Chapter 346

Even after using a teleportation item—

he was still there.

“Huh...?”

It was the ultimate betrayal by the thing he trusted most.

A tool that had always carried him to safety in the blink of an eye had failed at the single most critical moment.

Anyone would have struggled to remain calm in a situation like this.

“What the... Why isn’t it activating?”

What followed was an entirely ordinary reaction.

When the [Teleportation Stone] failed to activate, Andy Oliver froze in shock, panic washing over him.

“I had a feeling, but still...”

Unfortunately for him, the real disaster came next.

“I never thought such a precious escape artifact actually existed.”

Apparently, the other person had at least some idea of why things had turned out this way...

“By the way, do you speak Korean?”

Andy had been completely mistaken.

When Kang Changho stopped at the entrance and the other Awakened entered the bunker alone, Andy Oliver had briefly wondered whether they were using some sort of canary-in-the-coal-mine tactic.

His assessment had changed now.

No matter how he looked at it, this mysterious intruder was no mere canary.

And as the underworld cartel boss fell into uneasy silence, gripped by an inexplicable sense of discomfort, the pale-haired man finally broke the silence and spoke again.

“Do you speak Korean?”

Although he was using [Vampire’s Mirror], the Hunter had chosen a form close to his original build so that his movements wouldn’t be restricted.

Perhaps because of that, something about his appearance felt strangely familiar to foreign observers.

The intruder was perfectly imitating the mannerisms of South Korean espers frequently shown in international news.

“As expected, that Awakener really is Kim Giryeo.”

But that was as far as their conversation went.

“Ah.”

Strictly speaking, this bunker also served as someone’s workplace.

Naturally, the close-protection bodyguards stationed at Andy Oliver’s side moved without delay.

Swish.

Among the three Awakened who charged forward like bolts of lightning, however, one was particularly easy to recognize.

He was using an especially famous piece of equipment.

“That’s...”

[Dragon’s Eye].

An item that allowed its wearer to visually perceive an opponent’s power while also enhancing eyesight and mana capacity.

Only two such items existed in the world, and one of the S-ranks known to use [Dragon’s Eye] was standing right here.

The moment Giryeo noticed it, a thought crossed his mind.

“Come to think of it, a mage like that really is perfect as a mammalian bodyguard.”

It was a rather pointless observation.

“Even somewhere without CCTV, even in the middle of the night, they’d still have decent detection ability. I suppose we were simply lucky he wasn’t looking in our direction earlier.”

But was this really the time to let his thoughts wander when a blazing attacker was charging at him head-on?

No matter how powerful someone was, there wasn’t much room for leisure when standing alone on an alien battlefield.

More importantly—

time was too valuable to waste.

So the moment the sandy-haired disguise detected the approaching enemy, he moved.

Like a boxer settling into stance before the opening bell, he naturally prepared himself for battle.

“Time to start using proper magic.”

The archmage unleashed his magical power.

But there was one important detail to reconsider.

The opponent charging at him from the front was equipped with [Dragon’s Eye].

And—

Flash!

Kim Giryeo had released his restraints only after confirming that man’s movements.

“Ugh!”

The instant the intruding archmage dropped his concealment—

the foreign bodyguard at the head of the charge suddenly cried out in pain, clutching his head as he twisted away.

Kim Giryeo had done nothing more than prepare himself for the fight.

But as he released the power he had been suppressing, that mana blazed with overwhelming intensity inside the [Dragon’s Eye].

“Aack!”

Even setting aside the bodyguard who had effectively gone into shock because of his artifact, the remaining guards weren’t doing particularly well either.

“Huh...?”

“...?”

Every living creature guarding the room was suddenly struck by the same sensation.

It felt as though their innards had dropped straight through their bodies.

A cold, inexplicable sense of dread swept over them all at once.

“What on earth is this?”

“What is it?”

But if they thought about it rationally, the figure standing in their path wasn’t some wild beast.

Not a tiger.

Not a crocodile.

Certainly not a whale.

