novelraw Chapter 78 : Chapter 78
Chapter 78 : Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Threat (3)
“……What is that?”
Edward, who was looking into the screen, twitched his eyebrows.
In Ryu Jinwoo's hand, a certain rod was held before he knew it.
Naturally, as if it had been in his hand from the beginning.
Looking closely, it seemed to be a sword.
Because the guard of a sword caught his eye.
‘Weapon summoning? It should be impossible without a spell related to subspace……. Especially without magic power. Then…….’
Was he chosen by that strange armament?
I have heard of it. The story that an armament chooses its owner directly and follows that owner.
Edward watched that spectacle with interest.
Perhaps he might be able to know the reason why Balzac is obsessed with this boy named Ryu Jinwoo's body.
The boy stood upright in front of the thick door.
His appearance of catching his breath and refining his posture was reflected on the screen.
The blade of the sword was short and blunt.
A shape that looks like nothing more than a broken sword at a glance.
What could be cut with that.
But at that moment, Edward felt a chilling energy seeping through his entire body.
The alien form possessed by the pitch-black sword.
And even the boy's gaze, posture, and breathing while holding it in his hand.
As if becoming one with the sword, a strange pressure was spewing out.
Instinct was warning him.
That this boy himself is incredibly ominous.
“……Are you intending to show me?”
Slowly, the corners of Edward's mouth curved up like a crescent moon.
***
My breath sank heavily.
The steaming sauna, hot steam tightens my throat.
The sword that appeared suddenly. Lee Junhyeok was looking at me with a hardened expression by my side.
It was a gaze mixed with surprise, but he didn't ask anything.
Rather, he nodded slowly.
As if telling me to try it. That trust was conveyed.
I intuitively sensed that I had to pour everything into this.
The moment I fail, there is no answer.
Probably I will end up steaming to death here.
I can't wait for someone to lower a rope.
There is no choice but to make wings myself and fly up.
‘Dying ugly like this is not in my plan.’
If it goes on like this, it will be printed on the front page of the newspaper. With a title that wouldn't even be funny like [3 Zero Cadets Found as Unnatural Deaths in Sauna.]
So I had to struggle somehow.
Blocking the way was an iron door reaching a thickness of meters.
The blade of Black Self held in my hand standing in front of it was barely around 4~5cm.
It was a form where only the root of the blade remained.
The length of a general sword is basically 60cm.
Even a dagger has a blade length reaching 15cm.
In short, this guy called Black Self right now was too lacking to be called a sword.
But even so, it was better than bare hands.
‘I can use, skills.’
Although the specifications are terrible, a sword is a sword anyway.
The handle wrapping around my hand, a chill dug from my fingertips to my shoulder.
My heart flinches as if convulsing.
The moment I grasped Black Self, the energy flowing in my body began to fluctuate like a vortex.
If I handle this power wrongly, paralysis might come again like that time.
I have to pour everything into it as best as possible without dying.
What is needed now is strength.
[Pain]
[Forging: Converted to pain tempering the body.]
I slowly regulated my breathing.
Pulling up energy as if penetrating the whole body.
[Pain: Forging]
The energy flowing in my body soon transformed into intense pain.
Instantly, I felt inside my body heating up.
As if becoming a heated lump of iron, flames seeped between blood and muscles.
On top of that, endless hammering struck down.
The whole body was beaten roughly.
Invisible hammers were striking the skin and muscles persistently.
In the extreme pain as if bones and flesh were being heated and tempered all at once.
I clenched my teeth not to lose my mind.
[Strength: 16(+10)]
Blood vessels swelled up, and muscles bulged out pushing the skin forcibly.
Explosive power burst out from inside me.
Finally, I was ready.
Augmentation happening for a fleeting moment.
I must not miss this moment.
I have to pour out the best I have.
Strength bulged into the hand holding the sword.
[Hundred Night Yaksha]
Pale light spread from the forearm.
The chill flowing along the veins froze the heart.
However, hot heat was soaring above it.
As if fire and ice were mixed together, contradictory sensations pricked the nerves.
And it was then.
‘Heat.’
The intense sensation filling the whole body grabbed my mind in an instant.
Every time I inhaled, flames seemed to rush into my lungs.
Burning heat wrapped inside the body and made the blood boil.
Soon pain and pleasure became indistinguishable.
It was burning.
Burning the wick.
Existing by burning.
I infused spirit into the hand holding the sword.
That moment I inhaled hot breath once more.
‘…….’
Consciousness flickered out smoothly.
Like a sheet of paper burning in flames.
‘Here is…….’
I was standing in the middle of a vast darkness, an empty space before I knew it.
A familiar place.
A strange space created by my inner self.
This time, fire was everywhere.
The air boiled and the ground burned.
In the middle of it, a white figure stood.
It was huge.
A being that could not possibly be called a living creature, much larger than that.
That place did not shake even a bit in the shimmering flames.
That being slowly lifted its head.
The sky shook.
That being struck the sword held in its hand onto the ground.
Flames exploded.
Red and black flames burst out in all directions.
The void tore and waves of fire rushed in.
Burning flames flowed into the lungs.
Inside burned up.
The sensation of the heart being heated by fire.
Intense pain seized the body.
Hell of super-high heat.
The energy of intense fire was rippling roughly inside my body.
At that moment, the figure of that being looked down at me.
Those eyes pierced me beyond the flames.
And at that moment.
“……Gasp.”
Breath burst out.
Standing before my eyes is the solid door of the super-high heat kiln sauna.
Again, it was reality.
The heat from just before was still lingering in my lungs.
The hand of ‘Yaksha’ turned pale.
And soon, black flames rose from the fingertips holding the sword.
