Chapter 305.

Yi Yeonjun was sitting at a table in the lobby . It was certainly the same Yi Yeonjun I saw through Spartan’s eyes .

At first, my thoughts stopped . If Yi Yeonjun was nearby or up to something suspicious, Spartan would have told me about it .

But as surprised as I was, I made sure to not stare at him for more than 3 seconds . Yi Yeonjun should know my face . It would be bad if he saw me here .

—Spartan, where are you .

I transmitted my thoughts to Spartan as I quickly climbed up the stairs .

—… .

Soon, Spartan’s thoughts returned . Right, he had been sleeping . I was a bit dumbfounded, but I quickly understood . Spartan’s stamina was fairly low, after all .

—Did you sleep well? You know, Yi Yeonjun is right here .

—…!

Spartan’s consciousness spiked up . He then gave an excuse, ‘I planned to chase him after a quick nap . I only slept six hours . ’

—Don’t worry about it . From now, just tell me if you’re going to sleep . Seeing Yi Yeonjun here startled me . Anyways, continue following him once you’re refreshed .

I ordered Spartan, who began to wash his face at a nearby lake . He would probably eat something before heading over .

“What are you doing over there?” Yoo Yeonha asked while leaning against the guardrail .

“Nothing . ”

I glanced at Yi Yeonjun one last time . He was sipping on alcohol, seemingly exchanging Mental Transmissions with Bell .

“Do you want to grab a drink? We don’t have much time . ” Yoo Yeonha asked again .

“No, it’s nothing, really . ” I shrugged and continued moving .

After arriving in room 302, Yoo Yeonha and I met two people who were waiting for us, Jin Sechan and Jin Seyeon .

“It’s been a while, Hajin-ssi . ”

Jin Seyeon greeted me with her unique gentle smile .

“Nice to meet you . We’ve seen each other before . I hope you remember me . ”

Next, Jin Sechan respectfully reached out with his hand . He was Yoo Yeonha’s secretary .

“Ah, yes, how can I forget . I’m still using the Desert Eagle you gave me . ”

I shook his hand, then took off my robe . Jin Seyeon took it and smoothly hung it on the hanger . Yoo Yeonha then sat at the head of the table and began the meeting .

“…Kuhum . ”

With a cough, she put on a serious expression .

“I’m sure you all know why we’re gathered here . ”

Yoo Yeonha projected a holographic video with her smartwatch . The video took place deep underground in first-person view . Faint lights hung from the ceiling, which were the only sources of light lighting the dark surroundings .

“The footage is taken by our agent . He infiltrated Pandemonium five years ago, disguising himself as a Djinn . ”

Koong— Koong— Koong—

Large rumbling rang out . The agent marched towards the source of the sound . Yoo Yeonha sped up this part of the footage to 16x speed until the agent arrived at the end of what seemed like a mine shaft .

“Here . ”

And at the end of the mine shaft was the item Yoo Yeonha wanted to get .

“This is the transcendental energy I dubbed, ‘Dimensional Entropy . ’”

Dozens of Djinns were surrounding a spherical ore emitting a dark-green glow .

—What are we going to do with this? The demons in the north are demanding it .

—…I’d hand it over to Terror before handing it to those bastards .

Yoo Yeonha then stopped the footage .

“As you can see, demons and Djinns aren’t getting along, or at least these demons in the north . Not only do demons look more grotesque, but they also seem to be serving a different devil . Furthermore, demons don’t have money . DP is distributed by demon merchants, who are different entities than normal demons . ”

A few months before Orden was defeated, ‘demons’ and ‘demon merchants’ appeared in the world . Although they both came from the Demon Realm, they were treated in completely different manners .

—I don’t know about that either . If we give this to Terror, who knows what he’ll do with it . Wouldn’t it be better to go with Wicked, who’s more moderate…?

—No .

The Djinn who seemed to be the leader shook his head .

Yoo Yeonha paused the footage again and explained, “By the way, that Djinn is Vicious . The original Vicious died and a new Djinn took his place . He is currently the lowest ranked member of the Nine Evils, but because he united several Djinn Circles, he has a powerful influence over this lawless zone . Now, keep watching . ”

Vicious spoke as soon as the footage resumed .

—This ore has enough power to destroy the balance of Djinn society . If it falls into the hands of demons, we will have no choice but to submit to them . But if it falls into Terror or Wicked’s hands, we don’t know what they’ll do with it . Now unfortunately, we can’t have it ourselves since we don’t have the strength to protect it or the means to utilize it .

At that moment, several system windows popped up in front of me .

