Chapter 59 : Chapter 59
Chapter 59
Hero Preparatory School dormitory front park.
“I don’t need such repulsive consideration, so don’t make me say it twice.”
After I uttered those cold words, Do Minyeong fell silent without a single retort.
She didn't seem angry.
She simply gave me a suspicious look with narrowed eyes, as if trying to fully understand my intentions.
Gwon Chihun, who was beside her, flared up and raised his voice, but Lee Eunho soon restrained him, and…
“…Let’s just go by ourselves.”
After restraining him, Lee Eunho took the two and left Hero Prep.
“…”
I quickly followed behind them.
Covered by the Cloak of the Alluring Hermit, using Stealth, I moved in secret, without a sound or a trace.
“The process was messy, but somehow, the context has been maintained…”
The original reason for making this choice was to defeat Park Oseok myself, without being detected by anyone.
Unlike in the original story, Lee Eunho wouldn't be a match for Park Oseok.
Introducing the character of the Phantom Thief onto the stage in a situation where the episode’s deviation was obvious.
Becoming an excellent adhesive, just like with the Poisonous Golem last time.
This was the best choice I could make.
“…”
Suddenly, the training with An Hwigom came to mind, but dwelling on it only muddled my thoughts.
I could only leave it to my future self.
“Hah, what nonsense…”
Anyway, I stealthily followed.
Eventually, I reached the abandoned cathedral of General Ability Academy, and only after Lee Eunho lost consciousness did I reveal myself from the darkness.
“Let’s skip the introductions. After all, I didn’t come with good intentions.”
“Your manner of speech is insolent. I don’t know what your purpose is, but you won’t leave here alive.”
“I, for one, have no intention of walking out without any gain.”
“You bastard…”
Park Oseok approached me, narrowing the distance slightly, wary of me.
Accordingly, I re-gripped the Mist-Clearing Sword and maintained my Demonic Eye.
Dealing with Park Oseok wouldn’t be easy.
He possessed abnormal strength, enough to unilaterally defeat Lee Eunho.
Moreover, having used Stealth from the moment I left Hero Prep, I was feeling the full physical strain.
Although I drank mana potions occasionally, the longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for me.
“You’ll regret those words…!”
Park Oseok kicked the ground.
As sand-like dust scattered along with it, I held my ground and raised the Mist-Clearing Sword.
At this moment, unable to surpass Park Oseok’s physical abilities, the best option was defense followed by a counterattack.
Following the movements read by my Demonic Eye, I quickly lowered my stance, and as Park Oseok’s fist narrowly grazed my head, I swung the Mist-Clearing Sword wide.
SWISH—.
The sound of thick leather being deeply cut.
Upon contact with the Mist-Clearing Sword, Park Oseok let out a groan accompanied by a foul odor.
“Gah!”
I quickly widened the distance from him and watched Park Oseok, who was making an unseemly fuss.
“What?! What is this pain?! Damn it! You! What the hell did you do?!”
Judging by his overly flustered reaction, he seemed unfamiliar with damage caused by elemental affinity.
Indeed, Park Oseok was of the Light element, which had almost no elemental weaknesses.
The Shard of the Mirror of Greed he used was of the Dark element.
On the other hand, the Mist-Clearing Sword, made of Platium, was the ultimate counter to the Dark element, making it a fatal weakness for beings like Demonic Beings.
In this world, where a single healing potion can quickly restore one’s health, receiving wounds that don’t heal easily also occurs when one suffers critical damage from an opposing element.
Just like the laceration I inflicted on Park Oseok now.
“Ugh, now I remember… I vaguely heard about a Phantom Thief carrying a sword made of Platium.”
“Thanks for recognizing it, but are you just going to keep cowering like that? It’s unsightly…”
“…You bastard, I’ll kill you!”
As his words ended, Park Oseok’s burly thigh powerfully pushed off the ground.
His movements were significantly faster than before.
Although my Demonic Eye read them clearly, he charged in a brutish straight line, and I was punched in the face without time to react.
“Khuk…!”
Park Oseok, seemingly still enraged, approached for a continuous attack even as I fell clumsily. I barely managed to swing the Mist-Clearing Sword, disrupting his movements.
