[Underground – Nightclub 'Awaken Night']
Right after we exited the stairs, we were greeted by five people holding their weapons. Four of them were in the front, holding iron swords in their hands. While there was a man who stood behind them with a terrified expression while holding a sword with his shaking hand, he was Raymond.
When he saw us, he pointed at us and shouted.
"Who are you?! Why did you attack us?!"
"You are asking who we are?" Park Injun answered him as he took a step forward.
Usually, it would be foolish if a Mage stood in the front line. The story would be different if the said mage was an A-Rank Awakener or even S-Rank Awakener. They could use Magic faster and stronger than normal Mage, so distance was not a problem for them.
However, it was still ill-advised for a Mage to stand in the front line. But in this situation where the Mage is an S-Rank, and the enemies were only D-Rank Awakeners, it didn't matter even if he stood right in front of them. The Mage, Park Injun, would still be fine even if he was attacked. Hell, the enemy would die first, even before they could move.
"Of course, he's asking. You took off your disguise." I chimed in, reminding him.
"Oh, right. How about this." Park Injun put on his disguise again. His face turned into an old man that I always see in his store, and his robe turned into casual clothes.
When he put on his disguise, Raymond's eyes widened, and his hand that pointed at us was trembling uncontrollably.
"Y-You! Artifact Dealer! How?! How did you find me?!" He shouted frantically.
"I have my way. Do you think you could run from me when you took my money?" Park Injun turned back into his real form and took a step forward.
I also took a step forward as I infused Mana into my sword, making it let out a blue glow. Seeing what I did, the four men in front of Raymond gripped their swords tightly. Their blade also let out a faint blue glow, but it was thinner and cruder than mine.
"Park Injun, let me deal with the four in the front," I said as I patted his shoulder with my free hand.
"Are you sure?" He asked, his voice mixed with a hint of concern. Although he had only known me for a month, he was concerned about it. I was a bit happy knowing that he was concerned about me. That meant he wouldn't let me die easily.
"Yeah. I can take care of them." I answered confidently. "After all, you know who my Swordsmanship teacher is."
"Fine. But, take this." He tapped his wand once again. This time, my body let out a green glow as I felt stronger and lighter than before. I glanced at him, and he smiled. "Just a small buff. I will take care of the guy behind. I have a feud with him."
"Sure. He's yours."
I then walked toward the four men while Park Injun circled the four men, approaching Raymond, who backed away to the corner of the room.
My opponents were around D-Rank Awakeners at best, but they were four men. Not only that, my left eye was blind.
'I am in a bit of a bind, no?'
However, this was all within my plan. I already planned to use this as my training to get used to fighting against a lot of opponents at once with just an eye. Although I got a buff from Park Injun, it wouldn't do much to my status.
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Status
Name: Vincent Dihart
Rank: D
Strength: D (D+)
Agility: D (D+)
Endurance: D (D)
Mana: C- (C)
Luck: S (S)
Talent:
- Sharpshooting (S)
- Enhancement (S)
- Swordsmanship (A)
- Magic (A)
Trait:
- Deceitful
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There was a new word beside my old status, showing my status after getting buffed by Park Injun. I was still in the realm of D-Rank, so fighting the four D-Rank Awakeners in front of me would still pose a bit of a problem for me. They would be a problem only if their Talents were fit for combat and were higher Ranked than mine. But that was impossible. I had four Talents, and all of them were higher than A.
I took a step forward, flaring my C Rank Mana. It was by far my highest Status except for Luck. Their bodies jolted after they felt my Mana.
Usually, the way to know an Awakener's Rank was from their Mana. The Mana that the four men had in front of me were equivalent to those of D-Rank. I could've always looked at their status with [Horus' Sunglasses], but that wouldn't be training for me. Today's training was to see how I cope against Awakeners without seeing their status.
I could also at least estimate it because I have felt D-Rank Awakener's Mana, and I knew how much and how strong D-Rank Mana was.
They should've known about it too, and currently, the Mana that I flared was C-Rank. It was natural for them to think that I was a C-Rank Awakener based on my Mana.
"What's wrong?" I asked calmly. "Are you afraid?"
I surveyed the state of the four men. They looked at me warily. Behind them, Park Injun had already worked on Raymond, but the four men chose to focus on me. Maybe they knew that Park Injun wouldn't do anything to them?
Anyway, they didn't seem to be willing to make a move first. In that case…
"I will make the first move, then." I lunged into the nearest man, the one on the right.
Using the footwork that Smith taught me, I instantly crossed the distance between the man and me. Then, I ducked a little and sent a slash above.
"Wha?!"
The man was surprised to see me moving instantly and couldn't react to my timely slash. He moved his sword, trying to stop mine, but it was too late. My Mana-clad sword severed him from below his arm to his shoulder, killing him instantly.
