Chapter 297: Outland (3)

The carriage gradually slowed until it stopped. The coachman knocked on the door.

"Please get off, sirs," he said with a smooth voice.

Instead of getting off, the two men expanded their magic power and scanned their immediate surroundings.

'I don't sense anyone waiting to ambush us.'

It would have been a different story if there were a fiend specializing in stealth, but if there were, Seo Jun-Ho's Intuition would have warned him. As such, he nodded, and Gilberto opened the carriage door.

They were in a dark forest, and there wasn't even a proper path.

'I don't sense any traces of people at all. They don't use this place often.'

There was no way that this was their main trading post.

Gilberto stared at the coachman before he spoke, "This is quite a remote area. Is the merchant on their way here?"

"Yes. Please wait a moment."

Reins in hand, the coachman politely brought his hands together and bowed his head. At that, Gilberto turned and looked around the forest.

'Huh?'

Just then, he made a 'V' with his fingers and quickly tapped his thigh twice. With the coachman's back turned, the only one who saw it was Seo Jun-Ho.

'That's...' Seo Jun-Ho's eyes flashed. It was a hand signal they often used 26 years ago. It basically meant that the person in question was lying.

'In other words, the merchant isn't coming this way.'

That meant the Fiend Association had no intention of selling them the potion.

Seo Jun-Ho sighed. "In any case, I don't think they seem to think of you as a has-been."

"...Even though I deserve it." Gilberto didn't sigh. His gun did it for him instead.

"Huh...?" Just as the word left the coachman's mouth, he touched his chest. Somehow, red had started to bloom on his white shirt. His chest was suddenly penetrated with neither sound nor sign.

As the coachman fell, Gilberto's revolver let out a white puff of smoke.

"I must have underestimated myself," he muttered, holstering his revolver on his hip. "It seems like they don't want to meet us. Should we go back?"

"You're joking, right?" Seo Jun-Ho grinned and walked over to the corpse. Sure enough, the coachman's eyes were burning red. "Confession of the Dead."

Seo Jun-Ho placed his hand on the coachman's forehead and quickly read through the latter's memories.

"Paradise is closer than I thought," he said.

"They were most likely planning to buy time here while trying to figure out what we're up to," Gilberto concluded.

"That's not all." Seo Jun-Ho slowly turned his head, looking at the overgrown trees blanketed in the still darkness. "It's adorable. They're trying to hunt us."

"Whether it's now or then, the fiends really seem to hate us."

"I hate them even more, so it's fine."

"..." Gilberto looked into the forest. "So, what will we do? Shall we go back?"

The fiends had covered the forest in a finely woven Heaven's Net to catch them. If they went back just like this, the fiends probably wouldn't bother to chase after them, but either way, they would have to fight the fiends at some point.

"I'm telling you, you always ask questions with the most obvious answers," Seo Jun-Ho replied, unsheathing the Sword of Ambition. "Let's go. Paradise isn't far."

With those words, the two figures disappeared into the dark forest.

***

A Heaven's Net was a net that covered both the sky and the ground. It was a barrier made up of individual people as its strands. Once you stepped into its coverage, you wouldn't come out alive. It was a technique that was so difficult to coordinate, the fiends had only used it five times throughout their entire history.

'But this one's pretty sloppy,' Seo Jun-Ho thought. He had ripped apart two Heaven's Nets before. This one emanated a completely different aura from the ones he had to suffer through when he was Specter.

'Is it because I'm a lot stronger than I was back then?'

He thought about it for a moment, but that wasn't it. This one was looser and less dense than before. Back then, he could sense that his life was in danger every time he took a step. However, this one was completely different.

'The standards for fiends have certainly gone up from the past. So that means...'

This was a difference in strategy. There was once a time when all the fiends in the world had put their heads together to create a Heaven's Net just to kill one man. This one couldn't even compare to that.

"Their predecessors were a lot better," Seo Jun-Ho remarked. He darted into the dark forest. He wouldn't even dream of doing that in the previous Heaven's Net he had experienced, but right now, there was something he was sure of.

'This Net will easily snap.'

The evidence was right in front of him.

"What...!" The fiend hiding in the branches let out a surprised cry.

"Back then, none of them screamed until the moment of death." He stabbed the fiend's chest in an instant and looked for his next target.

After a single strand of the net snapped, there was an immediate response. Around him, the net started to wriggle.

'It's gonna be a long night.'

For his enemies, it would be.

***

Dozens of fiends were gathered in a clearing near the outskirts of the forest. There was a man sitting on the stump of a fallen tree.

"The coachman is dead," he said, looking at the others.

"..."

The fiends' faces darkened. The coachman had been escorting none other than Gilberto Green and Seo Jun-Ho.

"And those two bastards..." The leader paused for a moment before continuing, "They just came into the forest."

He could feel it.

In addition to being a giant net, a Heaven's Net was also a kind of systematic data center. If a single strand snapped, a signal would be sent to those around them. And the leader could also control each and every strand.

"We'll kill them tonight."

Normally, he wouldn't be this confident. Their opponents were one of the 5 Heroes, and the other was the Rising Star Seo Jun-Ho.

But today, the fiends had an ample amount of time. The coachman had bought them time by dragging the carriage around in circles in Outland.

"Once this Heaven's Net is complete, not even a Heaven can escape."

This wasn't just some overconfident, thoughtless comment. This was what the great Heavenly Demon himself had said.

