Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 177

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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177. Long Wei (3)
Fortunately, Long Wei wasn’t perfectly prepared either.
He couldn’t escape earlier, and the fact that he’d set up a clone to draw attention meant his timing was already off.
He probably intended to shake us off with a brief illusion. But since we were from the Saebyeok Guild, we saw through his movements immediately.
What puzzled me was why he hadn’t activated his invisibility ability right away.
‘Are there conditions? Does it take a long time to activate?’
It was entirely possible. The fact that even the Chinese hunters hadn’t noticed suggested it couldn’t be detected at all.
High-grade skills with powerful abilities sometimes came with restrictions—like Inferno, which consumed enormous mana, or required lengthy casting times.
Bang—!
Seo Seung-yeon was the first to act. She ran swiftly while expertly aiming her rifle and fired without hesitation.
The gunshot echoed through the mountain, but it didn’t hit Long Wei. His speed was extraordinary.
Moreover, he wasn’t simply running in a straight line—he was weaving between trees, constantly changing direction as he fled.
Bang—!
Seo Seung-yeon fired a couple more shots, but this time too, the bullets only struck trees instead of Long Wei.
“Wow, he’s got some serious movement skills.”
Seo Seung-yeon let out a hollow laugh. It was certainly impressive. No wonder he’d managed to shake off the Chinese hunters.
Even for a sniper, displaying such evasive maneuvers while running was no simple feat.
I suspected he’d practiced this exact pursuit scenario with Seo Seung-yeon in mind before entering Korea.
And his speed was genuinely remarkable.
“Looks like he’s dumped almost everything into agility.”
While not recommended, some rogues and warriors focused their stat investments heavily in one direction rather than distributing them evenly.
Looking at Long Wei’s speed, that was exactly the impression I got. He was faster than even the Saebyeok Guild’s vanguard or myself.
Still, fortunately, the distance between us wasn’t widening significantly.
Long Wei seemed conscious of Seo Seung-yeon’s gunfire, so he couldn’t flee in a straight line either.
—Whoosh!
Then, black mist began spreading around Long Wei. It was the ability I’d seen in the video.
Seo Seung-yeon immediately shouted.
“Target tracking isn’t working! He’s disappeared!”
“He must’ve used invisibility.”
The fact that he’d only now activated it suggested his invisibility required a certain casting time.
Regardless, I could tell Long Wei’s concealment skill was at least A-rank.
Since Seo Seung-yeon’s target tracking skill was B-rank.
I couldn’t let him escape like this, so I held my breath and activated Leap.
—Thud!
Ideally, I wanted to maintain a 40-meter distance from the Saebyeok Guild members, but this wasn’t the time for that. I couldn’t afford to lose him.
As I entered the black mist while holding my breath, Long Wei was caught by my spatial sense.
‘It’s definitely a subspace.’
A smile naturally formed on my face. Chun-bae had said he wasn’t sure, but it seemed spatial sense couldn’t be deceived after all.
I immediately opened a subspace. I left Eshirel inside for now and drew out the Flowing Style Sword, swinging it.
Wind Slash.
As the wind spread out, the thick black fog parted. The target was unmistakably Long Wei.
“Damn it!”
Amusingly, he hadn’t expected me to notice him. When the black fog split from the wind, he startled and rolled his body away.
Then, using the momentum, he sprang to his feet and began running.
I immediately gave chase, but the distance widened rapidly. Once Long Wei activated his invisibility, unnecessary movements vanished.
Unlike before, he ran without any wasted motion, believing Seo Seung-yeon wouldn’t be able to perceive him.
‘This is troublesome.’
Moreover, his escape technique itself was different—professional. Even in a mountain pursuit, his speed never diminished.
He seemed to have thoroughly memorized the terrain while establishing his hideout.
Well, even if he was faster, it didn’t matter. I had my leap. I could maintain a 40-meter distance and keep pursuing.
Since I was wearing a radio, communication posed no problem.
“Can you sense me? We can’t see you!”
