The message that said I had leveled up after defeating ‘Tooth’ flashed through my mind.
The stat points I gained from the level up were added to Sense, Agility, and Wisdom, with one point each.
Investing in Wisdom seemed wise. I had a feeling I’d run into these guys often, so whether it was a bomb or a fireball, it was to enhance the power of my surprise attacks.
The monster with its head blown to bits stood frozen in place, but its tail continued to twitch as if it was still saying, “I was alive just a moment ago.”
After tossing its corpse into my inventory, I turned my head and charged at another monster.
However, the situation on the other side was unfolding more favorably than I had thought. I could see my summoned creatures excitedly cornering the monster.
Recently, Ddung-i had pulled a shield from the magic bag and given it to Lizardman 1.
It seemed to be performing quite well, as it was effectively absorbing the monster’s attacks.
Thanks to that, air monsters surrounding the trapped monster were continuously targeting the weak points in its guard, striking and retreating.
That tactic was something I had casually suggested for dealing with powerful single opponents, but watching them actually execute it felt oddly satisfying.
‘By the way, quite a few of them have ended up dead.’
From Yeon-hee’s remaining magic power, I could guess how many times they had been resummoned.
While I handled one monster, it appeared the summoned creatures had faced the other and had to be resummoned several times.
Though it was a bit disappointing that they had suffered such losses despite the overwhelming numbers on our side, I wanted to commend them for managing to isolate and deal damage to a top-tier C-class monster.
‘They’re doing pretty well on their own.’
For a moment, I decided to observe the situation.
Pew—! Whoosh—!
In between the summoned creatures delivering a collective beatdown to the monster, Yeon-hee was shooting arrows through the gaps.
The arrows she shot lodged themselves into the right forearm of the creature, which was already bristling with arrows like a hedgehog.
Yeon-hee shot me a look, signaling her intent to finish it off herself.
‘Oh, cool.’
In battle, Yeon-hee had a gaze like a commander that had an oddly sexy appeal.
‘So pretty…’
While I was entranced by Yeon-hee, the monster called Tooth had been beaten like a punching bag for several minutes and finally fell to its knees.
Thud, thud, thud—!
Watching the dozen or so monsters stomp on the defeated creature was quite a unique sight, making it impossible for me to look away.
Yeon-hee, after releasing her summoned creatures for protection, pulled back her cloak that had covered her head and spoke to me.
“Hah~ I think I resummoned twenty summoned creatures, you know? Ugh, so tiring.”
‘Was it that many?’
I had been too preoccupied to notice, surprised by the unexpected number of resummons.
It seemed that Yeon-hee’s magic recovery had improved enough to alter our expectations.
Twenty… that Tooth definitely had monstrous combat power.
If it was like that while injured, if we had assumed failure in a surprise attack, it would have taken at least double the time and effort to subdue it.
“What about that crystal…?”
Yeon-hee handed me her cloak before moving toward the Evil-Infused Crystal. Worrying about her, I grabbed her hand and shielded her with my remaining arm, escorting her forward.
“… Who set this up? Does Il-wol know?”
“Tap!”
“Yeah… we’re taking this too, right?”
“Tap, tap, tap!”
Before her words even finished, I quickly tossed the crystal into my inventory. Keeping such an ominous item in the same space as her wasn’t good for my mental health.
We swiftly tidied up Tooth’s corpse and left the building.
After creating a distance of 470 meters, we waited briefly on the rooftop of another building, keeping watch over the now-dead Tooth.
“… They should show up, right?”
Yeon-hee asked me, her face as innocent as a child entering a secret base.
I shrugged my shoulders but agreed it was likely.
There were only three minutes left until the camouflage wore off. At this point, we decided to track down the devious ones before heading home. I figured there was a high chance they would overlap…
“I’m so anxious… hee hee—”
Yeon-hee looked at the building we had just been in, her eyes sparkling like jewels, clearly intrigued by the current situation that reeked of a secret mission.
Not that she could see anything from here.
Then, three minutes later, I transformed into Yoon Han-gyeol and took off my jacket, laying it over her shoulders, providing her with an additional layer of warmth.
“……..”
Yeon-hee’s eyes widened for a moment, but she didn’t say anything, only quickly dropping her gaze to the floor.
As she subtly turned her gaze back up to me, I was staring at the mini-map flashing in my mind, feeling quite distressed.
‘What the hell…’
The devious group was identified as a whopping thirty people.
Thirty strong individuals were rapidly heading toward the building where the monster had been.
While I had anticipated that the organization related to Tooth would be marked as a dangerous group, what shocked me was the presence of crystals embedded in the bodies of some of them.
