Chapter 21: Abyss City 1.0 Part 4

Released:

Name: Rohan

Health: 82%

Magical power: 66%

Affiliated Nation: Southern Ruins

Affiliated Organization: Orion Academy

Attributes: [Physical] [Fire]

Status: Bleeding

Remaining Points: 273P

Rohan’s status window was highly useful.

It gave a tangible sense that death was still keeping its distance and showed real-time negative abnormalities occurring in his body.

It’s not severe bleeding.

His mind was crystal clear, and his body stayed warm with maintained body heat.

It wasn’t at the point where he had to resort to a forced method of stopping the bleeding or cutting off circulation.

Now that both his mind and body were prepared for battle, it was ideal to go kill the leader.

Let’s go right now.

Rohan gripped the claw hammer and his pistol.

The knife he’d been using for a short while had broken during the fight in the factory while facing multiple opponents.

You could say it had a fitting end for a cheap knife. It couldn’t withstand the force of stabbing and twisting, so the handle shattered, and it ended up lodged in one guy’s stomach.

Following the smell of paint carried by the wind, Rohan walked on.

That’s how he came face-to-face with him.

Scrap! Scraaap!

A man with a closely shaved head wearing a plastic mask, spraying paint on a wall.

He stood around 190 centimeters tall, and his figure looked quite bulky. This was probably due to the thick jacket.

His neck was as thick as that of a four-legged animal.

Koo Shadley.

From Rohan’s memory, that was definitely his name.

Seeing him up close brought old memories vividly to the surface.

And then a brief exchange:

“Today, I was in especially high spirits. On days like this, I can’t just stop working on my piece halfway.”

“Right.”

Without hesitation, Rohan pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The muzzle flared with a bright flash.

A bullet aimed precisely at the head. Shadley’s head snapped back and then returned to position.

“That hurts. Why are you doing this?”

“·….··.”

The bullet failed to penetrate his head and instead dropped to the floor with a thin metallic clatter.

A reddish scrape was visible on Shadley’s forehead.

Firing multiple shots now wouldn’t do much.

In that case, the pistol would simply serve as a means of keeping him in check.

If he felt the need to free up his hand, tossing it away without regret might be best.

“Answer me. Why did you do this?”

“You’ve spent your whole life sucking the lifeblood out of others, and now you’re wondering why you’re dying? Does that even make sense?”

When Rohan showed blatant disbelief toward Shadley,

He could see strength gather with a crackle in the fist wearing brass knuckles.

“Like last time, Hoken must’ve sent you, right? He’s always held an inferiority complex toward my artwork, so it’s obvious without even seeing.”

“Ugh…”

“Aah! That poor, pitiful Hoken. Every time he realized he had no talent, I must have been such an object of envy and hatred.”

As Shadley started to get carried away in his own questions and answers, Rohan once again aimed the muzzle at him.

He already knew ordinary spots wouldn’t work, so if possible, the next shot would be aimed at an eye.

Bang!

Whether he read Rohan’s intent from the aim alone, he dodged it with uncanny precision.

Then, as though confirming some suspicion, he gave a sly grin.

“Judging by that reaction, Hoken really did send you. Am I right?”

“Keep your mouth shut. I like chatty women, but a man who talks too much is a total turn-off.”

“You… your actions and words don’t match that baby face of yours. It’s entertaining.”

Crack-crack.

Shadley cracked his neck in a full circle, then strode quickly toward Rohan.

“…….”

As soon as Shadley came within range, Rohan swung his claw hammer.

At the same time, Shadley’s fist lashed out.

Their deadly moves collided.

Bang! Bang! Clang! Claaang!

Under the night sky, small sparks and loud clashes flared.

Even while dodging those punches, Rohan felt that Shadley’s strength was on a different level compared to the Yard-Pound brothers.

Just the impact alone could tear open shallow wounds.

On top of that, he wasn’t throwing sloppy kicks; instead, he used short, rapid punches.

He had some training; that much was clear.

He outmatches me physically. But still, this is okay.

Rohan felt the claw hammer bouncing off his knuckles with every swing, along with the sting in his palm.

He aimed the pistol at Shadley’s crotch and pulled the trigger.

“!”

Shadley twisted his body urgently at the sudden chill.

Bang! Bang!

The bullets struck Shadley’s thigh and fell away.

Without a moment to catch his breath, Rohan continued hammering.

Shadley stepped back with a mirthless laugh as the claw hammer came down to smash his head.

“Can we at least maintain some basic courtesy? Your methods are way too vulgar.”

“You put on quite a show, acting like an artist and a madman at the same time, but you’re afraid of having your balls smashed?”

Rohan let out a slight smirk.

Shadley ran a palm over his bristly hair to regain his composure.

