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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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Chapter 151: Already Finished? (2)
I asked the large man,
"Spare spots?"
The man nodded, mimicking my words.
"Spare spots."
"What spare spots?"
The man smirked.
"You don't look like an idiot. Are you playing dumb?"
The man's group surrounded us, emanating a murderous aura.
I looked at my subordinates and asked,
"Do we have any spare spots?"
"Nope."
I shrugged at the man.
He questioned accusingly,
"I just saw you!"
I feigned surprise and replied,
"You saw me buy tickets? Well then, there's nothing I can do. How many spots do you need?"
"Five."
"Oh dear. We only have five. Can't we share?"
The man glared at me threateningly.
"No."
"Do you really need to take them all?"
"Of course."
"Fine. We're in a hurry too, but you seem to be in a bigger rush."
The man finally relaxed his expression and replied,
"You're more reasonable than I thought."
"I'm incredibly reasonable. Three gold coins per spot."
"What?"
"Is there a problem? We paid a high price for them too."
Suddenly, one of the men surrounding us let out a chuckle, and it spread like a contagious disease.
The laughter grew louder and echoed through the street.
"Hahahaha!"
No one around us seemed to care.
Not a single person in this large crowd tried to intervene.
People were even gathering in groups to watch with amusement.
Finding the situation amusing, I started laughing too.
The large man was laughing, I was laughing at him, and the idiots around us burst into laughter as well.
"Hahahaha!"
As the laughter grew louder, the large man reached for the sword at his waist.
I carefully observed the mana fluctuations emanating from him.
At best, he had a crude 2-star Mana Core.
Amused by his display, I burst into laughter once more.
Laughter overlapped with laughter, escalating into roaring laughter. Laughter, after all, is contagious.
But surprisingly, there was one woman who wasn't laughing at all...
"Stop laughing."
"What? Hahaha... Stop! Attack!"
Just as the large man, with an idiotic battle cry, signaled his subordinates to attack...
Arin, who hadn't shown a hint of amusement, pointed her finger at him.
An electric current surged from her slender fingertip.
Bzzzt—
The current struck the large man's stomach in a straight line as he charged towards me with his sword.
"Gah!"
Thud—
The large man took one step, then his whole body stiffened, and he crashed to the ground.
He convulsed, his entire body trembling.
"Uh, uh, uh..."
Strange sounds came from his mouth.
Veins bulged on his forehead, and he strained his entire body, but all he could do was twitch.
His body wouldn't obey him.
"...!"
The large man's subordinates, who were about to attack, froze in their tracks. The onlookers stared at us in surprise.
Arin looked down at the man and said,
"I really can't stand this."
I had a feeling Arin was about to shock him again, so I said,
"Move aside."
I crouched down and started searching the trembling man's body.
"If you don't have any money, you get another shock."
"Uh, uh, uh..."
The man continued to convulse, drool dripping from his mouth.
He seemed to be trying to say something, but his tongue was frozen, and he couldn't speak.
I found a wad of bills in his inner pocket.
It was worth at least thirty gold coins.
I tapped the man's cheek and said,
"You're lucky."
I turned to look at the man's subordinates. They were bewildered and didn't know what to do.
They still couldn't gauge our strength.
"W-we have the Lion Fang Clan behind us!"
I approached the one who had just spoken and slapped him across the face.
Slap—
"Are you the leader?"
The man, his cheek red and swollen, replied,
"Ugh, no."
"Then who is?"
As soon as he pointed at the fallen large man, I slapped him again.
Slap—
"Then why are you the one running your mouth? Hand over all your money and leave. You have to compensate for the trouble. If you don't like it, you can all attack us together."
The subordinates exchanged glances, then each took out bills from their pockets.
"This is all we have."
"Check one of them."
At my signal, Makan frisked one of the men and nodded.
"That's all they have, Commander."
The man I had slapped asked cautiously,
"Can we go now?"
