Chapter 2592 – Nectar

Watching the four scatter, I was briefly tempted. If I used lightning here, I could easily subdue them.

‘Using wind isn’t something I’m used to, so delicate control is difficult.’

I was about to leave the other stragglers and move to capture Ken, my target, when Yura grabbed my shoulder and said,

“I’ll chase Ken. You go after the other three and take care of them. The others are also wanted criminals with bounties on their heads. We can’t let even one get away.”

“Alright.”

Yura ran after Ken. Her legs were light, and she was fast. It seemed she had learned her own version of a movement technique.

Thunder Heaven Style Electromagnetic Wave.

No matter how high-ranking they are, unless they’re specialized in detection, it’s impossible for them to sense electromagnetic waves. Park Jung-gu? I don’t care about him.

I pinpointed the enemies’ locations with electromagnetic waves.

“Park Jung-gu. You stay here quietly.”

“No, wait!”

Ignoring Park Jung-gu’s words, I used wind to lift myself and began to fly into the sky. Flying with the wind was awkward, but it was faster than running.

I first caught up to the closest one. The guy, who had been running away, gave up and turned around to prepare for battle.

“You damn bastard! You think I’m just going to die like this? Even if I die, I’ll take your eardrums with me! Prepare to live as a deaf man for the rest of your life!”

The guy brought a flute he was holding to his lips. A terrible, ear-splitting melody spread in all directions. But before the sound waves could reach my body, I summoned the Hwaryeon Flying Daggers and swung them. Since no one was watching, my movements were unrestrained.

Thunder Heaven Style Lightning Flash.

A red trail sliced through the guy’s head. The sound waves reached me, but my S-class body only experienced a brief ringing in my ears.

‘He attacked so confidently, I thought it was going to be a dangerous attack, but it was nothing.’

I reverse-summoned the Hwaryeon Flying Daggers and flew towards the guy who had escaped in another direction.

I fought the two guys without using mana. It was a bit difficult without mana, but the battle was a complete victory for me.

Thunder Heaven Style Electromagnetic Wave.

I checked Yura and Ken’s locations and frowned. Their presence wasn’t clear. It was as if they were shrouded in fog.

‘Someone new has joined them. Is it Ken’s backup? The reason their presence isn’t clear must be because of this guy. Does he have some kind of ability to hide his presence?’

Electromagnetic waves weren’t working properly. I couldn’t tell exactly how strong he was.

‘If Ken called for backup in this situation… he’d be at least A-class.’

Yura was also A-class. If there were two or more A-class opponents, she wouldn’t last long. I flew towards where Yura was.

It was a mountain shrouded in thick fog, which didn’t match the weather or time. Sensing something was amiss, I created wind to blow away the fog.

The fog disappeared for a moment, but then reappeared, covering the mountain again.

‘It’s definitely artificial fog.’

I had located Yura, so I flew towards her at high speed.

I found Yura. She was leaning against a tree, holding her broken right arm with her left hand. It wasn’t a life-threatening injury.

“…Be careful. That thing is beyond the norm.”

Listening to Yura’s warning, I looked ahead. I saw Ken and a blue figure about 3 meters tall. A monster with a horn on its forehead. It was holding a golden staff in one hand.

“Me. Hungry. Give me food. Quickly.”

The monster spoke clumsily. Ken, who was next to the monster, flinched and then pointed at me with his finger.

“A meal has appeared. Ao Oni. Eat that guy.”

“Human. Can I eat it? If I eat humans, humans get angry.”

“You can eat it. I permit it.”

Ao Oni’s lips tore open into a gruesome smile. Ao Oni approached me. The ground shook with each step.

‘A monster I’ve never seen before. No, is it not a monster?’

I swung my hand at Ao Oni. A blade of wind, filled with mana, flew towards Ao Oni and collided with it.

“Hehe. Tickles.”

The wind blade only left a slight scratch on Ao Oni’s body and then dissipated. Even that scratch healed in the blink of an eye.

“Ao Oni. Most attacks don’t work on him. His recovery is also incredible. The fog moves with Ao Oni. He doesn’t exactly control the fog… Ao Oni’s most powerful weapon is his immense strength. That’s it.”

Yura said from behind. She had more information than I thought.

Thump, thump.

Ao Oni, who had come close, swung his golden staff.

[Using Momentary Flash. Remaining stacks: 11]

Since there was no need to be reckless, as Yura had warned, I used Momentary Flash. As soon as I stepped back, a powerful gust of wind swept through, breaking the surrounding trees.

‘If we’re just talking about strength, he’s stronger than me. If I took that head-on, I wouldn’t even be able to collect my bones.’

Ao Oni wasn’t slow either. Strength is speed. It didn’t make sense for someone with immense strength to be slow.

“You dodged! You can’t dodge this time!”

Ao Oni swung his golden staff again. He was swinging it lightly, but the wind pressure it generated was terrifying.

‘He’s someone an A-class can’t handle. And this guy listens to someone weaker than him?’

There was something I didn’t know.

I dodged Ao Oni’s attacks while compressing wind into my palm.

[Using Momentary Flash. Remaining stacks: 11]

Using Momentary Flash, I closed the distance and slammed the compressed wind into Ao Oni’s torso.

Kwaaaang!

The compressed wind exploded. Ao Oni took a few steps back from the impact. That was all.

‘An attack that would have killed an A-class… only made him step back a little?’

I had a rough idea of his capabilities.

‘It’s impossible to kill Ao Oni using only the power of wind right now.’

