Chapter 106: Baek So-yoon Encountered

“I’ll kill you. I’m already a dead man. Might as well take you with me.”

Son Himgyeol’s face began to twist strangely, and dark energy started to surge through his entire body. A foul and sticky aura wrapped around him, and it was growing larger by the second.

“You’ve lost your mind. Shin Junho, the guy you all used, probably didn’t know about the side effects of the Demon Pill, so he just swallowed it. But someone of your rank should know what kind of side effects it brings, right? And you still took it? Even if you kill me, you’ll die too. What’s the benefit in that? No, even if you’re lucky enough to survive as a vegetable, you’ll rot in prison for the rest of your life.”

Lee Hyun-seung couldn’t understand it.

From his perspective, Son Himgyeol had multiple options.

‘Judging by their actions, I think I finally get why they’re trying to kill me. Probably to stop the Mana Resonance process. Once that starts properly, it’ll be revealed that the real culprit behind the Yoo Hee-yeon stalking case is Hilleon. That would give grounds for war between Hilleon and the Artemis Guild.’

That much made sense. No group would willingly go to war with the Artemis Guild.

But even so, what was happening now didn’t make any sense.

‘Son Himgyeol is an executive of Hilleon. He’s definitely not some low-ranking grunt. They’re really using someone like him as a disposable pawn?’

Swallowing a Demon Pill meant he would either die or rot in prison, whether the mission succeeded or failed.

From Hilleon’s perspective, Lee Hyun-seung was nothing more than a demoted student who fell from A-Class to F-Class. Sure, he showed some impressive skills during the Class Annihilation match, but still—burning two executive-level agents just to kill one Lee Hyun-seung?

That was like blasting a chicken with a shotgun.

‘Why isn’t he running away?’

With this much chaos already caused, there was no way they could hide Hilleon’s involvement. Even if it took a little time, people would soon realize who was behind the attack.

That meant the mission had already failed.

Just the fact that “Hilleon tried to kill Lee Hyun-seung” would be enough for people to start digging, and eventually, the Mana Resonance wouldn’t stop either—even if he died.

In short, Son Himgyeol should’ve been trying to flee. Preserving even one capable agent would have been the logical move.

But he charged ahead like escape wasn’t even an option.

‘Is there another reason he’s not running?’

Come to think of it, Son Himgyeol had said something strange earlier.

– I’m going to die anyway. Because of trash like you, I’m going to die. That’s not fair. I’ll take you with me.

There wasn’t enough information to fully grasp the situation, but Hyun-seung was starting to piece things together.

Son Himgyeol either couldn’t run, or even if he did, he’d end up dead anyway. And the fact that he blamed Hyun-seung for that death…

It meant he was likely directly connected to the Yoo Hee-yeon stalking incident.

That was the only real connection between Lee Hyun-seung and Hilleon from the start.

– Crack.

Rage started bubbling up inside him.

That b*stard not only tried to pin a crime on someone who was living a completely normal life, but now he was saying, “I’m gonna die because of you,” and trying to drag Hyun-seung down with him like a water ghost?

“You fcking piece of sht… Cut the crap already.”

Lee Hyun-seung muttered under his breath.

At that moment, Son Himgyeol charged in and slammed his arm down at Hyun-seung.

– KWAANG–!

The blow was aimed at Hyun-seung’s head, but it didn’t connect.

He had launched himself to the right, pushing off the ground just in time.

“Running is useless. As long as the Demon Pill is active, you’re going to die.”

– FWIISH–!

Son Himgyeol used his dark energy to create two tendrils.

The tendrils shot out from his back and rapidly chased after Hyun-seung.

The sharp tips of the tendrils aimed straight for Hyun-seung’s heart.

Though he tried to flee, they were so fast that they were already right in front of him.

‘F*ck…’

– CRACK–!

He stopped running.

He struck one of the tendrils down with his gun, then immediately fired at the second one flying in.

Splurt—

From the pierced tentacle, a revolting, sticky fluid began to gush out.

Soon, the liquid splattered in all directions.

Hissss—

The liquid touched Lee Hyun-seung as well.

As it made contact with his clothes, a strange sound echoed and tiny holes began to burn through the fabric.

‘Acidic fluid…’

If it touched clothing, it would melt through. If it reached skin, it would cause excruciating burns.

The tentacles themselves were threatening, but if tearing or shooting them resulted in acidic liquid bursting out, it was maddening.

As expected of a high-ranking member of Artemis Guild—unlike Shin Junho, who had no idea about the side effects of the demonic pill—Son Himgyeol was expertly wielding the powers it granted.

“Keuhaha! Run, slash, do whatever you want! In the end, you’re going to die anyway.”

As Son Himgyeol shouted, Lee Hyun-seung instinctively swallowed dry.

Then, the tentacles multiplied, becoming three in total.

“This is a secret technique I can use after ingesting the demonic pill. As long as I have time, I can infinitely increase the number of tentacles inside my body.”

Fwoooosh—!

Now split into three, the tentacles rushed to impale Lee Hyun-seung.

He dove between them, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.

However, the tentacles twisted mid-air and aimed straight for his legs—specifically, his Achilles tendon.

