City of Witches

1.

“Hahahaha!”

Jack was overwhelmed with ecstasy.

He could feel tremendous power boiling up in his whole body.

Vitality and energy fueled up each of his muscles.

This wasn’t the kind of strength that one could get through exercise or doping, and he knew it.

That evil witch Bianca had surprisingly prepared a delightful gift for him.

Though it cost him the lives of his subordinates, he didn’t feel regretful for it at all.

“I can feel it! Power! Hahahaha!”

The power coursing through his body gave him his confidence back.

He genuinely felt like he could even kill the witches that he was so afraid of right now.

My day of living as a human livestock is finally over!

Finally, I can return to my life of glory, and live up to the name of Jack the Cutter once again!

It was as if he was high on drugs, the power he felt intoxicated him so, as he felt an endless thirst for blood.

His skin had turned dark, and there were strange bumps in his arms, but…

To the current him, those were non-issues.

Because the only thing that mattered for him right now was that he could finally enact his revenge on the witches.

He could rape, kill, and leave his marks on the corpses of those filthy whores.

“Ah, right, you are still there.”

After laughing alone for a while, Jack finally tilted his head to see his enemies in front of him.

The man who had turned his subordinates into cripples in a blink of an eye, and the apprentice witch who was shaking while wearing a pale face.

Although the man’s body was covered in black armor now, it didn’t matter.

Looking back at the prowess that he displayed just now, Jack believed that he wouldn’t lose to the man no matter what.

Because I’m way, way stronger than him now!

The power coursing through his body gave him that much confidence.

“Keuhahaha! You were so smug despite being so weak…!”

“W-We need to run away… T-That’s a Homunculus…”

Diana called out to Siwoo with a trembling voice.

It turned out that Siwoo was actually way stronger than she expected.

He knocked down all the thugs in the blink of an eye as if it was just another Tuesday for him.

“Don’t worry. I can handle that guy alone.”

But, that was that, and this was this.

While Diana failed to find the logic as to how a normal human managed to mutate into a Homunculus, it was still a Homunculus at the end of the day.

It was one of the monsters that was created by the Witch of Creation, the monsters that no witch under the 15th rank should even try to hunt.

What was more, this particular Homunculus had seventeen eyes.

No normal humans could take a Homunculus of that level, no matter what kind of firearms they tried to use, as it wasn’t something that a single witch could handle to begin with.

“No, no, no! We have to get away! Get away and look for help!”

And so, Diana desperately tried to pull Siwoo’s arm to get away from here.

While she wanted nothing more than to just run away from this place immediately, she couldn’t just leave him here by himself.

She didn’t have the heart to leave him to die alone, not after he went out of his way to save her.

“What a bunch of bullshit.”

Seeing the melodrama happening in front of him, Jack let out a cruel smile as he twirled the knife in his hand.

His gaze, filled with more lust than ever, was turned towards Diana.

“Apprentice, just watch, I’m going to break this bastard’s limbs one by one in front of you!”

“H-Hic…!”

“No one is going to save you anymore! Hahaha! Aren’t you curious about what’s going to happen to you after that?”

Without any hesitation, Siwoo blocked Diana’s sight from Jack’s lustful gaze with his broad back.

“I don’t think she’s curious about that at all.”

Seeing this, Jack turned his gaze towards Siwoo, furrowing his brows.

“Ah, right, you should look forward to it too. I’m going to show you the broken sight of the witch you’re trying so desperately to protect as a gift that will accompany you to the afterlife!”

Jack hopped in place, assuming a boxer’s warming-up stance before he started to run around the place like a ferocious cat.

Of course, he wasn’t just ‘running around’ normally.

He was testing his newfound power by bouncing his body up and down the walls and ceilings, all while circling around Siwoo and Diana, creating black afterimages in his wake.

“Keuhahaha! Keuhahahahahaha!”

In the middle of such a maneuver that would be impossible for a normal human to replicate, as one needed an incredibly high speed to pull it off, Jack suddenly lunged toward Siwoo.

