ALL NOVEL Chapter 248
Chapter 248. Replica (7)
Heroes who commit crimes can be punished by other heroes according to the severity of their offenses.
Especially if they commit indiscriminate murder, they could face the maximum penalty of execution.
Given the significant authority granted to individual heroes, these rules are applicable worldwide, not confined to any specific nation.
Due to the nature of their profession, it is exceedingly rare for heroes to engage in criminal activities.
However, while hero criminals may be rare, they certainly exist.
Among them, those who possess outstanding abilities as heroes pose the most significant problems.
These clever individuals repeatedly commit various crimes without fearing for their lives.
Putting them in prison is challenging because it is exceedingly difficult to build a specialized prison capable of accommodating numerous high-spec individuals.
To manage a prison properly, heroes superior to the inmates must be on standby at all times.
Unfortunately, such qualified individuals are practically nonexistent, leading to severe waste of resources.
Moreover, the countries that implemented favorable policies for heroes to attract them are precisely those that find it difficult to penalize heroes.
Amidst all this, news came in that a method to transition from Earth to another world had been discovered.
——Let’s expel the criminals from Earth!
Someone who was struggling with the aforementioned issues devised a plan to send criminals to another world.
By completely excluding criminals from Earth instead of locking them up somewhere, they aimed to restore peace.
Some countries that agreed to the plan selected their criminal heroes and sent them to Korea.
The criminals being taken away didn’t particularly oppose the plan either.
After all, going to another world seemed far more exciting than the boring, monotonous Earth.
However……
‘I never wished for this!’
A man who was released from Australia for secretly sexually assaulting numerous men using magic.
Now he was one of the defectors from the Kallem Expeditionary Force, sweating from his forehead.
Another defector with similar tastes, who had claimed to be a murderer in a cold case, had just been killed by Yoo Ji-han.
Yoo Ji-han spoke to the other defectors.
“Coming to Kallem was a mistake.”
“What did you say?”
“There’s no one here to listen to your complaints.”
“……!”
Politicians who defended criminal acts committed by heroes for noble causes.
Citizens who held debates and demonstrations for them, having received favors a few times in dangerous Monster Areas.
There were more people than expected who had protected these hero criminals on Earth.
But here, there was no one to speak up for them.
While they could commit new crimes in Kallem without concern for the eyes of others.
There would be no one to come forward if they suddenly died without a sound.
“I’ll report back that the criminals have all gone missing once we return to Earth.”
“……?”
“Then I’ll collect a nice reward from the country that sent you!”
“You cocky bastard!”
“I’m going to kill that bastard for sure!”
With their tempers flaring, the defectors charged at Yoo Ji-han.
However, among them, a woman who was caught off guard found her head seized by Lee Mi-a from behind.
“Huh?”
Boom!
Covered in dirt, Lee Mi-a slammed the head of the captured woman into the ground.
The defector with her head embedded in the ground shuddered, unable to recover from the shock.
Anticipating this turn of events, Yoo Ji-han broke into a grin.
“Ella!”
[Mystery Explosion]
Kwahwaang—!
As a magician defector extended his staff, a green explosion erupted right in front of Yoo Ji-han.
[Mystery Explosion]
[Mystery Explosion]
[Mystery Explosion]
[Mystery Explosion]
Four consecutive explosions occurred in the same spot.
With just one explosion capable of claiming many lives, the magical skill detonated before Yoo Ji-han.
Puhwaah!!
The smoke and dust of magic mixed together, obscuring visibility.
The unique magic of a defector, which affected not only the opponent but also the surroundings, was unleashed.
‘Can I kill that guy with this?’
However, the user of the magic couldn’t shake off their anxiety.
They had no confidence in achieving the opponent’s death.
Hooong!
Just then, a fierce wind blew in from somewhere, sending everything that had hindered their view soaring into the sky.
The defectors hurriedly searched the spot where Yoo Ji-han had been, but he had vanished.
“That bastard, where did he go…….”
“Right here.”
A deep voice emanated from beneath the ground.
Pat!
