My alter ego is becoming a big shot - Episode 277
#277
Hahoetal Returns (2)
The top floor of a building in Shanghai.
Damn it—
In a place where there was always only warmth, a cold chill spread and began to rapidly encroach everywhere..
Frost fell on the surfaces of objects, the air froze to the point where it was difficult to breathe, and the flow of noisily activated barriers became stagnant and creaked..
[Looks like you've been doing well so far. Shinsoo has become very clear.]
All of this happened when just one being appeared..
‘how?’
In such an abnormal phenomenon.
Yulryeongja, the owner of the office, tried to control the confusing thoughts and glared at the uninvited guest in front of him..
‘How did we get to this place? No, it’s pointless to question that now..’
It was already widely known that Hahoetal was a master of black magic..
Of course, the Buncheonhoe has been thoroughly preparing countermeasures against it for a long time, and the East Asia branch, whose activity area overlaps with it, has not only the usual security, but also has a secretiveness specialized for black magic.···.
‘It all became useless. Did you underestimate the other person’s capabilities??’
Grinding his teeth, the ruler slowly backed away, looking sideways at all the barriers and facilities that were already activated..
Although problems arose during the concealment and entry prevention stages due to an unexpected attack, this was a control tower responsible for all of East Asia..
There's no way that's the only security applied here.?
Ugh—!
Jiing—
Formation of a hidden world, spatial isolation, fixation of coordinates, control of supernatural abilities, suppression of dark magic, construction of a sacred altar, etc.···.
It didn't take long for all the facilities that had been operating from the moment Hahoetal entered the scene to come into operation one by one..
Synergy that pursues efficiency regardless of skill category.
It was a combination of multiple techniques that only Buncheonhoe could do..
[Hoo—? It's truly amazing.]
Hans quietly admired this and slowly looked around..
Seeing this, I was able to understand why he couldn't figure out the location of the ruler a long time ago..
I was wondering why I couldn't follow his traces even though I had already encountered him in his spirit form twice. Wouldn't it have been worth it if he was protected like this?.
‘It's a shame. Things would have been easier if we had captured him immediately upon entering..’
However, contrary to his leisurely appearance, Hans was busier than ever on the inside..
The first plan to rush straight to where the ruler was and capture him failed due to a spatial distortion that was different from what was observed from the outside..
He was able to somehow reach the inside of the office by turning right before, but he couldn't take action right away because of the barriers that started to activate at the same time..
‘But... the current situation is not that bad.’
The ruler retreats to the back, wary of himself, and all sorts of security techniques are activated as if to protect him..
Hans quietly looked at the unique complex technique of the Buncheonkai, which he had already seen several times, with his “eyes of the abyss.”.
‘This is so···.’
And the information sucked in through it was immediately dismantled one by one through “The Magic Path,” “Forbidden Knowledge,” and “Unholy Sage.”.
‘It's a feast.’
The content analyzed in this way became the nourishment for “The Magician’s Path.”.
‘It was all thanks to the Buncheonhoe that I was able to acquire this skill in the first place..’
Past—an ability that blossomed after excellent research data and dedicated private tutoring at the expense of the eyes and legs of a ruler..
But they didn't stop there and prepared such a large amount of teaching materials this time..
[It's impressive. It's also stupid. Did you think you could stop me with something like this??]
A dark glow leaked from the corners of the eyes covered by the Hahoe mask..
At the same time, the barrier shook with the energy exploding from his body and began to scream loudly..
[I am death that feeds on your fears—.]
bang!
Rumble—
At that time, the office door was kicked down and a number of awakened people came in..
All of them were at least at the extreme level, and one of them was a strong person who had reached complete transcendence..
He probably knows well that he has no chance of defeating Hahoetal alone..
They probably thought that with the help of the barrier, they could hold out until help came from another point..
but.
[···no one can avoid it.]
That was just their wish..
***
Kwaaang—!
