The concussive boom of Min-jae’s departure from the Mapo Bridge rippled across the surface of the Han River, creating a localized shockwave that flattened the purple mist for a hundred yards.
He didn't run along the streets. With his Agility sitting at a massive 80 and his newly ignited [True Circuit] operating at peak velocity, the concept of a path had beco obsolete. He executed the [Formless Step] sequentially mid-air, his bare feet catching the edges of concrete balconies, comrcial neon signs, and the rooftops of abandoned high-rises with the light, weightless precision of a predatory bird. Every bound covered nearly eighty yards, his body slicing through the midnight air so quickly that the friction left a faint, golden thermal distortion in his wake.
Within less than four minutes, the jagged silhouette of Mount Naksan lood before him.
The quiet, historic district of Ihwa-dong was no longer dark. The narrow, winding stone staircases and mural-painted brick walls were illuminated by the harsh, sweeping beams of military-grade searchlights. The rhythmic, heavy chopping of three transport helicopters shattered the mountain air, their rotors kicking up a storm of dust and debris that tore the overgrown ivy from the terraces.
Down at the base of the ridge, a full chanized vanguard from the Miracle Guild had established a lockdown periter. Six heavy armored personnel carriers sat idling, their modified mana-cannons glowing with a passive blue readiness.
"Establish the suppressing arrays!" a commander shouted through a tactical gaphone from the middle of the street. "The Director’s data was compromised! The target area is a localized spatial void! Deploy the Mana Siphon Pylons to force the grid to expand!"
Min-jae dropped from the sky, landing silently on the tiled roof of an abandoned Hanok house just thirty yards above their primary line. He dropped into a loose, low crouch, his long, lean arms resting casually over his knees as his golden-ringed pupils calibrated the intrusion.
The intruders weren't just low-level corporate scouts. Standing in the center of the terrace path, right outside the broken wooden gate of his [Martial Sanctuary], were three individuals wearing the unique, crimson-trimd longcoats of the guild’s Judicial Enforcent Squad.
These were the 'Cleaners'—Level 32 to 35 specialists who were deployed only when a corporate asset was stolen or a rogue variable threatened the stability of the executive board.
In the center stood a tall, skeletal man nad Seo Do-hyun, a Level 35 Blood Magus. In his right hand, he held a long, silver rapier, its blade wreathed in a thick, bubbling current of dark red mana that slled heavily of copper and burnt hair. To his left and right stood two identical twins clad in heavy, obsidian plate armor—Level 33 Dread Knights holding dual executioner’s broadswords that pulsed with a passive Shield-Break modifier.
They were currently forcing three massive, tallic pylons into the granite bedrock of his courtyard. The pylons humd violently, spraying arcs of artificial blue electricity into the air as they attempted to inject synthetic mana data into the isolated space.
[Warning: Your 'Martial Sanctuary' domain is experiencing external data corruption!]
[The 'Absolute Severance' protocol is being contested by high-density Mana Siphon Pylons.]
[Domain Suppression efficiency has dropped to 52%.]
"The data is settling," Seo Do-hyun murmured, his voice high-pitched and reedy as he checked his holographic tablet. He ran a long, pale tongue over his top lip, his crimson eyes tracking the flickering blue boundaries of the system grid. "The void is shrinking. The Director claid an unranked civilian dismantled an entire vanguard squad here, but the local readings show nothing more than a temporary atmospheric tear. The boy must have used a disposable mythic-grade artifact to mask his paraters."
"Should we clear the house, sir?" one of the Dread Knights grunted, his heavy sword scraping against the stone floor of the veranda.
"Do it," Do-hyun commanded, his rapier drawing a lazy, blood-red line through the air. "If he's inside, sever his limbs first. The Chairman wants the core of his vessel intact for laboratory extraction."
"You corporate dogs really love talking about extraction," a voice echoed from the roof above them.
The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a deep, tallic resonance that caused the artificial blue electricity from the pylons to instantly sputter and die.
Seo Do-hyun snapped his head upward, his crimson eyes widening as his flashlight beam swept across the roof tiles, locking onto the silhouette of the teenager. Min-jae stood up to his full height, his bare chest completely clear, his skin gleaming with that flawless, living ivory luster that marked the perfection of his internal channels. He looked down at them with two solid, unblinking rings of brilliant gold in his pupils.
"Target sighted!" the Mage scread, his fingers flying across his screen to trigger a manual system scan.
[Target: UNREADABLE]
[Class: UNREADABLE]
[Warning: Target's physical density exceeds baseline epoch trics by 400%!]
"What... what is that parater calculation?!" the analyst inside the command vehicle down the hill shrieked through the radio. "His mana signature is zero, but his internal pressure... it's higher than the B-Rank Gate Master!"
"Kill him! Fire!" Do-hyun roared, abandoning his calculated decorum.
[Skill Initiated: 'Blood Spear Torrent (B-Rank)'.]
[Channeling 400 units of compressed Vital Mana...]
[Next strike applies an un-healable 'Cellular Decay' curse.]
With a violent expansion of his crimson longcoat, the Blood Magus thrust his rapier forward. Six massive spears composed of boiling, dark red liquid mana materialized in the air around him, their tips sharper than diamond, shooting upward toward the roof at a velocity that tore the clay tiles away in a frenzy of shards.
