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chapter 40
Far away from the outer edge of the market.
From the warehouse district, a towering pillar of light shot into the sky.
And then came the tremor.
Rumble…
“What the hell is that?”
“Oh my gosh. Looks like some kind of clash broke out.”
“Let’s get out of here first. Who knows who’ll cause trouble next.”
“What’s the security force even doing! The whole place is in chaos!”
Merchants hurriedly packed up their stalls, and customers quickly walked away.
The dawdling security guards finally began to run around frantically.
They had only just realized that something was going terribly wrong.
Damn it…! What the hell are those Myung family bastards doing?!
They said we just had to close our eyes for a bit!
What do we do? If this gets reported upstairs and the Drug King finds out, we’re screwed for good!
Of course, the only reason the security force turned a blind eye to the shady business between the Myung family and Blue Dog was because they’d been bribed.
And since Korea was such a small market that neither the Drug King nor the higher-ups in the cartel paid it much mind, they thought they could get away with it.
But once a conflict broke out, it was a different story.
The higher-ups would hear about it.
And if their corruption was exposed in an internal investigation… they’d face execution. No, worse than execution.
The Drug King cherished his subordinates like family, but if anyone betrayed his trust, he would punish them mercilessly.
Whiiish! Whiiish!
That was why they needed to clean this up before a Watcher arrived…
Eek!
W-when did she get here…?!
W-was there a gate linked to this place from Mexico too…?
In the middle of the butcher district, where chaos had just erupted, stood Watcher Camila Duarte, who had been dispatched from headquarters.
Born to a South American father and a Korean mother, she was a mixed-blood.
She was also one of the “purebloods,” those who had been with the Drug King since his bottom days.
“I see! Oh, really? That’s rough. The Myung clan really is terrible, huh.”
Camila, her face glowing with South American vitality, soothed Han Hyun-soo while listening carefully to his rambling.
He was one of the few survivors rescued from the butcher district.
…This is a ruin.
What on earth happened here?
The security guards who arrived late swallowed nervously.
The traces left behind were far beyond what a mere scuffle could cause.
It was devastation that could only have been wrought by overwhelming firepower unleashed like a storm.
And given the number of gruesomely dead bodies, they could tell the perpetrator had been ruthlessly cruel.
“Yes, of course. Don’t worry too much. I understood everything you said, Director Han. I’ll do what I can so it’s taken into account. You trust me, right?”
Camila winked, then casually signaled her men to drag the survivors away.
She’d heard enough about the Myung clan coveting Chairman Pung’s goods. But there were inconsistencies, so she needed to confirm.
“W-Watcher…”
“Ah, you still had more than a month before returning, didn’t you? What brings you here so early?”
“Yeah. I was going to stop by Cancun and do some surfing since I was in Mexico anyway… but thanks to certain people, I had to rush through an emergency gate instead.”
“……!”
“Hold on. Let me have a smoke first.”
The security force had to sit in taut silence as Camila pulled a thick cigar from her inner pocket and lit it.
“Phew… I thought I’d die not being able to smoke for over thirty hours. I can breathe again. Hey, guys.”
Her sharp gaze shifted toward the guards.
“Just curious… smoking a cigar and stuffing your pockets with bribes, is that about the same? Is it really that hard to quit?”
The guards immediately prostrated themselves.
“S-sorry!”
“We’ll fix ourselves, Watcher!”
“Please, spare us—!”
But their pleas were cut short.
A red line flashed across their throats, and the next moment their heads were rolling across the ground.
Fwoosh!
Blood spurted like fountains.
Beneath it, threads glistened red.
The entire area had been filled with thin strands woven from magic power.
Camila Duarte, the “Arachne.”
Head of the Korean branch of the Black Market and Watcher of the Asia-Pacific.
She muttered coldly,
“If you wanted forgiveness, you shouldn’t have done it in the first place. Stupid heads deserve to fall.”
Gathering up her threads, Camila turned toward the outskirts of the market.
Thanks to her men who returned with her to Korea, the chaos had quickly subsided, but the warehouse district was still raging.
She also needed to find out what caused it.
“Ugh, when am I ever going to rest? I hate troublesome things. My back hurts too.”
With her foreign features, she imitated a Korean sigh.
“But if it’s the Myung guildmaster involved… tch. Better wrap this up before it gets messier.”
Swish!