There was heavy drinking again and the space shook..
‘Even though there are multiple layers of barriers, the aftermath is this big..’
However, the ruler frowned at the shock coming from behind, but walked diligently down the stairs..
To leave the fight to others and hurry away.
From the beginning, his role was that of a manager, not a combatant, so it was a natural decision..
Of course, his unique skill, “Image Projection,” was a great ability that could destroy the mental world regardless of his physical strength, but didn’t he already keenly feel that such a method wouldn’t work on Hahoetal??
‘At a high price.’
He slowly lowered his eyes and looked at his two legs, which, like his right arm, were equipped with action-assisting magic tools that were moving vigorously..
‘The Shanghai branch is closed for the time being. No matter how much effort I put into the koan in advance, it has already attracted too much attention. It's not good to get so much attention..’
As China has a large land area and a large population, many branches were distributed there..
If you go to any of them, handling the work itself will not be a big problem..
Anyway, everything I needed to work as a branch manager was in my head..
‘The problem is that Hahoe Mask's rampage won't end just this once..’
The ruler's face contorted as he remembered the strange masked attacker again..
Most of China's heavenly level transcendents were scattered throughout the continent..
It is only natural that having so many powerful people gathered in one place will only lead to a needless loss of efficiency..
The problem was that it would take quite a while to get them together..
‘At a time when the Lord of the Association was away,···!’
just a day ago.
It was the time when Hoeju remained on Earth considering the reappearance of Hahoe Mask..
Then I couldn't waste any more time like this so I just left..
What exquisite timing is this??
After grinding his teeth several times, the ruler soon forced himself to take a deep breath and calm his mind..
Getting excited now won't help anything..
He glanced at the notification window floating in one corner of his left artificial eye's field of view..
-Code Name: Hahoe Mask
-Energy Type: Dark Magic + Death(?)
-Main abilities: Black magic, undead, space movement, overall barrier, etc.
-Dimension of Origin: Unknown
-Unique skill: unknown
-······
Contents printed immediately after encountering the Hahoe Mask.
Although it is called a scan, most of its contents were organized from the information left in his mind rather than analyzed directly by the artificial eye..
Even though it was a product of cutting-edge magic engineering, there were limits to understanding something as high-ranking as Hahoetal..
However, there were a few lines at the bottom that were worth immediate reference..
-measured energy : 93,853,126
-Risk: S+
-Detection of energy reactions beyond Giga-class ship reactors. Recommend to leave quickly.
It was a number that was still measured and fluctuating in real time..
This prosthetic eye is an item from the Calicas dimension where magic engineering has advanced to the extreme and has advanced into space..
Of course, the ship referred to here also refers to a very large space ship that sails through the celestial bodies..
‘But S+? Although the majority of the thousand-level people who obtained and confirmed this plan were A-line,···.’
Of course, the amount of energy and combat power are not proportional..
This might not be the case in a space war where people fight while pouring enormous amounts of energy into each other, but in a match between experts who control it with extreme efficiency, there is not much of a difference as long as a certain line is crossed..
Although it was difficult to completely cancel out the main gun flying in front, the transcendents were the ones who could easily change the direction and let it go..
But even taking that into account, the numbers in completely different units put a lot of pressure on the viewer..
This is especially true for those who predict the world through objective data and calculations, such as the person who rules..
‘We have to get out of here first. Cheon Yuming is also an A+ Cheon level, so with the help of the barrier and earth levels, he should be able to last for quite a long time..’
In fact, the fastest way to move to another point was on the top floor, but now, because of Hahoetal, I had no choice but to go down..
Originally, no matter where the intruder infiltrated, they would have been sent to the lowest floor due to space distortion, so they would have responded leisurely and escaped to the transfer center on the top floor when they thought it was no longer possible..
‘Damn, it also blocked all other means of fast travel.···.’
Who would have known that such thorough preparation would actually become such an obstacle to escape?.
