Chapter 228: Why are you doing this to me? (3)

I walked into the quiet alleyway.

Naturally, I had my body tightly wrapped in the Rune Barrier.

I was tense so I could react whenever they attacked, but I couldn't see the enemy.

Step. Step.

As I went further inside the alley, I felt the vestiges of magic power growing thicker.

In the silence where only the sound of breathing and walking could be heard, I utilized [Mana Resonance] to its fullest to grasp the opponent's magic power.

I was at a disadvantage in the fight itself.

The opponent would attack me while hiding their body, and I was in the position of having walked into their trap.

At that moment, a single magic power dagger flew at me from the front.

Clang!

'From the front?'

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The opponent didn't do anything stupid like revealing their location.

Because almost simultaneously as it flew from the front, magic power flew in from three places: above, right, and behind.

The flying magic power swords were simple but fast and powerful.

Even if I tried to grasp the opponent's location through the threads of magic power attached to the daggers, I couldn't properly track them because they were immediately cut off.

'The attacks are weak.'

Like tapping a watermelon to check if it's ripe, the opponent seemed to be testing the strength of my barrier with light attacks.

Clang! Clang!

A magic power dagger flew at me every time I moved forward, and I concentrated a bit more.

The level of the hidden opponent was definitely higher than mine.

To settle this, I had to somehow face them.

Whether the opponent was strong or weak, there would only be a possibility if I could fight them first.

It was a contest of whether it was faster for me to find the hidden opponent, or for them to pierce my Rune Barrier first.

Clang!

After bouncing off the magic power swords flying at me dozens of times with my Rune Barrier, I stopped walking for a moment.

"...This is strange."

It was strange.

There wasn't just one or two things I couldn't understand.

First of all, this alleyway.

Even after walking and walking, I couldn't see the end.

I had memorized the entire layout of the Academy Shopping District.

It was to think of escape routes in case I was ever attacked.

I had already broken through the alleyway for over twenty minutes while blocking blades.

It was a time where I should have already reached the main road with time to spare... but the dark alley in front of me still showed no end.

The sun was gradually setting, and when night falls, a hidden opponent has the advantage.

But there was something more important than the endless alleyway.

The murderous intent I felt from the opponent was genuine.

Moreover, the heaviness of magic power pressuring me was top-tier.

I could tell that the attacker's state itself was incredibly high.

Whether it was the quality of magic power, or their level... they couldn't be compared to me.

The feeling I got when I met Im Sol and Rebecca.

My body was showing the reaction it had learned when facing the strong.

And yet, the attacks flying at me were weak in comparison.

It meant that the magic was too weak compared to the quality of magic power.

There might be people like that, but there was no way someone who had reached the ranks of the strong couldn't control their balance like that.

If they couldn't, they wouldn't have become one of the strong in the first place.

Just as you could pick a new first place if you gathered all the first place winners from each region to compete, only a genius among geniuses could become someone as strong as Im Sol.

Besides, although the attacks were weak, their follow-up measures were too outstanding.

Their skill in cutting off their magic power to avoid revealing their location was top-tier.

'Are they going easy on me?'

It was a characteristic of villains.

The cliché of going easy on someone only to suffer a reversal by the protagonist.

But there was no way something like that would happen in reality.

"..."

I quickly racked my brain.

A strangely strong attacker.

The fact that they were dragging out the time, when they should have finished me off as quickly as possible if they were aiming for my life.

In that case, I could judge that there was something they wanted from me.

Or they could be a crazy pleasure killer... but among the pleasure killers in this worldview, there was no bastard this strong.

At least, as far as I knew.

And the timing of the attack.

Looking back at what happened to me recently, I could pinpoint the attacker to some extent.

First, Pandemic's Skull Mask.

There was a recent attack, and it was obvious they were targeting me and Moon Su-rin.

But there was no way those bastards would drag out the time like this.

Next was Rebecca.

Our first meeting was an attack, of course... but again, she had no reason to ambush me.

'Someone who is one of the strong and has a point of contact with me...'

Rummaging through my memories one by one, I came up with a hypothesis.

'Iris Guild.'

It had been just two days since I took charge of Alice's massage.

The reason I was worried and pushed Scarlet away.

Because I was worried the Iris Guild's doting father of a guild master would come to spy on me.

The guild master, Isaac, wasn't a character with that much importance in the original work.

It was true that he was one of the strong, but he wasn't a character fit to appear in an erotic game about capturing heroines.

To be honest, his face was never even properly shown.

So I thought, surely not, he wouldn't attack me like this...

"..."

Haa, I couldn't think of anyone but him.

