“…Here. It’s a combat suit.”
“Oh!”
A jet-black full-body combat suit.
When I tried it on, it clung to my body, outlining my form.
However, the material was thick enough that it wasn’t too revealing.
“One thing, though—it’s on loan. You’ll need to return it to its original place.”
“Okay. Will this leave any records?”
“I figured you wouldn’t want that. With my authority, I can issue it without leaving a trace.”
“Good.”
It matched the sword perfectly.
Ideal for assassination.
“…When you get back, you have to explain everything. What’s this about an S-rank Gate, and what kind of mess are you making?”
“Sure. I’m busy today, but I’ll tell you all about it when I return.”
“Hah…”
Yoo Chae-young pressed her fingers to her temples.
‘Now I’m truly ready.’
Tonight, I’m kidnapping Oh Hyuk-jun.
That bastard Park Cheol-woong could explode at any moment.
I needed a card to keep him in check.
‘My family has already left the country.’
There was no telling if they’d retaliate.
So I sent them to the U.S. under government protection.
As a bonus, it was confirmed that Park Cheol-woong had also left the country.
He wasn’t in Korea right now.
‘Don’t feel wronged, Oh Hyuk-jun.’
This is your karma.
Late at night, I stepped out of the building.
###
Oh Hyuk-jun returned to the Palan guild building.
He walked through the hallway toward the office.
“Ah, come on! Let’s at least sleep at home!”
“That’s not possible, sir. It’s the Guild Master’s orders.”
“Hey! Am I a kid? Damn it, I’m a B-rank!”
He staggered, clearly drunk.
Two B-rank bodyguards supported him.
Soon, they reached the office at the end of the hallway.
The door to the dark room opened.
“Mages are naturally vulnerable to assassination.”
“What’s there to be scared of? Ghost? Or the Doctor?”
One of the guards felt along the wall to turn on the lights.
“Like hell! If I just memorize a shield spell, even assassins—”
“Really?”
Clang!
A sudden metallic sound.
Oh Hyuk-jun fell back in surprise.
A female guard raised her sword to block the blade coming out of the darkness.
“Is that Ghost?”
“Ugh.”
Kang Hyun retreated with a backflip, creating distance when his sword was deflected.
‘The woman is an agility-type swordsman. And…’
The other guy was a defense-heavy tank.
Plus, they had a mage. Good team balance.
“Th-this, this bastard! What the hell? Ghost? Or what?!”
“I’ll handle it.”
The male guard crouched low and lunged.
I wouldn’t be able to break through his defense with raw firepower.
I leaped aside, dodging his charge, and his hand smashed into the floor with a crash.
Looking closer, his skin gleamed like metal.
‘Let’s see how far this can go.’
The two of them rushed me simultaneously.
The fight began.
Clang!
Whoosh!
Swift blades and heavy grabs closed in on me.
Their teamwork was impeccable.
‘Annoyingly fast.’
Their stats were overwhelmingly superior.
Even the male guard was much quicker than expected.
The female guard was nearly impossible to respond to.
Dodging became nearly impossible.
I barely managed to parry their attacks with my sword.
But I had come prepared.
I spread mana along with my heartbeat.
Thump.
Thump.
The advantage of the Dragon Heart—
Its incredibly fast mana circulation.
Mana coursed swiftly, riding the rhythm of my heartbeat.
If your skills were up to par,
You could accomplish so much with it.
The woman’s sword came at me with incredible speed.
Thump.
Thump.
I enhanced my eyesight.
The incoming blade became clearer.
I strengthened my legs and waist.
Dodging with a twist of my upper body.
“Watch out! He’s suddenly gotten faster!”
It was the first time I dodged instead of blocking.
At every critical moment, I enhanced what was needed.
Then, with the next heartbeat, I immediately deactivated the enhancement to conserve mana.
This was only possible thanks to the Dragon Heart.
‘Now I can fight properly.’
I leapt again.
The man’s hand slammed into the floor once more.
Crash!
“You bastard!”
This won’t work.
Even though I’ve managed to hold out, it’s just barely enough to keep up.
I need to be faster.
“【Vera】.”
A glossy sheen enveloped my jet-black sword.
Then—
“【Gara】.”
In an instant, my body lunged forward.
I brushed past the man, aiming to slash the woman’s neck.
Clang!
But it was blocked.
‘She reacted to that?’
Their speed was downright unfair.
So, this is the level of a B-rank.
