Chapter 179. The Power of the Hero (3)
The moment I heard the message, I froze and found it hard to breathe. I couldn’t believe my ears. What? Retrieve his ability? How was that possible? Why was this the first time I was hearing it? Or, did I need to meet certain conditions to make it happen?
However, my questions weren’t important. What was important was that I could take away Luca Bruno’s ability. It didn’t even take me a second to come to a decision. I nodded my head. Immediately, mana began to leave Luca Bruno’s body. He let out a painful scream.
“Kuaaaaaaaaa!”
“Eh? Did the pain come later?”
“Eh… That person, he’s getting paler!”
The mana that left Luca Bruno was absorbed by the white ball of light, which then flew into my hand. I stared at it as if I was enchanted. Another message then rang out.
[A suitable candidate for the ability is nearby. Would you like to bestow the ability?]
Without having to ask, I already knew who the candidate was. It was almost… instinctual. I stared at the ball of light, then faced Yua who was looking at me intently. She called me, as if she knew what I was about to say.
“Oppa…”
“Yua, do you still want to… become a dungeon explorer?”
“Yes!”
Yua immediately shouted aloud.
“I want to help Oppa by Oppa’s side! I don’t to sit back and wait anymore!”
“It’s going to be difficult, think about it, Yua. I want to protect your peaceful daily life. To be honest, I don’t want to ask you this, but…”
“Oppa, please… I want to be by Oppa’s side. Please!”
Looking at Yua’s fervent eyes, I finished what I was saying.
“But… It wouldn’t be bad for you to have the strength to protect yourself.”
“Oppa!”
She jumped into my embrace. I had to try hard to make sure she wasn’t hurt by my armor, and I managed to succeed. Walker made a dumbfounded expression.
“You’re too soft on your sister.”
“Wrong, idiot. That’s not it. She’s my everything.”
I lifted the ball of light into the air. Then, I warned Yua for the last time.
“Know this, Yua. It’s going to be a lot harder than you thought. Once you get this ability, there’s no turning back. You’ll be standing in place of another ability user, fighting terrifying monsters and climbing the dungeon. Your life will be at risk and you might receive grave injuries. Will you still do it?”
“But Oppa is already doing it, right?”
“.. Yeah.”
“Then I want to do it too. I’m tired of waiting for Oppa to come back, while I just sit and study.”
“I’ll say it just in case, but you brother and sister aren’t normal.”
“Shut it, Walker.”
I pursed my lips and rebuked Walker. Then, I let the ball of light in my hand touch Yua’s forehead. The ball of light smoothly went inside her, as if it belonged to her.
The boundless mana Luca Bruno had changed its property and began to completely transform Yua’s body. It seemed Yua couldn’t bear the shock as she fainted. I held her in my arms carefully.
“I’ll have to take Yua back home before I leave for Britain… Walker, do you want to come with me?”
Walker looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
“Kang Shin… You’re changing, bit by bit.”
“What.”
“No, it’s nothing. I will. I want to see Brightman’s end with my own eyes.”
I retrieved the abilities of the other members of Heroes of Shadow (HoS). After doing it once, I got the knack for it, so it was easy to take them away. It seemed the condition was how much they opposed me, the Hero, and how faithful they were to the original mission of ability user’s, monster extermination. As they easily crossed the former standard, it was extremely easy to retrieve their abilities.
It was annoying to keep the small abilities, so I waved my hand and the balls of light flew away. They were most likely going back to Ciara.
“You can’t absorb them?”
“One ability for one person. Didn’t you learn when you were young, Walker? One pudding for one person.”
“You think abilities are like puddings…? Plus, Brightman always took my puddings, that son of a bitch.”
“That’s what I thought.”
I laughed and remarked.
“Let’s go get your pudding back.”
I left Yua in the house to sleep, and talked to the Revival members about making Yua become an explorer. They were shocked to hear that I could take away abilities from ability users, but no one disagreed with me wanting to make Yua into an explorer. The biggest reason was that I already gave her an ability. She had a powerful ability and was undoubtedly on our side. There was no reason not to let her become an explorer.
Kuhum, I promised to talk to them about letting people become dungeon explorers, but we never said anything about giving abilities! Of course, since it was an impulsive action, I couldn’t say anything even if they were mad.
I left Father to guard Yua and Mother.
“When Yua wakes up, make her into a First Dungeon explorer, Father.”
“Yeah, I got it. I agreed to it, but… was it what Yua wanted?”
“Yes. Um… I’m sorry.”
“No… If that’s what Yua wanted, it’s fine. I was worried about her being too attached to you, so I wanted to prevent her from being an explorer or an ability user… But if it’s to the extent that she obtained an ability and wanted to become an explorer, it seems I won’t be able to see her boyfriend for a while.”
“Don’t worry, Father. Even if she can’t date anyone, I’ll live with her for the rest of my life!”
“Screw off, Son.”
Mother patted the sleeping Yua and looked at me with a grumpy expression.
“So, anything for me?”
“Mom, to be honest…”
“Yes?”
“You’re not suitable with any ability.”
Mother sulked and hit me, but it didn’t hurt at all. I laughed and did my best to protect her hands as she hit me.
I thanked Father again and left the house. First, I went back to the dungeon and joined Daisy. Then, I called Lotte.
“Lotte, come.”
[Understood, Hero.]
Lotte was in the resort area training, but considering she immediately responded to my call, it seemed she had finished her training. When I met up with her, I finally understood what she meant by training.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Yes, Hero. This is the result of my training. No one will be able to stop me now. I can be with Hero no matter where Hero goes.”
In front of Walker, Daisy, and me was not a wyvern, but a young lady. She had long black hair, large black eyes, and a tanned brown skin.
