Episode 223. Why Only Me? (3)

“….”

I walked into a quiet alley.

Naturally, I had my body wrapped tightly in a Rune Barrier.

I was tense, ready to react no matter when I was attacked, but there was no enemy in sight.

Thump. Thump.

As I went deeper into the alley, I could feel the residual magic growing stronger.

Amidst the silence, where only regular breathing and footsteps could be heard, I utilized [Mana Sense] to its fullest to grasp the opponent’s magic.

The fight itself put me at a disadvantage.

The opponent would ambush me while hidden, and I was the one walking into their trap.

Just then, a dagger made of magic flew straight at me.

Clang!

‘The front?’

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The opponent didn’t make the foolish mistake of revealing their position.

Almost simultaneously with the attack from the front, magic came flying from three directions: above, to the right, and behind.

The incoming magic swords were simple, yet fast and powerful.

Even trying to pinpoint the opponent’s location using the threads of magic attached to the daggers failed because they were severed immediately, making tracking impossible.

‘The attacks are weak.’

Just like tapping a watermelon to check if it’s ripe, the opponent seemed to be testing the strength of my barrier with light attacks.

Clang! Clang!

Every time I advanced, magic daggers flew my way, and I focused a little more.

The level of the hidden opponent was definitely higher than mine.

To even have a chance at winning, I had to face them somehow.

Whether they were strong or weak, I needed to be able to fight them first to have any possibility.

It was a contest of whether I could find the hidden opponent faster, or if they would break through my Rune Barrier before that.

Clang!

After deflecting the incoming magic swords dozens of times with my Rune Barrier, I paused for a moment.

“…This is strange.”

It’s strange.

There wasn’t just one or two things I couldn’t understand.

First off, this alley.

No matter how much I walked, I couldn’t see the end.

I have the entire layout of the Academy shops memorized.

It was to consider escape routes in case I was attacked.

I had already spent over 20 minutes blocking swords and pushing through the alley.

It was more than enough time to have reached the main street already… but the dark alley ahead still showed no end.

The sun was starting to set, and at night, the hidden opponent would have the advantage.

But there was something more important than the endless alley.

The killing intent I felt from the opponent was genuine.

Moreover, the weight of the magic pressuring me was top-tier.

I could tell the attacker’s level was extremely high.

Whether it was the quality or level of their magic… it was incomparable to mine.

The feeling I got when I met Im Sol and Rebecca.

My body was reacting as it does when encountering a powerful individual it recognizes.

Yet, compared to that, the attacks coming at me were weak.

Meaning the magic was too weak for the quality of the magic.

There might be such people, but someone who has reached a certain level of power wouldn’t possibly fail to manage such a balance.

If they had, they wouldn’t have become powerful in the first place.

Just like how even if the top individuals from each region gathered, they could still select a new number one through competition, only the most exceptional geniuses can become powerhouses like Im Sol.

Furthermore, while the attacks were weak, their follow-up was exceptional.

The skill to sever the magic to avoid revealing their position was first-class.

‘Are they going easy on me?’

It’s a characteristic of villains, after all.

The cliché of going easy and then getting overturned by the protagonist.

But there’s no way something like that would happen in reality.

“….”

I quickly racked my brain.

A strangely powerful attacker.

If they intended to kill me, they should have finished it quickly, yet they were dragging things out.

Therefore, I could assume they wanted something from me.

Or maybe they’re a crazy pleasure killer… but there aren’t any pleasure killers this strong in this world, not that I know of.

At least not that I know of.

And the timing of the ambush.

Recalling recent events involving me, I could somewhat pinpoint the attacker.

First, the skull masks from Pandemic.

There have been recent attacks, and it’s clear they’re targeting Moon Surin and me.

But those guys wouldn’t waste time like this.

Next is Rebecca.

Of course, our first meeting was an ambush… but she has no reason to attack me now.

‘Someone incredibly powerful who has a connection to me….’

As I sifted through my memories one by one, I came up with a hypothesis.

‘The Iris Guild.’

It was just two days ago that I gave Alice her massage.

The reason I had worriedly pulled Scarlet away.

It was because I was worried the Iris Guild’s daughter-obsessed Guild Master might come to spy on me.

The Guild Master, Isaac, wasn’t a character with much significance in the original work.

He was strong, sure, but not the type of character you’d expect in a dating sim focused on conquering heroines.

Honestly, his face barely even appeared.

So I never thought he’d ambush me like this….

“….”

Ha, I can’t think of anyone else.