"Be careful. Watch your surroundings."
The men, still wary of me, slung the convulsing large man over their shoulders and disappeared.
Suddenly, Zion approached from afar and said,
"Ah, damn it. I lost him, Commander."
"You lost him?"
"He was quick. Disappeared in an instant."
I had told Zion to follow the gloomy man, but it seemed he was more alert than I thought.
Well, it was tricky to use levitation magic abruptly in this place.
"It seems I'll have to teach you the Crazy Mage's Movement Technique."
"What's that?"
"Let's go for now."
"It's not another weird running technique, is it?"
"We'll talk later."
My subordinates followed me with uneasy expressions.
As we approached the barrier, the number of people blatantly staring at us increased.
It felt like they were scrutinizing us like snakes.
Some even met my gaze with defiant glares.
Zion commented,
"These guys are weird. Why are they all looking at us like..."
"They probably see us as competition."
When we arrived at the barrier, no one else was there yet.
"Commander, aren't we too early? I think there's still some time left."
"That's the important part. We have to be the first ones in. Everyone, gather around."
As my subordinates gathered, I began explaining my plan.
"First, Arin, Zion, Makan, Iron, and I will take the entry tickets."
"What about the rest?"
"I have a plan. Listen carefully."
As I explained my grand plan to my subordinates, their expressions gradually shifted with interest.
A short while later, the survey team emerged from the barrier, and soon after, the person in charge of Section 25 appeared.
A loud noise echoed near the barrier.
Whiiing—
The person in charge's voice boomed through Section 25 via a loudspeaker.
"Those who wish to enter, please gather!"
* * *
The entry limit for a Level 4 Demon Realm was 30 people.
We stood at the very front, and behind us, a group of thirty people with entry qualifications gathered.
Among them were some of the men who had glared at us earlier. They were similar to the group with the convulsing large man.
Once all thirty entry tickets were confirmed, the person in charge shouted,
"Entering!"
Arin, Zion, Makan, and Iron, who were at the front, dashed into the barrier.
Whoosh—
I ran from the rear, keeping my eyes on the Demon Realm ahead.
The entrance was narrow, barely enough for one or two people to enter at a time.
After confirming that the four, led by Arin, had disappeared into the entrance, I blocked it and abruptly turned around.
In the distance, Palge was waving his arms at the barrier, preventing others from entering.
I could faintly hear his shout.
"Neung!"
Suddenly, the crowd began to surround Palge.
Just as expected.
Hardly anyone who saw Palge for the first time could ignore him.
A moment later, a burst of light erupted.
Saaaaaaa—
Palge was unharmed.
None of those gathered there could even scratch him.
In the end, the crowd, overwhelmed by Palge's resilience, ignored him and bypassed him to enter the barrier.
With the first line of defense breached, it was my turn to step up.
I stood at the entrance and raised my hand towards the approaching crowd.
"Hold on!"
"What now?"
I blocked the entrance and looked at the crowd with an urgent expression.
"S-something terrible has happened."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm actually a member of the survey team. I just learned that there's a great danger lurking in this place."
The crowd exchanged glances, and then the man who seemed to be their leader spoke up. He was the one who had glared at me the most intensely earlier.
"What nonsense is this?"
"It's not nonsense. I may not always tell the truth, but this time, I'm being serious."
Someone from the back shouted,
"Don't try to trick us. Didn't the guys with you already enter?"
I nodded.
"You're quite perceptive. But I'll say it again, I'm telling the truth."
The leader smirked.
"Now I see what you're up to. No wonder I haven't seen you before. You want to monopolize the Demon Realm for yourself. But it's no use. We can always take the contribution points from you inside."
"Are you planning to kill us inside?"
The leader grinned.
"Anything can happen inside the Demon Realm. Now get out of the way."
I asked the leader,
"Do you know how much time has passed?"
"What?"
"I think it's been about five minutes."