Seeing the glimpse of the black shadow that her eyes failed to follow properly, Diana screamed out in desperation.

“Watch out—!”

In her eyes, Siwoo just wasn’t strong enough. Jack’s attack would definitely tear him to pieces in an instant

But…

-Bang!

“Keuaak!!’

A sound of a metal plate being struck echoed through the warehouse.

What happened was, Siwoo stomped on the ground, putting his foot forward to tank Jack’s attack, rotten straws around him fluttered from the force he exuded.

After that, he bent his knees slightly before thrusting his elbow out, landing a perfect counter on Jack’s chest as he lunged towards him.

Jack’s speed was beyond what a normal human could do.

Siwoo just needed to enhance his body a little with magic and perform that counter attack, and that was enough to make Jack’s body fly into the warehouse’s wall and crash.

“H-Huh…?”

Diana was surprised by this unexpected turn of events, but she wasn’t the only one.

Jack, whose body was now buried under a pile of boxes, looked down on his chest with a dumbfounded expression.

His chest was ripped open due to the force it received.

He could clearly see his sternum that had caved in, as if it had been struck by a hammer.

This would be a mortal wound normally, but since he was a Homunculus now, his wounds quickly regenerated and he was healed before long.

So, he stood up again.

That counter attack wasn’t enough to make him fear his opponent.

His fighting spirit wasn’t broken yet.

He dismissed that failed attack as him not yet adapted to his newfound power.

In his mind, there was no way that he—who possessed this much power—was weaker than a man who wasn’t even a witch, even though he knew one or two kinds of magic.

“Keuhahaha! It would be boring if you were to die in a single blow! Let’s see how you’re going to survive this!”

Jack hadn’t realized it, but he was slowly losing his reasons.

That was another price he had to pay for the power he currently possessed.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The only thing he could think about at this point was how to use his power to crush the enemy in front of him.

He raised his body and grabbed his knife.

The magical power of a Homunculus naturally dyed the blade of the knife red.

It raised the knife’s durability and sharpness to its limit.

Though his opponent was wearing a thick suit of armor, he thought that it was useless against his knife.

As long as he got to slash it with this knife, it would definitely be torn apart like paper.

He already pictured his victory in his head.

The pleasure of him finally succeeded in his revenge by tearing the witches who had been looking at him in disdain before relieving his lust on them filled his brain.

“Bloom.”

Meanwhile, Siwoo just held out his spear as he deployed ten ribbons at once.

He then weaved those ribbons to create a longer and stronger spear.

At that moment, Jack kicked the ground and lunged at him again.

“Haaa!”

To this, Siwoo let out a long exhale. Using his legs as firm supports, he thrusted his spear out.

He unleashed the spear technique he had been learning in preparation for the day he finally managed to control the Red Branch.

Using the Myriad Weapons Mastery Covenant, the proficiency of the spear technique he unleashed was increased to a terrifying degree.

“Idiot! You can’t stop me with something like thaaat!!”

As he laughed with his mouth open, Jack lightly cut through the spear that Siwoo thrusted out with his knife.

The spear, hardened by applying Elemental Magic to the Law of Shadows, boasted strength that equaled the strongest metals in the world.

However, the red aura that enveloped the knife allowed it to cut through it as if it was a corn stalk.

Siwoo’s ribbons that he deployed to restrain Jack were also cut easily as if they were paper.

Jack was someone who had cut countless people’s neck using a single knife.

He was confident that his skills in handling knives was second to none.

“You’re deaaaad…!”

Jack knew that as long as he could get closer to Siwoo, he’d be free to swing his knife and land a decisive blow.

So he did exactly that, then he reached out towards the opening between Siwoo’s helmet and body armor, to deal the single blow that would grant him victory.

Hearing the rough sound of Siwoo’s breathing assured him that his plan succeeded and he had taken care of the annoying man just like that, but…

“Haa…”

-Bang!

Before he could actually lop his knife in, a flash of light burst out before his eyes.

Siwoo’s spear that had been rotating like a windmill hit the side of his head.

“Urrg—!”

