As Seo-woon revealed his face, surprise and confusion were clearly visible on Arseni's face.
"You said you were looking for me, and I came looking for you. Aren't you happy to see me?"
"...Do you think you can get away with this here? Russia isn't a country Sweden can protect."
"If you have evidence, go ahead and start a war. And I don't think Russia can handle me either."
"..." As soon as Seo-woon finished speaking, six long, sharp energy beams shot out from his hands.
Seeing the exquisite energy, Arseni's expression turned determined.
Seo-woon watched as Arseni pulled a skull-engraved dagger from his pocket.
Arseni stabbed his own palm with the dagger.
"What a mess."
Just seeing the skull light floating behind him like an aura clearly indicated that he was using a special item. However, it was also clear that the knockback effect of that special item was no ordinary one.
-Beep! The second contract with the commander has been completed. For the next hour, your stats will be doubled. After another hour, all stats except the base 10 will be permanently lost.
This was a buff with a huge price tag, requiring him to give up all the stats he had accumulated so far.
Instead, Arseni's eyes sunk deeply as he used an item he'd hoped he'd never have to use in his entire life, an item that could instantly quadruple his normal stats.
For a player following the path of a knight, only two things matter: stats and skills. The thought of all the physical training he'd spent to increase his stats evaporating like a balloon wasn't a pleasant one.
"I will kill you. If I take your items, losing my stats will be a small price to pay." As soon as he finished speaking, Arseni charged forward, much faster than before.
-Hoo!
Seo-woon dodged his sword and extended his foot.
It was a minor move, but Arseni, having placed all his weight on his sword,
stumbled and lost his balance. Even before he even fought, he knew his opponent was many times stronger than he was. Thanks to his experience with the Cloyd game, he was well aware that his strength stats were insufficient compared to a knight's.
He had no intention of engaging in a power struggle with armored brute force. So, from the start, he fought using only techniques that gave him an advantage. Therefore, he avoided directly countering the Arseni's attacks, instead using his speed and clones to target its rear.
Avoiding the Arseni's strength and fighting using his own strengths was a natural choice.
-Knock! As Arseni stumbled, another blow landed on its side.
The power of the unarmed combat technique, which he hadn't used in a long time, had changed as Seo-woon grew stronger. Even with a light punch, the enemy, who boasted a massive body and strength, was thrown helplessly.
When both feet left the ground, no matter how high a person's stats,It's impossible to unleash his full power.
-Bang! When Arseni tried to twist its body as it flew sideways, Seo-woon's elbow hit its waist, and Arseni's entire body went numb, his mouth gaping open in pain.
This attack, which contained the essence of the stinging technique, pierced the thick armor he wore, delivering the full force of the blow.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
After being desperately attacked for over 30 minutes in the same manner, Arseni realized he couldn't escape Seo-woon. If he had aimed it at his head, Arseni would have been dead long ago. But the man was playing him like a football.
The intense blows left him with nothing to do but open his mouth wide and struggle in the air in pain.
His increased agility allowed him to see all of the man's attacks, but he had no way to counter them. He had no way to block the attacks, which knocked him backward as if by magic the moment they touched his body. None of his skills were effective, and the barriers he relied on crumbled like paper in the face of the monster's powerful energy. Desperation was evident in his eyes.
Seeing the look of defeat in his eyes, Seo-woon finally plunged his blood-stained sword into the monster's neck.
"Guh!"
Ki-chan, watching from nearby, shook his head as he clutched his
enemy's throat and bled to death.
"What a disgusting move."
He'd seen Seo-woon use this style of instilling despair in his opponent
before, when he defeated a pro-Chinese player.
Completely crushing his opponent's spirit and defeating them was a side Seo-woon never showed in Cloyd. He had a tendency to do so, especially when facing real enemies. Even when defeating Japanese players, he would corner them, break their spirit, and then finish them off.
Seo-woon watched until the very end as his opponent knelt on the ground, gasping for air, his throat in Seo-woon's grip.
Once his arsenal had completely died, Seo-woon began stripping him of his
belongings.
-Ting! All the items stored in the ring have been erased.
