Villain Hides His True Colors

There was a long history of conflicts between cartels in Kowloon.

Even at the time of the first formation of the slums, there was a great deal of friction between small gangs, and today, only two forces had survived, dividing the overarching slums.

They were the Red Blood Alliance and Blue Mage.

Most gangs that existed at the time had no choice but to choose to be absorbed or pledge their loyalty under either of these two.

For a long time, these two groups fought to gain the supremacy of Kowloon. However, no winner could be reached, and eventually, after failing to cope with the accumulated damage, a dramatic ceasefire agreement was signed 10 years ago.

Naturally even after the ceasefire, there were some behind-the-scenes conflicts and people died, but it was a peaceful enough time compared to before when dozens of people died each day.

But now, the atmosphere of Kowloon, which had been quiet for a while, had begun to stir again.

“…How the hell am I supposed to interpret this?”

A middle-aged man with a black eye-patch on one eye said.

The man’s name was Vlad, the second generation boss of the Red Blood Alliance and a notorious B-Rank Villain.

And right now In front of him was a terrible scene.

Dismembered bodies of his companions and blood stains everywhere. He had never seen such a terrible tragedy even when all-out war broke out in the past.

He had witnessed countless deaths, but what he saw now had almost made him squint without realizing it.

“…”

Controlling his boiling anger, he calmly examined the corpses.

I need to figure out who did this first.

The severed section of the bodies was very neat.

On top of that, there were no traces of them fleeing, as if they didn’t have time to run away.

They were all killed at the same time.

Was there anyone here who could kill so many people in one attack?

There was naturally nothing he couldn’t kill once he made up his mind, but he wasn’t confident he could handle all of them as neatly as this assailant.

“Who the hell did this…”

After staring at the bodies for a while, a big man standing next to him spoke.

“Isn’t it obvious?! That son of a bitch Chris is the only one who could have done this!”

“…”

As the man said, Chris, the boss of Blue Mage, was the only one who could commit such an elaborate slaughter in Kowloon.

It would also explain the scene in front of them if it was the wind magic he was so proud of.

But…

I don’t have the slightest idea why he would do this…

He couldn’t think of any reason.

Knowing his personality, he was like a fox who always calculated thoroughly, considering the advantages and disadvantages.

Was there any reason at this point to break the ceasefire agreement by revealing his true intentions?

“I can’t think of a reason no matter how I look at it.”

What the hell was he plotting? Or maybe this was another trap?

The moment when his head was getting more and more clouded, a man next to him shouted with a flushed face.

“Hyung! Why are you thinking too much into this? This is an obvious provocation! It’s revenge for what happened last year!”

A year ago, an incident had occurred in which one of the Red Blood Alliance’s executives was killed.

Vlad, who had lost his sworn brother due to this incident, became furious and eventually planned for war, ignoring the peace agreement.

But fortunately, there was no war.

This was because Chris, who had judged that it would do more harm than good if a war broke out, had raised the white flag first and apologized politely.

And, as an apology, he had handed over some of the members who had committed the murder, along with a portion of their own territory.

After the terrible death of such members, Vlad had hung them up on the plaza and the case was brought to a close.

But…

Since then, Blue Mage has gradually expanded their territory.

Not in the way of outright murdering like before but in a clever way of disguising it as accidental deaths without leaving any evidence.

For this reason, Red Blood Alliance had enough evidence as far as Vlad was concerned, but there was no proper evidence, so his anger had been boiling.

And today, dozens of his companions were killed all over the place. As terrible as how he had killed the members of Blue Mage a year ago.

From his point of view, they were just low-level members who he didn’t even know their names, but the fact that Chris had touched their members so openly, no matter how hard he thought about it, there seemed to be no other possibility than a declaration of war.

He remained silent as he measured the two sides in his head.

We’re a little bit at a disadvantage.

It was half and half if he was being generous, but if he calmly analyzed the situation, they were inferior.

This was due to the difference in the number of executives that had been removed little by little over the past year.

Frankly, it was hard to say there was a chance of winning. They could win if they were really lucky, but one wrong mistake and they would suffer a near-collapse.

However, if he left the situation as it was, from tomorrow, Blue Mage would be more active in pressuring them.

What should I do about this…

His forehead wrinkled.

Soon, a large man next to him struck the hammer on his shoulder against the floor and shouted.

“If hyung keeps acting like this, I’ll go alone, so don’t try to stop me.”

The man carried the big hammer on his shoulder and stomped out.

When Vlad saw it, after a long sigh, he made up my mind and spoke.

“Wait.”

The gaze of his eyes shifted.

In order to lead this cartel, he had tried to be as temperate as possible…

I have no reason to put up with it if that’s what he wants.

He spoke to his executives nearby.

“You all know our side is inferior, right?”

“That’s fine! We just need to kill two for every person that dies!”

