CH 54

Words : 1759 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

C54: Red Snake in the Mud (1) Dutri immediately grasped the situation. “Kill them!” Dutri’s orders were swift. If Moriarty came to get rid of them, there was no answer other than a deal or a big fight. At the command, his men moved. They threw away the gun that didn’t work, pulled out a dagger in their hand, and grabbed it; however, the flow was not so good. “Hey ah ah ah!” “Die!” But the opponent is a wizard and the moment you hesitate you will die. If they rush from all directions at once, they might have a chance to win because Moriarty was sitting in the middle of the pub with the black werewolf behind him. Seeing close to 100 people rushing towards them Hans asked with his eyes ‘What are you going to do now?’ Rudger did not answer Hans’ question, instead, he acted. Rudger lifted the staff he was holding in his hand and struck it lightly on the ground. At that moment, shadows began to flow around the staff and spread throughout the pub. “Uh, huh?” “What is this?” The members of the Red Society tried to attack, but their body did not move. The darkness swallowed up every light inside the bar. The shadows that Rudger had created were much darker than the alleyways outside without streetlights. It was a pitch black where the light had completely disappeared and in this darkness Rudger was able to move as he wished. “Aww!” “What! Aww!” “I can’t see anything!” Screams echoed in the darkness, signifying the death of the Red Society members. Rudger took out a sword from his cane and started removing the Red Society members. “Sa, save me!” “Boss! Help me! Boss!” As their colleagues died one by one, the rest of the group could not keep their sanity. The fear of seeing nothing along with the sound of death was steadily approaching, and their minds couldn’t stand it. “Aww! Die! Die!” “It’s here!” Crazed by fear, the gang members swung their weapons in all directions and hit their colleagues. In an instant, the pub turned into a brawl where they killed each other. Rudger used a complex magic that used darkness and shadows, and added a curse to instill fear in the opponent’s weakened heart. It was the 3rd rank dark magic [A fool’s dream]. Although it doesn’t work for those with strong mental powers or those with decent skills in a space filled with only extremities, it was a magic that exerted the greatest effect. “Damn it! What are you doing! Stop it!” Dutri clenched his teeth and shouted. Although he could not see ahead, his will was not shaken by such darkness because he had a final card he believed in. At his command, the two men, who had been standing guard in the vicinity of Dutri, moved. As the two of them swung their swords, an aura was loaded on the tip of the sword and split the darkness made of magic. Eventually, the magic was lifted and the light returned to the surroundings again, revealing the bar’s appearance. The bar was a mess, reminiscent of a disastrous situation. Of nearly 100 subordinates, less than 10 were alive and even they were covered in blood and scars. Dutri’s bloody gaze turned to Moriarty, who was at the center of the tragedy. ‘Who was that wolf monster? Where did it disappear?’ The werewolf seemed to have disappeared in the darkness, and Moriarty was alone standing still with a sword in the midst of the corpses, like a reaper that appeared just before death. Not a drop of blood was splattered from Moriarty’s body, even though the area was covered in blood. It looked like something out of this world, so Dutri had goosebumps on his skin without realizing it. “Kill him!” As soon as Dutri’s command came, the two men moved. The two split and rushed towards Moriarty at a terrifying speed. A normal person would have lost its head right away since the two people had far-reaching physical abilities compared to ordinary people even though they didn’t become knights. ‘I can’t take them lightly.’ They mastered aura and dissipated Rudger’s magic. Even though they were stronger than apprentice knights, Rudger didn’t think he would lose. Rudger jumped back and spilled a vial under his feet. Soon after, the vial exploded, and purple smoke spread all around. “Is it poison?” The long-haired swordsman stepped back and protected Dutri. It’s over when the master dies, no matter what anyone says. Aura was wrapped around his body, trying to resist any possible poison. At that moment shadows flew through the smoke but the swordsman cut them all with his transcendent reflexes but there was something he overlooked and the venom dripping from the exploding reagent bottle was sprayed directly on his forearm. “Aww!” The poison came in contact with the skin and no matter how aura he generated it could not be stopped easily. What Rudger threw in was more like a chemical drug that dissolves everything rather than a poison that reacts