My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness

#277

Hahoetal Returns (2)

The top floor of a building in Shanghai.

A cold chill began to spread and rapidly encroach on the place where there had always been only warmth

.

Frost fell on the surfaces of objects, the air froze to the point where it was difficult to breathe, and the flow of noisily activated barriers became stagnant and creaked.

[I guess you’ve been doing well so far. The divine water became very clear.]

All of this was a phenomenon that occurred when only one being appeared.

‘how?’

In such an anomaly.

Yulryeongja, the owner of the office, tried to calm down the confusing thoughts and glared at the uninvited guest in front of him.

‘How did we get here… No, it’s pointless to question that now.’

It was already widely known that Hahoetal was a master of black magic.

Of course, the Buncheonhoe has been thoroughly preparing countermeasures against it for a long time, and the East Asia branch, whose activity area overlaps with it, has not only the usual security, but also has a concealment function specializing in black magic…

‘All of that has become useless. Did you underestimate the other person’s capabilities?’

Grinding his teeth, the ruler slowly backed away, looking sideways at all the barriers and facilities that were already activated.

Although problems arose during the concealment and entry prevention stages due to an unexpected attack, this was a control tower responsible for all of East Asia.

Couldn’t that be the only security applied here?

Ugh—!

Jiying—

Formation of a hidden world, isolation of space, fixation of coordinates, control of supernatural powers, suppression of dark magic, construction of a sacred altar, etc….

It did not take long for all the facilities that were operating from the moment Hahoetal entered to manifest one by one.

Synergy that pursues efficiency regardless of skill category.

It was a combination of multiple techniques that only Buncheonhoe could do.

[Hoo—? [This is truly amazing.]

Hans quietly admired that and slowly looked around.

Looking at this, I was able to understand why he had not been able to figure out the location of the ruler before.

I was wondering why I couldn’t follow his traces even though I had already encountered him in his spirit form twice, but wouldn’t it have been worth it if he was protected like this?

‘It’s a shame. Things would have been easier if we had captured him immediately upon entering.’

However, contrary to his leisurely appearance on the outside, Hans was busier than ever on the inside.

The first plan to rush straight to where the ruler was and capture him failed due to a spatial distortion that was different from what was observed from the outside.

I was able to somehow reach the inside of the office by turning right before, but I couldn’t take action right away because of the barriers that started to activate at the same time.

‘But… the current situation isn’t that bad.’

The ruler retreats to the back, wary of himself, and all sorts of security techniques are activated as if to protect him.

Hans quietly looked through the “Eye of the Abyss” at the unique complex technique of the Buncheonhoe, which he had already seen several times.

‘This is so…’

And the information sucked in through it was immediately dismantled one by one through 「The Path of Magic」, 「Forbidden Knowledge」, and 「Unholy Sage」.

‘It’s a sumptuous feast.’

The content analyzed in this way became the nourishment for “The Way of the Magician.”

‘It was all thanks to the Buncheonhoe that I was able to acquire this skill in the first place.’

Past – It was an ability that blossomed after excellent research materials and dedicated private tutoring at the expense of the eyes and legs of the ruler.

But they didn’t stop there and prepared such a large amount of teaching materials this time.

[That’s awesome. It’s also stupid. Did you think you could stop me with just something like this?]

A black glow leaked from the corners of the eyes covered by the Hahoe mask.

At the same time, the barrier shook with the energy exploding from his body and he began to scream loudly.

[I am death that feeds on your fears—.]

Boom!

Rumble—

At that time, the office door was kicked down and a number of awakened people came in.

All of them were at least at the extreme level, and one of them was a strong person who had reached complete transcendence.

He must know very well that he has no chance of defeating Hahoetal alone.

They probably thought that with the help of the barrier, they could hold out until help came from another point.

but.

[…no one can avoid it.]

That was just their wishful thinking.

***

Kwaaaang—!

There was heavy drinking again and the space shook.

