Episode 145. Return (2)
“There can’t be anything wrong with it. Aren’t you mistaken? Or maybe you’re exaggerating your pain.”
“It’s not like that. This side keeps hurting. Didn’t you say you weren’t abusing ? You said you were just going to teach proper manners. Do you think it’s okay to do this?”
“…Well, I guess not. Okay, I’ll take a look at it.”
The man stood up and approached .
The structure of the restraint binding my hands was simple. It was similar to modern handcuffs. Its function was to bind one’s wrists and block so of the power used by Transcendents.
So, with these on, you couldn’t use your power and both of your hands.
‘How sloppy.’
It seed very clumsy to . Transcendents had been through all sorts of hardships. But to restrict them with such a simple restraint? These guys weren’t experienced. It was as if they were mountain gods from a martial arts novel. It seed like they had stayed in a remote place, hadn’t gone through any difficulties, and transcended by training themselves spiritually.
“Okay… Let’s take a look─aargh!”
The man who neared let out a groan mid-sentence. It was because the mont he reached the exact distance, I lifted my knee and hit him in the chest. The blow landed squarely, and he halted for a mont.
After transcending, I experinted a lot with my body. The body of a Transcendent was not much different. I wasn’t able to experint with death, but I figured out most other things.
For example, effectively targeting their physical vulnerabilities could cause them to lose consciousness and beco immobile.
“Ugh… Ughhh!”
The man I hit in the chest breathed heavily. It looked like he didn’t understand the situation. I moved at once, not giving him ti to think.
I grabbed the back of his neck with my hand I freed by twisting my wrist. And I moved my knee to hit him in the chest again. Along with the sound of bone breaking, I could hear a small groan.
There was still a restraint on my other wrist, so I couldn’t use my powers. But I didn’t need my two powers anyway. At this distance, anyone who could engage in physical combat had the absolute advantage.
“Sloppy. Too sloppy.”
Clunk, clunk.
I twisted my other wrist as well, pulled off the restraint, and fitted it on the man’s hand. Now his powers were blocked. At the sa ti, I kicked his ankle.
His body was ridiculously soft. It seed like only a few Transcendents were obsessed with combat to construct their bodies with Orichalcum or monster muscles. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be this clumsy and stupid. And their bodies wouldn’t be so sluggish.
“Ugh… Aargh.”
The man fell to the floor with both of his hands in restraints. I strangled him until he fainted. Sticky saliva dripped from his mouth—he was completely unconscious.
After checking on him, I opened the piece of cloth covering the vehicle that was transporting . It was similar to a wagon, but there wasn’t anything like a horse pulling it. A self-moving vehicle. It was very groundbreaking.
“Quit making noise in there. Wait, how did you get out of the restraints…?”
The man waiting outside the tent spoke carelessly and flinched when he saw . But I didn’t give him a chance to react. My hand flew up and stabbed him in the neck.
The blow landed exactly on the vital spot, and his eyes flipped backward. Judging by the subtle glow on his hands, it looked like he had attempted to use his powers.
‘Slow.’
His reaction was so slow that I could yawn. Were these really the great and mighty Transcendents? Even Hunter Academy cadets weren’t this stupid.
It was like they had never fought properly in their lives. They were idiots flaunting their powers—a bunch of kids with guns.
“Wh-what─!”
Shouted the guy waiting next to the man who fainted as soon as he ran into . He was better than the others, at least, because he managed to use his powers. But unfortunately, I was free from the restraints, so I could use my powers, as well. And my casting was much faster.
Swoosh!
A burst of flas swept over him. As soon as he saw the flas, he panicked and fell off, rolling on the ground boorishly.
Three guys. In that short period, I incapacitated the three of them without suffering a single scratch. It was disappointing. I didn’t want to waste any more ti in a place like this. Even at this very mont, I had no clue whether my teammates were dead or alive.
“What are you doing─!”
A thunderous roar broke out. It was the guy sitting at the very front of the wagon-like vehicle. It was the one that looked like a fiery fla.
Once he noticed that his minions had been swiftly incapacitated, he was burning with anger.
“How dare you!”
Boooom!
Flas shot forward like cannonballs. I spotted each one and dodged them. It was similar to boxing. His body flickered, and flas flew toward . But it was easy to predict their trajectory. All I had to do was observe his movents in detail.
‘I just need to look out for that thing.’
The power that suddenly snatched up in the air and kept from moving. If it wasn’t for that, I thought I could probably deal with him.
An enemy made of fire? Too bad. I had t tons of worse enemies over my few years as a hunter and dozens of years as an Analyst. And as long as I stayed alert, there was no reason I couldn’t kill sothing like that.
“You… you rude bastard!”
I jumped out of the wagon to avoid the fire he was shooting at . It was going unbelievably fast. It was just like jumping barefoot from a car driving at 100 kiloters per hour.
But I trusted my body. It was the strongest body I imagined, made of Orichalcum and monster muscles. There was no way it couldn’t endure an impact like this.
Tap, thud.
My hand touched the ground first. Then, my fingers dug into the ground like a rake and slowed down. Unable to overco the speed, my body rotated once, and my shoulder and elbow received the blow instead. But I couldn’t feel any pain.
I was now certain that my body was so strong that I could no longer say that it belonged to a human being.
“Not a single wound… How the hell did you make that body?”
The fla that had been standing on the wagon was now in the air, looking down on .
“Well, how did you make that fire body? That looks more interesting than mine.”
“Watch the way you address . How rude.…!”
“You’re mad at everything. Is it because your head is full of flas?”
“You… you!”