Truthfully, I’ve committed so many sins that I’m a little scared of the Academy Chairman, Moon Surin’s grandfather, and also scared of the Association, who lost Baek Ahyoung because of me.

But those people wouldn’t come to ambush me.

“Hoo.”

If they wanted to kill me, they would have launched a proper attack already.

Assassins have no reason to stall.

It seems better to proceed assuming the opponent is Isaac.

I released the Rune Barrier that was enveloping my body.

And then.

‘Blood Beat.’

Thump- Thump-

I expanded my mana circuits.

The flow of mana became smoother, and accordingly, the concentration of mana spreading around me deepened.

In this state, I could react and block immediately even if an attack came.

Against any other opponent, I wouldn’t need to put myself in such a dangerous state… but if it’s Isaac, this might work.

Because there are exactly two pieces of reliable information I know about him.

He’s an incredible doting father.

Next, his pride is ridiculously high.

Of course, it doesn’t matter if it’s not Isaac.

If he gets angry at my provocation and reveals himself, that’s even better.

If he intensifies his attacks, I might be able to track his magic and find his location.

‘Not bad.’

There’s a risk involved, but I can’t do anything like this anyway.

I have to force the opponent out.

I raised my mana, preparing to react to the incoming attacks, and stepped into the alley.

*

“Wow, you’re blocking well? They said you were a genius mage, and you really are something.”

Clang- Clang-

Isaac nodded as he threw magic towards Lee Hoyeon.

“….”

‘Crazy bastard.’

As expected, I need to ditch this guild quickly and switch to Lee Hoyeon.

Scarlet watched Isaac’s back, trying her best not to show anything.

He looked like a boy getting revenge, as if saying, ‘Touch my stuff and you’ll get this!’

Of course, he probably doesn’t think of Alice as ‘stuff’… but she’s so precious to him that he’s lost his mind.

“Scarlet. What are you thinking?”

Just then, Isaac turned his head back with a smile.

Scarlet flinched momentarily and smoothly transitioned into an expression of sympathy for Lee Hoyeon.

“…It would be best if you revealed yourself soon. Quite a lot of time has passed.”

Scarlet couldn’t help but feel frustrated, as this strange behavior had been going on for nearly 30 minutes.

Strong people always have something strange about them.

For example, Lee Hoyeon is obsessed with women, and Isaac is obsessed with Alice.

“This guy isn’t scared. And that barrier is unnecessarily tough, so I can’t even get the upper hand. I’m attacking him so it doesn’t hurt, you know.”

Who in the world wouldn’t block swords flying at them like that?

Scarlet tried to persuade Isaac as rationally as possible.

“…Still, occupying a public path for too long might cause problems.”

“Really? Usually, when there’s a barrier like this, people just think ‘Oh, someone’s fighting~’ and pass by, don’t they?”

“In Korea, the public safety is so good that such things rarely happen.”

If you’re unlucky, a high-level hunter passing by might report it.

There are many bad people, but strangely, there are also many good people in this neighborhood.

“Hmph. Fine. Then let’s finish this quickly. I think I played around too much.”

He was also surprised that a mere student kept blocking his attacks.

Of course, he had held back a lot… but most people who call themselves hunters couldn’t even block attacks of that level.

‘It’s a shame to end it like this.’

[I am Alice’s father.]

[This is the father of the woman you have designs on.]

[Can you handle it?]

He wanted to establish dominance like this.

But to attack from afar, fail, and then show up disgracefully… it didn’t align with his philosophy.

If he were going to reveal himself, it would be better to just run away like this.

Just then, Lee Hoyeon suddenly started acting strangely.

He directly deactivated the strangely sturdy, unidentified barrier.

Then he started walking deeper into the alley.

Since it was magic that forcibly stretched space, there was a risk the magic would be revealed if he got any closer.

“What’s that?”

“….”

As expected, Lee Hoyeon isn’t normal either.

Scarlet gave up trying to understand and decided to just watch the collaboration of these two lunatics.

“Are you provoking me right now?”

“…I don’t know.”

I really don’t know.

Why on earth is he doing that?

Doing that will only make Isaac angrier.

“Scarlet.”

“Yes.”

“It seems I really did stall for time. A student provoking me like this.”

“…He probably didn’t know you were the opponent, Isaac-nim. Please calm down first and Lee Hoyeon, the student….”

“I’m going in myself. I’ll be talking to him while he’s lying on the floor within a minute, so follow me.”

“…Yes. Understood.”

Sigh.

Scarlet closed her eyes and followed Isaac.

‘I’m done for now.’

He’ll take him down in one minute.

Since Isaac said that, he’ll go all out.

