The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Angel in SF World (2)

An angel, it was unmistakably an angel.

Religion in a high-tech factory like this—what an odd combination.

'Is it an angel-type robot?'

It seemed perfectly plausible.

What else but a robot would come out of a gate where only robots appear?

In fact, in comics and movies, powerful androids often make their appearance in angelic forms.

If that's the case, it was easy to guess what that thing truly was.

"Is that like a boss mob or an elite mob?"

Just then, a series of memories flashed through my mind.

Even before coming to camp, I'd scoured the Internet for information about this gate.

According to all that information, there were no accounts of encountering an angel-type monster.

Moreover, the posts stated that the boss mob had already been defeated a long time ago, and it would take a long wait for another to spawn.

"Then what is that?"

While a question mark hovered in my head, the angel suddenly raised her finger and pointed it straight at me.

Before I could even wonder what the gesture meant—

Swoosh—

I swiftly turned my head to the side.

It was an abrupt move, but a glittering something brushed by my earlobe and bored a hole straight through the steel pillar behind me.

If I hadn't dodged by leaning my head away, my own skull would've been pierced instead.

'A miniature energy shot?'

I could see something at the angel's fingertip.

A tiny energy projectile, about the size of a BB pellet, had fired from her outstretched finger.

The shot, which flew even faster than a sniper bullet, appeared to have the power to melt its target on contact.

How else could it explain the gaping hole left in the steel pillar behind me?

"Who are you?"

"..."

The angel didn't answer, nor could I discern her expression.

She showed no question or emotion about her own actions.

That cold, doll-like presence was the embodiment of a robot eliminating an intruder.

Yet, for all that, something was off.

'That attack carried magic power.'

No matter how monstrous a machine might be, a machine is still a machine.

Unless it's been specially modified, it cannot generate magic power.

It's said that at most, in a D-rank gate, there are no bosses that wield magic power like an Awakened does.

Of course, bosses are still tough to defeat.

But within D-rank gates, bosses usually only rely on huge physiques and overwhelming strength—not magic.

'That's not a boss mob. Not even a monster.'

If that's true, then could it be a real person?

But if it was a person, that was even more confusing.

A young girl with wings attacking people inside a gate?

Try telling someone that and they'd just tell you to quit reading so many otaku novels.

'Well, I did enter this gate in a child's body myself.'

The angel pointed her finger at me again.

This time, rather than from her fingertip, spheres of light began to form around her wings.

The same type of energy shots as the one I'd dodged earlier.

As that fierce barrage pelted down, I raised my knife.

[Diamondification]

The skill that hardens anything I touch to the strength of diamond.

Having enhanced my knife in that way, I started deflecting the energy rounds one by one.

As expected, the barrage rained down at blistering speed, easily rivaling machine-gun fire.

But with my quick reflexes, I sliced through them all.

It was as if I was cutting through raindrops falling from the sky, one at a time.

From another person's point of view, the afterimages would probably make it look like I had several hands at once.

[The durability of Cyber Knife (E-rank) is decreasing.]
[Durability (67/100)]

When the notification window popped up, I stopped blocking and withdrew.

Though the energy shots kept coming, using 'Rapid' I quickly escaped from their trajectory.

Dodging the hail of shots that continued to track me, I ducked behind a pillar.

But hiding was meaningless; the barrage pierced the pillar as if it were tissue, shredding it to pieces.

Pshoo! Pshoo!—

The pillar that had served as my shield now bore huge holes.

Anyone hiding behind it would have been reduced to a beehive.

"..."

The angel suddenly ceased her barrage and glanced around.

There was nothing left behind the pillar that should have contained a bullet-riddled corpse.

The target was still alive.

The presence of a living being could still be detected.

At that moment, I sensed where the hidden enemy was.

Right behind the capsule next to the pillar.

Bzzzzzzzt—

The angel crouched down, wings folding, as light began to gather around her.

It sounded just like some great machine charging up energy.

Soon, when the light amassed and blazed like the sun, the angel... spread her wings wide.

Shwoooosh—

At that moment, the whole space was swallowed up by a flash of light.

It wasn't just isolated flashes like intermittent lightning—it was as if the sun itself had descended to earth.

And with the heat given off by that radiance, the whole area grew scorching hot.

The metal-constructed room heated up like a cooking pot, the temperature surging upward.

The heat from the flash was so fierce it could have reduced a human body to ash without even leaving a skeleton.

Sssssss—

Finally, as the light died down, the sound of heat dissipating resounded loudly.

That broad chamber glowed red, almost like a furnace.

Any living creature caught in that flash furnace would have been incinerated cleanly.

Naturally, that meant no corpses would remain, and the gate would auto-repair, so no evidence would be left behind.

"...!"

Just then, a life reading was detected once more.

That impossible event made the angel's body tremble involuntarily.

Though she lacked emotion, she seemed shocked at how her attack could have been evaded.

"I'm over here."

Hearing my voice from behind, the angel reflexively turned her head.

There, I was floating in the air with my levitation skill.

