Chapter 8
Impurities (1)
“Was it you… the one who killed my younger sister?”
There wasn’t even time to snap back, asking what kind of nonsense that was.
BOOM──!!!!!
“Ugh!!!”
Sehyun quickly ducked behind a trailer.
KA-BOOM──!!!!!!
A deafening blast roared beyond the trailer.
A molten wreck of a vehicle, reduced beyond recognition, smashed into the trailer and exploded.
Glowing shards scattered like fireworks, clattering across the ground in all directions.
At the brutal sight, cold sweat trickled down Sehyun’s forehead.
Drip—drip—
Sizzleee—
Through the narrow gap beneath the truck, he could just make out molten lava oozing.
Just imagining what would happen if it touched him made his skin prickle and his hair stand on end.
Thud—
The massive trailer, impossible for a human to budge, lifted lightly into the air.
Then it was hurled like a toy and smashed into the ground.
THUMP—!!! CRACKKK—!!!
The successive detonations were enough to tear eardrums.
The ground fractured, spewing lava.
Cars parked nearby dissolved in the molten flow, vanishing from sight.
He was so consumed by rage that nothing else even registered in his eyes.
But of course, Sehyun had no intention of just standing idle.
A raging bull needed a rein.
Clink—!
He hurriedly pulled a fresh chain bracelet from his pocket and clasped it around his wrist.
Vmmmm—
As he thrust out his right hand, the bracelet shone blue.
The van’s trunk burst open, spilling dozens of artifacts that shot into the air.
The unique myth engraved in [Valley of Ashes] was the bottomless abyss.
Its ability to devour stellar energy could also be used like this—to manipulate objects infused with stellar power.
Fall upon him!
Sehyun slashed his arm downward.
The airborne weapons turned their edges toward Sungcheol.
Shhhhhh—!!!! BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!!
Dozens of cold weapons rained down in a meteor shower of blue light.
“These trifles are useless!!”
Sungcheol swung his molten arm upward, scattering red-hot metal in all directions.
Most of the makeshift weapons melted instantly.
But a few pierced straight into him.
Thud—!!!
“Ghhk…!!”
Like a hedgehog bristling with spears, Sungcheol froze in place, weapons stuck all over his body.
Clicking his tongue, Sehyun hefted a sword from the ground onto his shoulder.
I only prepped these in case the Foundation pulled something… but I didn’t think I’d be using them here.
If he had known Sungcheol was the opponent, he might’ve chosen differently.
But in this situation, this was the best he had. And he couldn’t afford to drag things out.
This was the Foundation’s filming site—enemy territory through and through.
Thankfully, the parking lot was far enough from the set that no one seemed to notice yet… but it was only a matter of time.
I have to finish this quickly.
Twitch—
At that moment, Sungcheol took a step forward.
Lava burst from his body, instantly dissolving the embedded weapons.
Sehyun poured stellar energy into the few surviving artifacts scattered on the ground.
Shing—
They slashed at Sungcheol’s flank under Sehyun’s command.
“I told you—it’s useless!!”
The heat of the erupting lava melted the artifacts the moment they touched him.
“Not necessarily.”
And then his real plan revealed itself.
“……!!!”
Sungcheol’s molten arm lost its form, dripping away like slime.
Every power had a weakness.
After all, abilities were nothing more than harnessing a particular element or phenomenon.
And I’m the one who first patched that weakness with artifacts, remember.
Artifacts had originally been developed to compensate for players’ shortcomings.
That was how Hailhwan’s community had been able to seize the Foundation by force.
We perfectly covered weaknesses that everyone inevitably had.
As the one who spearheaded artifact crafting, Sehyun knew all about player vulnerabilities. Especially Sungcheol’s—after all, they’d fought side by side for years.
And now, he was turning Sungcheol’s own overwhelming heat against him.
Sungcheol’s power was to erupt and control lava.
But once the artifacts melted inside it, they became impurities, twisting its properties.
Of course he couldn’t maintain control.
Crack—!
As Sungcheol faltered, Sehyun dashed forward.
“You bastard… this was your aim all along?!!”
Sungcheol ground his teeth.
He knew exactly what Sehyun was after: with the lava diluted, his body could be cut down.
“Don’t underestimate me!!!”
Then he’d simply prevent Sehyun from approaching.
He spewed lava with reckless abandon, body collapsing be damned.
Fwooooshhhh—!!!
The area transformed into a molten hellscape, boiling furiously.
“Come if you dare! You’ll find nowhere left to stand!!!!”
Like a torrent, lava spilled out, flooding the lot.
The parked cars sagged and melted into the fiery flow.
But Sehyun only smiled faintly.
“Why should I come to you?”
With a wide swing, he hurled his sword high into the air. At the same time, the bracelet flared bright blue.
Whirrrrr—!
The spinning blade whistled straight for Sungcheol.
“Still useless!!!”
Sungcheol scattered lava toward it with a sweep of his arm.
Even if Sehyun could control it, it would melt all the same.
Even diluted, the heat was more than enough to liquefy a sword.
Sizzle—!
The blade dissolved into molten slag.
Whishh—!!
But from within the spray, an object shot straight toward Sungcheol.
“What the—?!”
Clack—!
Before he could react, a bracelet clamped around his wrist.
So that was the real target.
“A trinket like this—I’ll melt it down!!!”
He poured lava’s power into the bracelet.
But it didn’t so much as budge.