Actually, since I had committed so many sins, I was honestly a bit scared of Moon Su-rin's grandfather, the Chairman of the Academy Board, and I was also a bit scared of the Association that lost Baek A-yeong because of me.

But those people wouldn't come to ambush me.

"Phew."

If they were trying to kill me anyway, they would have launched a proper attack earlier.

Because an assassin has no reason to stall for time.

It would be better to act under the assumption that the opponent was Isaac.

I dispelled the Rune Barrier wrapping around my body.

And then.

'Blood Beat.'

Thump, thump- Thump, thump-

I expanded my magic power circuit.

The flow of my magic power smoothed out, and the concentration of magic power spreading around me thickened accordingly.

In this state, even if an attack came, I could react and block it immediately.

If it were any other opponent, I wouldn't need to put myself in such a dangerous state... but if the opponent was Isaac, it would work.

Because there were exactly two pieces of solid information I knew about him.

The fact that he was an extreme doting father.

Next was the fact that his pride was terribly strong.

Of course, it didn't matter even if it wasn't Isaac.

It would actually be good if they got angry at my taunt and revealed themselves.

If they attacked more fiercely, I could track their magic power and figure out their location too.

'Not bad.'

There was a risk, but I couldn't do anything like this anyway.

I had to draw the opponent out, even if by force.

I drew up my magic power to react to the incoming attacks and walked further into the alleyway.

*

"Wow, he blocks well, doesn't he? They called him a genius mage, and he really is something."

Clang- Clang-

Isaac nodded as he threw his magic power towards Lee Ho-yeon.

"..."

'Crazy bastard.'

As expected, I need to ditch this kind of guild quickly and switch over to Lee Ho-yeon.

Scarlet stared at Isaac's back, somehow managing not to let her feelings show.

He was like a boy taking revenge while saying, "This is what happens when you touch my things!"

Of course, he probably didn't consider Alice a thing... but he must have lost his mind because she was so precious to him.

"Scarlet. What are you thinking about?"

Right then, Isaac smiled and turned his head back.

Startled for a moment, Scarlet naturally transitioned into acting out an expression of pity for Lee Ho-yeon.

"...I think it would be best if you revealed yourself soon. Quite a bit of time has passed."

Since he had been continuing this strange behavior for almost thirty minutes, Scarlet couldn't help but feel frustrated.

Strong people always had at least one weird quirk.

For example, Lee Ho-yeon was crazy about women, and Isaac was crazy about Alice.

"That bastard isn't getting scared. That barrier is uselessly sturdy so I can't even seize the initiative. I'm shooting them so it doesn't hurt even if he gets hit."

Who in the world wouldn't block when blades were flying at them like that?

Scarlet tried her best to persuade Isaac rationally.

"...Still, I think there will be problems if we occupy a path used by people for too long."

"Really? Usually when a barrier is laid out like this, don't they just go, 'Looks like someone's fighting~' and walk past?"

"Public security is good in Korea, so things like that rarely happen."

If they were unlucky, an advanced-rank hunter passing by might report them.

Because this was a neighborhood with many bad people, but also strangely many good people.

"Hiss. Right. Then let's end this quickly. I think I've played around too much as well."

Part of him was surprised that a mere cadet was continuously blocking his attacks.

He had obviously held back a lot of power... but most of the bastards who called themselves hunters couldn't even block attacks of that level.

'It's a shame to end it like this.'

[I am Alice's father.]

[A man like this is the father of the woman you have an ulterior motive for.]

[Can you handle it?]

He wanted to seize the initiative in this manner.

However, attacking from a distance, having it fail, and then appearing in an ugly manner... it simply did not fit his philosophy.

If he was going to reveal himself like that, it would be better to just run away as is.

Right then, Lee Ho-yeon suddenly started acting strange.

He had personally dispelled his strangely sturdy, unidentified barrier.

Then he started to come further inside the alley.

It was magic that forcibly stretched space, so there was a risk that the magic would be exposed if he came any closer.

"What is he doing?"

"..."

As expected, Lee Ho-yeon wasn't normal either.

Giving up on understanding, Scarlet decided to just watch the collaboration between two crazy bastards.

"He's taunting me right now, isn't he?"

"...I don't know, sir."

She truly didn't know.

Why on earth was he doing that?

Doing that would only make Isaac angry.

"Scarlet."

"Yes, sir."

"I guess I really did drag this out for too long. A mere cadet is taunting me, after all."

"...Because he couldn't have known that Lord Isaac was his opponent. Please calm down for now and Cadet Lee Ho-yeon..."

"I'm going in personally. I'll have him lying on the ground within a minute to talk, so follow me."

"...Yes, sir. Understood."

Haa.

Scarlet followed behind Isaac with her eyes closed.

'I don't care anymore.'

