Chapter 19: Mad Dog

It was a late night devoid of people.

Thirty days had passed since the capture of Lee Chang-hyuk.

Buwaaaaaaaaa!

A noise like an explosion filled the empty roads of the freeway.

Dozens of illegally modified bikes emitted intense heat, noise, and dazzling lights in unison.

Hellhound.

That was the name of the biker gang that had recently taken over the freeway.

They rode in a frenzy without even the most basic safety gear, let alone helmets.

Their wild ride was either a deviation for a moment of pleasure or a manifestation of some instinct-driven madness.

But today was different.

The only reason they were rushing through the freeway today was to escape from me.

"Fu*k! He's still following us!"

"How is this even possible!"

Amidst the thunderous roar of the bikes and the howling wind, my keen senses accurately picked up the biker gang's blabber.

These were the bikers who had previously evaded their pursuers with their mobility.

But since I was keeping up with them with nothing but my bare body, it certainly warranted calling me a monster.

No, it wasn't exactly with nothing.

One of the bikers finally couldn't stand it anymore and let out a scream-like shout.

"How is he following us with that thing!"

A large skateboard was making an incredible noise as it sped along beneath me.

The actions I was performing were nearly impossible with just my strength and agility, but the spells forcibly cast on the board and my hoodie enabled me to do what I wanted.

[Speed Increase]

[Posture Control]

I pushed more magical power into the board to increase its speed.

Boom!

A roar like that of a monster bike erupted from the skateboard, which didn't even have an engine.

"Crazy! What the hell is that!"

I had now caught up to the rear of the biker gang.

"Die, you monster!"

One of the bikers at the back slowed down a bit and then pointed a submachine gun at me.

Ratatatatata!!

[Leap]

Creak! Whir!

The newly enchanted board made unstable noises but, following my will, it leaped into the air.

The bikers at the rear screamed as they saw me flying into the sky.

"Aaagh!"

"This is insane!"

"A mage! That guy's a mage!"

...Had they only just realized I was a mage?

Ah, that's right. It must have been their first time seeing a mage charging down the road like this.

At the apex of my leap, my elevated viewpoint allowed me to survey the entire gang of bikers below.

"Let's see... Ah, these reckless souls. Not a single one wearing a helmet."

Dudadadadada!! Dudadadadada, Dudadadadadada!!!

Bullets erupted like a disturbed beehive.

In the world of [Cthulhu World] that was far removed from reality even juvenile bikers were armed with submachine guns.

[Protective Circle]

Titatatat! Tatat, Tititing!

Bullets ricocheted right before my eyes.

One of the bikers at the forefront was screaming as if in a frenzy.

"What are you doing, idiots! Shoot properly! Bring him down!"

"Ah, is the loudmouth the one?"

I focused magical power towards my eyes to spot the one shouting.

Red jacket... blonde, tanned man.

Lucky. Got him.

[Hardening]

I cast hardening on the board and applied a shock beneath it to add double propulsion!

[Impact]

Kwaang!

I then flew across the air at tremendous speed, heading straight for the front of the biker gang.

Such feat was impossible without an exquisite sense of balance, timing, and the ability to control magical power.

Even the bikers momentarily forgot their situation and gaped in awe.

Kwaang!

I landed on the ground, but I kept my speed without slowing down and turned my head.

The bikers, unable to reduce their speed, now seemed to be following me.

"None of you are wearing helmets. Why risk injury? Why not just surrender?"

This was their final warning. If they continued to act recklessly despite my leniency, there was only so much more I could tolerate...

"Still acting tough, you son of a bit*h!"

A biker wearing a bright blue Sukajan jacket increased his speed while swinging a long iron flail.

Ah, was he a mid-boss?

There was no need to use magic on him.

I simply met his eyes directly.

The moment he caught up and our eyes locked...

The four eyes on the mask emitted a chilling light.

Kiiiiing!

