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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 8: Undeadog (6)
Another steel harpoon hurtled through the air toward Baek Ho and Devin, who were lying flat on the ground.
A piercing sonic crack split the sky.
This time, they didn’t dodge.
Crunch!
Frank appeared in a flash and threw himself in front of Baek Ho.
The harpoon lodged into his forearm, which had transformed into a rounded shield.
“Huaaah!”
Frank stomped down, his face twisting like a demon’s.
Dark blue steam erupted from both of his legs, modified with NecroShell enhancements.
{Entity ‘Buddy’ has 59% mana remaining.}
Baek Ho’s eyes darted toward the source of the attack.
Across the street, in front of a roadside food stall—
A man stood, his entire face hidden behind a rounded helmet.
A prominent “W” was etched onto the helmet’s visor.
The man pulled another harpoon from the bag strapped to his back.
As he readied to throw, mana surged down his arm, coating the weapon.
In this urgent situation, what drew Baek Ho’s attention wasn’t the helmeted man—It was the guy eating ramen at the food stall.
Black hair. Black tracksuit. Sitting with his back turned.
A black aura was writhing around the area of his chest.
“...A necromancer?”
Shraaaank!
Another harpoon tore through the air.
Frank swung his arm, knocking it aside.
The harpoon embedded in his shielded arm was yanked out with it.
The impact was significant—another notification flashed before Baek Ho’s eyes.
{Entity ‘Buddy’ has 46% mana remaining.}
Sophia stepped up beside Frank.
“D, we need to get out of here.”
Tension laced her voice.
Fighting a Reaper alone was one thing—Fighting a Reaper and a necromancer at once was something else entirely.
For Baek Ho’s safety, retreat was the only option.
“Yeah…”
Baek Ho clenched his jaw.
Sending a necromancer after a fresh awakened?
It was like using a butcher’s cleaver to kill a chicken.
He looked around.
Not a single car passed on the four-lane road.
There wasn’t a pedestrian in sight—meaning the area had long since been locked down.
Which also meant—There were more government agents around than just the Reapers surrounding them.
They had walked straight into a carefully laid trap.
“Forget what I said about my instincts.”
“You’re cracking jokes ‘now’…?”
Baek Ho glanced sideways.
His car sat not far off, engine already running, waiting.
“Devin.”
“Y-Yes…?”
“If you want to live, don’t leave my side.”
“Understood…”
Devin’s shoulders trembled.
The government didn’t need him alive—just his body as a vessel.
The fear that he might die here today gripped him completely.
The group quickly fell back, using Frank as a shield.
As they went near the car, another harpoon came flying.
Clang!
Frank’s change-arm blocked it once again.
A notification flashed in the corner of Baek Ho’s vision—Frank’s mana reserves had dropped again.
There wasn’t much left. At this rate, the necroshell would shut down.
One small relief: the others weren’t attacking.
Aside from the man in the helmet, the rest just stood there, silently watching.
Still, every barrel and blade tip was aimed squarely at Baek Ho’s team—ready to strike at any moment.
Baek Ho narrowed his eyes at the necromancer still eating ramen.
With one word from him, every Reaper here would move.
They wouldn’t last long.
“Hurry!”
Baek Ho flung open the rear door and shoved Devin inside.
He jumped into the driver’s seat, and Sophia slid into the passenger side.
“Frank!”
He stomped the gas pedal.
Tires screeched as the car launched forward—and at the same time, the trunk sprang open.
Frank never took his eyes off the helmeted Reaper as he bent his knees.
The necroshell he wore—specifically, a model known as King Kong Legs—began to glow blue at the joints.
Zzzzzing—
With a massive crunch of impact, the ground beneath him sank in.
Frank’s body shot through the air like a missile, crashing into the trunk of the speeding car.
Boom!
The impact turned into propulsion, giving the vehicle even more momentum.
They tore through a stack of trash in the alley and vanished from the scene.
⋯⋯⋯
The Reapers stood motionless, watching them go.