Still, the opponent is a student and an acquaintance of Alice’s, so he probably won’t kill him.

I just hope he doesn’t get too badly hurt.

Scarlet prepared a high-level shield spell she could cast instantly and walked into the alley.

*

‘…This wasn’t it.’

The provocation definitely worked.

The opponent came charging out himself.

Clang! Chwa-jajak!

The problem is, he’s too strong.

Ka-ga-ga-gang!

I blocked the magic that flew towards my Rune Barrier.

The concrete making up the alley crumbled just from the residual magic I blocked.

Clang! Seu-seuk-

At the same time, I felt a severe impact.

Something was continuously hitting my Rune Barrier.

At an invisible speed.

‘Eye Opening’

I focused my eyesight onto my eyes, trying to track the opponent, but I couldn’t catch them.

I felt an immense wall.

But fortunately, I met Rebecca yesterday.

Thanks to that, my strengthened and upgraded Rune Barrier managed to block the opponent’s attacks.

If I didn’t have the Rune Barrier, I wouldn’t have even been able to think about counterattacking.

Hwa-reu-reuk-

The flames flowing along my hand stuck to the ground, drawing a 10-meter radius circle before soaring into the sky.

My mana was connected to all the flames.

Chi-jik-

A slight, yet discernible sense of incongruity.

No matter how well they hide, as long as they exist within space and don’t defy the laws of physics, they are bound to touch the flames.

I quickly concentrated the flames in that direction.

Hwa-reu-reuk-!

Ka-ga-ga-gang!

However, something that broke free from the flames attacked my Rune Barrier again.

I endured the impact as much as possible and stepped forward.

The mana emanating from my toes pursued the opponent’s form like vines, trying to grab them.

Naturally, the opponent retreated, but that was exactly as I intended.

It was a magic circle drawn under the pretense of chasing the opponent.

Flames were created throughout the entire space once more.

Since they forced their way out, their stance must have been compromised. I planned to aim decisively this time.

As expected, with a 10-meter radius, it would be impossible to avoid.

But.

“…Fuck, seriously.”

The opponent disappeared.

Literally.

The opponent vanished from the space within the 10-meter diameter circle I controlled.

Did they escape outside in an instant?

That’s one possibility, but it felt completely different.

The magic that existed in that spot simply vanished.

Just like Nam Da-eun, who sliced through space, ignoring the laws of physics.

It felt like they had completely disappeared from space.

Kwa-a-a-ang!

Just then, a handsome blonde man suddenly appeared before my eyes.

His teeth were clenched, his expression hurt by pride, yet slightly amused.

He swung his arm directly at my Rune Barrier.

Ji-jik- Woo-ji-jik-

The Rune Barrier, already severely damaged, shattered like glass, and I had no choice but to retreat.

“Haa….”

A handsome blonde man stood directly in front of me, with Scarlet following behind him like a secretary.

‘It’s Isaac.’

I couldn’t be sure just from the blonde hair, but with Scarlet here, it was confirmed.

Scarlet wasn’t even making eye contact with me.

She’s probably trying to avoid any contact just in case she gets discovered.

Fortunately, Isaac didn’t seem to know about our relationship.

Hoo- Hoo-

I was gasping for breath like I’d just run a marathon, but Isaac looked completely unfazed.

‘He’s fucking strong.’

I used all my strength.

I didn’t have an opening to use big skills like Spiral… but that’s also the opponent’s ability.

This fight was my limit.

As expected, it’s impossible.

Well, it’s shameless to try and match up against the world’s strongest individuals already.

Thump-thump.

Isaac approached me, and only then could I feel it.

“How can I possibly win this.”

Isaac, not hiding his presence, truly felt leagues above me.

I was barely holding on with the Rune Barrier, a cheat skill learned from Rebecca.

That wasn’t a real fight.

It was just a brief standoff because Isaac wasn’t aiming for my life.

Thump- Thump-

Isaac harbored no killing intent towards me.

But the immense difference in power made my combat senses race my heart.

I knew instinctively that I would die instantly if the opponent showed even a little bit of sincerity.

I knew this instinctively.

Isaac approached me.

He was definitely a man who could have killed me long ago if he’d wanted to.

Yet, he sparred with me for over 10 minutes, so he must have something to say.

What could he possibly want to say that made him push me this hard?

As Isaac stood before me, I could finally feel it.

Slightly, his breathing faltered.

My pride rose just a little.

I looked at Isaac, tense.

Schluck.

Isaac suddenly smacked his lips and opened his mouth.

“…Pass.”

“…?”