He promised that if he ever goes to another branch, he will definitely improve this and redesign the design..
‘We're almost there now···!’
of course.
If I could escape.
Kwaaang—!
Suddenly, a shock wave greater than anything that had hitherto came from the top floor and swept all over the place..
“Ugh! What is this!”
The person who was caught up in the attack swayed his upper body helplessly, but thanks to the assistive devices on his legs automatically controlling his posture, he was able to avoid rolling around on the floor..
but···.
The luck given to him ended there..
-measured energy : 156,759,142
-Risk: SS-
-Detection of energy response equivalent to Terra-class ship nuclear reactor. Immediately proceed to emergency evacuation sequence.
As the notification window with the changed numbers appears again in front of his eyes,.
[Haha, we met again. It seems like I walked quite diligently..]
The voice I had met just moments ago passed by my ears again..
The ruler who glanced at the risk level closed his eyes tightly..
Then, with difficulty, he opened his eyes again and turned his head to look at the person who spoke to him..
“···Chen Yuming.”
As I thought about it for a long time, it seemed like a long time had passed, but in reality, it was only a few minutes..
But for him to break through so quickly, this was truly unexpected..
[hmm? ···iced coffee! You mean that guy??]
However, after seeing the back of the Hahoe mask, Yulryeongja was able to quickly realize what had happened..
Jump and run—
Swoosh— Swoosh—
The sound of something being dragged on the floor mixed with the noise of many people walking.···.
Dozens of human figures appeared through the darkness of the hallway..
‘That is···!’
The ruler who saw this gritted his teeth..
An undead unit with black energy dripping from its entire body as if it had fallen into ink..
He could tell their level at a glance.
‘A thousand-level undead...! Plus, is everything else paid? How can things like that come to earth?!’
They were 'Abyss Revenants' made from the bodies of awakened people that had been collected..
Among them, an elite squad of only carefully selected individuals..
Soon, the undead at the forefront, Salma, slowly lifted up something he was dragging with one hand..
“···Chen Yuming.”
What was seen beneath the hair held by the black hand was a face that was familiar to the ruler as well..
He was a world-class expert who confidently stayed behind just a little while ago, saying he would buy time..
What's different from before...is that there's no longer any life left on that face?.
[Hehehe—Thanks to you, I found some useful material. This guy too can be reborn brilliantly. I'm very satisfied with this.]
“······.”
The Demon Lord of Death, with corpse soldiers behind his back, let out a grim laugh..
The helpless human being in front of him, weighed down by the intimidation, could not say anything..
[however···.]
But of course, Hans had no intention of leaving him alone..
[You too have some pretty good looking things.?]
A pair of eyes full of abyss scanned the body of the ruler..
He was a non-combat type spiritual awakener and did not reach transcendence, but he still had a rarity in his own way, so he was not a body that could not be used..
And above all···.
‘I thought about it before. Those eyes, I really want them.’
A mechanical prosthetic eye that mysteriously glows with a soft blue circle on the edge and a geometric pattern on the iris inside..
This was my first time seeing a magic engineering item of that level, so I couldn't help but notice it..
Also, wasn't the dwarf avatar Howard in the midst of trying his hand at magic engineering??
And that wasn't all.
‘I think I was in a wheelchair last time. And that right arm too.’
Look at those limbs moving naturally as if nothing is wrong.!
And it looks so natural that it is not noticeable under the clothes..
‘It's literally the ultimate reinforced exoskeleton..’
That could also be a good gift for Howard, who is working hard on improving his suit..
There still remained the problem of restrictions on using magic tools from other worlds, but that was something to think about later..
Hans, who had reaped a considerable harvest, smiled with satisfaction again..
Then he slowly walked towards the ruler and extended one hand..
[Where are you trying to run away again?.]
“···Ha, bitch···.”
It was natural, but.
Until Hans' hand touched his forehead, he could not escape..
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