“…I don’t think the painting you’re drawing will have any flair.”

“I’m not interested in paintings.”

“You’re so cold. From one to ten, you’re just a brat I can’t stand.”

From that brief exchange, Shadley became convinced.

That youthful appearance must be a disguise. What a creepy guy.

If not, it made no sense. He refused to accept otherwise.

In Shadley’s eyes, that movement was too raw to have come from professional training.

It was something born of layer upon layer of bloody experience. It was simple but chilling.

I need to end this quickly.

He had sensed his opponent’s approach and taken his drug in advance, so the effects were definitely working.

Thanks to that, his physical abilities were superior.

Yet he still couldn’t find an opening to smash something and gain the upper hand. The brat dodged his fists like a rat.

If I keep going like this and the drug wears off…

His concentration lapsed.

Sensing that shift in Shadley’s focus, Rohan lunged forward.

Crack!

In a desperate move to shield his head, Shadley took the claw hammer in his forearm.

“Tch!”

Then he saw Rohan’s pistol shift smoothly.

Shadley swung his fist filled with magical power.

The gun that was struck head-on by his knuckles shattered with a crunch and scattered into the air.

However, Shadley felt no relief that the pesky weapon had disappeared.

He had seen Rohan let go of the pistol mid-swing.

Thump.

Rohan’s empty hand clamped down on Shadley’s arm as if to keep him from escaping.

He then raised the claw hammer in an exaggerated arc.

Naturally drawn to the weapon, Shadley attempted a counterattack at that moment.

“!?”

But he felt an odd sensation from the hand Rohan had on him and recoiled in shock.

Rohan, instead of giving chase, merely nodded his head in satisfaction.

“Hmm, as expected.”

“You… you did something, didn’t you?”

Traces of Rohan’s magical power remained. Shadley forced a smile and rubbed his forearm.

He couldn’t even begin to explain how bizarre the feeling was as it flowed through his skin.

[Granted the target a physical attribute weakness.]

That’s useful information.

The lingering doubt Rohan had felt while he used that skill during the brawl with the other men was now resolved.

At last, he was certain of his capabilities.

The Inflict Weakness skill varies in magical power consumption depending on the opponent’s skill level.

In addition, starting from a certain level, the opponent starts to sense the anomalies caused by the skill’s intrusion.

In ambiguous explanations like this, there were bound to be elements that had to be grasped through experience.

“Guess you had some underhanded skill or something?”

“Stop.”

“…….”

“Don’t even think about talking to me.”

When Rohan cut him off and extended his foot, Shadley leaned his body forward in a battle stance.

Perhaps he had scraped up every last bit of magical power, as his presence felt more intense than before.

A tackle?

It wasn’t a bad strategy. Since he was bigger and physically superior, he probably wanted to seize control.

Rohan also understood Shadley’s mindset.

Having taken a blow to the arm earlier, Shadley must have been prepared to take a direct hit.

However.

Once he got struck by the claw hammer, he would realize—

What kind of changes had taken place in his body.

“Hrrmph!”

Like a raging bull, Shadley stomped on the ground with a heavy thud and hurled himself forward.

A tackle coming straight on.

Although there was a possibility of slowing down or speeding up to shift its timing,

Even so, Rohan did not overthink it and brought down the claw hammer as though he was catching a mole.

***

“……”

Having arrived near the rendezvous point, the princess instinctively hid herself.

When she checked the clock attached to her communication device, she saw that the appointed time had just passed.

She wondered what she should do in a situation like this. Would it be all right to simply go back?

She found it difficult to make a prompt decision.

Besides, she felt oddly reluctant to call the elder over the radio.

Let’s wait just ten more minutes.

With this final decision in mind, the princess leaned her back against a wall and slid down to sit.

She gazed blankly at the starry night sky, not knowing how long she had been there.

The ten minutes she had promised herself had surely passed by then.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Footsteps echoed from a distance. They were drawing closer and closer.

The princess who was seated princess took out a small mirror and cautiously checked outside.

Is that man the important guest the elder was talking about?

She saw just one man, and he didn’t seem to be merely passing through.

In any case, this wasn’t really a place people would just wander by.

Come to think of it, didn’t the elder mention “guests” as in plural…?

She wasn’t sure. Her memory had been hazy lately.

Having lost confidence, the princess decided to watch him for a moment.

He didn’t seem like one of those delinquent types the elders had called in last time.

From his appearance, he seemed about her age.

Still, something about his heavy aura made the princess hesitate and observe him carefully.

He stood in place and was fiddling with his smartphone.

Then he looked around as if searching for someone.

“…….”

The princess watched him for a moment, then gathered the equipment she had prepared and stood up to reveal herself.

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