Chapter 251

Chapter 251

“Insolent......”

The Awakened who had fallen for Eloy’s provocation threw a punch.

The fist made of machinery was a terrifying weapon in its own right. But Eloy charged in without the slightest fear and wrapped both arms around the Awakened’s fist.

She tightened both arms, braced her legs against the Awakened’s flank and neck, and applied force.

CRACK—!

“Aaaargh!”

The mechanized Awakened’s arm was torn out from the shoulder.

The metal frame ripped apart like paper, and severed wires scattered wildly through the air. From the torn stump of his shoulder, all kinds of oil gushed out like blood.

Eloy shook the mechanical arm in her hand and said,

“What? You can feel pain in mechanical parts too?”

“You fucking bitch......”

“Are you a parrot? Is that all you know how to say?”

“I’ll kill you.”

The mechanized Awakened whose arm had been torn off charged at Eloy like a bison.

“Hmph!”

Eloy snorted.

In the past, she might have found it somewhat threatening.

No matter how much of a half-elf and martial-type Awakened she was, a mechanized Awakened’s physical assault was still difficult to handle.

But she was no longer who she had been.

Having risen in Grade with Zeon’s help, a charge of this level could no longer pose any threat to her.

Eloy reached out and grabbed the mechanized Awakened’s head.

CLUNK—!

“Urk!”

Despite the overwhelming gap in size, the Awakened’s charge was stopped.

An expression of disbelief appeared on the Awakened’s face as his head was seized.

In a fight between humans, weight class was the most important thing.

If one’s weight class was overwhelmingly larger, one could crush a lighter human through sheer strength.

There was a reason heavyweights overwhelmed lightweights.

That was why the Awakened believed that most Grade differences could be covered by weight class. Yet at this very moment, that belief was shattering to pieces.

All because of a slender woman.

No matter how desperately he strained, Eloy’s arm did not budge an inch.

At that moment, one corner of Eloy’s mouth twisted upward.

“What, did you think hanging all those hunks of machinery all over yourself meant you could easily trample someone like me? Too bad. I’m a little heavy, you see.”

Eloy’s body weight was now more than ten times greater than usual.

Mass Increase.

It was the Skill she had obtained after taking the Orc Lord’s Mana Stone.

Her body was bound to be far heavier than that of the mechanized Awakened made of metal.

“Grr!”

The instant the mechanized Awakened’s face twisted, Eloy’s palm slammed into his chest.

CLANG—!

A tremendous impact struck the mechanized Awakened’s chest.

The body made of special metal crumpled like scrap, and the engine that supplied mana was smashed apart.

“Guh!”

The Awakened’s enormous body toppled forward.

Eloy pushed aside the head of the Awakened as he collapsed toward her.

THUD—!

The Awakened fell to the floor with a heavy sound.

Without even glancing at him, Eloy looked at the other two Awakened.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to fight?”

“Fuck!”

“What the hell are you?”

The Awakened could not recklessly rush in and only looked at each other’s faces.

At that moment, Eloy leapt.

CRACK—!

Her knee slammed into the face of the Awakened on the left.

Because she had tenfold Mass Increase applied, the Awakened’s face caved in completely.

Still in midair, Eloy spun and blew away the other Awakened’s temple with her elbow.

CRASH—!

With an explosive sound, the Awakened collapsed.

His eyes rolled back. That single blow had knocked him unconscious.

That was how powerful Eloy’s attacks were.

She had been promoted to Grade A, and on top of that, she had obtained the absurdly overpowered Skill called Mass Increase.

Each and every blow possessed power comparable to the Skill of a fairly capable Awakened.

No matter how mechanized they were, they had no choice but to fall when struck by her attacks. Moreover, she focused on targeting the head, the one part that could not be mechanized.

It was only natural that the sluggish mechanized Awakened could not handle Eloy.

With heavy thuds, the unconscious mechanized Awakened collapsed.

Eloy looked down coldly at the Awakened sprawled helplessly on the floor and said,

“I told you earlier. I’m a Supervisor from City Hall.”

She looked around.

The mechanized Awakened who had sided with the three Awakened were standing there awkwardly.

They had been overwhelmed by Eloy’s strength, which had far exceeded their expectations.

Eloy looked around at them and said,

“Anyone else want to come at me?”

“......”

“Good! Stay quiet and keep your heads down like that. Hanging hunks of metal all over yourselves doesn’t mean you can’t die.”

A few of the mechanized Awakened seemed to bristle, but none of them charged forward first.

They had been overwhelmed by Eloy’s martial force.

Just then—

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!

With the sound of applause, someone descended the hotel stairs.

It was a gentleman dressed in a fine suit.

The gentleman had striking thick brows and deep-set eyes, and his hair was combed back so perfectly that not a single strand stuck out. That made him look all the colder.

The gentleman approached Eloy while clapping his hands.

“Remarkable. The three Choi brothers are famous outlaws known throughout this area, yet you subdued them so easily. Truly impressive.”

“Who are you?”

“Ah, my apologies for the late introduction. I am Kim Mu-yeong, the owner of this hotel.”

“The owner? Of this hotel?”

“Yes!”

“But you’re not a machine?”

Even at Eloy’s provocative words, Kim Mu-yeong did not show the slightest hint of displeasure.

“Yes! I am a pure human.”

“No, how does a pure human operate a hotel in West District?”

“Running a hotel has nothing to do with being Awakened.”

“Then run it properly. Letting people like that in lowers the quality of the hotel.”

“I apologize. This happened while I happened to be occupied with another matter. I will make sure such an unfortunate incident does not happen again. As an apology, allow me to treat you to dinner, Supervisor from City Hall.”