That was a blow that was strong enough to blow a whole human’s head off its neck, but since Jack had turned into a Homunculus, he was able to hang on to his life.

After rolling around the ground several times, colliding with the wall before falling down, Jack finally realized that something was amiss.

“N-No way…! T-This can’t be happeniiing…!!”

He thought that it was normal that the man could use some magic, after all he was an attendant to the apprentice witch. The problem here was that he thought that was all the man could do.

Such a complacent mindset made him never even once considered that he would be ‘defeated’.

He tunnel-visioned himself into thinking that he could kill the man easily and have some fun with the apprentice witch afterwards.

“Are you done?”

Now, he realized that something was amiss.

The man’s strength and kinetic vision was beyond anything that a human could have.

It was as if he could just tank a machine gun’s barrage unscathed.

This realization came in a little bit too late for Jack.

“You fucker…!”

Jack got up with a stagger, finally became wary of Siwoo.

He assumed his stance, trying to calm his mind down so that he could regain his ragged breath.

“If you’re done, then… It’s my turn.”

He’s coming—!

As Jack thought of that and prepared himself to react to his opponent’s attack, his opponent already thrusted his spear towards his nose.

The spear’s movement was so quick that it created an illusion as if its shaft was bending mid-air.

A heavy crackling sound that made it hard to believe that it came from a spear cut through the air.

-Woooong!

Jack gritted his teeth before bending his waist to dodge.

But he found no room to perform a counter attack.

The moment Siwoo realized that he missed his thrust, he immediately followed it up with a roundhouse kick.

-Bang!

“Keuaack!”

That kick dug straight into Jack’s side without any hitch.

If one were to look at his magic power alone…

Siwoo wasn’t actually that strong.

At best, he was equal to a 17th or 18th ranked witch.

However, if one were to factor in his physical abilities, it would be a whole different story.

After all, he was personally taught by Eloa Tiphereth, the famous Goddess of Combat herself.

Not only that, he also possessed the Myriad Weapons Mastery Covenant, allowing him to freely master the use of all kinds of weapons.

Now, if Jack had gained some kind of self-essence magic when he turned himself into a Homunculus just like the Drowned Witch, Siwoo might find himself struggling a little to fight him, but…

Jack had only been using his physical ability from the beginning, there simply was a huge gap between their skills in that regard.

It was no wonder that the battle between them turned into a one-sided slaughter very quickly.

Jack swung his dagger around, showcasing his overwhelming endurance and resilience, but Siwoo always managed to properly distance himself.

Using the spear’s long range, he constantly struck Jack’s body with its shaft, and whenever

Jack managed to come in closer to attack, he just kicked or punched him away again.

-Bam! Bam! Bam, bam! Bam! Bam, bam!

Siwoo kept on unleashing his attacks at the rate of ten attacks per second.

“Keuk! Urgg! Arrg!”

The barrage of attacks made Jack repeatedly scream out, just like a character in a fighting game with a bugged voice.

After three whole minutes of him being beaten by the savage blows that thoroughly cracked his bones and twisted his internal organs, Jack’s fighting spirit finally died down.

Even for him, whose heart was filled with a twisted sense of evil, the barrage of Siwoo’s blows were simply too much.

“Urrg…! Kahaack…!”

“Huu…”

Before long, Jack found himself floundering in a pool of black blood, his limbs were twisted beyond recognition.

If he was an ordinary person, Siwoo would probably feel a little bad for going this far, but he wasn’t, so Siwoo felt no remorse whatsoever.

In his eyes, it was simply a waste of his conscience to mourn over the death row inmate who was guilty of kidnapping, attempted murder and attempted gang rape.

On the contrary, he felt refreshed, as if all his stress had been relieved from beating the trash to a pulp like that.

Not long after, Jack’s skin color returned to normal as the eyes in his arms disappeared.

After seeing him return to normal while squirming on the floor, Siwoo removed his armor.

“Alright, let’s go back now. We need to report this matter to the countess.”

Meanwhile, Diana could only stare at Siwoo blankly with wide eyes, as if she still couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Her wide-open mouth was the icing on the cake.