Chapter 107

Chapter 107

“Kid! What the hell are you trying to buy, camping out here for days? You’re distracting me, so why don’t you go somewhere else?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll stay here just a little longer.”

Levin refused to give in despite the merchant’s scolding and stubbornly held his ground.

The place where he was sitting was in front of a general store.

It was not an ordinary general store.

It was a general store that sold items made from monster carcasses.

He had been camping out in front of the general store for several days.

It was no wonder the shopkeeper was scolding him.

Even so, Levin stubbornly endured.

He had been beaten and chased away several times, but he still came back.

“Ugh! That leech-like bastard!”

The general store owner glared at Levin as if he wanted to kill him, then went back inside the shop.

Levin leaned his back against the wall and muttered,

“Another miss today? It really isn’t easy.”

He closed his eyes for a moment.

The reason he had entered the Goblin Market was not to watch passersby.

‘That bastard definitely bought something here.’

Levin had been tracking the movements of the murderer who had killed his mother and younger siblings.

During that time, the bastard had committed several more murders. Then, as if mocking Levin for pursuing him, he had gone underground.

Whenever Levin, exhausted from the chase, took even the briefest rest, the murderer committed another killing as if he had been waiting for it.

Levin thought the bastard might have noticed that he was tracking him. Otherwise, the bastard’s movements made no sense.

In the end, Levin gave up directly chasing the murderer. But that did not mean he had given up the pursuit completely.

He had merely changed methods.

‘The things he uses aren’t ordinary mass-produced goods. They’re all made from special materials.’

The most representative example was the knife he used.

The bastard’s knife had been specially made to cut human bodies efficiently and draw out blood easily.

Levin had tried to track the knife through the cut marks left on the corpses, but he could not even find a knife with a similar shape.

That was how unique the murderer’s knife was.

But what Levin focused on was not the knife’s appearance.

It was the knife’s property.

The blood of those killed by the murderer was strangely viscous. Its thickness was abnormally high.

Levin thought the reason might be that it had been exposed to a high temperature.

Either the murderer had deliberately heated the blood, or something among his possessions emitted intense heat.

‘What if the knife he carries is made from a special material that radiates heat?’

That was why Levin had been camping out here.

There were quite a few materials that emitted heat on their own.

Flame Lizard bones, Flame Stones, Flame Eagle feathers, Flame Golem remnants, and so on.

But such special materials could never be found in ordinary shops.

Especially not in the slums.

The only place in the slums, not Neo Seoul, where one could obtain such materials was the Goblin Market.

That was why Levin believed it was highly likely the murderer had used the Goblin Market, and this general store in particular.

‘After committing that many murders, the blade must have been damaged.’

The human body seemed weak, but in truth, it was terribly tough and resilient.

Bones in particular were unbelievably hard and easily damaged a blade.

After that many murders, the murderer’s blade must surely have suffered heavy damage as well. Even if it was an item made from special materials.

‘If he wants to repair the knife, he’ll definitely need to source materials from here.’

There was no telling when the murderer would appear.

Perhaps he would never appear at all.

Even so, Levin intended to wait until the end.

This was the only move he had left.

‘I’m also pretty good at enduring and waiting.’

Levin remained at the general store for several more days after that.

During that time, countless people visited the general store.

The things they bought were varied as well.

Some bought materials that seemed completely useless, while others bought materials so expensive they made one’s jaw drop.

Levin examined the people buying items closely. But none of them seemed particularly suspicious.

Levin’s eyes changed.

His gaze was following the man who had just entered the general store.

It was a man wearing a black robe.

The man had pulled the robe’s hood deep over his head, so Levin could not see his face, but the instant he passed by, a thick reek of blood strongly stimulated Levin’s nose.

Levin’s face stiffened.

This was the first time he had encountered someone who reeked so strongly of blood.

For an instant, Levin nearly lost his reason.

Before he realized it, Levin had clenched his fist tightly.

‘It’s him. It has to be him.’

He had no proof whatsoever.

But the moment he saw the bastard, Levin was certain.

His instincts were whispering to him.

That man was the murderer.

Levin trusted his instincts.

‘Not yet. If I move rashly, I’ll provoke him.’

He did not go inside the general store and instead waited stubbornly until the man came out.

The black-robed man came out of the general store only after quite some time had passed.

Judging by how long he had spent in the general store, he must have bought quite a few things, but strangely, he was empty-handed.

‘Does he have a subspace item or something?’

Subspace items were extremely rare.

He had heard that even in Neo Seoul, there were not many Awakened who possessed subspace items.

If the black-robed man truly had a subspace item, as Levin suspected, then there was a high chance he was no ordinary person.

“Whew!”

Levin waited until the black-robed man had moved far enough away, then rose from his seat.

After sitting in the same posture for so long, every joint in his body ached. Even so, Levin did not show his pain and began tracking the black-robed man.

The black-robed man seemed to be extremely cautious.

He did not lower his guard even once.

He walked calmly, but Levin could feel that his senses and nerves were open to the outside.

‘Roughly ten meters?’

Levin found it strange that he could tell such a thing.

It seemed to be possible because his senses had sharpened after awakening.

Levin walked more than ten meters behind the black-robed man.

The black-robed man gradually entered a deeper alley.

Levin was certain.

