Chapter 193

Chapter 193

-Boom, boom, boom.

In an instant, there was darkness and silence.

The people gathered in the refinery stare into the void where the lights used to be and begin to click their tongues.

"What's with the generator again?"

"Why the fuck are you bothering......and radio the power plant team!"

"Some asshole touched my ass!"

As a mine built in the middle of nowhere, power outages have become a regular event.

As if this time it wouldn't be a big deal, everyone was lamenting in unison and waiting for the power to be restored.

"What kind of bullshit is this, sending a dispatch to a shitty place to mine some weird ore......."

With nothing to do in the darkness, the mercenary grumbled and flicked his cigarette to the lighter behind the door to light it.

-Tsk. Tsk.

In response, his surroundings are briefly illuminated by the flame.

Then.

"Huh?"

An unfamiliar man stood in front of him and the man raised his index finger to cover his lips.

"Shhh."

"Uh──."

The mercenary's neck snaps to the left as he tries to scream in surprise at the muffled voice.

In response, Delta Team grabs the sagging mercenary and slowly lowers him to the ground.

Eugene, who had been attracting attention earlier, watches the scene and nods once. He began to position the troops by sending out a radio signal.

"Delta - 1 through 3, second floor. Four, five, and six, first floor."

In response, the execution squad began to move without so much as a footstep.

"They're late. Hey, did you try to contact them?"

When the mercenaries don't hear a word about trying to contact the power plant, one of the villains gets suspicious and touches the lantern at his waist.

"What's so quiet, man, everyone turn on the lanterns──"

Through the brief glimmer of light, he saw men in suits and gas masks moving in an organized fashion. Surprised by a situation that is not at all what he expected, he drops his lantern to the ground in anger.

"Too bad. You would have lived a little longer if you hadn't known."

A man's voice was heard then, with a crunch, the man's body slid off the ground and the flickering lantern on the ground twirled, illuminating its surroundings.

As it flickered on and off, it was bizarre, like watching something surreal.

The mercenaries and villains were lying on the ground as if asleep and behind them was a group of men in suits and gas masks.

How long has it been?

They all stood stunned, unable to comprehend what had happened.

By the time one of them barely regained his composure, his trembling hand fumbled for his weapon.

──! ─! ─! ─! ─! ─! ─! ─! ─!

Gunfire begins to echo.

The darkened interior of the refinery, like a late-night club, was filled with flashes of light from guns and lanterns, creating a bizarre atmosphere.

With each flicker, the troops begin to change positions and take out the enemies one by one, and Eugene, who commands them, leads them to take out the villains together.

"You stupid bastards, gather round!"

Not to be outdone, the Awakened, who seems to be in charge of this place, begins to gather the mercenaries and villains around him.

Seeing this, Eugene rushed forward, cutting through the still-darkened refinery.

Bullets whizzed by, spitting fire behind him but his steps didn't slow, only quickened.

This place was filled with the fear of the enemy.

[Bloodline ability activating!]

[Attribute activating]

[Heir to the Underworld]

[An offer you can't refuse - Negotiation ability is slightly increased. Negotiation ability is greatly increased, limited to those who are afraid]

[Hitman]

[Hunter of Villains - You are a Hitman accustomed to hunting villains. Villains will fear you, making it easier for you to hunt them down.

Increases the fear that enemies feel towards you by 1.5x.

Slightly increases your ability to use Aura against villains.]

[Enforcer]

[Enforcers - those who deal with enemies of the organization. Increases your physical abilities by 1.5x when fighting against those perceived to be enemies of the organization.]

With that, the aura who had risen as if exploding formed from a synergistic combination of my numerous attributes and bloodline abilities glowed red in the darkness.

The crimson glow, clearly visible in the darkness, was enough to inspire fear.

"Shoot that one, shoot that one!"

The manager yells at the top of his lungs, pointing to the light but as if to mock him, Eugene moves at breakneck speed, leaving a long tail in its wake.

The red flame is like a comet, closing in on the villain in an instant.

──Bang!

The aura explodes and scatters around, sending one of them flying into the distance.

BANG!

The ground crunches as the second Aura explodes.

As one by one they fall to the ground, the one who realized the situation hastily raises his magic power and begins to look for a way out, backing away.

"We need to notify headquarters right now, right now──."

Then a muffled voice called out.

"Found him. The head of the Australian division."

He stretched his hands out in front of him, drawing mana from them, startled by the voice calling out his title.

"Curb!"

A fist from the side snapped his arm, breaking the spell.

