Chapter 442: Archangel’s Tear (4)

A terrifying speed that even Lennok found hard to ignore.

Tucker, whose shoulder was pierced, tumbled helplessly across the floor.

Immediately after, hundreds of ice shards exploded in mid-air, raining down everywhere.

Thump-thump-thump!!!

“Hide behind the tollbooth!!”

“No, I can’t dodge… Cough!!”

Unlike Olga, who recoiled in terror, Rick couldn’t move properly and was helplessly impaled by the ice shards.

His body, presumably overexerted while breaching the vault’s security, perished without even being able to use illusion magic.

Olga cursed and quickly dragged the convulsing Tucker backward, retreating.

Lennok’s eyes gleamed as he watched her seemingly struggling form.

‘Both Rick and Olga overexerted themselves. Was getting into the vault that difficult?’

Even if Rick, the illusionist, struggled, Olga was a Saint-rank physical ability user. She was undeniably strong, capable of fending for herself in any situation. If even she found it difficult to fend off Soryu’s attack while dragging Tucker, there must have been a significant reason.

However, instead of dwelling on that fact, Lennok drew out his mana threads and immediately shifted his gaze.

Whoosh!!

As soon as he turned his eyes, the sight of cold ice fragments filled his vision.

They crashed into the densely woven mana threads, furiously spun, and then fell to his feet.

At the same moment the fragments hit the ground, Soryu instantly appeared before Lennok.

With a coldly hardened face, he intently scrutinized Lennok’s masked face right in front of him.

“……”

Lennok wasn’t particularly surprised, even as he met Soryu’s cold gaze.

From the start, the claim of hiding the Archangel’s Tear was a lie. It was a bluff to sway Je-byeok’s thoughts between his grandson and the elixir.

It was only natural that Soryu, who prattled about finding the Archangel’s Tear that Lennok hadn’t hidden, wasn’t on anyone’s side.

He hadn’t expected a high-ranking executive of Pandemonium to try to kill him as soon as he appeared, but his objective remained unchanged.

Soryu stared at Lennok for a moment before speaking.

“You’re calm. Do you already know about us?”

“More than the guy you just tried to kill.”

At Lennok’s indifferent reply, Soryu’s lips twisted faintly.

“The plan has changed. We intend to recover the Archangel’s Tear, so hand it over.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lennok remained unshaken by Soryu’s words, giving a cold sneer in return.

“You’re the one who found and acquired the elixir I hid, aren’t you? I’ve already returned the elixir, so what else do you want me to hand over?”

“……”

Only then did Soryu’s expression lose its smile as he realized why Lennok was speaking in such an inscrutable manner.

Lennok wasn’t speaking to Soryu, who stood before him.

He was openly informing the city’s ruler, the old monster who was still haughtily standing in the smoke and listening to every word of this conversation, that fact.

His target was not himself, but only Soryu, who had deceived him and launched an attack.

[Blink]

Lennok’s form vanished from the spot.

Unlike Rick and Tucker, who saw it with their own eyes but couldn’t grasp its true nature, Soryu immediately understood it was a teleportation spell that leaped through space.

But the moment he realized, a flash erupted from where Lennok had vanished.

CRASHHH!!

A fist shot out from amidst the fluttering violet dragon robe, sweeping the surroundings as a massive shockwave.

An 8-level physical ability user, even if his vitality had waned considerably due to his deteriorating health.

To perceive, counter, or evade that power and speed was not something permitted to ordinary humans.

It was the privilege of those who had become or surpassed superhumans.

Amidst the storm of light that swept forth from Je-byeok’s slow, deliberate punches, Soryu moved unhesitatingly.

He spun his body wildly against the cross-cutting blows, forming hand seals with both hands without pause.

Simultaneously, the breath that escaped Soryu’s lips froze coldly, beginning to encase Je-byeok’s arm in ice.

CRACKLE!!!

“With a paltry trick like this….”

Je-byeok clenched his fist, and the ice shattered, grabbing Soryu by the scruff of his neck.

“Were you trying to steal in my city!!”

SWOOSH!!

At that moment, a flash of light followed Je-byeok’s arm, binding Soryu’s body and throwing him over his shoulder.

The dull yellow magical light traced a blunt arc, slamming Soryu’s seized body headfirst into the ground.

CRACKLE!!!

The impact caused the road to crack as if an earthquake had struck, and fissures spread for hundreds of meters in all directions.

“Kyaaaahk!!”