“I can!”
Because of the invisibility, the Dawn Light Guild Members had no choice but to follow me. However, at this rate, I’d lose Long Wei.
“I’ll move separately! I’ll leave traces!”
I’d already used my leap to break from the formation, but now I decided to stop worrying about it altogether.
The original plan was to stay within 40 meters of the entire pursuit team, but now not losing this bastard was more important.
“You don’t need to leave traces! I’ll catch up!”
Tae-sung shouted. Right. Seo Seung-yeon was over there. At this pace, she could track it.
Still, I swung the Flowing Blade to make it slightly easier to follow.
Slash! Sword marks were carved into the tree where I’d passed. This should let them catch up quickly.
* * *
‘This is troublesome.’
The pursuit continued at a sluggish pace. The Dawn Light Guild Members were no longer visible. There was nothing to be done about bringing a healer along.
Of course, we could have split into two teams and moved separately, but… honestly, there was no reason to.
Since he was invisible, we wouldn’t be able to perceive him anyway. It could become unnecessarily dangerous.
If the vanguard of Dawn Light said they couldn’t sense him… Long Wei’s ability itself was certain.
-Whoosh!
I still hadn’t managed to attack. Just narrowing the distance using my leap felt overwhelming.
Even with all points invested in agility, he seemed to be a hunter in the late 50s level range.
Still, I wasn’t particularly worried. His invisibility wouldn’t last forever. The Chinese side had also mentioned that he couldn’t maintain his invisibility continuously.
As for me, my stamina was nearly infinite, so ultimately, time was on our side.
‘Is he getting tired?’
Moreover, the distance was narrowing even now. With all his points in agility, his stamina must be dropping somewhat.
It was at that very moment.
“…!”
I was about to attack after my leap when he suddenly spun around. And he charged at me at tremendous speed.
I was slightly startled, but it wasn’t a problem. I hadn’t failed to anticipate a counterattack.
-Clang!
I smoothly deflected the dagger. I felt a chill at the point of contact, which I resolved by surrounding myself with heat.
“Your mind seems to have changed.”
Perhaps because he was an Übermenschen executive who had been embedded in China for so long, his mind worked quickly. He understood that if I continued pursuing him—someone who could pinpoint his location—he had no chance of victory.
That’s why he must have intended to create distance from the Saebyeok Guild first, then dispatch me swiftly.
“….”
Long Wei charged at me again. The distance closed in an instant. Certainly, his agility stat was considerably higher than mine.
However, I was no ordinary opponent either.
Clang—!
I possessed spatial awareness. Hadn’t I learned from Shin Chang how to predict an enemy’s attack trajectory through it?
It meant I could defend against attacks from someone faster than me.
—Whoosh!
He attempted close-range infighting using the shorter reach of a dagger compared to a sword.
Using not just the blade but his hands and feet as well. Responding wasn’t difficult. I had considerable skill in hand-to-hand combat myself.
I blocked his kicks with my feet, deflected his other hand with my left palm, and parried the dagger with my sword.
Of course, it wasn’t easy. I didn’t have much experience fighting daggers. They were incredibly fast.
‘Damn.’
Before I knew it, the dagger came at my ribs from an angle. There was no way to block it, but I had a solution.
—Pop!
I used Leap to create distance.
He frowned. He seemed displeased with the situation. From his perspective, he needed to capture me quickly.
I, on the other hand, was at ease. If I simply dragged out time like this, capturing him was a foregone conclusion.
Using the brief gap I’d created, I sheathed the Pungryugeom and drew out Essirel.
“Let’s have some fun.”
I felt it from the exchange just now.
This man was perfect for testing my A+ grade Essirel for the first time. However, I could see him hesitating slightly.
Wasn’t he wondering whether to flee or fight me?
Even if the distance had grown considerable, this was the Saebyeok Guild. They would arrive soon.
“Running won’t be a good idea. My stamina stat is exceptionally high.”
He studied my face. Unlike him, whose breathing had grown slightly ragged, I remained composed.
