Chapter 85

85

Wow.

Yu Jia, acknowledging Park Ho and the leadership of Baekho, found herself completely speechless.

A creature was blocking the path of her vehicle.

The expressions confronting her were menacing and overtly aggressive.

The underlying meaning was unmistakable.

Regardless of how aggrieved they felt, were they actually resorting to summons to terrorize her?

“What do you imagine you are accomplishing right now?”

Clack!

Yu Jia forcefully shut the door of the sports car she had been exit, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration.

Silently, she initiated a capability.

— Desperate Call: A daily ability that permits the forced conjuring of a specified participant.

This intermediate tier ability possessed the power to draw Baek Jinwoo directly to her position.

It stood as the primary reason Yu Jia could travel through a chaotic South Korea without fear.

Consequently, she remained calm.

Her main struggle was keeping her mounting resentment from boiling over.

For context, Yu Jia had bound this intermediate capability to her Rare grade asset, the Snow Owl (B-rank).

The Snow Owl functioned precisely like a surveillance apparatus.

It captured every detail within a ten-meter boundary in complete three-dimensional imagery and sound.

Completely automatically.

While capturing footage without authorization was technically improper, in a territory plagued by lawlessness, such precautions were baseline security.

“You are not common criminals. You lead a prominent guild. Yet you are pinning down a non-combatant citizen using a summon? With an entire entourage reinforcing you?”

“Which is exactly why you ought to have recognized the boundaries.”

Crack.

Park Ho compressed his fist.

“You realize that even a cornered rodent will strike back at its predator? Fine, I grant you credit for swaying public sentiment with those online allegations. I acknowledge my own avarice played a part. But restructuring the national roster? You? By what authority?”

Park Ho’s features distorted with suppressed rage.

She had dismantled everything he had constructed over a three-year period through mere statements and political manipulation.

He had also uncovered a harsh truth during his inquiries.

She had acted prior to his own moves.

Yu Jia had clearly been gathering allies and organizing her publicity push before Park Ho had even initiated his own schemes.

The implication was clear.

She had intended to destroy Baekho from the very beginning.

Grind.

Park Ho gnashed his teeth and extended his right arm horizontally.

Upon receiving the indication, Bok Jeonghui and Seo Sangwon quietly altered their stances, obstructing her paths of retreat.

“Hah.”

Yu Jia let out a breath.

“So what precisely is your intention?”

“What do you think it is.”

Park Ho’s expression turned thoroughly glacial.

Even within South Korea, a territory largely dismissed in terms of summoning prowess, he had reigned as its undisputed apex figure for three whole years.

He had steered his collective with sheer ruthlessness and malice, ensuring anyone who opposed their objectives or dared to insult them was eliminated without hesitation.

Even if the individual was backed by the Daesung Group?

He paid no heed to that.

“We intend to extract a penalty from you for this degradation, and then depart from this nation. Public sentiment has already shifted entirely toward Baek Jinwoo anyway, hasn’t it? We possess no desire to protect citizens who revile us.”

“Extract a penalty… Are you truly prepared to face the outcomes of those words?”

Park Ho.

This maniac has completely lost his sanity.

Yu Jia was stunned.

How could anyone realistically plot an assassination in the heart of Seoul?

Had the populace truly revered this collective as the pinnacle of the nation all this time?

The authentic nature of Baekho, now exposed, was far more grotesque than she could have anticipated.

“What, are you frightened? That is precisely why you should have selected your adversaries with greater caution. And drop the polite tone. The individual who needs to answer for this is you, for degrading us.”

Yu Jia offered a faint smile.

Far from experiencing terror, she casually crossed her arms.

With the assurance of Baek Jinwoo’s protection, she was entirely secure.

“To begin, all four of you share the same stance on this matter, correct?”

“……”

“I will inquire one final time. Are you truly prepared to execute a felony and renounce your national status simply to follow an incredibly foolish commander? Is that truly your resolution?”

The query struck deep.

It was a sharp interrogation: why were they blindly adhering to such a monumentally catastrophic path?

“That is correct.”

“If anyone has been mistreated here, it is our side.”

“You excluded us from preparation, and you were plotting to eliminate us from the onset. Who are you to preach about criminality? You are no different from us.”