I couldn’t control wind like lightning. It was hard to control, and it was impossible to change the wind’s attributes.

‘Heavenly Demon Divine Art. I could use it… but this is reality. There’s no correction from the Heavenly Star System or the Atlantis System. Even if I use it, it won’t be as efficient as Thunder Heaven Style. I’m also a little hesitant to use it.’

Yura was behind me.

I hesitated for a moment. There was no proof that I was Sung Yu-jin just because I used Thunder Heaven Style.

‘I can just deny it. What can they do if I say I’m not?’

So, I decided to just use it.

“Aaaah! You human! I don’t like you! Don’t dodge! Don’t dodge!!!”

Ao Oni, frustrated by my constant dodging, began to swing his golden staff with both hands. When the golden staff hit the ground, it cracked, causing a small earthquake. The wind pressure from the golden staff was so strong that it was a little overwhelming even for me.

However, there was nothing technical about it, so it was easy to dodge the golden staff.

[Using Momentary Flash. Remaining stacks: 10]

Using Momentary Flash, I closed the distance in an instant. The golden staff was falling towards my head. I climbed up Ao Oni’s arm, clenched my fist, and gathered strength.

Thunder Heaven Style Crushing Wave.

Crack.

My lightning-infused fist struck Ao Oni’s head. Ao Oni’s head caved in, and he fell backward.

“Ao Oni!!”

Ken cried out in despair. This blue monster was his last hope. I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fist again.

‘He’s not dead. His head caved in, but he’s still alive. His brain must be shattered, but he’s recovering. What an amazing resilience.’

Twitch.

Ao Oni’s limbs trembled. He was already trying to recover.

I placed my right foot on Ao Oni’s head.

Crushing Wave wasn’t a technique specifically for fists. It was a technique to focus all the power of the body into one point and break the opponent’s flow. The important thing wasn’t the size of the power, but the subtlety of the technique. Thanks to learning it in the [Radiant Ascension] world and being influenced by the characteristics of Thunder Heaven Style, I could use it fully with my foot.

Thunder Heaven Style Crushing Wave.

Kwaang!

A shockwave erupted from my foot, sweeping in all directions. Yet, Ao Oni still didn’t die.

“I’ll keep stomping until you die.”

Crack.

Lightning flashed around my right foot.

Kwaang! Kwaaang! Kwaaaang!

After stomping repeatedly several times, Ao Oni finally met his end. His head was completely shattered, so even with his excellent regeneration, he couldn’t regenerate.

‘I could have gone faster if I had cut his head off.’

I deliberately didn’t take out my sword. Using a sword would make me look too much like Sung Yu-jin.

“……”

Ken, who had been watching, tried to run away like before.

‘No way.’

Unlike before, I wasn’t careless. I grabbed Ken, who was trying to escape, and broke his limbs. I even knocked him unconscious to prevent him from committing suicide.

“…That’s amazing. I didn’t think you’d take down Ao Oni so easily.”

“Ao Oni. What’s that? It’s a monster I’ve never seen before. If you only look at his physical stats, he’s S-class, but he acts like an idiot.”

“Ao Oni. He’s a monster that Japanese Onmyoji sealed in a shrine a long time ago. The shrine where Ao Oni was sealed was stolen a few years ago… I didn’t know Ken had it.”

“Was finding that shrine your goal?”

“I told you, I didn’t know either. Chasing the shrine is the special unit’s job. I have other business with Ken.”

“I captured Ken alive, as you wanted.”

“I know. I saw it with my own eyes. It was an unbelievable level of strength. I’ll keep my promise, so don’t worry. I’m not in good condition right now, so let’s meet again tomorrow.”

She took a small piece of paper from her pocket and threw it to me. I took the paper and checked it. It had a Japanese city, a hotel name, and a hotel room number written on it.

“Come there tomorrow night. I’ll be waiting.”

Yura grabbed the unconscious Ken by the scruff of his neck with her right hand, and with her left hand, she grabbed Ao Oni’s arm and dragged them away. Her right arm was clearly broken, but she was using it without showing any pain.

‘Meeting at a hotel isn’t bad. Well, she wouldn’t try to screw me over, would she?’

At that time, I might become Red Light and terrorize the World Hunter Association.

Well, that was only if Yura tried to screw me over.

I returned to where Park Jung-gu was.

“Earlier, there was fog in the mountains and a lot of noise. Was that because of you?”

“The situation is over. Yura took Ken away. I also killed the rest of Kamaise’s executives.”

I didn’t mention Ao Oni. It was annoying to explain everything. It wasn’t information that Park Jung-gu needed to know.

“Phew. So, it’s all resolved. It was a long day.”

“What are you going to do? I’m telling you in advance, don’t go into hiding.”

“I won’t go into hiding. I need to move my base, though.”

“Where to?”

“I was going to go to the US at first… but the existing brokers there are quite territorial. There are also a lot of Black Guilds. So, I’m going to do what I was doing. Let’s meet in Korea.”

“Are you leaving right now? Did you get the money?”

“I just got it. The World Hunter Association is quick with their work.”

Park Jung-gu chuckled and showed me a message on his smartphone. 1 billion won was deposited immediately.

“But, aside from being quick, isn’t 1 billion won too little?”

“Nonsense. You didn’t do anything. What did you do besides stand there? I did everything.”

“……I can’t argue with that. The World Hunter Association must have been watching your every move, so they processed it quickly. Should I give you half?”

“No need.”

There was no reason to be attached to a mere 1 billion won.

Rather, I was looking forward to tomorrow night.