“Save me, save me!!”

Amidst this chaos, citizens’ screams and prayers for salvation could be heard from somewhere.

Soryu’s form was nowhere to be seen in the middle of the shattered road; only a soaking wet wooden box remained.

The moment Je-byeok turned his head and stretched out his wrist to snatch it.

CRACKLE!!

The water within the soaking wet wooden box immediately froze, instantly transforming into Soryu’s form.

Was it ice in human form, or a human made of ice?

Only then did Je-byeok, realizing his opponent was no ordinary being, faintly furrow his brow.

“You….”

“You are strong, Yanikus Barbaria. I see why the doctor said there was no need to touch you yet.”

As he twisted his neck back into place with an expressionless face, a thick chill flowed from within.

“I thought you were an old leader whose vitality had waned, but you seem to have preserved much more strength than I thought. You’re more cautious than known. The Kaiushyu subversion plan will need to be reevaluated.”

He was neither an ordinary superhuman nor an ordinary sorcerer.

Soryu, at the moment his body was shattered by the previous attack, had turned into soaking wet water, then reassembled as if freezing solid again.

If so, the ice barrier that had initially blocked Je-byeok’s attack must have been….

‘Part of his body.’

That also explained why the ice fragments that suddenly flew at them possessed an abnormally high speed.

If the ice composing Soryu’s body was something closer to a unique ability than freezing spells or magic.

As Lennok thought this, using Blink to hide behind the tollbooth, Tucker, clutching his shoulder, spoke with difficulty.

“We, we have to run… He appeared because he thought the plan failed…!! He’s not here to help us, but to clean up everything and resolve the situation…!!”

“That would be it.”

The Archangel’s Tear artifact was a treasure so precious that even from their perspective, they couldn’t just stand by.

Therefore, it wasn’t strange for a high-ranking executive of Pandemonium to act directly, separate from assembling a team using Hylaea.

However, Lennok kept wondering why it was at this specific moment.

If they had intended to use the operation itself as bait to steal the elixir, there would have been many better times.

Even as he pondered, the battle between the two superhumans continued.

CRASHHH!!

Je-byeok pressed the attack, and Soryu countered.

CRUNCH!!!

His body was relentlessly battered, melting into water, then freezing and restoring itself.

Even against a dying 8-level physical ability user, Soryu’s capabilities alone were on a fundamentally different level for a one-on-one battle.

Je-byeok deflected all the cold fragments Soryu spewed forth without even using much magic, simply by redirecting the force.

Conversely, he continuously crushed Soryu’s body and melted the ice fragments.

BOOM!!

Soryu, half-melted and sliding, recomposed his body and muttered with an expressionless face.

“……Alone, I can’t do this. Come out.”

“Are you out of your mind, you freak!! What ally would help you in this situation…!!”

FLASHH!!

At that moment, a brilliant light erupted beside the two people. Je-byeok abruptly turned his head.

“Victor, what are you doing!! You know the way…!! Hurry and get out of Kaiushyu, hide somewhere Hylaea’s gaze can’t reach…!!”

“Oh, that’s a familiar face, isn’t it?”

Someone stepped out from behind Tucker, who was desperately clinging to Lennok’s pants leg.

A cold, sharp face like a snake. And a body separately trained and hardened.

The young man, who had suddenly emerged from behind the two, gripped Tucker and Olga by their hair and lifted them straight up.

“I’ve definitely seen them somewhere~ Where was it again~”

“G-gah…!! You, you bastard, what in the world are you doing…!!”

“Let me go, let me go…!! Now is not the time for us to-!!”

Tucker desperately turned his head and shouted, then his mouth dropped open on the spot.

“J-Jaun… sir?”

“Hmm, so you know that name?”

The young man smiled faintly, then instantly wiped the smile from his face and stood up.

“It was a useless connection.”

CRACK!

As the young man, called Jaun, released Tucker and Olga’s hair, both their heads hit the ground and shattered.

Like fragile glass beads breaking, they instantly crumbled the moment they fell from Jaun’s hand.

Brain matter and clumps of blood spurted out, forming sticky masses that scattered.

But Lennok was too focused on the identity of the newly appeared opponent to pay attention to that.

Jaun Audis. No, now it was Ermont, the black wizard who had taken over that body and settled in it.

The black wizard who had lived for hundreds of years and parted ways in the Hanghasa Labyrinth was now standing beside Pandemonium.

