Chapter 129:
Tang!
A few seconds later, the lid of the box opened. What jumped out from inside was a clown with a funny face, and when it appeared, Mr. Heo suddenly collapsed.
A complete fainting that even the brainwashing skill couldn’t bring back. Seeing this, Su Yehwi shouted loudly in the direction from which the box had rolled in.
“Who are you!”
Then the first words were heard from outside.
“..It’s a [Surprise Box!] that I’ve even enhanced, and you’re holding up against it, huh?”
“….”
“Moreover, why are there so few guards around? Do you think it’d be easy to track if there were more people?”
After that, the iron door swung wide open, and someone came inside. It was a blonde man with a sharp impression, like a viper. His face looked quite familiar.
“Kim Kiryeo.”It didn’t take long for him to recognize him.
The guy was the one who had constantly interfered with the plans of the Rakshasa Temple. In other words, wasn’t he the grade faker who had terrified Pyo Nagil…!
‘It’s amazing.’
He had an astonishing level of disguise ability. It was so remarkable that even he, with his sensitive senses, couldn’t detect the opponent’s approach at all.
‘Pyo Nagil could have easily mistaken him for an F-Class. No, his presence was so faint that it was almost as if he didn’t exist at all, like a bug by the roadside!’
If he can hide his magical power so thoroughly, he must be extraordinary. Su Yehwi asked in a wary tone.
“What brings you all the way here?”
Then the blonde man picked up the red box from the floor and said.
“That’s… what I’m curious about.”
Although it was hardly a satisfactory answer.
“Did you say your name was Yehwi? Su Yehwi, let me ask you one thing. What on earth is your intention in running a temple like this?”
“What?”
“I could understand if it was for money. But in the end, what you’re doing with your followers is ultimately terrorism.”
“….”
“Why are you so desperate to kill your own people?”
Kim Kiryeo fiddled with the recovered box and continued writing sentences, and the leader of the Rakshasa temple who heard this spoke with authority.
“….Let’s just say I did what needed to be done.”
Su Yehwi genuinely believed himself to be a messianic figure.
“I have the right to stand above others. Otherwise, the heavens wouldn’t have granted me such great power.”
“….”
“The ability to change the thoughts of others… Isn’t this the will of the world, asking me to guide the fallen to the right path?”
“….”
“So I must also fulfill my duty. Before the fools ruin the fertile land.”
This is all the will of God! Kiryeo quietly watched Su Yehwi as he spoke those words, then slowly shook his head.
“Uhm, I get it. You can stop explaining now. I shouldn’t have bothered talking to a madman.”
However, Su Yehwi looked at his opponent’s attitude with pity.
‘How could a criminal who can’t even receive revelation understand? Those people would point fingers at Yahweh’s Ark…’
Since their perspectives were different, they couldn’t even communicate.
“Kim Kiryeo. Even so, I’ll personally give you the last sermon since you’ve come this far.”
At that moment, Su Yehwi began to speak softly, as if he desperately wanted to help Kiryeo understand.
The skill of [brainwashing] that makes others act according to his own thoughts. Su Yehwi intended to use this ability to correct the disordered behaviors of humanity…
“Haha.”
The blonde S-rank immediately burst into laughter after hearing this. It was a rather peculiar form of laughter, with a stiff expression and only his mouth open.
“The right to stand above others… Well, there was a time when I thought similarly.”
Ssk.
Kiryeo, with his hands behind his back, spoke in a calm tone as if recalling old memories.
“Right. I can understand your intentions to some extent, Su Yehwi.”
“Huh?”
“I am the most superior being in this world, and those lesser beings should rightfully be ruled over. There was indeed a time when I thought like that.”
“….”
“When you have power, it’s easy to look down on those around you.”
But somehow, as the sentence continued, he became more and more strange.
“…But do you know what happened to me in the end?”
The snake-eyed man continued to stare blankly into the air. No matter how long it passed, he never elaborated on the story that followed. However, it was clear that he was mocking him. Kim Kiryeo seems to have used his past as an example to deny the ideology of the cult.
“You’re so good at talking nonsense.”