“I can’t take responsibility even if you die.”

“Haha…Why nitpick over something like that?”

The executives answered with an outspoken, hearty look.

Upon hearing their answers, Vlad looked at them with a grave expression.

“Good. It’s do or die. Let’s take this opportunity to take over Kowloon.”

Thus, the Red Blood Alliance broke the long-standing peace agreement and began to prepare for war.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Haa…”

I let out a long sigh. Where do I even begin? I really hate these kinds of treasure hunt quests.

How the hell was I supposed to find Jane in this vast place?

And a high-grade box was at stake too…

The difficulty and complexity was much higher than previous Challenges.

If it was a task to kill Jane, it would have taken some time, but it wouldn’t have been this much of a headache.

I’ll just have to grab a person one by one and ask.

As I walked down the streets of Kowloon agonizing over the matter, people with coordinated blue clothes and accessories that looked like a cheap team uniform suddenly appeared.

“You there! I’ve never seen you before, where are you from?”

The one standing in front of the group approached me with a frown. He seemed to be the leader.

“Hey! Why aren’t you answering my question?”

“Hold on a second, I think he’s an outsider.”

“Outsider?”

They talked amongst themselves before looking me up and down.

“Hehe, we haven’t had an outsider in ages. Thanks to him, we’ll have some pocket money.”

“Now that you mention it…That sportswear looks pretty good.”

“That’s good. He’s about the same size as my child. I’ll take it.”

“Crazy! Your child is not even three years old!”

They surrounded me with teasing smiles. There seemed to be no one among them who knew how to use mana properly.

I asked one of them.

“Ahjussi. Do you know where Jane is?”

“Why? Is your mother’s name Jane? If it’s near here…”

Wuung–!

Swiik–!

He didn’t seem to want to answer, so I just cut off his head. I was very busy today and had no time to ask every person twice.

The man’s decapitated body spewed blood and collapsed on the spot as his head rolled and stopped near the other guys.

“H-huh…?”

“Ahjussi. Do you know who Jane is?”

They had puzzled looks on their faces for a moment before immediately taking out their pistols and shouting.

“Shit! He’s a Red Blood Alliance bastard. Attack!”

Bang–!

Bang–!

They fired at me, but I didn’t avoid it or use my skills.

With all of my stats being over 5.0, my body’s durability had become impenetrable to such destructive power of a pistol.

Ding, Ding–!

Crushed bullets fell to the ground.

Hm…it still hurts a little.

I just did it as a test, and it seemed my durability wasn’t to the extent where I couldn’t feel any pain yet.

Through the holes in my sportswear, traces of red swelling as if I had been stung by a bee could be seen.

But…

My skin quickly returned to its original shape. I smiled at the sight. 

Classification: Ability

Grade: A 

Description: Drastically increases the recovery speed of the body by consuming mana.

This was the A-Grade skill I had obtained from the high-grade box before entering the institute during the gacha spree.

Hehe…as expected, this was really amazing.

As could be seen from the intuitive explanation, this skill could restore my body indefinitely as long as I had mana.

In other words, there was no need to be cautious with my body anymore.

“M-monster…”

They looked at me as they slowly started to step back.

And when their eyes met mine, they immediately turned around and shouted.

“R-run!” 

Well, I only needed one person to interrogate anyway.

Swiik–!

I left one of the fleeing guys behind and cut off the rest.

Thud–!

Heads fell side by side on the ground as the remaining survivor was stopped in the air and his body became covered in blood.

“A-ah…”

I approached the man who had a blank look on his face and asked.

“Do you know who Jane is?”

“J-Jane…N-no…”

He said he didn’t know, but he was nodding his head.

It seemed this wasn’t going to work. I sighed as I cut him.

“Haa…”

I could sense a dark future ahead of me when I thought of having to do this laborious work.

How many times would I have to repeat this?

“Hmm…”

I summoned Buldol and Alsun to feed them.

It won’t work at this rate…

I realized it after experiencing it firsthand.

It was too reckless to find Jane while running in this vast area.

At this rate, it may take months.

I needed a new way…

***

[ Translator – Yasi ]

[ Proofreader – Karane ]

As I thought as such, a new message suddenly popped up in front of me.

[ Condition for the Challenge has been met by companion Elizabeth. ]

[ Challenge updated. ]

What on earth…?

Companions could complete Challenges?

Why didn’t I know this…?

But now that I thought about it, this was to be expected.

In MMORPGs, there were many quests that could be cleared together when a party member completes a condition.

…If I knew this was possible, I would have used my companions more aggressively.

Anyways, I didn’t know what was going on here, but it seemed Elizabeth had found Jane.

Hehe…There are times when she does something useful.

But now that I had managed to get through this difficult part, it seemed I would be able to relax now.

Whatever the next part was, I’m sure it would be less demanding than the one just now.