That sun-like attack that incinerated everything could be blocked using the skill called 'Protect'.

It was a skill that shrouded my body in a shield to defend myself.

Immediately after, using 'Rapid', I'd moved behind my opponent in a blink.

"!!"

Startled, the angel hurriedly deployed more energy shots.

She tried to fire instantly to shoot me down.

But it was already too late.

Zzzzzt—!

Before she could unleash her barrage, the angel was struck directly by the current running through my hand.

Hit by the skill called 'Shock', the angel tottered like a mosquito swatted by an electric racket and collapsed to the floor.

But the floor was still blazing hot, so I used a levitation skill on the angel.

She was gently lowered onto a safe, cool spot.

'Something about this bothers me.'

I'd deliberately chosen not to kill, but to only knock out the angel.

No, rather, it wasn't an angel at all—it was a person.

An ordinary girl, just with wings.

'The wording sounds odd...'

But in an age where being called a Mutamit means it's normal to have a tail or five arms, it's no surprise.

So she was surely an Awakened child.

But why was such an ordinary girl acting as the boss mob in this gate?

This wasn't something I could brush off lightly.

[A new mission has arrived.]

"Huh?"

I frowned at the system window that suddenly popped up.

Missions were among the systems I clung to in Mewzealand to get stronger.

The more I completed, the more experience or skills I got—back then, they were essential for me.

──────────────────
[Mission issued. (Unique)]
― You have subdued the only girl being controlled inside the gate. Please, release the poor child from her brainwashing and let her leave the gate.

Reward: Major Karma increase, system Lock function activation.
──────────────────

Missions are graded: Normal, rare, then Unique.

The higher the grade, the greater the difficulty but also the better the rewards.

A single point of curiosity arose from the reward just now.

I selected 'System Lock Function' to find out what it did.

──────────────────
〈System Lock〉
– A feature for Awakeneds intending to retire from the hunter life for a while.
By locking the entire system, it prevents regression due to low karma.
Abilities can still be used while locked, but growth is impossible.
However, the maximum lock period is 5 years, after which it auto-releases.
──────────────────

Whether or not I fulfilled the mission was up to me.
If there's no progress for a while, a mission just disappears on its own.
Normally, at this late hour, I'd have declined and left it at that.
But—

"This is it...! This is just what I need!"

System lock.
With this, I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of regularly hunting monsters.
On top of that, I could avoid getting weaker.
And my abilities would remain usable even while locked.

'I have to clear this one.'

At a glance, it seemed similar to powering down a computer.

But since abilities remained usable, it was more like sleep mode rather than a complete shutdown.

"Well, anyway, that can wait..."

Since I'd decided to clear the mission, I checked the girl's condition.

The wings were, as expected, from being a Mutamit, and aside from paralysis, she suffered no injuries.

I removed the blindfold covering her eyes.

I stared intently at her revealed face.

"I feel like I've seen her face somewhere before."

Ivory platinum hair and snow-white skin.

With her swan-like wings on her back, she could easily be called an angel.

Except, her wings were black, and that was a problem.

"Well, let's start by breaking the brainwashing."

The girl had behaved robotically from the moment we fought.

There had to be a reason for someone to commit such brutal deeds with no emotion in a place like this.

I placed my hand on her head and used a skill called 'Purification.'

It had the effect of clearing another's mind, and nothing works better on brainwashing than this skill.

I purified the impure energies tangled inside the girl's mind.

"Are you awake now?"

At last, the girl's eyelids slowly fluttered open.
In her crimson pupils, my reflection appeared.

"Who... are you...?"

With half-closed eyes, she barely managed to speak.
Her voice was weak, like someone who'd been asleep for a long time.

"Uh, well..."

How was I supposed to introduce myself?
It felt a bit much to say, 'I'm Ma Seongjin, grade 1, class 4, daesang Elementary School.'

"Were you... captured too?"

"What?"

At her words, I tilted my head in confusion.

Then she suddenly sprang to her feet and said to me,

"We have to run. Scary adults are going to come."

"Scary adults?"

"Hurry! You could die too!"

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down first."

As I tried to soothe the panicked girl, I thought it over.

I hadn't noticed anything strange when I first entered this gate.

And yet, beginning with a brainwashed kid in a dangerous gate, to her urgently telling me to run away—

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't make sense of it all.

"Let's talk about this after we get out of here."

"No... I can't leave."

The girl's behavior was still odd.

She told me to run, yet claimed she couldn't leave herself—it was foreboding.

"I don't know what I might do. I might kill someone again."

She spoke through tears, her crimson eyes brimming with grief.

"And... I can't see."

This was a greater headache than I'd expected.

No wonder the mission was labeled Unique.

Bang! Bang—!

That's when noise came from the corridor.

From my earlier vacuum slash, the passage was blocked with debris.

But it seemed someone was smashing through the wreckage from the other side.

Crash—!

Debris exploded as the corridor was burst wide open.

From within, two men—who looked like hunters—walked out.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Another friend added...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】