Following the path of her magical threads, Camila quickly disappeared.
…Hyung.
A whisper tickled his ears.
Go Jin-woo thought the voice sounded a lot like Lee Hyun’s.
Like before the curse.
Like when he was still active as Jet…
Did I lose too much blood? I can’t focus at all.
He belatedly remembered why he was in this state.
Right… Hyun asked me to sell the stolen goods at Blue Dog, get the money, then head to the dungeon. But then the Myung clan showed up. And… I was tortured.
His memory was fuzzy from the dizziness.
Were his arms and legs still intact?
They must have been… right?
This won’t do. Rest for now.
Hearing Hyun’s weary sigh, Go Jin-woo sank back into deep slumber.
[You activate Footsteps of the Dusky One and slip swiftly through the darkness.]
“Haa…”
Lee Hyun looked bitterly at Jin-woo’s limp body.
Right after he detonated Yoon Ki-hoon in the middle of the Myung guild’s warehouse,
he’d used stealth to infiltrate, rescue the bloodied Jin-woo, and escape.
Thankfully, they hadn’t even bothered hiding him—just torturing him right there in the warehouse.
When Hyun first saw Jin-woo, his heart clenched painfully.
His killing intent had nearly shattered his stealth.
“They’ve made him a rag…”
“These wounds… they weren’t just punishing him for stealing. They were meant to amplify pain and fear. They were trying to extract something.”
Sao-jeong stopped Jin-woo’s bleeding with a curse seal, then frowned.
“A purpose, you mean? Like what?”
“Look here. These cuts are to increase sensitivity and instill terror. They weren’t just after retribution. They wanted something.”
Hyun’s eyes grew cold.
“You think they were digging for whoever’s behind him?”
“Possibly. But I think they were searching for something.”
“Searching… for something?”
And then it struck Hyun.
The fossil egg.
The one named [■Be■■ ■■■r’s Fossil].
He didn’t know its exact use, but Heo Se-woon had treasured it.
If the Myung guild was after that…
And if Jin-woo had endured all this without mentioning Hyun…
“…Dammit. Because of you… I’m like this…”
“!?”
Jin-woo muttered deliriously in his sleep.
His exhausted voice trembled.
“…So don’t… come… bastard… if you get hurt… I won’t be able to face Soo-chan…”
Then his voice faded again.
Sao-jeong checked his pulse and sighed.
“Looks like he drifted into a dream. He must not have slept properly under all that torture.”
Hyun stayed silent.
“Are you all right, Apostle?”
“No. I’m not all right.”
Behind his goblin mask, Hyun’s eyes were icy.
“…Idiot. It’s just a name—you should’ve just said it.”
He muttered a half-bitter complaint, then spoke to Sun Wukong and Sao-jeong.
“Please take care of him.”
Hyun set up disorientation curses around them, then stood up.
“Argh! My eyes!”
“My arm! My arm!!”
“It hurts… it hurts too much…”
The warehouse district had become hell.
Of the forty or so guild members gathered, thirty percent had been reduced to ash in the explosion.
The rest were pierced or severed by the bolts conjured from the White Tide, writhing in agony.
And worst of all…
[The area is afflicted with Blindness!]
[Pain Amplification is stacking!]
[Massive Blood Loss is stacking!]
[Poisonous Infection is stacking!]
…
The curse seals plastered across the warehouse district.
That was the terrifying part of Hyun’s third spell—White Tide.
The explosion left behind layers of curses.
Individually they were weak, but stacked together, they rivaled a great curse.
Then—
Tap!
Hyun struck the ground with his rune staff.
[You activate a new lightning spell using the Rune Staff of Stonehenge!]
Crackle!
Fragments of lightning floated in the air, weaving into a dozen chains.
Like harpoons, they bristled and rained down.
The result was carnage.
Thud! Crack!
“Guh!”
“Where’s it coming from—?!”
“Dammit, I can’t see! The sound’s all wro—Aagh!”
“Let go! Let me—ughk!”
“Spare m—”
The chains smashed heads one by one, slithering through tiny gaps in helmets and armor to pierce necks.
[Relic: Fiery Golden Eyes activates, increasing accuracy!]
Hyun fought exactly as when he’d hunted zombie monkeys with a magic gun while his mana circuits were frozen.
If armor blocked a kill, more chains came, leaving enemies to slowly wither in curses until death.
“Run!”
