Chapter 1466

<Chapter 1466> 1466. Dark Moon

The method by which Invisible Blade discovered the password was primitive.

He subdued the guy in an instant, dragged him to a nearby empty container, and tortured him. The exact methods of torture are unknown, but it took less than ten minutes to extract the password.

“Should I commend him for being ninja-like…?”

“The password is 1010. Not even remotely clever.”

“Better than 0000 or 1234, right?”

“I asked why the password was so lame. Turns out the boss’s first love was a girl named Tenten. That organ-trafficking psycho was sentimentally deranged… what?”

“Is there a problem?”

“…Just startled for a moment. Seems this Tenten was the gang’s first victim in their organ trafficking racket. He killed her in a fit of rage when she didn’t reciprocate his confession. Then he removed her organs and sold them. Insane bastards.”

Invisible Blade emerged alone from the container, gripping his ninja blade, which was slick with blood. The guy being tortured was probably dead. She approached the white container and entered the password. The door opened, and she went inside.

“Why are there so many boxes? It’ll take some time to check each one. If I’d known this, I wouldn’t have killed him so hastily and would’ve questioned him further…”

“How much time will it take? A few minutes?”

“Don’t know. If I find it quickly, it might take less than a minute… but in the worst case, it could take over five minutes.”

“It’s dangerous. Their main force is returning.”

The gang was racing back to their hideout on trucks and bikes.

“They won’t take long to arrive. They should be here within three minutes. Looks like they just came back from a job and will head straight to the warehouse…”

“Hmph, seriously… things aren’t going well now. These guys set traps inside the container. Classic ones, so dismantling them isn’t a problem… but I need more time.”

“…How much?”

“Ten minutes.”

“That’s too long. We’ll definitely get caught.”

“Just buy me some time. Make some chaos with magic or something. Give me enough time to grab the item and escape. We were planning to exterminate them anyway, so no worries, right?”

“Can you definitely secure the item? That’s the priority.”

“Trust me.”

I sighed and headed toward them.

It was hard to trust Invisible Blade. But since we’re working together now, I had to rely on her.

The truck stopped at the entrance. I watched them from the hill as I activated Astral.

[Using Instantaneous (刹那). Remaining stacks: 6]

Time slowed down. More precisely, only my mind accelerated. In this slowed-down world, I selected a spell and calculated the incantation.

‘To draw attention, blowing up something big would be best.’

Whoosh.

Mana surged through the mana conduits, transforming into lightning, which became the spell and ascended into the sky. The sensation was indescribably exhilarating. This connection with magic felt like I was manipulating the heavens at my whim.

A bolt of sapphire lightning erupted from the center of the cloudless, arid sky. The small spark grew larger, radiating brilliance and asserting its presence. People on the ground noticed the anomaly and looked up.

I gazed at them as I quietly recited the invocation.

[Thunder Break]

A colossal bolt of lightning accompanied by thunder…


The truck was slammed into faster than the speed of sound. The truck was utterly demolished, and the force of the impact spread throughout the surrounding area, creating a small crater. The ground of the crater remained charged with high-voltage currents that refused to dissipate.

The power of 6th Tier Electric Magic, the upper-tier magic of Thunderbolt Rank 5, was exactly as I had anticipated.

“If that had hit the generator over there, it might’ve wiped out the entire hideout.”

I rubbed my neck. The Mana Rods were scorching hot. If those 16 shattered Mana Rods had been intact, the strain on the Mana Rods would’ve been less than half of what it was now.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KA-BOOM!

The thunderclap echoed a beat late.

Just as I was about to tell Invisible Blade that the entrance was clear, I froze. A man stood up from within the crater still crackling with residual current.

“…You survived THAT? You’re not an ordinary guy.”

His face was half-machine. The two mechanical eyes on his face flashed red. His gaze was locked directly onto me.

‘A man with half a mechanical face… This must be Frong, the boss of the Frong Gang. A cyborg who can withstand a shock from Electric Magic and still move…’

His machine parts aren’t ordinary. Maybe he spent all the money he made from kidnappings and organ trafficking solely on upgrading himself. Frong raised his right hand. His index finger pointed straight at me. Immediately, a laser shot out. It was too fast to react. Fortunately,

the Barrier I had already erected blocked the laser. The light of the laser collided with the Barrier, splitting apart and evaporating. The Barrier wavered unstably before disappearing.

‘Remaining Barriers: 4. Even for a cyborg, there’s a limit to output. He won’t be able to fire this fast and powerful a laser four times in a row.’

“What are you fools doing?! Can’t you see the magician over there?! Move! Any slowpokes, I’ll kill personally!”

Frong’s voice of rage echoed across the wasteland. Mixed with mechanical tones, his voice was incredibly threatening. The subordinates guarding the base rushed toward me without hesitation. They feared Frong.

-Nice. Their numbers just dropped significantly.

“…This situation is pretty serious though.”

-Good news? I found the dress. It was carefully stored in a Magic Box.