Like soulless puppets, they didn’t move an inch—just stared, emotionless.
“Subarashii!”
The necromancer, still at the food stall, slammed his ramen bowl onto the counter.
Wiping his mouth with a tissue, he muttered to himself.
“So that’s the son of Commander Baek, huh? I was expecting more.”
He tossed the used tissue over the stand.
It landed right on the corpse of the food stall owner lying on the ground.
“Still just a kid after all.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Vroooom—
Baek Ho’s car tore through the narrow alleyway.
There wasn’t a person in sight, but trash was everywhere.
A rotten piece of furniture struck the bumper, flinging a dirty blanket onto the windshield.
Only after the wipers swept back and forth did it finally fall away.
“It’s blocked!”
Sophia pointed ahead.
The end of the alley was sealed off by a solid concrete wall.
“What are you thinking!?”
Baek Ho didn’t respond. Instead, he floored the gas pedal.
As the car accelerated, so did Sophia’s panic.
‘This is insane!’
If they hit that thick wall, the car would be totaled.
She might be a Reaper and survive, but Baek Ho wasn’t.
His body was fragile—and he only had one life.
“Ugh!”
Sophia threw herself over Baek Ho, wrapping her arms around him.
She focused her mana into her back, bracing for impact.
“......”
Caught off guard, Baek Ho awkwardly spoke while crushed against her.
“Right now, really…”
In the trunk, Frank swung one leg out. He braced the roof with his right arm and slammed his King Kong Legs into the ground.
BOOM!
With a thunderous impact, the rear of the car launched upward.
It flipped through the air, vaulting over the concrete wall.
“Waaahhh!”
Sophia screamed, clutching Baek Ho even tighter.
In her panic, she lost control of her strength. Baek Ho gasped and frantically tapped her shoulder.
“L-Let go…”
Crash!
The car landed roof-first with a gut-wrenching noise, then skidded across the ground.
Frank, bracing with his right hand, slowed the vehicle down.
The moment it stopped, he climbed out of the trunk and flipped the car upright.
The inside of the car was a disaster.
Baek Ho spoke in a dry, cracked voice.
“…We survived.”
Sophia, hair now completely disheveled, gave a slow nod.
She unwrapped her arms from Baek Ho’s neck and slid back into the passenger seat.
Then suddenly remembered—
“De-Devin!”
She turned and checked the backseat.
Devin was there—jaw trembling, drooling uncontrollably.
“Oh my god…”
“We’re moving.”
Baek Ho gripped the wheel.
According to the GPS, there was a parking lot beyond the wall.
He’d expected to crash into parked cars, but luckily the lot was clear.
Or rather—there was something that ‘shouldn’t’ have been there.
“What the hell is that…”
A man stood alone in the middle of the parking lot, dressed in a long black coat. Close-cropped hair, narrow eyes. A deep bluish-black glow radiated from his chest—A Reaper.
The man gripped the handle of the katana hanging at his waist.
He slid his left foot back, lowering his stance.
‘A trap? Did they lure us here on purpose?’
Sophia bit her lower lip, staring at the man’s sword.
There was an emblem on the sheath.
A golden cherry blossom with a red oni mask layered on top.
The logo of Izanami Corporation.
“Be careful!”
Sophia shouted, now recognizing the man’s affiliation.
At that exact moment, the Reaper’s lips parted—
“Shindō-ryu.”
He pushed off with his left foot, drawn back behind him.
“Issen.”
A single flash.
He vanished from sight.
Or rather—he moved so fast, it ‘felt’ like he vanished.
The blade slipped from the sheath and cut through the air.
From bottom to top. A dark blue aura trailed from the sword, extending its reach and tearing open space itself.
Crack!
Baek Ho’s car was sliced clean from the front.
The vicious blade, laced with eerie, obsidian-blue energy, ripped through steel—and came for Baek Ho’s life.
KANG!
The incoming strike was halted.
The man’s sharp eyes narrowed, locking onto the thing that had blocked his blow.
