Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Resolve (2)

It was obvious who owned the fighter jets.

The mafia, PTT. Those bastards were back.

"Ugh......"

Camila stomped her feet anxiously.

She must have been dying to rush off and stop them, but she lacked the power to avert a crisis on her own.

Camila kept stealing glances at me and Artus.

Artus firmly cut her off.

【Corrupted child, I have no business with your village. Return to where you belong.】

Camila had every reason to be disappointed, but her expression was composed.

Things between Artus and Camila had been broken for quite a while.

She probably hadn't held high expectations for Artus from the start.

If she had expectations of anyone, it was probably me.

Camila's gaze turned to me, but I was equally firm.

"I said being used was the last time."

"...So you did. I'll keep my word."

Once again, Camila looked less disappointed than resigned—as if she'd expected this.

Camila trudged down the mountain.

Going to the village meant death.

Camila knew that, but she left anyway.

Her retreating figure looked lonely yet resolute.

It was a small back, but one bearing a heavy load—it seemed wide.

Pity? Sympathy?

I didn't feel those emotions.

But I could tell that kid wasn't a villain.

It wasn't strange for a Hero to save people—so I spoke.

"If it's a request rather than manipulation, I can hear you out."

Camila's footsteps froze.

A voice so small that a non-Awakened would have missed it reached my ears.

"Please help me... please......"

"Alright."

I raised Jeivult high.

Jeivult transformed into a staff, and a spatial teleportation spell unfurled from it.

"Come here."

"Okay!"

As if sensing what I was about to do, Camila came trotting over.

Before leaving, I sent An Seri a word of encouragement as she prepared for her trial.

"Seri, you can do this. You're the most dependable kid I know."

"Yes. I'll come back with Clairvoyance."

The spell activated.

My vision flashed white, mana swirled around us, and the scenery changed.

***

"So let me get this straight... the most famous professor in the world just showed up out of nowhere and beat the hell out of you? And then you ran?"

"Y-yes!"

"You braindead bastards! That's the most ridiculous shit I've ever heard! Why the hell would someone from the other side of the planet be here?!"

A man wearing nothing but a jacket over his bare torso kicked his subordinate square in the body.

The subordinate tumbled across the ground.

Despite the rough treatment, the subordinate kept groveling.

"W-we're sorry......"

It was far too rough for a normal boss-subordinate relationship.

In any developed nation, if this kind of abuse was reported within a guild, it'd be all over the news for days.

But this man was no Hero, and this place was no civilized Hero guild.

A lawless zone with no press or government to judge crimes.

The boss of PTT—the criminal syndicate that ruled all of Brazil—Jack Collis, was exactly that man.

"Boss, please calm down."

"Calm dooown? You think hearing this bullshit doesn't piss me off?! Cha the professor? Fuck! That bastard's a desk-sitting pretty boy who can't even fight, and you're bragging about losing to him? You might as well say Edelin Pierce showed up!"

Watching Jack seethe, his subordinates trembled in fear.

The news that the men he'd sent to collect had gotten demolished was absolutely unacceptable.

His rage unsated, Jack kicked the desk.

"Fuck! What kind of neighborhood is it?"

"An ordinary slum, sir."

One of the subordinates quickly produced documents with the area's intel.

Jack scanned through only the key information.

"Let's see... population one thousand, all men and women in their twenties and thirties were conscripted during the last war so none left. Hm? The war's over—why are they still gone? Did they all die?"

"You ordered them sent to the mines for extra labor before releasing them, sir."

"Oh, right."

Jack nodded as if it were nothing.

Then he kept reading.

"Protection fee is seventy-five percent of total output, naturally. Notable items... they formed an armed group centered around a few Awakened? Ha, you knew about this and just left it alone?"

"They begged and pleaded that they couldn't pay the protection fee without doing at least that much, so we permitted it."

"You idiots! You let them have weapons?! I get it. This is what happened—you lot got stomped by these punks."

When Jack glared viciously, the subordinates already bowing on the floor pressed their heads even lower.

They wanted to deny it, but they knew that making excuses now would only make things worse. So they kept quiet.

"Tch, this is exactly why you don't give them weapons. Put a weapon in their hands and they think they're somebody, start getting uppity."

"The boss is right."

"I'll set an example myself. Get ready!"

"Yes sir!"

When the boss and officers stepped outside, only then did the subordinates sprawled on the floor lift their heads.

They were the same mafia members who'd previously attacked the slum.

"Didn't we just poke a sleeping lion? We even got a warning. Aren't we fucked now too?"

"Forget it. No way he remembers us. Besides, he's dead anyway. The boss went himself."

