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EP.113 How to Take Down a Criminal Organization (4)

The members inside kept their mouths shut and communicated using hand signals.

'Should we open it? The password was correct.'

'One of our guys got caught. We can't trust even the password.'

'Let's check who's outside first.'

Bang!

"Damn it, why aren't you opening? You bastards playing games? Open up!"

The tension that had gripped them suddenly melted away at the voice from outside.

"That son of a..."

"Aren't you going to open up? I gave you the damn password!"

"Where the hell have you been all this time?!"

It was a familiar voice with a familiar way of speaking.

Their guard completely dropped when they realized their captured colleague had returned, and they readily opened the door.

"When you see what we brought, you won't be talking like that."

The members were shocked to see why they had been absent for days.

"What, you kidnapped another kid?"

A sack slung over their shoulders caught everyone's attention.

Even at a glance, anyone could tell what it was.

Whatever was in that sack was clearly a person.

"Yeah, man! How's that for skill?"

"Are you crazy?! We can barely handle two, and you're adding more to our load?!"

"If you knew what kind of ability user this one is, you wouldn't say that."

Their arrogant attitude since earlier had seemed strange.

"What kind of ability user?"

"None other than a teleporter."

"What? Teleportation?!"

With a teleportation ability user, they might be able to escape this insufferable Academy City.

"Yeah, man! While you guys were sitting around doing nothing, we were out there figuring out how to get out of here."

"Come in first."

The member gladly welcomed back their colleagues who had struck gold outside.

"What's the teleporter's name?"

"I'll check the list."

The member flipped through documents containing student information.

This was how they had been able to cherry-pick which students to kidnap.

"Ha, here it is! It's real!"

"Why didn't we think of this before?"

"Is it really going to be this easy? Hahaha!"

"Hey, good job. Really well done."

Though they had been cursing their colleagues earlier, they couldn't badmouth them after such an impressive feat.

"Phew, we're tired, so you guys take this one."

"The teachers and knights have been watching so closely. You have no idea how hard it was to get here avoiding their surveillance."

"You should have contacted us! We would have helped! Haha!! But good job anyway. Get some rest now. Hey! Take this and put it with the other kids."

"Yeah, got it."

One member lifted up the kidnapped child and went inside.

There was no reason not to humor them after such an impressive achievement.

"Are you hungry?"

"Got anything to eat? Alcohol would be best."

"You punk, acting like you haven't eaten outside already and asking for alcohol?"

"If you don't have any, just say so. Why are you being so stingy?"

Bringing in a teleporter was such a major accomplishment that they had to put up with their arrogant behavior.

They finished all the food they were given and let out crude burps.

'Disgusting bastards.'

While they had seemed impressive when they brought in the teleporter, their crude and vulgar behavior was quickly making them lose respect.

"Take good care of that one. They're our lifeline."

"Right, the three you've been guarding are useless as hostages. The teleporter kid we caught will be our salvation."

"......"

"......"

"......"

A moment of silence hung in the air.

"Did you just say three?"

A member who sensed something was off tilted his head and asked.

The members sitting arrogantly continued speaking despite the strange silence.

As if it had just been a slip of the tongue.

"What? Where is everyone else? Are these all the people here?"

"No way. There are guys sleeping in the back."

"Even counting them, this isn't enough manpower. Kidnapping Academy students isn't easy. Don't you have more helpers?"

"You're talking nonsense. What helpers? We don't have anything like that. The rest have already le... huh?"

"Stop! Kill these bastards! They're not on our side!"

A member who sensed something was wrong shouted as he pounced on them.

The member—no, the knight who had been asking obvious questions as if expecting this situation pulled out a sword from his chest and skillfully parried the attack.

Clang! Clash!

Thud!

"W-what? Why are you fighting!"

"This bastard's not one of us! Fight, you idiot!!"

"What?"

"Aaargh!"

Just as the members sensed something was wrong, black figures dropped from the ceiling behind them as if they had been waiting.

While they were in chaos, the knights who had secured their rear wrapped their arms around the members' necks and quickly knocked them unconscious.

Whoosh!

"Die!!! You bastard!!"

"Who are these bastards?!"

"So we were found out after all. Damn it!!!!!"

"Aaargh!!! Help! My leg!!"

Slash-!

The attackers moved with ruthless efficiency and perfectly coordinated teamwork.

They targeted the legs to eliminate the members' mobility.

Meanwhile, the members were in chaos, unable to distinguish friend from foe as they blindly unleashed their abilities.

Crash! Bang!!

"D-dodge!! Aagh! Why are you attacking me?!"

While some managed to attack the enemies with relative composure, there were also cases of members getting hurt in their panic.

'They're too strong!!!'

The knights' elite skills were simply beyond their expectations.

"Damn it all!!"

"Those bastards must have talked? We should have moved the hideout earlier!"

They finally realized why this was happening.

The captured member had not only revealed their hideout but had also identified them.

They had been completely fooled.

"Think I'm going down like this?! Die, all of you!!!"

Whoosh-!

