CHAPTER 212 – Four to Two
“Tch.”
A disappointed sound escaped Jeffrey.
He hadn’t shown himself from the beginning because he intended to ambush—just like this.
But it seemed he’d been caught by presence detection, because the attack was blocked easily.
“So you had more allies.”
Ma Kyung-rok sneered as he looked at Jeffrey and Joo Seong-tak.
“A butler and a cripple… heh. Don’t tell me you feel safe because it’s four versus two, Christine?”
“Who said it’s four versus two?”
When he turned his head, Seo Arin was already standing there with her summons.
Four fairies, three golems, and two spirit knights—a considerable force.
“Sir. Please stop now. Do you really think this will solve anything?”
“Actress Seo.”
Ma Kyung-rok’s brow twisted with displeasure.
“I took in a talentless bitch and raised her this far, and I never thought you’d stab me in the back.”
“You invested in me because you saw something in me from the start, didn’t you?”
“Now you’re talking back. You survived up to the 12th Round, so you’ve gotten a little more like a Player, huh?”
“A lot happened. And I learned something too—people like you aren’t worth trusting.”
“So that’s why you haven’t been hanging around us lately. Planning to betray us like this.”
“Don’t play the victim. That doesn’t make murder disappear.”
“Why not? If I kill everyone here, it becomes simple.”
Ma Kyung-rok grinned like a psychopath.
Now he didn’t even bother hiding his murderous intent.
“It can’t be helped. We’ll have to subdue you.”
“Heh, how ridiculous. You think with your skills you can subdue me—”
Before he could finish, Ma Kyung-rok twisted his body in a flash.
A fairy’s golden beam swept through the spot where he’d been.
“You cowardly bitch—attacking while I’m talking…!”
Grinding his teeth, Ma Kyung-rok raised his sword.
No more pretense. He would kill them here.
With only that thought, he kicked off the ground and lunged.
“I’ll kill you without even needing to devour you!”
But his blade didn’t reach Seo Arin.
Clang—!
Three golems blocked the way like sturdy tanks.
“You stone-headed bastards.”
Ma Kyung-rok swung his sword wrapped in Dark Aura.
Thud— thud!
The tough golems collapsed as if sliced through tofu.
Of course. Dark Aura had cut through chains before.
There was no way they could hold.
As Ma Kyung-rok moved to cut down the last golem, he suddenly pulled his sword back and kicked off the ground.
Ziiiiing—!
The four fairies each fired beams in different directions.
Ma Kyung-rok barely avoided them, then steadied his startled nerves.
‘I can’t underestimate those gnats either….’
The beams’ damage increased depending on Seo Arin’s mana.
Which meant, the higher her level, the stronger the fairies became too.
The firepower was intense enough that smoke rose from the ground—dodging was the best option.
He had a defensive skill called Dark Armor, but it was weak against magic damage, so he had to be even more careful.
‘Annoying little gnats.’
At that moment, a spirit knight’s sword cut through where Ma Kyung-rok had been.
Whoosh—!
He avoided it, but it was a sharp strike.
“How dare a mere summon interfere?”
Shraaaak!
His sword wrapped in Dark Aura split the spirit knight’s body in two.
‘Now there’s only one left.’
Ma Kyung-rok smiled—only for a moment.
The remaining spirit knight’s body suddenly swelled, growing larger.
‘What?’
The spirit knight, now about one and a half times bigger, vanished from his sight in the blink of an eye.
Startled, Ma Kyung-rok reflexively raised his sword—and the spirit knight’s blade crashed into it.
Kkaang—!
At the changed force, Ma Kyung-rok’s eyebrow twitched.
‘Its strength and speed went up. And….’
Kkaang! Kkaang! Kkaang!
‘It’s blocking my attacks—even with Dark Aura.’
Dark Aura—something he believed could cut anything—being blocked by a mere summon’s sword.
It was absurd, but he couldn’t deny what he was seeing.
The spirit knight’s fierce assault was genuinely sharp.
‘Looks like that bitch Seo Arin learned a summon-enhancement skill when she reached level 60.’
Admiration and a sigh came at the same time.
He would have to kill a talent that actually looked useful—with his own hands.
“Ruin Slash.”
The condensed Dark Aura flashed, about to cleave the spirit knight’s entire body in one cut—
Flinch.
Ma Kyung-rok’s body tilted to one side.
‘What? A Taunt skill?’
One of the remaining golems cast Taunt, drawing Ma Kyung-rok’s attention.
