novelraw Chapter 49 : War on Crime (5)
Chapter 49 : War on Crime (5)
Chapter 49: War on Crime (5)
I blinked my eyes slowly.
‘The Lilith Order has come.’
The on-site information I perceived visually clearly indicated as much. It was just that it was so sudden and so out of the blue that my head went blank.
While that was happening, the figures of the Lilith Order, which had been mere dots, became distinct. There were three in total. They formed a triangular formation and approached rapidly.
By then, it seemed the neighborhood residents had also noticed something was wrong. They began making a ruckus, flinging doors and windows wide open.
-What’s going on? What’s that noise?
-Dad! There are flies flying around in the sky!
They stirred, poking only their heads out of the windows of the haphazardly developed buildings. At the same time, their eyes followed the flight trails the Lilith Order drew across the sky.
It must have seemed fascinating. It had been the same for me once. No matter how much the living standards of the lower district had risen, this would be their first time seeing such ultra-high-priced cybernetic bodies.
The Lilith Order was fairly well-known in the bottommost district, but in the lower district, they would still be an unfamiliar presence.
Well, if that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to walk all the way to the red-light district.
Brrrrrrr!
The trembling vibrations of the glass windows intensified as if they were about to shatter. Soon, three shadows suddenly dropped lower.
The moment they disappeared from sight, creak-creak, metallic sounds followed one after another. I was dumbfounded.
Don’t tell me these bastards are trying to come in through the door? With wings still attached?
But good heavens.
Sure enough.
Ding~ dong~♬
A moment later, the doorbell rang. The unnecessarily clear chime filled Eunko Bar.
Given the situation, I had no choice but to turn back. From the third floor to the first.
‘…I never thought they’d come in person.’
This visit implied many things.
‘The Lilith Order had been keeping an eye on me.’
That must have been why they came straight here, to Eunko Bar, without sparing a glance elsewhere. To see the landlord? No chance. Their target was me.
Moreover, the timing was strange. It was right before the storm. It was hard to dismiss it as mere coincidence.
Step, step.
What was fortunate, amid all this, was that I was holding a Para Blade in one hand. Without it, I always felt awkward, like not wearing underwear.
The doorbell rang only once. They didn’t pester noisily like door-to-door salespeople. But that silence made it far more suffocating.
‘Did they get anxious because the Baekbaek Order’s influence is growing?’
Even so, I never expected the meeting to come together this quickly.
With so many things overlapping recently, probing the Lilith Order—the main guest—had been pushed to the back burner.
And now, here they were, knocking on my door themselves.
I had muttered before going to sleep for the past few days, “I need to find the Lilith Order,” but that had only been to remind myself of my objective.
‘But to actually show up like this.’
I shook off the unpleasant feeling and stood in front of the door. As I grasped the doorknob, my other hand grabbed the umbrella handle, ready to strike out at any moment.
The door was opened just a crack, still bolted. Caution wasn’t a choice—it was a necessity.
Creeeeak…….
Through the widening gap, I saw a handsome young man. With his uniquely gentle-looking eyes, he seemed to be saying, ‘I’m harmless.’
“Good day. Are you Lee Taebaek?”
“…….”
The man greeted me with an extremely polite tone. To the point that I, who was giving him the cold shoulder, almost looked like the bad guy.
However, my wariness didn’t ease—it sharpened further. For two reasons.
First, the steel wings were gone. He must have hidden them. Detached them, perhaps. Either way, outsiders who hid things weren’t to be trusted lightly.
The second reason followed the same logic. I couldn’t see the rest of his group. There had clearly been three, but now there was only one. No presence at all.
What that meant was……
‘…They’ve deliberately erased their presence and are lying in ambush in my blind spots.’
With [Presence Concealment]. As I’d emphasized time and again, presence concealment was the exclusive domain of those who had reached a certain level of strength. I could do it now too, but that wasn’t a reflection of pure skill, so it didn’t count.