‘Did they embed the Evil-Infused Crystal in their bodies?’
What kind of change would that bring?
It was undoubtedly beyond my expectations.
They arrived at the building and quickly descended into the basement to begin their search.
But they wouldn’t find a single clue pointing to us. Before leaving the building, I had used my senses to collect every last hair that held even a trace of our aura.
“Are there bad people coming?”
Nodding—
Through Ran, I detailed the movements of the enemies to Yeon-hee. She seemed nervous, snuggling closer to me and curling up tightly.
The ones searching the basement emerged with blank expressions, which worked out perfectly for us. Ha ha—
However, among them, a woman sat down cross-legged and began channeling her magic.
‘Huh…?’
The magic emanating from her body began to structure itself in the shape of three eyes, flowing like a memory I had seen in a previous life.
What was it… oh, I remember now. It was a skill called RGD (Remote Gaze Detection) that detects gazes from afar.
It was a rather unique skill that identified the direction of a gaze aimed at oneself.
‘Oh no…!’
As the skill activated, the woman’s gaze locked onto mine. It was a strange concept where our gazes weren’t meeting, but rather the paths of our gazes aligned.
Damn it, time to bolt!
—······!!
The woman immediately pointed at us and shouted, and the thirty strong individuals came hurtling toward us like bullets.
The moment our gazes met, I yanked Yeon-hee into my arms and soared into the air.
“Il-wol—”
Yeon-hee exclaimed in shock, but there was no time to respond to that.
They were powerful beings that easily surpassed B-class, with three of them qualifying as A-class monsters. 470 meters wasn’t a far distance for them.
[High-speed Flight] [High-speed Flight] [High-speed Flight]
Hugging Yeon-hee, I activated high-speed flight in succession. Now that I was accustomed to utilizing it in a straight line, I quickly put distance between us and them.
Swwwwwwweee—!
“Ahhh…!”
Yeon-hee was taken aback by my sudden move, but she bit down and managed to endure it.
Fortunately, my quick reaction and slightly faster speed allowed me to shake off their pursuit.
However, the surprise was hard to shake off. Calm down, this is just not the time for it.
[Calm]
Thanks to the passive trait responding to my desire, I quickly regained stability. But Yeon-hee’s scared face went pale.
I leaned my head close to her, gently stroking her cheeks, and said,
“Chill out. Chill out.”
“Hah— hah— ugh! I’m okay.”
After taking a few deep breaths, it seemed to have worked, and her heartbeat began to settle down.
After lifting Yeon-hee from her crouched position, I cradled her and patted her back.
“Phew… uh…”
She now wrapped her arms around my waist comfortably, breathing warmth into my artificially racing heart.
While holding her for a moment, I focused on the waves of my senses. Soon enough, the ones chasing us resurfaced within the enhanced range I had gained from leveling up.
But they were no longer able to pinpoint our location after losing track of us once. Without our disguises, they wouldn’t be able to find us.
Besides, even if that woman’s ability was activated again, she couldn’t locate me. That skill only worked when the target was clearly recognized through continuous gazes.
Currently, I merely spread my senses wide and could only feel them without being identifiable.
‘It’s fine. This isn’t going to be a problem at all.’
In fact, perhaps it was a blessing to have faced such situations early on. I learned they were taking this seriously, and I could approach more cautiously from here on out.
I had my suspicions about the organization being related to a great sorcerer’s test subject in another world, and indeed, the scent of the Blue-eyed Organization was unmistakable from the magic of those pursuing us.
‘Hah… What on earth should I do in this messed-up world?’
There was a long road ahead, but too many hindrances surrounded me.
The Blue-eyed Organization, the great sorcerer, chimera test subjects, the orc legion, and the red-haired elves were all in cahoots.
‘I can only stop Tooth for now…’
Even that felt overwhelming to tackle alone. I was still incredibly weak.
Certainly, the growth I achieved in just a month and a half was dazzling, but considering the current circumstances, I couldn’t afford to give myself too much credit.
As the beings surrounding the tall building resumed their search, they began to gather around the site where the abandoned building once stood. With Yeon-hee in my arms, I slowly flew in to track their movements.
Using the gaze detection skill.
There was no reason to be hesitant after experiencing it once, so even while retracing their paths, I found myself less worried.
Moreover, since I confirmed [High-speed Flight] allowed for momentary faster movement than them, I felt even bolder.
They stood at the front of the building, wearing serious expressions as they exchanged thoughts. I intentionally avoided looking at the woman who used RGD and began to survey the others.
A little while later, some of them showed the audacity to relocate the Evil-Infused Crystal back to the same spot in the basement. Oh? What are these guys up to?
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