He was easily agitated. It seed like his power to tie in the air had limitations, or maybe he was going to punish in so other way, but I didn’t suddenly end up in the air.
Well, either way, it was good for . Unless he had so unknown power, I was confident that I could break down and destroy anything that was within the information I had.
‘The first thing to check is whether that is actual fire.’
So monsters were like that. They had abilities that ignored the laws of physics. So were made of water but didn’t conduct electricity. So were made of fire but burned stronger when hit with water. They really sucked.
Could he be sothing like that?
Flas flew towards . I grabbed a handful of sand scattered on the ground. I twisted my body to dodge the flas, and they exploded, creating a pillar of fire.
At the right timing, I threw sand on the flas that fell to the ground.
‘…Okay.’
The blazing flas went out the mont I threw sand on them. So his flas did follow the laws of physics. The fla Transcendent was still huffing, not paying much attention to what I just did.
Yeah. Get more excited, you idiot. Only fools were quick to anger and lose their heads in battle. Staying tense was good, but you shouldn’t let it get to your head.
Cool heads but warm hearts. It was sothing an old economist said, and it applied to all situations.
“Keep running like a rat. I’ll torture you until you beg to stop. I won’t subdue you with my superior class like before. I’ll crush you completely!”
The enraged Transcendent was spilling all the information I needed.
Thanks to him, I could put together the pieces of the puzzle in my head. Then, I tapped my palm a couple of tis with my finger.
That fla burning around his body. A handful of sand wasn’t enough to extinguish it. So… I had better make sothing new.
Tap!
I kicked the ground and leaped into the shower of fire he was blasting. Propelled by montum, I shot towards him. I had already anticipated the flas’ trajectory before I jumped, so there was no need to move. The clumps of fire avoided like clockwork.
‘To simplify, there are three things needed for a fire to burn.’
Hurtling through the air, I recalled old knowledge buried in my mory. The knowledge I accumulated by studying basic subjects before attending the Academy. Subjects such as science, physics, and chemistry.
I assembled the trivial knowledge that I didn’t need until now and began to deduce the answer.
‘Fuel, heat, oxygen.’
Heat for a fire to occur, fuel for it to burn continuously, and oxygen to maintain the fla. Fire was sustained when the three factors ca together. So how was that guy maintaining his constantly burning body?
‘So semi-permanent thing must be acting as fuel and oxygen… Well, there’s plenty of that around.’
I opened my hand. There was no need to worry about fuel or heat. If that fla did follow the laws of physics, then all I had to do was completely isolate one of the three factors, right?
I closed my eyes and ca up with an image in my head.
The first thing that ca to mind was a matchstick. A burning matchstick. Then I imagined turning a slightly larger cup of glass over to trap the matchstick. The cup completely isolated the matchstick from the outside. The fla slowly died down.
It burnt all the oxygen provided, and in the end, burned itself and died out.
I opened my eyes.
I was done constructing the image. My third power would be a sort of test. Theoretically, if that body were really made up of fire alone, the Transcendent would die the mont he was subjected to my power.
So… were Transcendents that broke through the wall susceptible to death? I was curious. It was also sothing I needed to know for my plan.
Because ever since I learned that the Disasters happening in my world were entertainnt, I had decided to wipe them all out.
A brilliant light flashed from my palm. A third line appeared on my palm, and the image I constructed began to reveal itself.
“Stop.”
But before the power could take effect on the Transcendent, the light on my palm died out. It was because of a sudden word I heard.
“I liked you because you had talent… But you are quite more talented than I thought. Amazing. I didn’t expect this.”
My wrist hurt. It had been fine even when I jumped off that fast wagon, but now it hurt.
I glanced over. A long beard and a wrinkled face. It was the Traveler. He stood tall between the fla Transcendent and .
“I don’t know if I should congratulate you or reprimand you a little bit.”
“…What do you an?”
“The way you just figured out how to kill a Transcendent.”
“……!”
The experint was successful. Transcendents were not immortal. My thod worked on them, too. No matter how special their powers or bodies were, if I chose to uncover and destroy their essence, I could wipe them out as well.
“Well, let’s talk about this later. We can discuss it after you are resurrected and once you save your world.”
“…….”
“Let’s go back for now.”
The Traveler spoke matter-of-factly. Then he turned his head and stretched out his hand. It was a very slow gesture. However, the fla-shaped Transcendent stood frozen stiff as the hand reached him.
The wrinkled hand pushed apart the flas and dug inside. The Traveler looked frighteningly chilly.
“So, you don’t know , do you?”
“…….”
“And you’ve never heard of such a stupid modifier… How amusing.”
“W-wait… Wait, I never said stupid……. I just didn’t know… Ugh.”
Craaaack.
The Traveler pulled his hand back out. And the burning fla that was floating in the air scattered around. It looked like the Transcendent’s body was lting.
Without looking back, the Traveler carelessly wiped the hand he put into the flas on his sleeve.
“You wasted your ti getting caught by an annoying fellow. Let’s go.”
“…….”
“And… if you think sothing like this is going to happen next ti. Give them a different na, not the na ‘Traveler’. I don’t usually use it, so many Transcendents don’t know.”
“It’s not… your usual na?
“Yes.”
Thump. Thump.
He walked ahead.
“If it ever looks like sothing annoying is about to happen, just say this.”
His back turned into dozens of different shapes.
It was like a wide sky, and then it looked like an old man or a young man’s sturdy back.
“Say that the ‘Faceless King’ favors you.”
And with that, the Traveler disappeared. I stayed still for a long ti, then gulped and carved the na deep in my mind.
It looked like he was a lot more incredible than I thought.
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