"Ugh." I grunted a little.
Even if I deceived myself using my Trait, I was still conscious that the one I killed was a human. It was my first time taking life, and I stopped moving for a second.
That second was crucial, though. The three men who froze, surprised, earlier began to move toward me while shouting.
"How dare you!" The second man, who stood beside the man I killed earlier, swung his sword from above.
'Move!' I shouted inside my mind.
Clenching my teeth, I brushed off the feeling of guilt and blocked the second man's strike with my sword.
Clang!
Our swords clashed with each other; then, I noticed the rest of the men attacking me from two sides from the edge of my sight.
"Die!"
"I will kill you!"
I quickly pushed the man in front of me by kicking him. He was blown three meters away, and I quickly ducked to dodge the strike coming from my sides.
Swoosh!
Two swords passed on top of my head by a hairbreadth. Luckily I was able to dodge it in time. Although I knew that Park Injun had put a barrier around my body, being hit by a sword was still terrifying. Not to mention, I wanted to end this as clean as possible.
"How?!" The third man shouted loudly, surprised by my agile reaction.
Because of the big swings, the two men on my side were full of openings. I used this chance to make a big swing from below. My sword moved in a flash, severing the legs of the men, causing them to stumble and scream in pain.
"Gyaa!!"
"Aarrghh!!"
Blood spurted from their severed legs as they tried their best to stop it with their hands.
The second man who attacked me earlier looked at his comrade in horror.
"Y-You!!" His scream was filled with terror as he dashed toward me. "I will fucking kill you and make you regret it!"
There was something that I had yet to try in this battle. Magic.
I created a fireball in my free hand and sent it toward the man who swung his sword toward me, aiming at my neck. He surely was caught in surprise as he only looked at the fireball that came toward him with widened eyes.
The fireball struck his face cleanly, burned him, and he screamed.
"It hurts!!" He tried to put out the fire that burned his face, but I used this chance to approach him and stabbed my sword right through his heart.
Stab! Thud!
He fell to the ground lifelessly, and I pulled my sword, swinging it to clean it from bloodstains. My clothes were stained by blood too, but the battle was not done yet. I turned toward the two men on the floor.
Their eyes were filled with fear, and tears began to form.
"W-wait! P-please! I-I beg you. Spare us! No! Please spare me!"
"No, wait! P-Please spare me! I will do anything you want!"
I looked at them with a gaze of pity. Were the characters in my novel always looked like this? Or was it because they were Extras who were destined to die that they begged like animals?
Anyway, they were too one-dimensional. They were like typical villains that only exist to die in the Main Character's hand. However, my guilt decreased after seeing them for some reason.
Was my Trait kicked in? That didn't matter. Now I knew that I would still be fine after killing people. At least, I wouldn't break from it. I approached them without words and swung my sword two times, severing their heads.
When I was done with them, I heard a voice calling out from the side.
"Are you done?"
I turned toward the voice, and Park Injun was looking at me worriedly.
"How is it, your first time killing people?" He asked. "It must be suck, right?"
"Yeah…" I answered without much energy. I still needed to loot Raymond's money, but my motivation was gone for some reason. Was I really still affected by killing them?
I forced myself to calm down and looked at Park Injun straight into his eyes.
"Are you done yet?" I asked him.
"As you can see." He pointed at Raymond, or rather Raymond's corpse, whose face had turned black and blue. There was not a sign of life in his body; even his chest stopped moving. "I am quite done by him. I also secured his fund while I was at it. I will transfer it later to your account, but… I think you need to clean yourself for now."
He approached me and tapped his wand against my shoulder. Because I knew that he wouldn't do anything malicious to me, I kept silent and let him do whatever he pleased.
The next thing that happened was surely magical. Blue light washed over my body. The bloodstain on my clothes was gone, and I felt refreshed, more than before.
"There you go."
"What is that?" I asked him curiously. That Magic was not in my novel. I didn't remember creating a Magic like that, no. More specifically, I never wrote anything like that.
"So you have something you don't know too, huh?" Park Injun answered me with a question. He smirked and raised his wand slightly. "That's a Support Magic to make one feel refreshed, and the other was a Support Magic to clean clothes. Those were Magics that I created to aid me in my daily lives."
"I see."
Once again, I realized the usefulness of Magic and found out that not everything was the same as in my novel. Right, this was the real-world, not my novel.
"Hey, let's get out of here," I said, to which Park Injun answered with a nod.
"Yeah."
We then got out of the nightclub. I looked around to look for Jaro and noticed that he had gone from the roof.
So he was indeed only looking at us and didn't interfere.
'Anyway, I have secured my fund. I should rest for today and meet with that guy tomorrow.'
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