'And Gilberto Green...' The leader's eyes burned with fury. On the day of the Heavenly Demon's death, Gilberto had taken a massive role in interrupting their mission.

'You'll get very special treatment.'

The man's name was Guladin. He was the Squadron Leader of the Gluttony Squadron and Paradise's sous chef. There was only one person above him, while there were many below him.

"Protect me. Don't let a single ant get close," he ordered. Guladin closed his eyes and let out a twisted groan. At first, it was a cry of pain, but eventually, it became a moan of pleasure.

'Ahh.'

Though his eyes were closed, he could sense everything thanks to his skill, Mind Knot (A).

'I can feel it. I can feel it.'

He had tied all the minds of the fiends into one to create a new kind of Heaven's Net. He had discarded the older, more worn-out version to create this new technique himself.

'342.'

He was currently sensing that many fiends. Of course, as their commander, he could also send out individual commands toward them.

'I am a god in the Heaven's Net.'

No one could refute that. Not a single insect could escape his sights.

'Now, let's start cooking.'

Guladin waited patiently. Soon enough, a strand was severed.

'Number 275.'

At the same time, the sight he saw changed.

"Cough, cough...'

Through the eyes of the dying fiend, he saw Seo Jun-Ho.

It was definitely him.

'Alright. Let's surround the area around 275.'

The feeling was electrifying. With just a thought, hundreds of fiends immediately moved according to his will.

'It's as easy as eating cold soup.'

Now that he had located Seo Jun-Ho, it was only a matter of time before the latter was killed. Now, all that was left was Gilberto Green.

Or so he thought...

'Huh?'

Guladin's eyebrow twitched. He was sure he had sent twenty strands—no, fiends toward 275 to surround Seo Jun-Ho.

But...

'They were all severed?'

No, that was impossible. Had he killed all twenty of them by himself in merely three minutes? Guladin couldn't comprehend it.

However, he came to a conclusion. 'I see. Gilberto Green is supporting him from the back.' That was what he thought. 'Those idiots. Are they planning to move together despite being trapped in a Heaven's Net?'

The best thing to do when caught in a Heaven's Net was to scatter in different directions so that the pursuing forces would be forced to split.

Guladin grinned. 'Well, I suppose it's a given that he wouldn't know. It's not like he has ever encountered a Heaven's Net of this size.'

Excluding the Heaven's Net once made for Specter, the Nets hadn't been used much throughout history. He knew that Gilberto Green had to have heard the stories and knew how a Heaven's Net worked, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

'Everyone, go to 176's location.'

The forest shifted greatly. Every fiend started to move at Guladin's order.

And just then...

'...Wait, everyone stop.' Guladin's face fell after giving the hasty order. '219 was taken out?'

219 was in the complete opposite direction as 176. Even if Gilberto Green was the best sniper, this was still a forest. 'It's impossible to snipe someone that far unless the bullet didn't come there.Unless the bullet was moving in different directions, it's impossible to snipe someone from that distance.'

Guladin's head started to spin. 'That means...Gilberto was moving separately from the very beginning?'

No, that didn't make sense either. If that were true, it meant Seo Jun-Ho had taken out over twenty fiends in merely three minutes.

'What...what the hell is going on?'

Guladin quickly looked through the eyes of the dead fiends. However, all he saw was gray TV static.

"What..." Guladin muttered unconsciously. "What the hell is going on?"

His net was being pulled apart by both of his prey.

***

Seo Jun-Ho dashed through the forest. Suddenly, he threw his dagger toward the ground, killing the fiend that had been lying in ambush. He then sent out a silver thread from within his sleeve.

"Gah!" It wrapped around the neck of a fiend hiding in the trees. Seo Jun-Ho used the branch as a pulley, cutting off the fiend's airways.

"This is more useful than I thought," he remarked. This was the thread of a Steel Spider, which had been used by the fiend he fought in Maliva. It was incredibly durable, so it could be used in many ways; what he had done just now was an example.

"My Intuition's spot-on too."

Vrrr.

Keen Intuition vibrated. It had been telling him the location of the fiends.

"But... They call this a Heaven's Net? I bet the fiends who died back then are crying in the afterlife." This couldn't be considered a Heaven's Net. It was merely a poor imitation of one. "Though, I do think I know why they changed it."

The Heaven's Net technique was created solely to kill Specter. Obviously, they couldn't make it that powerful for other Players. And that was probably the reason why changed it.

'If there's one condemnable thing about it... it's the speed.'

In the beginning, the fiends had been very spread out. However, every time he killed one, the speed at which they started surrounding him was increasing at an impossible rate.

'This speed makes no sense... It's not like someone's controlling the Heaven's Net either.'

Excited, Keen Intuition rang in his temples.

Why was it going off all of a sudden?

"Tch, they're coming again."

Seo Jun-Ho let out a low sigh. Even though he had already killed sixty fiends, they just on kept coming.

'I don't know about the rest, but there's one thing it has in common with a true Heaven's Net.'

And it was the fact that there was no end to the enemies. Even though this was merely an imitation of one, there had to be at least 200 fiends in the net.

'How long will it take the two of us to destroy it?' Seo Jun-Ho clicked his tongue.

All of a sudden, something caught his eye.

His eyes met the gaze of the floating about Frost Queen in the air.

"Yes?" As soon as she spoke, he clapped his hands together while staring at her.

"I'm such an idiot. Why didn't I use my precious weapon?"

"Huh...?" The Frost Queen's voice grew small. For some reason, she felt greatly disturbed.