I checked the updated Challenge.

[Challenge – Eighth Layer Hell (1)]

Condition: Save Jane. 

Time: Unlimited. 

Reward: 1x Random Box (High).

“…”

Shit! Fucking hell! It was that save quest again!

No wonder I didn’t feel good when I first saw the name of a person…

“Haa…”

I sigh without realizing it. However, I couldn’t give up the high-grade box here.

But…since I’ve gotten the hang of it after last time…

I let out another short sigh and contacted Elizabeth.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Good job, noona. Thanks to you, I finished my work easily.”

“Hehe, really? Then give me one more compliment.”

“…Good job.”

“Hmm? What did you say? I can’t hear you.”

“Huu…good job.”

I explained the situation roughly after meeting up with Elizabeth. Her shoulders soared as if they were going to fall off.

With pointed ears pricked up, her expression was very high-spirited that anyone who saw it would have assumed that she had saved the world.

But she was useful for the first time in a long time, so I played along with the atmosphere.

“Huhu, what’s this? Isn’t it Noah who can’t do anything without sister? Sister will be by your side forever from now on…”

“That’s enough.”

“…Ahem. Sorry.” 

Sure enough, this woman loses her mind if she gets even a little carried away. There was still a long way before she was serviceable.

Ignoring her who had lowered her shoulders again, I turned to the girl lying on the ground.

Short gray hair like a man’s, and elaborate features.

It was definitely my first time seeing her, but for some reason she looked familiar.

“Hmm…”

Who the hell was it?

I came a little closer to observe the girl’s face. There was a smell of cigarettes from her breath as if she was a regular smoker.

After looking at the girl’s face for a while, Elizabeth asked in a trembling voice.

“N-Noah…For no other reason at all, I’m just asking because I’m curious…Why did you say you were looking for her?”

“Well…”

That was what I wanted to know. Who the hell was this girl for there to be such a Challenge of asking to be saved?

What did she have to do with Eighth Layer Hell?

But seeing that there was no response from Red Velvet Curse, she didn’t seem to be a direct member.

“I-impossible…I-it can’t be…N-no way…This girl…A-an old love?”

“Old love…?”

What nonsense was she saying all of a sudden? Suddenly, an old memory flashed across my mind.

“Ah!”

I think I know who this was now. I hadn’t noticed it because of her short hair…

Unexpectedly, she was the one I was looking for.

Her appearance was unlike what I had seen in the first round. There was no big scar and her hair wasn’t short.

As a result, I was late in finding out.

In the first round, there was a S-Rank villain known by the name Night King.

She was known to steal anything that was even a little profitable, no matter the target.

And, she who had gradually become more fearless, eventually, even came to steal my sword.

Naturally, she was beautifully cut in half and fell. Not only that, I had also gotten a very useful sword out of all the stolen goods she had.

But did she have my sword now?

Seeing that she was weak enough to be overpowered by Elizabeth, I had a hunch that she was broke with nothing…

For now, I thought I should talk to her directly.

This girl of all people, I wondered how she was related to Eighth Layer Hell.

And…most importantly, was she hiding my sword?

I shook her to wake her up.

“Hey. Get up for a second.”

“…”

She laid motionless with her eyes closed.

“Hmm…”

Did she fall unconscious deeper than I thought? In this situation, there was only one way to do this.

Pak–!

I slapped her face.

“…Keuh!”

Her face jerked to one side and a clear sound was heard.

“Hmm?”

But just now, I think I heard her voice.

Pak–!

I slapped the other cheek.

“…Keuh!”

“…”

This time I heard her voice clearly.

She was awake.

I guess she had a hunch that she had made a mistake, as sweat could be seen dripping down from her red swollen face.

This won’t work.

I took the Love Whip out of my inventory. The dial was turned to MAX.

Then I hit her, who was still pretending to be asleep.

At that moment,

“Kyaaak!”

She jumped up and screamed. Our eyes met as she stood in front of me.

Then, taking a quick step back, she pulled out a knife.

“D-don’t come! I-I’m going to stab you!”

Her figure wielding a small knife looked like a stray cat with its claws out.

I could hurt her if I made a mistake, so I restrained her. As such, her body was immediately suspended in the air as if it had been frozen.

“Huh? M-my body…Wh-what’s this? Untie me!”

Her eyes fluctuate wildly. She asked me with a very panicked expression.

“Wh-what the hell are you trying to do to me?”

I answered her with a kind smile.

“Hehe…I’ll save you from now on, noona.” 

“Hiik!”

For some reason, after hearing my warm words, she became frightened and started going crazy.

“Aaak! Aaak! N-no! You psycho! Go away! Aaak…keok!”

Eventually, she was beaten by Elizabeth and fainted.

“…”

Staring at her figure, I had a thought. As expected, saving someone really didn’t suit me.