Long Wei grinned and nodded immediately.
“I see. I’ll have to kill you before I go.”
It was Korean, though somewhat awkward.
“You speak Korean?”
I asked, slightly surprised, but received no answer. He pushed off the ground.
* * *
Since my awakening, he was the first human I’d faced outside a Gate, yet my sword hand didn’t hesitate. Because I didn’t consider him human.
During my orphan days, I’d fought brutally enough to nearly die.
Moreover, most awakened criminals faced immediate execution as punishment.
After the Gate incident, there were many attempts to capture them humanely, but those efforts caused far too much damage.
Even when the opponent surrendered willingly, they were often executed on the spot.
‘There’s no other way once they’re captured.’
There are no handcuffs that can restrain an Awakened’s abilities. It would be nice if such a thing could reduce them to the level of the Unawakened, but it’s impossible.
You can create a space with high mana density by using a large amount of mana stones, but even then, skills can still be used.
Which means there’s no real need to create such a thing.
Creating such a space costs quite a bit of money anyway, and it’s not worth spending that kind of money on criminals.
Clang—! Clang!
He seemed to have made up his mind, and his speed increased noticeably.
He tried to close the distance while I retreated to maintain it. Close-quarters combat was disadvantageous for me.
What was certain was that I was gaining the upper hand. He was fast because he’d invested everything into agility, but that meant his other stats fell short compared to mine.
Every time our blades clashed, he furrowed his brow. I had the advantage in strength and stamina.
‘I’m definitely at the level of an Advance Team member.’
I’d suspected it before, but now it was confirmed. Long Wei clearly possessed the abilities of an Advance Team member.
Since I was holding my own against him, I could see myself objectively, so to speak.
Whoosh—!
There weren’t a lack of sharp attacks, but I could simply evade the dangerous moments with Leap.
My attacks using Leap didn’t achieve much success.
I’d practiced against Shin Chang before, but this one’s sense perception and agility were quite formidable.
A little mana leaks out when I Leap, and he detected it with uncanny precision, twisting his body to evade.
Because of that, I had no choice but to engage in direct combat, which was a bit frustrating, but it turned out to be unexpectedly helpful.
His short sword technique had aspects similar to the essence of Swift Blade.
Fighting him, I could see another path, so to speak.
The thought that I could wield my sword like a short sword. It would depend on the situation, but it seemed applicable to Swift Blade.
[The skill ‘Cresea Swordsmanship (Grade B)’ has increased in level.]
Just mimicking Long Wei once yielded results.
Considering we hadn’t exchanged blades for that long, it seemed the recent thoughts I’d been having about swordsmanship had been quite helpful.
“….”
During that process, I could see his eyes darting around. He probably wanted to grab me right then, but the situation didn’t allow it.
And then he charged at me. It was exactly like before. When we engaged in close combat, I’d create distance, so…. Was he trying to use that gap to escape?
‘I’ll just turn it around.’
I didn’t retreat. Instead, I used Blaze. There was plenty of mana since we’d been exchanging blades.
-Whoosh!
Just like when I’d protected the Saint before, a sphere of blazing flame erupted instantly, surrounding him on all sides.
Whether it was invisibility or whatever, if he wasn’t using spatial movement, there was no way to escape this prison of flame….
-Whoosh!
But Long Wei simply burst through the flames surrounding him with his body.
What foolishness….
I couldn’t help but be startled, but the reason became clear immediately.
‘Ah, he doesn’t know this is a flame that even burns mana itself?’
He’d led with his short sword, probably thinking the cold energy would help him endure it somewhat.
Of course, an S-grade skill like Blaze wouldn’t disappear against a short sword imbued with cold energy. The same went for his body.
-Whoosh!
His body began to burn in flames.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
Unable to take even two steps before the agony of melting flesh consumed him, he thrashed across the ground, screaming.
No, it couldn’t be this easy… Wait, this wasn’t the time for such thoughts.
“Hey, hey! Don’t die!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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