‘Even though there are several layers of overlapping barriers, the aftermath is this big.’

However, the ruler frowned at the shock coming from behind, but walked diligently down the stairs.

To leave the fight to others and hurry away.

From the beginning, his role was that of a manager, not a combatant, so it was a natural decision.

Of course, his unique skill, “Image Projection,” was a great ability that could destroy the mental world regardless of his physical strength, but didn’t he already keenly feel that such a method wouldn’t work on Hahoetal?

‘At a high price.’

He slowly lowered his eyes and looked at his right arm, which was moving hard, and his two legs, which were also equipped with action-assisting magic tools.

‘The Shanghai branch is closed for the time being. No matter how much effort I put into the koan in advance, it has already attracted too much attention. ‘It’s not good to get so much attention.’

As China has a large land area and a large population, many branches were distributed there.

If you go to any of them, handling the work itself will not be a big problem.

Anyway, everything I needed to work as a branch manager was in my head.

‘The problem is… Hahoetal’s rampage won’t end with this one time.’

The ruler’s face contorted as he remembered the strange masked attacker again.

Most of China’s heavenly level transcendents were scattered throughout the continent.

It is only natural that having so many strong people gathered in one place only results in low efficiency.

The problem was that it would take a considerable amount of time to bring them together.

‘It just so happens that the Lord of the Society is away…!’

Just one day ago.

It was the time that Hoeju remained on Earth considering the reappearance of Hahoe Mask.

Then I couldn’t waste any more time like this so I just left.

What exquisite timing is this?

After grinding his teeth several times, the ruler soon forced himself to take a deep breath and calm his mind.

Getting excited now won’t help anything.

He glanced at the notification window floating in one corner of his left artificial eye’s field of vision.

〈Scan Information〉

-Code Name: Hahoetal

-Energy Type: Black Magic + Death(?)

-Main Ability: Black Magic, Undead, Space Movement, Barrier, etc.

-Origin Dimension: Unknown

-Unique Skill: Unknown

-……

The contents printed immediately after encountering the Hahoe mask.

Although it is called a scan, most of its contents were organized from the information left in his mind rather than analyzed directly by the artificial eye.

Even though it was a product of cutting-edge magic engineering, there were limits to understanding something as high-ranking as Hahoetal.

However, there were a few lines at the bottom that were worth immediate reference.

-Measured energy: 93853126

-Risk level: S+

-Detection of energy response beyond Giga-class ship nuclear reactor. Recommended to leave quickly.

It was a number that was still measured and fluctuating in real time.

This prosthetic eye is an item from the Calicas dimension, where magic engineering has become extremely advanced and has advanced into space.

Of course, the ship referred to here also refers to a very large space ship that navigates the celestial bodies.

‘But S+? The majority of the Heavenly level who obtained and confirmed this artificial eye were A-line…’

Of course, the amount of energy and combat power are not proportional.

This may be true in a space war where each person fights while pouring in enormous amounts of energy, but in a match between masters who control it with extreme efficiency, there is not much difference as long as a certain line is crossed.

Although it was difficult to completely cancel out the main gun flying in front, the transcendents were the ones who could easily change the direction and let it go.

But even taking that into account, the numbers in completely different units put great pressure on the viewer.

This is especially true for those who make predictions about the world through objective data and calculations, like Rulryeongja.

‘We have to get out of here first. Cheon Yuming is also an A+ Cheon level, so with the help of the barrier and earth levels, he should be able to last for quite a long time.’

In fact, the fastest way to move to another point was on the top floor, but now, because of Hahoetal, I had no choice but to go down.

Originally, no matter where the intruder infiltrated, he would have been sent to the lowest floor due to space distortion, so he would have responded leisurely and escaped to the transfer center on the top floor when he thought it was no longer possible.

‘Damn it, all other means of fast travel were blocked because of that…’

Who would have thought that such thorough preparation would actually hinder escape like this?

