novelraw Chapter 93 : Chapter 93
Chapter 93 : Chapter 93
Chapter 93 Alliance
Striking Cha Hak-jun.
At those words, cold sweat ran down Joseph's spine.
However, he soon calmed his mind and asked Riman in the most refined language possible.
"...Are you in your right mind?"
"Extremely."
"First of all, I acknowledge one thing. Mr. Leman is strong. And my martial power is by no means weak either. But still, no. This is impossible."
"Well."
"...Of course, the assassination of Cha Hak-jun itself might be possible."
Throughout human history, there have been countless cases of assassinations targeting influential figures.
If they really set their minds to it, they might be able to send off Cha Hak-jun somehow.
The problem was—
"...But what after killing him?"
After the killing was the problem.
The aftermath for those who assassinated influential figures was not good.
Being arrested and punished, or living in hiding for the rest of their lives.
If they recklessly killed Cha Hak-jun somehow, it was almost certain that Riman and Joseph would end up in a similar state.
That was why Joseph hadn't even considered assassinating Cha Hak-jun at all.
To this, Riman said.
"Excuse me, but I think you misunderstood my opinion a bit. I have no intention of removing Cha Hak-jun through assassination."
"Pardon? But just now you said killing him......"
"Assassination isn't the only way to kill, is it?"
"Is there any method other than assassination that we can choose?"
"War."
"Are you crazy?"
By this point, even Joseph couldn't refine the words coming out of his mouth.
Riman said.
"I'm not crazy. I'm saying this after calculating everything."
"Yet you talk about waging war?!"
"Yes. Because that is the best option. And because it is possible."
"What do you mean......"
"First, we need to secure our own faction."
"......"
Joseph was lost for words for a moment due to absurdity.
"No, suddenly a faction......"
"What is the biggest problem after killing Cha Hak-jun? It would be Cha Hak-jun's remaining faction. Because they will start to screw us over. Then conversely, if we also have a Cha Hak-jun-level faction backing us, they won't be able to touch us carelessly, right?"
"So where on earth do we get such a faction......"
"Wouldn't Pyo Seok-jung be enough?"
"Pyo Seok-jung......? Ah......!"
Joseph remembered whose name that was.
Pyo Seok-jung.
Currently a retired big shot in the political world.
And a person who once fought with Cha Hak-jun for the position of Seoul Mayor.
When that name came up, Joseph was startled.
"You know Pyo Seok-jung?!"
"I do. Although he doesn't know me."
"What?!"
"We will bring Pyo Seok-jung in as our backer. If that happens, we can form a faction almost equal to Cha Hak-jun's. Then we clash."
"......"
All of Riman's words seemed like nonsense to Joseph.
In reality, it wasn't much different from nonsense.
Nevertheless, he had no choice but to listen.
Since Riman was saying such absurd things so confidently, he was curious where that conclusion would lead.
Joseph asked.
"...Fine, let's say we do that. But how are you going to bring that person in? Whether preparing a justification or paying a price, there must be something, right?"
"We should give him the mayoral seat."
"Ah......?"
"If we remove Cha Hak-jun, the mayoral seat becomes vacant. We should offer that as the price."
"Such......"
"Well, our role is strictly up to removing Cha Hak-jun. Taking over the empty house afterward would be Pyo Seok-jung's share."
"Then......"
"Yes. We are making a Mayor. If that happens, we get to have the head of a capital city as our backer."
Joseph unconsciously gulped.
An absurd operation.
But it's not like there's zero chance of success.
And if it succeeds—
'...We will be able to have power on our backs.'
Power that cannot be obtained by individual martial force alone, political power.
We can get our hands on it.
Suppressing the quietly burning excitement, Joseph said.
"...But there are too many difficulties. First, starting with how to bring the retired Pyo Seok-jung back out......"
"I will handle such details."
"Is... that so."
Joseph nodded.
At some point, he was unconsciously agreeing with Riman's opinion.
"...This operation, we'll have to risk our lives, right?"
"Compared to the expected reward, a life is cheap as a stake."
"Ha......"
A faint smile appeared on Joseph's lips.
He himself couldn't tell well whether it was due to tension or excitement.
Maybe it could be both.
Joseph asked.
"Is there anything I should do in advance?"
"Keep your body condition at its best. Manage your weapons well."
"Then, besides the two of us, are there any other personnel to be deployed in this operation?"
"There are people I have in mind. But since we are short on combatants... Do you happen to know anyone trustworthy? It would be good if there were one or two more combatants."
"There is. A guy named Knox, he is definitely trustworthy."
Knox?
'What is this, a name I'm hearing for the first time.'
No matter how much he searched his mind, the name Knox was not in Riman's head.
"...Let's verify the additional personnel again later."
"Understood. Then I will contact you again when relevant information comes in."
"Yes."
Riman thought as he hung up the phone.
'This moment came quite sooner than expected.'
Mayor Cha Hak-jun.
A human he was bound to clash with if he killed Francis Appel.
Therefore, he had expected that they would inevitably clash someday, but that moment came sooner than thought.
'Still, it's fortunate that I planned the operation in advance.'
During the early gameplay days of
Riman had dealt with Cha Hak-jun in the simplest way without much thought.
Just recklessly raising character specs, barging in, and assassinating him.
The method itself was incredibly clean and simple.
The problem was what happened after.
Wanted orders were issued everywhere, and public power was fully mobilized to narrow the encirclement.
