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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Are you finally ready?”
[So, I didn’t contact you.]
“You’re much later than expected. I thought I was going to grow mold.”
[Don’t be like that. What was I supposed to do with that Wang or Wing bastard clinging to me?]
Ignoring Ryu Kang-chul’s grumbling, the man with braided hair simply looked out the window and said calmly,
“Enough excuses, just make sure you’re prepared. If you mess up again and things go wrong, Comrade Fool will be the one to pay the price.”
[You better do your job properly, Comrade Commander. There won’t be a second chance.]
“Do you think I don’t know what Comrade Fool knows? As expected, there’s no helping a fool, even in death.”
[That’s too harsh for a comrade risking his life!]
“What’s so harsh about it? It’s a well-known fact, even acknowledged by ‘those above,’ that your life is cheap.”
[Even if it’s true, there’s a limit!]
Ryu Kang-chul, while indignant, didn’t refute the comment about the value of his life.
The man with braided hair suddenly said, as if remembering something,
“Oh, and contact Comrade Madman as well.”
[Why are you making me do that?]
“Comrade Madman isn’t the type to follow orders just because they’re given once. Someone needs to assist her.”
[So you’re telling me to be a messenger?]
“This kind of work is Comrade Blockhead’s specialty, isn’t it? Foolish, but overflowing with labor power.”
[Am I some kind of worker ant?!]
“Disobey if you don’t like it.”
The man hung up.
Despite his words, he didn’t think Ryu Kang-chul would neglect his duty. It wasn’t that he trusted his character. Nor did he trust their solidarity.
Their organization, the Liberation Brigade, was a gathering of madmen, murderers, and criminals.
He trusted him for one reason, both of them knew that if they failed this mission, ‘those above’ wouldn’t let them off the hook.
“It’ll be a spectacular show.”
The man smiled, anticipating the historic show that was about to begin.
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The Shanghai Royal Family.
The lowest-ranking prestigious clan among the Black Dragon Clan.
While often ridiculed for their low rank, their power was by no means weak, as befitting a prestigious clan.
Proof of this was their Martial Force Unit, a Seven Dragons Association force composed solely of experts, each comparable to high-level players.
Experts were rare even within the Seven Dragons Association. Assembling a unit composed solely of such experts was something only a family with both outstanding martial arts and abundant wealth could achieve.
“Do not let your guard down.”
Therefore, at this moment, the unit members were on high alert.
Even if they didn’t have the honor of receiving commendation from the Princess, they were the Shanghai Royal Family’s Martial Force Unit.
Their pride was in their ability to immediately execute any order from their leader, Wang Ryun, even if it was to crawl on the ground and imitate a bug.
“He is the culprit who harmed the Vice Head, and a high-ranking member of the infamous Liberation Brigade.”
More importantly, they had reasons to be on high alert.
One, their mission.
Two, the heavy truck behind them.
Three, Ryu Kang-chul, bound in shackles and a straitjacket, all his vital points sealed, inside the truck.
Four, they had all witnessed the tragic scene at the Black Dragon Construction site, including the gruesomely murdered body of Wang Ki-sung.
“Consider the fate of our family dependent on the success of this escort, and give it your all.”
The Vice Head’s gruesome death. The precarious situation of their family. And Wang Ryun’s serious demeanor.
After surveying the Martial Force Unit, radiating a sharp aura for various reasons, or perhaps all of them, Wang Ryun gave the signal in a booming voice.
“Move out!”
One heavily armored escort truck. One small tactical vehicle with a mounted machine gun. Six bulletproof SUVs carrying the Martial Force Unit.
A convoy of eight vehicles, totaling 31 people including the unit members and Ryu Kang-chul, departed from the Black Dragon Construction headquarters.
It was a majestic sight, a convoy radiating the aura of crushing anyone who stood in their way.
‘Let any bastard try to show up!’
‘I’ll crush them in the name of the Shanghai Royal Family!’
The confident convoy was also proof of how much effort Wang Ki-neung had put into preparing this escort.
If they were attacked and lost Ryu Kang-chul, the Shanghai Royal Family would be in dire straits. Knowing this better than anyone, Wang Ki-neung had poured the family’s resources into this escort.
Thirty Martial Force Unit experts were enough to wage a full-scale war against even a large guild.
It was a force confident enough to believe that even the infamous international criminal organization, the Liberation Brigade, couldn’t break through this convoy and rescue Ryu Kang-chul.
At least, the unit members involved in this mission believed so without a doubt.
KABOOM!!!
“What?!”
“Number 1…?!”
With a sudden, deafening roar, one of the SUVs leading the convoy was sent flying backwards.
“Which bastard dares—urk!!”
The unit members who jumped out of the airborne SUV like grasshoppers were struck by black shadows that appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the ground.
Thud!
A black shadow landed gracefully on the overturned SUV as it crashed to the ground. Or rather, a single figure, cloaked in black cloth, blocked the convoy’s path.
“Ambush!”
[Vehicles 2, 3, and 4, combat formation! Vehicles 5 and 6, escort Owl’s Nest and Hawk and retreat!]
Whether they had anticipated this or due to their thorough training, the Shanghai Royal Family’s Martial Force Unit responded swiftly despite their shock at the sudden attack.
The warriors swarmed out of three SUVs and formed a formation around the black figure.
The escort truck and other vehicles, after a swift reverse and a dazzling spin turn, began to escape in the opposite direction.
Their response was so smooth that anyone unfamiliar with the situation might have mistaken it for a planned show or a movie scene.