He promised that if he ever goes to another branch, he will definitely improve this and redesign it.

‘We’re almost there now…!’

of course.

If you can escape.

Kwaaaang—!

Suddenly, a shock wave greater than anything that had hitherto came from the top floor and swept everywhere.

“Ugh! “What is this!”

The person caught in the act was helplessly swaying his upper body, but thanks to the assistive devices on his legs automatically controlling his posture, he was able to avoid rolling around on the floor.

However….

〈High energy approach warning!〉

The luck given to him ended there.

-Measured energy: 156759142

-Danger level: SS-

-Detected energy response equivalent to Terra-class ship nuclear reactor. Immediately proceed to emergency evacuation sequence.

A notification window with changed numbers appeared before his eyes again.

[Hehehe—We met again. It seems like I walked pretty diligently.]

The voice I had encountered just moments ago passed by my ears again.

After briefly checking the risk level, the ruler closed his eyes tightly.

Then, with difficulty, he opened his eyes again and turned his head to look at the person who spoke to him.

“…Chen Yuming.”

As I thought about it for a long time, it seemed like a long time had passed, but in reality, it was only a few minutes.

But it was truly unexpected for him to break through so quickly.

[hmm? …iced coffee! You mean that guy?]

But after seeing the back of the Hahoe mask, Yulryeongja was able to quickly realize what had happened.

Slurp—

swoosh—swoosh—

Mixed with the noise of multiple people walking, the sound of something being dragged on the floor was heard…

A dozen figures appeared through the darkness of the hallway.

‘That’s…!’

The ruler who saw this gritted his teeth.

An undead unit with black energy dripping from its entire body as if it had fallen into ink.

He could tell their level at a glance.

‘Heavenly level undead…! Plus, is everything else paid? How can things like that be on Earth?’

They were ‘Abyss Revenants’ made from the bodies of awakened people that had been collected.

Among them, an elite squad made up of only carefully selected individuals.

Soon, the undead Salma, who was at the forefront, slowly lifted up something he was dragging with one hand.

“…Chen Yuming.”

What he saw underneath the hair held by the black hand was a face that was familiar to the ruler as well.

He was a world-class expert who confidently stayed behind just a moment ago, saying he would buy time.

What’s different from before…is that there’s no longer any life left on that face?

[Hehehe—Thanks to you, I found some useful material. This guy too can be reborn brilliantly. This is very satisfying.]

“…….”

The Demon Lord of Death, with corpse soldiers behind his back, let out a grim laugh.

The helpless human being in front of him, weighed down by the intimidation, could not say anything.

[But…]

But of course Hans had no intention of leaving him alone.

[You also have some pretty good-looking things, right?]

A pair of eyes filled with abyss scanned the body of the ruler.

He was a non-combat type spiritual awakener and did not reach the transcendental level, but he was still rare in his own way, so he was not a body that could not be used.

And above all….

‘I thought about it before. ‘I really want those eyes.’

It is a mechanical prosthetic eye that mysteriously glows, with a soft blue circle on the edge and a geometric pattern on the inside of the iris.

This was my first time seeing a magic engineering item of that level, so my eyes were drawn to it without realizing it.

Also, wasn’t the dwarf avatar Howard in the midst of trying his hand at magic engineering?

And that wasn’t all.

‘I’m sure he was in a wheelchair last time. And that right arm too.’

Look at those limbs moving naturally as if nothing is wrong!

And it looks so natural that it is not noticeable under the clothes.

‘It’s literally the ultimate reinforced exoskeleton.’

That could also be a good gift for Howard, who is working hard on improving his suit.

There still remained the problem of restrictions on using magic tools from other worlds, but that was something to think about later.

Hans, who had reaped a considerable harvest, smiled in satisfaction again.

Then, he slowly walked towards the ruler and extended one hand.

[Where should I try to run away again?]

“…what a bastard…”

It was only natural.

He could not escape until Hans’ hand touched his forehead.