Chapter 140
Chapter 140
Irena’s Case (3)
Nora Galatea had decided to step in now. In truth, her original plan was to wait a bit longer.
She figured Irena would only learn her lesson after taking a few hits and maybe losing a few nails.
“Shaving her head? Whatever.”
From Nora’s perspective, who had endured every kind of hellish training imaginable, it wasn’t that big of a deal. After all, hair grows back eventually.
“Learning and realizing things quickly is important, unni.”
In the darkness, Nora said this as she cut through the ribbon with her yataghan, having just retrieved Irena.
Irena had found her flaws and regretted them far sooner than Nora had anticipated. Since the lesson had already been learned, there was no reason to drag it out.
So Nora brought Irena out earlier than she’d originally planned.
“No, Nora?”
In the darkness, Irena spoke with a trembling voice. For her, this kind of help was unimaginable.
“Don’t talk. You’d better focus on steadying your breathing.”
Nora calmly spoke as she placed a hand on Irena’s shoulder. Irena immediately took a deep breath. It was impossible to recover immediately after being electrocuted.
She focused on her breathing, checking her physical condition. It didn’t feel like there were any major injuries.
“My body’s tingling and I feel dizzy.”
“A bit of rest will help. I’ll handle things until then. Once the effect of the blackout stick wears off, let’s fight together.”
In the pitch-black darkness, where nothing could be seen, Nora’s voice gradually faded away.
“Hm. This again?”
Caught in the sudden darkness, Colby Devendish rubbed the blade of his gauntlet a few times to make a sound and shake off the tension. Even attempting to use his battle gear to generate light was useless.
The blackout stick was a one-time-use add-on employed by Lunaseeker agents, and Lunaseeker didn’t deal in shoddy gear.
“If you come quietly, you won’t get hurt.”
Nora’s whisper came from right beside Colby. Without even turning around, he swung his arm with full force in the direction of the voice.
With a sonic boom and a crashing sound, the wall shattered. But Nora wasn’t there.
“If you don’t like it, just say so!”
Nora’s voice echoed through the darkness. But she wasn’t where the voice came from.
Colby, on edge to the point that the hairs on his body stood up, scanned the surroundings and then grinned slyly.
“Can’t see, can’t hear.”
Before he even finished the sentence, he began flailing his arms wildly. If you couldn’t see anything, then rather than aiming at someone, all you had to do was sweep your surroundings entirely.
‘This effect can’t last forever anyway!’
Colby was someone with the skill to ensure not even a rat could get close to him.
“Ah, this is troublesome.”
Nora clicked her tongue quietly. Subduing without killing aligned with her own preferences. However, even for someone as skilled as Nora, capturing Colby Devendish without killing him was no easy task.
It could be done if she were willing to accept some damage.
‘But why go that far?’
Unlike Irena, Nora didn’t resort to reckless methods. Irena would likely recover before the blackout stick's effect wore off. When that time came, the two of them could go at him together.
Right now, Nora’s role wasn’t to subdue him—it was to keep Colby from escaping.
“Is smashing up bare ground that fun?”
“Yeah, it is! It’d be even more fun if I managed to smack you around while I was at it!”
With a loud crash, chunks of stone fell from the cracked underground corridor walls.
Nora deliberately stepped into Colby’s flailing range, blocking a few attacks before backing off again.
‘He needs to feel like he’s almost got me, so he won’t think of running.’
She was making him think she was looking for an opening, just enough to keep him from bolting.
And so, as time dragged on, the blackout stick’s effect finally wore off.
“Ha, finally.”
The underground waterway was still dim, but no longer the pitch-black void it had been moments before. Only now could Colby see the one he’d been fighting.
A girl with gleaming blonde hair and blue eyes. A grin spread across Colby’s lips.
“Hello, beautiful. Why don’t you come with me too?”
“Yeah, hi. And go fuck yourself.”
The yataghan and gauntlet collided, unleashing a shockwave. The already half-destroyed wall of the underground corridor crumbled under the force.
Stone dust clouded the air, but soon a gust of wind swept the debris away.
“We were having such a good time just a moment ago. And now you’re eyeing someone else already?”
The one who cleared the dust was Irena.
“…”
She wasn’t in perfect shape. Her clothes were scorched in several places from the spark attack earlier, and her body still tingled.
But she was far from being unable to fight.
“Unni, looks like you’ve recovered.”
At Nora’s words, Irena nodded and tightened her grip on her sword.
Colby immediately made up his mind to escape. He could handle one of them, barely. But not two.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Colby’s escape route was cut off by Irena.
“When two women are asking you to stay, just walking away wouldn’t be very manly, would it?”
“…”
Colby couldn’t run. The moment he even tried, Irena would notice and block the path. And if he couldn’t get close to her, she would shred his escape route with Swift Blade.
What’s more, unlike before, her movements were cautious now.
“Let me have a turn too. I’m getting jealous.”
Nora, who had closed the distance in an instant, thrust her yataghan at Colby’s chest.
Just as he moved to dodge, her arm joint twisted downward, and the blade’s trajectory suddenly shifted to aim at his thigh.
Had it not been for the quickly deployed reverse field, Nora’s strike would’ve pierced his thigh. As soon as the attack failed, she stepped in again, ready to deliver another blow.
