This grotesque building should rightly be demolished.
Step by step—
Cobwebs everywhere and an unidentifiable, musty smell. Was this some kind of hangout for delinquent students? Cigarette butts and beer cans were scattered around chaotically.
Boom—
I moved away the long row of wooden chairs guarding the target point to create more space.
‘It’s right below here. Getting closer makes the power feel much clearer. Quite powerful, huh?’
When I was far away, I could only barely sense it, but once I entered, the aura was pretty strong. It seemed like some kind of perception-inhibiting trick had been laid down…
However, it wasn’t a conventional magic circuit. No, it was a style of magic I’d never seen before. I don’t get it. Let’s just dig in.
[Earth Tunnel Breaker]
With the beloved digging skill that instantly reached my favorite level, I burrowed down bit by bit. Before long, I reached a passage that wouldn’t be uncomfortable for the newly sensed deity.
Splash—
The water was barely deep enough to cover my soles. It didn’t seem like there was much function to the underground waterway. Hmm—
Upon reaching the bottom, I noticed a crudely-dug hole in the wall directly in front of me, holding something that emanated a mysterious light.
Although it was covered by a thin cloth, it was really just placed there, providing no obscuring effect whatsoever.
Did they not intend to hide it? Well, who would come down here anyway?
If the mana was this concentrated, it wouldn’t have been sensed by anyone other than a sense ability user like me.
But that doesn’t mean a complete idiot would proceed without considering the possibility of someone like me. Someone capable of handling an item of this quality should know better.
They might have thought someone like me could exist, but maybe there was no time to waste?
Anyway, the thing that was curiously mixed with red and orange, boasting a mystical color, was something I had seen once before.
Crystal.
It was remarkably similar in color and shape to the crystal I received after defeating the ‘tooth,’ but the sensation it emitted was completely different.
‘Is this a ‘score’? It looks a bit risky.’
====
An ancient crystal tainted by evil.
– It has the power to forcibly gather and store mana from the surrounding atmosphere.
=====
The message that popped up as I picked up the crystal indeed contained negative words. The fact that the word “evil” showed up right from the start was clearly suspicious.
Forcing the gathering of mana… There was no need to ponder what that meant. My body and the mana in the air were already being drawn in gradually. It certainly had a stronger absorbent power than regular crystals, even pulling at my internal mana. This was definitely a problem.
‘What do they plan to do with this? It can’t possibly store unlimited mana, can it? No… I shouldn’t limit myself to my own knowledge.’
There’s a chance that this crystal’s mana storage might be connected to a different space unlike the ones I’ve encountered.
‘But that probably won’t happen… If so, it would be way too dangerous, right? What were they planning with the gathered mana?’
With the rate of absorption this high, even a day’s worth would cause quite a strong explosion. I need to stash something this dangerous in my inventory, for the sake of peace in this neighborhood.
‘Hehe— Any new item is a good item.’
As I held it, it didn’t seem like anything that would harm me. I put it in my inventory and waited a moment.
······ It seems there’s no noteworthy change. Since there was nothing particularly visible aside from this, I promptly exited the church. I washed off the dirt at a clean public restroom in the park on my way home, then headed straight home.
‘Is this how today ends? I got a somewhat unexpected item at the end. It was a day with some gains.’
When I arrived home, Yeon-hee was still unable to sleep. She lay on the floor, kicking off her blanket and, all of a sudden, tugging at her hair.
‘…… I need to be careful. Should I let tomorrow slide quietly…?’
Perhaps it wouldn’t be bad for a few days to pass quietly.
*
The next day, we easily cleared the orc dungeon once more, and upon returning home, we spent time in an awkward atmosphere, merely glancing at each other. Usually, it was Yeon-hee who glanced at me, but I often checked my senses to see if she seemed okay.
That night, I was in Yeon-hee’s form, but she had already locked her door and was trying to sleep. Of course, she couldn’t fall asleep easily, but her body language was clear, so I didn’t get too close.
Moreover, the vile group targeted as my disguise was over 10km away, so there wasn’t much I could do. Yeah, it wouldn’t always be that there’s a villain in our neighborhood. The first three days were just unlucky.
We ran through the orc dungeon again the following day. Since Helen’s info about Heo Min-sol was supposed to come today, there was no need to push ourselves.
Yeon-hee and I acted as if nothing was wrong, but seeing Joo-ah ask several times what happened while we dungeon-dove together the past couple of days indicated something was detected by others. Seriously, do they feel that?
But that awkwardness didn’t last long. Yeon-hee seemed unable to endure the distance anymore, so after we exited the gate, she started to stealthily move closer to me.
Glancing around, she subtly placed her hand over my hand.
Should I take that as a gesture for reconciliation? But I really didn’t do anything wrong… I didn’t take Yeon-hee’s first moment, did I?
“……”
Yeon-hee didn’t exactly say anything, but it felt like she was saying that it was Il-wol’s turn now. However, I didn’t react at all.
