LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 53: Misunderstanding
Chapter 53: Misunderstanding
It felt like stepping inside the belly of a colossal sea creature.
Jin Beom-Min let out a gasp of admiration at the grandeur as he slowly walked down the empty hallway of the Sydney Opera House.
Only the sound of his footsteps echoed through the vast corridor.
There was no need to rush. The Opera House was surrounded by water, leaving no escape route.
And the portal scroll was undoubtedly with Teano, who had just died.
They had only met twice, but it was clear that he had an arrogant personality, and it was unlikely that he would have entrusted such an important item to someone else.
Therefore, Jin Beom-Min strolled leisurely, looking around as if he were a tourist.
It was a rare opportunity to walk alone through the empty Opera House.
He felt a slight shift in the air current.
It was a subtle change that he wouldn’t have noticed before, but Jin Beom-Min was a completely different person now.
He had regained a significant portion of his original power, albeit not perfectly, and his senses had become more acute.
Rustle!
A faint sound of footsteps reached his ears. Jin Beom-Min quickly raised his sword and turned his gaze.
Tyrel was leaping towards him from the second-floor railing, her curved sword drawn.
‘……No daggers……?’
Jin Beom-Min instantly grasped her intentions.
Her physical attack was a trap. The real attack would be coming from his blind spot.
The fact that the curved sword in her hand wasn’t imbued with any magic power was proof.
She planned to focus all her magic power on her daggers and aim for his vital points.
Without hesitation, Jin Beom-Min lunged towards her.
Two expressions flickered across Tyrel’s face in rapid succession.
A smug smile, thinking Jin Beom-Min was moving as she expected, and a look of dismay that quickly replaced it.
Slash!
Crimson blood splattered as Tyrel’s right arm was severed from her shoulder.
“Aaaaagh!”
Clang!
Thud!
Her right arm and curved sword clattered to the floor.
Simultaneously, the magic power channeled into the daggers was cut off, and the three daggers that were flying towards the back of Jin Beom-Min’s head also fell to the ground.
“Ugh……! Huff!”
Tyrel clutched her shoulder, blood gushing out, and writhed on the floor.
Jin Beom-Min kicked Tyrel’s left hand away and briefly concentrated magic power into his sword, touching her shoulder.
Sizzle!
“Aaaaagh!
Gah!”
Tyrel screamed, but Jin Beom-Min didn’t even blink.
“Ugh…… Huff, huff……?”
Tyrel, crawling on the floor and struggling to get away from Jin Beom-Min, suddenly realized that the bleeding had stopped.
The sparks generated by Jin Beom-Min’s Mana Conversion had cauterized her wound.
“Grr……! What, what are you trying to do……!”
“I have some questions. You can’t die before I ask them.”
Tyrel’s expression hardened. She realized that Jin Beom-Min hadn’t treated her wound out of kindness.
“……Do you think I’ll answer just because you ask!”
“No, I’m just curious. Why do you keep targeting me?”
“……What?”
Tyrel stared at Jin Beom-Min with a dumbfounded expression, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
However, Jin Beom-Min’s eyes held only genuine curiosity.
“……You’re asking because you don’t know!”
“I’m asking because I don’t know.”
“Shameless bastard……! You don’t remember what you did!”
“What? What did I do?”
Tyrel spat out blood-tinged saliva and answered.
“You, you…… stole the Legion Commander’s belongings……!”
“……What?”
Jin Beom-Min asked again, not even bothering to wipe the sticky saliva from his armor.
“……What are you talking about? What did I…… steal?”
“You despicable thief! You stole the Legion Commander’s belongings and ran away to another world! You, if it weren’t for you……!”
Tyrel, consumed by rage and pain, spat and raged.
But even as Jin Beom-Min listened, he couldn’t understand what was going on.
“No, wait. Hold on. What did I supposedly steal?”
“How would I know? I was just…… ordered to retrieve the stolen goods!”
“Wow, this is driving me crazy……”
Jin Beom-Min covered his forehead with his hand and sighed.
He had finally captured an enemy who could understand him, but all she did was spout nonsense, leaving him baffled.
“……You cowardly thief……! Even if I die, I will curse you forever……!”
“Hah, this is truly absurd……”
“I’m the one who’s absurd! Instead of repenting for your sins……!”
“Wait, wait.”
Jin Beom-Min waved his hand, interrupting Tyrel. His voice was also quite agitated, laced with emotion.
“What the hell are you talking about? I fell into this world 28 years ago without knowing why! I didn’t steal anything, I even lost the helmet I originally had!”
“……28……years?”
“Yes! Almost 30 years have passed!”
Tyrel stared blankly at Jin Beom-Min’s face for a moment. Then, as if she had lost her confidence, she asked again in a subdued voice.
“……You’re…… saying you’re not him……?”
“Wow, this is driving me insane!”
Jin Beom-Min clutched his head and groaned.
He had thought there must be a significant reason why the monsters of Jindar were invading Earth.
Something special and important that would determine the fate of Jindar, or perhaps Earth.
But it wasn’t that. They were causing all this chaos just to catch a petty thief who stole something.
“All this…… all the death and destruction you caused, was just…… because of that……?”
“Just? ..! Infiltrating the Legion Commander’s residence and stealing his belongings…… is a crime punishable by death!”
