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Chapter 720: The Price of a Beating (2)
The amber whistle.
A legendary necklace Planetary Ship Owner Jeong Yeongwoo had obtained back when he was struggling around on Earth, and it was likewise a special reward tied to the legendary achievement ‘Special-Class Social Worker.’
[Special-Class Social Worker]
|Return the mutants alive.
In other words, a planetary trial like Reset.
And one involving mutants appearing at that.
Meaning it was equipment you would never easily come across unless you had personally gone through such a trial.
On top of that, wasn’t the method of placing ‘friends’ inside this whistle by shaking hands with the mutant in question?
So no matter how extensively the Salzeo family’s young lord had traveled the universe, it was bound to be an unfamiliar object to him.
Of course, it wasn’t as though he had never seen whistle-type equipment before.
-...What’s that? Don’t tell me you’ve got some kind of spirit creature in there?
Apparently, the whistles he had seen before possessed the ability to summon spirit creatures, because Eroom Salzeo tilted his head and asked.
In response, Yeongwoo kept the whistle in his mouth as he stared into the air.
“Spirit creature? That’s not entirely wrong.”
Then, instead of giving the rest of the answer verbally, he blew the whistle with all his strength.
Piiiiiiiiiiik!
“Whether it’s a spirit creature or not, see for yourself.”
The moment Yeongwoo removed the whistle from his lips after saying that, an ominous sound rang out from high above in the air.
Craaack!
With a thunderous tearing noise, space split wide open.
-......?
Seeing this, Eroom was startled and hurriedly widened the distance between himself and Yeongwoo, and then it happened immediately.
―Uaaaaaaah......!
Alongside the distinctive roar of ‘Friend’ Yeongtae, mutants began pouring out from the crack in space.
―Ahh, finally.
―How long has it been since...!
―We waited for an eternity!
Yeongtae, Taejoon, Yonghyeom, Geumhwa, Hongtae
The first words spoken by the friends trapped inside the whistle all contained the same sentiment.
‘We’ve waited far too long.’
Which made sense.
Once Yeongwoo’s martial prowess had reached a considerable level, there had been little reason to summon his friends anymore.
However, from the perspective of prisoners confined within that white space with no particular work to do, even if they could watch Yeongwoo’s circumstances through the transmission screen, each day inevitably felt as endlessly boring as eternity.
So even knowing they had been summoned onto the battlefield against a Rank 4 existence, they couldn’t help but feel excited.
Yeongtae, in the form of a gnoll.
Taejoon, the granite golem.
Yonghyeom, transformed into a gigantic white tiger.
Geumhwa, bearing the appearance of a harpy.
And Kang Hongtae, the first mutant in Korean history, transformed into a fire dragon.
As the differently shaped mutants landed on the floor of the trading hall all at once, a vibration powerful enough to shake the earth erupted.
Kuuuuung!
The one who reacted with the greatest shock was naturally Dots Salzeo, who had been watching his older brother’s duel.
-Wha... what the hell? That bastard had a legion made of spirit creatures?
Since Dots had never experienced Reset, the mutant legion appeared to him as spirit creatures.
And in truth, the presence exuded by the mutant friends really was reminiscent of spirit creatures.
Because the ‘friends’ possessed a trait where their combat power increased the longer they remained imprisoned.
―It does feel nice breathing outside air again after so long, but isn’t this a bit too much?
General Kim Yonghyeom, whose appearance was closest to that of an actual spirit creature among the friends summoned here, muttered as he looked at the half-dead Eroom.
After all, it was five against one...
No, including Yeongwoo, there were six people on this side.
At that moment, behind him, the mountain-sized fire dragon Kang Hongtae looked downward and snorted smoke through his nostrils.
Chwiaaaat!
―Too much? Have you forgotten who the opponent is?
Then Yeongtae stepped forward with a sly grin stretching across his snout.
―Well, if we’ve come outside, we should work. Isn’t this a rare chance to earn merit points?
Merit points.
A sort of exclusive currency that accumulated in the Returnee’s Room based on the summoned friends’ achievements.
For now, it was only being used to obtain recreational items like chess sets, but since not all products had been unlocked yet, there was a possibility it might have more important uses later.
Kuuung!
Soon, Kang Hongtae stepped forward once with his massive forepaw and spoke.
―I’m not interested in anything else. What I want to know right now is whether my power works even against the universe’s influential figures.
As expected of the friend most suited for combat.
As he opened his huge maw and scattered flames, Eroom Salzeo ground his teeth and glared at the five mutants.
-Fine then, come at me. I’ll make sure you never forget the name Salzeo for the rest of your lives.