Flames began to burn persistently on my hand and the sword.
Scorching the air, heteromorphic flames flowed down.
As sparks falling along the blade grazed the floor, black soot was engraved on each spot.
[Yaksha Style: Flame Annihilation Night Light]
Ssszzzt-!
Sword energy spewed out as if exploding.
Pitch-black flames were swung diagonally following the trajectory of the sword.
Hot heat dug in, melting the metal.
Flames raged like a storm.
Kwaaang-!
Explosive sound bursting out.
The air tore and ashen flames exploded.
Flames swallowed the light while burning themselves.
For a moment, all sounds died out.
Only residual heat remained, and the world was silent as if paused for a moment.
Crack-
Metal collapsed with a burning smell.
Soon the alloy plate began to crack as if melting.
The thick door gaped open sliding strangely.
“…….”
I staggered and gasped for breath.
As if the body was collapsing, the heart burned and nerves tightened.
Ding-!
[Tactical Manual]
[You have realized ‘Yaksha Style: Flame Annihilation Night Light’.]
[‘Hundred Night Yaksha’s’ Yaksha Style Swordsmanship expands.]
Beyond copying other people's techniques, realizing techniques on my own.
In the blurred vision, I realized the Tactical Manual's mechanism anew.
[‘Settlement’ is proceeding.]
The time of settlement came without fail.
‘Ughhh…….’
Along with the settlement message, it felt like the whole body was pierced by heated needles.
A scream rose up to the throat but didn't burst out as if the throat was blocked.
The feeling of rapidly cooling down as if cooling a heated lump of iron was a bonus.
Vision became distant and knees buckled.
Finally when I stuck my head on the floor and collapsed.
I barely lifted my head and looked at the thick metal door.
The huge metal designed to block heat was melting down.
Black soot filled the surroundings.
However, one last layer remained.
‘Was it insufficient.’
In the end, am I still trapped?
Even inside the lungs was hot.
I felt I might burn to death like this.
The moment gloomy thoughts were filling up.
Suddenly, the air shook minutely.
The void shimmered and twisted slowly.
Intense ‘heat’ remained in the spot where the flames of Flame Annihilation Night Light disappeared.
Slowly, the surface of the last layer of the door began to swell up.
It wasn't over yet.
The center of the door dented, and the metal twisted and rolled inward.
Soon it melted gradually from the surface and flowed down thickly.
Metal close to liquid slid slowly.
Crack-
Melting in an instant, a large hole was engraved in the center.
Through that gap, outside air rushed in.
Cold wind collided with the hot internal air.
Instantly, with a loud whoosh- sound, an explosive airflow burst out.
Heat exploded all at once as if the entire sauna exhaled.
Extreme heat and moisture flowing in from outside reacted, and misty steam filled the surroundings.
Vision turned white.
Cold wind blew into the hot air and wrapped around the body.
Air pressure collapsed and ears became deafened instantly.
“……Success.”
Lee Junhyeok's voice was heard.
I felt his gaze piercing intensely beyond the steam.
And it was then.
From within the thick steam fog, two people poked their heads out.
“W-What is this! Since when were you inside?”
They were the workers who were continuing the pretense of working while possessed outside.
Their voices were trembling with genuine bewilderment.
I lifted my eyes heavily.
The window reflected in the Eye of Deception updates anew.
[Park Chunjae]
[Confusion, Fatigue]
[Status: -]
[Oh Huijun]
[Panic, Fear, Surprise]
[Status: -]
The ‘Suggestion’ hanging on them had been erased.
The caster had released the suggestion.
‘……Edward.’
What are you thinking.
Damn bastard.
***
“Oi Edward, since preparations are done, come for real. Connection is made.”
A moment of silence.
Edward's mouth corners slowly curved up.
It was a creepy smile.
Jack's voice dug roughly into the silence.
“Tsk, what. What is it this time?”
“……I am feeling excitement after a long time.”
To Jack's question, Edward answered quickly.
Edward's voice was low, but a strangely surging airflow grazed by.
“What? Dammit, you're going to say perverted words again. Not worth listening to…….”
“The boy named Ryu Jinwoo, I liked him.”
Edward put the tablet into his bag and opened his mouth.
“……I only now understood Mr. Balzac's intention. And why he was obsessed with that body too.”
There is a possibility.
That potential felt even beyond the screen.
Talent given by heaven.
The fact that it is dwelling in the body of a mere boy right now.
And ‘Balzac’, not anyone else, is occupying that body.
Furthermore, he was adapting to that body at a tremendous speed.
That fact was exciting Edward more than anything else.
“Dammit, whether it's you or Balzac, that crap is none of my business. We have to do work that makes money.”
“Jack still does not know well. How great a profit the boy named Ryu Jinwoo will bring us.”
“Tsk, I say again, it's none of my business. I mean I want to stop getting involved in you bastards' disgusting playing house.”
Jack frowned and shook his head, then turned his body and moved steps toward the rooftop entrance door.
Edward followed behind him with his eyes closed quietly as if enjoying the afterglow.
Two people stood in front of the rooftop door.
Jack quietly took out a watch and checked the time.
The moment the second hand pointed to 12.
Click-
He turned the handle and opened the door.
However, what unfolded beyond was not a simple rooftop passage.
Thick smoke flowed out from beyond, and a strange space continued.
There, beyond the door, someone was already waiting.
“Edward. It's been a while seeing you in person.”
A familiar voice.
It was that voice heard over the radio.
Edward bowed his head slowly.
“Indeed it has. Chief.”
The Chief's silhouette was slowly revealed between the smoke.
Neat steps, but pressure weighing down the entire space rushed in together.