Whoosh—!

Lee Hyun-seung moved to slam one tentacle with his gun, but he pulled back at the last second.

If he burst the tentacle, that vile acid would undoubtedly splatter again.

More than that, what really concerned him was the tentacles’ ability to split apart. It seemed that when they suffered significant damage, they would divide further.

So this time, he gritted his teeth and tried to dodge entirely by moving his legs—but the tentacle was too fast.

It grazed the back of his ankle.

Blood began to trickle from behind his foot.

An intense pain spread through him.

It had to be the demonic energy—its property of invading the human body amplified all pain it caused.

What a nightmare. The tentacles were fast, powerful, and on top of that, they split when attacked and spewed acid.

‘This can’t go on.’

If he continued to be on the defensive, he’d eventually collapse from exhaustion and die.

With that judgment, Lee Hyun-seung began firing his gun straight at Son Himgyeol.

Bang!

Bang!

Avoiding the tentacles, he aimed directly at Son Himgyeol’s body.

But Son Himgyeol blocked the bullets with his own hands.

His hands were now coated in a massive shell-like armor, which seemed to be the reason he could defend against Lee Hyun-seung’s attacks.

“Useless.”

Son Himgyeol sneered.

But Lee Hyun-seung didn’t stop.

As Son Himgyeol staggered slightly from the impact of the bullets, Lee Hyun-seung quickly loaded an ice-type bullet and fired.

– [The effect of the bullet: freezes the struck target.]

The shell-like armor on Son Himgyeol’s hand began to freeze.

“Khrrk…”

The same man who had looked completely unfazed by regular bullets now contorted his face in pain as his hand froze.

Immediately after, Lee Hyun-seung switched to a fire-type magazine and unleashed a barrage of bullets.

Crack crack crack—!

Cracks began to form on the frozen shell.

Son Himgyeol muttered in a panicked voice.

“H-How is this happening…?”

The shell had shrunk rapidly when frozen by the ice bullet. Then, when hit with the heat from the fire bullets, it expanded rapidly and cracked apart.

No matter how sturdy a shield or object may be, it would inevitably break when subjected to rapid expansion and contraction in a short time.

Thud—!

Lee Hyun-seung didn’t miss the opening.

He charged straight in and slammed his gun into Son Himgyeol’s shield.

KRAAAASH—!

The shield shattered into pieces.

Son Himgyeol’s wrist was severed entirely.

Panicked, he stumbled back, lashing out with his tentacles toward Lee Hyun-seung.

Slaaaash—!

Lee Hyun-seung sensed an opportunity and began to press the attack.

‘If not now, there won’t be another chance. That b*stard won’t take long to regenerate his body and form a new shield.’

With that judgment, Lee Hyun-seung ignored the tentacles targeting him and shot at them directly. Covered in acidic fluid, he relentlessly beat Son Him-gyeol’s torso and face. A few bullets even pierced through his body.

“Graaaaaaagh!”

As Son Him-gyeol let out a loud scream, a tremendous gust of wind erupted from him, blowing everything backward.

–Crash!–

Soon after, Lee Hyun-seung was also pushed back. He rolled backward and checked his condition. From head to toe, he was drenched in acidic fluid, not a single spot left unharmed. His entire body was scorched and wracked with sharp pain. But what was even more despairing—

“F*ck…”

He had gone all out trying to kill him by tearing up the tentacles, and now their number had swelled to about twenty. And to make matters worse, there was distance between them now.

“Lee Hyun-seung… I’ll make sure you die in agony. Scream in pain as you die.”

‘Damn it… Just a little stronger… If I’d been just a bit stronger, I could’ve finished him off while we were close.’

Lee Hyun-seung cursed himself, blankly staring at the tentacles. There was no way to deal with them. Cut them, and they split. Each one sprayed acidic fluid. How was he supposed to fight twenty insane tentacles?

–Swoooosh!–

Just as the tentacles surged toward him—

–BOOOOOM!–

The ground around them began to shake violently.

–RUMBLE!–

The buildings of Broad Academy started to tremble.

–KRAAAAAAASH!–

Outside, deafening explosive sounds kept going off like bombs were being detonated. Both Son Him-gyeol and Lee Hyun-seung fell to the ground from the shock.

‘Wh-What the hell…?’

The sound was so loud that Lee Hyun-seung’s ears started ringing with a high-pitched whine. Did a nuclear bomb just go off? No—that couldn’t be. This world didn’t have nukes. Then what the hell was making that insane noise?

It didn’t take long to find out the cause.

–Clatter!–

A girl crashed through one of Broad Academy’s windows and landed between Lee Hyun-seung and Son Him-gyeol. One of her arms had taken such a heavy blow that it was completely crushed, dangling lifelessly.

–Shff–

The girl checked on Lee Hyun-seung’s condition, as if her wrecked arm didn’t matter at all. Blood was pouring from his entire body, and severe blisters covered him from the burns.

“….”

The girl who entered the arena—Baek So-yoon.

Expressionless, she turned to look at Son Him-gyeol with cold eyes and said flatly,

“You should’ve just run. Then I could’ve killed you with a little less pain.”