Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿

The location Leila had designated for the exchange was one of the D-rank dungeons on the outskirts of East City. It had almost no productivity value, so it wasn’t properly managed, and the nearby CCTV cameras were little more than decorative junk. Drug-addicted homeless people wandered the streets, but those high on narcotics couldn’t even remember who went in and out of the dungeon. In other words, it was the perfect place to meet without drawing attention.

And when James entered the dungeon and arrived at the appointed spot—

"You're here."

Leila Lopez stood there, her face pale. Even when she saw that James Chen had broken the agreement and brought subordinates with him, she didn’t so much as blink.

James curled his lips upward. It was a truly satisfying sight. The woman who had once carried herself with lofty pride, achieving results and acting as though she would forever stand above others, now reduced to such a haggard state after losing everything. She even appeared injured; a bloodstained bandage was clumsily wrapped around her thigh.

Unable to suppress his smile, James spoke. “Where’s the hostage you promised, Leila?”

“I never expected you to keep your promise in the first place.”

As she said this, Leila quietly raised a pistol and aimed it at him. Click!

At the same time, the Hunters standing behind James simultaneously trained their weapons on her.

James gestured slightly to the Hunters behind him. “Even if you resist, it’s only a matter of time, Leila. We know each other. Let’s not make this exhausting for both of us. Where’s Jeong Daon?”

“The money comes first. Hand it over, and I’ll tell you where Jeong Daon is.”

“Hahaha. You still think you have a choice?”

James was thoroughly exhilarated, flushed with the thrill of cornering prey that had already lost all strength.

Watching him, Leila bit her lip. “Are you really going to be like this to the end?”

“You know me.”

“Is this really how it ends for us?”

“Maybe it was destined to end this way from the moment we first met. Isn’t that romantic?”

Their beginnings had been similar. Both were versatile Hunters rated as potential A-rank, raised in affluent families, entering the Hunter Association with the belief that the strong should protect the weak.

When they first met… yes. There might have been a sense of kinship. Perhaps even the faintest trace of affection.

But before he could even recognize it, James himself had thrown that threadlike feeling into the flames of another emotion he had stoked into a blaze.

Before inferiority, no other emotion can remain intact. Even a shallow crush had merely become firewood for his jealousy.

Leila bit her lip harder. “…You really need to die, Chen.”

“You’ve been away from the field for over ten years. Don’t push yourself.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Leila’s eyes flashed. And in that instant—

Rumble! James sensed the ground at his feet about to burst upward.

“You brought something troublesome.”

It seemed she had buried small, mana-activated landmine-type bombs beneath the ground. They would have been highly effective for one person facing many opponents, but—

Whoosh! James’s sleeve billowed dramatically. Blue mana flowed from him like falling rain, seeping into the earth and suppressing the detonators of the mines just before they could explode.

Leila’s eyes widened in shock. “You, how did you…?”

“How did I prepare it in advance?” Seeing the stunned look on her face, James twisted his lips into a smirk. “If I’m fighting you, I have to be thorough.”

Dispel Magic, an item that, quite literally, nullifies magic. By reversing the flow of mana that occurs during the casting of a spell, it cancels the spell altogether. Of course, it couldn’t be used on every kind of magic; the flow of mana differed drastically from spell to spell.

“I knew you had bombs.”

But this time, he had already known that Leila Lopez had bombs. Estella had unintentionally tipped him off. That was how he had been able to prepare Dispel Magic specifically to neutralize explosive spells. As a result, the dozens of blasts that should have erupted in succession never sounded at all.

James burst into triumphant laughter. “Ahahaha! Don’t tell me this is all you prepared? That’s disappointing, Leila!”

“James, you…! Just how much of the headquarters’ research did you siphon off?”

“There’s no need to look so horrified. You did plenty of that yourself, didn’t you?”

“Wh-what?”

“If every charge against you were completely fabricated, then no matter how hard I tried, you wouldn’t have been arrested.”

“What kind of nonsense is that? I’ve never—!”

“Oh, and you’re still lying even now? Be honest, Leila.” James genuinely couldn’t understand why she looked so wronged. “Don’t act all noble and sanctimonious. In the end, you’re just like me, a piece of trash who’d do anything for personal gain.”

“You—!”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone has desires. There’s no crime in being faithful to them, is there?”

"Don't make me laugh!" Leila shouted, her emotions surging. “Don’t compare me to you. At the very least, I never siphoned off items with the intention of killing a Hunter from another country!”

“Well, I’ll admit it. I’m a bastard.” James raised both hands and snickered. For a moment, he felt like the twenty-year-old rookie he had been when he first met her. “But you’re no different. If you were truly so righteous, would you have kidnapped Jeong Daon?”

“That’s—!”

“They say a person’s true nature shows when they’re cornered, right? Admit it. You even prepared bombs. Weren’t you planning to kill everyone if things went south?”

“I-I…!”

At the accusation, Leila faltered, her face drained of color. Delight surged in James’s eyes as he watched her. To see someone who had once stood above him now weakened and flailing, it felt like conquering the peak of a mountain.

The exhilaration was intoxicating.

“See? You and I are still quite alike.”

His cunning words burrowed into Leila’s ears. As if she couldn’t bear to hear them, she clapped her hands over her ears.

“So now—”

Just as James was about to continue—

Flash!

From the center of where James and his subordinates stood, a pattern spread outward like a blooming flower. It looked like a seed pod bursting open. From the earth, vine-like stems shot out in all directions and clamped tightly around James’ ankles.

His brows shot up. “A double magic circle?”