At that, Yeongtae let out a vulgar battle cry and charged straight at Eroom Salzeo.
―I’ll gladly accept that offerrrrr!
Despite his ridiculous shout and appearance like a lowly grunt, the pressure created by Yeongtae’s movements was tremendous.
Every time he planted a foot down, the ground shook and dust exploded outward in all directions, and his mobility was so extraordinary that only someone at Sevio’s level could even perceive his movement path.
Of course, even so, it still wasn’t enough to overpower a Rank 4 existence.
―Kiyaaaak!
The moment Yeongtae entered his attack range and swung his claws, Eroom immediately slipped his body sideways as though he had been waiting for it and smashed a kick into Yeongtae’s ankle.
Paaaaak!
Along with the loud impact sound, an even louder scream burst from Yeongtae.
―Kkeuaaah!
Then Eroom thrust his fist toward Yeongtae’s nape to finish him off, and at that moment, a pure white silhouette completely filled his vision.
Hwaeaaaaak!
-......!
General Kim Yonghyeom had practically barged in while trying to bite Eroom away whole.
Puuuuck!
After taking a body slam from the gigantic tiger, Eroom helplessly rolled backward, and immediately afterward, Kang Hongtae’s barrage of flames poured down over him.
Kwaaaaaaaat......!
-H-hyungnim!
Seeing Eroom disappear within the flames, Dots Salzeo screamed with his mouth hanging wide open.
And on top of that, some granite golem had suddenly thrown its body directly atop the flames in question.
It looked like he intended to crush Eroom Salzeo to death.
-Good grief. They’re just straight-up gangsters.
Even Sevio, a resident of the underground floor infamous for his own viciousness, clicked his tongue at the mutants’ ruthless combination assault, and even Yeongwoo—the true mastermind behind all this—couldn’t bring himself to fire off a sword strike, wondering if this was really okay.
After all, CEO Kim Taejoon had literally just dropped his butt straight onto Kang Hongtae’s flame breath.
Kwaaaaaang!
When CEO Kim Taejoon’s butt-drop created shockwaves like a bomb explosion, Yeongwoo unconsciously muttered.
“...No way he died, right? Not possible, right?”
At that moment, CEO Kim Taejoon, who was sitting amid the swirling flames, twitched his brow.
―...Huh?
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Then his body suddenly rose into the air.
Hwaat!
Eroom Salzeo, who had been pinned underneath him, had lifted the gigantic granite golem CEO Kim Taejoon up entirely.
-You vile bastards! This is where my tolerance for disrespect ends!
Eroom, whose characteristic ash-gray hair of the Salzeo family had been charred black all over, genuinely appeared furious.
The handsome features that had once seemed refined for a martial artist were now twisted into a vicious expression.
However, the true disrespect was only beginning.
While Eroom Salzeo was lifting the golem, Yeongwoo seized the opening and unleashed a lightning-fast middle kick.
Swaeaaaaat!
With a sharp tearing sound through the air, an ash-gray trajectory streaked toward Eroom’s abdomen, and before Eroom could even react, his body was sent flying backward.
Paaaang!
This was effectively the first proper strike of the battle.
And since it was an attack that had landed perfectly clean, it had to be devastating for Eroom, whose condition was already poor.
In fact, Eroom bounced across the ground like a rubber ball and failed to recover himself immediately.
“Eroom Salzeo, draw your sword. I do want to use this opportunity to take down a Rank 4 existence, but that doesn’t mean I want to keep beating up an unarmed guy.”
At that, Eroom slowly rose to his feet and let out a hollow laugh.
-This duel has already reached the pinnacle of vulgarity. Even if I draw my sword, do you think there’ll be any honor left for you?
Yeongwoo immediately refuted him without the slightest hesitation.
“Vulgarity? Strictly speaking, these guys are also just part of my equipment effects. Hell, they’re slaves I personally collected one by one. So if I summoned Sword Mountain instead, would you complain that having over two hundred opponents is too cowardly?”
As Yeongwoo casually glanced into the air while saying that, Eroom Salzeo—who had by now completely grasped his opponent’s personality—gritted his teeth and rolled sideways.
Taat!
He had instinctively realized that this lunatic bastard would genuinely start using Sword Mountain just because the topic had come up.
And indeed.
“Come forth, Two Hundred Ninety-Two Sword Mountain......!”
Yeongwoo immediately summoned Sword Mountain, and hundreds of blades viciously rained down upon the spot where Eroom had been lying moments earlier.
Kwakwakwat, kwak!