Bok Jeonghui and Seo Sangwon added their agreement to Park Ho’s assertions.

Yu Jia recognized the motivation behind their behavior.

They had nurtured malicious designs from the start, and had even taken steps toward those designs……

They are claiming this because I anticipated them.

That was their internal justification.

That she mirrored the exact malice they possessed.

Yet they remained ignorant.

They lacked the knowledge that Yu Jia commanded the Mindreader Eagle.

That she had simply discerned their plots ahead of time and taken measures to neutralize them.

Though at this stage, did any of that matter?

Both parties already had their weapons drawn against one another, and there was no reversing the confrontation.

“There is no utility in further discussion. Execute it. Eliminate only Yu Jia, and then we depart from Korea immediately.”

“”Understood!””

The creature belonging to Seo Sangwon, an ogre, hoisted its massive limb.

There was no alternative remaining.

Precisely as Yu Jia prepared to trigger Desperate Call—

“Pause.”

Kang Geonho stepped forward to shield her, and concurrently—

— GRWOOOOOOOH!

The massive arm of the ogre, suspended in the air alongside its weapon—

Shrrk!

The combatant summoned by Kang Geonho, a Paladin (A-rank), severed the limb effortlessly.

SPURT!

A deluge of crimson sprayed across the air as the beast emitted a tortured shriek.

“Kang Geonho! What in the world do you think you are doing?!”

Park Ho roared.

“Is this an act of treason?”

“Less an act of treason, and more an act of principle.”

“Principle?”

“Ho Hyung. Let us cease being miserable. Yes, we have taken lives before, but those were criminals. Never innocent civilians. This has progressed far past acceptable boundaries.”

“Criminals or them, it amounts to the same. They were seeking our destruction.”

“No. They never attempted to take our lives.”

“Must you have your throat cut or your chest pierced before it constitutes an attempt on your life? Ruining someone within society is the exact same offense.”

“Cease the rationalizations. If your goal is to harm Yu Jia, you will have to face me first.”

“Even you cannot overcome the three of us simultaneously.”

The situation was on the verge of turning into a one-against-three clash.

Swish!

A figure materialized directly in front of Yu Jia.

Baek Jinwoo had arrived, answering the invocation of her Desperate Call.

“What is—?”

He surveyed his surroundings, attempting to comprehend the confrontation, when—

“Jinwoo!”

Yu Jia hurried to his side and immediately began recounting every detail of what had occurred.

Furthermore, she displayed the records captured by the Snow Owl, explaining with intense focus while demonstrating every moment of the encounter to him.

“Huh.”

Kang Geonho observed the exchange, released a brief exhalation, and then shifted his attention back to Park Ho.

“I believe the individual facing ruin here is you, Ho Hyung.”

“In fact, is ‘ruin’ even the adequate expression? It would be far more precise to state that you are entirely finished.”

His assessment was accurate.

Park Ho, Bok Jeonghui, and Seo Sangwon.

The trio gazed at Baek Jinwoo with expressions completely paralyzed by dread.

From their regular strategy interactions, they understood better than anyone the sheer magnitude of power Baek Jinwoo wielded.

They were fully aware that even if all three combined their strength to strike, their likelihood of success amounted to absolutely nothing. Every single one of them shared the identical realization.

Damn it. We are finished.

Baek Jinwoo’s countenance darkened completely.

Observe these degenerates.

The intent was thoroughly depraved.

They recognized they would fail if they challenged me directly, so they intended to quietly assassinate Jia and flee?

This action did not merely overstep boundaries; it obliterated them entirely.

“You absolute garbage.”

Whoosh.

Baek Jinwoo elevated his arm.

Hssss!

Drill Sarge materialized instantly upon the ground.

As if interpreting his master’s fury and purpose, Drill Sarge emitted a suffocating wave of murderous intent as he unsheathed his blade.

“W-wait.”

“We will simply depart.”

The overwhelming aura crashed into them like a solid barrier, prompting the three high-tier combatants to take steps back.

He had already analyzed the entire scenario.

Destroy everyone with the sole exception of Kang Geonho. No compromises.

“Your final statements.”

Baek Jinwoo declared in a low, even tone.

“You possess none, correct?”

The single action he detested above all else was anyone endangering those under his care.

He had assumed the previous altercation with the criminal group had conveyed that reality sufficiently.

