Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan

Memorial Service (4)

A bishop-level villain from DRR appeared in Beijing. It was possible that other DRR remnants who had abandoned their base were plotting something in China.

‘He’s gone.’

The villain is skilled at concealing his negative energy.

I only identified him through the information window. I couldn’t even detect his negative energy right in front of me.

Just a gray-colored negative energy spread out and dominated the space for a very short time. That was probably the aftermath of using a magic technique.

‘He’s become cautious. He won’t use his abilities recklessly.’

Whether in the city center or suburbs, once he’s determined to hide, finding Specter again would be a distant prospect.

It left a bad taste in my mouth. I should have dealt with him with the first strike.

Swish.

Isaac, having changed his face again, sank into the shadows. He leaped through the shadows of buildings with the sun at their backs, jumping through space several times.

His form emerged from the shadows of a large shopping complex with a movie theater.

‘A battle?’

It’s not even clear if it could be called a fight.

A faint energy release was detected. It was the magical power of the team members and the Baek family bloodlines.

Isaac leisurely entered the underground lecture hall. The situation was already over.

Slash.

On the stage. Jin-soo Yeo’s dawn-light sword slightly pierced the neck of a pot-bellied middle-aged man.

Hundreds of civilians were all unconscious, sprawled across the audience seats.

It seems they had been mentally controlled as a group and attacked the heroes.

“P-please spare my life!”

The middle-aged man, who had lost the will to fight and was now pleading, must be the key to this incident.

Isaac waved his hand towards Baek Pung-young, who was looking at him, signaling him to handle it as he saw fit.

Baek Pung-young’s gaze turned to the villain.

“Spill everything you know.”

“I just… people were gathering… My ability is public speaking, you see. Through speeches, I can extract energy and receive service, and before I knew it, I crossed the line…”

Like many criminals, the man appealed to emotions.

Hwang Man-deuk, who had transformed into a beast, walked over with heavy steps and spoke in a booming voice.

“Senior. I’ll handle this for a moment.”

“Huh? Oh. Go ahead.”

Crack!

Crunch!

“Aaaaargh!”

The middle-aged man’s limbs were broken like twigs. The pot-bellied man, who had been shedding tears and snot, started spilling even the unsolicited secrets of Beijing.

“It’s true that I’m responsible for corrupting the audience’s minds. But the rest isn’t my doing! Ugh… Ungh. There are many others operating in the underground. They commit fraud, human trafficking… and drug dealing too. Sob, it’s not like you’re dealing with people like us for the first or second time. You know how it is, don’t you?”

Swish.

Hwang Man-deuk brought his bear-like fist close.

The villain, who had been masquerading as a lecturer, continued in terror.

“I understand! I get it. I’ll tell you everything. Recently, the purchase of self-defense items and battle items has increased sharply across China. Wealthy capitalists are in an uproar about building bunkers in their homes, so construction companies are making a pretty penny too!”

It was about the industry.

These days, villains can’t operate if they’re stupid. Criminal acts are driven by the thirst for new variations and economic desires, rather than individual pleasure.

“Given the trend, I also… while giving lectures on disaster preparedness… I extracted and absorbed negative energy from people using my technique. There were tons of lecture requests too. Everyone was so scared, it looked delicious. As a side effect, their mental barriers seem to have collapsed… But, but there are others more vicious than me!”

Wham!

“Gack!”

A powerful fist slammed into the villain’s face. It was Baek Pung-young’s unexpected act of justice.

“You bastard, think I’ll let you off if you beg? Ah! I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Seo Eun-ha, how do these people look to you?”

“They’re still okay. I can heal them.”

“Then Team B, continue the mission based on the information we’ve gathered so far. Prioritize investigating battle item and religious item vendors. Team A will hand over the villain to the Martial Arts Alliance and request follow-up measures.”

“Understood!”

The Baek family bloodlines, designated as Team B, responded vigorously.

They had somehow pinpointed the villain’s location in one go. And the orders were clear.

When they were at a loss due to lack of human resources, Isaac appeared as a disaster control tower.