===

[Information has been added due to witnessing a special setting change . ]

[Dimensional Entropy – clusters of condensed energy created when demons crossed over dimensions . ]

[Co-author’s opinion – using it properly will be of help to you . ]

===

‘Co-author’s opinion… He’s been talking more and more recently . Is it because the ending is approaching?’ I sighed and smiled . Regardless of the co-author’s intentions, I wanted it if it would be of help .

I had to prepare for the final arc thoroughly, no matter how slow I do it . That way, everyone could reach the proper ending .

—So instead, we will sell it to humans for money and artifacts . Oi, Licros!

When Vicious yelled the name ‘Licros’, the camera moved towards Vicious . That seemed to be the name of Yoo Yeonha’s agent .

—Go to Essence of the Strait . Tell them I, Vicious, will sell them a life-changing item .

With that, Yoo Yeonha stopped the video .

“That’s how this mission came about . You get the gist, right?”

Jin Seyeon and I both nodded .

Yoo Yeonha continued with her arms still crossed, “But that ore can’t be transferred through normal means . Because of its size, it is too noticeable and making contact with magic power causes it to explode . We determined we needed a special case and a special vehicle to move it . ”

Yoo Yeonha paused, and Jin Sechan stepped up . He put out a case on the table .

“This is a tilionium case . Lightning magic has been applied to it already . With the information we received from Vicious, we built it to withstand the Dimensional Entropy’s energy . ”

“Mm… so we’re going to put the ore in the case and transport it with the Dwarven Supercar?”

Yoo Yeonha shook her head at my question .

“The Dwarven Supercar operates using magic power . Even with the case protecting it, it still isn’t a hundred percent safe . We prepared another vehicle for this mission . We’ll go back to Korea on it . ”

“…Is there a reason you came personally? It’s a bit dangerous to return to Korea from here over land . ”

I was worried for Yoo Yeonha’s safety . She was only high-intermediate-rank grade-2 . Although her growth speed was quick given her age, it was still nowhere near geniuses like Chae Nayun or Kim Suho .

Yoo Yeonha stiffened her expression resolutely .

“This is my job, so I will do it . Plus, only the five of us can know about this . ”

‘Five of us… Ah, including the agent . ’ I thought .

“According to international law, ‘mysterious items transcending common sense’ have to be turned over to the Association . But knowing the corruption within the Association, we can’t let other people find out . ”

Jin Seyeon quickly replied to Yoo Yeonha, “I agree . Yeonha-ssi is far more trustworthy than the Association . ”

“…Huh? You really think so?” I asked . The Hero Association loved Jin Seyeon more than any other Hero .

Jin Seyeon answered with a bitter smile, “I’m very disappointed with the Hero Association because of the recent incident . Park Hanho, the Girl of Authority… the Association seems to have lost their founding principles . That’s why I decided to follow Yeonha-ssi . ”

“Ah… . ”

The Association kept the Girl of Authority’s kidnapping a secret . It wasn’t until Park Hanho’s betrayal that it was revealed to the world, causing a huge discussion . As the person who planned her abduction, it did sting my conscience a bit .

“Oh right, did Park Hanho’s daughter really come back to life?”

“Pardon? Ah, I don’t know that much…”

“No . ” Yoo Yeonha answered my question . “That girl isn’t Park Hanho’s real daughter . It was a chameleon humanoid monster who had Park Yeonhee’s brain transplanted . It could be argued, I guess, since the humanoid monster really believed she was Park Yeonhee . ”

“Ah… I see . Then, Yeonha-ssi, do you know what the Association will do about Senior Park Hanho…?” Jin Seyeon asked bitterly .

“Execution would be my guess . ”

The atmosphere turned grim at Yoo Yeonha’s words . Cold wind seeped in from the window . Blood and magic power were mixed in the air .

Chak, chak!

Yoo Yeonha clapped to lighten up the mood and the air . She spoke with a smile, “…Let’s stop talking and rest . We’ll have to wake up early tomorrow . ”

**

[Vicious’s Mine Shaft]

We went underground to Vicious’s mine shaft early in the morning . We weren’t here to sightsee, so we quickly moved . I carried a spatial pouch filled with 50 billion won and Jin Seyeon carried six high-rank artifacts, both of which would be traded for [Dimensional Entropy] .

“…Hand over the items and money first . ”

In a dark underground space, Vicious and his comrades stood before us . They showed no signs of compromise .

“50 billion won, cash . The artifacts will be given once we retrieve the item and leave the lawless zone . ”

Yoo Yeonha took the spatial pouch from me and threw it over to Vicious . One of his comrades checked the content of the pouch .