Because of that, his decisive strike veered toward the wrong target—the golem.
Kwakwakwakwakwa-BOOM!
The last golem was shattered into pieces and vanished.
Seo Arin was startled by the overwhelming power, but she couldn’t hesitate.
‘Now! Subdue Ma Kyung-rok!’
She issued the command to her summons in her mind, and the fairies and spirit knight rushed in together.
Seeing the fairies flare their eyes again as they prepared beams, Ma Kyung-rok recalled his Dark Aura and wrapped it around his entire body.
It was time to use the skill he’d learned upon reaching level 60.
‘Dark Dimension.’
A skill that “spatialized” the body, letting attacks slip through.
Maybe that was why.
The beams and the spirit knight’s strike hit at the same time, but Ma Kyung-rok took no damage at all.
Instead, the ones who took damage were the summons.
The attacks had been reflected by dimensional distortion.
Chiiiiiiik!
Skrrk—!
The fairies and the spirit knight, struck by their own attacks, instantly dissipated.
With all her summons wiped out in an instant, Seo Arin stood there blank-faced—then snapped back to herself.
‘Summon, summon…!’
She tried to bring them out again immediately, but it was useless.
Only a message appeared: 10 minutes remaining on cooldown.
Ma Kyung-rok was already right in front of her.
“Time to die.”
He swung his sword—
Tiiing—!
Ma Kyung-rok blocked the dagger that flew in from the side and frowned.
“You’re annoying, for an assassin.”
Ting— ting!
As Jeffrey threw daggers to draw his attention, Seo Arin backed away from Ma Kyung-rok.
Irritated, Ma Kyung-rok switched targets immediately.
‘Actress Seo is unable to attack now. For a while, she can’t do anything.’
He planned to get rid of Jeffrey first, then go back for Seo Arin.
‘Killing a bug like that won’t be difficult.’
Dodging the thrown blades as he closed the distance, Ma Kyung-rok swung his sword.
Whoosh— whoosh—!
As expected of an assassin—his evasive movements were quick and sleek.
‘He’s not even trying to block. So he knows too—if he blocks with a dagger, he dies.’
He was fairly fast, but with Dark Aura, Ma Kyung-rok could bind his feet easily.
Like this.
Whoosh— thud!
“Keuk.”
Dark Aura coiled around Jeffrey’s ankle and flung him away.
“It’s over.”
An assassin with bound legs was no different from a cripple.
As if to prove it, Ma Kyung-rok drove his sword straight into Jeffrey’s chest.
“Kuh-eok!”
Jeffrey died with a final scream—but Ma Kyung-rok had overlooked one thing.
‘What? A clone?’
The one he’d killed was Jeffrey’s clone.
‘So the assassin’s level 60 skill is….’
He realized too late.
Jeffrey had already taken position behind Ma Kyung-rok.
“Die—”
He meant to shout it dramatically and stab Ma Kyung-rok’s throat—
Thunk!
But An Sang-cheol’s shield bash ruined the moment, and Jeffrey’s decisive strike failed.
“Are you all right, sir?”
“Thank you, Manager An. I almost went to the other side.”
While Jeffrey let out a low, frustrated sound at the missed chance, Ma Kyung-rok was smiling.
Now Jeffrey wouldn’t be able to use clones or invisibility again.
‘So now Jeffrey only has death left, and then I kill Seo Arin and Christine next?’
As he kept the three of them in his sight, Ma Kyung-rok suddenly felt something off.
‘Wait. Come to think of it, wasn’t there one more person?’
The cripple with the prosthetic arm and prosthetic leg wasn’t there.
And since he couldn’t sense him even with presence detection, it seemed he’d already run away in fear.
‘It can’t be helped. I’ll just kill the three here.’
The situation was overwhelmingly favorable for Ma Kyung-rok.
No one here could stop Dark Aura, which grew stronger based on the amount of black mana he possessed.
Christine—the one praised as a saint—was here, but she had limits when it came to protecting allies.
At best, she could only heal. There was no way she could stop brute force that sliced anything in a single stroke.
“It’s over. All of you.”
That was why Ma Kyung-rok allowed himself to relax.
He never imagined it would poison him.
“Hm?”
As Ma Kyung-rok advanced slowly, he saw the cripple he thought had fled.
At the sight of Joo Seong-tak grinning, Ma Kyung-rok felt an inexplicable unease.
‘What is he looking at that makes him smile?’
