Third Step, A Hundred Punishments For One

Lee Hyo-ju’s flustered voice. Hazel had already sealed the space around the house, and Mae Young-ryeong quickly treated Lee Hyo-ju.

“Hyo-ju?”

At Hazel’s call, Lee Hyo-ju narrowed her eyes and glared at the man trembling in the ruined house.

“That bastard is seriously annoying! He says he surrendered?”

“Surrender? Before that, Hyo-ju, is that an insult you’re using right now?”

Hazel sounded more surprised that Lee Hyo-ju was swearing in irritation than that the representative had surrendered.

But Lee Hyo-ju answered nonchalantly, like a woman who’d been coquettish in front of her boyfriend and then came home and casually mixed rice in a bowl.

“Yes? Ah, well. Anyway, that son of a bitch—what should we do?”

“…You’re peculiar. Return here; don’t we have a dependable man who knows everything?”

At Hazel’s suggestion, Lee Hyo-ju drew a communication crystal.

The instant divine power flowed through it, Kim Han appeared. He still looked like he hadn’t washed, as if he’d been guarding Naruan the whole time.

―Hm? Lee Hyo-ju?

“Yes, Mr. Kim Han. That bastard… I mean that representative surrendered, but he can’t be attacked. It’s like a training-period protection.”

―…What did he do?

“He surrendered. Attacks don’t land. It’s protection from the dwelling Setting and protection for a surrendered representative.”

―Kuk! Kkkkkuk!

“Mr. Kim Han…?”

―Done. Ask the magic tower folks nearby to install a barrier and come back.

“What? But still…”

―By the ‘Setting’, a surrendered representative cannot be attacked by a representative participating in the Battlefield of the Gods. Come back.

“…Yes.”

When Lee Hyo-ju ended the call, perhaps having roughly guessed the situation, Hazel, Mae Young-ryeong, and Shumix also began preparing to leave.

As escort, Lee Hyo-ju asked the mages who had come as secretaries to erect a barrier around the dwelling, then prepared to return to the legion house.

Watching Lee Hyo-ju and the Rebound Legion members recede, Won—the representative who had just succeeded in surrendering—sighed in relief and smiled triumphantly.

He felt incredible—too incredible. Remembering the extreme anxiety that had him trembling until now, his head swam with a sensation far greater than any pleasure he’d known.

Because of that elation he wanted to do something out of character. From a man who always executed everything to plan, it was a deviation.

“Goodbye, Kim Han’s raggeds of Rebound. Haha, hahahaha!”

He’d committed the stupid provocation. And he aimed it at the party that included Lee Hyo-ju—feared even by Rebound’s Dumb-and-Dumber duo, Arun and Merus—‘Melun’ Mae Young-ryeong, and Hazel.

Hazel, Lee Hyo-ju, Mae Young-ryeong, and Shumix halted abruptly.

The mage installing the barrier froze mid-action.

Those watching around them went silent, shocked.

Gooooosh―

One of the first skills taught to a Rebound Legion member is projecting one’s will and deflecting another’s. A surge of will rose from the four women, forming a rapid updraft that whooshed through the narrow passage.

Flinch.

Only then did Won realize he’d acted like an idiot, but the water was already spilled.

“Th-then what are you gonna do, huh!!”

He stammered, perhaps trusting his surrendered-representative buff, and snapped forward—yet the four women said nothing. They only stared.

Mae Young-ryeong slipped her hand into the magic pouch at her waist.

Won flinched at her move, and the other three women couldn’t hide their snickers.

Mae Young-ryeong stepped back and infused divine power into the communication crystal.

―Hm? Mae Young-ryeong?

“I would like authorization to use food-luck.”

―From whom?

“The one who surrendered.”

―Food-luck… food-luck. Will it work on a surrendered one? Ah, it worked during the training period, so maybe possible? Fine, I permit it.

“Yes.”

Mae Young-ryeong tucked the crystal back into her pouch and returned to the group.

Hazel looked curious, but Mae Young-ryeong only shook her head—an issue she couldn’t or wouldn’t explain.

“……”

Mae Young-ryeong, wrapped in a thick, vivid black aura, soon took her place again.

Those watching, and even Won—the target—saw nothing unusual, but Mae Young-ryeong’s chilling smile as she rejoined the group spoke volumes.

Her smile was so terrifying that even Hazel nodded, swallowing her curiosity, and moved on.

The remaining mage completed a barrier that completely sealed Won’s chosen dwelling from the outside and began keeping watch.

A short while later, the butler Tess returned from wherever he’d gone, having purchased all the surrounding houses.

Even watching the Rebound Legion’s actions, Won showed no agitation. He only smiled.

“Do you think the scion of the venerable Gu-Baek family would fear something like this? Hah!”

Won—Gu Baek-won, eldest son of the Gu-Baek family—was a man of patience and solemn bearing.