If anything, beneath the disguise, the intruder looked more like some dull livestock animal—

a sheep too stupid to even manage its own wool.

And yet, the moment they met those seemingly powerless sanpaku eyes...

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Why had their hearts been pounding as though their veins were about to burst ever since?

The S-rankers hired by Andy Oliver felt things they had never experienced before from even the slightest movements of the intruder.

Yet the contracts binding them made escape impossible.

So, apart from the owner of [Dragon’s Eye], who had already been incapacitated by shock, the others immediately tried to fight back.

“Okay. Got it. Nobody here speaks Korean.”

Of course, the disguised Kim Giryeo dispatched them with absurd ease.

He loosely clenched his right hand.

Using it like a hammer—

he swung.

More precisely, he drew the hand slightly back, then snapped it forward in a sharp, compact strike.

Boom!

Around the moment the person he hit was launched into the wall like a bullet, the man with the hazy expression beneath his leather-covered disguise briefly looked puzzled.

Giryeo’s original intention had only been to strike the opponent in the shoulder.

Then, while the mammal writhed in pain, he had planned to follow up with {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a proper spell.

“Huh?”

Impossible.

“This isn’t the end, is it?”

How could an Awakened who had displayed a pathetic reading of only 33Aw send an S-rank crashing into a wall like that?

“Logically, that should be impossible.”

Andy Oliver, the bunker’s unofficial ruler, suddenly raised something in his hand.

Unable to comprehend the power the intruder had just displayed, he had instinctively switched on the measuring device before even realizing what he was doing.

[Beep.]

A few seconds later, Andy Oliver regretted that decision.

[...112088.70...]

Whoosh.

The awakening level surged so high that it filled the entire display.

“Is this a nightmare?”

Now it actually hurt.

His heart genuinely ached.

And worse still, as he thought about it more carefully, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this disaster might have been foreseeable...

from the very moment they first detected the intruder.

Andy Oliver fell silent for a moment, remembering something.

[Verification Needed]

[Case 1: Comparative Test Error]

[Case 2: Comparative Test Error]

More precisely—

the comparison test they had performed earlier.

There was, in fact, one additional condition under which that test could fail when attempting to determine an Awakener’s true identity.

But because it had never occurred even once until now, the possibility had slipped entirely from his mind.

And now, as one guard was hurled into a wall and fear seized everyone in the room, the intruder smoothly moved on to the next stage.

“Alright then. From now on, how about you figure out how to use the Korean-English translator yourselves?”

Magic had a peculiar nature.

The grander its scale—

and, paradoxically, the smaller and more precise the scale—

the more energy it tended to consume.

Earth’s science was much the same.

No one could confidently claim that manipulating matter at the molecular level was easier than constructing an enormous dam capable of holding back a vast body of water.

That was also why Giryeo had suffered such a humiliating injury during the previous [Memory Scan]...

“Hmm.”

Still, magic on this scale was fine.

“Now I finally understand why Earthlings hate rainy days.”

Whoosh.

Giryeo raised the hand that wasn’t tucked into his pocket.

“I always wondered why they enjoy showers but hate it when cool water falls naturally from the sky.”

Then he gently pushed his raised hand forward as though fanning the air.

The spell activated.

The gesture itself might have looked meaningless, but even tiny actions like this helped conserve resources.

“Come to think of it, the tools most commonly used on this planet happen to be completely incompatible with heavy rain.”

So what kind of spell had he cast?

In truth, it was a technique as simple and brute-force as magic could possibly be.

A spell known on Earth as [Water] began to manifest.

Water.

Water.

Water.

The entire second underground floor of the bunker—

an area spanning dozens of square kilometers—

was soon completely flooded.

...

Good.

If the entire area was soaked now, most Earth-made technology should have been rendered useless.

“I don’t know the exact science behind it, but apparently electronics don’t react well when water gets inside.”

Grrrr.

The roar of the surging water gradually faded as the flood receded.

I had summoned the water in the first place to neutralize PIXY’s shareholders.

After thoroughly soaking everyone, I had intended to follow it with a second attack in case anyone tried to resist.