“Damn it! Annoying!”
Park Oseok then consciously distanced himself from the sword.
I took ragged breaths and struggled to get up.
“Where did that great momentum go? Go on, spew some more nonsense.”
“…”
Indeed, with my inferior stats, I could barely defend myself.
No matter how much I predicted his movements, charging in like that rendered it useless.
Furthermore, I couldn’t use Stealth while holding the Mist-Clearing Sword, and if I were to bind an opponent using the shard’s power with shadows, I would lose consciousness first.
To make matters worse, the wound he sustained from the Mist-Clearing Sword was also healing at a relatively fast rate.
A phenomenon that was theoretically incomprehensible.
I stared at Park Oseok’s wound and said.
“I thought something was strange.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I wondered how you were maintaining that bizarre power. But now I think I understand the context.”
“…”
“I don’t know how you obtained it, but the source of that power is the Shard of the Mirror of Greed, isn’t it?”
“Hmph, it seems you’ve been investigating me. …But what are you going to do about it? Do you think you can remove the shard from me with those sluggish movements?”
I shook my head and subtly curled one corner of my mouth.
“No, there’s no need to. The shard isn’t embedded in your body; it’s probably stuck somewhere in this cathedral.”
“...What?”
The first time the shard was used in this novel was at Hero Prep’s entrance ceremony.
At that time, Park Oseok only used the shard for a moment, but he suffered such severe internal injuries that he nearly became mana insensitive.
Yet, he uses such a powerful ability with considerable penalties freely?
This undeniably meant that he hadn’t directly embedded the shard in his body.
More precisely, he had devised a trick to use the shard’s power without directly stabbing it into himself.
“No need to pretend you don’t know. It’s absurd that this cathedral is still intact while your massive body is rampaging around. Especially a building that’s falling apart.”
“…”
A look of alarm was clearly visible on Park Oseok’s grotesque face.
I continued leisurely.
“The shard is a Witch’s tool that reflects and manifests desires. Its use isn’t necessarily limited to living beings.”
“…You have a uselessly sharp eye.”
The Shard of the Mirror of Greed was implanting a subjective desire into the dilapidated cathedral.
For example, to deny its shabby self and to not be destroyed.
To respond to the faith of the one human who sought it out, despite being a cathedral untouched for decades.
Naturally, the person who embedded the shard in this building was Park Oseok.
Therefore, the cathedral responded to Park Oseok’s desire to ‘become strong,’ a desire born from being forced into an unwanted path due to his talents.
A phantom-like power that allowed him to use desired abilities at will.
Of course, only within this small building.
The reason why elemental damage that shouldn’t have healed, healed, was also due to this.
Damage accumulated, but it was the result of the cathedral’s will to be stronger than anyone else within this building.
Of course, it probably wouldn’t achieve immunity to Platium.
It was an ultimate counter-element, and Park Oseok, originally a Light element awakened being, wouldn’t be able to fully accept the shard’s power.
“I wonder if you’ll still be able to flaunt your power after the shard is destroyed?”
“…It wasn’t planned murder, but it seems I can’t just let you go.”
Park Oseok crouched down, as if ready to pounce at any moment.
I swallowed hard and held up my sword.
In fact, this whole thing could have ended if I had just used Stealth from the beginning to remove the shard from the cathedral.
The only problem was that I didn’t know the shard’s location.
In the original story, the enraged Lee Eunho released electricity everywhere, attacking the building itself.
Naturally, it didn’t describe the shard’s location, and even my Demonic Eye, my last resort, couldn’t distinguish the shard’s location.
My Demonic Eye clearly distinguishes mana, but because the shard’s mana had engulfed the cathedral a long time ago, it was impossible to pinpoint the shard.
It was as if ice dropped onto drawing paper had all melted and soaked into the paper.
“...!”
Soon, Park Oseok charged.
Judging by his momentum, he intended to crush me with sheer force, even if he got cut by my sword.
I had no choice but to roll on the floor clumsily.
BANG!
Park Oseok then crashed into the wall.
However, only a little dust rose, and the wall was intact, without a single crack.
