The Reverse Scale, And Kim Han’s Anger

While the group continued attacking, I didn’t just stand and watch like before.

I gripped True Flame in my right hand instead of Posik and swung it relentlessly, cutting through the trash fleeing in all directions.

The number that had read 374 in the upper-left of my vision had already dropped to two digits.

Lee Hyo-ju sobbed as she unleashed mnemonic spells.

Hazel’s brow was knotted with rage, and Arun bit his lower lip until it bled.

Mae Young-ryeong’s face remained unreadable, but the black aura around her was darker and more jagged than ever.

The ground around Proy Rium, who had trained most with Naruan, trembled violently, and Soria’s spirits swept everywhere.

The others were the same.

Because no one hated or found Naruan difficult, the Rebound Legion members were truly enraged.

Only the unconscious Shumix and Hugo remained silent.

Some of the trash, feeling emboldened, tried to resist, but the fury of the enraged members overwhelmed any mere struggling.

These were people who trained daily with murderous intent aimed at one another.

As the number plunged to just 1, the only beings left standing were the Rebound Legion.

Not even the senses detected anything.

‘The last one could not be determined as friend or foe, so I added it just in case—better to catch it than miss it. Marking the location.’

The location was odd: a small, shabby house farther away than the woman who had fallen on the outskirts. Guardian pointed to the most dilapidated house in the alley.

Creak, creak.

The sound of a body squelching, soaked in blood, followed.

Even though we had neutralized all the enemies, the members’ faces did not relax.

Naruan’s talent, Immortality, couldn’t be revealed to just anyone, not even to fellow members.

“Tie the trash together with this.”

I took the Bondage of Love and Hate, which had previously bound ten pieces of trash, and the mithril thread used as its material out of my inventory, threw them on the ground, and headed toward the house Guardian indicated.

I knocked gently on a door that looked like it would shatter under a hard strike.

Had they heard the knock? I felt someone moving inside, cautious as if avoiding a trap.

Squeeeak—

As expected, the door opened with a fitting sound, and the figure who stepped out was, surprisingly, a frail female representative.

A secluded alley, a house falling apart—this was no environment for a woman, even a representative.

“I’ll ask directly. Are you in cahoots with that trash?”

“…I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but no.”

“Alright.”

The woman trembled with fear but insisted she wasn’t involved.

I swung True Flame at her—not at an arm or a leg, but at her neck.

I couldn’t be certain she was innocent. In such cases, death is the most definitive answer.

Thud—!

“…Huh?”

Instead of a clean cutting sound, there was a muffled impact and a recoil.

What blocked the blood-red True Flame was a red, shield-shaped mass of divine power.

“Ugh—! I-I have no offensive ability! P-please…”

I withdrew True Flame, watched the sweating woman, and activated the Confirm authority.

‘Confirm.’

“…What’s your name?”

“N-N-Nana Margo…”

“Nananana Margo? That’s a strange name.”

“Ah, no…”

She slumped to the floor as if exhausted and muttered between gasps.

“First, get up. You’ll be coming with us. You know why even if I don’t say it, right?”

“…Yes.”

Many representatives had their fates altered: Violentia failed to absorb the Dragon Heart, Benialis’s plague plan collapsed, and I had inadvertently sided with the continentals.

My former comrades who joined the two factions were like that, and so was mute Proy Rium who joined our legion, and the shaman Shumix as well.

Naruan meeting death as soon as her fifth year began was likely the same pattern.

And the reason Guardian’s valkyrie trembled before my eyes instead of joining the Heavenly God Benialis’s faction was probably the same—a butterfly effect of choices.

I tossed the words out and turned, moving toward the group.

The members, red capes fluttering, busied themselves across the blood puddles, binding the bodies of the representatives who lay groaning on the ground.

“Companion…”

Hazel was the first to rush up and try to hug me. I raised a hand to stop her and shook my head.

“You’re covered in blood.”

Because of the nature of Hazel’s authority, unlike other representatives, not a drop of blood stained her—she looked as she did when she first appeared.

But Hazel snorted, then ran up and hugged me tightly.

“…Tsk.”

“Hoho.”

She clicked her tongue in reproach but laughed it off.

Upon spotting the trembling woman behind my back, she quickly stepped back and asked with startled eyes who she was.

“For now… I judge she is not with them, but just in case, a suspect we’re taking with us.”

I left Nana with the puzzled Hazel and returned to the group.

Arms and legs lay scattered through the pools of blood.

Alongside the metallic scent came the smell of flesh cooking—burning meat—thick and sickening.

Cleric-type representatives moved busier than anyone, desperately staunching the bleeding on those clinging to life.

“Which bastard was the leader?”

