The Spatial Ability User Who Puts Safety Above All Chapter 86

Black Mamba (1)

 

Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu did not bother rejecting the flood of requests that poured in.

Starting with Japan, the two calmly solved the requests one by one and received a considerable amount of magic stones from each country.

That didn’t mean they had pushed themselves too hard, either.

They simply selected requests from reasonably manageable countries and cleared about seven of them.

As a result, Seon Yul and Cheon Li Yu each recorded an income of roughly 1,600 kg of mid-grade magic stones.

Combined, that was 3,200 kg.

In Korean won, it amounted to over 320 billion won.

With this, Seon Yul’s reserve of spare magic stones rose to over 2,800 kg.

Cheon Li Yu had tried to give most of her earnings to Seon Yul as well, but this time Seon Yul firmly split the profits 50:50 and gave her an exact half.

At this point, Cheon Li Yu had become a perfect companion to Seon Yul. It was because she was there that such fast and flawless completion of requests was even possible, so naturally, she deserved proper compensation.

In any case, once the two of them cleared the requests of seven different countries in the blink of an eye, the reputation of Seon Yul… no, the duo of AbsoluteSafetyFirst and NoReasonAtAll, rose tremendously everywhere.

And thanks to the activities of those two, the crises that had been causing noise in several countries were mostly stabilized for the time being.

It was already an incredible feat that just two people had accomplished something like this, but what was even more astonishing was that no one had properly witnessed the battle of AbsoluteSafetyFirst and NoReasonAtAll.

People still talked a lot about how AbsoluteSafetyFirst only possessed powerful long-range attacks, but there was one difference compared to before.

Previously, the evaluation had been simply that he was a magic user with strong long-range attack capabilities.

Now it had changed to a magic user with extremely powerful long-range attack abilities whose attacks were difficult to defend against and whose timing could not be predicted at all.

A lot of extra descriptions had been added, and that was precisely the reason Seon Yul was now receiving a much higher evaluation.

Everyone knew his attacks were powerful.

The problem was that no one knew how to block them.

And when that happens, things become truly troublesome.

Because of that, posts evaluating AbsoluteSafetyFirst were being uploaded in communities almost every single day.

Some claimed that AbsoluteSafetyFirst had already reached the level of the Seven Stars, while others argued that his reputation was nothing but a huge bubble of exaggeration.

Evaluations of AbsoluteSafetyFirst that ran to both extremes.

But amid all of this, there was one person who took an interest in Seon Yul.

A man who began paying enormous attention to Seon Yul from a completely different perspective than everyone else.

He was the worst magic user on earth, acknowledged by the world in many different ways(?)…

Black Mamba.

He was the seventh star among the Seven Stars, holding the last seat.

A tyrant who had single-handedly occupied the land of the now-ruined nation known as the Central African Republic.

A magic user who had been placed on wanted lists by administrative bureaus of numerous countries with bounties attached.

That man was Black Mamba.

He was also the boss of a massive organization known as ‘Darkness.’

In short, Darkness was the largest magic-user criminal organization in the world.

Before the era of mana civilization arrived, criminal organizations like China’s Triads, Japan’s Yakuza, and Italy’s Mafia had been the ones making a name for themselves.

Now, however, everything had essentially been unified under Darkness alone.

Naturally, all the criminal organizations created by ordinary people had been crushed by Darkness, which then swallowed up their money and interests.

Not only that, they had settled in the territory of the ruined Central African Republic and expanded their power as if they were an actual country.

Because of that, no one referred to the Central African Republic by its old name anymore.

The term used to refer to that land had now changed to ‘Darkness.’

In any case, the worst magic user, Black Mamba, was showing great interest in AbsoluteSafetyFirst.

In truth, Black Mamba had already been interested in AbsoluteSafetyFirst for quite a long time.

And that interest was not simple curiosity… it was an interest with a clear and definite intention behind it.

Because of that, he had already placed something on AbsoluteSafetyFirst using one of the abilities he had received as a level privilege, called ‘Reserve Designation.’

The ability ‘Reserve Designation’ came with several rather troublesome conditions, but the condition for using it itself was very simple.

All he needed was a name that could identify the target.