It was a pronouncement heard as Seo-woon pulled the ring from Arseni's hand. He wasn't after the items anyway, so he paid little attention.
Ki-chan frowned as he watched Seo-woon strip the man of all his belongings and separate his head from his body.
"Ugh. What good was that?"
"A warning."
The coldness in Seo-woon's terse reply sent a shiver down Ki-chan's spine. Seo-woon, clearly in a mood change, exuded an unapproachable charisma.
Back at the villa, Seo-woon looked at Boris, who was writhing with his teeth falling out.
"I'll ask you once. Where could Andrei be?" Boris weakly lifted his head at the sound of his phone ringing.
"Go to hell. You won't die easily..."
– Thud. His head fell to the ground before he could finish his sentence.
"How many safe houses did you say there were?" Ki-chan racked his brain and answered Seo-woon's question.
"According to the information we received from China, there are seven, including the one we just seized.
"Seven..." Seo-woon glanced at the clock and opened his mouth. "Let's go to the place you said you just captured."
Dawn was breaking when the two entered the city of St. Petersburg.
"Let's proceed quietly from here." Ki-chan nodded at Seo-woon's words and put his cloak back in his subspace.
Still in the dark alley, the two men, their hats pulled down low, stepped out onto the still-empty street.
* * * An hour had passed, and he was still thinking Arseni would return with Boris. Two hours had passed, and he was beginning to think he would never see Boris again.
And three hours later, Andrei was certain he had lost the two brothers who had been by his side his entire life. He didn't wait a minute. He left his room, smashed his cell phone, and removed the chip implanted in his forearm.
With a stern expression, he took off the clothes he usually wore and put on shabby clothes and a hat. He even pulled a beard from his pocket and pasted it on his face. His eyes were filled with murder as he headed out into the street.
"I'll find out who he is and kill his entire family." He had killed countless people, using their families as bait, but now, knowing how painful it was to lose one of his own flesh and blood, he felt no regrets or remorse for his life. He left Moscow in a rusty, rattling truck and headed for St. Petersburg. The safe house he had provided on the outskirts of the city was a place only three brothers, not even the government, knew about and had never used before.
He had provided the safe house himself, so there was no way he could sneak out. Hiding his burning anger behind expressionless eyes, he parked the car and entered a shabby apartment building. He climbed the narrow, elevator-less stairs and entered the hallway, his movements faltering for a moment.
All the apartments on this floor were supposed to be empty. He had bought them all himself, so no one was supposed to live on it. But there were footprints in the dusty hallway.
"Two people." Two sets of footprints.
The dust in the hallway was dust he had spread himself. The footprints led to the apartment where he had prepared the necessary supplies for an emergency.
Andrei jumped over the railing.
"Bang!" At that very moment, the door to his safehouse shattered, and two figures leaped over the railing and chased him.
Andrei, in his shabby clothes, and the other two men in black training fatigues and lowly pulled black hats, began the chase through the city. Seeing his enemy, clearly a skilled fighter, approaching him quickly, Andrei ran down the road and threw a parked car behind him.
"Boom!"
The car about to hit him was split cleanly in two by a blast of energy, and a fireball flying toward him exploded, splitting the car in two. Glancing at the two men rushing forward through the flames, Andrei accelerated his feet even faster. He relied on his lightness technique. Lightness technique and stealth.
Despite being a "drone ,"He chose to learn these two techniques instead of direct combat. In the heart of the port city of St. Petersburg, he threw everything at his disposal, finally landing on a human.
Seeing the cruel sight of him pulling out a grenade and throwing both together, Seo-woon quickly grabbed the thrown person and turned around.
"Bang!" Grenade fragments flew in all directions, shattering the hastily erected barrier. But modern weapons had their limits. Seeing the first barrier break and grenade fragments falling, Seo-woon carefully set the boy, who still looked like a child, down and continued the chase.
The boy stared blankly after the rapidly disappearing people, and his body finally began to tremble.
"Damn!" In fact, if he hadn't been a child, he wouldn't have even considered catching the thrown person. Since he'd caught the first person, it was clear the enemy would try to tie his feet the same way whenever they saw someone.
