By Zephyria The outsider who had detonated the minerals in mid-air and escaped from Squad Leader 8’s grasp barely survived the explosion he caused and had been wandering inside the peninsula for days, clinging to life.
The reason he was able to escape the collapse site was thanks to a certain pill. It was the 500-somethingth drug that Alex Siles was developing. If what Leonardo was given was a Stabilizer, what Alec had given the outsider was a kind of Magic Power Amplifier.
Taking one pill would make you feel like Magic Power was endlessly springing up for about three hours, and this was a drug that Alec had created by imitating the symptoms of a Magical Outburst when he was researching Magical Outbursts.
However, it didn’t allow you to use more powerful and vast power than the Magic Power you already possessed. It was a dangerous drug that temporarily pushed the Magic Power you could use to the limit and could completely discharge your body at the end, as if a fuse had blown.
He didn’t know the details and only thought of it as a drug that amplified Magic Power. He took it and used up the remaining amount he had to escape from the site at the time of the collapse, so he had no way to escape from the peninsula alone.
The man was currently running somewhere in a hurry, wandering through winding tunnels, heading for the mining team’s hideout.
He never thought he would go back there on his own two feet, but he thought it would be better to go back and beg to be accepted again after being beaten a few times than to be eaten by a demon beast or arrested by the Council. That was the best judgment he could make.
He had been living avoiding the Council anyway, and now he had become a terrorist challenging public authority, so if he was caught, he might have to spend half of his life in prison.
In the meantime, he had been feeling a chilling sensation that someone was watching him since yesterday, and he was overcome with anxiety that the ruthless blond guy might be looking for him to kill him.
He ran frantically through complicated paths to cut off the tail that was following him, and eventually came to this area.
It felt like he would see the entrance if he went a little further, but he had no idea if he was going the right way because this area was so maze-like.
The sound of running echoed inside the tunnel and gradually slowed down. He hadn’t run much, but he was quickly exhausted, perhaps because there was a lack of oxygen underground.
“Cough, Keck—.”
The outsider, who was running so hard that he could almost taste blood in his throat, stopped, retched, and spat phlegm on the ground. Then, he leaned against the wall, panting, and looked back the way he had come.
His eyes were filled with fear. There was clearly no one there, but he felt like something suffocating was chasing him. Besides, he didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but his body was gradually shivering, and he felt like he was in bad shape.
The outsider, shaking and shaking off the chills, shouted into the empty air at the encroaching pressure.
“Hey, come out! I know you’re there!”
The echo reverberated through the silent cave. The eyes of the frightened outsider rolled around, following his spreading voice.
However, the echo soon stopped and became quiet, and nothing happened to him.
Rolling his eyes, he stuck close to the wall to secure his vision and looked from side to side. Then, he once again threatened the empty air.
“Are you scared? Are you scared! Come out, you bastard!”
The pathetic bravado reached the cave wall and returned intact.
Again, the reverberation subsided, and after some time passed without anything happening, the outsider, who had been clinging to the wall for a while, finally sighed in relief.
He was belatedly overwhelmed by the embarrassment of making a fuss alone in a place where no one was around, but what did it matter since he was alone anyway?
Thinking that he should eat something because he felt weak, he took his back off the wall and was about to move his steps towards his destination.
Kwaaaang—!
The cave wall in front of the outsider instantly shattered and collapsed. What gushed out from the debris flying in all directions was a chilling cold.
Someone exuding a fierce and cold energy that seemed to freeze blood vessels appeared from beyond the broken wall. The blurry but threatening and huge figure was staring coldly at the outsider.
For a moment, his body froze at the gaze, and the outsider, seeing the Council’s combat uniform, tried to run away in a panic. However, a large hand suddenly came out through the dust filling the cave and ruthlessly grabbed the outsider’s neck, who had not even taken two steps.
“Ugh, Keok—.”
His legs, which had been trying to escape, floated off the floor and stirred in the air. He tried to tear off the large hand holding his neck with both hands, but the surface of the hand was as hard and cold as ice, so his fingernails broke without even digging in, and soon slipped off.
“Kkeuek, Kkeuk. Ugh, Heok—.”
