Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Levin was not in good condition.

His clothes were torn and burned until they had become like rags, and he had suffered deep wounds to his shoulder and thigh.

A great deal of blood was flowing from the injured areas.

“Hah! Hah!”

Levin panted roughly as he looked at the man.

The man’s condition was worse than Levin’s.

He had more deep wounds and had lost far more blood. Yet he was smiling.

He chuckled as if he found the situation so enjoyable he could hardly stand it, and his face made anyone who saw it feel terrified.

“Hee-hee! What a truly interesting ability. To think you can use Ghost Transformation and lightning-type Skills. If they find out about this, you’ll probably be locked up in a laboratory too.”

“You too? Were you locked up in a laboratory?”

“Heh-heh! Will this answer your question? It’s not like I cut off my perfectly good hand and attached this of my own will.”

The man waved his mechanical hand.

After releasing powerful electrical energy several times, the mechanical prosthetic arm had broken down and made a clattering sound. Even so, the man laughed as if something were so amusing.

“So after escaping the laboratory, you went around cutting people up?”

“Heh-heh! Others should feel the same pain I suffered.”

“You son of a bitch! You call that an excuse?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“My mother and siblings died for a reason like that? For such a worthless reason?”

“Heh-heh! Kid! This is a world where countless humans die for reasons even worse than that. How long are you going to keep acting like a child? Humans are bound to become independent from their parents someday anyway. I only brought that time forward a little.”

“I’ll kill you. I swear it!”

“Now you finally have the face of an adult.”

“Fuck!”

At that moment, an intense light burst from Levin’s entire body.

“Oh! Did your grade rise?”

The man recognized it as the phenomenon that occurred when an Awakened’s grade rose.

A rage so fierce it turned his mind blank had raised Levin from Grade E to Grade D.

BZZZT!

Levin released purple electricity while in his Ghost Transformation state.

Floating in the air, Levin turned his gaze toward the man.

“Die!”

At that instant, purple Chain Lightning erupted from his entire body.

The net of lightning covered the man in an instant.

“Hee-hee!”

The man retreated and swung the sword with the silver thread attached.

His prosthetic arm had broken, so no current flowed through the sword or the silver thread anymore. Even so, the man did not care.

After all, it was an ability he had acquired later.

Even without using electricity, he knew very well how to kill people.

Levin’s Ghost Transformation was certainly an extraordinary ability.

To turn a human body into something without substance.

Ordinary physical attacks could not harm him.

But Levin, who used Ghost Transformation, was not extraordinary.

His grade had risen, but he still did not know how to fully control his ability.

Because of that, even while in Ghost Transformation, his body occasionally became corporeal. Of course, that moment was very brief, but to the man, it was long enough.

The man aimed for the instant Levin’s body became corporeal.

STAB!

The dagger sank deep into Levin’s side.

Levin’s face twisted in pain. But he forced himself to endure it and grabbed the dagger buried in his side with his hand.

The man mocked Levin when he saw that.

“You saw it, didn’t you? One side of the blade is serrated. It won’t come out until it tears away your living flesh. How is it? Hot, isn’t it?”

Instead of answering, Levin glared at the man with bloodshot eyes.

“That was tempered with the bone of a Flame Crocodile. So it should be rather hot.”

“Who said I was pulling it out?”

“What?”

“I finally caught you. Why would I pull it out?”

Levin smiled, baring teeth stained with blood.

“You bastard!”

The man felt a chill run up his spine.

Only then did he realize it.

Levin had not become corporeal for an instant because his ability was lacking. He had deliberately shown a weakness.

“You lured me in?”

“That’s right, you son of a bitch.”

Levin roared and unleashed Chain Lightning with all his strength.

The purple current traveled along the silver thread attached to the dagger and struck the man.

It happened before the man could react.

An enormous current pierced through his entire body, and the man could not even scream. He only trembled.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

As the current pierced him, chunks of flesh burst from all over his body, and his mechanical prosthetic arm was completely smashed.

Levin poured in all his strength, determined to kill him.

“Haaah!”

After a moment, Levin felt hollow and dropped to one knee on the ground.

Before he knew it, Ghost Transformation had been undone, and he had returned to his physical body.

Levin looked at the man with bloodshot eyes.

The man was burned black, as if he had been roasted over fire.

All his hair had burned away without a trace, and his skin had stuck together so badly that his original form could no longer be recognized.

Even in that state, the man was still alive.

Although he was breathing so roughly it seemed he might die at any moment, he was still alive and glaring at Levin.

Even when he had become a complete wreck and stood on the brink of death, his killing intent did not fade.

The sight was enough to send chills down one’s spine.

Levin even wondered what kind of life a person had to live to harbor such murderous intent.

“Still, still, I won.”

Levin staggered to his feet.

He did not want to look at those chilling eyes any longer.

Levin pulled out the dagger embedded in his side.

As the dagger was drawn out, living flesh tore away with it.

The terrible pain made his mind go faint, but Levin forced himself to remain conscious.

“You need to feel it too. The pain my mother, my siblings, and the others felt......”

“Khh...... heh! Fuck off!”

The man barely answered in a phlegmy voice.

Levin stabbed the dagger into the man’s thigh.

STAB!

As the dagger dug in, the man’s body jerked violently.

Although his entire body had been burned by the current, his sense of pain was still alive.

Levin pulled out the dagger.

