CHAPTER 99 – Accident at England (Part 8)
Moments after Rachel went to follow Kim Hajin up the stairs.
[I have confirmed Roton’s internal documents. The item that’s currently in Clancy Hall is the real one.]
“It doesn’t matter what these insects do, the result is the same.” Kim Hakpyo, Evil Society’s executive grinned at the information he just received.
He was currently waiting in hiding, after all, Evil Society wasn’t sure if Roton Corporation would be brave enough to bring the real item to the presentation.
But Zelen, Roton’s CEO, did nonetheless, after all, the chance to bring a lot of money to his corporation was an opportunity the greedy man wouldn’t let go.
So, taking into account the perfect defense known as Clancy Islet, which was an island formed by Magic Power where Djinn’s artificial portals didn’t work, Zelen thought it wouldn’t be a problem to actually bring the artifact here.
With the confirmation made, and the target right in front of them, now their job was confirmed. They had to steal the artifact.
What Zelen didn’t take into account, was that Evil Society had a plan to actually bypass Clancy Islet’s protection.
“Begin.” Hakpyo commanded.
Immediately, a dense black fog started to spread through the VIP seats on the first floor. At first, people thought it was just another event made by Roton Corporation, but they were soon proved wrong when the screams and agonizing shouts started too soon on the further seats.
Those present in the VIP seats soon understood that something was wrong, and losing their composure, they slowly started to stand up, worried about what was happening. Soon enough, everything became a pandemonium.
“…” From the shadows, Kim Hakpyo only grinned, looking at how his elite team started to act, blocking every pathway while decimating the guards.
The 22 elite members of Evil Society present were being led by Team 1’s Executive, Neide, a grade-1 wanted Djinn on the Hero Association list.
Meanwhile, while the elite team of Evil Society started their plan, Zelen was shocked over the stage, but soon enough, he was able to react to the situation.
“Heroes! Over here!” And as such, he started to call any near available Hero towards him, so he and the artifact could be protected.
Neide, who quickly made his way towards Zelen, shutting him up while commanding his underlings to deal with the incoming heroes while he swiftly took the artifact and the crystal inside it, putting them both inside a suitcase.
But just as he was preparing to make his way out, someone stepped in front of him.
“Where are you going?” An Asian-looking man stood there. “Let me introduce myself, I’m a high-rank Hero Jin Xiangchen.”
Looking at the hero introducing himself in a poor Korean, Neide quickly thought of a way out. After all, he didn’t want to waste his time fighting a high-rank hero. And the next moment, he grinned, and cloned himself.
Eight clones of Neide appeared in front of Jin Xiangchen, making him give an awkward smile.
“What a troublesome ability.” The high-rank Hero commented, before getting ready to fight all eight of them.
But differently from his expectations, Neide didn’t want to fight, and so, all eight clones of him started to run in different directions.
“Y-You! Motherfucker!” Jin Xiangchen shouted while looking at the different clones running away, after pondering for a little bit, he finally decided to go behind the one running eastward.
At the same time, someone else was looking everything from the shadows, and just as the clones started to run, Boss walked out from her hiding and started going behind one of the clones, but differently from Jin Xiangchen, she chose to go north.
“*sigh…*” From another place, also close to the stage, a man let out a sigh while going out from his hiding. He went towards a Djinn, broke his wrist to make him drop the sword, and then grabbed him tightly from the neck.
After a couple of seconds, the Djinn started to bleed from all his orifices. And the man let him fall dead on the floor.
Then, picking the sword, Kim Junwoo made his way towards a group of cadets from Cube, cutting every Djinn that stood in front of him.
After a few moments, he finally saw Chae Nayun and the rest of the cadets that were standing close to their table, looking around not knowing what to do.
“Oppa!” Once Chae Nayun saw him, they all ran towards him, and just after cutting another Djinn and taking his sword, he threw the sword to Kim Suho, who quickly caught it.
They all stared at him in confusion.
“Shall we fight?” Kim Junwoo smiled, before looking at the table.
There, one particular cadet was still sitting while drinking from his glass.
“Hey, will you stay there?” He tilted his eyebrow.
“Mm?” Cristopher turned to look at him, before downing his drink. “Oh well, I guess there won’t be a problem for me to move a little.”
Cristopher stood up, stretched, and followed them, while everyone made its way towards the fight.
***
While everyone was fighting, Hajin stood on the rooftop, looking at the escaping figures of Neide.