Her eyes had a sense of wildness than reason, while her fingernails were dyed black and curled outward. Lotte was in a human form. Not to mention, her explosive breasts and plentiful butt exuded a feminine charm.
I shouted.
“Why are you naked!?”
“Is it not obvious? I never wore anything in front of Hero. It would be rude of me to hide myself in front of the person I served. Is Hero doubting my royalty?”
“I’m not, so wear some clothes! No, go back to your wyvern form! Sorry, but we’re not going into any dungeons today. We have to fly!”
“Do I have to make other people ride on me again…?”
Lotte frowned and asked in a low tone. She had a charming husky voice.
“Sorry, I’ll make up for it later. If it’s something within my power, anything.”
“Huhu, I’ll remember it, Hero.”
Lotte closed her eyes. By the time she opened her eyes back up, she had gone back to her wyvern form. I jumped on her back with the others, then called Plene.
“Let’s go, Plene.”
“I can go too? Really?”
“Yeah, we’re going to need your power.”
“Ehehe, I’ll do my best!”
Plene jumped on me excitedly. Lotte flapped her wings as if it displeased her, while Walker’s expression stiffened. It seemed he was slightly afraid of Lotte. On the other hand, Daisy was stroking Lotte’s back slowly. Then, she murmured.
“Kill he… If she dies, I want corpse. I’ll bring her back as cool child.”
“I won’t kill her! She won’t die either!”
I initially planned on going to Britain, but after Walker told me Brightman was currently in America, I changed my destination.
After realizing what happened, HoS seemed to have influenced other countries to talk as if I was a criminal, but it wasn’t that effective. There was already a precedent of Guardian trying to groundlessly condemn Revival and we had turned it around beautifully.
Although they were using mass media all over the world to scheme against us, they were either ignored or criticized. I felt like I knew why.
“Ciara.”
“Just be quiet and accept her help this time.”
“I know. She knows I can’t refuse either. I won’t say she owes me a debt, but she’s mistaken if she thinks I’ll forgive her with this.”
[Hero, there are five fighter jets coming this way.]
“Shoot it down. I don’t care if the pilots die.”
[Understood.]
Lotte’s black flames covered the air. To provoke Dark Wing, the Queen of the Sky, one had to at least be on the same level as the Flame Drake. Seeing the fighter jets crashing down helplessly, Daisy tilted her head.
“Fascinating monster.”
“Those aren’t monsters. They’re fighter jets, a vehicle made by human technology to fly.”
“Weapon?”
“Mm, something like that.”
“Shape. Hard to put mana into. With weapon like that, mana won’t advance.”
“Yeah, my world originally didn’t have many ability users.”
Lotte accelerated. In less than 30 minutes, we arrived at Boston, where Brightman’s company headquarters was located. I couldn’t help but ask Walker.
“Why is a British company’s headquarters in America?”
“Unfortunately, that’s just how it is. It’s easier to do business across the world here.”
“Brightman’s in there, right?”
“Isn’t that obvious? There’s a landing zone on the roof and a helicopter waiting 24/7. It’s a new model that can travel back to Britain in just 2 hours.”
“He’s staying in America for his business…? I’m surprised he can even leave Britain now that Hwaya isn’t there anymore.”
“That’s how it was initially, but Britain seems to think that it is now ‘safe.’”
Not that it was my business, but they sure sent their minds away to a vacation on Andromeda Galaxy!
Lotte flapped her wings and came to a stop. Now that we were right in front of it, I could see just how big the building was. I was too lazy to even count how many floors it had. It was the tallest and largest building in the area. Beyond the windows, I could see people in the middle of work staring at us with widened eyes. I smiled at them and waved by hand. Then, I asked Plene.
“Can you make everyone in that building leave? Also, make them and others in the area stay away from the building.”
“That’s easy! Lalala~!”
Plene’s mana amplified her voice. The effect was immediate. People working mindlessly suddenly stopped as if they were possessed and began to leave. It was happening in every floor of the building.
At the same time, a man on the highest floor stood up abruptly after seeing us. Silver hair pushed back using pomade and the appearance of someone in his 20’s. It was none other than Brightman. I met his eyes and smirked. Walker, on the other hand, was distracted by something else.
“Oooh, a mass exodus.”
When I looked down along with him, I saw a countless number of people leaving the building through the door. With the unexpected number of businessmen leaving the company, the murmur of the city people even reached us in the air. However, regardless of what the people were talking about, the employee’s’ mass exodus continued. Brightman, who realized what was going on slightly late, shouted at us. I can’t hear you, you son of a bitch.
“Almost everyone’s out.”
“Oh, really?”
“Brightman’s glaring at us, Kang Shin. He looks like he’s ready to charge at you at any moment.”
“Mm, I like courageous people. But… I hate people that scheme behind people’s backs.”
I summoned Peika and Sharana. I leisurely took out a highest-grade Mana Potion and popped open the cork. I put the potion in my mouth and materialized Peika.
“It’s done! Only that annoying man is left in the building!”
“Yeah, thanks, Plene.”
“Ehehehe.”
I lightly patted Plene and drank the Mana Potion. Then, I ordered Peika and Sharana, who were yawning like they were bored.
“Sink this building.”
In less than a minute, the building collapsed.
Author’s note:
Ah, how refreshing. I wanted to take care of these guys for so long, now I can finally do it.
Yua joins the ranks of explorers! As many people guessed, although Yua had no talent for using her body, she was talented in charming! A cute and powerful SS ranker has joined the guild! Now, how would the girls treat their potential sister-in-law!? How would Yua react to meeting her oppa’s daughter!?