Qudi, who sprang up from the ground at a 45-degree angle, deeply slashed the leg of the defector who had cast the spell.
Among the astonished defectors, someone hurriedly buried a long sword into the ground.
Yet, where Qudi had dived back into the earth, there was nothing.
—Follow me.
Kugugugugugugu!
Moving along with Mumu, who traversed freely underground, Yoo Ji-han traveled.
Feeling the strange vibrations from the ground, the defectors shouted.
“You useless puppet!”
The fake Yoon Do-ha, who had been in a standoff with Lee Mi-a, found himself unable to rise, his legs broken.
Even though he could wield earth magic, his inability to perform was frustrating for the defectors.
“Kuhak!”
One warrior lay hidden underground, ready to spring out at any moment.
Above ground, various ranged skills were flying in, as a powerful hero blocked their path.
‘I’m going to die!’
The defectors’ faces grew increasingly grim.
*
The battle had raged fiercely, to the point of completely altering the terrain.
Those who survived that battle were Yoo Ji-han’s group and only one defector.
That defector, badly injured and sitting on the ground, panted heavily.
“……What about the others?”
“They’re all dead.”
“Tch!”
The defector’s face twisted in rage as he spat at Yoo Ji-han.
The sticky substance mixed in with his spit contained a small poison needle hidden under his tongue.
—Tss!
“Gahk!”
Yet due to the wind stirred up by the Sylph, that spit struck the defector’s eye directly.
The painful substance contained poison that caused him to hold his eyes in intense agony.
A chilling blade approached his chest.
“Wait, just a moment!”
“Speak.”
“I’ll tell you everything. So……!”
“Are you saying you’ll tell me everything?”
“Yeah!”
“Not needed.”
“Uh.”
Thump!
The defector’s heart split in two, and shortly afterward, he drew his last breath.
Looking down at the lifeless figure with a blank expression, Yoo Ji-han stated.
“Where are the magic stones?”
“I collected them all.”
“Good job.”
In Kim Si-hu’s hands were the magic stones imbued with the defector’s magical power, harvested from their corpses.
If the opponent was an enemy, there was no need to wait for an answer.
—Hehe! Aren’t you relying on me a bit too much?
The Sylph glowed in a bright green and puffed up with pride.
To read someone else’s memories through sampling, one must go through the Sylph.
“Then shall I not do it?”
—That’s……. Too harsh!
Seeing the Sylph sulking from such a short reply, Yoo Ji-han chuckled.
Pah!
In an instant, Yoo Ji-han’s vision darkened.
His consciousness fell into the memories of the dead defectors, following the Sylph that swallowed the magic stones.
The first scene he saw was of the defectors leaving the expedition team during their camping.
—This must be the right way?
—Don’t doubt it; just follow along. I’ll show you something fun.
The defectors crossed the night road, relying on something they held in their hands.
Able to move freely through memories, Yoo Ji-han examined the items they possessed.
‘A scroll?’
Surprisingly, it was a magical scroll.
A magical tool used by the mages of Ajesia.
Why did they possess such an item?
As he pondered that, the Sylph spoke.
—Ji-han!
“Yeah?”
—I think that magic is one I know!
“What do you mean?”
—[Scent of Hatred]. It’s a detection spell from Grudia.
The Sylph recognized the identity of the magic engraved on the scroll.
A spell that can find locations concentrated with negative feelings like hatred within a certain range.
The world where Erna Hass, Kim Si-hu’s mother and the former contract partner of Sylph, lived.
It was magic practiced in Grudia.
—It was also a spell used for public safety management in Erna’s kingdom.
“Why would they have such a spell…….”
The [Scent of Hatred] was not publicly known on Earth.
It seemed they somehow stored that magic in the scroll.
—Stop! Who are you?
The location reached through using the [Scent of Hatred] was Maz.
There, the defectors encountered Desa, a magician and puppet master.
Desa, who had been very cautious of the defectors, expressed interest upon hearing that they had come from Earth.
And shortly after.
‘……!’
Yoo Ji-han finally spotted the person at the heart of the incident, the reason he had come to Kallem.