The one that ran to the east didn’t have the crystal, while the one being followed closely by Boss to the north, should be the one with the crystal.
“If everything’s like in the original story, Boss should quickly catch him and take the artifact for Chameleon’s Troupe.” Hajin muttered while looking at Boss, who was quickly making her way through a group of Djinns, taking care of them with Void Sphere, one of her Gift’s abilities.
He then turned to look at the running Neide.
“What…?” But contrary to what Hajin expected, the Neide that Boss will eventually catch, wasn’t the one that had the Crystal. The story changed.
He quickly took out the laptop, and looked at it, searching for something that may have changed. But there was nothing.
“How…?” He couldn’t understand what happened, so he started to look around the hall, trying to find the crystal, but it was impossible with all the fights, it was then that an idea went through his head.
Quickly, he sent the stigma’s Magic Power towards his Gift ‘Thousand Mile Eyes.’, enhancing it.
His sight expanded and transformed dramatically, it was like looking through a satellite, seeing everything happening in Clancy Islet.
Civilians escaping from the hall, Heroes fighting the Djinns, weird creatures summoned by the Djinns… He could see everything.
And among those things, he could also see the White Crystal, the one he needed to see, the embodiment of Magic Power. It was moving fast through Clancy Islet’s streets inside a sedan car, which was being droved by one person.
While looking at it, a sudden pain invaded his eyes, as the blood vessels were cut, turning his sight back once again and forcing him to close his eyes in a hurry because of the pain.
“Urgh…” He held his face in pain for a moment, before opening them again and taking out his Desert Eagle, turning it into a sniper rifle to try and snipe the sedan. But sadly, his Gift was overloaded thanks to the stigma’s Magic Power, so it was impossible for him to actually do it for the moments.
“Damn it…” Without any other choice, Kim Hajin quickly jumped down from the rooftop, using his parkour to get down without any injury.
Looking around for something to ride, he found a black and expensive motorbike that was parked outside of Clancy Hall.
He looked at it and thought that it may be because of his luck that he found a bike, after all, he at least had some experience in driving motorcycles thanks to his usual part-time jobs as delivery before going to the army.
“Everybody, stay calm as you evacuate!” A familiar voice resounded close to him, and turning around he found Chae Nayun who was helping to evacuate the civilians from Clancy Hall.
She was currently holding into a stick made by condensed Magic Power.
Feeling somewhat bad, he remembered that Cristopher gave him some weapons to sneak to Clancy Islet.
Taking out Cristopher’s Magic Sword, he turned to her to call her.
“Hey!”
“Uh? What? Kim Hajin!? Where have you-” Chae Nayun answered at his call, but before she could finish speaking. Kim Hajin threw her something.
“Be careful not to get hurt!” He said before turning towards the motorbike and running there, quickly hacking it with his laptop, thanking that even cars and motorcycles used a digital key in this world.
“Scan.” He quickly sat up on the saddle of the motorbike, while using his Gift ‘Random Consolidation System’, which also worked on vehicles, to enhance the vehicle. Over the bike, the number 44 appeared.
“Hey! Where are you going!?” Chae Nayun, who was still looking at him, asked. But he didn’t answer, and just drove off towards the sedan that carried the artifact and the Crystal.
*Vroooom!*
The engine roared while he accelerated, moving at an insane speed thanks to Hajin’s Gift.
Meanwhile, Chae Nayun just stood there, looking at Hajin’s back as he sped off somewhere.
It was like a picture from a movie, even a scene from her dreams.
Someone jumping in a lightspeed bike, driving it masterfully in a cool way. It was something that caught her attention.
“KYAAAA” At least until a scream awoke her from her daze.
“What?” She turned around, and there were still monsters and Djinns destroying things around. She then took a look at the thing he gave her. She knew what this was.
{Where did he get something this expensive? He said he won 2 billion won, so did he buy it with that? To give it to me? No, that can’t be…} She thought for a moment, before shaking her head and looking once again.
She activated her Magic Power, and a clean sharp blade of Magic Power appeared from the handle.
She grinned and imbued even more Magic Power on the Magic Sword, which made the blade grow even more with each passing second, finally reaching 4 meters.
“Where the hell did you get that?” A voice woke her up from her trance.
“Huh!?” She flinched, before turning to look where the voice comes from. There, she saw Cristopher frowning at him. “H-Hajin g-gave it to me.” She said, getting slightly embarrassed for some reason she couldn’t understand.
