The First Plague (4)
“We’re almost there… the boy… there’s only one child who’s been in for years…”
“…”
“Children don’t last a long time, but this child is just holding on to it. Everyone is interested in his awakening,” the guide explained as he led us.
“If you say something else without me asking, you die, too.” Yeon-soo warned him.
“Sorry, sorry, Queen!”
According to the guide, Seong Hyun-woo was attracting attention within the Natasha family. A child who has survived many years in an experiment that even adults can’t stand. Even though the stress was extreme, he was a boy who was steadily building up mental fatigue without any major problems.
Upon reaching the other cells, Han Yeon-soo took the lead.
The Kraken jumped out of her shadow, killing all the villains in the area before they could even react.
Then, the victims who were incarcerated were rescued.
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There was a variety of them in different conditions. Some were in such poor condition that they looked like their lives are in danger, some looked like they have just been imprisoned and without any visible injuries, while some had limbs missing.
“Ah…”
What’s common is that they didn’t seem to realize what just happened. That they are free now. Even after their redemption, they just stared in space without getting out of their places.
“What have they done,” Lee Jin-woo muttered as he bit his lower lip. “They are monsters.”
This was worse than any crime he had seen in the news. There were indeed other monsters threatening humanity other than those inside the cracks.
Han Yeon-soo spilled blood as she walked. The Kraken following her orders had no mercy, and the path we were walking through was scattered with blood and torn flesh from the villains.
“You damn bastards!”
We turned as one of the villains yelled. Usually, they suffered fatal injuries in an instant, but this one seemed to have escaped Yeon-soo’s Kraken with only a slight injury.
[First Strike Activated]
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[Enemy recognized]
[User Lee Jin-woo can unconditionally attack first before the Enemy.]
“I’ll take care of this one,” Jin-woo told us.
[In a confrontational situation, if someone else interferes, the use of First Strike will be canceled.]
Jin-woo took one of the many things that were hanging on his waist. The opponent was charging at full swing.
Of course, the villain’s basic ability will be stronger than Jin-woo, who was just a cadet.
[When the enemy evades the attack, a 3-second cooldown is applied.]
So, it may be dangerous for Lee Jin-woo. His skill allows him to unconditionally deal damage before the enemy can attack, but if the enemy evades it, or if the enemy disappears from his sight, the skill gets canceled.
Nevertheless, there’s a reason why the characteristic was absurd.
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“This would be enough,” Jin-woo said.
Taang!
Taang!
Taang!
Gunshots resonated. The villain’s head exploded and rolled on the floor. Unless he had some restorative abilities, he would never be able to attack us again.
I don’t know if it would work the same from a distance, but how many people can avoid a bullet at such a close range?
Blocking it would be wiser. However, Lee Jin-woo’s ability can be avoided but never stopped.
“I shot a person for the first time,” Jin-woo muttered as he looked at the villain’s corpse. “It feels strange.”
I could see his hands trembling. Even though he thought the villain deserved to die and was able to shoot him without hesitation, this may have an impact on his mind.
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“What they taught us in the academy does not always apply in real-life,” I offered a little advice.
“Think of it as if you killed a monster, not a person.”
He nodded.
We started walking after Han Yeon-soo, who was already quite far away, unaware of what happened behind her.
Something changed in the eyes of Jin-woo and Ji-yeon.
They weren’t the eyes of naïve students of the academy anymore.
* * *
“Here he is…”
The man stopped walking.
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We reached an iron gate, with the words ‘Seong Hyun-woo’ written on the side of it.
Beneath the text was a photo of the young boy, his age, height, and weight.
The words’ longest-term experiment’ is also included in the description.
The man opened the iron door at Han Yeon-soo’s command.
The interior was slowly revealed…
Lee Jin-woo sighed heavily at the sight that unfolded.
Yoo Ji-yeon covered her mouth with her hands, as if to stifle a scream, and closed her eyes tightly before slowly opening them again.
A stench burst out as soon as the door was opened.
It was an unpleasant odor of decay.
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The source of the smell was a boy tied in the middle of a narrow cell.
On the boy’s head, dandruff piled, and flocks of insects crawled.
He had wounds all over his body, and most of them are rotten, swollen, and stained black.
Things that looked like maggot eggs can be seen on some of the wounds.
“How… to a child…” Ji-yeon’s voice trembled.
He was small enough to make me wonder if he was the right age.
There was a lot of dirt on his mouth that I couldn’t identify what it is he had been eating.