He hadn’t anticipated that beneath the buried magic items, another magic circle had already been prepared. And frankly, it defied common sense. Two completely different magic circles would normally interfere with one another. To make them interact properly would require far more than a few short hours. They could be forcibly overlaid in the same spot, but that would usually cause the mana to tangle and render both ineffective—

Crack!

“Our swords can’t cut through it!”

“Wh-what should we do?”

The swordsmen among his subordinates quickly drew their blades and slashed at the vines. But no matter how many times they struck, the stems refused to sever easily, and the number of vines sprouting from the ground increased exponentially.

“…So this is what you prepared, Leila.”

Grinding his teeth, James rapidly analyzed the phenomenon before him.

No… this isn’t magic… is it a plant-type monster?

The vine writhing at his feet and gripping his ankles, looking closer, it was indeed a plant-type monster.

“You buried a plant-type monster in advance and accelerated its growth with mana? That’s not like you at all. How ridiculous!”

It seemed she had intended to bind their feet here and make her escape.

But if this wasn’t magic, then the solution was all too simple. James pulled a folding fan from his sleeve. “Everyone, cast fire-resistance magic!”

It was surprising that she had prepared something other than bombs in that short span of time, but nothing had changed.

“So what if it’s a plant monster? We’ll just burn it all down!”

Dozens of sparks flared into existence in James’ hand.

That wasn’t all. After scattering the sparks in every direction, James snapped open his folding fan and guided the wind. What had begun as small, crackling embers instantly turned into a raging wave of flames as the wind rose.

Whoooosh! The fire surged in an instant, leaping onto the plants. No matter that it was a plant-type monster, before fire, it was helpless. Once ignited, the plants dried out and shriveled rapidly.

“The vines are severing!”

“Capture Lopez immediately!”

Protected by fire-resistance magic, his subordinates freed themselves from the bindings one by one.

One of them asked, “What should we do with Lopez?”

“Don’t kill her. We need her to cough up the hostage’s location.” Holding his open fan, James sneered at Leila, who still stood there with a pale face. “I suppose this was your trump card, but this much is hardly—”

And then— Whizz!

Thud!

“Gaaah!”

Blood sprayed in all directions. Arrows had slammed into the shoulders of the subordinates approaching Leila. They were arrows of light, formed entirely of mana.

But this wasn’t Leila’s magic.

“Ambush!”

"Protect the captain first!"

James turned toward the direction the arrows had come from. And there—

“I believe anyone who doesn’t cherish plants deserves to die. Wouldn’t you agree?”

A girl stood there, someone he had seen countless times in videos and photographs, though they had never met in person. An East Asian girl whose youthful features had not yet fully faded. The very person who had occupied his thoughts for months.

"Jeong Daon!" James’s eyes gleamed. “I assumed you’d be hidden away somewhere secure.”

“I thought so too.” With a faint smile, Jeong Daon raised her hand. “But they said I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I moved personally.”

Unusual mana swirled around her raised hand, and in an instant, all of it took the shape of arrows.

James’s eyes widened. She’s already handling that level of mana?

The spell itself was nothing remarkable, merely a second-circle Lightning Arrow. Of course, even that level of magic wasn’t something a rookie who had only recently awakened could wield so freely. But more than the spell itself, it was the sheer quantity of mana!

Behind Jeong Daon, dozens upon dozens of arrow-shaped constructs materialized.

James glared at her in fury. “How unfair…!”

Was this the difference in innate talent? When James had first awakened, he too had been rated A-rank and had learned magic quickly—but not to this extent!

Crack!

The shield James cast to block the incoming barrage shattered and tore apart under the rain of arrows. There was no other way to describe it, it was an overwhelming gap in talent.

"Hahahahaha!"

And yet, James burst into manic laughter instead.

“Yes, yes! It’s only worth investing if it’s this good!”

He didn’t know why the girl was attacking him to help Leila, who had kidnapped her, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that right in front of him stood a mage capable of incantation magic, something he had pursued for over a decade without attaining!

“In fact, this is perfect. I’ll break you right here!”

She was a flower brimming with overwhelming potential, yet not fully in bloom. No matter how extraordinary a mage might be, in close combat, numbers would eventually overwhelm them.

“Charge!”

At James’ command, his subordinates advanced with hardened expressions.

Since their opponent was Leila, he had specifically chosen swordsmen trained to fight mages. No matter how skilled a mage, every spell required casting time. As for spells already cast, his men could block them with their bodies.

There would be casualties, but that price meant nothing.

“It seems you got cocky because you have a bit of talent. How unfortunate. I’ve never once failed to obtain what I set my sights on.”

“Obtain?”

“Yes, my goal of thoroughly researching you and ascending to a higher realm!”

He would dissect Jeong Daon down to the last detail, uncover the secrets of incantation magic, and this time—

This time, he would earn Estella’s recognition…!

“…Why are you smiling?”

At his words, Jeong Daon’s eyes curved into crescents. It was a deeply mischievous smile.

“Oh dear. That’s unfortunate. You’ve got the wrong target.”

"What?"

“And if you want to get to Jeong Daon, there’s one very large wall you’ll have to overcome first.”

James realized it instinctively. Something was wrong. With the instincts of someone who had survived countless battlefields, James shouted for his subordinates to stay alert.

No, he tried to.

At that instant, the ground shook. Boom!

James spotted a man. A man who swung a massive bastard sword as though it weighed no more than a feather, plunging down among his subordinates like divine punishment from the heavens. Like a white bolt of lightning.