“Oh, he did?” He frowned deeper, before sighing. “Anyway. Did you remember where he went?”
“Huh!? Ah, yes. He took that road.” Nayun nodded while pointing at the road Hajin took with the motorbike.
“Fine. Don’t lose that sword.” Cristopher said before moving towards the place.
“Huh? And why do you care?” She retorted back while frowning.
“That thing is mine. He lent it to you, but it’s still mine.” With those words, he disappeared from the place.
“Just… What the hell…?” Chae Nayun didn’t know what to say.
“Someone save me!” A woman’s cry woke up Chae Nayun from her daze, and she immediately went back to the fight.
“I’m going!”
***
A few moments before Cristopher got close to Chae Nayun, on the rooftop of Clancy Hall, Rachel stood there, looking at the direction where Kim Hajin left.
“…” She was currently frowning, pondering if she should go behind him, or not.
Remembering everything that has happened so far, she was pretty sure that Kim Hajin was currently going towards some group of Djinns. After all, both he and her master were constantly on track of Djinns inside Cube.
She didn’t know why they were doing it, and deep down in her heart, she didn’t care. After all, it was thanks to that, that she was saved twice, and so, she was really grateful to them.
{This time, I’ll be the one to help them.} She thought.
Her frown cleared, and with determination, she jumped towards the closest building rooftop. She decided to go behind Kim Hajin and find what was currently happening.
***
Sometime after, Kim Hajin was speeding through the road southeast, it took him a little less than three minutes to finally see the sedan ahead, which was quickly driving through Clancy Islet’s roads, surely trying to escape.
He has been driving at supersonic speed, trying his best to not collide against other cars or buildings. Thankfully, he could manage with his Gift’s power, thanks to the acute dynamic vision it gave him, which barely covered for his lacking driving skills and experience.
{Got you.} I thought, looking at the sedan that was driving right in front of me.
I couldn’t take out my Desert Eagle at this speed, even less try to shoot it. So that left me with only one option.
Letting out a deep breath, and inhaling again, I clenched my teeth, covered the bike with the enhanced Aether, and accelerated even more.
The bike sped off, becoming faster and faster with each passing second. The wind stopped me from breathing, but I held on as much as I could with my clenched teeth, not letting go of the gas.
And the next moment, the bike collided against the sedan.
The strenuous sound of the collision resounded on the streets, but contrary to what would normally happen, it wasn’t the bike that got damaged, it was the sedan, which was lifted from the back, barreling through the air as a tin can, before slamming down on a tree’s trunk.
Stopping the bike close to the overturned sedan, I finally let out the breath I’ve been holding back, and stood up from the bike, walking closer towards the sedan while taking out my weapon from the stigma.
Magic Power came out of the stigma and formed the Desert Eagle in my hand.
At the same time, the driver’s door opened up, and from the sedan, the sole driver went out, holding a suitcase.
“Crazy bastard…” The Djinn glared at me. “You’re dead.”
{Why is he so confident?} I thought for a moment before an object entered my vision, it was an aerial carrier that had a stealth function. It was making his way here, probably to pick up the Djinn.
I grinned for a moment and took out my laptop casually.
“O-Over here, brothers!” The Djinn shouted while waving his arms towards the aerial carrier, even shooting a flare gun to catch their attention.
Meanwhile, I was connecting to a peripheral server through my laptop’s hacking ability.
[A0936-B Carrier. 100 SP to hack into it.]
{Mm… That’s quite wasteful… Oh well.} I quickly paid the required amount of SP and wrote a few commands before closing the laptop.
“W-What…?” The Djinn looked dumbfounded as the aerial carrier started to move backward. “A-Ah! W-Where are you going!? Over here! HEY! WHERE ARE YOU FUCKING GOING!?” The Djinn started shouting, but it was impossible for them to pick him up.
“I mean…” His arms hanged low. “Where are you going, sirs…? Guys!?” The Djinn was looking devastated at his comrades going away, not knowing what to do and even coughing blood from the rage.
But before I could even move, something came crashing down, generating a shockwave that sent a rock towards the Djinn’s head, crushing it, while the suitcase flew towards me, probably thanks to my luck.
From the epicenter of the shockwave, a 2.2 meters-tall giant stood, holding a girl that looked like a child beside the tall giant.