“Are you running away?!”
“With that body charging at me, wouldn’t anyone run?”
“Tsk, you slippery fish…!”
Park Oseok’s continued rush.
I bent my knees to evade, but then I stood still in that spot.
That was because Do Minyeong was unconscious nearby.
I couldn’t inflict any more unnecessary damage on Do Minyeong, who had already sustained considerable injuries.
It might even lead to the absence of a main character.
I met Park Oseok’s shoulder, which was striking my abdomen, head-on.
As I was helplessly flung back, I created friction with my sword on the ground to maintain my balance and prevent falling.
If I fell once, I wouldn't be able to endure his attacks.
At least, I needed to stand and hold my sword to prevent continuous attacks.
“You’re quite sturdy.”
The attacks continued.
Each one was brutish, but their excessive speed meant I could only barely dodge them.
“You rat…!”
“…”
I leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
Park Oseok, perhaps sensing my significantly slowed movements, began to approach somewhat leisurely instead of rushing.
“It’s about time to pull off that rag and confirm your face.”
I watched his steps and said.
“I have one question, what happens when that hideous body returns to its original form?”
“Hmm?”
“Since you’ve been exposed to the shard’s power in any way, do the subsequent penalties remain the same?”
“…Pointless words.”
“Well, if you won’t answer, I’ll have to find out for myself.”
I placed the Mist-Clearing Sword in my inventory.
At the same time, I used Stealth and assimilated with the surrounding mana, hiding my presence.
“Wh-what?!”
Park Oseok, with a flustered expression, dashed to the spot where I had been.
But I had already left that spot, and was running towards a small altar in the corner of the cathedral.
This was because, ten to one, the shard was hidden beneath the floor of that altar.
The basis for my deduction was that Park Oseok was moving around the altar.
As if protecting something.
This was also why I had made Park Oseok aware of my knowledge of the shard’s existence from the beginning.
From the moment he realized that ‘the Phantom Thief is after the shard,’ his range of action would be fixed around the shard.
As expected, from the moment I mentioned the shard, he showed movements conscious of the altar, and I was able to pinpoint the altar.
This was a valuable result obtained after struggling with him until now.
I soon reached the altar, pushed it with my foot, and exposed the floor beneath.
At the same time, I deactivated Stealth, took out the Mist-Clearing Sword, and from behind me, Park Oseok began to rush desperately.
“Damn…!”
Judging by his expletive, he must have accurately guessed the shard’s location.
If the shard was destroyed, Park Oseok, who had been exposed to its power for so long, would die.
His mana would all dissipate, and he would be left with a grotesque, shriveled leather-like appearance.
Whether he embedded it in his body or used an object, he was ultimately using the shard’s power.
Well, even at this critical moment, I wasn't feeling sorry for him.
Park Oseok was a character who had to die at this moment, no more and no less.
I swung my sword and powerfully stabbed the floor where the altar had been.
Then, the floor, which hadn’t been destroyed, cracked helplessly under the Mist-Clearing Sword.
“...?”
But that was all.
At the tip of the sword, I felt no sensation whatsoever.
Nothing being destroyed, broken, or shattered.
“Damn it…”
…I guessed wrong.
This wasn’t where the shard was embedded.
For a moment, I rummaged through my mind to find the answer.
Could Park Oseok have known my intention and deliberately misled me about the location…?
No, he wasn’t the type to make such a judgment in a short amount of time.
Perhaps Medical Instructor Park Oseok, but not a beast blinded by desire, would have shown such quick wit.
If so, then this place had some hidden meaning in some way…
However, before I could deduce the answer to my thoughts, Park Oseok struck me in the back.
“Huff!”
I dropped the Mist-Clearing Sword and was sent flying, crashing into a nearby wall.
An indescribable pain.
My stamina reached its critical point, my Demonic Eye lost its light, and the fear that I might actually die began to permeate my entire body.
“Phew, that’s a shame. For a moment, it sent shivers down my spine. To deduce the shard’s location like that…”
A shame, huh…
Park Oseok, who had approached by now, pressed his large foot onto my abdomen.
“Then, shall we take a look at that proud face of yours?”