There was food waste on the floor.
“You, go and get ready to send me the information I need. Do you remember what I need?”
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“All right, of course, Queen, I’m going to go and organize it now!”
The man ran out urgently upon Yeon-soo’s command.
The little boy seemed as if he was just noticing that the door was opened. He slowly lifted his head.
“Ah…”
I can’t help but sigh from my dry lips as we looked at the child’s empty eyes.
Then, an unpleasant metallic sound rang from his tight chains.
Cheol-cheol, cheol-cheol.
It’s a fine, sharp sound that hurts the ears.
The boy stared at us one by one.
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“Everyone, get ready,” I told them.
“Ready? What are you talking about?” Yoo Ji-yeon said.
“What are you talking about? If you’re talking about getting ready to rescue this boy…” Han Yeon-soo was saying, but I cut her down. It was almost time.
“No, not that. I told you, be prepared to face Seong Hyun-woo.”
I followed Hyun-woo’s gaze.
He was looking at a severed man’s arm.
To be precise… it was the arm of the man who tortured the boy’s parents.
Cheol-cheol, cheol-cheol!
Seong Hyun-woo started to shake his head from side to side violently.
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Cheol-cheol, cheol-cheol!
The metal sounds of the chains rang endlessly, and his swollen wounds have burst.
The first plague is here.
“Ah ah ah ah!”
A cracked voice came from his throat.
He was screaming.
As he did, the chains holding him down were all destroyed.
His chains boasted 10 times the strength of ordinary metal, but for Seong Hyun-woo, they were no different from paper sheets.
“Yoo Ji-yeon!”
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“Okay!”
When I called her name, she began radiating mana from her body, and soon, the entire cell turned blue.
Good.
Now, it’s up to her.
Until er mana is exhausted, the power of Seong Hyun-woo won’t reach outside the cell.
But it wouldn’t last long.
“Now, let’s soothe the little child.”
I changed Nightmare to another form and walked in front of Han Yeon-soo.
[It goes without saying that even this woman here would find the kid difficult, so what are you going to do?]
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I heard the voice of the Traveler. He’s correct.
Seong Hyun-woo was too much for us, a level we could not handle.
Just watch, I planned this way better than you think, I thought, for the Traveler.
There is no problem yet.
* * *
It was strange from the beginning. The people who just threw food in before opened the door and didn’t speak their usual lines.
I looked up at the bright light that I hadn’t seen for a long time.
It was dazzling, but I was glad for the glare after being in the darkness for so long.
There were two women and two men.
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The woman standing behind was looking at me with a sad look.
I stared at her eyes, and strangely, I can see the women’s memories.
She was a very good-looking woman. Her eyes were unusually light purple.
She had always done good deeds since she was a child; she is a caring person. It was a bit unpleasant to see her being hurt by other women and to see her crying because of her lack of ability.
However, she found her talent and succeeded.
As he watched her memories, she wanted to clap a few times for her.
The memories of the man and the other woman were also amazing.
The cold-looking woman has killed so many monsters.
Creatures around her followed her, making her stronger.
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However, the stronger she became, the more out of control she was, and little by little, more and more beings followed her… she was like a queen.
And while she was getting tired of her existence, suddenly, she fell in love.
What is this?
It was funny. It was a long time since I felt my lips curl up. It was difficult to move my mouth.
The man was similar to me—a very boring life.
Then, he had what they call awakening. He qualified for a school, and the people around him congratulated him.
I would have been like him if I wasn’t kidnapped. I would have gone to school.
Even though this man was not recognized, he began succeeding.
He was being helped by someone… interestingly, it was the same person I saw in the memories of the caring woman.
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Ah, it was that man. He’s here, too.
It was like watching a movie. How amazing and fun it is that he was able to change two people’s lives.
Before I was able to stare at the man’s eyes and view his memory, something caught my eye.
A severed man’s arm.
I didn’t want to see its memory.
But my eyes were drawn to it, ignoring my will.
-Take the children
At someone’s command, he took the children, including me.
Ah, this is not a good dream… okay. Since I had happy, exciting dreams, this must be a nightmare.
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I keep seeing ugly scenes.
Tortures. Pulling out teeth.
I feel a cold sweat flowing down my back as I watched.
Until…
-Sorry… I’m sorry, Hyun-woo…
-What is he saying now?
-Now… I really can’t stand it now. Sorry… Sorry…
I saw a familiar face that I haven’t seen in a long time through the man’s memories.