in the body. Unless he could protect himself with the aura shield the drug couldn’t be stopped. “Damn it!” In an instant, one of his arms was paralyzed, and he swung his sword with his remaining arm toward the purple smoke. The smoke was torn apart but the swordsman couldn’t see Rudger anywhere. “Where?” “Look out! Down!” At that moment, a colleague who was watching from behind gave him a warning, but it was already too late because Rudger’s sword stick, which suddenly came out of the shadow below, pierced through the man’s jaw and protruded to the top of his head. “A mage can also do melee combat.” Rudger said and pulled the sword from his corpse. The oversized corpse leaned over and fell to the side. He thought he could win if he closed the distance and stopped the wizard from casting his next spell, therefore, Rudger was able to win straight away by exploiting the opponent’s loophole. “Who the hell are you?” “Didn’t I tell you before? Professor James Moriarty.” “There is no way that rumors of a wizard who fights like that would not have spread. It’s strange that there hasn’t been any news for years. Were you hiding your identity?” “Am I obligated to tell you that? You are going to die soon.” Rudger sneered at the long-haired man and made a smirk towards Dutri over who was behind him. Dutri’s complexion turned pale. “Lord, kill him! It’s worth the money!” One of the two men in charge of the greatest force of the Red Society suffered. The only thing he could trust now was the long-haired man who was protecting him. The long-haired man clicked his tongue and looked into his eyes. Judging by the behavior of Rudger killing his comrade, he seemed very experienced in combat. “Aren’t you going to run away?” “Will you look after me when I leave?” “Hey!” At the words of the long-haired man, Dutri shouted. “Gee, you’re going to betray me now?!” “Look at the situation now. A guy with a skill similar to mine died without knowing how. You want me to fight a monster like that?” “I gave you money!” “Money is not more valuable than life.” “Two, two times! No, I’ll give you three! Even including the share of your dead friend! So kill him!” The long-haired man hesitated when he heard 3 times the amount of money. ‘Is it possible to win?’ At first, Rudger’s presence was quite intimidating, but didn’t he see the way he fights? In essence, fighting is about understanding the opponent’s way and anticipating his moves. At that moment, Rudger pulled his gun from his waist and fired it at him. The two bullets were deflected by swinging the sword but the sensation in his hand was somehow strange as if the bullets contained magic power. ‘Magic bullet? He even uses those things?’ It was not something the wizards he knew would do. It is said that eccentric wizards do strange things from time to time, but this is not quite common sense. At that moment, Rudger fired another magic bullet. The long-haired man who had deflected it with his sword thought it was impossible to maintain this distance as he was, so he started running. Rudger stepped back again. The speed of the quasi-knight was extremely fast, but there were reagent bottles rolling under the spot where Rudger had left. ‘Do you think I’m going to fall for the same trick?’ He had already observed Rudger’s fighting style and thought that the bottles would spread poison mist so he swung his sword first before they triggered but his face soon contorted. ‘The sword……!’ When the bottle was cut, the sticky liquid that came out of it fixed his sword to the floor. He used aura to free his sword but an opening was left and Rudger pointed the gun at his forehead. ‘If I can’t stop it, I’ll avoid it!’ With his reflexes, he could dodge the bullets just by looking at the opponent pulling the trigger. Therefore, he focused and stared at Rudger’s figure, but suddenly he felt a burning pain in his stomach and had no choice but to look down. “Huh?” Something like a black spear protruded through his stomach. He struggled to turn his head, and saw that a spear from his shadow had pierced his stomach from his back. “Uh, how……?” ‘Wasn’t the magic used by wizards usually centered around the caster?’ He couldn’t understand how the magic was activated from a different direction. “I’ve never heard of anything like this…….” “Taang!” Rudger’s magic bullet pierced his forehead. In the end, the two quasi-knights died in vain without leaving a single wound on Rudger. Dutri, who watched the scene from beginning to end, slid down on his seat with a pale face. “Thump. Thump.” Rudger slowly approached Dutri and looked down at him. His face, with his back to the light, was obscured by the shadows, making it impossible to see properly. “Come on then.” But it was clear that he was smiling as he looked at him. “Let’s finish the unfinished story.”

CH 54

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