Sophia stood there—both palms gripping the blade.
“…Who are you?”
The man’s voice oozed menace.
Sophia answered sweetly.
“Your mother.”
She ducked her head and smashed her forehead into his face.
CRUNCH!
The man’s face caved in.
Under normal circumstances, that would’ve been fatal.
But he was a Reaper.
He slid backward, unfazed.
Before he could recover, Sophia lunged—and her fist crushed into his face with even more force than before.
A deafening boom echoed as the man was launched backward.
Sophia dusted off her hands and called out.
“D.”
She didn’t look back.
Baek Ho stared at her from inside the car, eyes trembling.
The black-and-blue energy pulsing from her chest now burned brighter than ever—incomparable to before.
“Get out of here.”
“…Aren’t you coming with me?”
“Something just came up.”
Baek Ho stepped out of the car.
Frank followed, hauling the unconscious Devin over his shoulder.
Baek Ho stared at Sophia, conflicted.
Frank, on the other hand, looked at her with sparkling admiration.
“I’ll contact you later.”
Sophia turned her head slightly as she spoke.
Her irises had turned crimson.
“…Alright.”
Baek Ho glanced around and spotted a black car parked nearby.
A luxury sedan that clearly didn’t belong in this area.
On the side: the Central Government insignia, along with the word [Official Use Only].
Baek Ho hotwired the car and sped out of the lot.
As he exited, he caught sight of Sophia through the side mirror.
She had ripped off the parking lot railing and was fashioning it into a long scythe, sharpening the edge with her now-blackened nails.
“A Witch…”
They’d drilled it into his head back at the academy.
The seven megacorporations that created Reapers.
And among them, Chernobog’s elite units—Witches.
Red eyes. Black nails.
The long scythe was their signature weapon.
Likewise, the katana-wielding man was probably an Oni, one of Izanami Corporation’s top-tier Reapers.
Only they were permitted to use those black blades engraved with Izanami’s logo.
“Why are they here…?”
They were supposed to be on the frontlines—not inside the city.
Unless it was a high-priority mission, they didn’t show up in places like this.
An Oni trying to kill him.
A Witch trying to protect him.
”......”
Baek Ho drove off, silently sorting through the chaos in his head.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Urgh… ghkk…”
It was just a scythe made from scrap metal.
No mana stones embedded in it, no byproducts from magical beasts.
Just a piece of railing that had been collecting dust for years in a parking lot.
Yet with that, she had shredded both flesh and mechanical bodies reinforced with mana.
Not just any Reapers either, but elite government agents who had been carefully selected.
Slaaash—!
Sophia swung the scythe lightly.
The last remaining Reaper’s head was sliced cleanly in half.
Right below the Vessel. She'd deliberately avoided hitting the core, killing him without damaging it.
“Did you enjoy the show?”
Sophia’s crimson eyes glowed as she looked toward a figure.
A necromancer, wearing a training suit under a long coat, was dragging his slippers along as he approached.
“I wasn’t sure at first…”
The necromancer twitched his single, unbroken eyebrow as he stared closely at Sophia’s face.
“You’re the old instructor from the Special Operations Unit.”
Sophia casually flicked the blood off her hand and responded.
“Seems like you know who I am.”
“Of course. What kind of commander wouldn’t recognize a first-generation Reaper?”
‘So he really was with the government.’
Sophia adjusted her ocular implant and took a snapshot of the necromancer’s face. She sent it off to a contact.
It wasn’t long before the name came back: Wataru.
Affiliated with the Masamune faction, currently vying for control of the top military post with Commander Baek.
“You attacked Baek Ho… Are you planning to make an enemy of the entire Baek family?”
“E-Eh?”
Wataru quickly covered his mouth.
“Baek Ho? That kid earlier was ‘The’ Baek Ho? Commander Baek’s son? Who—? That scrawny little necromancer?”
“Denying it won’t help.”
