a battle cry, the Blade Wind Hell shot straight up into the sky.

Emitting powerful magical energy from his body, Battle God escaped the technique through pure magical force and landed lightly on the ground, regaining his posture.

“Hmph!”

Battle God raised his head proudly.

“You may have set a trap, but it didn’t work on me! Too bad for you!”

[Indeed.]

It is too bad.

If I had really intended to kill Battle God and squeezed out all my remaining mana to create the Blade Wind Hell, I might have been able to kill him.

Ability battles are skill contests, but they’re mostly mana battles.

Especially in cases like this, it’s a pure contest of total mana.

Since Battle God used more mana to escape the barrier than I invested in creating it, it’s only natural that the barrier was broken.

“Haha, Goblin! Or is it Doji Rider? Anyway, your attack failed!”

[The attack failed, yes.]

“…Huh?”

[But I achieved my objective.]

Since it had fulfilled its role as a barrier, I dispelled the Blade Wind Hell without regret.

[Too bad. You couldn’t chase him.]

“Ah, aah…!”

I could have maintained the barrier by infusing mana into the barrier that Battle God was trying to burst from within, but I deliberately chose not to for one reason.

[I’ve achieved my objective. There’s no reason to waste more magical energy on combat.]

I slowly retreated to the edge of the bridge.

“From the beginning, you wanted to let Taejo’s fake escape…!”

[Of course. I—]

I swung my Goblin club like a sword to the side.

[Too slow.]

SLASH!

[Surprise attacks don’t work on me. Shaman.]

“…Tch.”

The white cloth that was silently trying to grab my ankle fell to the ground, cut.

The cloth-shaped magical energy extending from the end of the Shaman’s sleeve fell to the ground, and the cut pieces scattered into the air like mist.

“For a Goblin, your ability has a rather cutting edge to it… Are you really a Goblin?”

[What?]

This is the angle.

[Am I a Goblin, you ask? Of course I am. I’m the Goblin, who else would be the Goblin?]

“……”

The Shaman stared at me intently.

Then she glanced at Battle God.

“Battle God. What do you think?”

“What?”

“Does that look like a Goblin to you? I don’t think so.”

“……”

Battle God’s eyes rolled from side to side.

With eyes full of contemplation, he looked at me as if wondering why she was asking him this.

“The Goblin… exploded in Osaka. For such a Goblin to suddenly appear here and kill people, or something like that… honestly, I don’t know!”

Battle God slapped both his cheeks.

“All I see before me is a villain blocking a hero’s path! As I said earlier, complicated matters can be sorted out after arrest during interrogation!”

Offering a simple and clear answer, he resumed his combat stance.

“Whether you’re the Goblin, the Goblin’s avatar, the Goblin’s clone, or a second Goblin created from the mana powder of the dead Goblin, I’m going to arrest you first!”

[On what charges?]

“For Zenrosing 129 Korean ability users, including the Hungarian ability user Bathory! For destroying the bridge! And so on!”

[I have no reason to be arrested.]

I wasn’t the one who destroyed the bridge.

Bathory and Cheok Jun-gyeong caused more property damage than I did.

[But, haven’t you thought about this?]

I took leisurely steps backward, lightly stirring up the wind on the ground.

[Even for a villain, would someone who stepped forward to buy time for an injured ally to escape plan on getting caught themselves?]

“Ah.”

[You’re still inexperienced.]

I lightly stroked my chin with my hand.

[I don’t need to take your ‘genes’.]

“W-what?!”

[Someone like you would be more helpful to the future if you were just Zenrosed. Whereas…]

I turned my eyes to the Shaman.

[Your genes would be very helpful to our Syndicate. There are only a handful of women as intelligent as you.]

“……”

[What do you say? Would you like to join the Syndicate with me, the Goblin? Even if you join now, you might not become one of our four executives, but you could be right below them.]

“…Haa.”

The Shaman put her hand on her forehead and withdrew her magical energy.

“You’ll pay dearly for impersonating Hwalbindang.”

[…You truly are exceptional.]

“Shut up. You’re giving me a headache.”

The Shaman, uttering harsh words, glared at me as if she wanted to kill me, then turned away.

“I’m definitely going to kill you. When I find the original, I’ll definitely tell him to kill you.”

[……]

TAP.

Before I could say anything, the Shaman disappeared.

‘That’s fortunate.’

Because she’s intelligent, she considers all possibilities, and that’s why she took the bait.

‘I am the original.’

I know there’s an alternate persona, but she didn’t realize that it’s not an alternate persona but more like ‘playing a role.’

“Original…? What does that even…?”

[Curious?]

CRUMBLE.

I climbed onto the crumbling bridge railing and lightly jumped from it.

[If you’re curious, I’ll tell you. The answer is—]

SPLASH.

I jumped backward.

“…Teacher. How long do you plan to use my dimensional gate every time you leave work?”

[Until people find out.]