Those who fled were chased down faster by the chains.
Smash!
“Damn it! Show yourself!”
Those who resisted became easier prey.
No one escaped his grasp.
Like Sun Wukong in the Buddha’s palm—they were trapped.
Flaaash!
[Relic: Fiery Golden Eyes is overheating!]
[Trait: Cryogenic Body rapidly cools the relic. The Golden Eyes surpass their limit!]
[Additional functions unlocked: expanded cognitive area, greater data processing.]
…
[Your Rank has increased!]
…
[Transmission: Goblin Dance erupts chaotically!]
…
“Brother, don’t you think our Apostle’s getting a little too fired up? I didn’t know Golden Eyes were this incredible…”
Sao-jeong looked stunned.
“Golden Eyes? Oh, they’re amazing. But the real monster is him.”
“…Brother.”
“He’s restructuring every skill and relic around the Golden Eyes. Right now, he’s angrier than anyone alive—but also colder than anyone alive. Look at that.”
Just then, a storm erupted at the center of the ruined warehouse, blowing away the lightning chains.
Rumble!
There stood Heo Jae-woon.
Half-charred, his body mangled from the White Tide.
[Transmission: Rat of Deokdae Valley searches its enemy with bitter resentment!]
“There you are! I’ll never forgive you!!”
With a face twisted like a demon’s, he stomped toward Hyun.
Whoosh—!
But Hyun simply aimed his staff at him, unflustered.
“Does that look like the work of a novice at curses to you?”
“…Not a chance.”
Sao-jeong thought Wukong’s calm, almost excited tone reflected Hyun perfectly.
They were alike.
Hyun raised his staff high, as if Jae-woon wasn’t even worth speaking to.
“I used to think he was purely a warrior. But maybe his real gift is… instinct.”
“Instinct?”
“Yes. The intuition to seize victory no matter the job, no matter the style of battle. He instinctively knows how to push relics to their absolute limit—like tying Golden Eyes not just to sight, but to cognition itself. That’s why he can maximize the Arhat’s form.”
Above Hyun, the lightning chains twisted like giant serpents, weaving into a dragon.
“He even knows how to instinctively combine curse seals so his skills manifest differently—like a warrior when needed, like a sorcerer when needed.”
“…!”
“Every new tool just expands his instinct further. His sense for victory grows stronger each time. I’ve never seen a talent like his.”
A talent that transcended class, that burned only for victory.
Unbroken by humiliation or disadvantage, fighting endlessly toward his goal.
For Hyun, there was no need to distinguish warrior from mage.
All were tools for victory.
Such innate ability could only be called one thing—
Genius.
Sao-jeong swallowed hard.
In all his centuries as an immortal, he had seen only one person worthy of that title.
At that moment—
The massive chains fused into a thunderbolt and fell upon Jae-woon’s head.
Crash!
Rumble!
“What started as a cover identity as a sorcerer… might become his greatest weapon.”
Wukong stroked his chin, lips curling.
“Maybe we should throw him not just Zeus’s and Shiva’s arts, but the rest of the chief gods’ too. Don’t you wonder what kind of monster would be born?”
The lightning shattered Jae-woon’s mana instantly, blasting him across the ground.
“Ghk…!”
One strike. That was all it took to crush his limbs.
Isn’t that… exactly what describes Senior?
Sao-jeong looked back and forth between Hyun and Wukong, suppressing his thoughts.
“But it’s not quite enough. Just one more strike.”
As Sao-jeong was about to ask what was missing—
Crackle—!
The lightning split into dozens of chains again, piercing Jae-woon’s limbs and torso.
The stray sparks spawned smaller bolts, pounding the ground relentlessly.
Boom!
Rumble…
Now nothing remained in the warehouse district—not even intact corpses.
“Impossible… How…? Who the hell are you…!”
Charred black, missing an arm, his face unrecognizable, Jae-woon still stood.
Bound tightly by lightning chains, dangling like a puppet on strings.
Staring at the silent Hyun, he forced his ruined throat to scream.
It was arrogance.
As if Hyun’s silence mocked him—
that he wasn’t even worth showing a face or voice to.
Was this Jin-woo’s backer? Or something else?
He wanted an answer before death.
But—
Rumble!
[The Wrath of the Duokshini falls!]
The massed lightning hammered down like a giant mallet, smashing Jae-woon’s skull to pieces.
Smash!!