The leader didn't answer and turned around.
"Let's go in!"
The moment the leader stepped forward, I leaped like a butterfly and aimed my slingshot at his forehead like lightning.
"Haa—!"
I didn't need a preparatory stance anymore.
My forehead flick was at the level of mastery.
Thwack—! The leader, hit by the forehead flick, tumbled to the ground.
"Didn't I tell you? There's a great danger lurking in this place. And that danger is me."
"..."
"Tick-tock, these guys are late."
A brief silence fell.
The leader, getting up unsteadily, glared at me with murderous intent and said,
"You're making a mistake for a first-time encounter."
As if on cue, the crowd began to surround me.
I glanced at the entrance to the Demon Realm, then kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
'Levitation.'
High in the sky, I looked down and shouted,
"Everyone, be careful!"
At that moment, the entrance to the Demon Realm split open vertically with a flash, and a burst of light erupted.
"Wh-what?!"
Saaaaaaa—
As the crowd stared at the Demon Realm in bewilderment, Arin, Makan, Zion, and Iron slowly walked out.
The crowd, speechless and dazed, stared at each other, then at the Demon Realm Core in Makan's hand. They all took a step back in unison.
"...A-already?"
Then, a voice echoed throughout the barrier.
"Section 25, Demon Realm closed."
A moment later, the person in charge of Section 25 entered with wide eyes, and onlookers, sensing something strange, began to gather from outside.
Zion, who had been observing the situation with a peculiar glint in his eyes, approached the leader.
"Seems like you got hit by a forehead flick."
The leader stared at Zion as if in a trance, and Zion nodded in satisfaction.
"Remember this clearly from now on."
Zion clasped the man's hand.
"I am the Merchant of the Samael Clan."
I dashed towards Zion like lightning and struck him on the back of the head.
"Ow! Why again?! Let me do business!"
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"The Demon Realm."
"Already?"
"When will we reach 10,000 points?"
"..."
"Let's go."
I was about to exit the barrier when a thought occurred to me.
"Do we really need to go back to the official branch office?"
It was quite a distance to the official branch office.
There was no need to go all the way there just to ask when the next Demon Realm would open.
"We don't need to register, either. All we need is to get the entry tickets."
Arin agreed.
"I suppose so."
I immediately approached the person in charge.
"Excuse me, do you know where the next Demon Realm will open the soonest?"
The person in charge, momentarily flustered, replied,
"You can ask at the official branch office."
"Hmm. That's too inefficient."
I thought for a moment, then approached the leader.
"Hey, where's the next Demon Realm opening the soonest? I have a feeling you might know."
* * *
Second floor of the westernmost official branch office of the Magic Tower Alliance.
Bao, with some free time on his hands, slumped back in his chair.
As the frequency of Demon Realm appearances increased, Bao's workload had become heavier.
Especially since the people he encountered here all exuded a sharp aura, he was becoming increasingly exhausted.
While taking a break, Bao straightened up as something came to mind.
"It's about time for Section 25 to open, isn't it?"
He checked the Demon Realm record device in front of him and tilted his head.
"It's definitely past the opening time."
He waited for a long time, but there was no change in Section 25.
"Wait a minute."
Bao's expression suddenly shifted.
He placed his hand on the Demon Realm record device, and the record was updated.
A gasp escaped his lips.
"It didn't just not open... it already ended? In 7 minutes?"
Bao couldn't comprehend this situation.
It was a highly competitive section, so no tricks should have worked.
"That's impossible!"
Despite his shock, Bao's fingers continued to update the Demon Realm record device as if possessed.
He was so surprised that he couldn't even think of stopping.
And then, at some point, there was a change in the management record of the Demon Realm in Section 27.
"..."
He continued to press the device as if in a trance for a few minutes.
Finally coming to his senses and stopping, Bao's gaze shifted to Section 27.
"Section 27 also... ended?"
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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