‘It seems he’s already finished preparations.’

In a month, the decisive battle with the demon race, on which humanity’s fate hangs, will begin. The main force the world alliance was counting on was Hero Isaac, right before their eyes.

Yet, he himself was helping normalize China, which had fallen into chaos, along with his juniors. If it was composure, it was composure indeed. And such composure was not something a person facing imminent death could possess.

Baek Pung-young thought.

That Hero Isaac must have already completed the card that could win the decisive battle.

Shalalalarang―

The Thousand Gold Sacred Purity, the Soul Jewel, rose high and emitted a brilliant golden aura.

The golden waves spread throughout the lecture hall, gently comforting the unconscious citizens.

Even after repeating this process for 10 minutes straight, not a single drop of sweat formed on Seo Eun-ha’s forehead.

This was thanks to the negative energy convert build switch, which greatly increased the amount of energy she could use.

Beep beep beep.

Just as the fainted citizens were starting to regain consciousness one by one, a phone call came in. The caller was ‘Cho-yeon’, the family member of the missing person who had given a detailed account of the symptoms.

“This is Isaac.”

─Ugh… Hick.

A groan that seemed to tremble with fear came through. It seemed she had fallen victim to some kind of technique.

‘So it is related to a religious ritual after all.’

She had said that a month ago, and a week ago, she had commissioned a famous shaman to perform a ‘rite’ that was supposed to have an exorcism effect.

There was no time to think. It was urgent.

“Looks like we’ll have another victim. Stand by.”

Swish―

It was before he even heard a response from the team members.

Isaac had already sunk into the shadows.

Whoosh―

It’s not far.

The distance to the suburban house is about 12km.

Alleys and roofs, awnings and buses. He leaps through the shadows of all things with the sun at their backs. Shadows existed behind everything that blocked the light.

The combat skills gained from absorbing unique magic stones are each close to a ‘talent’.

Ironically, Isaac, who had no magic circuits in his body, had the potential to bloom ten thousand talents.

Swish.

A familiar place.

Isaac rose like a dark slime beneath the coordinates he had memorized with his genius brain.

‘A technique is unfolding.’

The power is weak. The emitted negative energy is at the level of a common species. It’s what’s known as a Level 5 disaster. However, even a Level 5 disaster can be fatal to civilians.

Heroes are heroes. Civilians are civilians.

Isaac spread his shadow domain.

Whoosh―

In an instant, the suburban house was plunged into pitch darkness.

No evil spirits, monsters, or villains were detected. The source of the negative energy was within what appeared to be a supporting character of human species.

The shadow enveloped the woman.

‘A wallet? This is… a charm?’

Isaac’s will pushed away the magical technique. The charm infused with shadows instantly became useless.

The type of technique was a curse. It was a technique that induced extreme fear in the bearer at regular intervals.

Isaac entered the house.

The supporting character, huddled in a corner of the living room, was trembling and trying to steady her breathing.

“It’s alright now. Please tell me what happened when you’ve recovered.”

“H-Hero… Ugh…”

The woman clung to his legs. She was as fragile as a puppy dramatically rescued from a downpour. Her forehead and back were damp with sweat.

A moment later. After calming down, the supporting character spoke.

“I saw something strange in the sky. It looked like a demon called ‘Hwan’. Just as the shaman said! He told me that if I see Hwan, I should never look at it, but hide in a corner, cover my ears, and look at the opposite side of the sky, the corner of the house… He said if I endure for a week like this, both Hwan and the misfortune would disappear…”

“It sounds similar to your daughter’s seizure symptoms.”

“Yes! That’s right. That’s why I told you. The shaman said never to reveal the efficacy of the charm to others. But this… That shaman is strange. My daughter disappeared on the day when a week had passed since her seizures started. Hero! Please find my daughter, please…! *sob*”

Though her words were disjointed, the meaning was conveyed.

The charm received from the shaman was the medium of the curse.

Isaac took out the charm from the supporting character’s wallet. The charm had unfamiliar magical characters written in red.

