Chapter 119 – Liberation (Part Eight)

KRAAACK!

Dark energy coiled around the man’s arm. When he unleashed it, the aura shredded the thick-carapaced spider, tearing it in two.

The blond man, Ben Carson.

He was a criminal who possessed the same C-rank ability as Lee Soo-yeon: [Demonic Power].

Despite being locked up here for over two years, Carson, still a young man, had operated as a legitimate Awakened in his early days.

Moreover, his remarkably rapid growth and possession of the same ability as the already world-famous Lee Soo-yeon meant he operated under high expectations.

But contrary to America’s hopes that he would become the second Lee Soo-yeon, he continuously went off the rails.

After awakening his ability, he grew increasingly violent, was involved in numerous assault cases, and eventually disappeared.

He resurfaced a few months later, taking the lives of anyone who got in his way, be they civilians, criminal organizations, or the police.

It was a classic pattern for an ability that corrodes a person’s mind for the worse.

Complacent because Lee Soo-yeon, who had the same ability, was well-behaved, the U.S. government acted too late. After suffering considerable damage, they finally captured him and threw him deep into this international prison.

As an Awakened with considerable skill even for a B-rank, he was able to gain the upper hand against the spiders despite the toxic miasma filling the underground and his long period of inactivity.

“I thought you were a monster… guess not?”

Sensing a presence, Carson whipped his head around.

Seo Jeong-hwa, wearing a coat and drawing her sword, was approaching him.

She walked past the last remaining giant spider as if they were on the same side.

As Seo Jeong-hwa stepped forward, the spider turned, bored a hole in the floor, and descended to the level below.

“Hand over the woman while I’m asking nicely.”

Seo Jeong-hwa said, raising her sword.

Even during the fight, Carson held a female prisoner, one arm wrapped around her waist. It wasn’t because he was some lecher who couldn’t keep his head straight in such a situation.

The woman was one of the few spatial ability users left in the prison, an escape route he had secured by killing dozens of other inmates.

“And who are you? I’ve never seen you before. Are you the one who brought these monsters here?”

“Don’t even think about stalling for time.”

Seo Jeong-hwa said firmly, seeing Carson’s eyes darting around.

It was obvious he was trying to buy time for the spatial transfer.

His cover blown, Carson smirked and struck the woman he was holding hard on the neck, knocking her unconscious.

This was to prevent her from escaping on her own if he looked away for even a moment.

Tossing the woman behind him, Carson drew out a dark energy and wrapped it around both arms.

Like living snakes, the dark energy coiled up his forearms.

Fwoosh!

Without another word, the two Awakened clashed.

Her opponent was bare-handed, so Seo Jeong-hwa took advantage of her long reach and swung her sword first.

But Carson ducked with an agile movement, dodging the sword aimed at his neck.

At the same time, he maintained his speed and closed the distance, getting inside her guard.

The gap closed in an instant, and a fist shimmering with dark energy shot toward Seo Jeong-hwa’s abdomen.

Thwack!

But Seo Jeong-hwa’s left hand shot out and caught his fist.

Normally, it would have been a punch impossible to block bare-handed, imbued as it was with the power of his ability, but Seo Jeong-hwa’s arm, now glowing red, was similarly empowered.

His surprise was fleeting; he instinctively extended his other arm and used his ability to fire a blast of dark energy.

It was an aura so sharp it could have been mistaken for a blade of sword energy.

Struck in the chest by the ability fired at point-blank range, Seo Jeong-hwa was thrown back as if hit by a truck.

But even then, she immediately twisted her body to regain her balance and landed on her feet.

Zzzzt!

Her feet scraped against the floor, making a harsh sound.

Her Defensive Coat sizzled from the impact, but its protective function was still working.

“That ability… I’m sure I’ve seen it before…”

Carson muttered, looking at Seo Jeong-hwa’s red arm.

Seo Jeong-hwa scoffed at that.

Having been locked in this deep prison for years, he would naturally be clueless about what was happening in the outside world, and he couldn’t possibly have encountered the mass-produced Awakened from the organization.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Stalling like that won’t change anything.”

“Well… I guess the guy I saw was so strong, you could say it was a completely different ability. He was leagues above you. To be precise, you feel more like a cheap imitation.”

When she didn’t believe him, Carson scratched his head and said.

At the same time, he created several black orbs above his palms.

The orbs, formed from condensed dark energy, floated around him.

“Besides, stalling is something you do when your opponent is stronger than you!”

BOOM! Kicking off the ground so hard it cracked, he charged forward with tremendous force.

The sword swung with her red arm and the fist imbued with dark energy collided, and a loud clang echoed.

Even though his bare fist had met her sword, he showed no signs of being pushed back.