Following his gaze, Ma Kyung-rok turned his head.
There—was the corpse of Ma Kyung-su, the man he’d killed.
“Corpse Explosion.”
The moment Joo Seong-tak murmured it softly—
KWA-A-A-A-ANG!
Ma Kyung-su’s body detonated, and Ma Kyung-rok’s body was launched backward, slamming into the warehouse wall.
It happened in an instant.
“Keuk… keuuuuuk…!”
He felt the pain of his skin burning away, but Ma Kyung-rok managed to get up.
He wasn’t so injured that he couldn’t stand.
But he couldn’t afford to let his guard down.
“Corpse Explosion.”
At Joo Seong-tak’s second Corpse Explosion, the body of Ma Kyung-sang inside the warehouse detonated.
KWA-A-A-A-ANG!
With a thunderous roar, the small warehouse exploded, and the caught-off-guard Ma Kyung-rok was blasted far away.
“Keuuuk…!”
Hit consecutively, he didn’t even have the strength to stand properly, but Ma Kyung-rok forced himself up onto one knee.
He staggered, nearly collapsing—only for An Sang-cheol to barely catch him.
“Are you all right?”
“My ribs… keuk… I think they’re cracked.”
“We can’t continue like this. We should plan for later.”
“……”
Ma Kyung-rok bit his lip in frustration, but he didn’t have many options.
“Fine.”
In the end, supported by An Sang-cheol, he turned his back.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Jeffrey tried to chase, but Ma Kyung-rok’s razor-cold glare made his feet stop on their own.
“If you’re confident, come. Killing trash like you is nothing.”
“……”
Ma Kyung-rok left a warning that barely sounded like a warning—in English—and disappeared with An Sang-cheol.
No one chased them.
Not Seo Arin. Not Christine. Not Jeffrey.
Because they’d realized again just how strong Ma Kyung-rok was.
“We let him go… what do we do?”
“We can’t help it.”
At Seo Arin’s question, another person’s voice cut in abruptly.
The one who answered was none other than Yamtti.
“Huh? Yamtti-nim?”
Seo Arin, who recognized him, brightened—then her expression turned puzzled.
“Yamtti-nim, how are you here…?”
“I heard about the situation from Black Scythe-nim and came.”
“Ah.”
Remembering that Yamtti was Black Scythe’s real-life acquaintance, Seo Arin nodded.
Then it made sense he’d come here.
Even though everything was already over.
“If you came to help, you’re a bit late.”
“Hm. Am I?”
Despite arriving late, Yamtti didn’t look particularly disappointed.
If anything, he wore a satisfied expression—like someone who’d finished what he came to do.
It felt strange, but Seo Arin dismissed it as her imagination and didn’t dwell on it.
Not knowing it wasn’t her imagination.
“Hoo… l-let’s rest a bit before we go.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ma Kyung-rok leaned back against a tree.
His injuries were far too severe to keep hiking like this.
“It was unexpected. That cripple bastard… I didn’t think he’d be that strong…”
Using corpses as bombs.
Whoever he was, wouldn’t that put him in the top five?
Even while injured, Ma Kyung-rok found himself curious about the man’s nickname and class.
“How are your injuries?”
“I’m fine, so don’t worry. Just a couple broken ribs and some skin tissue burned away.”
He spoke like it was nothing, but Ma Kyung-rok knew it too.
It was serious enough that emergency treatment wouldn’t fix it.
‘If only I had Christine’s heal right now.’
With heal, she could probably set bones back together.
Even necrotized skin could be restored easily.
“Seriously. When I was raging about killing her, I didn’t care at all. And now I’m actually annoyed I don’t have her.”
Ma Kyung-rok let out a self-mocking chuckle and jerked his chin as if telling An Sang-cheol to get moving.
But An Sang-cheol didn’t react.
Instead, he suddenly carried a heavy atmosphere.
“Even now… you should go back.”
“What did you say?”
“If you receive heal from Christine, you can be treated. Confess your wrongdoing and receive treatment.”
At those words, Ma Kyung-rok’s expression turned icy.
“Manager An. Are you telling me to get treated and then go to prison?”
“Is that not better than losing your life?”
Irritated, Ma Kyung-rok openly showed his displeasure.
“You’re treating me like I’m already dead.”
“You are dead. Because I’m going to kill you.”
“What the—”
Puk!
Ma Kyung-rok stared down at his chest with horrified eyes.
Piercing through his flesh was none other than An Sang-cheol’s sword.