Terrestrial Savior Archetype - T.S.A Chapter 10 (part 1): Early Departure ⑷

‘A pigeon is speaking…?’

As Jeong-woo assumed a combat stance, the evaluator elaborated on his doubts.

-It is rare for a planet undergoing a closure procedure to integrate the residents’ language. Borrowing from the human concept, it’s like a state of martial law. To understand the language of other species, one must have excellent mental resonance. You can think of your individual essence as serving as a substitute for a translator.

‘This is insane…’

Jeong-woo gritted his teeth.

The ‘little guy’ that the leader pigeon designated as the target for the attack was undoubtedly him.

He was 176 cm tall, which might be considered short, but next to Sun-woong, whose height was 183 cm, it wasn’t that small.

And even if it wasn’t about height, Sun-woong’s build with a backpack looked much bigger.

The essences, which had remained motionless until just now, were already boiling.

” Mr. Jeong-woo..!”

Sun-woong, who was standing right next to him, called out urgently.

Upon turning his head, Jeong-woo noticed a bluish glimmer inside Sun-woong’s pupils.

He wasn’t asking Jeong-woo to do something about it. He was asking what was happening to him.

“That’s how the essences work! They activate automatically when it becomes dangerous!”

But there was no time to continue the explanation.

Fragmented shadows appeared in the alley, and the flock of pigeons began to accelerate.

It seemed as though they were about to thrust their beaks straight ahead.

Shoo!

At that moment, Jeong-woo’s decision to swing a wrench instead of a pen was purely instinctive.

Wouldn’t a larger weapon have a larger area for the essence to emit from?

He didn’t think about the decrease in firepower.

Even if it was a talking pigeon, it probably wouldn’t have a tougher exterior than a ‘cleaner.’

In less than a second, he quickly gathered his thoughts. Soon, his wrench sliced through the air.

Zap!

From left to right above, a blunt metal piece swung, and a semi-transparent barrier spread out in front of him.

“Huh…”

Having just experienced essence activation, Sun-woong watched in wonder as the pigeon flock dispersed from the barrier created by Jeong-woo’s attack.

Except for one pigeon.

‘Is that the leader?’

Jeong-woo saw a small number written above the neck of the pigeon that had penetrated the barrier.

It represented the amount of essence the pigeon possessed.

Pwooat!

Soon, essences were scattered in the air as the pigeons’ lifeless bodies fell.

The view was briefly obscured, and Jeong-woo couldn’t tell where the threat was coming from anymore.

‘Trouble…’

It was too late to find another way to respond.

Jeong-woo clenched his teeth and dispersed the essences that gathered around his wrench all over his body.

At the same time, a red trail darted through the essence shower like an arrow.

Caa!

It was the leader pigeon, flying straight for Jeong-woo’s left chest.

“Ugh!”

Feeling a sharp vibration in his chest, Jeong-woo recoiled and let out a groan.

He was undoubtedly in pain.

But it wasn’t like he allowed the attack to hit him entirely.

With powerful force, the diving pigeon struck Jeong-woo’s chest and bounced off to the side.

The sound of the pigeon’s small body colliding with the building’s exterior.

Hearing that sound, Jeong-woo immediately swung his pen in that direction.

Suaaak!

A peculiar reverse-color ripple spread out.

Together with it, part of the pigeon and the wall above it disappeared cleanly.

And then…

Pak!

Essence clumps sprouted from the pigeon’s body.

Though there were 63 essences absorbed from the pigeons, Jeong-woo’s attention wasn’t focused on that.

‘That attack was weaker than when it blasted the car roof on the road.’

He was considering the size and intensity of the essence wave the leader pigeon emitted when attacking.

It was undoubtedly an attack attempted suddenly while maintaining a defensive shield. It could be considered the first successful ‘offensive transition,’ or it could be seen as both the attack and defense being amateurish.

Fortunately, the pigeon succumbed to Jeong-woo’s attack, but against a more formidable opponent…

‘The total amount of essence is indeed crucial.’

While Jeong-woo reviewed the battle in his mind, Sun-woong shivered in fresh shock. The essences that had fallen from the pigeons had increased his essence count to 34.

Yet, he still had no idea about the concept of a ‘defensive shield’ that Jeong-woo mentioned earlier. The disparity in experience and understanding of essence manipulation and combat was already evident.

What was truly terrifying, though, was something else.

Before humans could fully grasp the situation, the pigeons had already begun to act. The leader pigeon clearly knew which human had more essences.

In other words…

‘That pigeon was a savior too.’

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Approximately ten minutes later.

Jeong-woo was walking cautiously along the residential area with Seon-eung.

During their journey here, they hadn’t encountered any flocks of pigeons or cleaners again.

The problem was that despite picking up dozens or more of essences, he had slipped down to the 3rd position.

I- Mr. Park Jeong-woo’s rank within the affiliated region is ‘3.’

I- The holder of the closing power.

He couldn’t figure out who the new 2nd place holder was.

It wasn’t someone who had risen up from the lower ranks.

The former 3rd place holder, ‘Dulpo,’ had been pushed down to the 8th position.

It meant that a third party had entered the top ranks in one go.

Still, thanks to Dulpo, new chapters kept appearing.

Jeong-woo hoped that he wouldn’t fall beyond the 50th rank.

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