novelraw Chapter 22 : Chapter 22
Chapter 22 : Chapter 22
Chapter 22
I rolled my eyes rapidly.
The other investigators were completely occupied with blocking the Barbarians causing chaos along the outskirts of the plaza.
I had to step in.
No—we had to.
“Erisa!”
“Yes.”
As if she had been waiting for it, Erisa nodded and raised her finger toward the Barbarian investigator.
WHOOSH—SLASH!
A bullet-like gust of wind shot from Erisa’s fingertip and sliced across the Barbarian investigator’s shoulder.
“GRAH!”
With a single, strangled scream, the Barbarian investigator’s stance collapsed. However, Barbarians were a race insensitive to pain. Enduring pain—and even taking pride in it—was considered a virtue among them.
THUD!
Even with his posture disrupted, the dagger he threw buried itself into Director Justin’s leg.
At least it was his leg. If not for Erisa’s wind magic—if the blade had struck his torso instead—it would have been a fatal wound.
Silence swept across the area.
Time itself seemed to slow. The stillness lasted only a moment, yet it felt as though hours had passed.
“ROOOAAARR—CHAAARGE!”
What shattered the silence was a roar. It was a battle cry that blended a low-frequency rumble with a piercing high-frequency shriek—a sound only Barbarians, with their unique vocal cords, could produce. It was known as the roar of battle and the hunt.
It was said to instill terror in prey and ignite the blood of the hunter.
I had always thought that was merely superstition. Now, I knew it was not.
‘The smell of fear.’
From the investigators and guests who heard the roar, a dense stench of fear spread through the air.
From the Barbarian horde, the scent of excitement and pleasure surged.
“WAAAAH!”
“Seize Justin—NOW!”
The Barbarians charged straight toward Director Justin, bellowing as they ran.
“St-stop those bastards!”
The investigators snapped back to their senses and gave chase, but it was futile.
Barbarians fired up by their war cry were no longer human. They ran like beasts—fast and feral—impossible to stop.
“Ugh!”
Screams burst out intermittently as fleeing spectators were slammed aside by the charging Barbarians. They collapsed limply, as if struck by speeding carriages.
In the blink of an eye, the Barbarians reached the platform and hoisted the fallen Director Justin onto their backs.
Then they fled at full speed.
“Catch them—khk!”
“GRAAAAH!”
There was no chance to pursue the kidnappers. Barbarians had remained beneath the platform as well.
Wielding axes, swords, and clubs, they began attacking the investigators.
CRACK!
“KHK! You insane bastard! Subdue him!”
“GRAA—AAAGH!”
No matter how strong Barbarians were, they could not hold out long against systematically trained investigators. The Barbarian investigator who had thrown the dagger at Director Justin had already been subdued.
The problem was that their resistance was far fiercer than expected.
Investigators were being seriously injured—shoulders cleaved by axes, fingers severed. Some were even struck down outright by the axes swung alongside the Barbarian war cries.
‘Something is wrong.’
At first, it seemed as though the Barbarians were being pushed back, but gradually the investigators began to lose ground.
Amid the metallic scent of blood, the air filled with madness and fear.
Madness from the Barbarians. Fear from the investigators.
“Nyxle!”
In the midst of the chaos, Nyxle was under attack.
No—she was fighting. Two Barbarians at once.
Werewolves, along with Barbarians and orcs, were a race known for tremendous strength.
‘And Nyxle is particularly strong, even among them.’
Even so, the fight looked overwhelming.
Two armed Barbarians were too much.
I pushed through the fleeing crowd toward Nyxle and pulled a spray from my pocket.
HISS!
I sprayed it at the two Barbarians.
As they inhaled sharply to swing their axes, they drew in the chemical deeply. The strength drained from their bloodshot eyes.
THUD!
Both Barbarians collapsed.
“Nyxle, are you all right?”
“Th-thank you. What… what is happening?”
At that moment, a crackling sound came from her pocket. I pulled out her communicator.
Nyxle listened, then her expression stiffened.
“They say the vehicle escorting Draksan to prison overturned. Um… just now… they said Draksan was k-kidnapped by a Barbarian group….”
She spoke stiffly, as if describing someone else’s problem.
‘Emotional detachment.’
A state in which emotions fail to catch up to shocking events. When parents die, some people laugh or feel nothing at all. That, too, was emotional detachment.
‘A type of defense mechanism.’
“Nyxle.”
“H-huh? Yes?”
I gripped her shoulders.
“Let us organize the situation. Draksan and Chief Justin have both been kidnapped by Barbarians. Correct?”
“What? Y-yes….”
People trapped in emotional detachment often fail to understand the situation they are in.
‘I need to explain it again.’
By restating reality in precise language, I could help her process it rationally rather than emotionally.
“Which one should we save first—”
“That is not something to decide right now. With the Barbarians still rampaging, we cannot rescue either of them.”
“R-right. Yes.”
A hint of clarity returned to Nyxle’s eyes. As she understood the situation, the emotions she had sealed away began to return.
“We will decide who to rescue later. For now, we subdue the remaining Barbarians. If you and I work together—”
“Teacher.”
At that moment, Erisa tapped my shoulder.
She remained calm despite the chaos, staring at me with steady eyes.
“Should I take care of it?”
“‘Take care of it’ sounds dangerous… Could you just subdue them?”
