CH 157

Famous all around Eastern Europe, all the way to the Baltic Countries and Russia, Crna Ruka was known as the Black Hand or ‘Unification or Death.’ Its headquarters was located in Poland, and although its members liked to say they had a long history and traditions since King Solomon was still alive when their Clan was formed, it was known as a secret criminal or assassin organization to civilians.

In fact, the Clan quickly became influential in the criminal underworld when they made the ‘Killer Overlord,’ one of the Ten Overlords, their Clan leader. Assassination, drugs, moneylending… Its Clan members did anything that was profitable even if the job was illegal, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that almost no one could defy them.

Crna Ruka’s proudest members were known as the ‘Five Fingers.’ Among them, Ring Finger leader ‘Death Ring’ Cansio and Little Finger leader ‘Little Saintess’ Kunegunda showed up in France. Looking at the burning station, the two exchanged a short conversation.

“You haven’t forgotten about our assignments, right?”

“Who do you think I am? Just focus on your job and bring the ‘Child of Prophecy.’ I’m honestly annoyed right now.”

They were both wearing skull-shaped masks, so it was impossible to tell what they looked like. However, judging from their physiques and voices, Cansio seemed to be a man and Kunegunda a woman. Kunegunda appeared to be noticeably frustrated compared to Cansio, who was nonchalant. Her behavior was understandable, though, since her mission was relatively trivial compared to Cansio’s, which was quite cool, even though they were both ‘Fingers.’

‘This is all because of Wojtek. How could he give me the bullshit order of chopping off a rookie’s head?’ Annoyed, Kunegunda tapped her finger against her thigh.

She received a very simple assassination order from the ‘Thumb Finger.’ Due to their Clan’s nature, she had already assassinated quite a number of people—most of them socially renowned figures or talented rankers since their Clan revolved around anarchism. However, she was ordered to kill a mere rookie from a small eastern country this time, hurting her pride.

Her target’s name was Lee Chang-Sun or something. The rookie recently became quite popular, so even Kunegunda had heard of him, but that was all there was to it. Aside from his pretty face, nothing else about him intrigued her. She would much rather kidnap the ‘Child of Prophecy,’ which was Cansio’s job. Since the Clan leader herself was interested in the child, it seemed Kunegunda could make the child a fine collection.

“You’re not trying to defy the higher-ups’ order, are you?” Cansio narrowed his eyes.

“Are you crazy? I don’t want to get my throat slit in the middle of a good night's sleep. I definitely don’t like my assignment, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to mess it up, so just mind your own business.” Kunegunda frowned.

“That’s good to hear.” Kaniso nodded, thinking he didn’t have to worry anymore.

Although Kunegunda was quite emotional for an assassin, she was just as talented as he was.

“Then let’s begin.” Cansio raised his hand high, and the space around them distorted. A group of assassins entered the burning station.

Paah!

[The Clan ‘Crna Ruka’ has begun their ambush!]

* * *

[The Authority ‘Monster Excursion’ has been activated, warning you of incoming danger!]

[A mysterious group has ambushed you.]

[Quickly calculating the number of enemies.]

[Quickly locating the enemies.]

…

[The ‘Ice Coat’ is shielding you from all heat!]

‘Shit!’ Chang-Sun gritted his teeth as he took off his coat.

[Monster Excursion] had warned him, and his coat protected him, so he remained unscathed despite the relatively sudden explosion.

Paah!

The numerous runes drawn inside the coat shone brightly and wiggled as if they were alive.

[Ice Coat]

The coat that holds the Ice Crystal of the Frost Monarch, the Yeti primogenitor. Made by the heir of the legendary blacksmith Ou Yezi, the coat is a great piece of defense equipment, but it still has room for improvement since it was not made by a professional tailor.

· Type: Defense Equipment. Coat.

· Effect: Lightweight. Body Temperature Control. Magic Barrier.