“Yehwi, listen seriously. As someone who’s been through life, I’m telling you that living like this will lead to serious trouble. Really.”
Su Yehwi decided to let the arrogant hunter experience his power. In fact, his ability had already been activated the moment the opponent stepped into the warehouse.
[Brainwashing].
This skill is a technique that increases exponentially the longer you are exposed to the ability. And the closer the distance between them, the more powerful it becomes.
‘I guess that’s enough.’
Su Yehwi strongly instilled the idea in front of the hunter that ‘one must lower their stance before the apostle of the Rakshasa Temple.’ It was a forced command through brainwashing.
“….”
But strangely, even with the skill in use, there was no reaction. The blonde man stood tall, with his hands in the pockets of his coat. The height difference between the two was quite significant, to the point where Kiryeo, standing upright, seemed to be looking down at him with a disdainful gaze.
‘What is this?’
Su Yehwi couldn’t believe this sight and poured more magical power into it. He had never considered that the [Brainwashing] would fail. Because he was a talent chosen by God.
To be more precise, he was on the same level as that man…
“Are you curious why the skill isn’t working even though we’re both S-ranks?”
“!!”
At that moment, Kiryeo, who had been silent until now, broke the silence.
“You….”
According to someone’s statement, the ruler of the Rakshasa Temple was a figure whose magical power far exceeded the A-rank level. In other words, contrary to what was commonly known, the true hidden S-rank was here; Su Yehwi was, in fact, the real fourth S-rank of Korea!
But does it even matter at this point to determine who is the real one? Whether they’re S-rank or not, the blonde hunter here could completely ignore all mental state abnormalities.
“By the way, you’ve accumulated quite a few cores in the back. Are you planning to take over the country later with them? Turning all the people into puppets? Something like that?”
An irreversible difference in compatibility. He continued to speak leisurely, guessing why Su Yehwi was gathering magical energy sources.
“But that’s not going to be easy. As you can see, there are always guys like me who stand out.”
“Is this your awakening ability, Kim Kiryeo?”
“Think whatever you like.”
Even at this moment, Su Yehwi continued to try to brainwash him, but the man didn’t even bow his head as if he was mocking the sorcerer’s efforts.
‘It can’t be.’
How, how could this even be possible? Su Yehwi was an awakened one who had a good sense of his own capabilities. He was confident that with his overflowing magical power, he could bring any S-rank to their knees. At least, that’s what he had believed based on his research so far.
But how could this variable occur now?
‘What on earth is this guy?’
Su Yehwi glared at the S-rank with a look of disbelief.
‘What is it about you that keeps getting in my way like this?’
But all he received in return was the opponent’s cold gaze. As the brainwashing failed, Su Yehwi couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
Can’t he just use another method if his main skill doesn’t work? In fact, such attempts were futile in a battle against a high-ranked awakened one. This was a persistent problem among awakened beings on Earth. Magic from other elements obtained through skill stones generally had significantly lower efficiency compared to the natural abilities of the awakened.
‘I only have the [Water Ball] skill for disguising my identity. There’s no way I could defeat an S-rank with such a weak skill…!’
It’s impossible to replace the main skill with a secondary skill that produces the firepower of a C-rank at best. From Su Yehwi’s perspective, the failure of the brainwashing was a hopeless problem.
‘W, wait.’
However…after he thought about it, something felt off. That hunter had clearly blocked his brainwashing, yet he wasn’t rushing in to attack.
“Perhaps…”
Su Yehwi pondered for a moment before carefully asking a question.
“Is there something you want from me?”
Looking at how he came all this way and stayed still like that, did Kim Kiryeo want to talk?
“Is it money, or perhaps these cores…?”
Su Yehwi tried to avoid the battle by persuading the S-rank with wealth or resources.
But it was all in vain. Kiryeo was an F-rank awakener whose combat power was comparable to the dead rats scattered on the floor. There was no way he would have come here to fight directly.
“Cores? Well.”
He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out his cellphone. Then he said,
“I’ve already got the money covered for now. What I really wanted, I’ve already obtained.”
“You obtained it?”
“Su Yehwi, you’ve set up a barrier here that meticulously blocks tracking skills. Shouldn’t you have been more cautious about how you hid your own body?”
