Chapter 64
I flew through the air and immediately after landing on the ground I assumed a combat stance.
“Thump!!!”
“Krrrrrr!!!”
A horde of kobolds let out a ferocious howl as they pointed their weapons in my direction.
There were over 50 of them and as I reached into the cube to pull out Al Capone’s Tommy, I remembered what Kwak Chun-sik had told me.
‘Don’t use weapons.’
Eventually, I stopped activating the cube and activated the Aura of [Bloodline: Corleone].
“So much for uselessness!”
After being attacked by 50 enemies, an aura that was incomparable to the one he had just fought against the youth duo’s elders began to rise from my body.
The creatures cower and back away from the fearsome aura.
“Anyway, I’ll see you later, old man.”
With Kwak Chun-sik behind me, I begin to gather the uncontrollable auras and spread them throughout my body.
This would be enough to strengthen my body, but I go one step further and use my fist to release a small amount of aura, forming a thin film.
I try to turn it into a glove or some other form, but it still feels like I’m sculpting with a beast, and I end up just letting it run down my hand.
Still, it should be enough to deal with these guys.
“Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!”
“Growl! Thump!”
They start to raise their weapons as they realize that something strange is happening right in front of them.
If the kobolds attack first and encircle me, I would be at a disadvantage so I need to move before their fear turns to madness.
I hear one of the kobolds reload his crossbow as I leap into their midst and blow them away.
Keng──!
With that, most of the ranged attacks they’ve prepared won’t even be possible.
In my sudden rush, I smash the jaw of one of them as he tries to draw his dagger, and then begin to pulverize them one by one.
I could feel the fear in their eyes grow as each one fell to the ground.
That fear is converted into power by the Baby Boss, a secondary effect of my talent, Heir to the Underworld, and my body, which was only strengthened by Aura, is strengthened once more, as an explosive power spreads throughout my body.
The kobolds trying to surround me are sent flying backwards by the shockwave, and as I duck behind them and swing my legs at those farther away, they burst as if I had kicked a water balloon.
At the same time, the smell of blood and wet dog fills the dungeon.
“……hu.”
Red smoke rises as blood evaporates from my body.
I’m glad I kept the blood out with my aura, or it’d have gotten all over me.
I flick my sweaty hair back and turn to Kwak Chun-sik, who is still looking at me from behind.
“Wasn’t that enough?”
In fact, less than a few minutes had passed and I had already rendered most of the 50 kobolds incapacitated, so the battle could be considered over. But there was something strange about Kwak Chun-sik’s expression.
I was expecting him to say something like, “Well, it worked,” or “I would have done it faster,” but instead, he just stared at me with his mouth open.
……Did I do something wrong?
“……you?”
* * *
Did he mention he’s the son of Vito Corleone?
Having watched him fight to the end, I could only marvel at what I thought was a child.
I wasn’t expecting much when I threw him into a horde of kobolds.
I had seen his fighting sense and style in the duel, but now I wanted to see how he used his aura in everyday life.
Having seen enough Aura users and being an Aura Master, I was well aware of the average growth rate.
It’s been a month since he awakened……so I had a pretty good idea and since aura is difficult to handle, he’ll fight by focusing on one body part.
He’ll use more strength than he needs to keep it moving, and eventually he’ll exhaust himself because he can’t manage the pace.
But…
‘Is that possible?’
He had already surpassed my expectations.
The aura flailing uselessly here and there belonged to children who had barely awakened, as he said, but the rest of it…….
‘A genius.’
It wasn’t that the aura was hard to control or anything, he simply couldn’t handle the sheer volume of aura.
The torrent of aura that a normal person would not even be able to move was being channeled by him into a form of ‘release’.
I had seen such a thing before in Vito Corleone, the man everyone calls ‘Don’ now the man who rules the Underworld of the world.
A man who, more than anyone else, has been on the front lines of the discriminated and marginalized, fiercely defending them.
A man who is said to be the worst and the strongest, whose fists have shattered countless demons and whose kicks have left great beasts standing still.
‘So blood is not deceiving after all.’
I thought, as I saw the image of Vito Corleone superimposed on the child’s face.
“……you?”
He calls out to me and despite the gruesome scene, I couldn’t see a single drop of blood on his body.
I couldn’t believe it, even though it was right there in front of me.
His aura could be considered monstrous and he had more aura than Vito Corleone, and even me.
“I suppose you could…….”
“……?”
The skill I created to counter the man who would later surpass me, Vito Corleone.
I was sure he could master the skill I created to outwit Vito Corleone but even I couldn’t master.
* * *
“It’s possible. What do you mean?”
Kwak Chun-Sik- trigger line came out and the muscles in the corners of my mouth twitched with excitement, but I held them together as best I could.