“I will try.”
Erisa opened her palm.
Dozens of spheres surged into the air above it, floating and orbiting around her.
Each sphere was tiny—about the size of gnats. At a glance, they looked like nothing more than dust. But I knew all too well how dangerous those dust-like spheres were.
Just in case, I asked again.
“Erisa. Just subdue them… you understand?”
“Do not worry.”
Even with her assurance, I felt uneasy.
“Go.”
Erisa murmured and raised her finger.
The spheres surged forward like a swarm.
“What the hell is this?”
At first, the Barbarians did not understand what they were seeing.
They mistook the spheres for dust or insects and tried to wave them away.
SMACK!
The spheres slipped past their hands like butterflies and slapped themselves onto the Barbarians’ bodies.
Only then did their expressions darken. They realized something was wrong. But it was already too late.
BAM—BA-BA-BAM!
The spheres exploded.
“G-GRAAAH!”
“It hurts! It hurts!”
Barbarians with shattered arms and legs writhed across the ground.
Screams and groans erupted everywhere.
‘But no one is dead.’
Erisa had honored my request—subduing them only. And she had done it perfectly.
“Well done, Erisa.”
At my praise, Erisa raised her thumb without changing her expression.
Meanwhile, Nyxle stared at the scene in disbelief.
“Th-this…”
She looked back and forth between Erisa and me several times before speaking in a trembling voice.
“Wh-why is someone like her working under you?”
“You sound just like Director Justin. She does not work under me. We are partners.”
Nyxle continued to stare at me, unconvinced.
“B-but still… that hypnosis ability people talk about—could it actually be real…?”
“Who the hell—no, who said I have hypnosis abilities? Let me guess. Director Justin?”
“Yes….”
Of course it was you.
“That is not it. We have just known each other for a long time. But seriously, why is that man so obsessed with hypnosis?”
“H-he seems to really admire your abilities. He says sometimes that if he could read and control people’s emotions, he would have no regrets…”
“Should someone like that really be the Chief of the Security Bureau?”
“Honestly, I think the same, but… there is no one else to take the position…”
As we spoke, the investigators finished subduing the fallen Barbarians one by one.
The screams, groans, and shouted orders gradually died down.
***
“We did nothing wrong!”
“How can you say that when so many investigators were injured because of you!”
“You insulted us first! This was rightful retaliation!”
From afar, the shouts of the subdued Barbarian mob echoed.
The investigators were transferring them into transport vehicles.
Investigators who had been seriously injured were rushed to the hospital.
After most of the investigators at the scene had departed, Nyxle and the remaining uninjured investigators gathered in front of the platform.
Erisa and I stood with her. We had only one reason to be there.
“Is it already too late…?”
“Unless they killed him immediately, the Director should still be alive. If we move now, we are not too late.”
We were planning the retrieval of the kidnapped Director Justin and Draksan.
There was no time to return to the Security Bureau for a formal meeting. We had to devise a plan and move immediately.
“Do we have their location?”
“Not the Director’s yet. But we can track Draksan’s approximate location through the magical signature of the necklace he was wearing.”
“Damn it… how did this happen…”
The investigators’ exchanges were brief—stripped of all unnecessary formalities for efficiency.
“We just got Draksan’s location. It looks like they are on the move. The destination is probably the Joena Mining District.”
“If they are fleeing, that is the only place. The Joena Mining District is practically extrajudicial territory for Barbarians…”
“Then we abandon Draksan and focus on rescuing the Director.”
“Agreed. If we split our forces and waste time, the Director could be killed.”
The discussion gradually shifted toward abandoning Draksan and prioritizing Director Justin.
It was an understandable decision.
‘Coldly speaking, Draksan is just one criminal among many.’
Whether he vanished, died, or was swayed into joining the Barbarians, society would not fall into chaos.
‘But Director Justin is different.’
The death of someone who had just assumed office would plunge not only the Security Bureau, but society itself into turmoil.
‘Wait.’
As I listened, I fell into thought.
There was a missing “why” in this incident.
The purpose behind kidnapping Director Justin and Draksan was unclear.
The Barbarians who abducted them were not ordinary kidnappers.
They were fundamentally different from those who sought ransom money.
‘They are ideological criminals.’
They acted to achieve a goal tied to their beliefs—ending discrimination against Barbarians.
Which raised a question.
‘Why kidnap Draksan? And why spare Director Justin?’
If their sole aim was to protest discrimination, they should have killed Director Justin outright, not abducted him. And Draksan should have been released, not kidnapped.
There had to be a reason.
A reason they did not kill the Director. And a reason they did not free Draksan.
“How are we going to locate the Director?”
“Our only option is to trace the movement routes of the Barbarians who took him and search the entire area.”
“If we mobilize all investigators immediately—”
Voices overlapped as the investigators continued their discussion.
“Your Director is probably already a glorious sacrifice by now!”
“Silence, barbarian!”
Far away, the shouts of a struggling Barbarian and an investigator mingled together.
‘A sacrifice?’
That word reminded me of something Draksan had once mentioned during a counseling session.
The unique ritual Barbarians performed when selecting a tribal chief.
‘…No way.’
Suspicion slowly hardened into certainty.
It was horrifying.
“Wait!”
I sprang to my feet.
“You said Draksan’s location has been roughly identified. Send all investigators there. Immediately!”