"True. The boss is an S-rank Awakened."

S-rank.

The weight of that title was immeasurable.

Humans who could no longer be called human—the ultimate monsters.

Treasures of the entire planet whom every nation treated as state guests and desperately competed to recruit.

"I can't even imagine the boss losing."

"Right. No matter how impressive that professor is, how does he beat an S-rank Awakened?"

Every member of PTT had absolute faith in Jack.

Several years ago, the Brazilian government had declared war, boldly vowing to eliminate PTT.

A massive war whose repercussions echoed across all of South America.

In that war, Jack had single-handedly toyed with the military.

Before his mythic display of force, Brazil had ultimately submitted, its government completely paralyzed, and PTT became Brazil's ruler.

Having witnessed that divine martial prowess firsthand, no one in the organization dared doubt Jack.

Yet there was one fact none of them would voice.

The fear they'd felt from Cha Eunwoo had been greater than the fear from an enraged Jack.

But they didn't say it out loud.

Doubting the boss was unforgivable in the organization.

"Let's go too. He'll be pissed if we're slow."

"Yeah."

Pushing their unease to the back of their minds, they too set out.

Outside, preparations for departure were nearly complete.

VROOOOM—!

Five fighter jets were each blasting deafening noise.

The ferocious energy, as if ready to swallow everything around them, naturally boosted their confidence.

On top of that, Jack's personal guard accompanied them.

The guard unit was composed entirely of the organization's most recognized elites. Having them along was immensely reassuring.

And finally, a fighting force greater than all of that combined—the boss of PTT, Jack.

With Jack at their side, they wouldn't envy a million soldiers.

"Let's go, you brats!"

The fighter jets carrying PTT's forces took off.

The jets shot past forests and over mountains, arriving at the slum in an instant.

"Wreck 'em!"

At Jack's command, the bombardment began.

Anti-Awakened bombs—dangles of them strung on the jets—rained down in droves.

The anti-Awakened weapons once developed by the Brazilian government had all been plundered by PTT and now served their selfish interests.

"Keheheh, these are the goddamn bombs that gave us hell during the war too. But they won't die. Can't have them dying easily. I'll sever all their limbs and parade them across the country to set an example."

Jack's muttered plan sent chills down the PTT members' spines.

It was a fate worse than death.

The bombing target was a spot slightly away from the village.

The blast alone would push the village to the brink of obliteration, but at least lives would be spared.

"Hahaha!"

Jack laughed heartily in anticipation of the ensuing bombardment.

But even though the bombs should have reached the ground by now, no explosion sounded.

Jack's eyes flared.

"What? Duds?"

"No, sir. They were shot down."

"What?"

"Arrows came flying."

It would've been more believable if the other side had military weapons to shoot them down.

Arrows shooting down bombs—that was unbelievable.

"Are you kidding?"

Jack was well aware that Awakened weren't actually that strong in physical terms.

The reason they were revered as Heroes was that monsters couldn't be dealt with using modern weapons.

A fully armed squad could take down low-rank Heroes, and deploying an army with heavy firepower could handle most Heroes.

Even the strongest Hero would be finished by a nuke.

Shooting down a bombardment with arrows meant the opponent was a decently skilled Hero.

To think such a treasure existed in a dump like that—Jack licked his lips, wearing a vile expression.

"If it's someone that good, losing makes sense. Don't dispose of the one who shot the arrows—capture them alive. I'm going in personally. Land!"

"Yes sir!"

As the jet's altitude decreased, the aircraft suddenly lurched violently.

Something had gone wrong outside again.

"What now?"

"A wing was hit, sir!"

"What? This is insane!"

The report was shocking enough to rattle even Jack.

Shooting down a high-speed fighter jet was no easy feat.

Just as PTT's men were scrambling for parachutes—

Jack, sensing something ominous, kicked open the jet's door and shouted.

"Just jump!"

"Wh-what?"

Some followed Jack's lead and jumped, but others were caught off-guard by the sudden order.

They soon regretted it.

CRRACK—!

A colossal bolt of mana lightning struck the fighter jet.

It was so powerful that everyone remaining inside lost consciousness on the spot.

Jack clicked his tongue.

'Not just an archer—there was a mage too? This puts them at B-rank... no, at least A-rank.'

A tiny village whose subordinates had gotten beaten up.

An armed group inside it.

But a response far too powerful for a mere village militia.

Far too convenient to be a coincidence.

Could this really be dismissed as chance?

Jack arrived at one possibility.

"They set a trap to catch me......!"

A party of A-rank Awakened hidden behind bait.