Even community IDs were judged as names, meaning the ability could be used with nothing more than a community ID.

And so, half a year ago, Black Mamba had already used the ability.

Now, the moment when he could finally make use of that ‘Reserve Designation’ was slowly approaching, which was why his interest had grown even greater.

 

***

 

“I roughly tapped the calculator, and… he should have over 300 million dollars by now. If you convert that into mid-grade magic stones, that’s about 3,000 kg. Wouldn’t you say that’s just about the right amount of fattening for a nice meal?”

Black Mamba casually asked the Lion King, the second-in-command of Darkness, and his trusted subordinate.

“If it’s that much, that’s not just nicely fattened… that’s insanely fat like a pig. But… from what I’ve looked into, it seems the guy is heavily backed by the Korean side. If that’s the case, doing the job ourselves might become a bit difficult.”

“So I thought about it. How about we lightly poke China and make those Chinese bastards set up the board for us?”

“China?”

“Yeah. Last time we obtained information that it was actually AbsoluteSafetyFirst who destroyed China’s Dimensional Management Bureau, didn’t we? If that information is true… those Chinese bastards will definitely move.”

“If we create an opportunity by letting China set the stage, we just eliminate the guy and collect a generous reward.”

“Exactly. Before he grows any more… right now is the perfect time.”

Up until now, Black Mamba had eliminated many users who had attempted to challenge the Seven Stars.

Because he occupied the lowest seat among the Seven Stars, if someone grew strong enough to threaten the position, he would be the first to lose his place.

Of course, the Seven Stars weren’t an official title or position, so saying someone would be ‘stripped’ of it was a rather funny expression.

But regardless, Black Mamba absolutely hated anyone threatening his position.

That was why he kept an eye on any promising talents with even a slight possibility of growth and killed them in advance before they could fully blossom.

Black Mamba usually referred to this as ‘a job.’

His plan to target Seon Yul this time followed the same logic.

Of course, he was also aiming for the jackpot from PvP rewards, but that was merely extra income.

“That bastard has grown far more than expected. We should deal with him as soon as possible.”

“His growth rate suddenly increased a lot recently.”

“No matter how you look at it, when it comes to monster hunting, he’s already practically top-tier.”

“Awakened abilities focused on powerful long-range attacks always show the greatest power when hunting monsters.”

“That’s right. That’s also why the fifth star, who’s from Korea just like AbsoluteSafetyFirst, grew that much as well based on his powerful long-range attack ability.”

“You mean Bowmaster Jumong? He’s quite a troublesome one, too.”

“Anyway, those bastards who poke at you from long range are always annoying.”

“Once you overcome the distance fight, they’re actually easy opponents, aren’t they? In the end, AbsoluteSafetyFirst won’t be able to match the master anyway because of compatibility.”

In the past, Black Mamba had briefly clashed with Jumong once.

Even then, he had not been pushed back by Jumong at all. Instead, Jumong had seemingly sensed danger instinctively and fled, ending the encounter anticlimactically.

“First, make contact with China. Tell them we’ll eliminate AbsoluteSafetyFirst, so all they need to do is hold back the Korean Management Bureau and set up the stage.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and ask them for 300 kg of mid-grade magic stones as payment for eliminating AbsoluteSafetyFirst.”

“Will they… actually pay?”

“I think they will. Well, if they say they won’t, just tell them we’ll drop the job.”

“Are you really going to drop it?”

“No. I have no intention of dropping it. It’s just a threat. It seems those Chinese bastards have already suffered a huge blow to their pride. If we poke at that pride, they’ll try it even if they have to reward us.”

“Ah…”

“Call the Ten Kings and gather them all. This time we’ll make sure the job is more certain than ever.”

“You’re planning to take all Ten Kings with you?”

Normally, when Black Mamba carried out a ‘job,’ he could not receive help from others. His awakened ability was originally that kind of ability.

That was why the Lion King found it somewhat strange that Black Mamba was planning to bring all the Ten Kings along.

“Just in case the Korean Management Bureau interferes. I want to make it certain. Tell the Ten Kings they’ll receive a generous share of the spoils.”

“Understood.”

The Ten Kings were the core power of Darkness.

The combined force of ‘Black Mamba + Ten Kings’ was strong enough to be compared with Justice, the world’s top magic-user corporation from the United States.

