NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 17 - Unseen Threat
Chapter 17 – Unseen Threat
It had been a year, and a few weeks, since Jin had fallen into this strange world.
There had been many crises during that time.
He had been shot, stabbed, and beaten with a club.
He had starved for ten days and nearly died from food poisoning.
In the summer, he had suffered from heatstroke, and in the winter, frostbite.
There had been moments where he had barely survived and days so terrible he couldn’t muster the strength to live.
Yet, there had never been a moment like this.
What is this?
An enemy too overwhelming to handle?
Escape, it says?
If it had been the usual Jin, he would have spat on the large status window blocking his view.
Don’t tell me what to do, he would mutter with all his fury.
But that wasn’t possible now.
Even without the status window, he could feel it.
The ominous presence, sharp enough to make his skin tingle.
It was then.
“…Hmm, was there another one?”
A dry voice, as if it had just discovered an insect on the roadside.
Jin flinched, stepping back from the railing.
And then, an invisible force struck him.
More precisely, it struck the entire metal staircase he was standing on.
Boom!
Before he could react, Jin was hurled away, spinning through the air like a fish caught in a vortex.
The world twisted, up and down, left and right, all mixed together.
A blunt shock swept from his head to his feet, disorienting him.
Bouncing this way and that, Jin crashed to the ground, gasping for air.
No, it was more like he was forced to breathe.
Screaming was only possible when you had the luxury of time.
With an unexpected, overwhelming shock like this, anyone would become like Jin.
Pain rushed into his nose and mouth like seawater, making it hard to breathe, as if he might drown on solid ground.
He wished he had just passed out.
But his abnormally tough body, even in this state, began to recover, forcing him to regain some consciousness.
The blood trickling down his deeply cut forehead obscured his vision, making it uncomfortable, but Jin forced himself to raise his head, determined not to be caught off guard by a follow-up attack.
And then he saw it.
A figure climbing the stairs that led to the basement.
The creature was wearing a black leather long coat with a subtle sheen and a top hat.
Its hands and feet were covered with leather gloves and boots, hiding its bare skin.
Perhaps it was the same black color that absorbed all the light in the world, but the only thing that stood out was the mask, a bird-like beak in a dull silver hue.
It was the kind of mask known in Jin’s homeland as the Plague Doctor’s.
The grotesque appearance, reminiscent of a crow, gave off a bizarre atmosphere as the figure turned its gaze toward the fallen Jin.
Then, it tilted its head.
“You’re still alive?”
Muttering that, the creature’s eyes shifted between Jin and Fenrir.
It moved its gaze back and forth, then finally spoke again.
“…Did I fall short? Or are you two just that tough?”
The figure repeatedly opened and closed its palm, then suddenly clapped its hands.
“There’s no way I’m weak. You two must be the tough ones.”
What the hell is it saying?
That crazy bastard.
Jin, trying to rise, flinched in pain, contorting his nose in discomfort.
He quickly looked down, seeing his right ankle bent at a disturbing angle.
At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to walk, let alone run.
Meanwhile, a warning from the status window flashed in the corner of his vision, telling him to escape, only adding more frustration.
“If you’re not going to help, then just get lost…!” Jin growled, clutching his twisted ankle and turning it.
Crack!
He aggravated the injury, turning a simple fracture into a compound one, biting down on his lower lip until blood poured out.
It hurt like hell, and it was crazy to do, but he had no choice.
Looking back at his past experiences, if he didn’t align the bones properly in advance, recovery would take much longer.
“Shit!”
Jin gritted his teeth at that moment.
Grrrhh!!
Suddenly, a beastly roar echoed, and the seemingly lifeless Fenrir sprang to his feet with a powerful leap.
It was an incredible jump.
At the same time, he drew the hilt of a sword from his waist.
The large scimitar, over 1 meter in length, became a streak of light in the hands of the 2-meter-tall werewolf, and it plunged down toward the ground.
A strike that mocked distance.
It was the exact attack that Jin had speculated in his mind.
Swaaaag!!
At the same time, the monster turned its head.
That was all it took.
Fenrir’s sword came to a sudden halt in mid-air.
As if blocked by something invisible.
“Grrrhh!!”
A fierce animal-like growl escaped Fenrir’s mouth.
Despite the immense power evident in his expanded arm muscles, the blade refused to advance and trembled in the air.
“I don’t get it. You’re a beastman, so why are you doing this? Aren’t you a racist who blindly believes in the superiority of your kind? Wouldn’t it be a better choice to work together with TB instead of opposing them?”
The creature’s question made Fenrir bare his teeth.
“And you? Why did a black mage from Styx join TB? Do you have some filthy ulterior motive?”
“Join? You’re talking nonsense. We’re in a strictly business relationship.”
The creature muttered quietly, and in that moment, Jin pulled the trigger of the Gravis.
Bang─!!
The barrel of the gun shot up toward the sky.
The insane recoil was controlled with Jin’s strength, but his index finger was pushed back violently.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The deafening noise tore through the air as Jin, unable to resist the compounded recoil, fell back to the ground, still sitting.
In the midst of this chaos, he recalled Brof’s words.
The specially modified .666 R&D Magnum rounds.
