“Kyaaaak!”

A mouthful of blood spurted out of La-ongmanee’s opened mouth. He fumbled around the ground in confusion and shock, trying to pick himself back up, but he could barely control his body.

Punches and kicks filled with mana had turned his insides into a mess.

Even at the Intermediate (High) level, Seol Jihu’s mana-infused attacks could cut Medusas, the pinnacle of mid-ranked Parasite species, in half. There was simply no way ordinary Earthlings could endure the attacks at a High (High) level.

“Y-You son of a bitch…!”

The crawling La-ongmanee barely managed to hold his head up. Seol Jihu stomped forward, and when La-ongmanee saw his foot rise up, he quickly shouted.

“You son of a bitch, do you know who I am!?”

The leg paused.

“Do you have any idea who I…?”

La-ongmanee paused in the middle of his speech, revealing a dazed expression. It was because the enemy suddenly crouched down and met his eyes.

When he saw the man’s frightening gaze and the ghastly aura emanating from it—

“….”

La-ongmanee’s breath froze.

“Who are you?”

Within the silence, a bleak voice flowed out. If looks could kill, this demon’s gaze would surely be it. Facing this dreary blaze of a gaze swerving through his brain, La-ongmanee’s angry expression instantly shattered.

Cold sweat dripped down from his forehead, drop by drop. His hair stood on ends. His pupils dilated, and his distinctively bloody lips opened in terror.

“Who are you?”

A chilling question rang out. La-ongmanee swallowed hard. As he was familiar with the act of murder, he was sensitive to death.

He would die. Regardless of whether he answered or not, he would die.

He would definitely die. Really, this man’s eyes could kill.

“N-No… I….”

“Tell me.”

Seol Jihu reached out in a hurry and grabbed La-ongmanee by the collar.

“Who—”

As he stood up, La-ongmanee was dragged up as well. Shouting at the top of his lungs, the man raised his arm…

“Are you!?”

And struck La-ongmanee’s convulsing face.

KWANG!

The punch must have been incredibly hard as a small crater formed on the ground when La-ongmanee’s back crashed down.

It was truly a terrifying show of strength. Struck by this strength, La-ongmanee’s back bent like a shrimp.

It wasn’t until the leader suffered such a devastating loss that a few of the spectating organization members tried to interfere. However, they quickly turned silent as Phi Sora stepped up from the right and Chohong stepped up from the left.

The weapons they held both emanated clear qi.

“I-Is that Sword Qi?”

“Two High Rankers… then even if Sir Jirayu Matthew rushed over…”

They only murmured to themselves, not acting in the slightest.

As a result, Seol Jihu could express his rage to his heart’s content without being hindered by anyone else.

“I won’t let you die so easily. Mark my words.”

He had already snapped before he left Carpe Diem’s building, but what La-ongmanee did only fueled his rage more.

Rummaging through his black belt, Seol Jihu took out a bottle. It was one of the alchemy potions he’d picked up in Arbor Muto’s hideout at Huge Stone Rocky Mountain.

What Seol Jihu took out was a bottle filled to the brim with bright orange liquid. Seol Jihu popped the cap open right away. Then, without saying a word, he splashed it all over La-ongmanee.

Crackle!

As soon as it touched his body, a blaze rose up fiercely. In an instant, the flames spread to every corner of his body and began to burn him alive.

La-ongmanee’s eyes shot open.

“KUAAAAAAAAK!”

He wiggled like a dying insect before suddenly transforming into a fish and flopping around.

But almost as if that had nothing to do with him, Seol Jihu held the Spear of Purity backward and smacked the screaming La-ongmanee with a hard thwack!

“Kuheuk—!”

It went without saying that this beating didn’t end with just this one smack.

Head, shoulder, knee, foot, other knee, other foot… Seol Jihu brandished the spear shaft without rest.

“Keuk! Kuk! Hukeuk! Kuhuak!”