The runes that Chang-Sun himself carved added the Effect [Magic Barrier] to the coat. He had to combine many advanced magic formulas to accomplish that, however, so he upgraded his skills to [Great-Level Rune Engraving] and [Great-Level Rune Creation]

‘What happened to the others?’ Chang-Sun looked around.

The explosion caused the hot wind to spread clouds of dust everywhere, making it hard to get a clear view. The heat from the explosion made it even harder to tell what was happening.

[The Skill ‘Viper Eyes’ has been activated, locating your party members!]

[Party Member ‘Baek Gyeo-Ul’ activated the Skill ‘Shadow Barrier’ and safely escaped the blast!]

[Party Member ‘Shin Eun-Seo’ activated the Skill ‘Shield Castle’ and perfectly shielded the Party from the blast!]

[Party Member ‘Shin Geum-Gyu’ activated the Skill ‘Ouroboros Structural Formula’ to form a magic barrier!]

[Party Member ‘Woo Hye-Bin’ used the Artifact ‘Storm Deity’s Dagger’ to create a gale and safely escape the blast!]

…

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ is furious because the child she adores could have gotten hurt. She angrily yells which bastard did this!]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ frowns because his priest could have gotten injured.]

…

Proving that Chang-Sun had chosen them for a reason, the Team L Players prevented sustaining serious damage, but in truth, they couldn’t have done it without Chang-Sun’s warning.

‘What happened to Mireille?’ Chang-Sun activated his Soul Link with his subordinate.

『Master, the enemies are going after Mireille! What should I do?』

Chang-Sun’s eyes widened because of his subordinate’s response. Although he wasn’t sure who ambushed the Players, their target was Mireille Aliano!

‘These bastards…!’ Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes.

[The Title ‘Jigwi Incarnation’ has been activated!]

Paah!

Spreading the Jigwi’s wings as wide as he could, Chang-Sun flew forward and sent telepathic messages to Gyeo-Ul and his team members.

『I’m not sure who they are, but we got ambushed! There are still survivors, but be careful when you save them! Gyeo-Ul, follow me.』

Gyeo-Ul, who was under Chang-Sun’s feet, nodded. He covered himself with shadow using [Shadow Play], then seeped into Chang-Sun’s shadow. Hye-Bin and the Shin siblings ran toward the burning training station.

After locating his team members, Chang-Sun flew toward his subordinate and saw the ambushers quickly escaping the station. They had already captured Mireille.

『Don’t show yourself yet. Just keep me updated about their location,』Chang-Sun instructed.

『Yes, sir,』his subordinate replied.

Using the Soul Link, Chang-Sun quickly glided down toward the ambushers. ‘Fortunately, they still don’t know about my subordinate that’s in her shadow.’

The ambushers were great at hiding themselves, enough for even Chang-Sun to not detect them sooner even though he had [Monster Excursion], but they hadn’t noticed his subordinate that was tailing Mireille. It seemed Chang-Sun had to give more credit to his subordinates.

[The Authority ‘Monster Excursion’ has been activated, warning you of incoming danger!]

Feeling something dangerous coming above him, Chang-Sun quickly turned as he untied the whip around his right wrist and divided it into nine strands.

Ting, ting, ting!

Chang-Sun parried the very short iron arrows he saw coming toward him with his whip.

“You sensed that? I guess the rumors didn’t exaggerate your skills that much.” Wearing a black mask, Kunegunda of the Crna Ruka chuckled and dropped before Chang-Sun.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ feels displeased about the appearance of the uninvited guest.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ is amazed by how you can make new enemies even in a foreign country.]

…

[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ is looking forward to seeing your next fight.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ freaks out, wondering why her mother is here.]

[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ says she wants to see the channel that her daughter is interested in.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ hops around in embarrassment, telling the Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ to not do that.]

…

Kunegunda looked at Chang-Sun with interest. ‘He’s actually good enough to be in my collection.’

