Chapter 79, Exhibition (5)
There were currently three people fighting up ahead.
After hearing Arlin's words, I asked if there was any way to go around them.
Arlin used her detection magic a few more times, then shook her head.
If we wanted to reach the first exhibition hall, we had no choice but to encounter the people fighting there.
That wasn't good news.
I wanted to avoid running into people if possible, yet three of them just had to be blocking the way to the first hall.
My luck was terrible.
“Yuhyeon. What should we do?”
“Let's just break through.”
Still, that wasn't enough reason to give up a Mystery I could easily obtain.
I gripped the flame in my hand and walked forward.
The closer we got to the place Arlin had indicated, the louder the occasional noises of battle became.
I ignored them and kept walking.
Before long, three people came into view.
Each of them had their own distinct features.
One of them, heavily injured and breathing hard, had wings made of flame growing from his back.
Every time his wings flapped, a wave of hot air swept across the surroundings.
“...Cough!”
Judging from the blood he spat out, his condition was quite bad.
Facing him was a woman who was just as badly injured.
The woman wore something similar to a white kimono, and there was a tattoo on the back of her hand.
Every time she moved her hand, the tattoo glowed and the surroundings froze with a sharp crack.
The final man, who only had light injuries, watched the two facing each other with narrowed eyes.
It looked like he was waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of both sides.
He held a massive stone greatsword in his hands.
But the shape of that greatsword looked very familiar.
It was extremely similar to the Giant's Double-Edged Sword that had been displayed in the first exhibition hall.
“...The Giant's Double-Edged Sword?”
Arlin's mutter confirmed it.
I had wondered whether I had seen it wrong, but apparently it really was the Giant's Double-Edged Sword.
It was one of the Mysteries I had put on my list alongside the Runestone back in the first hall.
And that man was holding it.
Which meant he had stolen one of the Mysteries that had been on display.
Oh.
Is he some kind of badass?
Stealing a Mystery belonging to the Mystery Protection Association just to get one sword.
I was slightly impressed.
I watched the Giant's Double-Edged Sword in his hand, then stepped in just as it looked like the fight was about to start again.
I deliberately walked loudly.
All three of them looked at me.
The two men simply looked confused by the sudden intruder.
The woman, however, flinched slightly when she saw me.
She seemed to recognize me.
Probably because of what happened during the inspection at the entrance.
It didn't seem like that woman would pick a fight with me.
The other two men seemed different.
“What do you think you're doing? Can't you see what's happening?”
The man with wings on his back snapped at me in an irritated voice.
There was even a hint of killing intent in his tone.
If I looked weak, he seemed ready to kill me immediately.
And the man behind him holding the Giant's Double-Edged Sword seemed the same.
Killing intent from two people was directed at me.
Anyone who had entered the exhibition hall had to possess at least three Mysteries.
Or at least one bound Mystery.
Whichever condition they met, killing them still meant you could steal their Mysteries.
That was probably why they were directing killing intent toward me.
Still, something bothered me.
Immortality should still be active right now, shouldn't it?
Did they not know?
No, they definitely didn't.
If they knew, there was no way they would still be trying to recover while injured.
I had already confirmed that dying reset all injuries.
If they knew about the immortality, they would have killed themselves immediately just to heal.
Wait.
That makes this much easier.
“You're seriously laughing right now? Are you sick in the head?”
I smiled at the man swaggering around with his fiery wings.
What I had been worried about was people who knew they had immortality and therefore attacked without fearing death, relying on their endless lives.
If that happened, the fight could turn into an endless war of attrition and waste a huge amount of time.
But if the enemy didn't know they were immortal?
Then all I had to do was beat them badly enough without killing them, and scare them into backing down.
The man with the fiery wings furrowed his brow fiercely at my wide smile.
At the same time, the killing intent he had been directing toward the woman shifted entirely toward me.
He spread his wings wide and flapped them powerfully.
In an instant, he disappeared from my sight.
I raised my head.
He had flown all the way up near the ceiling.
A wave of hot air surged with violent wind and heated my skin, but Arlin's cold magic immediately suppressed it.
