My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness - Chapter 14

Azantu (2)

Heinz told his guess and said he wasn’t sure, but Diana couldn’t help but turn pale when she heard that story.

“They are an organization called ‘Barcolac’ that manages this street. But why… I paid the repayment on time.”

Even as she said that, Diana secretly thought that what he said was true.

Because there was something I learned while being born and raised in this city.

“This city… is ruled by vampires.”

“vampire?”

Of course, this was a fact that not everyone knew.

Most citizens, as well as the gang members who control the streets, probably don’t know about it.

Even if she knew, it would only make things more dangerous, so Diana didn’t tell her until now.

“Most organizations, including Barkolac, are under the control of vampires. “They do as they are told and manage the citizens.”

The reason Diana learned that fact was simple.

Because she had a very good nose.

To the extent that it reaches the realm of supernatural ability.

‘I was careful, deliberately avoiding places where the smell of blood was strong!’

I could smell not just a physical smell, but the smell emanating from a dangerous place or a person’s soul.

I used that ability to act carefully with Aaron, but this time I felt like I was under their spell.

“Then I think we’re in a bit of a dangerous situation right now. Has something like this happened before?”

“…I’ve been through this a few times before. “The smell of people suddenly disappearing because they didn’t pay their dues comes from people who smell like blood.”

When I first didn’t know much about his abilities, I just thought he was a scary person.

Because even the men who were in a position in the organization were busy groveling.

But as her head grew bigger, her thoughts increased, and she saw and heard many things, Diana realized.

“This city is their farm. “The reason they have their own order is to manage their food so it doesn’t spoil.”

As long as you pay your dues on time, there is no harm, and even though it is a back alley, there is no drug distribution.

As long as you could pay for the medicine, it was possible to cure the disease.

“Have you ever thought about leaving for another city?”

“At first, I tried to leave the city even if it was too much. But…”

There were quite a few people who had left this city before, but Diana could tell.

I don’t think any of them really arrived in another city.

“I saw the gang members keeping the items they took with them when they left the next day. “You might think it’s just the same thing, but I can tell.”

Because I could tell who the original owner of those items was through the smell.

And there was no need to tell what happened to them.

From then on, I gave up on leaving the city, moved to a street where vampires did not travel, and acted cautiously, avoiding dangerous places.

“As long as they are in the city, they can be taken at any time, so they are free-range, but if they try to escape, they are immediately slaughtered…”

Heinz frowned as he organized his thoughts.

“Let’s get moving first. I don’t know why they chose Aaron as their target even though he paid the penalty, but if it’s true, there won’t be much time. Do you know where their headquarters is?”

“yes! i know. But… are you helping me too?”

Diana bit her lip and looked up at Heinz.

Now that you know everything about the situation here, you must have fully realized how dangerous the situation is.

Since he was not a resident of the city, he would have no problem leaving the city right now.

But Heinz grinned and ruffled Diana’s hair.

Because he had nothing to fear in this world.

“Did I tell you? Now that I know, I won’t pretend not to know. I’m also a good at screwing over bad guys. “Just trust this ‘oppa’!”

Heinz particularly emphasized the word ‘brother’.

Because it was a sensitive issue for him, who was now 20 years old.

***

A small town with nothing left but a pile of ashes.

There was nothing left in the place full of ruins.

“Hmm, I smell dark magic. What happened?”

The pale-faced man blocked the fluttering ash from coming near and walked around the village, looking for the few remaining traces.

Places that appear to be where buildings used to be and faint traces of battle left on the ground.

“These… corpses? “Did you put them all together and make up?”

A place that appears to have been where the bodies were cremated was also discovered.

Most of it had already turned to ashes and scattered, leaving no trace, but to the man, that was no problem.

‘There are no traces of any power other than dark magic being used in the entire village, and it is certain that there was a conflict using undead, so they cremated the corpses and left?’

When I first looked at the traces, my first thought was that there must have been internal strife among the ‘Oath of Yeokcheon’.

The things they had were enough to make them greedy, so it wasn’t unreasonable.

“I don’t know. what happened. Anyway, it’s a shame.”

I was preparing to steal the immortal king’s fragment when it seemed to have matured properly, but it had already disappeared without a trace.

“I don’t know who hit the player, but I’m sure we’ll be able to catch him soon. “It’s not something that can be hidden that easily.”

The man turned his eyes to where the last traces led.

The movement of the undead into the eastern forest.

‘The direction is just right at the right time. ‘Do you get lucky?’