Darkness itself was one of the five greatest guilds in the world, so the fact that they were mobilizing their full strength meant they intended to succeed no matter what.

‘AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s biggest mistake was never joining a faction until the end.’

High-rank magic users were either part of powerful factions or created and expanded their own.

There was no other choice.

Once someone possessed power above a certain level, countless forces would start checking and restraining them.

Overcoming those pressures alone was nearly impossible.

They were called ‘checks,’ but in extreme cases, they included indiscriminate attempts on one’s life.

Enduring all of that was incredibly difficult.

The world of magic users was one where an extremely cold logic of power applied.

If someone showed even the slightest weakness, all kinds of predators would rush in and tear them apart mercilessly.

That was why high-rankers or noblesse-class users all belonged to powerful factions.

In such a brutal world, AbsoluteSafetyFirst was like a rare animal.

Even if he maintained a good relationship with the Korean Gate Management Bureau, when it came down to it, he was still alone.

He had become that famous, yet he was alone?

That meant he was inevitably prey.

Honestly, it was almost surprising he hadn’t been devoured already.

Of course, the reason was probably the extremely destructive long-range wide-area attacks possessed by AbsoluteSafetyFirst.

But Black Mamba did not fear that at all.

‘Only those with something to lose are afraid of that kind of thing.’

The land of the former Central African Republic that Darkness occupied was nothing but abandoned land.

Black Mamba and those who followed him had settled there, but they had not built or accumulated anything.

They simply lived there.

Because of that, even if AbsoluteSafetyFirst attacked Darkness, Darkness would lose nothing.

At worst, the already ruined land would just become a bit more ruined.

 

***

 

“Borrowing a knife to kill someone. This is truly a perfect opportunity to punish an enemy using someone else’s blade.”

After receiving contact from Darkness, China began discussing the matter at the temporary headquarters of the Dimensional Management Bureau in Beijing.

Naturally, Ren Zhixiang, who was currently sitting there as the acting Director-General, viewed the proposal from Darkness very positively.

He was also the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, ranked third within the Chinese Communist Party, making him a man with immense political power.

Once someone like him openly expressed approval, the others present found it difficult to voice different opinions.

“See? Didn’t I say an opportunity would come eventually?”

Ren Zhixiang intended to accept the proposal from Darkness no matter what, if only to prove that he had not been wrong.

“But… we should also consider what might happen if Darkness fails.”

Since no one else spoke up, Ma Rong eventually stepped forward again.

He had already been marked anyway, so he simply decided to say what he wanted.

“If Darkness fails and AbsoluteSafetyFirst finds out that we were behind them… we truly have no idea what kind of situation might occur.”

“What situation would occur? Are you saying that guy will drop a nuclear bomb on Beijing or something?”

“Not that, but still… so far, we haven’t found a method to deal with AbsoluteSafetyFirst’s long-range strike capability. So perhaps we should be a bit more… ”

“That’s enough. Even if Darkness fails, the chances of him realizing that we assisted them are extremely low. After all, all Darkness is asking for is that we set the stage. What are the odds our identity would be exposed from that?”

Ren Zhixiang cut Ma Rong off and continued.

“And let’s assume everything goes to the worst possible scenario, and AbsoluteSafetyFirst finds out we were involved. Then what? You think he’ll attack us again? If that happens, the Chinese government will step in. No matter how remarkable a magic user he is, we’ll eliminate him with the power of a great nation.”

Ren Zhixiang spoke with absolute firmness.

After he said that much, Ma Rong could no longer argue.

When Ren Zhixiang said the Chinese government would step in, that meant they were willing to go as far as mobilizing China’s military, even risking war with Korea, to eliminate AbsoluteSafetyFirst in the real world rather than within the space of magic users.

But although he couldn’t say it aloud, Ma Rong was thinking this in his heart.

‘Army or not… we don’t even know who AbsoluteSafetyFirst actually is. How exactly are you planning to catch him?’

It was truly frustrating, but in the end, Ma Rong could not bring himself to say it.

Now he had begun seriously considering whether he should leave the Dimensional Management Bureau… no, leave China altogether, and obtain citizenship in another country.