Labyrinth Exploration 101 - L.E Chapter 54 (Part 2): Let You Down (2)

In the outskirts, slightly away from the lower district, I strolled down the street, gently shaking the reagent vial. I periodically infused mana to check for reactions.

Then, at one moment—

*Clink.*

The vial trembled.

A faint response, but enough.

“……”

I turned quietly.

*Swish, swish, swish.* I opened the vial’s lid and let a drop of the solution fall.

Find your master.

A single thought. The blood writhed, slithering across the pavement.

I followed.

*Tap. Tap.*

Limping steps, leaning on my cane.

Soon, I spotted the target’s appearance.

A man.

His right arm and left leg were cybernetic, with tattoos plastered above his neck.

I considered my approach.

Two options: shadow him and assassinate, or openly tail him and let him notice.

The former is far easier in terms of difficulty. I could complete the task without breaking a sweat.

But I want to test my limits now.

He won’t avoid a fight. Especially not against a cripple like me.

Can I hold my own in close combat against a warrior-like thug?

*Tap.*

I made my decision. I tailed him, deliberately leaving footsteps and presence, broadcasting suspicious noise as a signal.

He caught on in five minutes. He glanced my way, then headed toward a secluded area.

He was luring me.

I obliged gladly. I entered a dim back alley.

Soon, I hit a dead-end wall. No one was in front of me.

He was probably—

“Who the hell are you?”

Behind me.

I turned to face him. A man with pitch-black eyes, no whites visible. The moment I met the eerie wanted criminal, my mana reacted.

My vision tinged blue. Perhaps my entire retina was coated in mana.

I realized instinctively.

My karma had activated.

■ Karmic Reckoning: When fighting a target with ‘evil’ karma, your refinement rank increases by 2.

The innate quality of my mana, the attribute of ‘Punishment.’

Whether a guy like me has the right to punish anyone is questionable.

But if it’s given, I’ll take it.

I first checked the system changes.

4th Refinement. Mana 13.5. Mana Grade B.

A realm I couldn’t even dream of, granted just because my opponent is evil.

“Who the hell are you?”

No need for long chit-chat.

I raised my finger.

*Bang.*

I fired a magic bullet. His form vanished instantly. A hulking figure, likely two meters tall, dodged the bullet’s path.

Neural acceleration. The act of speeding up the entire body, including the central nervous system. An ability to move faster than a bullet.

But it’s not too fast for my eyes to track.

In fact, I might be overwhelmingly superior.

「Sequence」 had already activated. The world slowed. His movements were sluggish in it.

*Thud, thud, thud, thud.*

His stepping feet.

*Crshhh.*

Asphalt fragments rising with each stride.

*Shhhhk.*

Steam mixed with heat rippling from his steel fist.

All of it, slow.

My subjective time is stretched infinitely.

My frail body can’t keep up with this speed, but my amplified nervous system can process it fully. Mana activates through my cognition, and spells scale with the tempo of my thoughts.

I conjured bullets in the air. Anticipating his every move, I unleashed a barrage.

All directions, every angle. I fired magic bullets at the ground he stepped on, the space he advanced into.

*BAM! BAM! BAM!*

The bullets riddled his body. He seemed panicked, but his durability was impressive. Spitting blood, he still managed to thrust a fist at my nose.

I raised a barrier.

*Shwick.*

His steel fist accelerated. A punch dozens of times faster than a boxer’s, vibrating the air. It struck the mana in the void.

*Clang!*

Not a scratch.

“…What the hell—”

His last words.

I jammed a shotgun into his forehead.

*Boom!*

His head exploded, and he died. Time, slowed, resumed its normal flow.

I looked down at the corpse. His body, riddled with magic bullets, was gruesome. It would probably be censored in the broadcast.

*Whooosh—*

The alley’s wind swirled, tousling my hair. My cumbersome long hair brushed my shoulders, fluttering.

I looked at myself. At the spot I stood, the ground beneath my feet.

I hadn’t moved a single step.

No need to.

Kim Se-jin said this ‘Sequence’ would compensate for my mobility.

He was right.

If I don’t need to move, mobility isn’t a weakness.

“…Sequence.”

I felt I understood Sequence a bit more.

Sequence is the connection between mana and the nervous system. Amplification of the nervous system through it. The simultaneous, ultra-fast deployment of spells using subjective time stretched to fractions of a second.

A caster’s self-awakening.

It’s less about facing a ‘person’ and more about dominating ‘space.’ A technique to control every area my cognition touches, through intuition fused with mana.

Thus, the caster need not move.

*Step, step.*

I approached the corpse and rummaged through its clothes.

There was still work to do.

* * *

A house remembers its master. As much as the master remembers the house.

I tracked the killer’s memories.

[Trace Hunting], an unorthodox spell that maps the paths a person frequently traveled. Maybe because of past experience, these spells come easily to me.

“Nice house.”

The assailant’s home was a decent villa. Far from the city’s trash-heap outskirts, in a suburban middle-class area patrolled by robotic guards.

Bad guys living well—same here as anywhere.

I pulled a card from my wallet.

*Beep.*

The door opened. I stepped inside and scanned the interior. I focused mana in my eyes.

One of Sequence’s applications. Amplifying the optic nerves to take in an area’s information in an instant…

The space came into focus. A safe hidden behind a wall.

I pried the wall open with my cane.

“…Mana safe.”

A safe locked with a specific mana pattern. New to me, but I had a rough idea how to crack it.

A mana-based safe. Then, even faintly, there’d be traces of mana.

I narrowed my eyes. I activated Sequence again. My vision tinged blue, and the safe’s keypad zoomed in.

I saw it.

Faint, like dust, but traces of mana lingered.

*Press. Press. Press. Press. Press. Press.*

Six digits.

*Click.*

The safe opened.

Plenty of valuables inside. Cash bundles, gems, a watch, and—a bloodstained pendant. The treasure of the child he killed.

I took everything and left.

Dangun

I'm currently Translating the following novels: "Labyrinth Exploration 101" & "The Monarch Who Levels Up by Devouring " If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!

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