Episode 171 Kyushu Crisis (3)
Perhaps because the Hahoe Mask pursuit team in Japan was formed with a specific purpose in mind, they were indeed a formidable opponent.
Not only were all dozens of members seemingly elite, not intimidated by Hans's presence, but about five of them, including the man who shouted the name of his technique, were skilled enough to hold their own against the barbarian warrior Harley.
Moreover, the combat power of the man who seemed to be the leader of the government agents and the woman leading the Guardians was on par with Conwell, the captain of the Empire's Royal Knights.
'Why does that old man always seem to be the standard for combat power?'
Of course, that didn't mean that those awakened ones were at the same level as him.
They were able to amplify their combat power with their unique skills, their extraordinary supernatural abilities.
Strictly speaking, they were probably at the highest level of mastery, similar to Harley.
And that meant…
"Gah!"
"What a monster…"
That they couldn't stop Hahoe Mask, Hans, alone.
[Hehehe— Indeed, it was a decent distraction. But you're still far from being able to oppose me!]
The woman in ninja attire, who had been moving through space at high speed and unleashing all sorts of bizarre attacks, was caught in a web of abyssal threads that filled the air.
And the muscular man, who had been relentlessly charging forward as if ignoring all attacks, finally knelt, overwhelmed by the overwhelming firepower of the dark magic that was constantly pounding him.
The two leaders joined their companions, who were scattered across the battlefield from the fierce battle.
Now the only one left was…
Clang—!
At that moment, a sudden attack, undetectable until the moment of impact, was blocked by Hans's abyss and failed.
"Ugh! Damn it!"
The young swordsman in his twenties, who had initially impressed him.
Disappointingly, he had stopped shouting the names of his techniques after the first few attacks, as if he had accepted his situation.
It was a bit disheartening, like seeing a young man of this generation giving up on his dreams and compromising with reality.
[Death's Grasp.]
Boom!
"Gah!"
Of course, that didn't mean he would go easy on him.
And the fact that he seemed to be the youngest here wasn't important right now.
'The important thing is that I finally defeated all these annoying guys.'
It took longer than expected because he was trying to subdue them without killing them.
He couldn't just kill them because they were annoying, even though they were just following orders!
It would only tarnish Hahoe Mask's reputation.
'I was planning to finish everything today and leave Kyushu, but I wasted time on unnecessary things.'
But it wasn't too late, as he only had one target left.
He moved to the edge of the battlefield and touched the barrier surrounding it.
The barrier they had activated simultaneously with the ambush had somehow survived until now, perhaps because they were concerned about the aftereffects of the battle.
Hans subtly looked back before breaking through it and leaving.
The awakened ones, groaning and lying on the ground in a pitiful state.
He watched them for a moment…
[Hmph— It was fun. Then I'll be going. I took care of your job this time, but try to do it yourselves next time, okay? Hehehe!]
And he left, leaving behind words of sincere encouragement.
He was a bit worried that it might have sounded like a mockery because of his tone, but sincerity always got through, didn't it?
His heart must have been conveyed as well.
And so, he left, having turned the awakened ones' outfits upside down, and quickly moved towards his target.
But not everything went according to plan…
As he had expected to some extent, there was no one left at their hideout.
'Well, even though there was a barrier, there's no way they would still be there after a fight broke out right next to them.'
It was a situation where the mysterious grim reaper, who was a top target in the underworld for hunting criminals, and their natural enemies, the awakened ones, had clashed head-on in their front yard.
It was only natural for them to escape quickly using that opportunity.
After all, they were an underground organization whose main job was to hide.
'This is troublesome. That's why I wanted to finish things quickly. It'll take too long to find and punish them one by one now that they're scattered. Should I just let them go?'
He had only come to Japan to briefly sweep through the larger organizations.
It would be much more efficient to move on to the nearby islands, Shikoku or Honshu, and continue his activities than to be tied up here because of one organization.
'I should operate in a wider area from now on, even if it's a bit troublesome, to prevent this from happening again. It won't be difficult to find careless targets with "Abyssal Eye".'
It wasn't easy to wipe out the leadership of underground organizations because of their nature, but "Abyssal Eye", which could detect evil energy and karma, was a great help in this situation.
He was able to almost perfectly track them down by combining the information he obtained from wiping out other organizations with this skill.
It was the best ability he had right now, considering the current situation where he couldn't install a wide-range surveillance network like in Korea.
'Hmm, but you never know, so let's check one more time.'
Hans, his eye sockets filled with the abyss, slowly scanned the surroundings of the hideout.
And abilities like "Path of Magic" and "Magic Domination" were also activated, searching for any remaining traces.
But he wasn't expecting much, even as he investigated.
They were also survival specialists who had survived in their respective worlds, and they were even skilled enough to build a large force after returning to Earth.
They would have several means to erase their tracks, and it wasn't easy to overcome them just with a difference in level because of the various abilities from different worlds.
But…
He thought so…
'…This works?'
He looked around again, momentarily stopping at a faint trace that remained in the now empty hideout.
It was a faint trace that would have been difficult to notice if it hadn't been for him, as if they had tried to erase it.
'Many of them scattered in all directions, but most of them are small fry. Those with thick karma moved separately, gathering together. Are these guys the executives?'
"Abyssal Eye" extracted useful information from the fragmented traces, and all his abilities instantly analyzed it.
The same conclusion was reached, no matter how many times he checked.
'Should I go?'
He had been about to give up, but now that a clue had appeared, Hans immediately followed it.
He would have felt uneasy if he just left, and now that he had a chance to cleanly eliminate the executives, there was no reason to hesitate.