In any case, two people had cast presence concealment? And those two were likely bodyguards or subordinates? In short, not only were they hiding their cybernetic bodies, but their companions had vanished entirely.
If I took that benevolent face at face value, I’d be asking to get stabbed. In that case, better to strike first from this side.
“You’re more suspicious than I expected.”
The man said with a smile that showed off his white teeth.
“I thought Lee Taebaek would be waiting for our visit from the Lilith Order. After all, we believed that the purpose behind founding the Baekbaek Order was to meet with us. It seems my thinking was rather shallow.”
“I was waiting,” I replied curtly.
“I was waiting, but… not like this.”
“What do you mean, not like this?”
The man played coy, feigning innocence. I furrowed my brows, then relaxed my eyes. This wasn’t some flirting game with another guy……
Thud.
As the door slammed shut, a gust of wind whipped up. The man’s bangs fluttered. The next moment, the sound of the bolt being undone stopped, and the door swung open coolly.
“Come in.”
I jerked my chin toward the inside of the bar.
“Thank you. It was a topic unsuited for standing conversation, so for you to welcome us so readily—”
“On one condition.”
For a brief moment, the man visibly flinched. He had sensed the flow of mana. Before he could say anything else, white breath rose from my mouth.
[Cooling]
A bluish aura like a blade of frost spread out, freezing the surroundings in an instant. The man’s sly expression vanished without a trace. Only the cold sweat streaking down his cheeks froze into granules and fell.
Thud—! Thud—!
A beat later, chaos erupted in the sky. It was like hail falling, and then two black figures came crashing down one after another behind the man.
Swoosh.
The man slowly turned to look behind him. The color had drained from his face so completely that his veins were visible.
“Ugh……!”
His subordinates groaned, smashed into the concrete. Just by eyeballing it, at least one limb on each of them had to be properly broken.
But there was something even more of a spectacle.
The jet engines that should have been spewing combustion flames were instead belching acrid exhaust. Frost had spread like spiderwebs across the once-flexible steel wings. These were cybernetic bodies that could easily withstand Antarctic cold.
The man—Kim Changsik of the Lilith Order—felt every pore in his body open. A shudder rose from between his buttocks and felt like it was being sucked straight up through the crown of his head.
“Only one comes in.”
I warned as I gathered my mana.
[The operator’s mental stat is being buffed.]
At the same time, I used constraints to spike [Mental Strength] explosively. From now on, every word that left my mouth would violently shake the listener’s mind.
“The others can go back the way they came, or they can piss off to Valhalla right here. Choose one of the two. I’m being this lenient because you showed some manners.”
A killing chill ran straight down the spines of all three. Soon after, bitter frost lashed violently against the steel wings. Kim Changsik, his face deathly pale, nodded in acknowledgment.
* * *
• ‘Unique Barrier’ creation has once again failed.
• However, due to persistent requests, creation will be reviewed.
• If approved, it will be possible in a medium-scale patch.
.
.
.
Beep—!!
[Review regarding Unique Barrier creation completed]
[The approval conditions for Valhalla creation are specified.]
A large number of blind believers devoted to the self are required.
→ This condition meets the approval requirements. 〈☑〉
Valkyries are required to guide the souls of the believers.
→ This condition is not yet satisfied. 〈□〉
Preparation for the god’s destiny ‘Ragnarok’.
→ This condition is scheduled to be implemented soon. 〈▨〉
[Upon creation of an afterlife, authority will be buffed.]
[Upon creation of an afterlife, speech will be buffed.]
[Simultaneously, the scale of bugs will also increase.]
Kim Changsik cautiously opened his mouth.
“…It’s rather tranquil inside.”
As he spoke, he kept sneaking glances at me, watching my mood. Seeing that, my interest cooled abruptly. I wondered how a person could become this utterly servile.