I thought I was going to struggle for a while, but the tears in the corners of his eyes told me that I had indeed fulfilled the conditions for triggering the gimmick.
No, was there a condition to be moved?
I just did what I usually do…….
“……But we’ll talk about it later, there’ll be other guys coming soon after smelling the blood of their colleagues.”
“They’ll all be gone with a wave of your hand anyway, won’t they?”
“If I try that in a dungeon of this size, we’re dead, you bastard.”
With that, Kwak Chun-sik turned on his heel and walked back into the dungeon.
“I’ll walk slowly to the boss room, you handle it.”
“……I mean, this is your request, isn’t it?”
“It’s my request and your mentor’s request. You came here to be my mentee, and you’re just going to learn from me?”
Wow, you’re making me look like the bad guy here.
Just when I thought I’d earned his favor, he came right back with his temper.
I sighed and drew my weapon, figuring I could probably take care of these guys with [Al Capone’s Tommy gun] anyway.
“Do you understand──?!”
Kwak Chun-sik suddenly slapped me on the back.
“If you sigh, you’re out of luck, asshole!”
No, he’s an asshole in the weirdest way. Really.
Eventually, I get the Tommy out and follow Kwak Chun-sik to take down the oncoming kobolds.
Kwak Chun-sik looks at my Tommy in wonder.
“It must be an artifact. Does it fire magic bullets?”
“Yeah, sometimes the aura gets mixed in with it, and the red bullets fly.”
“What? A guy like you spraying aura all over the place, of course it’s going to affect your magic.”
Huh?
“……I was spraying aura everywhere?”
“Yeah, I’m guessing you fought while trying to control it, because I was watching it from behind and it was pissing me off.”
“Why don’t you let me know in the future?”
“I intend to. Wait, stop here.”
Kwak Chun-sik, who had suddenly stopped me, stepped forward and placed his hand on the wall.
“Let’s see~ This should be enough.”
“……?”
“Watch closely. You can do it later.”
At that moment.
────────────!!!
The wall burst open with a tremendous explosion, dust filling the air.
A tunnel opened up in a straight line, as if a bomb had been detonated.
Beyond it, a kobold could be seen, taller and paler than the others.
“Heh heh heh. My instincts are never wrong.”
The Kobold Queen was definitely the boss of this dungeon. But it wasn’t just Kwak Chun-sik’s ability to find the Kobold Queen that surprised me.
It was the cleanliness of the area, and the fact that not a single stone had fallen out of the tunnels after that violent explosion.
“Let’s go.”
I wondered how he could control Aura to perform such a trick.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The kobold queen, who had spotted us, began barking, and the armored kobolds that had gathered around her began to move into the tunnel, each with their own weapons.
Weapons that set them apart from the other kobolds, in particular, the shields held by the two in the forefront looked like they could deflect any ranged attack or magic.
“That’s noisy, let’s shut them up a bit.”
After muttering that, Kwak Chun-sik stretched out his palm and made a scratching motion.
“Ching?”
“Kegeng?”
The kobold guards are puzzled by Kwak Chun-sik behavior and when they are about to advance with their shields again the upper part of the shield they were holding was cut off and fell to the ground.
The two kobold guards scratched their heads in disbelief, and the two fell to the ground in a heap.
Blood gushed from their heads as they fell to the ground on either side.
“……ha.”
I stare at the overwhelming power of aura.
If I were that kobold, could I have stopped it?
No, I would never have been able to stop it, not with my bare body and not with my normal equipment.
Even if I’d tried to dodge, I would have been caught by surprise.
“Eugene, at first I thought of you as a raw stone, but you’re already somewhat polished, so perhaps what you need now is a skill to enhance your value.”
As he speaks, a sword forged from blue mana rises from his hand.
“And I am here to teach you a skill that will serve your legend well in the future.”
Kwak Chun-sik stared at the sword in his hand and pulled his right arm behind his back as if in an archery demonstration all the while, his expression remained extremely calm and serene.
When he finally pulled it all the way out, he began to gently and quietly extend his arm out in front of him.
His arm was simply outstretched but his sword was already at the throat of the kobold queen standing in the distance.
There was no scream from the kobold queen as he struck her squarely in the neck. She just stood there, unable to comprehend what had happened.
The Kobold Queen’s body hits the ground as all nearby kobolds begin to scream.
And all of this is accompanied by the sound of──
“Solitary Night!”
──and with those words, it’s all gone.
From the blue sword still unclaimed from the kobold queen countless branches sprouted, taking the lives of those who trespassed on their territory.
As Kwak Chun-sik gently released the power from his right hand, the blue tree that controlled the place dissolved into thin air as if it had accomplished everything, and he looked back at me as if nothing had happened.
“This is a skill you will learn from me in the future.”
Kwak Chun-sik smiled warmly as he said that.
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