Hugo lifted the resisting outsider high with one hand and stared at him with emotionless eyes.
When the floundering kick brushed his waist, he took a step towards the edge of the cave and pressed the outsider’s neck against the wall. Then, blood vessels burst on the outsider’s face, creating red spots, and the skin color with tendons became reddish-purple.
Soon after, members of the 1st Battalion poured out from beyond the pierced wall and surrounded Hugo and the outsider. When Squad Leader 8 finally appeared and stood next to him, Hugo asked her, keeping his gaze fixed on the outsider.
“Is this the guy?”
Squad Leader 8 checked the man’s suffocating appearance and frowned slightly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
At her answer, Hugo took the outsider’s neck, which he had been pressing down, off the wall and lifted it up again. Then, in that state, he threw it towards the empty passage as if throwing away a bundle.
Thud— Crack—!
It wasn’t thrown very hard, but the outsider, who was thrown by Hugo’s grip, rolled diagonally and hit the wall hard with his back. Because of that, the cave wall and the shoulder blade also cracked, and there was a chilling sound that clearly something had broken.
But there was no time to be in pain from the impact. The outsider got up from the floor, trying to secure his open airway, and started running, limping.
He had to run to live. Only the will to live dominated his mind and moved his legs. But even that will was suddenly broken by the wall that appeared in front of him.
Ice skewers popped out from all sides of the cave wall in the direction he was running, blocking his path. Sharp pillars intertwined, completely blocking the passage, and threatening icicles hanging down to his throat.
He felt despair for a moment, and then the outsider, feeling an indescribable pain in his leg, lowered his head. Then, his gradually hazy mind became clear, and he saw his leg with ice embedded in his shin and blood gushing out.
He stared at it for a moment, and his breath gradually quickened. Soon, his brain began to recognize the pain, and he screamed as if it were about to leave.
“Ugh, Ughaaaaack!”
As he crouched down and crawled backwards, he saw the ice that had come out of his leg and was soaked in blood. He hugged his leg, where a hole was pierced and red liquid was gushing out like a fountain, and rolled around on the ground. Then, he fell into a panic and spat out all sorts of curses.
“You, you son of a bitch!! You, you son of a bitch! My leg!”
At the voice that echoed loudly in the cave, Hugo frowned and gestured towards the outsider. At his direction, two members of the 1st Battalion approached and grabbed both arms to bind the outsider rolling on the floor.
The outsider struggled violently, scratching the members with his fingernails and shouting vulgar profanity.
The two members did not care about such resistance and tried to kneel him down with his arms behind his back, but the rat cornered in the corner spat on the member’s face.
The member next to him frowned and blocked it with one arm, grabbed the outsider’s nape to fix his face forward, and kicked his hamstring to make him sit down on the floor.
Unable to turn his head any further, he looked at the Council guys standing towards him with his body bound.
His unstable breathing, exhaling intermittently, showed his gone mental state. In the meantime, as the cold air wafted up to his chin, his body trembled like an aspen tree, whether it was fear or cold.
Hugo slowly walked towards him with a cold face without a shred of sympathy. The closer Hugo got, the more violent the outsider’s struggles became, and he spewed out any dirty words. Then, he finally stammered the words that criminals always say when they are subdued.
“Are, are the Council guys allowed to beat people like this and try to kill them? You’re just a bunch of gangsters….”
He blabbered on, but his mouth closed on its own when the huge man came and looked down at him right in front of him. His eyes were like looking at a bug that could be easily crushed and killed, so his survival instinct took precedence over his meager pride. Soon, the outsider distorted his face and began to wail as if screaming.
“Ugh…, what did I do so wrong! It’s all to make a living—.”
He opened his mouth boldly, but he couldn’t finish it this time either. It was because Hugo, who had come forward, bent down and sat down to his eye level.
Only his own voice echoed in the suffocating silence. This monstrous group didn’t even make a sound. In the meantime, as the man like a grim reaper was looking at him from the front, he wanted to swallow his breath, which was uniquely loud, let alone make a loud noise.
The outsider’s fearful gaze met Hugo’s cold face and slowly rolled his eyes to his hand coming up. As the hand as big as a pot lid got closer and closer to his head, the outsider’s chin trembled.