“Be cautious of sudden acceleration!”
I was trying to pressure the woman by creating momentum with 【Gara】,
But the man’s hand shot out toward me.
I used instant physical enhancement to dodge.
Then again—
“【Gara】.”
“Here it comes!”
Clang!
Even the man reacted this time.
He had already extended his steel hand to the landing point of 【Gara】.
I couldn’t avoid being caught.
“【Gara】.”
Using 【Gara】 again, I retreated backward and avoided the trap.
Ordinarily, such instant acceleration and evasion would be impossible.
But that’s the versatility of 【Gara】.
However, you can only catch your opponent off-guard with it a few times.
They quickly adapted.
“His chant is the trigger. Focus on the sound.”
“Got it.”
Screech.
Clang, clang!
Crash.
As expected of B-ranks.
They even picked up on the timing of my chants.
‘Let’s see… how fast Oh Hyuk-jun’s casting speed is.’
I glanced at the magic circle he was forming.
Still incomplete.
‘Is he drunk?’
Pathetically slow.
This is why you can’t just rely on raw stats.
“【Blind】.”
The new chant startled the two of them.
Then the room, already dimly lit, turned pitch black.
This wouldn’t fully impair a B-rank’s vision.
Enchanting objects with Words of Power costs little mana but isn’t all-powerful.
This was just to meet a skill condition.
I’d done some research, and the upgraded Assassination skill seemed quite effective.
Ding!
[The skill ‘Assassination’ has been activated.]
The two who had been tracking me through the darkness
Suddenly grew flustered and backed away.
I had disappeared from their awareness.
All because the light was gone.
I charged at the woman.
My sword aimed for her neck.
Clang!
But she blocked even that.
Instead, I pierced through her ear.
“Ugh…”
The skill is indeed broken.
I canceled 【Blind】, which was draining my mana.
The sensory disruption effect from the Assassination skill only lasts briefly.
There’s no point in keeping the room dark forever.
“You damned ghost…!”
The man charged at me.
“【Blind】.”
Once again, I vanished from their perception.
I stabbed at the woman’s abdomen, but she blocked it again.
This time, however, I managed to slash her side shallowly.
I retreated, then canceled the darkness again.
Most others wouldn’t be able to activate the skill conditions so freely.
But for a Word Mage, it’s a simple task.
“Even if it goes dark, don’t cover me. I’ve gotten used to the timing now.”
“Understood.”
As expected, they wouldn’t go down easily—they were B-ranks, after all.
A brief standoff ensued.
Oh Hyuk-jun’s magic circle was nearing completion.
“【Gara】.”
I shot a shard of stone from the ground.
Straight into Oh Hyuk-jun’s eye.
Thwack.
“AAARGH!”
He writhed in pain, and the casting was interrupted.
“Eyes! My eeeeeyes!”
Seriously, these guys these days.
Too weak against simple tricks.
“Deploy a constant barrier! We’ll handle this ourselves!”
With that, Oh Hyuk-jun’s memorized barrier spell was drained.
Now, maintaining a constant barrier would slow down the casting of his other spells significantly.
Their backline power was sealed.
“【Gara】”
“【Gara】”
“【Blind】”
“【Gara】”
“【Blind】”
As the guards got used to reacting instinctively to my chants, I turned to Oh Hyuk-jun and spoke.
“Explode.”
“…!”
“Lee Ji-sung—!”
The man called Lee Ji-sung rushed toward Oh Hyuk-jun in panic.
Their purpose?
Not to eliminate Ghost, but to protect Oh Hyuk-jun.
They had no choice but to take the bait.
Naturally, there was no explosion.
Instead…
“【Open】.”
Just as the man was about to grab Oh Hyuk-jun, just as he was about to roll and shield him, a portal opened between them.
As soon as the bastard’s body fell over, it was quickly closed.
The moment his body passed through, I swiftly closed it.
Oh Hyuk-jun recoiled in terror, his spell undone once again.
“Ugh!”
“L-Lee Ji-sung!”
“Okay, one down.”
“…What did you do?”
“I sent him somewhere nice.”
He’ll die soon enough.
The woman’s gaze turned icy.
“…Bring him back.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Bring him back—!”
Her sword began to glow and emitted a crimson aura.
“Uh-oh. 【Gara】.”
BOOM!
A massive explosion blew out an entire wall of the office.
Although I managed to reduce the damage by dodging, the blast hurled me outside the building.