RIP!

With a horrifying sound, the man’s living flesh was torn out.

It had to be painful enough.

Even so, the man did not scream.

He smiled as if telling Levin to do whatever he wanted.

“You son of a bitch! You’re not worth keeping alive.”

Levin stabbed the dagger into the man’s shoulder again. Then he stirred it from side to side.

As the serrated blade tore through the wound, the hole widened.

Levin pulled out the dagger and looked at it.

Pieces of flesh were tangled around the serrated part.

Among them were not only the man’s flesh, but Levin’s own as well.

For some reason, he felt as if he might vomit.

Tears flowed down from both his eyes.

“Fuck!”

Levin brought the dagger to the man’s throat.

He intended to cut off his breath.

The man smiled as if he had been waiting.

“This...... is something only people who’ve done it before can do. A soft bastard...... like you can’t inflict pain on others.”

“What’s your name?”

“Why? Are you going to remember it?”

“That’s right! I’ll remember it forever and chew it over.”

“Heh-heh! What a funny bastard. But what will you do? I never had a name to begin with.”

“Really? Then I’ll remember you as Son of a Bitch.”

“That’s not bad either. Son of a Bitch! From now on, my name is Son of a Bitch. To think I’d get a name only right before I die. Heh-heh!”

Levin did not want to see the man laugh any longer. So he thrust the dagger with all his strength.

CRASH!

But his attempt was rendered futile by someone.

With an explosion, Levin’s hand gripping the dagger was knocked backward.

The tremendous impact fractured his arm, leaving it dangling.

“Ghk!”

Levin, who had been thrown backward, looked at his forearm.

An arrow the size of a child’s palm was embedded in it.

Someone had shot an arrow to stop his action.

Levin clutched his forearm and shouted,

“Who is it? Fuck!”

“Sorry, boy, but that man must not die yet.”

At that moment, the owner of the arrow appeared.

It was a woman wearing a trench coat that reached her ankles and a fedora.

Her hat was pulled low, so her face could not be seen, but her voice revealed that she was a woman.

Levin shouted furiously,

“Are you an accomplice of this son of a bitch too?”

“That is an insult to me, boy!”

“Do you know what a real insult is? Stopping a rightful revenge is the real insult.”

“I am sorry for that. But we have no choice either. This man is very important evidence. And the boy will have to come with us as well.”

“What?”

“That unusual ability of yours is dangerous. We will protect you.”

“Fuck off! Who the hell is protecting whom?”

“Why are humans so irrational? I do not understand why they are so passionate. If you thought rationally, you would know that I am right.”

The woman gave a small shake of her head and sighed.

Behind her, more than ten women dressed in identical attire appeared.

The woman gave them an order.

“Take both of them.”

“Yes!”

The women approached Levin.

“Uaaaah!”

Levin squeezed out all the strength he had left as if wringing out a rag. But its power was pitiful.

THUD-THUD-THUD!

A merciless barrage of punches rained down on Levin’s body.

Despite their delicate builds, their punches were powerful.

THWACK!

The moment Levin was struck in the temple, his consciousness flew away.

One of the women caught Levin as he collapsed unconscious.

The leader of the women murmured,

“We completed the mission, and even gained a rare Awakened as a bonus. The Queen will be pleased. The fact that he is human bothers me a little, but if we brainwash him, he should be usable to some extent.”

“By Queen, do you mean the Ice Queen of the northern district?”

At that moment, someone’s low voice was heard.

The woman felt goosebumps rise all over her body.

‘When?’

She had not sensed his approach until the voice came from right behind her.

If the other party had attacked, she would have been helpless.

She quickly turned around. Then she saw a tall, handsome man and a young girl wearing a pointed hat.

‘Not one, but two?’

The fact that two people had deceived her senses made her even more confused.

She forced herself to hide her agitation and spoke calmly.

“I did not expect there to be other guests besides us. Where are you from? The southern district? The central district?”

“We’re from this neighborhood.”

“From the...... slums?”

“Yes!”

The one answering calmly was Zeon.

The pointed-hat girl beside him was Briel.

“Levin!”

Briel’s gaze turned toward Levin, who was slung over the woman’s shoulder like a piece of luggage.

Levin did not move at all, as if he had lost consciousness.

The eyes hidden beneath Briel’s pointed hat turned sharp.

Although they had not shared their deepest thoughts, he was still one of the few humans she could speak to comfortably.

And Levin had been seriously wounded and was on the verge of being kidnapped.

If the two of them had arrived even a little later, Levin would have disappeared without leaving a trace, taken by these people.

Briel knew very well that in the slums, disappearance meant death.

Briel said,

“Put Levin down.”

“......”

The women gave no answer.

Zeon spoke gently to the women who seemed to be the leaders.

“Levin is our friend. Return him.”

“We cannot do that. He is an extremely rare Awakened. If he is raised well, he will become a great combat force.”

“You did not receive his consent.”

“We do not need his consent. Of course, we do not need your consent either.”

“That is truly unfortunate.”

“I am sorry as well. I wanted to avoid causing trouble if possible.”

The woman pulled her fedora low.

The fact that she hid her eyes and face was proof that she knew she was doing something she could not be proud of.

Zeon murmured,

‘Maybe that is why everyone wears masks.’

At that moment, the leader of the women gave an order.

“Suppress them without killing them. We will take them as well.”