In the house lot ruined as if by a bomb, he even had the nerve to take out a book and read.

But as the sun set, Gu Baek-won’s resolve began to fray.

Exorsus felt like warm spring days while the sun was up; after sunset, it turned slightly chilly. If there’d been even a shabby house left, it wouldn’t have mattered. Hazel had smashed the place to pieces.

He pulled a robe from his magic pouch and wrapped it around himself, which helped a little, but as the evening deepened a chill crept over him and he started to shiver.

He could endure the cold. He was Gu Baek-won, heir of the Gu-Baek family—he could even tolerate swarms of insects, pests, and rats.

The real problem was the urgent need to defecate.

As often mentioned, he was the eldest heir of the venerable Gu-Baek family. He was prepared to endure any torture.

But he couldn’t drop his pants and squat in full view of everyone.

Hazel had destroyed the bathroom completely; it was unusable.

To relieve the rumbling in his stomach he’d have to spread his legs wide—which meant taking off his pants.

Rumors had spread; the area was full of people staring at Gu Baek-won, so he absolutely couldn’t do that.

Rumble―! Gurgle!!

This wasn’t an orc’s growl. It was the thunderous noise of Gu Baek-won’s belly.

Unable to hold it, he left the place he had set as his dwelling. Clutching his lower abdomen, he waddled toward the exit, but a barrier blocked his way.

It wasn’t an extraordinary barrier. In normal condition, thirty minutes would have been enough to break it. For a mage, it would have been nothing.

The problem was the dragon thrashing in his stomach. He didn’t know why the sudden abdominal pain and urge to defecate had overwhelmed him, but he was desperate.

He tried to use a bit of mana on impulse, then hastily withdrew it because something felt like it was about to burst out.

Unable to do anything, Gu Baek-won’s face went pale and cold sweat ran down.

As if waiting for everyone to return to the legion house, Naruan woke the moment everyone who had gone out came back.

The first person she sought upon waking was none other than Kim Han.

Everyone smiled and looked at Kim Han as if it were natural. Naruan turned her head to where the gazes had settled and found Kim Han staring at her blankly.

As usual, Kim Han said nothing to Naruan. He didn’t ask if she was okay; he simply watched her silently.

Did that make Naruan happy?

She sprang off the bed so nimbly it was hard to believe she’d been asleep for more than a day.

Small as she was, Naruan ran over and flopped onto Kim Han, rubbing her face against his chest for a long while.

The legion members relaxed and smiled warmly at the sight. Arun teased her, but it was quickly quelled.

After feeling Kim Han’s chest for a long time, Naruan lifted her face and shouted at him.

“Captain…”

Naruan stepped back from Kim Han and shyly opened her mouth.

The members watching her bowing wore even more satisfied expressions. They probably expected her to say something like ‘thank you for saving me.’

“Let’s fight!!”

“……”

“…What?!”

Arun shouted in bewilderment at Naruan’s words since Kim Han remained silent.

Unlike the noisy members, I was at a loss for words after seeing Naruan’s status window. I couldn’t help thinking.

Previously, when I had used the ‘Check’ power while Naruan was unconscious,

“The current status window is being reset. The range of change is too wide to confirm.”

That message had been the only output.

So the moment I heard Naruan had woken, I came into the room and used ‘Check.’

“She audaciously ingested the ‘Fight Demon’s soul stone,’ something a mortal body cannot contain, and the body collapsed and died as it couldn’t withstand the soul’s rank, but by the power of the talent ‘Immortality’ she escaped death caused by the soul stone.”

“Captain… Let’s fight!”

I had no mind to answer Naruan’s cry. Her status window was that shocking and terrifying.

Yet among the gathered members, no one dared ask what she had gained through the talent ‘Immortality.’

“You… no.”

“Let’s fight! Huh? Captain! I want to fight!!”

She whined like a hungry child until someone answered.

“Alright. Let’s spar.”

“Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Captain is the best!! Let’s go, let’s go!”

Bouncing in place, Naruan ignored the worried representatives’ gazes, opened the door, and ran toward the training ground. The rest of us had no choice but to follow.

We could talk calmly after the sparring.

At the training ground, Naruan was already waiting, holding ‘True Flame’ in her hand. Like a child waiting for a present, she had arrived early and was ready.

But her appearance was odd.

“You? That ‘True Flame’?!”

“Huh? Did the captain make this? I totally like it. Really, I reeeally like it.”

The flames dancing from Naruan’s ‘True Flame’ were different from before.

Thanks to the effect of my title, the limitedly awakened trait ‘igniting the flame of annihilation’ had manifested. The flames danced, flaring and dying repeatedly regardless of the side’s shape.

For a moment, a chilling thought—like handing a gun to a loose cannon—ran down my spine and struck the back of my head.