And the man’s entire body, which was looking around the village for a moment, turned into a bat, dispersed, and disappeared into the eastern forest.

***

I headed to Barkolac’s base with Diana.

We had to get Aaron back before he was taken over by the vampires.

As for Hans, it was impossible for Heinz to fight against the vampires.

‘Because it seems like everything will work out for regular gang members.’

With the body strengthened through awakening and the power of “super recovery” through continued training, it would be possible to defeat ordinary gang members.

In order to synchronize the Karma Store’s physical ability enhancements to the avatar, a re-summoning process was necessary.

‘There’s no way I can afford that now. ‘I’m in a situation where I can’t even get help from Hans right now.’

There are three days left until the transmission line can be used.

Heinz had to do something on his own.

I looked at Diana, who was leading the way.

As if he was worried about his younger brother, he clenched his trembling hands and hurried his steps, using his sense of smell to only move to places where there were no people.

Because we don’t know what will happen in the future, we couldn’t expose our whereabouts.

‘A child like that is trying desperately to protect his family, and I can’t get him out of here.’

Diana has probably lived with that sense of responsibility for her younger brother as the driving force of her life.

The small hope of life that I kept without losing sight of even though I was weighed down by the weight of reality.

But now that hope was about to be shattered.

‘Okay, I don’t have much to lose, so let’s do as much as we can. 〈Mission: Help the unfortunate girl find her sister.〉. The reward is… random.’

For me this was a kind of quest.

And Korean gamers never give up on a quest midway.

As I was composing myself, Diana, who was ahead of me, suddenly stopped and started sniffing.

“ah! I started to smell Aaron. “I think it’s in Barkolac’s stronghold.”

“This makes it clear. “It’s a shame that the bad guess turned out to be correct, but it’s good news that he hasn’t been taken over by vampires yet.”

I followed Diana, who started running again, and prepared for battle.

“Uncle… Can we really save Aaron?”

Diana whispered in an anxious voice.

I can only see the back of his head, so I can’t tell his expression, but it probably isn’t that good.

“Yes, I will rescue you soon, just trust me.”

In fact, not all problems could be solved by finding it there.

Actually, I guess that’s when it really started.

This city was under the control of vampires, and the kidnappers were just their minions.

‘Let’s think about it then and put out the urgent fire first!’

As it was getting dark, we soon arrived at Barkolak’s home base.

A small two-story building located inside an alley.

‘There are no people standing guard.’

Well, the organizations in the back alleys were all under the control of vampires, so there was no way they could be on guard among themselves.

“Can you tell how many people are inside?”

“Sniff sniff, about fifteen? Even though it’s the home base, it’s kind of like an office. “I understand that they usually live scattered throughout the streets.”

I nodded to Diana’s answer as she closed her eyes and smelled the scent.

Fifteen or so was enough to do it.

“I’ll go in and bring Aaron out, so you wait a little further away.”

“…I know it’s shameless. “Please do me a favor, mister.”

Diana bit her lip, bowed her head, and retreated to the back, probably because she knew that even if she did, it would only be a hindrance.

‘Now then, let’s go in.’

I have a scenario in mind and some preparations.

All that’s left is skill exercise and a bit of luck afterwards.

‘And my luck has been the best lately!’

I carefully opened the door and entered.

The first floor was like a bar, but it was quite clean, unlike the headquarters of a back alley gang.

‘I thought the inside was a mess, full of cigarette smoke, and gang members drinking and gambling everywhere.’

Well, there are vampires who visit from time to time, so they must have paid some attention to it.

Still, there were people who gathered in one corner to drink and gamble, as if their thoughts were not entirely wrong.

“what? who is this?”

“Brother, come to work when you say nice things.”

When they saw me, they started whispering among themselves and gestured in this direction.

I obediently walked towards them.

“uh? “This guy is a friend you met earlier, right?”

“what? “Do you know someone?”

Among them was a large man whom I had met on the street earlier and who had taken a donation from me.

“Brother, what’s going on here? “Is it because you feel like the sincerity you gave me earlier wasn’t enough?”

After giggling among themselves, they stood up and smiled softly at the large figure approaching me.

“What? Smile? “What’s wrong with this guy… Wow!”

Then he immediately took out a dagger and plunged it into the back of the neck, and as soon as he pulled it out, he rushed at those who had not yet responded.

“What is this guy!”

“I know where this is! “Kill me!”

Although his body moved quickly, he responded to the enemy’s movements with a calm mind through ‘Myunggyejisu’.