I gave Arlin a thankful look, then stared quietly at the man.
He had flown high enough that my attacks couldn't reach him and was simply blasting heat downward.
“What a coward.”
He looked even more pathetic than our Bias.
The man scoffed at my words.
Just as he opened his mouth to mock me...
Crackle!
“Gyaagh!”
Lightning fired by Arlin shot him out of the air.
The electrocuted man couldn't even flap his wings and crashed toward the ground.
After hitting the floor, he trembled violently and gasped for breath.
Looks like the shock hit him properly.
He seemed much weaker than I expected.
Then again, the heat he'd been firing wasn't even close to 100 degrees Celsius.
It would've been stranger if he stayed fine after taking a lightning spell from Arlin, who had grown enormously stronger.
“...That spell had its power reduced as much as possible and was made lightweight for instant activation.”
Arlin looked at the fallen man and canceled the second spell she had been preparing.
Seeing that, the other man realized he had no chance and tried to run.
He didn't get very far before another bolt of lightning from Arlin knocked him unconscious too.
I took the Giant's Double-Edged Sword from the unconscious man's hand.
The place where the sword had been displayed and the place where the Runestone was located were both in the first hall.
Since we were already going there for the Runestone, I planned to return the sword while I was at it.
By the time I had collected almost all the spoils from the two fallen men, I sensed someone approaching from behind.
I turned around.
It was the woman in the kimono from earlier.
Her snow-white hair and icy blue eyes stood out.
Even for someone like me, who had already seen countless beauties like Arlin, Hwa-ryeon, Lee Yeonhee, and Eriel, her appearance was impressive enough to make me admire her slightly.
The noble atmosphere of a crane and her overall ice-like coloring suited each other perfectly.
That impression disappeared in an instant.
“...Th, thank you.”
She approached me and bowed with trembling movements.
Her attitude felt slightly servile.
“Please raise your head. You don't need to be so nervous.”
“Y, yes. Yes...”
Her gaze moved toward the two men lying behind me.
As she watched them occasionally let out short sounds that couldn't even be called screams, the fear in her eyes deepened.
She swallowed nervously.
Then she gradually lowered her body further.
Her head dropped.
Her knees bent.
She was getting closer and closer to the floor.
It looked like she was about to bow deeply, or even perform a dogeza.
I stopped her, calmed her fear a little, then let her go.
Once she realized I didn't want anything from her, some of her fear seemed to fade.
I only intended to talk with her briefly before parting ways.
She said she was heading toward the fourth exhibition hall to reunite with her companions, so she couldn't travel with us.
Before leaving, however, she stopped me one last time.
“Ah, and... are you heading toward the first exhibition hall right now...?”
“Yes.”
“Th, then please be careful. The demon worshipers were heading toward the first hall too...”
After saying that, she left.
I watched the place where she disappeared, then asked Arlin.
“What are demon worshipers?”
I figured she would know.
As expected, Arlin, who seemed to know everything, answered immediately.
“The Demon Worshipers are one of the mid-sized factions. They're a group that collects evil-aligned Mysteries and Mysteries related to demons.”
“Are they dangerous?”
“They're not people you want to get involved with. Evil-aligned Mysteries usually specialize in attacking the mind rather than the body.”
In other words, they were a bad matchup for me.
Arlin added that there were many lunatics among the Demon Worshipers, so it would be better to avoid them whenever possible.
As I listened to her, the dark red book came to mind.
The book the Mimic had spat out, the one filled with all kinds of things about demons.
At the time, I had thought it was probably someone's prank.
But looking at things now, maybe it wasn't a prank after all.
I should take another look at it.
For now, though, it was time to get the Runestone.
I could check the book again once we got home.
After reaching that conclusion, I started walking again.
Fortunately, no other obstacles appeared after the earlier fight, so we reached the first exhibition hall safely.
Like the other halls, the first one had been completely wrecked.
I looked around until I finally found the Runestone.
[Scq197, Runestone]
A stone shimmering with the brilliant light held within its runic characters.
The Runestone.
I reached out and retrieved it from the display.
The small rune-covered stone shone brightly in my palm.
