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Although he fell from the top floor of the hotel located high up, it only took briefest of moments for his airborne feet to touch the solid ground.
Kwaahang!!!
The ground where Kim Sae-Jin landed on caved in to a deep crater, and a powerful shock wave spread around to the surroundings.
"Are you unhurt?" (Sae-Jin)
He looked at Hazeline who had tightly wrapped her arms around his neck. Fortunately, she seemed to have activated the barrier in time, and wasn’t negatively affected by the abrupt descent.
"Yeah. I’m fine thanks to you. However..." (Hazeline)
Indeed, there was a far more pressing matter to focus at that moment. On the road they had just landed on quite noisily, countless small and large Doo-Urk-Shi-Nees were there waiting, as if to surround the duo.
"First time seeing one with my own eyes." (Sae-Jin)
"Me too." (Hazeline)
The ’Doo-Urk-Shi-Nee’. A creature of ’emptiness’ that made nary a sound nor possessed substance; a creature that could only be seen by the naked eye and by nothing else.
Their individual sizes may have differed from one to the other, but without fail, all of them were glaring at Kim Sae-Jin and Hazeline’s direction with those creepy red eyes. At this rather unsettling sight, Hazeline hugged Sae-Jin tighter without realising it.
"...Keum."
At this unexpected skinship, Sae-Jin even forgot how severe the current situation was and ended up getting tensed up somewhat. But then...
Kkhoong!
"Are you two alright?" (Kim Sun-Ho)
Belatedly, Mercenaries led by Kim Sun-Ho descended and landed on the ground as well.
Almost at the same time, the gigantic Doo-Urk-Shi-Nee swung its equally huge arm and slammed into the hotel Kim Sae-Jin and company were staying just now.
Khuooong!!!
A huge explosion filled up the world, shaking the eerie stillness and ripping it apart; the streets, formerly bathed with pitch-black darkness became showered in bright lights at the same time.
As if that was the signal, all the small and large Doo-Urk-Shi-Nees occupying every inch of the road began their frenzied activity.
Kim Sae-Jin quickly put Hazeline down on the ground and swung his fist towards a Doo-Urk-Shi-Nee that was right in front of the rushing pack. Although its face was smashed to bits in one hit, a certain unpleasant sensation came washing all over his body from coming in contact with the uniquely-disgusting skin of a Doo-Urk-Shi-Nee as well as from its blackish-red blood.
"Yuck..."
While frowning deeply in disgust, Sae-Jin extracted Mana out of his body and then used the Orc’s Smithing Technique.
Seuseuseuseu-
Mana slowly condensed as if to form a crystal, and soon enough, it took on the shape of a blue sword.
Since Sae-Jin’s Proficiency Level for ’Mana Body’ was still on the low, the sword’s strength and overall hardness was somewhat imperfect, but as he had used Mana as the base ingredient, its sharpness would still be top notch.
Sshya-aack...
He struck out a sword aura and it bisected a Doo-Urk-Shi-Nee cleanly in half.
Unfortunately, this created-from-Mana weapon he wielded couldn’t last long. When he cut five or six Monsters down, the sword dissipated away like a cloud of dust. Whenever that happened, though, Sae-Jin created a weapon that could last a bit longer than before and continued to slay countless Doo-Urk-Shi-Nees.
The afterimage left behind in the wake of a sword swing was then pierced straight through by a lengthy spear, and the smooth sword aura drawn from a longsword undulated like a snake, effortlessly slicing apart limbs and bodies of the Monsters coming in contact with it.
A longsword, a podao, a long sabre, a rapier, a main-gauche, a clay
more, a spear, etc, etc... All these disparate weapon types found themselves in the hands of a weapons expert and were utilised like true treasures.
"But how..." (Hazeline)
Hazeline dazedly stared at Sae-Jin’s battle as he fought relying solely on his senses while swapping his weapons out every ten seconds, before she finally woke up and began reciting the chants for a magic spell.
Her target was the gigantic Doo-Urk-Shi-Nee that was currently searching for a certain someone without making a single noise.
*
Although a totally unexpected hell had broken out, Kim Sae-Jin and his party could safely survive the ensuing chaos. That was because, in less than five minutes, a state-wide mobilization order had been issued by the Californian State Governor.
Exactly 15 minutes after the hotel collapsed, army tanks and seemingly thousands of Knights and Hunters poured in, completely sweeping away every single Doo-Urk-Shi-Nees present.
After the incident came to an end, that same Vice Minister from earlier arrived in haste, and began explaining the reason for this unprecedented swiftness of the response - that it was because the US government didn’t want to see the export deal going down the proverbial drain. He even made a desperate face as he implored Sae-Jin to not think too badly of them because of this incident.
"...Whoo-ah." (Sae-Jin)
And so, Sae-Jin and his group could catch their breath while being protected by the Knights. After hearing the rumours about them, all the Knights present here were deeply fearful of this potion deal going down the drain, so they were constantly worrying about Sae-Jin and company being ’comfortable’ and stuff.
"I was panicking then... what a relief that Mister Sae-Jin was there. Also, for the first time in my life, I’m now a top VIP, too... I’m more used to being chased around, you know." (Hazeline)
There was no energy in Hazeline’s voice.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" (Sae-Jin)
"Maybe because I’ve exhausted my Mana... I’m kinda feeling dizzy and sleepy." (Hazeline)
She spoke up to here and slowly leaned her head against Sae-Jin’s shoulder. Of course, her fragrant scent drifted into his nose and lightly tickled the senses. Most other women would get really alarmed and call Hazeline’s actions crafty like a fox, but as a guy, Sae-Jin simply couldn’t push her away - so, all he could do was to let out a fake cough just once.
"Keum... Is that so?" (Sae-Jin)
"Yeah. By the way, Mister Sae-Jin? You were somewhat cool back there. Since when did you become so proficient in handling weapons like that?" (Hazeline)
Recalling once more the sight of the overwhelming martial prowess he displayed, Hazeline asked, her face glowing warmly. Molding Mana into various weapons such as swords, greatswords, spears - anyone would be deeply impressed by the coolness of him defeating all his enemies regardless of what the weapon was in his hand.
"Hahaha..."
Kim Sae-Jin simply broke out in laughter. Hazeline looked at him as if she found his demeanor rather interesting, but then, her expressions hardened.
"However... just who summoned all those Doo-Urk-Shi-Nees here?" (Hazeline)
A Doo-Urk-Shi-Nee was not a normal type of a Monster. Special existences found in the gap between ’the Rift’ and ’the material world’, they could only be called forth with a summoning ceremony or a witchcraft of some kind, and more importantly, they would follow the command of the one who summoned them to the letter.
In other words, to see a swarm of Doo-Urk-Shi-Nees suddenly attack the hotel Sae-Jin was staying in, there was really no need to ponder too deeply what their purpose was.
"..."
Sae-Jin could think of ’someone’ who might be behind this incident. However, he didn’t feel like saying the truth out aloud right now.
Fin.
(TL: See you tomorrow for the third sponsored chapter.)
(TL: $45 out of $50 left for the next week’s first sponsored chapter.)