Chapter 72: White Swan!
The ground trembled. Both the man and woman showed clear panic on their faces, cold sweat unmistakable, proving just how brutal fighting a Luminous fighter really was.
It wasn’t just difficult—it was, frankly, impossible. So all they could do was buy time, stall long enough for the artifact they carried to finally activate, letting them slip away with ease.
But...
The problem was, they couldn’t hold out that long.
Walls of ice appeared, forming four layers surrounding the woman. Her face had gone deathly pale as she desperately tried to figure out which direction the next attack would come from.
Sometimes it sounded behind her, sometimes in front, sometimes to the right or left, and even above. Nearly all of it rang out at almost the exact same moment, leaving her panicked and rattled.
’What the hell is up with this stigmata?! Damn it! Of course, there’s a reason she became the direct disciple of the Tower Keeper of Agility.’
She wasn’t just some standard stigmata user at the Luminous tier—she was well above average, even for her own level.
What were the man and woman supposed to do, when they themselves were only average for their level, forced to fight a Luminous fighter operating well above the curve?
It wasn’t fair!
Crack—!
"H-huh?!"
The woman flinched, hearing every one of her ice walls give off a sharp cracking sound. The attack hadn’t come from one spot—it had come from everywhere, all at once, which was exactly why she kept hearing that chain everywhere she turned.
It wasn’t that the chain had moved—it had been there the whole time from the start. The woman’s face went dark the moment she realized it.
"D-damn it!"
She poured her soul essence into reinforcing her shield, but it wasn’t nearly strong enough to hold against a Luminous fighter’s soul essence.
Crack—! Crack, crack—!
The ice walls simply shattered apart.
The woman clenched her jaw, forming a pillar of water beneath her feet, only to be greeted by a chain already waiting for her there.
"A-ah!"
Her scream pierced through that absolute darkness, becoming the one and only sound echoing through the chaos-filled silence. The chain coiled around her body, gripping her tight enough to send waves of unbearable pain through her.
At the same time...
The man himself, having lost his greatest weapon—the ability to exploit the shadows—ended up putting up even less resistance than the woman.
He leapt around wildly, but completely blind. He ended up walking straight into the coils lying across the floor instead.
"Agh! Let go! Damn it!"
He groaned, struggling to break free. But the harder he thrashed, the tighter the chain’s grip became, until he felt like his entire body, bones and all, was about to be crushed to pieces.
"Gehk...!"
Once both of them had been caught like that, Bell, still standing in the exact same spot, didn’t even bother moving as she yawned.
Tears welled at the corners of her eyes as she spoke, sounding sleepy. "Well, congrats! You two finally got caught. With this, I can finally go slee—"
Her words cut off as she felt a burst of soul essence gathering in one spot. That made Bell glance slightly behind her, then click her tongue.
"Hahaha! You think I didn’t have a backup plan?!!!"
At the same time, the man’s grating scream rang out so obnoxiously that it made Bell genuinely want to shove hay down his throat.
But she didn’t have much time to spare. Her chain retracted, releasing both Black Genesis members, and the very next instant, a deafening explosion tore through the entire warehouse, reducing it to rubble.
Bell nearly got swallowed by the spreading flames, along with the sheer force of the blast, making her feel like her skin was being scorched right off.
She dodged just in time. The warehouse shattered into pieces, and with sunlight now streaming down directly onto her, Bell had no choice but to withdraw her ability.
The world, once dark and colorless, burst back into vivid brightness. Revealing hot, blinding sunlight, along with debris from the warehouse scattered everywhere.
A sharp, unpleasant burnt smell filled the air. Bell pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a long, irritated sigh.
In front of her, the man and woman reappeared once more, dragging along the target they’d meant to implant with the corruption seed.
Truly dedicated, weren’t they...
Bell had no intention of wasting any more time, no interest in playing around anymore, so she planned to end this fast so she could finally rest.
She was just about to lunge forward when she suddenly stopped, sensing a surge of someone’s essence nearby, unfamiliar enough to instantly chill her exhausted expression toward that unknown presence.
She raised her hand, hurling her lantern with its extending chain. Then, she tilted her head slightly, spotting a man with long silver hair appear, wielding a massive black sword.
Craaack—!
Bam!!
Bell’s attack got deflected, flying off toward the ceiling. Still, Bell herself didn’t seem to care much, keeping her focus locked on the man, making sure the Black Genesis pair in front of her couldn’t slip away.
"Who are you? Are you part of them too? This isn’t funny at all, you know, just showing up out of nowhere and piling more work onto my plate."
That man. How was Bell supposed to describe him?
His face looked like it had been painted with the sole purpose of creating a masterpiece of beauty. Skin as white as milk, sharp dark blue eyes like a hawk’s, and finally that silver hair flowing freely down his back.
He wore an outfit that looked a little too tight, genuinely uncomfortable and constricting. It made him look like some strange, handsome man.
Meanwhile, the man in question raised both hands, offering a friendly, though visibly nervous, smile.
"Whoa, easy there, miss! I’m not the enemy, okay?! I sensed something was off, so I figured I’d come lend a hand."
The man looked hesitant for a moment as Bell tilted her head, frowning. Then, he introduced himself:
"I’m a free-spirited wanderer, my name is... uh... White Swan! Yeah! And my goal..." His gaze shifted slightly, glancing toward the Black Genesis operatives, and he gave a small smile. "I want to wipe out the organization spreading the corruption seed, I mean, you know what I’m talking about."
Hearing that, Bell blinked a few times now. Sure, self-proclaimed heroes weren’t exactly rare. But people who actually knew about the corruption seed, and the existence of that organization...
Those weren’t the kind of people you could call ordinary. That left Bell frozen for a moment—she didn’t have the time for this, but here it was happening anyway.
Could she trust that this guy was actually on her side, or not?
She mulled it over for a moment, then let out a sigh.
’If I get one more pair of hands, the job finishes faster. Job finishes faster, means I can go home sooner. Go home sooner, means more sleep.’
Yeah!
That wasn’t actually all that bad. If the guy did end up betraying her later, she could just take him down too, since it turned out he was only an Awakened-tier fighter anyway.
With this one extra hand, Bell could even ask for a bonus.
There was really no downside at all.
"In that case, I’ll take you up on your help, Mister White?"
By the way, that name was genuinely odd. Could someone actually name themselves "White Swan"?
***