La-ongmanee was really on the brink of going mad. With every strike, a bone would break, his flesh would be torn, and blood would burst out.

To make matters worse, the flames would immediately consume the wound, scorching it. This pain had far surpassed any human imagination.

“Kkrr, krrrrr!”

In the end, he didn’t last long and fainted, frothing at the mouth.

Only then did Seol Jihu stop his beating and pierced the spear into La-ongmanee’s stomach. Lifting him up like a skewered shrimp, he pushed him into a pond.

Tzzzzz! As the flames were extinguished, Seol Jihu pulled out the steaming La-ongmanee and threw him onto the ground. He wasn’t done yet.

“Maria!”

Seol Jihu shouted as he took out a healing potion.

“Heal him.”

“…E-Excuse me?”

“I said, heal him. Just make him regain his consciousness. Do not let him die.”

“….”

Without thinking, Maria took out her crucifix artifact. Her mouth twitched slightly as she had a puzzled expression, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak due to Seol Jihu’s frightening command.

She just did as she was told and chanted a spell.

Seol Jihu personally splashed the healing potion on La-ongmanee, and seeing the white light of the healing spell subside, he put his hand into his belt.

“Hua, huaaa!”

La-ongmanee opened his eyes with difficulty, coughing out a hoarse sound. His expression was completely different than before.

After suffering the previous torture, he understood. He would rather die than suffer the same pain a second time. And now that he had gone through it once, he learned what Seol Jihu meant when he said that he wouldn’t kill him so easily.

He narrowly raised his head and stared at the Sky Fairy. Then, he slammed his forehead down, tears streaming down from his eyes.

He seemed to be apologizing. But it was already too little, too late.

Seol Jihu snorted and threw the second ignition potion. Although La-ongmanee was drenched with water, he caught on fire with ease.

Seol Jihu beat him up with the spear shaft, threw him into the pond to extinguish the fire, then healed him once he was taken out.

While everyone watched on with dead silence, Seol Jihu repeated this process over and over again.

Only a splitting scream rang out in the surroundings.

And by the time his screams died down… Seol Jihu had already spent all six of his ignition potions.

As he was trying to pull out La-ongmanee from the pond, along with the sensation of cutting a rotten log, only his spear came out.

A human-shaped, burnt, well-beaten lump of meat was floating on the pond’s surface. The corpse was so gruesome that it was hard just to look at it.

With an exhausted look, Hugo pulled on Seol Jihu’s arm.

“Seol, Seol! Stop. He’s already dead!”

“You should stop. Are you trying to become a monster?”

Marcel Ghionea also cut in. Even the wailing Sky Fairy had stopped crying and was watching with an entranced look.

Seol Jihu shook Hugo off and breathed heavily. The crystal he had in his pocket shined at the perfect time.

Wiping the sweat soaking his forehead, Seol Jihu took out the communication crystal.

—It’s me. What happened?

Seol Jihu stared at Kim Hannah fixedly.

—…I can imagine.

Kim Hannah smiled bitterly and spoke.

—Eva’s guards will rush over there soon. I called them.

“What?”

—What, you thought you could pull off something of this sort and get away silently?

“….”

—If you’re going to get hit no matter what, it’s better to get it over with quickly. Anyway, when the guards come over, let them capture you. Don’t resist and make this more complicated. I already finished talking with Sorg Kühne. Also…

When Seol Jihu tried to hang up, Kim Hannah quickly continued.

—Leave about ten of them alive.

“…Didn’t you tell me to wipe them out?”

—It’s the royal administrator’s request. The Royal Family has to save their faces. They’re going to be held in prison before getting executed, so do Sorg Kühne a favor.

Seol Jihu hung up.

“What did she say?”

Phi Sora, who was keeping her eye out on one side, asked without taking her eyes off them. Even now, Royal Pattaya’s members could not move an inch.

They didn’t even attempt to escape.

It was quite ironic. Even a worm would squirm when one stepped on it. Although they knew that moving would only result in instant death, all they could do was watch as their leader died a miserable death.