'Is this their safe house? Typical.'
He followed the traces and arrived at a small building in the mountains near the city where the hideout was located.
Perhaps because it was private property, only the presence of those he had been following could be felt inside the mountain lodge, and there was no sign of any other humans nearby.
'There's no need to wait any longer. Let's finish this quickly and move on to the next region. Next is Hiroshima…'
But the moment Hans entered the place where they were hiding, along with his future plans,
'Hmm?'
He felt a sense of dissonance.
Something different started to stimulate his instincts relentlessly.
Crackle—
He sensed the anomaly and reacted at the same time he heard a faint cracking sound.
Goooo—!
Dark magic power erupted from Hans's entire body like flames, and the surrounding air instantly dropped below freezing.
Abyssal tendrils, emanating from him, wrapped around him and bared their teeth in all directions, and the surrounding scenery instantly darkened as if a filter had been applied.
It was a change that happened in a split second.
And finally…
Crack— Crash!
With a sound as if something was cracking, the surrounding space, including the sky and the ground, shattered like glass.
And beyond that space,
Almost thirty people, fully prepared for battle, were glaring at him, emitting a sharp presence.
[…A subspace. Was it a trap?]
Hans inwardly clicked his tongue as he subtly spread his magic power and checked the space, surprised by the unexpected variable he hadn't detected beforehand.
This strange environment, still partially shattered, wasn't just a simple barrier.
It was a closed world, cut off from all outside connections.
It was a trap, no different from his demon king's castle, the 'Eternal Labyrinth', so…
Unless it was at a level that could eliminate the caster or interfere with dimensions, it was impossible to escape.
He detected the guys he had been tracking, who were inside the mountain lodge.
As expected, they were still there, not moving.
'It seems like the guys who just appeared brought them here to use as bait. Did they drag in the entire surrounding area the moment I arrived at the lodge? This level of spatial manipulation ability…'
Actually, he had considered that possibility when he first discovered the traces and started tracking them, but he had ignored it because he was confident that any trap would be useless against him.
He hadn't expected it to be this serious, though.
"Indeed… I thought it was nonsense to call him Demon King level. But it wasn't completely unfounded."
"Don't be so nonchalant! He forcibly manipulated reality just by revealing his presence!"
"…Um, are we really okay? That guy seems like he's really a Demon King… Such death energy, it's not just him transforming into an undead…"
"@#$%#! %$#!"
"Don't make a fuss. It's what we expected."
This subspace was probably someone's unique skill.
Hans's gaze turned to the group who were chattering among themselves.
'Indeed, they're all extraordinary.'
It was difficult to clearly distinguish them because their unique skills were all different, and the standard for mastery varied by world, but Hans could roughly gauge their power just by the presence they emitted…
'They're all at least at the mastery level. And the five at the front seem to have reached transcendence.'
They weren't just at the level of having their combat power enhanced, like the two awakened ones he had faced earlier, but their level and rank itself had surpassed their limits.
And that wasn't even considering the synergy from their unique skills, so he couldn't even imagine how much stronger they would become once the real battle began.
They were a truly elite combat unit, capable of even defeating a Demon King… something he had never seen even in Auterica.
He momentarily wondered if they were a special forces unit dispatched by the Japanese government, but it didn't seem like it.
'I had a feeling ever since I saw the Heavenly Demon Emperor.'
Devils, emitting a sinister aura and evil karma from their entire bodies, were casually mixed in, and their proportion was even higher than those who seemed normal.
'This is more than I expected. It seems like it hasn't been long since Heaven's Turn Society started operating in Korea. The difference in level with those from other regions is this great.'
Most of them were speaking Japanese, but there were also quite a few who were speaking Chinese, so it seemed like they had prepared thoroughly, even dispatching reinforcements in advance.
And they seemed to be able to communicate with each other even though they were speaking different languages, perhaps because they had used some special method.
[Oh— You must be from Heaven's Turn Society. So, are you done talking?]
Hans, who had finished organizing his thoughts to some extent, arrogantly spoke to them.
Those who had been wary of him and discussing among themselves all shut their mouths and then slowly started to speak again, raising their energy.
"…He even waited for us to finish talking. He has the virtues of a true Demon King."
"Don't be ridiculous. They just needed time to grasp the situation."
"Tsk, I was originally planning to ambush them as soon as they were dragged in here. But he reacted too quickly, and I missed the timing."
The man in the suit, who seemed to be the leader among them, clicked his tongue as he looked at the abyss surrounding Hans.
The writhing abyss, as if it had an ego, emitted a chilling, deadly aura that prevented them from acting recklessly.
"It doesn't matter what Hahoe Mask's true identity is now."
But they couldn't back down now that they had come this far.
And it was ridiculous to back down just because they were intimidated, considering that the power of Heaven's Turn Society gathered here was beyond imagination.
Those who could be called the emperors of the night in their respective regions were gathered here, and reinforcements had even come from China!
It would be laughable to be scared with this much power.
"…We can just kill him and check his corpse."
"Hmm, well, that was our original plan anyway."
"Uh… I'm still a bit uneasy…"
"@#%$$%#!"
So the man in the suit could confidently declare.
That today, this place would be the end for Hahoe Mask, who had interfered with their organization's plans.
'Hmm… It's definitely a bit excessive for a gift set. I don't know what other abilities they have, so I can't tell for sure. I'll have to fight them to find out.'
Of course, it was just dogs barking to Hans.
Even if they were truly threatening and he was in a difficult situation, what did spatial isolation mean to him?
[Hehehe— You're putting on a good show. Let's see how long that attitude lasts.]
And Hans was a character who didn't know how to back down.