“To be precise—with that beloved electrical technology of yours.”

But the situation had changed.

As unlikely as it seemed...

the whole thing had ended after the first attack.

“Cough, cough!”

“Keu-gh.”

“Keugh.”

I hadn’t expected them to be subdued this easily.

“Everyone’s gotten weak.”

Then again, water-element magic had always possessed this particular quality.

Fire looked dangerous because smoke and flames billowed dramatically into the air.

A flood, by contrast, simply swept everything away and left devastation behind.

Summoning water from nothing effectively meant that the caster possessed the ability to manipulate mass itself.

So when I unleashed a [Water] skill on the scale of a tidal wave, the enemy formation was immediately crushed beneath the sheer weight of the current and swept apart.

“Keugh...!”

Overall, the scene was rather unimpressive.

But work was often better when it was straightforward.

“Take this.”

Grand, mythical hardship belonged in entertainment.

From the perspective of an alien who simply wanted to begin his life of unemployment as soon as possible, things going smoothly was more than enough.

“Put it in your ear and hurry up and set it to translate into Korean.”

Tuk.

I picked up the item I had noticed from the moment I entered the room and tossed it across to the other side.

It was one of PIXY’s flagship products—

an international translator, specially protected against water.

I had just handed it to Andy Oliver.

“Th-this room—how on earth did you...”

For the record, the answer to that question could be summarized in a single word:

[Teleportation].

But I had no reason to explain myself, so I moved on.

“First, how about dealing with those Awakened you sent after me?”

The owner of this bunker had dispatched pursuers to eliminate the intruder.

If we were going to have any sort of productive conversation, those people needed to be called off first.

“...Understood.”

Who could easily refuse when the man who had just flooded an entire floor was staring straight at them with those intense sanpaku eyes?

“As expected.”

A moment later, Andy Oliver hurriedly operated something resembling a radio.

Fortunately, it appeared to be waterproof.

He spoke a few words in English.

His subordinates stopped.

“Hmm?”

And at that exact moment, I finally realized that a large number of Awakened had gathered near the bunker entrance on the first floor.

“Huh? What’s that about?”

It was simply unfortunate timing.

Judging from the mana signatures reaching me, my driver at the entrance wasn’t dead yet.

So for now, I had no choice but to ignore that side.

At least it was a relief that the others had stopped moving.

“Some of those Awakened were heading in strange directions... So they weren’t all coming after me after all.”

After a quick bit of basic traffic control, I moved straight to the point.

“Let’s see. I have quite a few questions.”

I was finally ready for a more honest conversation.

“Alright then. Why don’t you start by putting this around your neck and saying something?”

For reference, the item I had just taken out was a mid-tier artifact called [Fairy’s Promise].

And the activation condition I had chosen this time was—

“—I promise that whenever I lie to the owner of this necklace, I will receive an [Electric Shock], and if I remain silent for more than 15 seconds in response to their questions, I will receive the same punishment. Now, repeat after me.”

[Fairy’s Promise] initially took the form of a collar.

Once the wearer perfectly recited the punishment conditions, it transformed into a tattoo on their skin.

So I forced the collar around Andy Oliver’s neck and ordered him to repeat the vow.

At that moment, he hesitated.

“...”

Naturally, it wasn’t the sort of condition anyone could easily accept on the spot.

But the negotiation didn’t drag on for long.

“You don’t want to make the promise?”

I kept things simple.

I restrained Andy Oliver with telekinesis and began threatening him in various ways.

For the record, every escape route involving teleportation had already been blocked using an archmage’s technique.

Anyone sensitive enough to the surrounding atmosphere should have been able to tell that much.

“This is what we call Alphauri-style disruption. At least inside this bunker, I’m the only one who can teleport now.”

Moisture soon began streaming from Andy Oliver’s eyes.

Once the alien-style interrogation began, he agreed to my proposal surprisingly quickly.

Now Andy Oliver could no longer lie.

And I had saved roughly a hundred times more money than I would have spent using [Justitia].