“The dress is in a Magic Box?”

-It has magic on it. Not combat-related. Some crazy woman cast High-Tier Magic purely for fashion reasons.

“Should I be surprised? Where there’s demand, supply will follow. If you’ve secured it, I’m good.”

-With the dress safe, I have no qualms wiping them out here.

As the enemies charged, I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a handful of Blue Distortion petals. The Blue Distortion I offered to Lana Gomez wasn’t all of it; I’d kept some aside for my own research.

‘Blue Distortion, which distorts mana waves, is essential for mana recovery but… serves as excellent magical material when used as a catalyst for barriers or boundaries.’

Of course, using it raw isn’t possible. Preparations are needed to control its distortion effects. All the Blue Distortion petals I held had undergone preliminary processing.

I scattered the petals into the air. The softly glowing petals danced on the wind.

[Mana Reverse Field]

The petals swirling in the wind were drawn by an invisible force, scattering in all directions. A Mana Reverse Field spread across the entire surrounding area. The movements of the enemies entering the field noticeably slowed.

“Myyyymovvveessssfeeeellllsooooslllooowwwwww…”

Their voices dragged out as slowly as their bodies. It was painful to listen to. But their consciousness must still be flowing normally.

“You’ve entered my domain.”

The bastards fired their guns. Some launched their arms in a rocket punch—only something a cyborg could pull off. Everything they threw was distorted and flew upward.

“Crush them.”

Their bodies were slammed into the ground. They twitched, trying desperately to move. For a normal human, their bodies should’ve exploded under such gravitational pressure.


I’m holding them off with sheer power. I counted their numbers. 13 of them—excluding the few remaining in their hideout, this is all they’ve got.

“Originally, there were a few things I wanted to test…”

I stared straight ahead. The most dangerous enemy here right now, Frong, was glaring at me intently.

“But if I have to deal with that guy too, I’ll need to conserve as much strength as possible.”

I clenched my fists.

The space within the mana field began to warp and distort. The distortion affected the enemies sprawled on the ground.

Their sturdy mechanical bodies snapped like twigs, and the blood and guts churned by the distortion spun through the air like some grotesque ballet, clearly showing the direction of the warping space.

Frong watched the mana field and spoke.

“Remarkable. I didn’t expect to encounter a magician of this caliber here.”

“I didn’t expect to find a cyborg tough enough to withstand Thunder Break either. What brings you here?”

“Obviously, money. We make a decent profit here, then move somewhere else to do the same.”

“Decent, huh.”

I chuckled bitterly.

The words of Invisible Blade came back to me: the fridge full of human organs.

“You know what we do. Do you really think you, a bounty hunter, have the right to judge us?”

“No, I don’t. That’s why I don’t criticize. I’m just doing my job.”

“Who hired you? Was it her?”

“Do you really think I’d tell you?”

“…One of your henchmen inside the hideout just died. His last words mentioned seeing a ninja. You’re distracting me while the ninja searches for something, right? There’s nothing special in there besides my spare parts and some weird enchanted noblewoman’s dress.”

“Is that important?”

“Not particularly. What matters is… that damn woman betrayed me after agreeing to a deal. She did one of the two things I hate most in this world. Mila Gomez! That bitch will pay!”

“A deal? What kind of deal did you have with Mila Gomez?”

“I agreed to receive the secret techniques of the Gomez family. Worth way more than that damn magical dress.”

He answered obediently. Clearly stalling for time. But I need time too; the Blue Distortion, the catalyst for the mana field, is slowly encircling Frong.

‘Secret techniques of the Gomez family, huh. So this is why Lana Gomez disowned her daughter in the original game. If I hadn’t interfered, Mila Gomez would’ve gone through with this deal.’

Mysteries solved.

-We’re out. Need help?

Invisible Blade’s telepathic voice rang out perfectly timed.

“Good. I’ll finish up here. Stay back, just in case.”

I flicked my fingers. Blue petals swirled around Frong as the mana field prepared to contract and initiate spatial distortion.

“Droid!! Drop it!!”

Swoooosh!

A fighter jet zoomed across the sky and dropped something box-like toward Frong. Mid-air, it transformed into a humanoid shape.

BOOM!

A massive, three-meter-tall mech combat suit crashed down. Frong smirked and leapt backward into its center.

The mana field activated its spatial distortion.

CRUNCH!!!

The distortion only managed to dent the surface of the mech—it was far too durable.

The battle-suit-clad bastard giggled maniacally.

“Custom-made battle suit from Droid. I’ll crush you into paste.”

“So you’ve teamed up with Droid? Even Human Scum would be more normal than you.”

“As long as it benefits me, I’ll ally with anyone—even the enemies of humanity. You’re not much different from me. I can smell someone like myself from a mile away. You’d do anything for your goals too, wouldn’t you?”

“…Damn, you’re right.”

Zzzziiiiippp!

Lightning danced menacingly in my palm.