Hugo silently stared at his terrified face. Then, he struck the outsider’s face with his right hand as it was.
Thwack—!
It wasn’t the sound of skin rubbing, but a dull sound. The outsider heard something explode in his ear.
His head turned completely, and his body staggered. It was the power that would have flown him sideways if the two members hadn’t been holding him.
For a moment, his ears went numb, and sparks flashed in front of his eyes, and his vision brightened and then darkened again. Something warm was gradually filling his eyes. It wasn’t tears, but blood vessels in his eyes had burst and blood had pooled.
He, who had been hit by Hugo’s hand, drooled saliva mixed with blood because his mouth was torn inside. He couldn’t hear well, as if he was underwater, because of what had happened to his eardrum on the side he was hit. The entire head was beyond the level of being hot and tingling, and it felt like something had hit it and his senses had died.
He couldn’t even breathe properly and looked at Hugo again with fearful sidelong glances. But Hugo raised his hand again with a blank face. Then, he mercilessly struck his face once more.
With a force so strong that he couldn’t even make a sound, two of the outsider’s teeth flew far away. Exactly two hits. It only took two hits for his entire face to burst and blood to flow from all the holes.
His body repeatedly tensed and relaxed as if he was about to lose his mind, and his body trembled. It felt like his eyeballs were about to dislocate.
But in the red-stained vision, he saw his hand going up one more time. The outsider, who had seen death, finally began to beg.
“Ugh, uh… Sir, please save me.”
He groaned and tried to say something. Perhaps because his mouth was torn inside and his teeth were gone, he couldn’t even pronounce it properly and was clumsy.
Hugo coldly stared at him mumbling. After staring silently for a long time, when the unpleasant sound stopped, he calmly asked the outsider.
“Have you said everything you want to say?”
It sounded like he was going to hit him if he didn’t have anything more to say, so the outsider was startled and began to plead again, rambling.
“Please, have, have mercy… Uheuheuk….”
He bowed his head and begged for mercy. He repeated that he would never do it again, as if he was repenting.
Hugo’s raised hand slowly went down. It was a common repertoire of guys who didn’t listen to words.
Hugo took a handkerchief out of his inside pocket and wiped his blood-stained hand. He stared at the two teeth lying on the floor for a moment, then met the outsider’s eyes again and scanned his swollen face without emotion. Then, he said to him in a cold voice.
“Why should I?”
“…Ugh, eh?”
The outsider made a bewildered sound at the unexpected words.
Hugo’s eyes, which had been staring at the outsider with a blank face, gradually became fierce. A murderous aura dripped from the blue eyes, and the sensation of his neck being strangled just by his gaze was presented. The low-pitched voice dug into his ears and reminded him of the sins he had committed.
“You put three people I have to protect in danger. One of them was injured in the head, and two are still missing.”
The outsider’s eyes, which had been meeting the grim reaper’s eyes, rolled to Squad Leader 8 standing behind him. She still had gauze on her forehead, and her gaze towards the outsider was also chillingly cold.
He could finally see that that woman was the one who had been caught up in the explosion he had caused. It was because he never thought she would be alive.
His gaze shifted back to the man in front of him.
“Is there any reason why I should show mercy to you?”
“…….”
There wasn’t. There was no reason at all why he should show mercy to him.
Saliva mixed with blood flowed from the outsider’s mouth, which could not close because his nose was blocked by a nosebleed, and fell down his trembling chin.
The anger in the voice made even his numb spine tingle.
Hugo stared down at the sinner, who was just trembling as if he was speechless, and said.
“I don’t show mercy to sinners. But, I won’t kill you because you won’t be able to speak if you die.”
The outsider could instinctively know who the person in front of him was. Even the old-timers of Barmot said in unison that you should never meet just one person from the Council in your life.
Blue eyes that seemed to freeze even the blood flowing in his body. A gaze that treated sinners like bugs. An oppressive feeling that pressed down on his whole body and made it impossible to even breathe. His murderous gaze was stabbing at him and saying this.
“If you want to live, tell me everything you know. Before my patience runs out.”
Kajard of the Council.
The moment he recognized the man’s identity, the front of the outsider’s pants became wet.