Striking him down within a minute.

Since Isaac said that, he would go all out.

Still, the opponent was a cadet and an acquaintance of Alice, so he probably wouldn't kill him.

She just hoped he wouldn't get too badly hurt.

Scarlet walked into the alleyway while preparing a high-rank shield magic that could be cast instantly.

*

'...Was this not it?'

The taunt definitely had an effect.

Since the opponent had rushed out personally.

Clang! Chwajajak!

The problem was that he was too strong.

Kagagagang!

I blocked the magic power flying towards my Rune Barrier.

The concrete making up the alleyway crumbled down just from the remnants of magic power I had blocked.

Clang! Swish-

At the same time, I felt a severe impact.

Something was continuously striking my Rune Barrier.

At an invisible speed.

'[Eye Opening]'

I concentrated eye power into my eyes and tried to chase the opponent, but I couldn't catch them.

I felt an overwhelming wall to that extent.

But the fortunate thing was that I had met Rebecca yesterday.

Thanks to that, my even sturdier and upgraded Rune Barrier blocked the opponent's attacks.

If I didn't have the Rune Barrier, I wouldn't have even been able to think of a counterattack.

Fwoosh-

The flames flowing along my hand stuck to the ground, drawing a 10-meter radius circle before soaring into the sky.

My magic power was connected to all the fire.

Sizzle-

It was very slight, but I felt a sense of disparity.

No matter how much they hid their body, as long as they didn't escape the laws of physics and existed in space, they were bound to touch the flames.

I quickly focused the flames in that direction.

Fwoosh-!

Kagagagagang!

But something slipped out from between the flames and attacked my Rune Barrier again.

Enduring the impact as much as possible, I stepped forward.

The magic power emanating from my toes chased the opponent's figure like vines to grab them.

Naturally, the opponent backed away, but that much was exactly what I aimed for.

I had drawn a magic circle while pretending to chase them.

Once again, flames were created in every space.

Since they had forced their way out, their stance must have been broken accordingly. I intended to aim for sure this time.

Since I had covered a 10-meter radius again, it would definitely be hard to dodge.

However.

"...Fuck, seriously."

The opponent disappeared.

Literally.

The opponent vanished from the space within the 10-meter radius where I had controlled the flames.

Did they escape outside in an instant?

I could think that, but it was a completely different feeling.

The magic power that existed in that spot suddenly vanished.

Like Nam Da-eun, who ignored the laws of physics and slashed through space.

It felt as if they had completely disappeared from space.

BOOM!

At that moment, a handsome blonde man suddenly appeared before my eyes.

With his teeth clenched, wearing an expression of wounded pride but seeming slightly amused.

He swung his arm right at my Rune Barrier.

Crack- Craaack-

The Rune Barrier, which had already sustained too much damage, shattered like a glass window, and I was forced to step back.

"Haa..."

In front of me stood a handsome blonde man, and behind him, Scarlet was following like a secretary.

'It's Isaac.'

I couldn't be certain just from the blonde hair, but if Scarlet was there, it was a confirmation.

Scarlet wasn't even making eye contact with me.

She was probably avoiding making any point of contact whatsoever, out of fear that we might get caught.

Fortunately, Isaac didn't seem to know about our relationship.

Pant- Pant-

I was panting as if I had just run a marathon, but Isaac looked completely fine.

'He's truly fucking strong.'

I used all my strength.

I couldn't use a big technique like Spiral because there was no opening to attack... but that too was the opponent's ability.

This battle was my maximum value.

As expected, it wasn't enough.

Then again, I would have no conscience if I tried to match up against the strongest in the worldview this early on.

Step, step.

Isaac approached me, and only then could I feel it.

"How do I beat this."

With Isaac no longer hiding his momentum, I truly felt a difference in class.

I had only barely been holding on with the cheat skill known as the Rune Barrier that I learned from Rebecca.

What just happened wasn't a proper battle.

It was merely a brief standoff because Isaac wasn't aiming for my life.

Thump, thump- Thump, thump-

Isaac didn't harbor any murderous intent toward me.

However, because of the overwhelming difference in power, [Combat Sense] was making my heart beat rapidly.

If the opponent got even a little serious, I would die immediately.

Because I instinctively knew this.

Isaac came up to me.

He was definitely a man who could have killed me long ago if he wanted to.

Even so, if he got into a scuffle with me for over ten minutes, he must have something to say.

Just what was he planning to say that made him corner me like this?

As Isaac stood in front of me, I could finally notice it.

Very slightly, his breathing was irregular.

That salvaged my pride a little.

I looked at Isaac nervously.

Smack.

Isaac suddenly smacked his lips and opened his mouth.

"...Approval."

"...?"