Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 189

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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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189. Jo Ji-hyuk (4)
I closed the Subspace and exhaled deeply. Jo Ji-hyuk and Veronica. Against opponents of their caliber, I couldn’t help but feel considerable tension.
For now, I was safe. Time didn’t flow outside, and no attacks could reach me here.
There was no need to enter a healing facility. I wasn’t injured anywhere. As for mana recovery, I could handle that on my own.
I chewed one of the spare stamina pills I’d kept in reserve, then threw myself onto a mattress prepared in one corner of the Subspace.
‘It went better than I expected.’
My all-out Severance had succeeded in the ambush. It was unfortunate that Veronica survived intact, but it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.
The worst I’d imagined was my attack being completely nullified.
—Even if a body without a self had been prepared in advance, abandoning one’s body and relocating would still impose considerable burden.
“Right. If something like that were possible without any backlash, it’d be too broken.”
Just from Chun-bae’s advice, I could tell Veronica wasn’t in peak condition either. It was a skill bordering on resurrection. She must have expended considerable power.
Thinking back, I wondered why Jo Ji-hyuk had brought a woman without a self, but it seemed he’d brought her as backup in case things went south with me—to prepare for combat.
In any case, unlike Veronica who’d exhausted her strength, I would be at full capacity once I replenished my mana in the Subspace and left.
The four outside would be held in check as much as possible by Seo Seung-yeon.
“The situation isn’t bad.”
—Affirmative. Your choice to go all-out with Severance was excellent.
Now I only had to face one opponent. Of course, since I didn’t know how things would develop outside, it was best to finish quickly.
Even with Seo Seung-yeon’s interference, reinforcements might arrive—one or two, perhaps three.
Alternatively, a prolonged fight wouldn’t be bad either.
Jo Ji-hyuk was in a state where he’d die soon if left alone, and if I could hold out against Veronica and the Übermenschen, Chulbyeok’s reinforcements would arrive.
‘I did strike the Guild Master of Daeup, the third-ranked guild in the country, so things will get noisy.’
Even with political connections, with clear evidence on my side, there shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, they might end up getting arrested too.
I decided to think about future complications later.
“Let me get some rest.”
I closed my eyes. I needed to get at least some sleep. I’d been in extreme tension the entire time I was observing them.
Now that I was safe, the tension eased and my body felt slightly heavy. Sleep also improved mana recovery efficiency, so getting some rest was a good choice.
“….”
After sleeping for a few hours, I woke feeling refreshed in both body and mind.
My mana had recovered sufficiently. Ever since learning mana control from Chun-bae, my efficiency had improved dramatically.
‘Focus on Incineration.’
My opponent used blood magic. I figured I could respond similarly to how I’d handled the vampire.
Even if blood magic were used, it would be consumed by Incineration, which burned away mana itself.
Come to think of it, I was fortunate to have restrained Jo Ji-hyuk first. Veronica would have been easier to handle matchup-wise.
Of course, since this was my first time facing a mage like this, I’d need to be careful.
‘Not bad.’
I could even use the worn flame talisman. I’d originally planned to use it at the Abandoned Mine Gate, but the situation worked out well.
Earlier, when dodging the scattered blood, I hadn’t managed to use it, wondering what it was….
Now I could utilize both my recovered mana and the Incineration flames stored in the flame talisman.
Before opening the Subspace door, I lightly stretched both arms and loosened up my body.
‘Let’s go.’
I opened a Subspace door.
—Whoosh!
Outside the open Subspace. Since time hadn’t passed, Veronica stood there with the same bewildered expression as before.
When Veronica’s body had burst earlier, all the nearby windows shattered, so cold air streamed in through the broken courtyard.
“What? You’re coming right back out…”
I didn’t wait for Veronica to finish speaking. I used Leap while swinging Eshirel with Blaze.
* * *
Han Hye leaped behind Veronica’s back and swung her blade. Scorching flames spread in a fan pattern along Eshirel’s trajectory.
Veronica couldn’t evade the sword. Even with blood magic, she was still a mage.
Her physical stats were incomparable to Han Hye’s, and moreover, she had been caught off guard. Han Hye had entered and exited the Subspace.
From her perspective, the Subspace had simply closed and reopened. She thought I was playing tricks on her.