I could feel overwhelming pressure from the guy that was just standing there, he was arguably the strongest close-combat fighter from my story. Cheok Jungyeong.
{Though, I don’t know right now with Cristopher being here… Even if he says that his physical stats are nerfed hard, he’s still a monster in close combat…} I thought briefly before turning to look at the girl that was fighting.
“*sigh…* Fuck…” I let out a deep sigh while seeing Rachel who was trying to break free from the giant.
“L-Let go! Let m-me go!” She shouted at him while struggling to try to hit him as much as possible, but Cheok Jungyeong barely flinched. “Let me go! This is England’s territory, and I am England’s princess!” She shouted at him.
“Oh, this girl?” Cheok Jungyeong spoke once he noticed I was looking at her. “It looked like she was following you, so I brought her.” He smirked.
“*sigh…* I would drop her if I were you…” I could just sigh while looking at him.
“Huh? Hahahaha! Or what? Are you going to do something about it? Kid?” He laughed at my words.
I just shook my head, before picking up the suitcase.
“Oi. Put that down.” Which made Cheok Jungyeong frown.
“…” I just looked at him.
“I said-” He tried to speak again, but Rachel shouted.
“HELI! LAKY!” She shouted, angered.
Cheok Jungyeong just looked at her, not knowing what she was doing, but suddenly, a crimson fire erupted towards his face, while freezing cold water tried to freeze the arm holding Rachel.
“What?” He frowned. While the fire left a small burn on his face, it wasn’t enough for him to cry in pain, he only winced a little.
{Freaking monster…} I thought to myself while looking at him. I knew for a fact that those weren’t normal elements from what Cristopher told me. But for him to merely frown at them. {I forgot that there are still a lot of monsters in this world…} I thought with a sigh.
“LET ME GO, I TELL YOU!” Rachel shouted again at him. But Cheok Jungyeong merely flexed his arm to break the ice that was slowly covering it.
“This girl…” He was slowly getting angry. “You, give me that suit-” He talked to me again, only to be interrupted again.
“Oi.” A deep, angry voice resounded in the place. “Who the fuck do you think you are to be putting your filthy hands on her?”
A strong hit sounded, and the next moment, Cheo Jungyeong wasn’t standing there anymore, while the sound of buildings crumbling down could be heard from the distance.
“Ah!” Rachel fell, but before she touched the ground, someone caught her in a princess carry.
“Are you okay?” Rachel turned up to look at the one that was asking her.
“…” Her eyes widened, and she didn’t know what to answer, totally speechless, she then turned to look down out of embarrassment, and that's when she noticed how she was being carried, making her blush.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Cristopher nodded while looking at the blushing Rachel, before putting her down.
“Thanks…” She said in a barely audible voice.
“No problem.” Cristopher nodded at her with a smile, before looking at Hajin. “Take her out of here.”
Both Rachel and Hajin were surprised at his words.
“What are you going to do?” He asked back to him.
“Mm… I’ll have to take care of that guy first.” Cristopher shrugged.
“Are you sure…?”
“No!" Rachel rejected the idea immediately. "You don’t have to do this. Let's just leave! Other veteran Heroes can take charge of him.” Rachel also spoke to him, trying to convince him to leave with them.
“You brought a motorbike, that’s a two persons’ ride.” He shook his head. “Also, I really doubt that he would let us all go.” He smirked while pointing somewhere towards the rubbles. Just in time to see the giant coming back while stretching his neck, with a huge grin on his face.
“…” Both Hajin and Rachel looked at Cheok Jungyeong with worried eyes.
“Come on. Leave now. I’ll take care of things here.” Cristopher said while taking out his blazer and tying it on his waist.
“Okay. Just don’t try to do anything rash.” Hajin nodded while grabbing Rachel’s wrist. “Come on, Rachel. We have to go.”
“No!” Rachel shook her head while pulling her wrist out of Hajin’s grab. “If you're not leaving, I’ll stay and help you then.” She said with a stern face.
“*sigh…* I’m telling you. Just leave this place.” Cristopher shook his head, not looking at her, while he took out his tie, dropping it on the floor. “You need that Crystal, right? If it’s stolen it would put your country in a hard spot financially.”
“But-” She tried to protest but was interrupted.
“Don’t forget that you’re this country’s one and only princess. Act like it.” He said in a reprimanding tone while unbuttoning his shirt almost entirely, letting it fall from his upper body and hang down his waist fixed with his tied blazer.