As they had lived in a safe environment their entire time in Paradise, enjoying this game-like world, they had lost all fighting spirit after seeing Seol Jihu’s madness.

It was hard to even call them an enemy now. They were more like scarecrows, waiting to be slashed at.

Seol Jihu spoke quietly.

“Kill them all. Leave only ten alive.”

Phi Sora whistled.

“Ladies and gentlemen of Royal Pattaya, you heard that?”

Phi Sora sheathed her longsword, walking forward as she clapped her hands.

“Your loss if you didn’t. Anyway, we’re going to kill you now.”

Speaking in a pleasant tone, she cracked her neck left and right.

“You can resist or run. You’ll die anyway. But no begging for your life! And rambling on about some unavoidable circumstance is an even bigger no! Don’t think so badly of us. You didn’t think of the foreign race’s circumstances when you hunted them, right~? Let’s do this cleanly, okay?”

Phi Sora said all this very quickly.

“Now, if you really want to live, throw your weapons down and surrender. The first ten will get to live. Ready? Then st…”

Before she could even finish saying ‘start’, she blinked. Over half of the members had thrown down their weapons and kneeled. The remaining members were also hesitating. It was clear that they would surrender at any moment.

Chohong shook her head. She had been somewhat nervous knowing that they were going to attack one of Eva’s Middle-level organizations, but seeing this, they were all numbers and didn’t even match up to a top-grade team.

Not even Phi Sora expected this situation. She stealthily looked back at Seol Jihu.

“…What should we do?”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

Seol Jihu spat out coldly. Phi Sora shrugged and looked around the crowd. There was no easier prey than the ones that had lost their fighting spirit. Her eyes turned sharp before she pounced forward like a panther.

Immediately, a one-sided massacre took place.

Heads were cut off and smashed, and those who attempted to escape were shot down by lightning-fast crossbow bolts.

Screams rang throughout the area. The brief moment of silence had passed, and the Royal Pattaya building turned noisy once again.

Kill, kill, kill, kill…

Just as Seol Jihu was about to join the massacre, he looked back, feeling something pull on his shirt.

“…Flone?”

[Over there.]

Flone pointed to the entrance of the building. Reflexively turning his gaze, Seol Jihu furrowed his brows.

A short figure that wasn’t there a moment ago was placed on the staircase.

[I brought him out.]

“You did?”

[Un. I looked around the building just to be sure. I was about to come back after killing a guy who was calling for reinforcements, but then I saw a basement. That’s where I found him.]

“By any chance…”

[No, he was the only one who was alive. Uuu… it was a really creepy place.]

Flone shuddered, which was unlike herself.

[Anyway, a young male Sky Fairy. That’s him, right?]

Seol Jihu quickly understood what must have happened. Foreign races weren’t commodities even in Eva. It was unlikely that La-ongmanee killed his precious ‘toy’ so quickly. Meaning, the heads he brought out were Sky Fairies he had killed a long time ago.

His senseless provocation had only ended up hurting him more.

Seol Jihu quickly rushed over and brought the boy to the kneeling Sky Fairy. As expected…

“C… Child…!”

The Sky Fairy’s eyes widened as she tightly embraced the male child.

Seol Jihu smiled gently. This was the first smile that bloomed on his face ever since he came to Eva.

“I’m glad.”

The moment Seol Jihu offered these words of encouragement, the Sky Fairy abruptly shuddered. She stared at Seol Jihu with a look of dread on her face.

But even that only lasted a moment. Carefully embracing the child, she lowered her head until it touched the ground.

“Thank you… thank you so much…”

Seol Jihu replied with a smile.

The screams were already subsiding. Though he might be imagining things, he felt like he could hear the guards’ footsteps.

Seol Jihu lowered his spear and tilted his head up.

The gloomy night had gone away, and the sun was peeking its head over the horizon and shining down on the city.

“….”

Eva’s long night was finally coming to a close.