The reason Tucker died without being able to say anything was likely because he, a former member of the terrorist organization Falcione, mistook Ermont for the real Jaun Audis.

Ermont brushed his hands together, then smiled broadly and turned to Lennok.

“Are you also a friend who was forcibly dragged into Pandemonium~?”

“……”

‘Forcibly?’

When Lennok didn’t reply, Ermont nodded instead.

“Good. It seems Soryu deliberately left you alive, so let’s try to work together, as we’re in the same situation.”

“Do what?”

At Lennok’s question, Ermont chuckled.

At the same time, dozens of gems simultaneously shot out from Ermont’s fingers, and a pitch-black whirlwind writhed at his feet.

Ermont, who had completely taken over Jaun’s body, was already wielding both gem-based spells and black magic simultaneously.

SWISH!!

Ermont’s form, which vanished as if spinning on the spot, instantly reappeared behind Je-byeok.

Almost simultaneously, Je-byeok twisted his body to evade the dark magic, then stomped his foot down, unleashing a blinding burst of magical light on the ground.

“Not yet.”

Ermont, who had already blocked all the ground fissures where the magical light erupted with pitch-black magic, raised a gem.

“Looking at your martial arts, it’s the Grip-Hand of the Southern Hollows!! I can’t believe that crude pugilism still exists!!”

“Silence!!”

“Yes!!”

At the same time, some of the gems clutched in Ermont’s hand scattered.

Some lodged directly into Je-byeok’s body and exploded, while others, conversely, buried themselves into Soryu’s body and melted.

Je-byeok’s violet dragon robe was torn in places, and his expression contorted, while Soryu, conversely, exhaled comfortably.

“Four healing types, three dispelling types. Good, the restraint has loosened. As always, you’re useful.”

“I told you I’m not a tool!!”

CRASHHH!!

Annoyed, yet Ermont and Soryu rapidly pressed their attack on Je-byeok.

From the front, Ermont unleashed a barrage of gem spells and black magic, creating a wall of firepower, while Soryu relentlessly burrowed into the gaps where magic exploded.

Even as his entire body melted and shattered from the impact and heat, Soryu’s expression remained utterly cold.

Even as he melted and regenerated his limbs like toys, he was gauging his limits with icy precision.

Giant beasts summoned by gem magic slammed their bodies against the front, and black magic erupting from below coalesced, piercing sharp spikes through the shadows.

Soryu dashed through these obstacles, sliding forward relentlessly towards Je-byeok.

He folded and unfolded his hand, and a chilling blade of ice materialized within his grasp, then vanished as if leaping through space.

FLICKER!!

Instant acceleration using crystal explosion.

It was clear he had mastered the attribute of freezing, beyond merely having a body composed of ice.

Lennok, who had once constructed an Ice Domain himself, watched Soryu’s attribute utilization with interest.

CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE!!!

Ice fragments, black magic, gem light, and Je-byeok’s outstretched fist interwove, exploding incessantly.

The ceaseless offense and defense of superhumans, maintaining a precarious balance as if about to shatter at any moment.

But Lennok had no intention of watching this battle for long.

He fiddled with the old wooden box tucked inside his jacket, which he hadn’t let go of for a moment.

“……!!!!”

Even while exchanging blows in split seconds, Je-byeok, recognizing the wooden box’s presence, sharply turned his head, spotted the box in Lennok’s hand, and swung his arm.

“Give it to me!!!”

WHOOSH!!

As Je-byeok stretched out his hand, an invisible force surged like a wildfire, engulfing Lennok.

The moment Lennok’s body vanished from the spot via Blink, Je-byeok appeared in his place as if swapped, stomping down on the ground.

CRASHHH!!

“I felt no sense of distance at all!”

“Could it be…!!”

The complexions of the other three people changed entirely as they realized Lennok had leaped through space amidst the scattering asphalt fragments.

A special ability user who could freely store and retrieve the wooden box, and possessed mobility capable of easily evading the attacks of an Extreme-level ability user.

If he was a skilled individual willing to participate in Pandemonium’s operation despite being so reluctant to reveal his face that he wore a mask.

“A spatial magic user!! In that case!!”

Apart from monsters who reached 8th level and consequently interfered with space-time, spatial mages who could directly manipulate space were incredibly rare.

This was because the spell systems that directly handled space were extremely secretive and inefficient, taught only to those who were innately gifted.

Nevertheless, in a world with billions of people, it was certain that someone would eventually obtain that secret technique.

Ermont and Soryu, convinced that Lennok was a spatial special ability user, moved simultaneously.