“That one.”

As I muttered while looking at the writhing chunks of flesh on the ground, Lee Hyo-ju’s cold voice answered.

“Hm?”

“That one writhing there, the terrified one, is the ringleader, and the strategist who planned this hasn’t shown up, they say.”

The terrified man, eyes drained of light, began trembling violently the moment our gazes met.

I turned away from that pathetic figure and gave orders.

“First, if they’re all bound, cut out their tongues and prepare to drag them as far as you’re capable.”

“…Drag them?”

“Yes, like with Unos and Katarina.”

“Ah…!!”

Murmurs swelled.

“W-what’s that?”

“Isn’t that the man covered in blood up front—could it be Red Rule?”

“Oh?! It is!!”

The strange procession that began in the southern mercenary district drew representatives’ and continentals’ attention alike.

It drew more attention because leading the procession was Red Rule Kim Han.

Of all people, Kim Han was the one dragging naked those whose limbs had been severed or burned, so eyes naturally fixed on him.

“Well, well. Those bastards attacked Mr. Kim Han’s companions who had gone out on business! They threw a whopping 500 at three people. Later, Mr. Kim Han made them look like that!”

Where the man had heard it, who knew? He spread a brief but convincingly detailed account to those around him.

Whether true or not didn’t matter—every continental was already listening.

“W-what? Is that true?”

“Of course! I heard it from a magic tower mage. The adorable Naruan is on the brink because of those bastards!”

“Then they’re asking to be beaten to death!!”

“They’re killers!”

“Kill them!!”

Perhaps the mages who arrived with Kim Han spread the rumor. Faster than feet, the tale had reached most Exorsus citizens by the time the Rebound Legion members arrived at the square.

Citizens who had abandoned their livelihoods and rushed out wore clothes that hinted at their trades.

“We must kill all the representatives!”

“Right! Exorsus is the city of Rebound and us!”

“You scum worse than orcs!”

The continentals’ curses dripped with malice.

The prisoners felt physical pain as they were dragged across the ground.

The humiliation of lost limbs.

Tongues cut out, unable to plead—trapped.

The fearless representatives being dragged squeezed their eyes shut.

They did not yet know what kind of man Kim Han was. Had they realized he wouldn’t stop there, perhaps they would have tried to kill themselves.

Kim Han only stopped when we reached the square. He ordered the Rebound Legion to wait and turned toward the Garden of Gods.

“Kim Han…”

A gardener familiar to him approached in surprise. Those who practiced Gwaneum would naturally be aware of the situation.

I exchanged a brief nod of greeting and first asked about Naruan’s condition.

“Has Naruan woken up?”

“She is still sleeping. How…”

“I’ll take her now.”

“Understood. We’ll guide you.”

Instead of the usual entrance used to meet the god, we entered through a side door and found gardeners who had already heard the news gathered there.

I greeted the group of gardeners in white and walked briskly inside.

The chapel attached to the Garden of Gods. The room deepest within it. A massive iron door barred the way.

At the short incantation of a gardener standing before it, the door opened gently.

On the broad altar inside, Naruan slept soundly, her face smeared thickly with blood.

“……”

I approached Naruan and carefully lifted her.

Mindful not to wake her, I exited the Garden of Gods and was immediately surrounded by both continentals and members.

Perhaps because Naruan slept so soundly, they couldn’t ask aloud; they moved their lips and asked with eyes full of worry and curiosity.

“Fortunately… she’s sleeping. Move quietly.”

Nod!

Without a sound, the group nodded and headed north again, dragging the chunks of flesh. Even the continentals who had been shouting fell silent.

It was uncanny—like a wave of mourning sweeping forward without a single sound.

Even continentals approaching from the opposite direction sensed the strange atmosphere and stopped.

Thus a silent path formed from Exorsus Square toward the northern legion house.

Only the noise had vanished—the malice had not. If anything, by not speaking, the murderous intent grew thicker.

Silent malice crushed the representatives who had become chunks of flesh.

At one corner of the square stood a representative watching the Rebound Legion and the procession drift northward.

Although he stood at a distance, he seemed to see everything clearly; his face had gone pale.

“Damn it! How can they be that strong!! How!”

The representative grumbled and stamped his foot in frustration for a long moment, then spat in annoyance.

He glared at Kim Han’s group with eyes full of resentment and anger. To an observer, it might seem Kim Han and Rebound were villains and this man a righteous victim.

After muttering a few curses, the man turned toward the southern street and vanished.

The moment the man disappeared, Lee Hyo-ju, who had been riding in a carriage with Hugo, opened her previously closed eyes.

For the man who did not know what Lee Hyo-ju had heard and seen, it was the beginning of misfortune.