Instead, his body and the molten ground around him rapidly cooled and hardened.
“W-what is this…!”
“Nothing fancy. Just cut off a bit of your stellar power.”
Sehyun had forced [Valley of Ashes] beyond its normal limits.
Since the lava itself was manifested by stellar power, without it, it would lose its heat.
The question was whether the bracelet could withstand the heat.
It can.
Glancing at his hand, Sehyun clenched the soul stone he had taken from Taehun.
The [Valley of Ashes] bracelet on Sungcheol’s wrist had been crafted with the durability of the “Golem’s Arm.”
It was rough, but more effective than expected.
Sungcheol strained to break free, pouring more and more stellar energy into it.
But the harder he tried, the faster his power drained.
“D…damn it……”
His stellar power cut off completely. The heat vanished from his body.
Crack—
And then, like a statue, he solidified into stone.
“Well, now that you’ve calmed down, we can—huh?”
Wait.
Completely petrified?
“Hey, Sungcheol?!”
Knock knock—!!
Sehyun rushed up and banged on him.
But there was no response.
Even his face was rock-solid, lifeless.
That meant… he couldn’t even breathe.
“You idiot! If brute force doesn’t work, you should’ve eased up!!”
This wasn’t about fighting anymore.
He had to hope Sungcheol wasn’t already dead.
Sehyun swallowed hard.
He had only intended to weaken him with impurities—never expected it would backfire like this.
Frantically, he slammed his sword’s pommel against Sungcheol’s head.
CRACK—!
The stone masking his face shattered away.
With only his neck freed, Sungcheol exhaled faintly, barely clinging to life.
“…Ugh.”
He twitched, frowning in pain.
“What are… you doing?”
“Saving you, obviously.”
“…Why would you spare me?”
“Because… I don’t want to kill you?”
Grinding his teeth in humiliation, Sungcheol snarled.
“You killed Seong-ah, and now you show me mercy…?”
“Oh, come on! I told you, that’s not what happened!”
If this kept up, they’d just go in circles.
Clearly, shock therapy was needed.
“Is this what you’re talking about?”
“……!!!!!”
Sehyun shoved the soul stone before his eyes. Sungcheol’s face turned ashen.
As expected.
For players who left no corpses, a soul stone wasn’t just a rock.
Sehyun had handled them too often to feel much.
But to Sungcheol—who had never lived through the apocalypse—the meaning was very different.
And if it belonged to the sister he had been searching for…
It’s shaken him badly, but at least he’s still thinking straight.
Sehyun pulled out the other soul stone from his pocket.
It gleamed brilliantly in his palm.
“This one…”
“Belonged to the one who killed your sister.”
“Ah…!!”
Sungcheol finally gasped in realization.
Good. Now we can talk.
“Since you get it now, I’ll keep it short. We don’t have much time.”
Though still dazed, Sungcheol nodded.
Screech—!!!
A car braked hard. Rachel and Kail stepped out.
The parking lot looked like a war zone.
Charred rock crusted everywhere like hardened sludge, and glowing cracks belched searing heat.
Cars burned to husks were being towed away, while men in suits investigated the scene.
To most, just another messy fight between players.
But Rachel looked tense, almost impatient.
She strode toward the site manager.
“The report is accurate?”
“Yes, sir.”
Normally, Rachel wouldn’t come in person.
As chief, she only intervened in extraordinary cases—like the Yoo Taehun incident.
The reason he’d dropped everything and returned here was simple.
[Outplayer.151]
On a team display, a codename flashed.
So… he showed up here too.
The so-called “Outplayer”—unregistered to any community.
Rachel himself had tagged the unknown culprit of the Yoo Taehun case with the temporary code No.151.
Just being outside community control was dangerous enough.
But adding the suspicions from that case made the threat level even higher.
I’ll catch him this time. No loose ends.
With a grim look, Rachel extracted the site’s wave data and handed it to Kail.
“Hah! This is the same as the workshop…!”
Drooling, Kail sucked on the humming blue candy.
So it’s confirmed. The workshop’s involved again.
Placing a link to Chae Inha had been the right move.
The first time could’ve been coincidence. Maybe even the second.
But Rachel’s instincts screamed otherwise.
This isn’t chance. There’s a reason. If we wait, we’ll be too late.
Even if it were coincidence, two in a row was already reason enough to act.
Inha is obviously just a civilian, so not her. Nam Sehyun seemed odd, but nowhere near a player’s reactions.
That left the workshop’s client—or someone else connected to them.
“Uh, senior? This…”
Kail, who had been rolling the data in his mouth, suddenly noticed something.
“What is it? Found something new?”
“Well, it’s all new, but the problem’s the opponent.”
Rachel realized he hadn’t even asked about the other combatant yet.
“Who was it?”
“Someone you know very well.”
“What do you… no way.”
Rachel laid a hand on the basalt rock covering the lot.
Hum—hum—
“……”
Just as Kail had said.
He didn’t even need to touch it—he already knew.
There weren’t many who could unleash this much heat.
Rachel immediately dialed a number.
“Choi Sungcheol. Where are you?”
“…Come to Cheonghaeru.”
Click—
That bastard…
Rachel’s face twisted in irritation as he gripped his phone.
For Sungcheol to answer so curtly, he must’ve found something.
But if it was him holding a clue, then things might actually become easier.
After all, Rachel had the leverage to make Sungcheol talk.