‘The reaction was… slow. Well, it doesn’t matter.’
When Han Hye first appeared behind her, Veronica wasn’t particularly concerned.
It was S-rank blood magic. An ordinary hunter’s blade couldn’t harm her body even if it split her flesh.
She could simply reattach her body once it was reconstructed from blood. The same would apply to the flames burning from Han Hye’s sword.
Having operated as an Übermenschen, she had faced countless enemies. Many of them were mages.
‘Ordinary flames are nothing.’
She’d been hit by magic dozens of times. There would be pain, but it didn’t matter. Even when struck directly by B-rank Flame Horse magic, her blood magic had endured perfectly.
As long as the crimson heart—the core of life—remained alive, she could reconstruct herself at any time. That’s why she had no worries.
As always, she would transform into blood to evade, then counterattack. The Space Mage wasn’t even level 50 yet.
No matter how much of a promising prospect who broke records, Veronica had extensive combat experience.
Having awakened during the Gate incident and accumulated ten years of experience, Veronica couldn’t help but underestimate her opponent.
But…
Veronica didn’t know that the flames Han Hye wielded were an S-rank skill, and moreover, that Blaze burned even mana itself.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
A sharp scream echoed through the hotel room. The shock was all the greater because she had underestimated her opponent.
The pain rising from her body—which should have been reconstructed from blood—was so intense she nearly lost consciousness for a moment.
Still, she was Veronica, called the Witch. Before Han Hye could swing her blade again, she quickly transformed her remaining body into blood and escaped.
Some of the blood droplets floating in the air shot toward Han Hye at razor-sharp speed.
—Whoosh!
Han Hye blocked with a Subspace. In that moment, Veronica rapidly reconstructed her body and reached out toward Jo Ji-hyuk.
The blood on the floor and the blood flowing from Jo Ji-hyuk’s body were sucked up and drawn into Veronica’s hand.
“Gaahhh! You… crazy bi—”
Though in critical condition, Jo Ji-hyuk, who still belonged to the vanguard, screamed and cursed, but Veronica paid no attention.
Neither did Han Hye. She was rapidly calculating her next move after observing Veronica’s technique.
‘The sparring footage with Liu Zhen spread. She knows something about me.’
I didn’t expect her to fall so easily to an attack using Leap. I didn’t expect her to scream at the flames either. She must have been underestimating me.
But gaining caution wouldn’t change anything. Blaze is a flame that burns even mana itself.
An enraged Veronica cast blood magic. Han Hye blocked with Subspace, evaded with Leap, and counterattacked.
This time, Veronica didn’t yield so easily.
‘Attack and immediately transform into blood to escape.’
It resembled the vampire I’d fought before, but its speed was slightly faster. Since it wouldn’t stay in one place, I had to predict its jumps.
After a brief exchange of attacks and defenses, a momentary lull arrived. That’s when it hit me.
‘Wait. I don’t need to treat this like just any vampire—I can handle it the same way I did against Rung Wei.’
A brilliant idea suddenly crystallized in Han Hye’s mind. Why hadn’t this occurred to me during rest in the Subspace?
It was one of those moments that made me realize actual combat was the best teacher.
-Beep beep beep!
An alarm blared throughout the entire Hotel.
-There is currently a disturbance caused by Awakened individuals within the Hotel. In the guest rooms…
The windows had shattered from the very start. I hadn’t cast any major spells yet, but the alarm inside the Hotel had already been triggered.
Seizing that moment, Veronica drank Jo Ji-hyuk’s blood once more.
“Gaaahhh!”
Veronica, slightly recovered from the blood, grinned wickedly and opened her mouth.
“You bastard, that flame is no ordinary thing, is it? S-rank?”
“….”
“I don’t know where you got it, but you nearly killed me….”
Han Hye didn’t wait to hear more. I kicked off the ground—not a leap, but a forward charge. Veronica, who had been bracing for a jump, flinched in surprise.
I swung Aesir wreathed in Blaze, but Veronica transformed into blood and dodged without difficulty.
“….”
Several more futile strikes followed. Han Hye had now switched to activating Blaze only when swinging the sword.
As I deliberately furrowed my brow, Veronica’s eyes narrowed.
“You can’t use that consecutively, can you? Or rather, that flame consumes a lot of mana.”