“【Stop】.”
I stopped my descent mid-air, fixing myself in place.
For a moment, I glanced back at the two inside.
A standoff.
My neck was stiff.
Crack, Crack.
I could hear the voices of the citizens under my feet.
Mumbling-
From below, the murmurs of citizens reached my ears.
The crowd was growing louder.
“What’s going on?”
“The Palan building just exploded!”
“Wait, I know that office! That’s where Oh Hyuk-jun works!”
“Hold on, what’s that black thing in the sky… a person?”
Someone pointed in my direction.
“It’s Ghost! Ghost has come—!”
“The Dark Hero is punishing Palan!”
“Ghost! Ghost!”
Chaos erupted below.
Not that it mattered.
My body and face were completely hidden by the combat suit.
I re-entered the office.
The woman charged at me immediately.
I stood still and muttered.
“【Open】.”
The spot where she was about to step—
A hole opened beneath her feet, connected to the sky high enough to cause fatal fall damage.
“…!”
However, the woman flipped mid-air with acrobatic precision, swinging her sword at me even as she landed gracefully on the floor.
Clang.
“That won’t work anymore.”
“Of course not.”
B-rank reflexes.
A trick only works once.
It had been a single-use tactic,
but it was enough to take out one of them.
The objective was achieved.
“【Gara】.”
“【Blind】.”
Clang!
Screech—!
And once again—
“【Open】.”
This time, I opened a portal right in front of the charging woman.
Just as blatantly as before, right before her eyes.
She flinched and retreated instinctively.
From within the portal, demonic beasts snarled and roared.
It was a B-rank dungeon.
‘Tearing through the dungeon uses quite a bit of mana.’
I closed the portal quickly.
It was never meant to be a genuine trap.
“You lunatic… What the hell kind of trick is this?”
Now, they would be extremely wary of 【Open】.
It wouldn’t work on them anymore.
After another brief exchange of blows—
‘I’m running low on mana.’
It was time to end this.
“【Open】.”
I deliberately created a portal behind me, making it obvious.
The woman flinched and stepped back.
Walking backward, I entered the portal.
From the other side, I looked into the office.
The two of them stood on high alert.
The woman had even hidden Oh Hyuk-jun behind her.
“You’re not coming?”
“F*ck you.”
“Really not coming?”
I began the incantation.
“Spirit. Soul.”
“…”
“Essence. Ritual. Command.”
No matter what, they wouldn’t cross over to my side.
It seemed her sword aura attack was a one-time use.
“End. Termination.”
At my new chant, they tensed up even more.
I could feel their resolve to counter any attack I sent their way.
Fine, let’s see you try.
“Declaration. Fade.”
“You bastard, what kind of trick are you pulling this time—”
“【Die】.”
Shhhhh—
Thud.
The woman, who had been standing so firmly, collapsed lifelessly.
Oh Hyuk-jun froze in shock.
“…Huh? What… What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
Panicked, he scrambled to check her pulse, as if he’d seen it done before.
“Why, why isn’t there a pulse? Am I checking the wrong spot? Hey! Song Hyun-soo! Hey, hey!”
“She’s dead.”
I had drained the last of my mana.
Stepping through the portal, I once again set foot on the office floor.
I approached Oh Hyuk-jun.
“W-what are you saying? Dead? How could she be dead?”
“I told her to die. So she died.”
“What….”
Step.
Step.
With every step closer, Oh Hyuk-jun flinched violently.
“H-how… How is something like this possible….”
Step.
Step.
“D-don’t come closer! Stay away, Ghost! I said stay away!”
Oh Hyuk-jun backed up, hitting the wall.
“Don’t come closer! Aaaaaah!”
“All of this is your karma—”
At that moment—
“…!”
I leaped back instantly as the wall exploded.
BOOOOOOM!
The sheer force was overwhelming.
My body was pushed back, nearly flung out of the building by the shockwave.
As the dust settled, I lowered the guard I’d instinctively raised and looked ahead.
“…Hah.”
Unbelievable.
A massive man in a gray suit stood there,
his hands as large as cauldrons resting on the shattered wall.
“Huff…”
A gravelly voice rumbled.
“I didn’t expect… you to be Ghost.”
The gray suit groaned as he flexed, his muscles creaking audibly.
“Well, now I have no choice.”
Park Cheol-woong.
“Kang Hyun, I have to kill you.”
An S-rank Awakened had arrived.