“F-final statements? Be reasonable. Did you not hear us state we would simply leave?”

“We were merely posturing! Do you truly believe we would actually commit murder? Our intention was only to intimidate her slightly.”

They poured out continuous justifications, yet not a single word registered with him.

Because none of it merited consideration.

They had initiated an attempt on someone’s life.

From the moment that endeavor collapsed, they transitioned into individuals who had earned their demise.

And furthermore.

The individual they targeted was Yu Jia.

“Obliterate them.”

— Understood, my master.

A cataclysmic torrent of energy surged forth from Drill Sarge’s frame.

The intertwined forces of yin and yang, perfected via the Tribute Life Dark Art.

T-this is insane.

What sort of entity commands an aura of THAT magnitude?

Had Drill Sarge always possessed this level of power?

The combatants from Baekho were intimately familiar with Drill Sarge.

They had observed him on numerous occasions throughout their strategy briefings.

Yet even they had never seen Drill Sarge unleash his true capability.

“Defend against it!”

Park Ho commanded loudly.

Rational thought informed him that fleeing was completely unfeasible regardless.

It was preferable to resist with everything they possessed rather than passively accept their fate.

Furthermore.

Confidence was one thing, but Baek Jinwoo had only brought forth a single combatant.

This represented their solitary opportunity.

Once Ramba, the Burst Dragon, and the remaining entities were unleashed, all hope would truly vanish.

“Forget defense—everyone strike simultaneously!”

Disregarding their status as the national elite, they reoriented rapidly and shifted into a comprehensive assault, yet—

Sssss……

There was absolutely zero probability they could withstand a Drill Sarge enhanced by Trinity Runes.

Drill Sarge merely brought his blade downward. Deliberately.

— Grk?

— Grrrrgle!

A single movement.

With that solitary downward trajectory, every advancing creature froze completely in place.

“Advance! What is delaying you?!”

“What is occurring with these entities?! Is this some form of anomaly?!”

Every single creature had already been utterly suppressed by Drill Sarge.

Rather—they had already been cleaved apart.

SHHHHHHHHK!

The reality was merely that he had struck at the velocity of illumination, and the audio signature had failed to keep pace.

Unbelievable!

This defied rationality.

A solitary entity. A single motion. And it had completely shattered the unified, maximum-power charge of three top-tier national combatants?

In an instant?

Defeat was one thing, but this scale of disparity was preposterous!

“Bring forth your backup contingents!”

As was common knowledge, participants could sustain a multitude of combat units.

They could also arrange their forces into distinct cohorts, registering up to three in advance.

The instant their premier elite cohort was banished simultaneously, the combatants attempted to manifest their secondary reserve unit.

Or rather, that was their intention.

Three lines of concentrated energy erupted from Drill Sarge’s fingertips, dispersing outward.

They penetrated straight through the openings where the defensive shields had disintegrated, striking each participant squarely.

— Suffer the retribution for presuming to antagonize my master.

The sinew-rending, bone-pulverizing technique was executed.

“GH— AAAAAARGH!”

“AAAAAAAAGH!”

“GRRAAAAAAGH!”

To manifest a unit, they required either vocalizing the directive or aligning their focus—one of the two options.

Yet with an incomprehensible agony tearing through every component of their anatomy, shrieking was the absolute limit of their capability.

High-tier participants who lacked disciplined training invariably concluded this way.

Physical forms that had never undergone rigorous conditioning, never mastered controlled respiration or mental fortitude.

How could such flesh tolerate the sensation of skeletal structures fracturing and muscle tissues being torn apart piece by piece?

Even if they somehow succeeded in manifesting an asset, it would yield no change.

Drill Sarge would simply cleave them apart regardless.

“What duration did you assign to it?”

— Sixty seconds, my master.

Summoned entities could endure more, but for conventional participants, sixty seconds represented the absolute threshold of sanity.

Any duration exceeding that introduced a massive vulnerability to permanent mental impairment.

However.

“Far too compassionate.”

Baek Jinwoo’s words sounded like absolute frost.

He did not offer the convulsing, shrieking combatants even a passing glance.

“Extend the duration to ten minutes.”

— It shall be done according to your decree.

Clemency toward adversaries was an extravagance they had failed to earn.