Jin Beom-Min couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the absurdity of the situation.
“Hah, oh my…… Fine, let’s say that’s true. But what can you do? I’m not him.”
“……Are there any other humans from Jindar besides you?”
“……No. I’ve been searching for the past 28 years! Every time someone with supernatural abilities appeared, I would go through all sorts of articles and make a fuss, just in case.”
Jin Beom-Min sighed and answered.
“……But it was no use. I was the only one from Jindar in this strange world.”
“……That can’t be……! Then where did the thief go!”
“Oh, come on! Why are you asking me when you’re the ones who came to the wrong place?”
Thud!
Jin Beom-Min stomped his foot, and the marble floor crumbled and caved in.
“……This can’t be…… The Legion Commander couldn’t have been wrong……”
Tyrel muttered in a resigned voice, as if she had realized that Jin Beom-Min was telling the truth.
“Hmph, of course he could be wrong……”
Jin Beom-Min grumbled, then asked again as if he had suddenly remembered something.
“……What kind of person is this Legion Commander? Is he the commander-in-chief of the monsters?”
“……You don’t even know that?”
“Of course I don’t. I told you, it’s been 28 years since I came here!”
Tyrel stared blankly at Jin Beom-Min for a moment after hearing his words. Then, as if lost in thought, she muttered to herself.
“……Wait…… 28 years……? The Battle of Sorrow……? Then the Legion Commander…… could it be……!”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“……Kuk.”
Suddenly, Tyrel twisted her lips into a chilling smile.
“……Khahahaha! I understand now! Who you are! Why you’re so strong!”
“……What?”
Tyrel laughed hysterically as if she had forgotten the pain of her wounds, then abruptly stopped and spoke with a chilling expression.
“……You must have a lot of questions? Jin!”
“What? How do you know my name……?”
Jin Beom-Min took a step towards her and questioned urgently.
Jin Beom-Min had never revealed his name to Tyrel or Teano.
Most of his conversations with the Ghost Squad were through communicators, so there was no way she could have heard his name.
“……Tell me! How do you know my name? Do you know what happened 28 years ago?”
“Kuk kuk kuk……”
Tyrel let out a triumphant laugh and continued.
“……I can’t tell you that easily.”
“What?”
Jin Beom-Min asked again, bewildered.
“……Do you even know what situation you’re in?”
“……Well, at least as long as I have the information you want, I can survive.”
Jin Beom-Min scratched his head.
He hadn’t intended to kill Tyrel in the first place. He had planned to capture her as a prisoner, as Lee Sang-Jun had requested.
She could communicate in Dark Elf language, and among the enemies he had faced so far, she was relatively weak, so it seemed possible to restrain her somehow.
“Hmm, well, that’s your choice……”
From Tyrel’s perspective, she was probably trying to save her own life.
However, she had no idea how the first ‘living extraterrestrial being’ captured in human history would be treated.
She probably wouldn’t want to know.
“……Kuk kuk kuk…… How ironic. To have my life saved by the one who drove my family to ruin……!”
Crack!
With a crisp sound, Tyrel’s jaw was dislocated, and her body collapsed.
“……What nonsense are you spouting, without even knowing your own situation……”
Jin Beom-Min wiped Tyrel’s blood off the tip of his shoe onto her clothes and checked her pulse.
He might have kicked her a little too hard, but her pulse was still beating.
Her jaw was crushed quite gruesomely, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Dark Elves had good regenerative abilities.
Leaving the unconscious Tyrel behind, Jin Beom-Min picked up her severed right arm.
Then, he removed the dagger sheaths from the now cold arm.
The sheaths, adorned with dark red leather and red thread, were designed to be attached to the arm with luxurious leather straps.
Whirr!
As he strapped the sheaths onto his arm and channeled magic power into them, three daggers floated into the air.
“Hmm, indeed…… Controlled by magic power.”
As Jin Beom-Min moved his fingers, the three daggers responded, swirling in the air.
“Like this……?”
After briefly experimenting with controlling the daggers, Jin Beom-Min noticed the inscription on the sheaths. It wasn’t written in Dark Elf language, but in ancient Dwarven runes.
“Whirling……Claws? Must be the name of the weapon. Whirling Claws…… Lacks power, but…… could be useful.”
Jin Beom-Min swung his arm a few more times, maneuvering the daggers in a wider arc, then converted his magic power.
Crackle!
The three airborne daggers emitted blue-white sparks.
“……Not bad.”
When wielded by Tyrel, the Whirling Claws were nothing more than a nuisance.
They could launch flexible attacks due to their maneuverability, but the weapons themselves were too small and light, lacking significant power.
However, in the hands of Jin Beom-Min, it was a different story.
Not only could he move them faster and more agilely with his overflowing magic power, but he could also enhance their power through Mana Conversion.
Of course, it wouldn’t be as powerful as wielding a sword directly, but it was sufficient as a secondary weapon.
“Now, shall we go?”
Jin Beom-Min grabbed Tyrel’s belt with one hand and lifted her limp body.
Her blood-soaked hair and knees dragged across the floor, but it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be waking up for a few days anyway.
Jin Beom-Min hummed a tune as he walked down the wide hallway.
Towards the Opera House Square, where over a billion viewers were watching with bated breath.