CRASH!!

“Ugh…!!”

They left Lennok to escape with the artifact, dedicating all their strength to attacking Je-byeok.

If Lennok ran off with the artifact, Je-byeok, obsessed with it, would be forced to pursue him.

The two only needed to keep pummeling the defenseless Je-byeok, putting him in a dilemma.

CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!!!

Je-byeok instantly blurred and vanished from the spot, chasing after Lennok, then twisted his waist and transformed into a massive flash of light.

Je-byeok’s monstrous strength instantly caught up to the distance created by Blink, crushing the space itself.

But at a point where there seemed to be no escape, Lennok’s body suddenly tilted as if being pulled somewhere.

SCREECH…!!

At the same time, the masked mage sped across the city’s outer buildings, ricocheting and sliding.

Numerous mana threads, which had been hanging all over the outer tollgate, were now rapidly pushing Lennok’s body out of the city.

When Lennok’s body accelerated beyond what he could withstand, or when Je-byeok caught up, he would subtly use Blink to reduce his momentum and create distance, constantly fleeing.

Meanwhile, he would toss the wooden box he held, pull it back with mana threads, and even trick and manipulate the old monster’s gaze.

BANG!!

“You worm…!!”

Je-byeok’s face turned bright red when he saw the wooden box, which had bounced from Lennok’s embrace, vanish and reappear in his hand.

Ermont threw two gems above his head, clicking his tongue.

“Hmph, honestly…”

Just as Ermont used his gem spells, the masked mage perfectly timed throwing the wooden box, distracting Je-byeok and allowing the attack to land.

The light from the gems that burst above his head turned into sharp needles, piercing Je-byeok’s skin.

Yanikus Barbaria stumbled, showing signs of pain.

The mage’s reaction was as if he knew exactly when Ermont would attack and when he needed to appear to distract Je-byeok’s attention.

It was as if he was manipulating the three magic-wielders present from an unseen location.

Soryu seemed to feel it too, as he dashed towards Je-byeok, his gaze fixed on where the masked mage would appear.

Lennok, holding the wooden box, concealed his presence and moved to the city outskirts.

Since the initial battle zone was near the outer ring road, it wasn’t difficult to cross the city’s boundary.

From here, an open field with no significant obstacles, it would be difficult to evade Je-byeok’s senses with mere camouflage magic and minor stealth tricks.

The moment Lennok appeared beyond the dusty, windswept plains, Je-byeok, who had pursued him as if waiting, slammed his fist down.

CRASHHH!!

His twisting, rotating arm turned into a pillar of light with a blinding white flash.

The single punch that shattered the entire ground descended, pushing away all the dust on the plains with a powerful shockwave.

WHOOSH!!!

In the crushed center of the field, where the ground itself had sunken in.

A voice resonated from the spot where such immense pressure had fallen that a human body would struggle to maintain its form.

“You must be in such a hurry you can’t see straight.”

“Hmph…!!”

A sigh escaped Je-byeok’s lips as he stood up.

Even if he tried not to show it, the beads of sweat trickling down his forehead indirectly showed how exhausted he was.

Ermont and Soryu’s attacks, which were inevitably allowed during his pursuit of Lennok outside the city, had taken a considerable toll on Je-byeok’s tough body.

From the moment he forcibly tried to stop Lennok, he was already overexerting himself.

Lennok walked out from behind Je-byeok, shaking the wooden box in his hand.

“For a powerful figure like you to be toyed with like a child by a mere artifact… that must mean you’re psychologically cornered.”

“You insolent whelp, do you dare insult me…!!”

“Don’t rush. There’s no one on this plain to look up to you anymore. Let’s be frank.”

Lennok said this, adjusting his mask and glancing behind him.

“It seems everyone who was meant to come has arrived.”

Thud, thud!!

At his words, Soryu and Ermont appeared from both sides of the plain, dragging countless bodies behind them.

“Ugh, ugh…!!”

They all appeared to be Kaiushyu superhumans who had rushed at them.

But not a single piece of their equipment or weapons was intact.

While pursuing and attacking Je-byeok, the two had killed every single superhuman who tried to stop them throughout the city.

“G-Grandfather…!!”

Soryu, who had also brought Pillar, frozen solid with his hands and feet bound together, tossed him down and his eyes gleamed sharply.

Not at Je-byeok, who stood at the center of their triangular formation, but at Lennok, who occupied its apex.

“Who are you?”