Meanwhile, Cheok Jungyeong was already close to them, putting on his gauntlets.
“Relax.” Cristopher turned to look at her. “I can handle this. You know I’m quite powerful, right?” He smiled brightly.
“…” She just looked at him, with a clear unwillingness on her face.
“Now leave.” He turned again towards the giant.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Cheok Jungyeong said with a smirk. “You see. You still have something I want. So, you better give it to me.”
The giant Jungyeong pointed to the suitcase in Hajin’s hand.
“Sorry. That isn’t yours.” Cristopher smirked at the giant. “So? What are you waiting for? Leave now!” He said while waving at both Hajin and Rachel.
Hearing him, Hajin quickly dragged Rachel towards the bike, while she had her eyes fixed on Cristopher.
“I told you, that I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Cheok Jungyeong said, appearing right close to them ready to punch before they could even perceive him or move.
“And I told you.” A hand appeared to stop his fist, overthrowing the entire shockwave made by it, said hand was covered in whitish-cyan-colored mana. “That it wasn’t yours, to begin with.”
Cristopher appeared with a smirk, stopping his fist. To which Cheok Jungyeong smirked even more, before he had to cover his chest with his other arm, as a mana-covered kick shot right towards him, pushing him more than ten meters back, sliding on the ground as he tried not to fly away.
He finally stopped before smashing against a tree, looking at his arm, which stopped the kick.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” Cheok Jungyeong’s thunderous laugh resonated on the whole islet. “I’m going to enjoy this, kid. You better not die fast.” He gave a really big smile to Cristopher.
“That should be my line.” He smirked back at the giant. “Oh, before I forget. I’ll apologize beforehand, Rachel. I think there is going to be a small disaster here.” Cristopher chuckled.
“Just stay alive! I’ll ask people to come as fast as I can! Please...” She said with a sorrowful voice and a worried face, with tears forming in her eyes.
“Don’t worry. There's no way that I'll be dying to this idiot.” He nodded, not taking his eyes away from Cheok Jungyeong.
“Hey.” Hajin called him. “Here, I lent your Magic Sword, but not this.”
He threw a glaive-like spear, which pierced the ground right beside Cristopher, standing with the spear blade down.
“Thanks. Now leave.” He said with a wave of his hand.
“Oh no. You won’t.” Cheok Jungyeong charged once again towards Hajin and Rachel, who were starting the motorbike, almost reaching them in less than half a second.
“You know...” Cristopher’s voice came from over him, making him stop mid-charge. “You should really start focusing on our fight, dude.”
The long spear blade came down, scratching Jungyeong’s cheek, who was able to barely evade an open neck thanks to quickly stopping and moving his head off the way of the spear.
Moving back, Jungyeong threw an uppercut towards his falling adversary, but before the punch could connect, Cristopher used the spear, that just pierced the floor, as support to move out of the way, rotating in the air to send a kick towards the tall target, who crouched down.
Jungyeong then shot forwards, getting closer to him to connect a punch, but Cristopher merely used the air as a platform to step on and redirect his kick down, burying Cheok Jungyeong in the floor.
A loud crashing sound resonated on the place when Cheok Jungyeong’s body was smashed on the ground, with Cristopher jumping back to stand right in front of Hajin and Rachel, covering them.
Taking the chance, Hajin sped off through the road somewhere far from there. Rachel’s eyes never left him while she could still see them, her tears were slowly falling down her cheeks.
“Urgh… That was a good kick, kid.” Cheok Jungyeong stood up from the crater, stretching his neck and back. “I’ll give it to you. That’s quite the way to move your body.”
“Mm? Are you going to turn into a fangirl, or are you going to fight? Which one will it be?” Cristopher rested the spear over his shoulder. “Though let me tell you, that I won’t be signing autographs to some ugly man.”
“Pfft… Once I’m over with you. Your face won’t be even recognizable.” Cheok Jungyeong said while cracking his knuckles, with a smile on his face.
“Bring it on.” Cristopher smiled back at him. “It’s been a while since I was able to feel like this.”
“HAHAHAHA! RIGHT!” Cheok Jungyeong’s thunderous laugh erupted while he took a fighting stance, with a lower posture and both his arms wide, getting ready to rush at any time. “LET’S HAVE SOME FUN!”
He shot towards Cristopher, who also took his fighting stance with the spearhead pointing down to the ground. Deeply smiling.