What came into Su Yehwi’s view next was the screen of Kiryeo’s phone, which was held directly in front of him. Displayed on the screen was none other than a map of the surrounding area.
In short.
“GPS.”
Kiryeo was showing the location tracking app installed on his phone.
“There’s already a good tracking method on Earth.”
And at that moment, a strange flow of magical energy suddenly emerged from the high windows of the factory. The overwhelming sensation felt as if an immense mass of smoke was rushing in uncontrollably. Could it be…?
‘The magical power of a high-level awakened person!’
-Boom!
As soon as he noticed the strange phenomenon, all the windows shattered into pieces, and someone flew in violently from the shattered windows.
Thud, thud.
Beyond the shattering glass, a striking woman leaped from the back of a massive white bird. The awakened one, with her characteristic curly hair dyed in magenta color, greeted him gently, brushing away the debris that fell on her pretty cheek.
“Oh my.”
The guild leader of the Korean Magic Tower.
“I’m not late, am I?”
He didn’t expect Esther to suddenly appear!
‘Oh my! Why didn’t he attack right away? His goal must have been to buy time!’
Su Yehwi finally realized why Kiryeo had been so active in the conversation. That man hadn’t come here to fight; from the very beginning, he had been using him as a marker to send GPS coordinates to Esther.
‘Two S-class. No matter how much I am, it’s impossible to deal with them all at once.’
Swoosh.
Su Yehwi made a quick decision and took immediate action.
After retrieving the cores with the item box, he took out the necessary tools from it once again.
‘If I make use of my high-level equipment, I should be able to escape…!’
It took only four seconds to return the core, which was maintaining the barrier, to the storage box and retrieve the mobility item.
Whoosh.
Su Yehwi spread the black cloth he was holding onto the ground.
[The Underworld’s Blanket]
[Grade: Unique]
[Description: Like the touch of Hades that reached out to Demeter, anyone who comes into contact with its darkness is instantly transported to a distant location.]
[Additional Description: Quickly move to the location where the blanket was most recently spread.]
Then, a dark shadow that could swallow a person floated on the ground.
“Ugh?!”
But Kim Kiryeo didn’t miss it. In the first place, Kiryeo had risked his life to face the enemy in order to prevent this kind of thing.
Just as Su Yehwi was about to use his equipment, Kiryeo forcefully threw the substance he had hidden in his grasp toward the shadow. It looked like a bumpy red sphere, resembling a seed of a plant.
[Collapse Particle – α]
This was an item that the Rakshasa Temple had misused to close gates.
[Description: When attached, destroy one of the corresponding tools.]
In addition, its original role was to destroy the opponent’s equipment.
-Crack!
The ground shadow soon tore apart as several collapse particles attached to it.
“You Satanic devil!”
How could he not be angry when hundreds of millions of The Underworld’s Blanket were destroyed in an instant?
Su Yehwi cursed as he looked at the destroyed equipment. Meanwhile, the perpetrator of this destruction continued to speak calmly.
“Do you think I couldn’t dig into your research? I already figured out how the Rakshasa Temple closed the gate.”
“…!”
“So I stocked up on some before the ban on using the magic passage, in case you tried to escape.”
Ssshk.
Kim Kiryeo spread his hands and showed the items he had hidden in his pockets. In his palm were none other than six red orbs.
This was the biggest difference between the past and the present. Unlike the time when he had been helplessly kidnapped by the Rakshasa Temple, Kim Kiryeo now possessed a level of wealth and resources that was on an entirely different level.
“By the way, these collapse particles are no joke, huh? I found out that the gates producing them have long been discontinued.”
He looked at the magical tool in his hand. At the same time, a prominent vein began to throb in the man’s neck.
“Because of that, the entire achievement of conquering Mermaid Pass has completely turned into losses…”
He looked down at the brainwasher with his sharp sambaegan eyes. Although he was clearly an Awakener with no trace of magical power at all.
“Hey, Su Yehwi. Is that robe you’re wearing an item too?”
The apostle of the Rakshasa Temple couldn’t help but flinch at the pressure that the person gave off.