But this wasn’t a show. And the black-clad figure didn’t allow the convoy to escape like a movie villain.
Flick.
“This bastard!?”
“What?! Is he telling us to attack…?”
A bandaged hand emerged from the black cloth, which was either rags or a cloak. Two fingers extended and flicked upwards.
The Martial Force Unit members surrounding the figure took it as a provocation and bristled.
KABOOM!!!
“……?!?!”
The next moment, they were stunned.
Immediately after the figure flicked his fingers, the two SUVs that had just started to retreat were sent flying like frogs.
Crash! Bang! Boom!
The SUVs bounced around like rubber balls, following the movement of his fingers, eventually colliding with the tactical vehicle and tumbling together.
The sight of the two heavy vehicles being controlled by just a flick of his fingers was uncanny, a chilling display of power. But the unit members weren’t just shocked by the figure’s power.
‘Psychokinesis!’
‘With that power, could he be from the Golden Dragon Clan?’
‘But I didn’t sense any psionic energy. Then…!’
They reached a conclusion instantly.
So, when the figure extended a finger again, pointing at the last remaining escort vehicle, the unit members reacted like lightning.
“It’s a player who uses Psychokinesis skills!”
“Close the distance! Don’t give him time to use his skills!”
“Three-Headed Arrowhead Formation, deploy!”
Three members threw nail-like hidden weapons, to restrict his movements.
Three members charged from the front and both rear flanks, swords raised.
Three members prepared follow-up attacks from the rear and both front flanks, timed perfectly.
Three members retreated, acting as reserves, prepared for attacks from the rear or unexpected situations.
The twelve warriors moved simultaneously, without a single misstep, each carrying out their assigned roles the moment the figure moved, like a precise clockwork mechanism.
From their positions to their weapons, stances, breathing, and even the flow of their psionic energy, they were perfect killing machines, synchronized to face a single opponent.
‘This is the end!’
The unit members were certain.
No matter how high-level the player was, they couldn’t escape their Three-Headed Arrowhead Formation.
In twenty exchanges, they would pierce the figure’s body, in fifty, they would sever his arms, and in a hundred, they would end his life.
Swish!
“…Huh?”
The moment the figure swung his black cloth, the nail like weapons clattered to the ground.
His fingers flicked lightly, and the twelve swords they held were severed cleanly, as if cut by something sharp. And that was just the beginning.
“Gasp?!”
“Ugh!!!”
With every flick of the figure’s fingers, the unit members were thrown around, their limbs twisted or their bodies flipped.
They fought with all their might. But all their efforts were in vain.
The figure’s power, blocking and throwing them around with just his fingers, without any warning or delay, reduced their desperate struggle to mere floundering.
Two exchanges to disarm them. Five to scatter them. Ten to deliver the finishing blows.
In the time it would take an ordinary person to take a few breaths, not a single warrior who had faced the figure remained standing on two feet.
Only unconscious figures foaming at the mouth, or severely injured ones groaning in pain, littered the street like a makeshift infirmary.
Bang!
Perhaps because the tactical vehicle’s door was damaged, Wang Ryun, the leader of the Martial Force Unit, ripped it off and jumped out.
Horrified by the sight of his unit decimated in the blink of an eye, he charged at the figure like lightning, delivering a kick.
Whoosh!
His leg, carrying immense pressure, ripped through everything from the ground to the air, a weapon in itself. It was a terrifying attack, more like a grinder than a kick.
Crash!
“Gah?!”
But the result was the same.
Before his kick could connect, a flick of the figure’s fingers sent Wang Ryun flying, crashing back into the tactical vehicle.
The only difference between his subordinates and Wang Ryun was that, unlike the unit members who collapsed without knowing what hit them, he saw a flash of light. But whether he saw it or not, he still collapsed instantly.
Because of this, the unit members who were still conscious couldn’t help but widen their eyes in disbelief.
‘H-how can such a monster…!’
The unit members couldn’t believe it.
Even though they belonged to the lowest-ranking Shanghai Royal Family, they were still the Martial Force Unit.
Even against a Grand Duke-level player, they were confident they wouldn’t lose easily, even if they couldn’t win. But for a single monster to crush them and defeat Wang Ryun, the successor of the Soul Severing Leg Style and a master-level expert, in a single move… it was a nightmare.
But the figure paid no attention to the horrified expressions of the unit members. He simply flicked his fingers towards the escort truck.
Crack! Crunch!
The doors, roof, and sides of the escort truck, trapped between the overturned vehicles, were ripped apart.
Ryu Kang-chul, still in his straitjacket, was left alone in the empty truck.
The figure slowly approached him.
“Um, comrade? Buddy? I’m grateful you came to rescue me, but could you take it easy…?”
Swish.
“……???”
It was instantaneous.
The figure flicked his fingers. Ryu Kang-chul’s head fell to the ground, and a fountain of blood sprayed out, dyeing the surroundings red.
Ignoring the unit members, whose eyes bulged out of their sockets for a different reason this time, the figure clenched and unclenched his hand a few times before glancing down at the ground.
As if confirming something. Or as if dissatisfied with something.
He stared at Ryu Kang-chul’s head with eyes shimmering with a black light.
“…Indeed, was that it?”
Thwack!
After muttering to himself, the figure flicked his fingers again, tearing Ryu Kang-chul’s body to shreds, and then leaped into the air.
The remaining unit members could only watch in stunned silence as the figure’s afterimage, like a winged bird, disappeared into the forest of buildings.
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