I just looked around the bustling hunters going in and out of the gate, wondering if I might recognize anyone. In fact, just standing outside the gate watching the hunters was quite entertaining. Occasionally, familiar faces would pop up. Oh, there’s one now, someone I frequently encountered during my minor days in the dungeon.
“Ugh…”
When I didn’t react as she expected, Yeon-hee seemed slightly shocked. Unknowingly, she started to bite her lower lip with her thumb and index finger. She looked anxious.
It had only been two days since we were awkward. Eventually, Yeon-hee reached out her hand first. I tested how long it would take but found out she couldn’t hold out longer than a few days. That was good news for me. If she falls into despair, that’d be hopeless, right?
After finishing the dungeon exploration, I waited a moment when information arrived from Helen. It detailed Heo Min-sol’s residence found through her connections and her recent status. I initially thought Heo Min-sol was still receiving treatment at home, but surprisingly, it was written that she had already concluded all necessary treatments.
‘How did she recover so quickly? Did she meet a top-tier healer?’
Of course, it wasn’t that her severed hands and feet grew back, but the speed was beyond my expectations. Was she possibly hanging out with a great sponsor? Her home wasn’t particularly affluent. Hmm…
Many questions arose, but we hurriedly grabbed a bite before heading straight to Heo Min-sol’s house.
Strangely, the Apex thugs that had been trailing us until yesterday were nowhere to be seen today, so Ah-rin was ready to wrap things up.
* * *
Dnarr Panijial, a man in this world known as the Elder Ak.
By the time he could leisurely read the report that had surfaced during lunch yesterday, it was already the evening of the next day. Although the servant insisted he read it carefully, he considered it trivial at the time. He regretted not reading it immediately.
“Ha… Which bastard stole the crystal?”
Being an object that required mana absorption, it should have been sufficient to leave it mostly on the surface. He believed that if the magic trick he was instructed to implement was done correctly, it shouldn’t be easily discovered.
However, the report of it vanishing the very day it was installed caused the veins hidden in his forehead to bulge alarmingly.
“Huh…”
Dnarr summoned the now-familiar map on his smartphone and carefully poked it with his finger.
“…Does that mean there’s a sense ability user with that level in this area?”
If that were the case, that user could be roaming around and gobbling up all the crystals. More importantly, sense ability users were a significant hindrance to what he was doing.
“Damn it!”
Anger boiled within him. How did he procure that crystal? Though it was just one among countless others, being continually struck by an unknown adversary psychologically weighed heavily on him. Could it be that those two bastards were behind this?
“Nothing’s easy. It would take at least a few months to absorb enough mana to summon it.”
Ultimately, he decided to plant ‘teeth’ in the places where he had placed the crystal. They were useless right now anyway, so this should be fine.
“Huh… Aah, it’s infuriating… Nothing’s working out. Hmph…”
He burst into a hollow laugh, but his eyes were brimming with hatred.
“Heh… Aaaah—! Which damn bastard was it!! If I catch them, I’ll tear them apart while they’re still alive!!”
Boom—
As he howled at the sky, a pillar of light exploded up through his office ceiling. The column of light shot high into the clouds for some time before disappearing without a trace.
Later, several news outlets covered the strange occurrence of an unidentified light piercing the sky, but for some reason, it didn’t draw much attention.
* * *
“Hmm~ Is that over there?”
Joo-ah asked Yeon-hee with a look of disbelief.
“Yes, yes. I’m sure.”
Yeon-hee replied after carefully comparing the photo and address she received from Helen.
It was a luxury villa that looked to be at least 80 pyeong. If it was a new construction of that size in this area…
“It’s worth at least 18 billion.”
Joo-ah, who recently bought a house, confidently asserted. Ever since the gate opened, the average global price increase had remained below 4%. The figure had risen by more than 20% since before the gate ruptured, so taking that into account, that house was exceedingly expensive.
It was hard to believe that a woman in her mid-twenties somehow procured a house of that caliber on her own. But after checking, the owner was indeed Heo Min-sol.
‘Damn… I never lived in a house like that. I should live up to my standards.’
In my past life, I didn’t have much desire for a house, so I remember just sleeping in a 2.5 billion apartment.
Though that was still expensive, considering my income, it was a cheap house that others often envied.
Anyway, the conclusion was one of two possibilities. Regardless of the reason, she was quite wealthy, and her house likely has a security system capable of detecting my stealth. And in the worst-case scenario, there might even be a sense ability user.
‘Still… it should be enough, right?’
I’ve mentioned it several times, but I’ve broken into Jo Gi-man’s house before. Of course, my abilities have changed significantly since then, but even so, getting through shouldn’t be too difficult.
“Il-wol, can you do it?”
Thud—
Although the sun had completely set, I was silent with my stealth still active as I didn’t respond to Joo-ah’s question.
“Then we’ll wait at that café over there. If anything goes wrong, just blast them with a bomb and fireball!”
‘Thanks for the words, but I don’t want to do that.’
I didn’t bother replying to Joo-ah and just left a signal that I was off.
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