Of course, it was my handiwork. I’d wrapped a buffed [Mental Strength] around ice magic he’d never seen before, and it crushed his bloated ego in an instant.
Anyway.
[Buff] and [Nerf].
These two temporary authorities never ceased to amaze me every time I used them. They were nothing short of astonishing abilities, rivaling even the Transparent Dragon, the strongest among dragons.
At the same time, a chill ran through part of my chest.
‘Good thing I’m the only one using this.’
Imagining myself on the receiving end made my head spin. A thought I’d forgotten for a while surfaced.
If you removed the ‘temporary’ from temporary authority, just how strong would it become……?
If so, wouldn’t it truly be possible to step into the realm of ascension? A fleeting trace of arrogance crossed my mind. I soon shook my head.
Let’s set these thoughts aside for now. It would be rude to keep indulging in them when a guest I’d long awaited was right here.
“So, why did you come looking for me.”
I asked. The man who had introduced himself as Kim Changsik finally seemed to relax.
“You’re quite bashful. Wasn’t it you who summoned our Chaos Order, rather than us seeking you out? You even went so far as to establish a new religion.”
“…….”
“The idea itself was novel. Thanks to that, our order was able to notice your existence, Lee Taebaek. As a side effect, though, the number of young believers visiting our order dropped off sharply, haha.”
It was all pretense. Kim Changsik was producing the gentlest laugh he could muster.
“But that’s fine. There’s a saying about losing the small to gain the big. We lost young blood, but in exchange, we were able to face you like this, Lee Taebaek. This too must be the guidance of Lady Lilith, the goddess of chaos.”
Now.
“What kind of god is the goddess Lilith.”
“She is a goddess exactly as her epithet suggests. A being who loves disorder more than anyone else.”
“Then could she be considered a Chaos Goddess as well?”
“Of course not.”
Kim Changsik said firmly.
“Disorder and chaos are fundamentally different. Disorder refers to a lack of order. Hmm, you look like you don’t quite get it. Then how about this explanation. To define disorder simply, it’s a state that hasn’t been organized. Chaos can be seen as its superior version. Chaos. A primordial state from before. A primitive condition before the heavens and earth were divided, before the universe even came into being.”
Fuck. That just made it more confusing.
“…So the god Lilith that your Lilith Order serves is merely a goddess of disorder. A being that has absolutely nothing to do with chaos?”
“I don’t know why you’re searching for an entity called the ‘Chaos Goddess,’ Lee Taebaek, but our cult leader would likely know.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Kim Changsik pointed at the floor with his index finger.
“The one who told me your location was our cult leader. And he also instructed us, at the order level, to help with the battle you’ll soon face.”
“…What? No, before that, how do you even know about that?”
“I heard it from the cult leader. And the cult leader must have heard it from Lady Lilith.”
It wasn’t so much that I lacked comprehension as it was that the speaker kept grasping at clouds. Everything this bastard said ultimately boiled down to ‘anyway, the cult leader.’
“So, the reason you came… is, in any case, to lend me a hand?”
“Yes.”
“I need to meet your cult leader right away.”
Kim Changsik’s gaze hardened.
“That’s impossible for now. The cult leader said that until your task is completed, you must refrain from meeting him.”
“You really follow your cult leader’s words to the letter.”
“And you’re no different from the Baekbaek Order. From what I can tell, you seem to be receiving the believers’ faith all to yourself.”
I roughly ruffled my hair. Seeing my confusion, Kim Changsik brightened.
“If I keep talking with you any longer, I think I’ll go insane. And customers will be coming soon. So let’s ask just one more thing and end it.”
“Ask as much as you like.”
“Why is your proselytizing method so messed up? Why are you spreading that kind of stuff in the red-light district?”
“Uh… well.”
Kim Changsik rolled his eyes around. After hesitating for quite a while, he cobbled together an excuse.
“Th-that wasn’t proselytizing……. It was just disposing of leftovers used within the order……”