A truly cunning ploy.

Not many groups were capable of this.

Either a trap laid by another South American mafia faction to devour PTT, or the Brazilian government.

"Nrgh—. I'll slaughter every last one of them."

Jack ground his teeth and resolved himself.

Once he survived this, it was war again.

He'd set all of South America ablaze and engrave into their skulls what happened when you crossed Jack.

CRASH—!

Jack didn't even bother with a breakfall—he simply dropped.

He absorbed every last bit of impact from the fall with his two legs alone, without even coating himself in mana.

It stung a little, but that was all.

"They're dead."

Jack led his remaining subordinates toward the slum.

The massive killing intent an S-rank Awakened radiated made his subordinates gulp.

Jack's group soon arrived at the slum.

"There you are."

Every last one of them stood with mouths agape.

They'd naturally assumed the grunt's report had been bullshit—but Cha Eunwoo was actually there.

"Why is that man here?!"

"Shut up."

Jack smirked.

This worked out perfectly.

If he captured that famous Hero alive, not just South America but even the US government would be afraid to touch PTT.

Jack drifted into happy fantasies, grinning all the while.

"Well, Professor—we're here to collect a perfectly legitimate protection fee for these people, and you go and attack us? Is that really the move?"

Cha Eunwoo let out a scoff.

"Protection fee? That's a funny joke."

"A jooooke? Oh, come now."

At the end of the day, just a measly professor. Not a combatant.

But the mage and archer who'd attacked Jack's forces were tricky.

When Jack extended his mana sense, he couldn't detect their presence at all. There might even be an assassin with stealth capabilities lurking.

"Where are the friends you're hiding?"

"Hiding?"

"The bastards who attacked us. Where are they."

With their abilities unknown and no telling what they might do from the shadows, it grated on his nerves.

Cha Eunwoo maintained an expression of pure bewilderment.

"This bastard! Where the hell did you stash the one who shot arrows and the ones who used magic?!"

"Oh. Arrows and magic?"

Instead of answering, Cha Eunwoo drew a bow.

Why would a desk-jockey professor have a bow?

Jack and his subordinates tilted their heads at the inexplicable action.

The price of that carelessness was bitter.

The instant Cha Eunwoo drew the bowstring, Jack's subordinates were annihilated.

"GAAAH!"

"This crazy bastard!"

Cha Eunwoo beckoned with a finger, taunting.

"I'm just exceptionally multi-talented."

"How dare you!"

The enraged Jack raised a massive hammer.

Trunk King.

The weapon that had terrorized all of Brazil—a symbol of the man called Jack.

"I'll kill you!"

Jack with Trunk King was invincible.

He had the confidence to beat anyone, no matter who they were.

Just as Brazil's countless Awakened had done, the man before him would also have to kneel.

THWOOM—!

Trunk King struck Cha Eunwoo.

Faster than Cha Eunwoo, heavier than Cha Eunwoo.

Whoosh—

But not more seasoned.

His technical mastery was markedly inferior.

Cha Eunwoo casually deflected the attack with his longsword-form Jeivult, then immediately drove a counterattack home.

Jack didn't even understand what his opponent had done before allowing the clean hit.

"Gkh!"

The ensuing exchange was one-sided.

Jack's attacks were frequently blocked, while Cha Eunwoo's attacks connected as clean hits, leaving wounds one by one on Jack's body.

'This bastard—wasn't he an archer? How is his swordwork this...?'

It made no sense.

Jack's strength was clearly greater, his attacks clearly faster—yet nothing was landing.

He could see all of Cha Eunwoo's attacks plain as day, yet by the time he tried to dodge, the follow-up had already arrived.

"How... how the hell......"

"It's a difference in experience."

"Don't make me laugh! Do you know how many people I've killed?! And you're telling me I lack experience?!"

"It wasn't fighting—it was one-sided slaughter."

The gap between Heroes and Awakened criminals.

Awakened criminals knew only how to dump all their mana recklessly.

In their world, there were no powerful enemies, no life-or-death battles.

But Heroes honed themselves to fight powerful monsters in dangerous dungeons.

Cha Eunwoo's techniques were gleaned from what Heroes had forged through that process. They were qualitatively on a different dimension from Awakened criminals.

Even among fellow S-rank Awakened, while their mana reserves might be equal, the gap between Hero-trained and non-Hero-trained was overwhelming in how they wielded that power.

"It's over."

Cha Eunwoo brought his sword down, then in one fluid motion twisted it upward—and Jack lost his grip on the hammer.

Cha Eunwoo pressed the blade against Jack's throat, and the fight was decided.