“50,000 won bills, 100,000 of them . It’s 50 billion won, alright . ”

“…Great, you know that us Djinns hate checks . ”

Yoo Yeonha smirked at Vicious’s words .

“The spatial pouch will be a gift . It’s a pinnacle-grade spatial pouch, so it’ll easily go for 3 billion won on the market . ”

The Djinn holding the spatial pouch flinched . He then glanced down at the spatial pouch in shock .

Vicious stared at Yoo Yeonha fixedly before taking a deep breath and nodding .

“Good . We’ll open the way . Follow me . ”

Vicious turned around first, and we followed after him .

Tak, tak . The path became narrower the more we walked . The soot in the air stuck to our skin . Even qi reinforcement was useless here .

“Haa… . ”

Yoo Yeonha’s breathing became rough . Jin Sechan looked at her with worry .

After about 5 minutes of walking…

“… . !”

All of a sudden, a fierce gust of magic power blew over . The magic power put heavy pressure on our bodies .

I held myself back from vomiting and walked over .

“It’s here . ” Vicious spoke .

We looked forward in a daze . Chwaaa… . A mysterious, spherical ore was pulsing with dark green magic power .

===

[Dimensional Entropy] [Durability 10/10]

—A transcendental stone condensed with the power of multiple dimensions .

—Will release magic power until its durability runs out .

===

“Take it . If you can, that is . ”

This time, I stepped up . With Aether, I grabbed the Dimensional Entropy . The ore was only the size of a baseball, but it weighed over a ton . Aether burned from the ore’s searing magic power .

“…Whew . ”

I carried the Dimensional Entropy over and put it inside the tilonium case . The case hugged the ore gently and sealed it inside .

The dark green color lighting the mine shaft immediately subsided, and the queasy feeling in my stomach disappeared .

“Oh? As expected of Essence of the Strait . That’s an interesting piece of equipment . Is it light?”

“It’s enchanted with weight reducing magic . ”

I picked up the case . Yoo Yeonha turned around without a word . She seemed to be in a hurry to leave .

Then again, most girls wouldn’t want to be in mine shafts .

Jin Sechan quickly followed her, and Jin Seyeon handed over the six artifacts she had with her .

“Here you go . ”

“Ohoho . Oi, Lilac! Appraise them . ”

“Go ahead, Hajin-ssi . I’ll finish the trade . ”

I took Jin Seyeon to her word and left the mine shaft . There were two identical cars waiting outside the mine shaft . They were made with adamantium, the strongest known metal in the modern world . The windows were jet-black . It was easy to see that the two sedans had the sturdiness of war tanks .

Tok, tok—

Knocks rang out from the car parked in the front .

I opened the passenger seat with the tilonium case in hand .

“Hm?”

The back seat was for Yoo Yeonha, but a man I didn’t know was sitting in the driver’s seat .

Seeing that I was standing in a daze, Yoo Yeonha explained .

“…You saw him in the video, right? This is that agent, Licros . I got a separate driver so you can focus on guarding the item . ”

Licros looked at me and nodded .

“Nice to meet you . ”

“Ah, yes, nice to meet you . ”

I greeted him back and sat down next to him .

Yoo Yeonha spoke, “We’ll leave once Jin Seyeon-ssi comes back . ”

Jin Sechan and Jin Seyeon would ride the other car, which was prepared just in case anything happened .

Soon, Jin Seyeon came out of the mine shaft and got on the driver’s seat of the other car . As Jin Sechan was already sitting in the back seat, Jin Seyeon started the engine and took off .

“Let’s go . ”

Licros nodded his head and stepped on the accelerator .

Vroooom—

The sound of a gas engine was rather nostalgic, as I often teleported from place to place .

But at that moment, Yoo Yeonha began to act strangely in the back seat . She moaned, hit her chest, and bit her nails .

“Are you okay?”

When I asked, she was massaging her temple with both hands .

“Yeah… I’m fine . It’s just that I hate confined spaces . ”

“Oh… you have claustricphobia?”

“…It’s claustrophobia, not claustricphobia . And yeah, I’m a bit embarrassed to say it, but it’s pretty severe . ”

“…I see . ”

As the person who created Yoo Yeonha’s background setting, I obviously knew about it . It wasn’t just claustrophobia . Germaphobia, paranoia, coulrophobia… Yoo Yeonha was fated to live with countless mental illnesses .

These mental illnesses would only continue to worsen, as she would be under constant threat of assassination given her position .

“Just sleep . I’ll take care of the rest . ”

“…Heh, okay . ”

Yoo Yeonha laughed and nodded her head .