In response, Seo Jeong-hwa immediately spun and aimed a kick with her enhanced leg at Carson’s head.

But at that moment, one of the black orbs floating behind Carson shot toward her in an instant.

Sensing the ominous energy, Seo Jeong-hwa had no choice but to retract her leg and leap backward.

KABOOM!

The orb that had been aimed at Seo Jeong-hwa hit the wall, exploding and causing the surroundings to crumble.

Carson continued to fire the black orbs floating behind him at Seo Jeong-hwa, each one packing incredible power.

“Kugh!”

Dodging desperately, Seo Jeong-hwa was eventually hit squarely by an orb and sent flying by the explosion.

As she lay sprawled on the floor, her Defensive Coat’s protective function completely destroyed, Carson rushed right up to her.

“Now, die!”

He brought both arms down toward Seo Jeong-hwa’s head.

But his arms, intended to end it, never reached their target.

CRACKLE!

Out of nowhere, the area flashed as if struck by lightning indoors.

“Gyaaaah!”

Carson screamed from the sudden, immense shock.

Thud!

As he fell to his knees and collapsed forward, the culprits who had unleashed the current—two white weasels—emerged from inside Seo Jeong-hwa’s coat.

“Squeak squeak!”

“Ughhh… what the hell are those things?!”

“Just give up. No one’s getting out of here now. We’ve got a monster on our side.”

Seo Jeong-hwa quickly picked herself up, stomped hard on Carson’s arm, and said.

She knew Il-hyeon was strong.

He was a member of Aegis, which went without saying, and she clearly remembered the combat prowess he’d shown her and the terrorists before.

But he had never shown his full power, and what he’d displayed this time was nothing short of monstrous.

Having not seen the fight herself, she couldn’t even begin to comprehend how the Woman in the White Mask could have defeated him.

“No one can escape? Hahaha!”

Carson suddenly burst into crazed laughter.

Paralyzed by the accumulated poison and the powerful electric current, he lay pinned to the ground, his back shaking as he choked out his laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

“The small fry, maybe. But you lost the big fish a long time ago.”

“What? You mean some of them already made it to the surface…?”

Seo Jeong-hwa frowned.

If they had teleported directly above not to escape but to seize the facility, it wasn’t a long distance, so it would have been possible even if their strength hadn’t recovered.

“No, one of the guys with me went up… but he’s no big deal. The really important ones have probably already escaped the prison by now.”

“I know for a fact there aren’t any Awakened who can teleport across the ocean. Are you going to keep spouting nonsense?”

Seo Jeong-hwa prodded his head with her foot.

It was an act meant to be demeaning, but Carson couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.

Seo Jeong-hwa tried to shake off the unsettling feeling and turned away.

She approached the woman—the spatial ability user—who had been tossed onto the floor behind them.

* * *

“Keuk…!”

The man in the prison uniform coughed up blood.

He was a large man who had been held in isolation along with Carson as a special management subject.

“I’m sure I cut his neck…”

The man managed to say, his vision blurring.

He was certain he’d sliced halfway through the neck of the guy who’d blocked him, but now he was standing there without a single wound.

Moreover, a long sword belonging to the man who should have been dead was currently piercing his chest. He couldn’t believe what was happening.

Shnk.

The expressionless Seong-won extended an arm and slowly pushed the man away, pulling the sword from his pierced chest.

The man fell backward, spewing blood, and soon stopped breathing.

“Thanks. I was in a bit of a jam.”

Hyeon-seo, who was kneeling and maintaining a force field, said with a faint smile.

“You didn’t have an ability like this, did you?”

Seong-won looked back at her, quite surprised.

Just a few minutes ago, he had been smoothly subduing prisoners on a lower floor.

But suddenly, the space around him had distorted, and he felt his body being sucked through it.

Startled by the sudden pull, Seong-won had tried to struggle free, but he couldn’t resist the unknown force.

For a moment, he thought he was under attack, but then he found himself face to face with Hyeon-seo.

“I couldn’t move because of my ability, and that guy just had to show up at the worst possible time. I ended up pulling you here without warning. Surprised?”

Hyeon-seo gave an awkward smile.

Originally, her spatial jump ability had no preparation time or distance restrictions, but its sole function was to move to Il-hyeon’s location.

But what Hyeon-seo had just done went far beyond that.

“So you can summon other people now.”

“Seems like it, right? I’m not sure what the limits are on who I can target, though.”

“Hmm… That’s a good thing.”

Seong-won said, still a bit bewildered.

It was a very sudden development, but one thing was certain: her ability had become much more useful than before.

“But… there’s one important problem.”

Hyeon-seo began to speak carefully, a troubled look on her face.