And at that moment, Yeongwoo saw Eroom finally drawing his sword, just as he had suggested.
Once Yeongwoo summoned Sword Mountain, those five mutants had begun moving again, making it an unavoidable choice for Eroom.
―Kiyaaaaaaah!
The spotted gnoll once more swung its claws while, directly behind it, the white tiger lunged in an arc through the air, forcing Eroom to quickly steady his posture and swing his sword.
Sshiaaaak!
At once, the arm of the charging Yeongtae was sliced off like tofu, and General Kim Yonghyeom, who came flying in next, was sent crashing sideways after taking a high kick from Eroom.
As expected, armed Eroom Salzeo was an overwhelmingly powerful fighter.
―This bastard is Rank 4...? Then just how strong are the monsters carrying Rank 3 titles?
Seeing his two comrades get blown away in an instant, Kang Hongtae immediately transformed into human form and gripped a greatsword with both hands.
Teo-up!
However, before he could even swing the sword, Eroom Salzeo had already arrived right in front of him.
―Huh? J-Jeong Yeongwoo! What the hell have you been doing this whole time? Help me!
Just as Kang Hongtae instinctively felt fear and gritted his teeth to swing his sword—
Sgak!
With a chilling slicing sound, Kang Hongtae’s head fell from his body while still trapped inside his helmet.
―H-Hongtae-ssi......!
Geumhwa, who had been circling through the air while observing the situation, gasped in shock and dove down at high speed.
In response, Eroom immediately threw the sword in his hand and pierced straight through Geumhwa before smashing CEO Kim Taejoon’s face with his elbow as the latter approached from the rear.
Ppajik!
―Uaaaaaak!
Five mutants subdued in the blink of an eye.
However, Eroom’s divine movements came to a halt while suppressing CEO Kim Taejoon.
Because in that instant, Yeongwoo had switched ‘Gambler’ into an overloaded state and was charging in with a deadly diagonal slash.
Kwaeaaaaak!
-...Ah!
By the time Eroom remembered that the most dangerous opponent still remained and turned his head sideways, the dark crimson blade had already reached his abdomen.
At that point, the best Eroom could do was reflexively swing his sword to deflect the attack.
And the result was...
Sgak!
That distinctive sound of flesh being sliced apart.
-......?
There was no way Eroom wouldn’t recognize that sound.
After a brief moment of confusion, he looked down at his own body.
Then his vision tilted strangely, and he felt the center of his body collapse abruptly.
-So this is how it is.
That attack had severed his waist.
His upper body, still attached to his head, was tilting diagonally backward like a sinking ship, and soon, the tip of Planetary Ship Owner Jeong Yeongwoo’s boot entered Eroom’s field of vision as he lay on the floor.
Cheolkeodeok.
“Hey, you’re not dead yet, right? It’s just your waist that got cut off.”
-I know I won’t die. You still need me alive if you intend to leave this place safely.
Even with his waist severed, Eroom Salzeo’s voice remained incomparably calm.
Yeongwoo couldn’t help but admire him inwardly.
“Fuck... If bastards like you are everywhere in the universe, how the hell am I supposed to survive?”
-But in the end, I’m the one lying on the ground, am I not?
“Not like I’ll always be fighting higher-ranked people already on the verge of death.”
As Yeongwoo muttered while scratching the tip of his nose, Eroom Salzeo slightly turned his head on the ground and raised his gaze.
-Was that earlier attack your reduced-courtesy rate? How much have you accumulated?
He was referring to the moment when Yeongwoo had attempted a counterattack even while Eroom was releasing the maximum pressure of his presence.
“Oh, that? Enough to beat the hell out of you.”
Since Yeongwoo didn’t reveal the exact figure, Eroom once more rested his cheek against the floor.
-I see.
“Alright, don’t get too depressed. Like you said, I need a bodyguard with all four limbs intact anyway, so I’ll stick your body back together.”
As Yeongwoo said this and reached to take out regeneration-type equipment, Eroom Salzeo slowly closed his eyes.
-Before that, distance yourself from me for now.
“What?”
The moment Yeongwoo tilted his head and asked back, a pillar of light suddenly pierced through the trading hall ceiling and descended onto him.
Paaaaaaaaaat!
“Wha... what the hell is this?”
Startled, Yeongwoo hurriedly pointed Bastard upward, while Eroom rolled his body sideways to widen the distance.
-As a result, you succeeded in overturning the hierarchy beneath a superior, so the Great Achievement System will likely descend.
“Likely...? If the system’s coming, then it’s coming. What do you mean ‘likely’?”
-...Because even I don’t know exactly which side will arrive.
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