‘Let’s confirm it thoroughly.’

It was time to use the power of the ancient-grade daily skill ‘Language Decoder’.

As Isaac examined the shape, strokes, and radicals of the magical characters, he was able to decipher their meaning in 30 minutes with the system’s assistance.

The magical characters themselves formed a technique.

‘This is why I couldn’t detect it.’

It was used to conceal the curse technique hidden within the charm. There were two layers of techniques on a single charm.

A sealing technique composed of unfamiliar magical characters. A curse technique hidden within it. The opponent’s method was meticulous.

‘They amplified the power with a simple method.’

That’s not all.

The curse technique lasts for a week, activating once a day. And each time, if one simply looks at the sky, the curse is lifted. Conversely, if one doesn’t look at something in the sky and turns away, the curse strengthens over a week, ultimately leading the subject to an unknown space.

It was a curse technique that forcibly transported civilians who failed to lift the curse to a specific location prepared by the shaman.

Because the method to overcome the curse was simple, it wouldn’t have consumed much negative energy despite being a powerful curse.

“I’ve already lifted the curse. Please tell me the appearance and address of the shaman who sold this charm.”

He had unraveled the thread of the mass disappearance case. Isaac’s eyes glinted with a chilling light.

====

***

====

The scenery of vast prairies, lush forests, and clear rivers flowing through the great nature came into view at once.

Far away in the sky, a flock of wyverns, the local specialty, was cutting through the air, and occasionally, roars like the cries of giant monsters shook the earth.

The magnificent scenery and sounds of nature were reflected through a single window. The fields and forests reflected in the window approached like a painting, blending with the whispers of the wind to create a work of art.

She had rested enough. It was a peace she hadn’t enjoyed in a long time.

The woman who had finished preparing to leave, Ophelia Grace, kicked open the door, leaving her regrets behind.

“Miss. I’ve prepared everything in advance.”

“My, how quick. Liana, did you hate this place too, thinking it was a backwater?”

“Of course not. The head of the family has issued an urgent summons. You’ll be scolded again if you’re late.”

On one side of the villa, a blue portal had opened. The portal was a means of long-distance spatial jump to the metropolis.

The moment she stepped through there, it would be goodbye to her peaceful daily life. It was the countryside she had come down to on disciplinary measures.

But Ophelia knew. That her father had given her a rest disguised as punishment.

Ophelia took a step after taking a deep breath.

Ziiing.

A paradise land spread out beyond the great forest.

The place where the deep-rooted history of the Grace family, the renowned magic clan that had conquered the vast and magnificent region of Terraria, lived and breathed.

Graciana, the metropolis where the prestige of cutting-edge magical engineering and architectural technology was fully incorporated.

It was the view of a noble who had lived and grown up here all her life.

The magnificent view of the city planned in the structure of a hexagram, the symbol of the Grace family, could be seen at a glance.

Arcanum Spire.

It is a towering spire where the Grace family and other high-ranking members reside, and a symbol of authority.

The people of Graciana always look up to the Arcanum Spire. The opposite side forms a symmetry.

The bloodline of Grace always looked down upon the people of Graciana. It was a clear difference in perspective between nobles and commoners.

“Sigh― Haa.”

Since childhood, she had always found it difficult to breathe when coming up here. Whether it was a kind of altitude sickness or due to trauma, she still couldn’t tell.

Squeeze.

She closed her eyes tightly.

And thought of someone.

When that person sees the Arcanum Spire someday, what kind of reaction will he show?

‘Probably.’

He’d just say it’s tall and that would be it. He wouldn’t be surprised or disappointed. Things like unique status or inheritance wars would not even be of interest to him.

Karn, the King of Shadows.

Salarotse, the Holy Tree.

Theodren, who inherited the power of the Fallen Angel.

She had seen the miracles he performed. It was truly the path of a genuine hero.

Compared to him, things like family conflicts were trivial. Somehow, she felt at ease.

“Miss? You’re not in a position to dawdle.”

“Oh my. Alright, alright.”

She gently opened her eyes.

The wind was refreshing.