When she first attacked Chang-Sun, her plan was to kill him as quickly as possible and return, but she had now changed her mind, deciding to have some fun. Although he was an Asian, she liked his pretty face.

‘My Guardian also seems very interested in him for some reason.’ Kunegunda shrugged.

Swirl!

Her train of thought was cut off when Chang-Sun swung his nine-tail whip toward her. Its tails tangled with each other until there were only three left. Chang-Sun then put a thin layer of Aura on the whip, making it look dangerous even for her.

Clang, clang, clang!

Kunegunda pulled out daggers from her waist and immediately deflected Chang-Sun’s whip. She quickly distanced herself from Chang-Sun to escape his attack range, but he quickly moved one of the whip’s tails toward her ankle like a snake going after its prey.

Noticing Chang-Sun's attack too late, Kunegunda tried to kick the tail away. However, Chang-Sun changed the course of his attack again, avoiding her kick and successfully wrapping the whip around her left ankle tightly. With Kunegunda temporarily restricted, Chang-Sun pulled her toward him and sprang forward to not miss his chance.

Paah―!

Chang-Sun pulled [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] from his back with his left hand.

[The State ‘Cruel Tiger’ has been activated, manifesting the Additional Skill ‘Cruel Tiger’s Venomous Fang’!]

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Chang-Sun usually distracted his opponent as much as he could using his whip and stabbed them as soon as he saw an opportunity.

Swoosh―!

Clang!

The sound of metals clashing loudly echoed as the two slid by each other. Defying the law of inertia, Chang-Sun turned again.

Pzzzz.

The [Tiger Kill] around Chang-Sun took the shape of a tiger with its long fangs bared.

“You’re actually quite good,” Kunegunda mumbled. With her index finger, she wiped the blood off the long wound on her neck. Her eyes were full of spite now. Chang-Sun scarred her dear skin, so she wasn’t just going to make him into her collection now.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ reveals his hostility to the new enemy without hesitation!]

Not caring what she thought, Chang-Sun fixed his grip on [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth]. His eyes turned sharp. After wrapping the whip around his wrist again, Chang-Sun pulled out the [Yuchang Sword] with his right hand. Although Heoju was belligerent, he was unusually hostile to Kunegunda—no, her Guardian.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ warns the Celestial ‘Big Sick Bug’ not to mess with his subordinate.]

[The Celestial ‘Big Sick Bug’ giggles and answers that he just followed his priests’ picnic.]

‘I didn’t expect Xue Yong[1] to show up here.’ Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes.

Chang-Sun knew Kunegunda’s Guardian, Tranquil Star Xue Yong, quite well because he was actually one of the next deities that Chang-Sun was going to take care of once he had sealed Heoju. If the self-proclaimed heads of the were the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions, then the ‘limbs’ of their were the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits and Seventy-two Earthly Fiends.

Xue Yong was one of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, so he and Heoju were part of the same . However, they were not on good terms. Was it really a coincidence that Chang-Sun and Heoju suddenly ran into Xue Yong in a place like this?

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ has become more hostile!]

Heoju stayed on high alert around Xue Yong as if he was trying to prevent Xue Yong from finding something that he had hidden.

‘Is Xue Yong here for the [Seven Cryptical Book of Hsan] too?’ Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes.

There was a high probability that he was right, considering they would have no other reason to bother kidnapping Mireille otherwise.

‘That means Heoju has been hiding what he’s doing with the [Seven Cryptical Book of Hsan] from the …’ Chang-Sun quickly analyzed the situation. ‘If some Celestials have noticed what’s going on and taken actions to check for themselves like Xue Yong…’

An idea flashed in Chang-Sun’s head, and he quickly formulated a plan. Chang-Sun then unwittingly chuckled, finding his plan quite impressive. If he could make Heoju and Xue Yong clash directly, Chang-Sun could put the into chaos and seal at least one of the two.

1. A fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. ☜