Seo-woon's prediction was spot on. Andrei headed towards the city center, where there were many tourists. He deliberately kept a certain distance between himself and the crowd to prevent the man from recklessly throwing people behind him.
"Shhh!" Chang!"
At that moment, the sword flying towards the Andrei's back broke its barrier with a single blow. "Shhh!" As more swords flew through the air, Andrei quickly shook his body and cast a spell behind it.
Although they were only low-level magic like fireballs, the explosions exploding in all directions in the sunlight naturally attracted the attention of everyone around.
"Boom!" Seo-woon's face contorted as he punched the fireball flying directly at him.
Before anyone realized what was happening, dozens of helicopters with cameras were hovering over the city. Sirens were blaring, evacuation orders were being issued, and armed troops had completely blocked off the area.
Despite this, many civilians remained in Isaakievsky Square, unable to evacuate, trembling in terror as they watched a spectacle they would never pay to see.
The explosion of the spell and the decapitation of Emperor Nicholas's equestrian statue, which fell to the ground, was terrifying.
Desperately escaping, Andrei was struck by a knife thrown by Seo-woon, grazing his Achilles tendon, and threw himself into the square where a large number of civilians had gathered. Using the civilians as shields, he fled desperately, hoping the national forces would come to rescue him.
-Only use defensive magic! Nothing else!
-I know! Even without Seo-woon's warning, Ki-chan wouldn't have been able to recklessly use magic in a place with so many civilians. After some fighting, he was finally cornered and jumped on a group of young students trembling in the corner.
Desperate, Seo-woon swiftly threw his sword at the children, who looked
like kindergarten children and were being protected by the arms of several female teachers.
-Pffft! Instead of wasting time blocking the dagger,he took the blow with his body and fell next to the children he was aiming for. Blood streamed from his lips, his mouth twisting.
"Aaaah!"
Just standing there caused the female teachers to scream.
-Whzzt! "Shut up!"
When Andrei pulled the dagger from his chest and shoulder, a red ball of flame appeared in his hand, and Seo-woon couldn't move.
"I won't die alone."
He couldn't understand what Andrei was saying, but he could tell what it was thinking by watching its movements.
-Are you ready? Ki-chan, who had moved out of Andrei's line of sight, responded to Seo-woon's telepathy message.
-It's coming, but since he's learned magic, he can throw a fireball as soon as he senses mana waves. -I'll try to stall it.
Make no mistake. They're just children.
-Yes! Seo-woon raised both hands in front of Andrei, pursed his lips, and pulled out his cell phone to translate. "Aren't you curious about your brothers' fate?"
"I know they're already dead." He spoke decisively, without the slightest hesitation. He seemed already convinced that both his brothers were dead. "But shouldn't we at least take their bodies? If we leave them there, they'll become food for wild animals."
Once again, Andrei opened his mouth with an unwavering gaze. "We never lived our lives thinking we would die a peaceful death. We were prepared for that."
"Really? That's what I wanted to tell them."
As soon as he finished translating, Seo-woon threw the two heads he'd
stored in his subspace at Andrei. Even he, completely unwavering, couldn't help but avert his gaze as his brothers' heads rolled across the square. His eyes filled with anger and sadness, Seo-woon sent a telepathic message. "Now!"
"Kraaaah!" A bolt of lightning crashed from the sky and struck the man directly on top of his head. The man screamed with electric shock, and just as he was about to throw the flames at the children, Seo-woon's hand slit his throat.
"Knock."
"Kiaaaah!" The female teachers helplessly covered the children's eyes and screamed. At that moment, gunshots rang out from all directions, and warnings to surrender came.
However, Seo-woon didn't even blink as he hung the heads of the three brothers on the equestrian statue in the square.
"Let's get out of here."
"Yes!" They could sense powerful individuals approaching from all directions, but it was impossible for them to stop those two men alone.
When they slipped out of the square and returned to the inn they first stayed at, not only Russia but the entire world was in turmoil. The moment they turned on the television in the old hotel, they saw the Russian President making an urgent statement.