“What are you talking about?! I was just chasing down a runaway Awakened! If I’d known he was from the Baek family, I’d ‘never’ have laid a finger on him!”
“And yet you brought an Oni just to catch one Awakened? Sounds more like a cleanup job to me—no witnesses.”
“Oni? What Oni? What samurai from Izanami are you talking about?”
Sophia didn’t answer.
The Oni had vanished like a mirage just before Wataru arrived.
“…This is beyond my pay grade.”
Sophia extended her left hand.
A beam of light shot out from her index finger and touched the ground, forming a holographic projection of Commander Baek.
-Wataru.
“C-Commander Baek—Sir!”
Wataru immediately straightened up and snapped to attention.
Even though Baek was his boss’s rival, he was still someone you didn’t want to cross lightly.
-I’m on my way to Masamune. You should head there too.
“To… to Sector 81, sir?”
-You have two hours.
“S-Sir! Understood!”
＊ ＊ ＊
Baek Ho’s car sped down the road. He weaved dangerously between cars, swerving in and out of lanes.
Not far behind, two government vehicles marked “For Official Use” were tailing him.
Screeech—
He yanked the steering wheel, cutting across to the opposite lane.
Cars coming head-on either braked hard or swerved out of the way.
Luckily, none of them were being driven manually, so there were no collisions.
“Hold on tight!”
He slammed the accelerator, pushing the speed even higher.
Blowing through a red light, the car barely missed getting clipped by a massive bus as it passed the rear bumper.
Honk! Honk!
Baek Ho checked his mirrors. The pursuit vehicles were gone from view.
He thought he had shaken them—Until the area around him suddenly lit up.
A pillar of light came down from above. A hovercar had caught up.
“Damn it!”
All the agents Wataru had brought along had already pulled out.
Now only the Initial agents—those who had been after Devin from the start—remained.
Though these were the only pursuers left, Baek Ho had no way of knowing that.
To him, it felt like he’d become a high-profile fugitive.
‘Why are they going this far? Is the car too flashy?’
Baek Ho looked around, scanning for a place to ditch the car and make a run for it.
Then he spotted a building off to the side. Pink neon signs were plastered all over its exterior.
On the first floor, a hologram of a woman wearing nothing but underwear floated in the air, and between her legs was the entrance to an underground parking garage.
He immediately turned the wheel and barreled in.
“Frank’s gonna puke…”
In the back seat, Frank groaned as he struggled to stay upright.
He’d pushed his mana to the limit, and it showed in his pale complexion.
“We’re almost there!”
With a loud screech, the tires gripped and they shot into the garage.
Just as Baek Ho hoped, the parking lot was much larger and darker than it appeared from outside.
Typical of Venus Club—Even though it was before business hours, the garage was already packed with cars from customers waiting inside.
Baek Ho parked the car deep in a corner and looked toward the entrance.
The chase vehicles hadn’t entered yet, but there was no time to relax. He needed to act fast.
He activated the external speakers installed in the government vehicle and grabbed the mic.
BZZZZZT—
A siren blared, followed by Baek Ho’s amplified voice.
-We’ve received a report of illegal undead trafficking at this location! If you don’t clear out within five minutes, you’ll be treated as suspects and subject to investigation!
No sooner had he finished speaking than engines began revving all around them.
Most people turned their cars around without protest and headed for the exit.
While the Venus Club was technically legal, its shady, closed-off setup made surprise raids like this not entirely unexpected.
Normally this would be handled by UHPD—the UnderHeaven Police Department—
but a government vehicle gave the threat more weight.
Honk Honk—
The sudden rush to exit jammed up the entrance almost instantly.
It would now be hard for the pursuers to get in.
Seeing this, Baek Ho and the others made their way toward the far end of the garage.
“This way.”
They pried open a locked steel door and slipped into the club’s interior.
A security guard stationed inside stepped in to stop them, but when Baek Ho showed his license as a necromancer, the man quickly stepped aside.
The group pressed forward, the air thick with a strange, exotic scent.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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