READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 293. Ocean (Creature) (3)
The man turned pale.
The awakened guards, having just lost their sanity, were heading towards the cloud bridge connected to the venue. How could one not be frightened?
But it was a moment too late to chase after them.
Iori, the second S-Class Hunter from Japan, had the duty to protect the artifacts at the Tokyo auction.
“Damn!”
With all the guards rushing out, the room where the artifacts were stored was left empty.
This meant that for the sake of protecting the equipment, he couldn’t leave Building D recklessly.
What if this series of disturbances was a scheme orchestrated by some monster?
He was someone who should not be looking at the holes in the corridor but heading back to the storage room right away.
However, under such circumstances, the guards who had escaped were two A-Class physically enhanced Awakened and one B-Class with defensive skills, wildly running as if they would destroy the building.
It was a dizzying situation before his eyes.
“Anyone, just hurry up! Especially in Building A. If those people meet with the audience at the venue, it’ll be a real disaster…!”
In the end, Iori clutched the radio and called for his comrades.
But due to an unexpected ambush, receiving help from his comrades was not easy…
.
.
.
At the same time.
Building C at the north end of the venue.
After a brief conversation with a ranker from Korea.
The four S-Class Hunters of Japan had returned to their respective positions after Kim Gi-ryeo insisted they didn’t need to stay together.
One moved to relocate in response to the high-ranking gate that had appeared in Hyogo.
Meanwhile, the woman with blue hair was escorting high-ranking politicians from her country along with Ito.
“Ito. Why the heck are we doing the dirty work for such useless people?”
“…Avoid using such expressions about people.”
“Even Captain Gi-ryeo from Korea refused special treatment and is quietly watching the event. Why should I help promote a political party I didn’t even vote for?”
“I don’t think discussing politics outside is a good idea….”
“Look at that. That person is taking more pictures than an influencer. Enjoying the event more than anyone else.”
Moritake Ito adjusted his formal attire awkwardly, which he wore for the first time in a while.
As the guild master, he was striving tirelessly to maintain a social center when the two S-Class from Imabari were about to have a brief conversation.
– Emergency situation! This is the D Building storage room. The guards in charge have suddenly…!
“Hmm?”
At that moment, the radio had just rung.
‘……!’
The sound quality was poor, but the tone was unmistakable.
‘Request for Iori’s assistance?’
The hunters from Imabari immediately stood up upon hearing someone’s voice.
Originally, they were supposed to rush towards the problematic D Building.
However, at that point, the problematic ambush appeared.
When the atmosphere on Imabari’s side became chaotic, the brown-wigged politician whispered something to his aide.
The aide, having heard the whisper, quickly relayed it to their country’s hunters.
“What? They told us to hold our ground?!”
“From the radio, it seems like there’s been an incident. I’ve heard that there are higher-ranked individuals hired privately within the venue for security. Therefore, for the safety of the congressman, you should not leave this place and wait here for a while.”
While this filthy claim was being relayed, the politician wore a benign smile, trying not to show his discomfort.
‘Just because he’s anxious, he has the audacity to keep two rankers here?’
Japanese hunters immediately began to argue with the other party.
This delayed their support significantly.
Of course, even during this verbal spat, Ito couldn’t grasp what exactly was happening in Building D…
*
Suddenly, I wanted to see my newly made Earth friend.
– Drrrrrrrrrrrrr―――――!
“Eh?”
“What’s that?”
“That’s so noisy!”
“What’s going on?”
Exactly! Oh, mammals.
If I could, I’d love to know what was going on too.
‘Hmm.’
Just seconds after the fire alarm went off, a loud thud echoed from upstairs.
Given my experience, that was definitely not a good sign.
‘I’ve heard this so often that I can identify it now.’
Thud, thud…
I don’t know how earthlings, who focus more on sight than sound, react, but I could discern some kind of premonition amidst the blaring fire alarm.
‘That sounds like concrete breaking.’
However, the flow of magic suggested it wasn’t the gate’s doing. What could possibly cause a fight at such a formal international event?
‘Hmm.’
I decided to turn and run.
Chaos was chaos. After all, I still had things I needed to get done.
“Fire!”
I started waving my hands at the people inside Building A, pretending there was a fire.
At that moment, the clothes I had thoughtlessly worn played a significant role.
‘Oh!’
Originally, I had planned to either use my intimidating body to scare people off or boast, like “Do you know who I am? I’m an overseas S-Class!”
“Eh? Fire?”
“It seems like a real fire! Let’s get out fast!”
Surprisingly, the audience quickly evacuated the area.
When a suit-wearing guy told them to flee in three different languages using a translator, they seemed to confuse me for some sort of event staff.
If I were in their shoes, I would probably evacuate without a word after witnessing the same scene too.
‘This is easy!’
Now, ideally, I should have been increasing the intensity of the fire and creating chaos as planned…
‘This is too easy. It seems my plan is going awry way too quickly.’
I never expected the entire universe would obstruct a simple theft.
Crash!
Shortly after.
The part of the event poster that was slowly burning stood as a place for my alibi.
That promotion I had marked as a reason was soon smashed to pieces by two Awakened individuals who appeared from above.
Even one of them would have been an enormous source of energy, and now they were combining forces and targeting my floor directly.
‘With holes like that in the building, it feels just like the cave I lived in during my previous life.’
Oh boy. I can’t help but think how much I miss Seonwoo-yeon, an Earthling.
After witnessing the violent emergence of high-ranking Awakened, I immediately slipped my hand into my pocket.