[The unique effect of the L-rank accessory 'Carcosa's Mask', 'Yellow Dominion', has been activated.

// Yellow Dominion: Automatically cast the 'Instill Fear' spell]

[System: 'Instill Fear' effect forces a madness check on the target. Judging...]

[Judgment successful. An unbearable fear takes hold of the target's mind.]

"Arghhhhhhh!"

The complexion of the guy who met my eyes turned as pale as the color of the Sukajan jacket he wore.

Unable to resist the Instill Fear spell, his body started showing abnormalities.

The symptoms were roughly... sweating, difficulty breathing, mild convulsions, and dizziness.

"Grrrrrr..."

And then he fainted.

The biker, having lost consciousness, let go of the handle and fell off his bike.

"Eek!"

[Invisible Hand]

Crack! Boom!

The bike that lost its rider tumbled across the freeway before breaking into pieces.

I had no obligation to save the biker who had come at me with the intent to kill, but...

My dreams were already turbulent these days; I saw no need to kill him so I used telekinesis to toss him into the bushes off the road.

Well, he might survive if he's lucky.

"Eeeek... you monster!"

"Hey, who are you calling a monster?"

Dozens of guns were once again aimed at me.

Isn't this too close?

A protective circle alone seemed too risky at this moment.

[Distortion Field]

As I activated a new spell...

Ratatatatatatatata!!!

The biker gang's submachine guns fired in unison.

The bullets aimed at me were caught and redirected by the Distortion Field, which warped long-range attacks before sending them flying in random directions.

Bababababababang!!!

The misdirected bullets headed toward the biker gang, creating a myriad of sparks on the road ahead of them.

"Arghhhhh!"

Screeeeech!!!

Then I added another spell to the mix.

[Whirlwind]

Whooshhhhh!!!

It was a first-order spell that generated strong winds. Since it was a first-order one, it was meant for support rather than attack.

However, when I really started to infuse magical power into the spell, these clumsy enemies could be torn apart just by that.

Kwagwagwagwagwagyagyagyang!

An overwhelming storm that was strong enough to shake the road was created.

I had no intention of directly hitting them with this spell. It was just meant to slow them down, and as I thought, the speed of the bikes drastically decreased.

"Now, they'll get hurt a bit less, won't they?"

I threw away my skateboard and jumped up while pumping my magical power into one hand.

"That's it for the racing event now!"

[Earthquake Strike]

As soon as I fell, I slammed my fist which was filled with magical power onto the ground.

Gugugugung... Kwaaaaang!!!

The asphalt of the freeway began to violently tremble.

"Uaaaaaak!"

Unable to withstand the terrible vibration, the bikers started to fall off their bikes one by one, starting with the one in the lead.

Kwadangtangtang-! Kwajik! Kyagyagyagyag!

Ah, they should have worn helmets... Though their speed had reduced considerably, it was still fast enough to be lethal.

Blood and bike parts scattered in all directions.

The freeway quickly turned into a junkyard, tangled with bike debris and human trash.

Still, I exerted a bit of mercy by using wind and telekinesis to catch those who seemed in real danger.

It was a widespread accident that happened simultaneously in a broad area. Without my surreal level of magic control and sensing abilities, it would have been impossible.

Anyway, I had to waste quite a bit of concentration on that wind... and I failed to preemptively stop one guy's sudden action.

"Dieeeee! You son of a bit*h!"

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a loud shout came from outside my field of vision, followed by fierce flames rushing towards me.

[The unique effect of the L-rank accessory 'Carcosa's Mask', 'Dreamy blur', has been activated.

// Dreamy blur: Automatically cast the 'Blink' spell]

The mask covering my face suddenly gave me a bizarre sensation like it was pulling me in.

Sensing the danger, the [Carcosa's Mask] activated the blink spell and teleported my body away.

The incoming flames struck the empty ground and they melted a bit of the road's asphalt before disappearing.

"Hey, 30 million won. You motherfu**er don't give a s*it that I did all of this s*it to save your life?"