The face I so longed for. It was filled with tears.
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No!
I tried to scream, but there was no voice coming out of me.
This is just a dream. A nightmare… but the sights in front of me were so vivid.
-Ai, I’m on duty today. Why do you have to die on my duty?
Tuk!
The man kicked her.
My mother.
-Come on!
Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.
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“Ah ah ah ah!”
Am I screaming?
I felt my lips tear and blood flow out.
Am I screaming? I do not know. It wasn’t important.
My mother is being dragged.
Jijijik!
He should be stopped!
I felt the chains break – everything around me exploded.
Ah, it’s a dream. In my dream, I have strong power.
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That’s it.
There were a bunch of bad people in front of me.
I continued to burst the power out of my body.
This is a dream.
I will do it my way. I don’t care about anything. I won’t think about anything.
After I wake up here anyway, I’ll find myself back in that small cell again.
I felt my body rise up from the ground as my energy exploded around me.
* * *
Had we reacted a little later, we would have been seriously injured.
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“We have to act; we’re going to die here!”
The first to go was Lee Jin-woo.
His First Strike was optimized to neutralized Seong Hyun-woo.
Seong Hyun-woo slightly twisted upon the impact of the needles against his skin.
The attack that Jin-woo did was neither a sword nor a gunshot.
Poison.
It was a powerful poison that could paralyze even a first-class hunter within 10 minutes.
Of course, since Lee Jin-woo’s attack ignored all means of resistance, there was no doubt that Hyun-woo would fall soon.
“Oh, ah ah ah!”
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“Han Yeon-soo, cover him!”
Seong Hyun-woo, surprised by the needles stuck to his body, swung his arm vigorously.
Han Yeon-soo stretched out the tentacles from her shadow to prevent the child’s attack from reaching Lee Jin-woo.
Quaduk-!
The tentacles prevented the damage, but they exploded upon impact.
“Oh, baby. That must have hurt. What strong power…”
There was slight embarrassment on Han Yeon-soo’s face as she saw her Kraken’s tentacles get destroyed.
“Don’t use the Kraken! Use a giant or an immortal dragon!” I told her.
“Yes? Well… Wait, how did you know I had such monsters? Do you know more about my characteristics other than that?”
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She looked completely surprised.
“Don’t ask; take them out! Take out monsters who won’t be at risk against a triple S-class esper. Don’t let your other monsters get killed.”
I approached Seong Hyun-woo as I spoke.
The Nightmare transformed into a large shield.
Esper… it’s silly to fight against an Esper-type with physical skills.
But what could I do…
“Link!”
[‘Link (D)’ is activated.]
[Search for beings that match the skill level among ‘Beings with a certain level of acquaintance.’]
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.
.
.
[In the memory of the user ‘Jeong Si-woo,’ I found an existence that met the conditions.]
[Link succeeded.]
Kuwook!
I felt my power of holding the shield turn incredibly stronger…
『I won’t turn my back. 』
[Indomitable Guardian]
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[Rating: E+]
Link has risen to level D sometime ago. I could link up to D-class beings now… but this being is better suited to the situation.
“Si-woo! Esper’s ability! How do you plan to stop it with a shield?”
Han Yeon-soo shouted. She was correct. The shield is more suited to physical attacks. However, an Esper’s ability is also a kinetic force. It was invisible, but an attack nonetheless.
『I have never stepped back. I cannot step back. 』
『If I step back, people depending on me will be torn apart. 』
If I crush this shield against that invisible Esper line of attack…
I used my observational power to calculate the trajectory of the kinetic force radiating from Hyun-woo.
Here it goes…
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[‘The Unbreakable Shield (D)’ is activated.]
[This shield will never break as long as it is being attacked.]
Teeing-!
I placed the shield against the empty air, and with it, an intense trembling shook the place.
“… Uh?”
[You succeeded in blocking an attack.]
The shield was fine without even a single crack.
[… Is there something that you can’t do?]
Only
My mouth, hidden behind the shield, curled up in a smile.
I know, right, I replied to the Traveler.
[It’s fun to watch. But from a spectating standpoint, I want to see you get in trouble even once.]
I’m sorry, but it won’t happen.
I enjoyed the sensation against my muscles as I began to block Seong Hyun-woo’s attacks one after another.
T-ing, Ting-!
A clear metal sound rang out every time his invisible attacks gets blocked by my shield.
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