And that moment.
Two strange Awakened beings with red eyes began looking around and charged straight at me.
‘What? It can’t be happening! A direct assault?’
There wasn’t even time to consider where they had spotted the light that caught their attention.
I canceled my action to take out my phone and whipped out another tool instead.
My speed of retrieving items was incomparable to earthlings who take several seconds to find one.
‘Despite such distance, they’re incredibly fast…!’
From my item box, I pulled out the usual equipment.
【Surprise Box!】
And activated it immediately.
– Thud!
One of them fainted successfully.
But because their ranks were too high, the remaining one deflected the box’s magic and remained conscious.
‘It’s hard to determine whether they are self-aware or not.’
That roughly meant an A-Class physically enhanced sorcerer was charging at me with a murderous intent.
‘Ugh.’
What a hassle, coming all the way out here and facing this kind of trouble.
‘It’s too sudden for me to make sense of it. Are these Japanese guys even hired assassins?’
Damn it.
Just as I thought about the billion yen bounty sent by Imabari as dirty money, a sense of dread washed over me, having suffered a lot recently.
The sight of the approaching enemy evoked fear that flashed through my mind.
I had applied the divine tree method well this time too.
So I didn’t hesitate to switch to my next means.
‘Ah… I didn’t want to bring this out because it’s too cruel.’
High-quality magic tools from Korea.
The emergence of [Scream Stake].
But I had no intention of swinging this weapon with my hands.
My physical strength was like that of an insect. If I used a tool against a real Awakened, it would quickly escalate to a Second Beast Incident.
‘Even a single misstep would make me drop my weapon.’
If I was bound to lose a weapon in the water, wouldn’t it be better to throw it away from the start?
“!!”
Whoosh!
For the above reasons, I threw the raised Scream Stake directly.
And as the weapon flew like a dart, I turned around and ran at full speed.
– Aaaaaaah…!
Clang!
As expected, soon after, I heard someone’s moaning.
That Awakened must have been hit by the [Scream Stake] just as they reached out to deflect it, locking the effect in on them for a moment.
My original plan was to escape while they were in pain.
But it seems I might have underestimated the capabilities of an A-Class physical enhancer.
‘Huh?’
Even without looking back, I sensed the enemy closing in at an incredible speed.
‘No, is that guy really an assassin!’
In a fight with earthlings who move like paper, I’d often close my eyes and open them only to find their punches had already struck.
So, seeing their running posture, I was careless, thinking I could observe their speed. The A-Class Hunter pursuing me had closed the gap within just 4 seconds, despite the lingering effect of the [Scream Stake].
The distance was now merely 3 meters.
‘Aaaah!’
Boom!
Before I could properly react, the Awakened’s attack pierced into my body.
I rolled over from the blunt force and collapsed sideways.
‘What a crazy human!’
A regular F-Class Hunter would have turned into mashed potatoes from that blow.
In an event with people from all over the world, witnessing a superhuman exerting their full power was indeed noticeable.
‘This is not a normal situation.’
Moreover, just when things couldn’t get worse, another piece of news arrived…
‘Did I even have allies left?’
Two A-Class individuals appeared from the ceiling, their mobility far superior due to their enhanced state.
Regular Awakened don’t run this fast.
And amidst the confusion, fresh information reached me.
Somewhere above with a hole blasted in it, I felt the presence of a slow-moving Awakened running towards us.
‘The magic power seems roughly around B-Class.’
Damn it.
The fainting item had just been opened and had a long re-use cooldown left.
‘Shouldn’t I feel some divine connection? Unless that sorcerer is suffering divine retribution, there shouldn’t be any crisis like this…’
I spilled a glance at the ground and quickly got my posture right.
Despite rolling over from the enemy’s attack, as a soul that remained fully under its own control, I landed smoothly as long as I regained my composure.
Perhaps because the victim hadn’t suffered serious damage, the opposing Awakened tightened their muscles and angled towards me.
‘Huh.’
On the surface, it looked like a life-and-death crisis.
Yet, I now—
Having repaired my lungs, resolved my defense issues, and stacked various items, I had become an upgraded Great Mage.
‘How did I end up living such an unremarkable life…’
– Drrrrrrrrrrrrr―――――…
As the still-sounding alarm echoed loudly around, my pre-activated alarm system enabled me to finish my work much more smoothly.
– Swoosh.
This meant slipping the Scream Stake into the mammal silently via telekinesis.
“……!”
With a sharp weapon in hand.
Just messing around by slipping a foreign object into a T-shirt?
Suddenly, the frantically charging individual came to a halt. And that Eastern mammal started screaming loudly just a second later.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Indeed. Even without sanity, pain felt the same, huh?
The powerful momentum they had been exerting disappeared, and now they curled up like a shrimp, twisting their whole body on the ground.
Judging by their muscle bulk, they must have been doing some physical labor.
Ironically, due to their well-trained physique, they couldn’t quite reach their own back.
‘This newfound method came to me recently, but it seems to work well against a deranged opponent. However, with all that writhing, the dagger will pop out in no time.’
I need to escape before reinforcements arrive.
With that thought in mind, I turned my head.
But my escape was blocked before it even started.
The reinforcements I just mentioned arrived a step faster than expected.
Adding to the headache, I didn’t even know if this new arrival was an ally or an enemy.
“Ah! Over here!”
Crash!
With the thunder from a clear blue sky, that mammal turned out to be an A-Class from the Imabari corporation.