With one hand, he plunged the dagger into the temple of the man who was trying to get up, and with the other hand, he pulled out the sword from his waist.

I wasn’t used to using it as a sword used by the warlock’s minions, but there was nothing I could do about it in the current situation.

‘I don’t have the skills to target a vital spot at once, so inflict as much damage as possible so they can’t move!’

He swung his sword and cut off the opponent’s leg.

Instead, he cut his arm, but the wound was not deep, perhaps due to his “strongness.”

Even so, I recovered quickly with a “super recovery.”

“Ugh, this guy’s knife won’t fit!”

Although he was stabbed in the abdomen, he was wearing an Earth-made bulletproof vest underneath his clothes.

Ignoring the pain with “Mind Herb,” I slashed the man’s neck as he stopped stabbing me with a dagger.

Wajangchang—!

Liquor bottles and furniture were broken and the interior was a mess.

I calmly moved my body and neutralized them one by one.

Kwasik!

In the meantime, the guy with the club aimed at the back of the head, but the impact was not great thanks to the magic barrier of the magic tool protecting the vital area.

“Wow, what on earth is this guy doing? Even with magic tools… “Kek!”

However, the effects of magic tools are not infinite, so I fought while protecting only the vital areas as much as possible.

I knocked one down and cut his leg.

He stabbed the other guy and stabbed him in the back, but he ignored it and attacked.

Puuk –

I stabbed the knife, but it didn’t come out.

I immediately snatched the hatchet from the guy I had knocked down and swung it to the side.

He took advantage of that moment and blocked the flying knife with one arm.

My limbs became tattered.

The effect of the magic tool seemed to have ended before I knew it, and the blood flowing from my torn forehead covered my eyes.

At that time, the guy in front of me looked behind me.

A movement as if making eye contact with someone.

It looks like another guy is aiming for my back.

He immediately bent down, picked up the weapon that had fallen on the floor, and swung it backwards.

“Ahh!”

The guy behind me grabbed my ankle and fell, but the fight wasn’t over yet.

If it weren’t for “Strongness” and “Super Recovery”, I wouldn’t have been able to move a long time ago.

Without fear of death or even excitement about fighting, they mechanically calculated and exchanged attacks to defeat their enemies.

One, two, three…

…and the last.

“Ahh….”

“Whoa, who are you?…”

As I fought and fought like that, the area around me was filled with people lying around, and there were people who came down from the second floor due to the commotion.

“Whew… Didn’t anyone run away?”

As the fight continued and he looked like he was covered in blood and on the verge of collapsing, he probably thought that if he pushed a little more, he would be able to catch him.

After the momentum was completely lost, some people tried to run away, but by then it was already too late.

Most of the people who were attacked mainly on the legs from the beginning had poor mobility, and by mainly attacking those who showed signs of running away, we were able to defeat them all.

In the end, there was a limit to the number of times, so I even used the magic tool for self-defense that I cherished until the end…

but I had no choice because I could have missed it if I hadn’t.

“Hoo hoo.” After

the battle, I stood down for a moment to catch my breath.

The bleeding had stopped and the wound was slowly healing, but it was so bloody that it was hardly noticeable.

“Hey, where is the boy you caught today?”

“What is that all of a sudden… ahhh!”

Without even noticing, I dug into the wound of the guy who was trying to say something else.

“underground! “In the basement!”

“It will happen a long time ago. “Don’t you need a key?”

“It’s hanging in front of the door too! Now that’s it!”

After asking a few more questions, I got up and looked around.

The inside was a mess, with fallen and writhing members of the organization and corpses that had already stopped breathing and could not move.

And then he picked up his weapon again.

In order for the scenario to go as I thought, there shouldn’t be any living creatures here.

“Now wait a minute! help me! “Sal…bah.”

I started checking and killing them one by one.

Even after using the “Mind Herb,” I felt dirty, but I moved my body mechanically, thinking that these people were only doing harm even if they were alive.

“If I left in this state, the kid would faint from shock…”

I looked around and headed towards where there were liquor bottles and water containers on one side.

And first, I opened the bottles of alcohol and poured them all over my body, starting from my head, to wash away the blood.

‘The smell of alcohol would be better than the smell of blood.’

After some of the blood had drained, I grabbed a bucket of water and poured it on my head once more.

‘It’s worth looking at at first glance.’

The clothes were tattered and there were blood stains, but it was much better than before.

And I walked towards the door leading to the basement.

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