When Kim Mu-yeong spoke while bowing his head politely, Eloy instead looked flustered.

She had never imagined she would meet someone like this in West District.

The gentleman was the type who unsettled the other party by maintaining formality and courtesy even in a complete mess of a situation.

At that moment, Zeon stepped forward.

“Let’s do that.”

“Come to think of it, I do not know your name, sir. If you do not mind, may I ask what it is?”

“Zeon!”

“Mr. Zeon, then......”

In that instant, Kim Mu-yeong’s eyes turned sharp.

He had identified Zeon’s true identity the moment he heard the name.

Kim Mu-yeong laughed loudly, as if he had never been tense at all.

“Haha! This is an honor. I truly never expected to meet you at our hotel, Mr. Zeon.”

“I should be the one thanking you. But is there anywhere here where we can have a meal? No matter how I look at it......”

It was, nominally at least, a hotel for mechanized Awakened.

It seemed unlikely that food fit for humans existed there.

Kim Mu-yeong laughed loudly.

“Haha! West District is still a place where humans live. Pure humans outnumber mechanized Awakened by hundreds, even thousands of times. Naturally, food for humans is always prepared here.”

“That’s a relief.”

“This way. There is a restaurant for humans on the top floor of the hotel.”

Kim Mu-yeong led the three of them to the elevator.

The elevator carrying them rose to the top floor of the hotel in an instant.

Just as Kim Mu-yeong had said, there was a restaurant for humans on the hotel’s top floor, and several people were actually eating their meals with evident enjoyment.

Kim Mu-yeong sat with the three of them at the best seats.

It was a table by the window, where the entire view of West District could be seen at a glance.

As Kim Mu-yeong sat down, he said,

“Our hotel is especially known for its steak. We use real beef, not cultured meat.”

“Then we’ll have that, please.”

“Understood.”

Kim Mu-yeong called the manager and ordered four steaks.

The restaurant manager, like Kim Mu-yeong, was also a pure human.

Briel asked with curiosity,

“There aren’t any mechanized Awakened here?”

“Haha! As I said earlier, this is a restaurant for pure human guests. If mechanized Awakened served them, the people using this place would feel uncomfortable. That is why every employee here is a pure human.”

“I like that.”

“I am glad to hear that, Lady Briel!”

“Huh? You know me too?”

“Of course. Lady Briel is always by Mr. Zeon’s side, is she not? It would be strange not to know.”

“I see. Hehe!”

Briel grinned bashfully.

She found it funny, yet also pleasing, that someone recognized her.

Kim Mu-yeong was extremely accustomed to entertaining people.

He skillfully led the conversation and guided the mood.

After they had carried on with empty small talk for quite some time, Kim Mu-yeong finally brought up the main subject.

“But what brings the three of you to West District? I would think there is nothing here that could interest you.”

“We came to find someone.”

“Someone?”

“Yes! Someone named Levin......”

“Ah! Mr. Levin? I have heard of him. But why are you searching for him in West District?”

Kim Mu-yeong asked with a puzzled expression.

It was an expression that truly seemed to know nothing.

“Levin entered West District to find someone.”

“Ah, so that is why you are searching through the hotels first.”

“Can you tell us whether Levin stayed here?”

“I will have the manager look into it. But as far as I remember, he did not. If a pure human had stayed here, there is no way I would not know.”

“Is that so?”

“The main users of this hotel are mechanized Awakened, so if a pure human stays here, they cannot help but stand out.”

“That makes sense.”

Zeon nodded.

It was a story that he could accept to a certain degree.

A short while later, the manager brought the guest register.

Levin’s name did not exist there.

“As expected, he is not here. I will contact the other hotels and ask whether he stayed with them.”

“Thank you. But I’m curious why you’re being so kind to us.”

“Haha! One of you is a Sandmancer, another is a Supervisor from City Hall, and the last is a beautiful little lady. There are more than enough reasons to treat you kindly.”

Kim Mu-yeong answered with a pleasant smile.

Zeon stared intently at Kim Mu-yeong’s face.

‘He’s fixated on pure humans.’

Since earlier, Kim Mu-yeong had said the words “pure human” several times.

In West District, where most were mechanized Awakened, he showed an excessive fixation on pure humans. Yet Kim Mu-yeong himself did not seem to realize it at all.

Kim Mu-yeong took enormous pride in the fact that he was a pure human, and that emotion had actually surfaced during the conversation.

Zeon asked Kim Mu-yeong a question.

“But how did you become the head of this hotel, Mr. Kim?”

“You are curious how a pure human rose to this position, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“I have a personal friendship with Mr. Kim Hyun-soo, the representative of West District.”

“You share the same family name, Kim. Are you brothers by any chance?”

“Haha! For Koreans, Kim is the most common surname. We merely share the same surname. We are complete strangers.”

“Then how did you come to have a personal connection?”

“My mother was a Healer. She once treated Mr. Kim Hyun-soo when he was injured. That became our connection, and he has looked after me ever since.”

“A Healer? Does a Healer’s healing work on mechanized Awakened?”

Zeon looked puzzled.

When a mechanized Awakened was harmed, people did not call it an injury. They called it damage.

Damaged parts could simply be replaced with intact parts, so there was no need for a separate Healer.

Healers were already rare enough as it was, but they were even harder to find in West District.

Instead of answering, Kim Mu-yeong lifted his wine glass.

The red wine swayed inside the clear glass.

Kim Mu-yeong gazed into the blood-red wine with deep eyes.

A chilling smile formed on his lips.

“It was back when red blood still flowed through his veins, before he cast aside his human body.”