The power of this bullet, fired from the superior Gravis, was limited to within 50 meters, a close range.
It was said to even surpass a large sniper rifle.
And Jin had confirmed this when it blew the head off a chameleon beastman.
Jin braced himself and hoped for the creature to fall, blood pooling on the ground.
However,
What greeted him was the creature, still in a standoff with FenriR.
Clink—
The bullet that had failed to penetrate the creature’s long coat, or rather its shimmering cloak, fell to the ground with a dull thud.
For a moment, the cloak shimmered in a rainbow-like wave, and beyond it, the creature’s mask slowly moved.
What is this?
Jin, momentarily stunned by the fact that even the Gravis couldn’t get through, heard the creature’s voice.
“Interesting.”
The creature lightly waved its hands.
One hand directed at FenriR, the other at Jin.
In an instant, flames and electric currents surged from the creature’s fingertips, hurtling toward the two at tremendous speed.
“Huff!”
Jin, recognizing the incoming lightning strike accompanied by a white flash, leapt away using his still-aching leg.
But just as he thought he had evaded it, the electrical charge arced along the steel frame of a nearby shelf, following an unpredictable trajectory and ultimately catching up with him.
And just before the current would have coursed through his body,
Jin instinctively pressed the detonator in his pocket.
It was an action driven more by instinct than thought.
Immediately, he was overwhelmed by a searing pain.
Zzzzt-!!
His entire body convulsed with spasms, his internal organs sustained cellular-level damage, and his skin burned bright red.
“…Cough, hck.”
Jin, his eyes rolled back and smoke pouring from his mouth, collapsed face-first onto the ground.
As he writhed between life and death,
Not long after, a scorched Fenrir, his entire body blackened, rolled over next to him and collapsed.
Their gazes met at the lowest point in the world.
Jin, unable to move a single finger but still capable of twitching his lips, managed to speak through gritted teeth.
“You… alright?”
A half-dead response came back.
“…Yeah.”
Honestly, from Jin’s perspective, there were more than a few things that didn’t make sense.
What the hell was that madman doing?
Why was he guarding the warehouse?
Was he even from the TB side?
Jin wanted to shake Fenrir’s shoulder and shout out, but he held back.
Because it wouldn’t change anything.
The situation had already unfolded, and it was getting dangerously close to the worst possible outcome.
But was he just going to die without doing anything?
Jin’s bloodshot eyes widened.
“Don’t screw with me. Do you think I endured those hellish moments just to die like this?”
With a survival instinct almost bordering on obsession, adrenaline coursing through his veins, Jin clung to his sanity, recalling the only possibility left to escape the situation.
“The bomb… it’s going to blow soon. About 90 seconds left.”
“Did you activate it too?”
Surprisingly, Fenrir asked the same thing in return.
It seemed like he had activated the detonator before all this happened.
Though there had been no prior agreement, the two of them came to the same conclusion and shared a small laugh.
Then Jin spoke up.
“Should we try running now?”
“From that monster? There’s no way we can escape openly.”
“Then, can you fight?”
“…Maybe for about a minute.”
“Good. We’re on.”
After a strangely embarrassing conversation for what was essentially a strategy session, the two of them propped themselves up with their hands and elbows.
Jin wasn’t the only one; Fenrir, despite the state he was in, was clearly no ordinary beastkin.
Otherwise, the monster wouldn’t have clapped its hands.
“Getting up again. Amazing.”
It wasn’t like the monster was mocking them, but it didn’t hold back any praise as it gestured toward the two of them.
“Especially you. You’re not a beastkin, are you? But your recovery is far superior to theirs. No, wait… it’s not just recovery. It’s more like… rebuilding yourself, even.”
“Shut up, you plague doctor wannabe.”
Even with his legs still shaking from the aftereffects of the electrocution, Jin raised his middle finger.
Fenrir flinched in what looked like a scornful smile.
“Don’t hold me back.”
Suddenly, with a vicious look on his face, Fenrir dashed forward.
Jin didn’t know the reason, but his speed had increased drastically, much faster than before.
It was clear that he had used some hidden trick.
In response, Jin closed his eyes.
Not to avoid reality.
No, at this moment, his mind was placed in the vast night sky.
The second star of the beginning.
[Magic Circuit]
Beyond the countless branches of energy, Jin saw the dim stars begging to be illuminated.
Having gained enough experience to follow the star’s path after taking down the chameleon beastkin, Jin was now ready for what would come.
At this moment.
Jin tossed aside his earlier plan, which involved careful calculations, questions, and second guesses.
Anything would do.
If he could survive for just one more minute…
Szzzzk—!!
In the next instant, blue sparks erupted from Jin’s body as he lifted his eyelids.
The intense sparks vaporized the blood from his body—
The faint blue glow quickly turned red and began to leap and twist in all directions.
[Mana Overload]
With the self-destructive imagery embedded in his mind, Jin allowed his body to follow its instincts.
Thud!
The ground cracked under his feet as he charged forward, rapidly closing the distance between himself and the monster.
Then, he joined Fenrir, already swinging his sword, and kicked with the same momentum.
The warehouse explosion would occur in 52 seconds.
With a set conclusion awaiting them, the three figures—masked, human, and beastkin—collided in the final chaos.