A sinister green gas spewed from one member's mouth.

"Poison gas. I'll eliminate him."

At that moment, a red-haired woman spoke calmly before swinging her whip.

Crack!

"Gak!"

When the whip coiled tightly around the man's body, the organization member spreading the poison gas had his breath caught in his throat.

Craaaack!

"Urk!"

Naturally, no more poison gas could come out either.

The woman's whip moved like a living snake, continuously strangling the man's neck.

Though the man struggled desperately to break free from the whip...

Crack-!

Unable to withstand the force of the whip, his neck bones broke and his breath ceased.

"Teacher Rebecca?"

The knight who saw this called out to the woman in surprise.

"You're here already?"

"There were fewer people than expected. I came because you told me to help."

Though there had been a moment of crisis, thanks to Rebecca's appearance, the situation was cleaned up in less than 20 minutes.

The members inside were supposed to be handled by the teachers, but there were far fewer people than expected.

"How many were there?"

"Four people."

"Hah, with six people here, that's too few even for being too few."

Currently, there are 6 organization members in custody.

With 10 organization members here, a total of 16 people had committed these acts.

Because of these guys, a lockdown was ordered, and despite it being exam period, students had to suffer due to the curfew.

What was even more absurd was that they had managed to kidnap an academy student with just this many people.

"More importantly, we need to check on how the children are doing."

"Ah! Right. Let's go right away."

"Yes."

Though there were many strange points, since the safety of the kidnapped children was most important, everyone moved out except for the knights left to handle the captured organization members.

"When we brought up the three who were kidnapped earlier, their reaction was strange. That part bothers me. I hope they're alright..."

"It seems they didn't tell us the whole truth, did they?"

It seemed the organization members who had been tortured into confessing everything had cleverly mixed lies into their statements.

Thanks to that, their true identities were exposed much faster than expected.

Deciding to take revenge for this incident later, they moved quickly.

After all, nothing was more important than the safety of the kidnapped children.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Creeeeak-!

"Mmm~ Everyone's sleeping so well."

Saeak- Saeak- Saeak-

"Having sweet dreams, aren't you? Hehe, such pretty things."

I can hear the children's breathing.

'This is it!'

The man put down the sack I was in on the floor.

"Oof, this one's surprisingly heavy. The others were light, is this one chubby?"

Flinch!

...I must endure.

Since I didn't know what abilities this man possessed yet, I needed to be careful.

Before coming here, the teacher had thoroughly explained the precautions for dealing with criminal Awakened ones.

'Keep your guard up until you know the enemy's exact abilities. When attacking, subdue them as efficiently as possible. Even after subduing them, never let them out of your sight.'

The man pulled my body out of the sack.

Though the place where his hands touched felt like it would rot, I had to endure and be patient.

Because I still didn't know what this man's ability was.

"You're taller than I expected. Maybe you're just growing fast? That's a bit disappointing."

Whether I was tall or not, I didn't want to be evaluated by guys like this.

Due to his misunderstanding about my age, even hearing that I was tall for the first time wasn't pleasing at all.

"Being forcibly put to sleep must be unpleasant, right? Don't worry. I'll soon put you back to sleep sweetly. Then you'll be able to have good dreams too. Just like the other children. Hehehe."

Swish-!

'Disgusting, ugh.'

I couldn't help but grimace at the man's thick fingers caressing my cheek.

There was a musty and sour smell coming from somewhere.

Fortunately, information about this man's ability was contained in his brief words.

'Is this person's ability putting people to sleep?'

No wonder the children were captured without resistance, it must have been because of an ability user like this.

Since they couldn't wake up, they couldn't resist or escape.

'What a bastard, using such a good ability on people.'

With an ability that could be useful in many places, he should have done better things.

An ability that should have been used for humanity's benefit was being misused for crime after falling into the hands of someone unqualified.

'Since he's talking about dreams, he must be able to control those too?'

His creepy voice made my skin crawl.

If he could not only put people to sleep but also affect their dreams, that ability could produce terribly bad results if misused.

What kind of dreams have the kidnapped children been having all this time?

Since they're still young children, their minds aren't very strong, so it must be hard for them.

'I need to save them quickly.'

For that, first I needed to take care of this creepy pervert.

I did well to follow the teacher's words and be patient to gather information rather than acting immediately.

If I hadn't known about his ability, I might have fallen asleep in a moment of carelessness.

"Hm, what kind of dream should I give you? Since you're growing faster than your peers, should I make it something a bit spicy? Hehehe, I wonder how naughty you can be."

Hearing the man's unpleasant voice as he smirked, I couldn't keep enduring anymore.

There was no reason to wait any longer.

I could feel the man's hand coming closer.

I opened my eyes wide and used my ability.

【 Stealth 】

"Huh, huh??"

After hiding my body using stealth to become invisible, I jumped up and kicked off the floor.

I landed lightly behind the man.

"W-what? Where did you go!"

While the man was looking around in confusion, I pulled out my dagger and plunged it deep into his shoulder.