Min-jae didn't step back. He didn't close his fists.
With his Perception sitting at an advanced 50 and his [True Circuit] running smoothly, the high-speed magical spears looked like slow, clumsy droplets of red ink drifting through a thick liquid. He could see the precise geotric nexus where the six separate mana constructs were held together by the Mage’s willpower.
He dropped from the roof, his body descending directly into the center of the incoming torrent.
Formless Style: Deflecting Palm.
Min-jae extended his right hand, his palm open, his fingers relaxed. He didn't draw upon his internal True Ki pool. He simply utilized the raw chanical leverage of his 75 Strength and the flawless velocity of his 80 Agility. He swiped his bare hand horizontally through the air, his palm striking the central nexus of the blood spears.
SHIIING—BOOM.
The impact was not a magical clash. It was the absolute, pure delivery of physical force into a data matrix. The six B-Rank blood spears didn't detonate; their structural cohesion was violently sheared apart by the chanical pressure of his palm. The dark red liquid mana shattered into a harmless spray of inert, grey mist that rained down across the courtyard like dirty water.
"What—?!" Seo Do-hyun gasped, his rapier trembling as the feedback from his broken spell violently rattled his internal mana pool, causing a line of black blood to run from his nose.
Before the two Dread Knights could even lift their heavy broadswords to interpose their shields, Min-jae landed on the stone floor of the courtyard. His bare feet made no more than a faint tap as he hit the ground, but the sheer, unbuffered density of his 85 Constitution generated an invisible, sub-surface tremor that caused the three tallic siphon pylons to instantly fracture at the base, their electronic grids exploding into white sparks.
[External Data Corruption cleared.]
[The 'Martial Sanctuary' domain has returned to 100% operational efficiency.]
[Absolute Severance active: Enemy Mana manipulation suppressed by 80%.]
The two Dread Knights felt their heavy, system-granted Dread Aura instantly collapse, their obsidian armor turning from legendary defense plating into useless, fifty-pound cages of dead iron.
Min-jae stepped inside their guard before their boots could even shift in the dirt.
"Your armor is black," Min-jae said softly, his golden-ringed pupils locking onto the throat matrix of the first twin. "But your foundation is still just soft clay."
He drove his left elbow straight forward, the joint reinforced by the crystalized matrix of his [Jade Bone] frawork.
Formless Style: Sovereign Rupture.
BOOM.
The impact didn't just dent the obsidian breastplate; it disintegrated the entire upper half of the armor into a spray of black shrapnel that cut through the face-visors of the surrounding soldiers down the hill. The raw kinetic force of his 75 Strength traveled cleanly through the knight's chest, turning his heart and lungs into mush within a millisecond. The Level 33 elite collapsed into the dirt without letting out a single sound.
[You have defeated a Level 33 Dread Knight.]
[The Overmaster System converting entity's vital essence...]
[You have gained 6 points of 'True Ki'.]
[Current True Ki: 16 / 200]
The second twin let out a feral, panic-driven scream, swinging his massive broadsword horizontally in a desperate attempt to sever Min-jae’s neck.
Min-jae didn't duck. He didn't parry. He simply raised his bare right hand, his fingers curved into a precise, rigid hook, and caught the descending edge of the mythic alloy blade cleanly between his bare palm and thumb.
Tink.
The sword stopped dead. The Shield-Break modifier of the weapon violently backfired against the unyielding density of his [Iron Skin], the steel blade spider-webbing with fine cracks before shattering into a dozen useless fragnts that dropped into the dust.
Min-jae looked at the remaining pieces of the sword, then at the trembling face of the second knight.
"You really should have listened to Choi Sung-min," Min-jae murmured.
With a casual flick of his fingers, he drove his bare hand straight through the broken visor, his knuckles delivering a compact, high-velocity thrust that systematically pulverized the hunter’s skull from within.
Thud.
The second titan of iron fell heavily beside his brother, his life force instantly erased from the local registry.
[You have defeated a Level 33 Dread Knight.]
[The Overmaster System converting entity's vital essence...]
[You have gained 6 points of 'True Ki'.]
[Current True Ki: 22 / 200]
Min-jae turned his head toward the last remaining Cleaner—the Blood Magus. Seo Do-hyun had dropped his silver rapier into the mud, his hands raised above his head, his skeletal fra shaking so violently his long coat rustled like dry leaves in the wind. His universal interface was flashing a massive, pulsing red text that he couldn't dismiss.
[CRITICAL INTERFACE CORRUPTION]
[OPPONENT ATTRIBUTE PROFILE OUTSIDE THE PARATERS OF THIS EPOCH]
[FLEE IMDIATELY]
"Who... what are you?" Do-hyun wheezed, his reedy voice cracking as he looked at the two dead titans at his feet. "The system... the system didn't give humanity this kind of clearance."
"The system didn't give anything," Min-jae said, his bare feet moving with a silent, weightless precision as he stepped toward the wooden veranda of his Hanok. "I had to break my own bones to earn these lines. Go back to your Chairman. Tell him to take his ten billion won and buy himself a bigger bunker. Because when the next wave opens... I'm coming to Gangnam to collect the interest on that bounty."
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