Because of that, his range of movement was drastically narrowed due to hiding, and immense restrictions were placed on gameplay.
'I suffered a lot because of this during the first playthrough.'
So this time, he decided never to commit such a mistake.
That was why he came up with the operation to bring in Pyo Seok-jung.
'Then, what I have to do right now is......'
First, he had to raise his combat power as much as possible within his reach.
Only then could he gain the upper hand in this chaos and lead the flow.
And the most certain power-up means Riman could do right now was......
VIBRATE......-
Something vibrated inside Riman's coat pocket.
Riman took out the object vibrating in his pocket.
Black Seed Bell.
It had been repeating irregular vibration and lull since a few days ago.
'It keeps doing this since re-sealing.'
That day he fought Francis on the rooftop.
Riman had released a part of the malicious spirit, Eoduksini, sealed in the Black Seed Bell.
And after finishing the battle, he caught Eoduksini, crumpled it back into the empty bell, and re-sealed it.
Because he couldn't just leave the malicious spirit loose.
The problem was that this wasn't a proper seal.
Since he crumpled it in with just force without knowing the basics of Necromancy, there was bound to be a problem.
Because of that, the seal became unstable, and Eoduksini kept trying to escape.
That was why the Black Seed Bell kept trembling.
'I can't leave this as it is any longer.'
For now, there is no immediate problem.
But if left alone longer, it might explode anytime.
'I must completely subdue it as soon as possible.'
The act of subduing a spiritual being and attributing it under the caster's control, submission.
Only after completing that procedure could he safely utilize the malicious spirit of the Black Seed Bell.
'Let's do it right today.'
Thinking so, Riman entered a pharmacy and said.
"Do you have syringes and blood packs here?"
* * *
An empty lot near the apartment where Riman lives.
At that time when the midday light was still shining on the lot.
Riman entered the lot.
'No one is here.'
The guys who originally occupied this place had all moved their residence to the dormitory provided by Noksan.
Therefore, the lot had become truly completely empty.
'It's rather fortunate.'
Because it wouldn't be good for ordinary people to approach what he was about to proceed with from now on.
Riman went into an abandoned building.
And moved to a spot where the sunlight reached well.
The floor was a flat cement floor.
WHOOSH!
Riman created wind with magic once to sweep away the dust on the floor cleanly.
And said to Saya.
"Saya, blood pack please."
Saya spat out a blood pack from his mouth.
A blood pack filled with 400ml of dark red blood.
That blood was Riman's blood.
It was blood he drew directly with the blood collection tool bought at the pharmacy and put into the pack.
A Mage's blood.
That in itself becomes a powerful catalyst for magic.
Riman opened the inlet of the blood pack and poured the blood out.
The trickling blood stopped falling at some point and began to float drop by drop in the air.
Riman's mana caught the blood and stopped it.
Soon, following Riman's guidance, the blood drops clumped together into one and formed a round sphere.
"...With this, the brush is made."
SWISH......-
Riman pulled the blood drop down to the ground, then moved it to start drawing something on the floor.
A magic circle written in blood was drawn on the floor.
Three concentric circles, special symbols placed here and there, straight lines and curves symbolizing the relationship between each symbol, and even symbols like alphabets, Chinese characters, and mathematical formulas coordinating all these details.
All these elements combined to complete a single circle.
A circle written in blood.
Drawing this consumed the entire 400ml of blood.
"...Circle complete."
Riman took out the Black Seed Bell from his pocket.
The Black Seed Bell trembling much more violently than before.
CLACK.
Then he placed the Black Seed Bell in the middle of the magic circle.
"Phew......"
After taking a long deep breath for the last time.
Riman finally infused mana into the circle.
HMMMM......!
The Black Seed Bell starts to tremble.
The black paint on the bell slowly peels off, and what was inside escapes out.
The trapped darkness leaks out.
"HISS......!"
Eoduksini, which had been split and contained in eleven bells, finally starts to merge into its complete original form.
If darkness were personified, would it feel like this?
The scattering darkness clumps again, increasing density, and the clumped darkness soon takes shape.
"HISS......"
A chill one might feel on a moonless night flows from the bastard's mouth.
At the same time, a terrifying intimidation starts to crush Riman.
Eoduksini is a malicious spirit born from the fear of darkness.
The bastard was showing off a majesty befitting that dignity.
With this......
"Manifestation complete."
He succeeded in calling out the bastard completely.
The first step for complete submission.
First, he had to manifest the malicious spirit in complete form.
It was impossible to subdue it in eleven parts just because it was split into eleven.
That was like cooking the chicken, broth, and glutinous rice separately to make Samgyetang.
Therefore, even if it wasn't easy, he had to face the complete form of the malicious spirit to completely accomplish the submission.
Of course, he had set up minimal safety devices.
The magic circle drawn with blood, and even the midday sunlight that weakens darkness.
With this, the preparation was finished.
'...Start.'
WHOOSH!
At that moment, Eoduksini lunged at Riman with sharp claws raised.
Of course, it was blocked immediately.
BANG!
Eoduksini bounced back as if blocked by a transparent wall.
Riman muttered.
"Would I have drawn the circle for no reason?"
Eoduksini could not come out of this magic circle.
Unless the ground where the circle was drawn broke, or Riman's mana supply was cut off.
HMMMM-
Riman sucked in the mana in the atmosphere and said.
"Then shall we begin."