When Colby raised his gauntlet to counter, Nora maintained her charging stance but quickly retreated.
“Aaaaaargh!”
As his gauntlet swung at thin air, Irena closed the gap and slashed Colby’s side. Sparks flew as he tried to zap her again, but she had already pulled back.
“Wow.”
Even Nora couldn’t help but be impressed. Irena had been shocked earlier by sticking that close to Colby, yet as soon as she saw an opening, she dived in and slashed his side.
That wasn’t something just anyone could do.
While Nora was admiring her, Colby was losing his mind.
“You damn, fucking bitches!”
Every time he tried something, Irena disrupted it, and Nora danced right in front of him with circus-like movements, mocking him.
“Kh… hah…”
The wounds kept piling up. They weren’t deep, but the blood spilling from them couldn’t be put back.
Even utilizing all five functions of his battle gear meant nothing now.
‘Invisibility, self-moving ribbon, electricity strong enough to paralyze, acceleration, ignition.’
Thanks to the pressure from Irena and Nora, Colby had already used all five functions of his battle gear once.
He’d played all his cards. There was no longer any way to shake them off.
“If you’d just surrendered, you wouldn’t have had to go through this pain.”
At the same time as Nora’s yataghan stabbed into the top of his foot, Irena stomped down on the back of Colby’s knee.
His knees buckled, and as he went down, he prepared to release another electric blast.
“Hey, try taking one yourself.”
A splash of cold water doused his body.
“Uwaaaaaaaargh!”
Irena had used her hip flask to throw the water. The electricity, which should have scattered in all directions, now surged over Colby’s drenched body.
He had expected them to dodge his attack—but hadn’t anticipated being soaked to turn his own power against him. That miscalculation sealed his defeat.
“Well done!”
Nora swiftly stripped Colby’s gauntlet from his paralyzed body and used it to pull out a black ribbon, tightly binding him.
His battle gear had been taken, his body paralyzed, and now he was completely restrained. Irena, who had finished stopping her bleeding, let out a sigh and said to Nora with a voice on the verge of tears,
“Thank you. Really.”
“You should probably thank oppa instead of me.”
If it hadn’t been for Kairus, Nora wouldn’t have followed her.
“Kairus?”
“You’ve been a bit overconfident lately, unni.”
Irena gave a small nod.
“He asked me to tail you, said you might get yourself in trouble.”
“I see. Even so, thanks.”
Irena hoisted up the now-incapacitated Colby and left the underground with Nora.
After handing Colby over to Lukas’s Children, Irena returned to the office. She hesitated briefly, then headed to Upside.
Anyone could offer thanks with words. She at least wanted to prepare a small gift.
“He likes coffee.”
But gifting coffee beans felt too impersonal. Something they could eat together seemed like a better idea. So Irena stopped by a shop that sold various snacks.
Of course, being located in Upside, the prices were outrageous.
“Chocolate sounds good.”
It pairs well with coffee. It would actually be strange if the daughter of the Treasury Chief didn’t know good chocolate brands.
Among the displayed items, she picked out a decent one. For pralines—chocolates filled with dried fruit or cream—this brand was a solid choice.
“This should be enough for Kairus.”
Since she was already there, she looked around the shop a bit more and found some lokum. It was perfect for Nora, who had a sweet tooth.
She bought a box of lokum scented with rose and dusted with sugar powder. There were 30 pieces in the box.
‘She’ll probably finish these in a day.’
Thirty lokums were nothing for Nora to polish off in one sitting. After paying and getting them wrapped, Irena returned to the office.
“Heard you went through hell.”
Kairus and Nora were sitting on the office couch. While Irena was out buying the gifts, Kairus had gotten a general rundown of events from Nora.
“Almost ended up bald.”
At Irena’s words, Kairus grinned.
“That would’ve been a shame.”
“What do you mean, a shame?”
She responded and handed Kairus the chocolate box.
“What’s this?”
“A thank-you gift. Eat it with your coffee. It’s good.”
Kairus nodded at Irena’s words.
“Never thought I’d see the day you’d be giving me a present.”
“Saying thanks with just words feels a little cheap.”
Kairus nodded again, in agreement.
“Unni, what about me? I followed you for days through those stinking sewers.”
At Nora’s words, Irena handed her the box of lokum.
“Here. Don’t eat it all at once—try to spread it out a little.”
Grinning, Nora replied,
“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten a gift from someone. I’ll enjoy it.”
Ignoring Irena’s advice, Nora shoved five pieces of lokum into her mouth at once.
Watching her, Kairus sighed lightly and turned to Irena.
“I heard the gist of it. I’m glad it went smoothly without any major incidents.”
“It’s thanks to you and Nora looking out for me.”
Irena responded brightly and took a seat on the sofa.
“Thanks.”
Hearing her express gratitude, Kairus let out a grumbling sound.
Being thanked out of the blue made his face feel strangely itchy.
He tucked the chocolate from Irena onto a shelf.
In any case, they’d accomplished what they’d set out to do, so today was meant to be a good day.
It was supposed to be a good day.
“?!”
Until something shattered, and the entire building began to shake.