‘That bastard is definitely going to kill someone today.’

He had a strong hunch.

Levin was trying hard to calm his wildly pounding heart when it happened.

Suddenly, the black-robed man stopped.

Levin stopped as well.

The black-robed man turned around and looked in Levin’s direction.

At that moment, the black-robed man’s eyes met Levin’s.

He opened his mouth.

“What are you? You’ve been following me since the Goblin Market.”

“How? I was definitely outside your detection range.”

Levin blurted out in shock.

“My detection range is much wider and denser than you think, kid.”

“Ghk!”

“Now, tell me why you followed me.”

The black-robed man’s cold gaze sent chills down Levin’s spine.

It was a gaze that seemed to see through everything about him, and within it lay a ferocious hostility.

It was a gaze that naturally brought a black panther to mind.

Without realizing it, Levin gulped down dry saliva.

The mouth visible beneath the deep hood curved into an arc.

“If you don’t tell me the truth, I’ll tear you to pieces.”

“It’s you, isn’t it? The dog butcher who kills people and lays them out in the shape of a Hydra.”

“A dog butcher? How vulgar. You don’t understand art. This is why I hate the slums. It’s full of bastards too busy scraping by to fill their heads with anything. Of course they don’t have the knowledge to understand art.”

“You call tearing people apart and killing them art? Then I’ll show you some art too.”

Levin could not hold back and exploded in anger.

At the sight of Levin like that, the black-robed man’s smile deepened.

“For you to get this emotional? You’re not just a simple tracker. Did you have family among those I killed?”

“That’s right, you son of a bitch.”

Levin shouted and charged at the black-robed man.

His figure had turned hazy like a ghost.

He had activated his Awakened ability, Specter.

At the sight of Levin emitting purple energy while in a ghostly, hazy state, the black-robed man was startled.

He had met quite a few Awakened, but this was the first time he had seen one with an ability like Levin’s.

“Heh-heh! You’ll be worth cutting. I wonder what it feels like to cut a ghost.”

SWISH—!

At that instant, a misshapen dagger shot out from the man’s sleeve.

The dagger, which looked like a mixture between a sword and a saw, had a silver thread attached to it that was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.

When the black-robed man flicked his finger, the dagger attached to the silver thread pierced Levin.

If Levin had been an ordinary human or Awakened, he would have died instantly, but it dealt no damage to Levin in his Ghost Transformation state.

“Die!”

At that moment, a tremendous amount of electrical energy erupted from Levin.

BZZZZT—!

The electrical energy swept through everything in the area like a storm.

The black-robed man could not avoid the storm either.

The robe he was wearing burst apart, revealing his face.

“Ghhh!”

He had a long face reminiscent of a lizard, with slit eyes. Most striking of all were the scars running across his face both vertically and horizontally.

The wounds had been roughly stitched together, like a patched-up rag. That made him look even more hideous.

“How dare you!”

He flew into a rage.

He had not expected Levin to release electrical energy on top of Ghost Transformation.

It was called electrical energy, but its principle was the same as Chain Lightning, which only magic-type Awakened, and among them lightning-type Awakened, could use.

If the man’s ability had been just a little lacking, he would have died from the attack just now.

The wrath of a man who had narrowly escaped death was terrifying.

“Haaat!”

He swung the dagger attached to the silver thread.

Levin sneered at him.

“I told you, that doesn’t work. Mister, you’re pretty stupid.”

“Brat! That’s exactly why you’re going to die.”

“What?”

At that instant, a white light flowed along the silver thread like a flash of lightning.

It was electricity released from the man’s hand.

Only then did Levin realize that the man’s hand was a mechanical prosthetic arm. That prosthetic arm had generated intense electrical energy just like Levin.

BZZZZT—! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!

Electricity collided with electricity, creating a tremendous energy storm.

The energy storm collapsed part of the slums.

＊＊＊

“What?”

Briel jerked her head up in surprise at the tremendous vibration she suddenly felt.

The building shook for a moment, as if there had been an earthquake.

Because of that, the experimental materials on the worktable briefly rocked.

Fortunately, the vibration soon vanished.

She hurriedly looked for Zeon.

Zeon had already risen from his seat and was looking out the window.

Far in the distance, Zeon could see white light fading away.

Briel asked Zeon,

“What’s going on?”

“It looks like a fight broke out.”

“Seriously, these damned slums. Not a single day is quiet. Where is it? Dongdaemun? Or somewhere else?”

“Shinchon.”

“Huh? It’s that close?”

It happened then.

BOOM—!

An explosion and white lightning swept through the slums once more.

Because of that, the window of Zeon’s house shook as if it would shatter at any moment.

“Seriously, what bastards are fighting in the middle of the night?”

Furious to the top of her head, Briel pulled her pointed hat down deeply and fumed.

Zeon said,

“It’s Levin.”

“What?”

“Levin is fighting.”

Because of the tall buildings, he could not see the fight.

But the distinctive energy waves he could feel so intensely definitely belonged to Levin.

“Levin is really fighting? Then did he find the murderer?”

“We’ll have to check that now.”

Zeon opened the window.

The heavy sand-laden wind struck his face.

Without hesitation, Zeon threw himself into the sand-laden wind.

Briel also shouted and leapt out the window.

“Take me with you.”