Since that was exactly my intention, Han Hye advanced without a word. Conversely, Veronica seemed to gain some composure.
Where she had previously transformed into blood immediately to evade, now she dodged with a slight delay, as if toying with me.
“Makes sense. It’s an S-rank skill, so the mana consumption must be insane. You probably haven’t had it for long.”
Veronica laughed unpleasantly, and Han Hye charged forward once more, swinging Aesir.
That’s when I unleashed Blaze. All the weakness I’d shown until now had been for this moment.
-Whoooosh!
Centered on Veronica, who had been evading a half-beat too late, a sphere of Blaze erupted in an instant.
Drawing upon every flame from the worn talisman, I had created a sphere of fire far thicker and hotter than what I’d used against Rung Wei.
“What?”
Veronica panicked, but the situation was already over. She was now a rat in a cage. Without a short-range teleportation skill like mine, there was no escape.
Even if she broke through the Blaze, she’d end up like Rung Wei. No—since it was now stronger, she’d fare even worse.
Veronica attempted to transform into blood to escape, but she couldn’t pierce through the thick sphere of flames.
Han Hye exhaled deeply.
“This is brutal, really brutal.”
Then the sphere of Blaze began to shrink gradually. As the flames drew closer, Veronica screamed.
“Open it! Open it, damn you! Hey! Gaaahhhhh!”
But screaming wouldn’t save her. She would simply burn alive. Where the sphere of Blaze had contracted and vanished, not even a speck of dust remained.
Han Hye felt a slight pang about Veronica’s equipment, but burned it without hesitation.
Coveting a piece of equipment or two would be a costly mistake if it meant losing the Übermenschen. It was far more advantageous to handle this decisively.
* * *
-You alive?
After finishing off Veronica, Seo Seung-yeon’s voice crackled through the radio.
“Of course. How about you, Seung-yeon?”
-What, you don’t trust me? I cleaned up all the ones outside and waited. I caught bits of the situation over the radio.
“All four of them?”
Now that I thought about it, no one had come. I’d expected at least one or two to arrive while I was fighting Veronica.
-I moved positions the moment the support request came in. To where the ones on standby nearby were lined up in a straight line.
As the moment came for Seo Seung-yeon to recount her exploits, she shouted with excitement.
-Two with one shot! Damn, I should’ve recorded this. And I handled the last one. Even caught the one trying to escape.
“Thanks to you, it was easy.”
-It’s chaos out there. Helicopters have arrived.
Just moments ago, there had been a broadcast from the hotel lobby. Since the Gate incident, each broadcasting station kept helicopters on standby at all times.
With a broadcasting station nearby, five minutes was more than enough for them to arrive.
-Thud-thud-thud-thud!
I glanced out the window and saw a helicopter in the distance. It was filming this location. Seo Seung-yeon continued.
-You took care of both of them?
“Yes. Veronica is dead, and Jo Ji-hyuk too….”
That was when it happened.
“Ugh….”
A groan came from Jo Ji-hyuk. Wait—Veronica had been draining his blood the whole time. He’s still alive? How is he still alive?
Right. He’s a first-generation vanguard. He must have invested heavily in stamina. I’d heard he had regeneration skills too.
‘Should I thank Veronica for this?’
If Veronica hadn’t been draining his blood, he might have revived with that terrifying stamina and regenerative power.
Even if he wasn’t at full condition, he would have been troublesome, and if he’d escaped entirely, I would have been caught off guard.
There was no reason to keep him alive now. Most awakened criminals were executed on the spot.
Especially with the risk of Min-seok’s information leaking out somewhere.
“Gack!”
I drove Esirel through him. Unlike before when I was rushed with Veronica in front of me, this time I aimed precisely at his vital point. Jo Ji-hyuk went limp.
Suddenly, alarm bells rang in my mind.
-Thud-thud-thud-thud.
The sound of the helicopter was growing louder outside. Right—the camera had been filming this direction the whole time, hadn’t it?
I’d stabbed without thinking, and now I was in this situation. Those who didn’t know what happened inside would find it quite shocking.
‘The world’s most promising prospect kills the Daeup Guild Master. That’s insane.’
Well, I wasn’t worried.
I had a recorder in my pocket, and everything from earlier was recorded in the Subspace.
‘Might as well say hello.’
I waved my hand toward the broadcast camera.

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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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