The sedan left the heart of the lawless zone and reached the outskirts . I looked outside the window with my senses heightened . I couldn’t sense any threat .

“We’re about to leave the lawless zone,” I said .

“Got it . ” Yoo Yeonha seemed to be feeling better as she replied with a smile . “Oh right, the Association finished deciphering the runic language around the ‘Demon Realm Gate . They should start gathering Heroes officially in a few days . ”

“Gathering Heroes?”

“200 people need to be present to enter the Demon Realm Gate . You’re going to participate too, right?”

“Why would I? I can just sneak in . ”

“…Pft, I won’t help you if you get caught . ”

I shrugged, and Yoo Yeonha leaned back . As she looked comfortable, I didn’t worry about her too much .

I faced front .

…From the front, something sharp was flying over .

“…?”

Before I could perceive it, it broke through the window . Bullet Time didn’t activate . Something simply pierced through the window, and the driver’s head exploded in the next moment .

“…Eh?”

A dazed voice rang out . I turned to the side . Licros’s head was missing, replaced by an arrow .

I turned around . Licros’s blood and brain fluid were covering Yoo Yeonha’s body .

“What… . ”

Yoo Yeonha muttered blankly, and in the next moment, another arrow flew over . I released Aether, forming a shield . The arrow hit the shield, veering slightly off course and piercing Yoo Yeonha’s shoulder rather than her head .

“Kyaak!”

Yoo Yeonha screamed, and I immediately shouted louder .

“DUCK!”

But Yoo Yeonha didn’t listen . She wasn’t in any state to do so . She was in a panic . This was probably the first time she witnessed such a gory death .

I couldn’t use ‘Time Reversal’ either because it was on cooldown .

I quickly strengthen the sedan with Aether and Stigma .

Chwaaak—

Aether enveloped the car . A mere arrow wouldn’t be able to break the sedan anymore, but I couldn’t do anything about the shattered window .

I shouted loudly, “Duck! Duck, Yoo Yeonha—!”

“Ah, aah, aah…”

But Yoo Yeonha was having trouble even breathing normally . She was clutching her arms and whimpering .

Another magic arrow flew over . As expected, it wasn’t enough to break through the car, which was strengthened with Aether and Stigma .

Using this time, I moved over to the back seat . Yoo Yeonha was clearly having a panic attack, shaking like a schizophrenic . I pushed her head down first .

“Calm down . Calm down . ”

I caressed her head with Stigma’s magic power and said, “It’s me . Look at me!”

Hearing me, Yoo Yeonah slowly raised her head . She stared at me with eyes full of fear . Tears were flowing down her cheeks .

“Kuhuk!”

Yoo Yeonha suddenly coughed . A piece of Licros’s shattered skull came out of her mouth . Yoo Yeonha saw it too . She seemed to have swallowed it subconsciously . Immediately, her eyes rolled over, and her body swayed .

“Hey, snap out of it!”

“T-This…”

“Just keep your head down . We just have to keep out of the shooter’s firing line . The arrow can only come in through the broken window since it can’t do anything about the car . ”

“… . ”

“Got it?”

Yoo Yeonha nodded her head .

“…Geez, talk about a surprise . ”

I muttered to myself and sent a Mental Transmission to Jin Seyeon . Is this what people felt when they faced Black Lotus?

“Jin Seyeon-ssi, where are you!?”

She quickly responded .

—Hajin-ssi! We’re…

Tzzt—

However, her message was cut in the middle . They seemed to be under attack as well . Without a choice, I called Spartan over and took out the Desert Eagle .

There was nothing I could do inside the car .

But as I was about to leave the car…

“W-Wait!”

Yoo Yeonha grabbed my hand strongly .

“A-Are you going somewhere?”

“…You wait here . It’ll be safer . ”

“No, no! I don’t want to!”

I shook off Yoo Yeonha’s hand and opened the door . Yoo Yeonha reached out and shouted desperately, “Don’t go! Don’t go—!”

But I left and was immediately greeted by an arrow . Bullet Time didn’t activate this time either . Instead, a system window popped up alerting me why .

[Warning! You are facing a sharpshooter possessing a similar level of Gift . Master Sharpshooter’s sub-Gift will be temporarily sealed . ]

“Similar level my ass… . ”

I gritted my teeth and took out the Desert Eagle . If our Gifts were on a similar level, I just had to strengthen mine with Stigma .

“…Ah . ”

It was then that I realized something important . To transform the Desert Eagle into its sniper rifle form, I needed ‘Aether’ .

But Aether was currently fused with the car, protecting Yoo Yeonha .

As such, I could only use… my ‘bow’ and ‘arrow’ .

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