The leader of the biker gang, a tanned blonde in a red jacket, growled with blood dripping from his head.

"Stop fu*king around... You speak about saving us after doing all this s*it?"

Was his nickname Mad Dog? I'm not sure of his real name, but his bounty was 30 million won.

"Uaaaaaah!"

Mad Dog spread his arms and let out a roar. It wasn't a meaningless gesture.

Suddenly, strange flames burst from the guy's shoulders and they wrapped around his arms.

"Your friends, they don't happen to call you 'Fire Fist' Mad Dog, do they?"

It was, more precisely, pyrokinesis.

Just like Lee Chang-hyuk whom I had faced before, this guy suffered from magical hypertrophy.

Because he was born with a powerful magical power, he could wield primitive forms of magic.

Much like a person with superpowers.

Mad Dog, with his arms ablaze, thrust them forward and yelled at me.

"Bring it on, you fu*king c*nt!"

The heat emanating from his body was more intense than I had anticipated. This wasn't something my fire resistance could fully handle.

"What's there to bring, you mad dog? Go drink some cold water and cool your head."

[Creation: Create Clear Water]

[Spell Enhancement: Maximize]

Kwaah!

Following my will, the magic circles created in the air started spewing out massive amounts of water.

"Tch!"

Upon seeing the massive amount of water I had created, Mad Dog flinched briefly before regaining his composure and charging at me.

Normally, it's better to charge at a mage than to run away from them. Good decision.

As Mad Dog closed in, I imbued the cascading water with new properties.

[Whirling Waves]

Chaaaaaak!!! Kwapa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa!!!

The other bikers who were attempting to follow their leader and attack me were stunned by the incredible scene and tumbled to the ground in shock.

"A wave like this, on a dry road...!?"

The sight of waterfalls, waves, and raging torrents forming on a previously dry road was indeed a spectacle.

Despite the tremendous waves crashing over the road, not a single droplet touched me or the now disheartened remnants of the biker gang.

It was a massive torrent of violence directed solely at one man.

Rumble-rumble-rumble...

"Ugh... Ahh... Ahhhhh!!! Aaack!!"

[You have defeated 'Biker Gang: Mad Dog']

[You have defeated 'Biker Team: Hellhound']

[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]

Hmph... Just one level?

Now I was at level 16.

Ever since my battle against Lee Chang-hyuk, I had only encountered weaklings, so I didn't gain much experience points.

It's all because Tudor intentionally chose easy tasks with high rewards for me...

I appreciated that she did all of that in consideration of me, but it was still disappointing that I had only leveled up once after a whole month. I was hoping for more challenging tasks to begin soon.

I manipulated the waves to drag Mad Dog to my feet.

"You should have just surrendered quietly when I was being considerate, shouldn't you?"

"Grrrr..."

If he had just surrendered without a fuss, it wouldn't have come to this.

Mad Dog, who had been tossed around like clothes in an aggressively spinning washing machine, was now completely worn out.

Now that I took care of him, it was time to return. I looked around at the biker gang members crawling nearby and said,

"Anyone else wants to try their luck?"

"No-not at all!"

"P-please, just spare our lives!"

"I-it was all this bastard's doing! He made us do it!"

"That's right! Please forgive us!"

"What a bunch of disloyal bastards..."

Well, the mission was only to capture the leader so there was no need to bother with the others.

"Alright, that's done... But where exactly am I?"

I looked around. I had run much farther than I originally intended.

The chase had been more entertaining than I expected, and I just lost track of time.

Would I even be able to hail a taxi in this neighborhood at this hour?

"Would you like a ride to the city center?"

A strange voice came from an unexpected direction.

It had a very unique accent. Not Korean, but a foreigner's voice.

The direction was... over there, in the shadows of the dark trees beyond the road. I could see a figure lurking.

Who is this bastard loitering around in the middle of the night, trying to act all mysterious?