Chapter 407 – No Brakes In Han-Yeol’s Growth (3)
Han-Yeol felt like an office worker wanting to go home after a long day at work. He wanted to wind down with some hot, crispy chicken and chug down a can of beer.
This was the reason that thinking of Woo Han-Jong recovering all of his wounds and restarting the fight annoyed the hell out of him.
‘Haa... I guess I have no one to blame but myself... I was too careless,’ he grumbled inwardly.
He looked down at his chain and said, ‘Hey, Karvis. It seems like we’re going into overtime.’
[I can even go for penalty shootouts.]
‘Haha!’
Karvis’ joke lifted Han-Yeol’s spirits.
“Kuheok...!”
However, they soon stopped joking after noticing a problem with Woo Han-Jong.
Han-Yeol expected the pill to completely heal Woo Han-Jong, as that was the only thing that made sense right now, but it seemed to be doing the complete opposite.
‘H-Huh? What’s wrong with him?’ Han-Yeol raised a brow.
[It seems the pill that the old man swallowed is not the recovery-type of pill we were expecting. I suspect that the Freemans gave him the pill judging from what he said a moment ago, but I have a feeling they betrayed him. They probably lied to him about that pill being a recovery pill, and...]
‘And that’s the result?’
[Yes, I believe that theory makes the most sense.]
‘Tsk...’ Han-Yeol clicked his tongue. He could not help but think that dying after getting betrayed by one’s allies was one of the most pathetic ways a person could die.
“Kuheok...! Cough! Cough! Bleurghh!”
Thud...!
‘Eww... Gross...’ Han-Yeol grimaced after the old man vomited out his stomach contents. He felt sorry for the old man puking his guts out after getting betrayed, but his empathy did not last long.
Woo Han-Jong started to convulse as he screamed, “N-No way...! D-Damn you! Dr. Santinora...! Freemason! Cough! Cough!”
His screams expressed the rage boiling inside him, but it was to no avail.
Kwachik! Kwachik!
His body convulsed as it started to turn into something absolutely hideous.
‘K-Karvis!’ Han-Yeol hurriedly called out.
[I am on it!]
Karvis immediately responded and analyzed the Woo Han-Jong change, but the result of her analysis did not come as quickly as her response.
‘Karvis!’
[I need more time!]
‘Damn it!’
There were some instances where Karvis was unable to instantly analyze things. Han-Yeol could tell from his experience that she was going to take a while in these kinds of situations, but that was only one of his concerns.
Karvis’ analysis was not always perfect, and sometimes she failed to analyze things even after spending a long time doing so. Han-Yeol typically didn’t mind when Karvis failed to analyze something, but this time was different. He instinctively knew that the consequences would be significant if he wasted even a single second waiting.
‘Damn it... I guess I’ll just have to kill it right now.’
[B-But...!]
Karvis protested and tried to stop him. She was opposed to the idea of fighting when they had no information about what was happening to Woo Han-Jong. Still, Han-Yeol knew giving his opponent time to undergo whatever transformation he was going through was the most foolish thing he could do right now.
Something was telling him that this was the best opportunity for him to kill Woo Han-Jong, and any hesitation would end up costing him later on.
Thus, Han-Yeol kicked off the ground and ran toward Woo Han-Jong. He planned to cut off his head and burn his body with magma to eliminate any kind of risks from the pill.
Krwaaang! Zap!
Unfortunately, he was a step too late.
A bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of Han-Yeol as if warning him not to come close.
“What was that?!” Han-Yeol exclaimed.
He was certain the only people inside this false world created by the Illusion Barrier were himself, Tayarana, Mujahid, Mariam, Woo Han-Jong, and his lackeys. He was confident nobody else was present in this false world aside from the ones he was aware of.
Then, where did the bolt of lightning come from?
Something shocking happened when he heightened his senses to search for the perpetrator behind the lightning bolt.
C-Crackle...! Crackle...!
‘What?!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly.
The space beside Woo Han-Jong started to twist and turn, and it slowly ripped open.
Thud... Thud... Thud...
A man wearing a white gown and mask emerged from the distorted space. His eyes looked like a reptile’s and his skin was covered with some sort of black matter.
[Oh my, so you finally decided to take your medicine, Se?or Woo!]
“Y-You bastard...!” Woo Han-Jong growled and tried to lunge at the man.
Thud!
Unfortunately, his body had deteriorated far too much for him to move.
[Hmm... The medicine seems to be working. It’s probably all thanks to your body being in such a ragged state. I didn’t expect it to be this effective on someone like you.]
“Gwuuu aaah!” Woo Han-Jong roared in agony.
C-Crack...! Kwachik!
The sound of his bones and muscles twisting and turning grotesquely rang out, and the sound itself was evidence of the excruciating pain he was experiencing.
The man took out a penlight and inspected Woo Han-Jong’s pupils, and it was highly ironic how he was treating him as if he was down with the mere flu.
[Okay, take him away.]
Shwaak!
“...!”
Three people suddenly appeared and took Woo Han-Jong away. Han-Yeol did not notice their presence anywhere, but that was not important.
“Hey, stop right there!” Han-Yeol was not going to let them do as they wished.
Shwiiiik! Bam!