Yoon Do-ha.
He was tied up in a dark prison by thick iron chains that bound his arms and legs to the walls, where no light entered.
All alone, in a space large enough to hold fifty people, he sat with his eyes closed.
—How on Earth did they catch Yoon Do-ha?
The defectors that had died moments ago stared at him with puzzled eyes from a distance.
—Did you just say that guy was ‘caught’?
—That’s ridiculous.
He was not an existence that could merely be restrained by chains.
Yoon Do-ha was a hero who could destroy the entire building, including this prison, anytime he wanted to escape.
Thus, this could be seen as him not being captured, but rather willingly being imprisoned.
—Hehe! What do you think?
A short, gray-haired man approached the defectors.
—Is this really the Rank 1 Hero you talked about?
—Yeah. But how on earth…….
—There are ways.
With an unpleasant smile, the man tapped his head with his hand.
He was Desa, the former royal magician of Leron.
—That is definitely an ‘item’ that could change this world. If I can fully replicate him, conquering Kallem alone wouldn’t be impossible.
—Is world domination your goal?
—Conquest? I’m not interested in that. I’ll incite the dwarves to topple Maz, then Kabuum, and finally bring down Leron.
Desa aimed to bring down not just Maz and Kabuum, but also the Leron he had once belonged to.
A happy smile spread across his face with blissful thoughts.
‘What a wild dream.’
Yoo Ji-han stepped forward, carrying the thought of making sure to remember Desa’s magic and appearance after leaving this place.
*
Seated in an old chair with his eyes closed, Desa was sharing sight with a puppet.
What he was seeing through the puppet was Watanabe’s party.
And when Watanabe, wielding a katana, gazed into the puppet’s eyes.
Flinch!
Cold sweat ran down Desa’s back as he locked eyes with Watanabe.
He felt as if he were pierced through by the being on the other side of the puppet.
It had been quite some time since he had felt such a sensation from an ordinary person, not a magician or a powerful mage.
“Did I get caught…….”
The view he shared with the puppet quickly cut off.
In the place where he had sent seven puppets, six signals were lost.
The remaining puppet was also in an unstable state, making it impossible to share sight through it.
‘They’re the same.’
Even the puppets handed over to the Earthlings had lost their signals.
That reaction only occurred when the puppets were completely destroyed.
“How disappointing. Disappointing!”
Desa clicked his tongue and muttered.
“They turned out to be far more useless than I had anticipated.”
When he first discovered Yoon Do-ha in Maz, Desa couldn’t contain his admiration.
For Yoon Do-ha had the strength of a massive mountain in the body of a small human.
His presence was as supportive as the ground that holds everything together.
Even though it was said he had contracted a spirit, he was incredibly strong to the point of being hard to believe.
How could such a selfish being exist in the world?
——Me? I’m from Earth!
After hearing that he came from a place called Earth.
Desa couldn’t help but fantasize about Earth.
Superior beings unlike the inferior beings of Kallem.
The reason he welcomed other Earthlings was precisely that.
“That guy is indeed too special.”
Desa kept a keen eye on the sleeping Yoon Do-ha in the prison.
By utilizing the magical power extracted from him to create puppets, Desa could easily make puppets with excellent stats.
The minimum requirement for creating living puppets was body shape.
If he were given a body similar to Yoon Do-ha’s, it would be possible to churn out an entire army.
‘That’s not enough to satisfy my greed.’
However, that alone wasn’t sufficient to satisfy Desa’s ambition.
Starting with Maz, he would topple Kabuum and leave only Leron in the world of Kallem.
And then at the moment when all of Leron’s people were writhing in fear!
‘I’ll destroy Leron for abandoning me!’
Finally, he would attack Leron and dismantle all of Kallem’s forces.
Returning to a moment of absolute freedom, when no forces existed.
That was the revenge dream of Desa, the royal magician of Leron who had been expelled.
“……But those guys are really troublesome.”
Yoo Ji-han and Watanabe.
Their faces flashed through Desa’s mind, unusually serving as a thorn in his side.
It was clear that it wasn’t just his imagination.