"This incident is a clear act of terrorism by a foreign ability user targeting our country… The three people killed were ability users and innocent citizens of our country…
In short, a threat that they would come after them and make them pay for what they did." The two nodded in agreement with Karina's comment. "Let them say so if they can," Seo-woon said casually, sitting comfortably on the couch and drinking beer.
Karina looked at Seo-woon for a moment,then turned her gaze to the repeated presidential statement. "By the way, 'honest citizen'? This statement will be taken advantage of by many countries. Everyone knows they're assassins of the Russian government, and yet they have the nerve."
"We're done. Let's go back." Seo-woon nodded at Ki-chan's words. "Yes. I'm already craving kimchi stew."
Watching the two of them get up and talk casually, Karina opened her mouth with a weary expression. "If you leave now, you'll clearly attract suspicion." "Let them say so. If they have evidence, let them arrest us."
Just as she finished speaking, two people entered the room. Seo-woon and Ki-chan. Two people who looked exactly like them entered the room, smiled faintly, and disappeared with a bang.
"We've only been to public places with lots of CCTV, so we have a solid alibi. Let's go."
Seeing Seo-woon, who had arranged everything without her knowing, Karina nodded in surprise.
"Yeah… Let's go."
As they were about to board the private plane heading to the airport, men in black suits blocked their way.
"As you know, there was a terrorist attack in your country. It was a major incident in which innocent Russian citizens were killed, so foreigners with special abilities are prohibited from leaving the country until the investigation is complete." The man speaking continued to glare at Seo-woon, as if he had already identified the culprit.
"My alibi is solid. Step aside, I'm busy." "There's no need to translate. I speak Korean quite well." Seo-woon smiled slightly, seeing that he spoke clearly with a slight accent.
"The fact that you came this far means you've been watching me. You know that, right?
I don't recall committing any terrorist acts. I was just sightseeing."
"We'll find out when we investigate. It would be better for you to cooperate."
Karina stepped forward at that moment. "We are under no obligation to be investigated by the Russian authorities." The man pushed aside the ID card Karina held out without looking and replied. "Given the circumstances, we should investigate."
At a glance, there were twelve people with abilities comparable to the Blue or White Swords. While they seemed capable and tough, they were no match for Seo-woon.
"Hey. If you don't listen, we'll have to force your way through.
As I said, you have no authority to investigate us. And from what I see, the terrorist attack was carried out by those 'innocent citizens' of yours. They took hostages and threatened ordinary people. Shouldn't you be rewarding the foreigners who protected your citizens from those terrorists?" Seo-woon's
words crumpled the man's expression.
"The crime scene hasn't been released yet. How do you know that?"
"Ugh. Did you dream it?"
Seo-woon's bluntness caused the man's aura to intensify. At that moment, Seo-woon's eyes changed and were filled with madness.
Wheezy! With such a voice, the twelve men couldn't move even an inch
. ---_Thumb-thump.
As he walked lightly among the men, a rattling sound could be heard. As Seo-woon pushed through them, all twelve men collapsed, blood gushing out.
"Guh!" "This is self-defense, right?" Karina nodded in response to Seo-woon's question. "Yes. They had no right to touch us, yet they tried to detain us. Sweden will handle the rest. Get on the plane."
Not daring to stop Seo-woon, the man glared at the three figures and shouted. "This humiliation! I won't forget this! Don't think Russia will just stand by and do nothing…" The man couldn't finish his sentence when he saw Seo-woon walking towards him again.
"It doesn't matter whether you remember or not. That's why I hung those bastards' heads there, so you'll remember. But remaining silent is best for your country. When I return to this country, I will return as a true terrorist. I promise to make sure your government doesn't function properly. Make sure your superiors hear this. The next targets I'll go after will be the president
and the members of parliament who run this country."
No one else could hear Seo-woon's whispered words. After saying everything
he wanted to say to the man, Seo-woon turned and walked away with light steps. After the private jet they boarded took off into the sky, the man was able to stand up, his face pale.
< Episode 131. The Mad Dog's Hunt. (End) >