Han-Yeol threw his chain at them, but an invisible force easily blocked his attack.
“Tsk...!”
The man looked at Han-Yeol and asked, “Is there a problem, Se?or Han-Yeol?”
To Han-Yeol’s surprise, the man was extremely fluent in Korean.
“Huh? You know how to speak Korean?”
“There’s nothing I can’t do in this world.”
‘Ugh... I’m already annoyed by this guy. He seems to be some sort of genius, but that’s not what’s important right now...’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly.
“Anyway, why are you guys stealing the fish I caught? I suggest you hand him over while I’m still being nice,” Han-Yeol said.
The man did not seem to be bothered by Han-Yeol’s threat one bit.
“Hmm... You have a point. It would’ve been impossible for me to capture Mr. Woo with my strength alone. Besides, we belong to the same organization, so there would be some opposition if I took him away...
“Unfortunately, I can’t do as you requested as I need Mr. Woo too. I’m already in the final stages of my research, and I really need the body of a Transcendent Master-Rank Hunter. I’ve tried my experiment a few times with Master-Rank Hunter bodies, but... the results were not satisfactory.”
“Experiment? Are you... Dr. Santinora...?”
“Oh? You know me?”
“...”
“Oh my, so it’s true that famous people can’t hide even if they try to! But a genius scientist like me can’t be so well-known, you know? Hahaha!”
All Han-Yeol did was mention his name once, but Dr. Santinora already thought he was some sort of celebrity.
Thus, Han-Yeol got a very good first impression of him.
‘This guy’s crazy...’
“Hoho! Excuse me for getting carried away. I’m just too happy after finally obtaining the test subject I’ve kept my eye on for the longest time. Anyway, it’s an honor to finally meet my future test subject in person.”
Han-Yeol furrowed his brow at those words. The fact that this madman was trying to steal Woo Han-Jong away already struck a nerve, but hearing him being referred to as a future test subject stoked his anger.
“Even Woo Han-Jong couldn’t defeat me...” Han-Yeol muttered.
“Hmm? Did you say something?” Dr. Santinora asked.
“What makes you think a piece of trash like you can?!” Han-Yeol exclaimed and kicked off the ground, as he no longer had any reason to continue this conversation.
Boom!
He came to a halt after the lightning bolt struck because he was trying to figure out where it had come from. Actually, he had no reason to be scared of the lightning bolt as it was not strong enough to deal any significant damage to him, and he was just being careful out of precaution.
However, Han-Yeol could no longer stand hearing the arrogance coming from the madman’s mouth, so he decided to attack even though he still had not figured out where the lightning bolt had come from.
‘I can just absorb it if it strikes again,’ he thought.
“Ah, your words hurt my feelings just now, se?or...” Dr. Santinora brazenly said.
Krwaaang! Zap!
A dark cloud formed above as soon as Han-Yeol kicked off the ground, and a bolt of lightning came crashing down from the sky. It was a very effective ambush that would have caught most off guard, as most people would not expect someone to hide their attacks in the clouds.
However, Han-Yeol was different from most people.
He smirked and thought, ‘An excellent opportunity to attack is nothing if your blade is dull!’
There was no point in attacking if one’s blade was not sharp enough to penetrate the target’s shield, and this was the precise situation right now, as Han-Yeol’s shield was far too sturdy for the lightning bolt to penetrate.
‘Mana Absorption!’
Han-Yeol initially wondered if he should use Reflect to send the lightning bolt back to the madman, but he decided to use Force Shield and absorb the lightning to emphasize the gap in their power.
Bzzzt!
“Oh?” Dr. Santinora raised a brow the moment Han-Yeol’s shield absorbed the lightning bolt.
‘This doesn’t feel so bad,’ Han-Yeol thought with a smirk as he felt mana get absorbed into his heart. The kick he got from absorbing the lightning bolt made him feel like he was doing drugs.
Now, his next move was to cut this madman’s head off and serve it as a warning to the Freemasons.
“Argh...” Dr. Santinora grimaced after his ambush failed. Then, he urgently looked around as if he was looking for something.
“It’s no use! It’s over!” Han-Yeol shouted.
Thud!
“Kuheok!”
Han-Yeol fell to the ground after he collided into an invisible barrier.
Then, Dr. Santinora suddenly smirked and burst out into laughter. “Hahaha! Mwahahaha!”
He had been putting on an act the entire time.
Han-Yeol shot up to his feet out of sheer embarrassment, and his face was extremely red, like a tomato.
“W-What happened just now?!”
He could not understand what happened. Of course, he did remember his chain being blocked by an invisible force field, but he was certain there should be nothing in front of him.
‘I didn’t feel any mana here... There shouldn’t be anything, but what is this...?’
He thought he simply did not notice the madman using his skill a while ago and did not think much of it, but he was caught off guard after an invisible barrier appeared out of nowhere and blocked him.
He was certain the madman had not used any defensive skills, so where did this barrier come from?
‘No, before that... What the hell did I collide with? I really didn’t sense anything like a barrier!’ Han-Yeol was at a loss now.
Meanwhile, Dr. Santinora was laughing so hard he grabbed his stomach and struggled to remain standing.
“Bwahahaha!”
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