"I'll tell you everything I know, so please spare me......spare me......!"

He's a quick thinker.

It only takes one attack for him to realize what's coming and he drops to his knees, begging for his life.

But

"Tuskaduska, a B-list villain. A wizard who captured children and ordinary people and conducted human experiments on them."

Eugene speaks in a low, solemn voice, as if pronouncing punishment on a sinner.

"In the name of Don Corleone, I execute you."

A crimson flame of power unlike anything he had ever seen burned above him.

* * *

"Situation terminated. Gamma Team, you may restore power."

-Confirmation. I will restore power.

Geeeeeeeeing──

As the power to the refinery began to be restored, the scene of the disaster that had just occurred began to take shape.

Villains and mercenaries lying on the ground as if they were asleep, and the one in front of me lying limp with all of the imprints on his robes broken but his chest pulses up and down, indicating that he's still alive.

"We'll take him to Korea. He's an associate of the Villain Alliance, so he might have some new information."

"As you wish, Master."

Leaving the man on the ground to Delta Team, I look around, assessing our losses.

Han Seo-joon wipes the blood from his face as he stands between the enemies, while Delta Team gathers data from the surrounding area.

"Any injuries or deaths?"

I ask into my comms, and after a moment, I hear the voices of the team leaders.

-Alpha Team is clear.

-Beta Team, all clear.

-Gamma Team has one minor casualty.

-Delta Team, two minor injuries from hand-to-hand combat with. No other damage.

Fortunately, no one seems to have suffered more than minor injuries.

"All teams move in now and collect internal materials. Alpha team, that thing I was talking about earlier."

-Report from Alpha Team. Notification that the one canary you mentioned has gone home.

"Confirmed."

And the one I released on purpose, as planned, seems to have gotten out of here without incident.

"Well done. Master."

Han Seo-joon, who had finished grooming himself and had his collar neatly rearranged, slowly approached.

"You've done well, too. Are you hurt?"

"No. Are you all right, Master?"

"I'm fine."

Unlike the time I rushed at them, this time I moved with the intention of capitalizing on their fear.

"No, more......good than usual?"

Unlike usual, this battlefield, with everything designed to work in our favor, seemed to teach me something new.

The fear and numbers of our enemies, coupled with my physical abilities enhanced by my bloodline powers, and the fact that I was able to use Aura to shrug off flying bullets and deal devastating blows against shielded wizards.

However, that's not all.

Even after such a battle, I felt more energized than exhausted.

"Send word to the family. End the situation."

"Yes, sir."

With that, Han Seo-joon left to make the call.

As I walked out of the refinery, leaving behind Team Delta, who was starting to clean up, and Team Gamma, who had come to follow up, a cool breeze enveloped me.

"Whoa."

Maybe it was because I moved my body but I could feel my feverish body cooling down and my mind gradually calming down.

Under the Australian night sky, where there are no skyscrapers my thoughts were neither sentimental nor literary, but practical.

'Why did they want to build a base in a place like this?'

I get that they're villains, so they picked a place off the beaten path but an abandoned mine isn't really an advantage, except that it's off the beaten path.

It wasn't even mentioned in the original game, so I knew very little about it but I couldn't get it out of my head.

In the game, there was always a reward for taking out the Villain Alliance base so I wondered if there was something here, too.

But there were no reports from the team leaders, who were already searching all the surrounding buildings.

That means.......

"Is it a mine?"

Recalling the entrance to the mine based on the briefing and information I had received beforehand, I slowly walked towards it and looked around.

The sun had already completely set, so there were no people in sight, but the tracks leading to the entrance were very clean, as if the mine had been moved recently.

A light touch showed signs of care.

"Wait, what's this reminding me of?"

Australia, mine, underground.

Surely I've seen a similar text in the game before?

Suddenly, a memory flashed through my mind.

"......nature gemstone."

Not magic stones plucked from the bodies of monsters, but magic stones created by nature, influenced by the magical forces around them.

And as if to prove it, the team leader's voice came through the in-ear.

-Beta team reporting! We've found a warehouse with a large stockpile of magic stones nearby. What do we do?

-Gamma. There's a warehouse with gems here too.......

-Beta Team. Found a warehouse.......

Okay, now I get it.

An ore source for magic stones, and the Villain Alliance.

No wonder they came all the way out here to build a base.

An ore mine in Australia had to be one of the places that would pay the bills for the Villain Alliance in the future.

"I think Consigliere would like this."

For some reason, I could already see Consigliere dancing with his arms around me.