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The clone of Wang Tai-lun, flying through the sky, was incinerated by Jinhyeon’s flames and immediately slammed into the ground.

Even though it was a spirit, the asphalt was literally crushed under the weight, indicating that Jinhyeon and Changwon were teaming up to take it on.

Fortunately, the other kids seemed fine, so it looked like we only had to deal with Wang Tai-lun and no reinforcements were coming.

Sending him out alone meant he must have been seriously modified. In other words, they had confidence that just sending him out alone would suffice.

While it would have been fitting to mock the struggle we were going through to escape, he didn’t show any signs of it, which was a bit odd. His speech seemed a bit off too.

Well, it wouldn’t be weird if his personality got messed up after gaining two abilities through some method.

If they were willing to send him out alone, it meant even the usually cautious and fearsome Evil Society had enough confidence in his modifications.

I didn’t feel sorry for him at all. In fact, I regretted not being able to witness the process of his modifications.

It was just disappointing that I wouldn’t get to see him desperately try to escape before his personality was completely eradicated.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter now.”

Even if he had turned into a machine and his reactions were lacking, who knows, maybe if I knocked him down once, it would show a whole new side.

I tossed the hindering school uniform aside and dove into the chaos wrapped in slime.

“Wait, that’s Blanca, right?! Blanca! What happened—”

“Don’t say a word! Don’t rest! This is our only chance!!! Push with all your might!!”

Blanca shouted at Yeonhwa, who had lost focus after seeing me, and urged the others to unleash everything they had.

I wasn’t sure, but judging by the fact that he couldn’t use the Mirror Dimension, it was clear he was either permanently damaged or temporarily out of commission.

With the little time we had, we couldn’t afford to chit-chat; we had to take down that bio-weapon level creature.

The main enemy of the Liberators was Heros Company, but eventually, they’d end up butting heads with the Evil Society. The Evil Society’s ultimate goal was to dominate society, after all.

If we could chip away at their strength now with Heros Company’s help, it would be absolutely fantastic.

Ice rained down, invisible forces emerged, flames, lightning, inexplicable magic, and the very earth itself, all zeroing in on Wang Tai-lun.

However, none of those attacks fazed him at all.

Even if he got hit, he could just swap out of his existence.

Plus, with the modifications, it seemed his physical durability had also increased; he just took hits and looked for an escape.

There weren’t any signs that he was planning to fight back. Without the Mirror Dimension, and with Abilities Users capable of striking spirits, Wang Tai-lun seemed surprisingly helpless.

However, despite that helplessness, the way he was stubbornly squeezing out clones while moving was reminiscent of a cockroach.

“We’re attacking, but the damn thing won’t die!!”

It looked like something had happened after I disappeared, as Lapiz’s eyes were bloodshot, and she complained without bothering to conceal her murderous intent.

“Even if we wipe out the clones, he just spits them out faster than we can erase them!”

“If the speed of making them is faster than smashing them, that’s more than a bug situation.”

Yeonhwa struggled to handle Jinhyeon’s flames in a way that would minimize harm to the citizens, while Changwon was methodically taking out the clones without breaking a sweat.

At least Ageha was trying to come up with a solution, but given her lack of clarity, it didn’t seem like she’d find an answer in time.

We shouldn’t pursue damaging his physical body; we needed to attack his mind.

“Ageha! Do you know any magic that manipulates the mind or anything that could vaguely have that effect?!”

Among those gathered, she was the only one who could attack the mind, so I asked her.

Ageha looked flustered, saying she knew how to use it, but wasn’t confident since it would be different from her usual style.

“Even if it’s just for a moment! If it could create even the tiniest opening, that would be enough!”

“I-I think I can manage that somehow…”

“Great! Lapiz, Seolhwa! Make sure he can’t move forward anymore, set up a wall the size of the neighboring building to block him! I’ve got an idea on how to subdue him!”

Lapiz growled as if she wanted to rip it apart, but she teamed up with Seolhwa to create a wall all around us.

As the box was forming, she specifically warned Jinhyeon not to use flames, electricity, or wind, saying that if gas leaked even a little, it would be a disaster.

I asked Changwon to send me and Ageha right on top of that box while creating a kind of gas mask made of slime to hand over.

I kindly warned him he should wear it if he wanted to live.

As I sprayed the box with the gas, I glanced at Wang Tai-lun, still getting attacked and pressed into the ground.

Realizing a moment too late that he was being exposed to toxic gas, Wang Tai-lun thrashed around trying to escape, swapping out of his existence.

Even while being pressed down almost vertically, he managed to kick the thinner wall, showing that his persistence was commendable.

The only thing that was disappointing was that he didn’t scream.

With sleeping gas mixed in, I created a toxic and sleep gas mixture inside the box and told Ageha it was now her turn.

“Now you just need to get inside there and suck the spirit out of that cockroach.”

“Huh? My magic isn’t that strong!”

Ageha panicked, saying it was impossible, but I reassured her that with gas, it should be fine, and jokingly suggested I could go with her if she was really scared.

“I’d be grateful if you did… but um, can’t we just wait until it chokes on the gas?”

“No way. Reinforcements will come.”

They might bring their entire force, vowing to reveal their identity to the world rather than letting their information slip.

Or perhaps they were already rushing toward us.

That’s why we had to quickly send Wang Tai-lun to Heros Company.

So that in our stead, Heros Company would take the brunt of the blow from the Evil Society.

Listening to me, Ageha steeled herself and donned the gas mask.

I encouraged her, saying not to worry too much since I would take care of anything that might go wrong, and with Changwon’s help, we entered the box.

“At this point, he should be dead already…”

“No, he’s definitely still alive. He’s withstood everything from your full-on attack; there’s no way he would just die from something like this.”

They couldn’t have done all that modification without having at least one countermeasure against toxins.

Wading through the poisonous fog, I finally spotted Wang Tai-lun, desperately trying to break through the wall while hanging on for dear life.

Blood was oozing from every possible hole in his body, and the torn top hat revealed the metal plates hidden beneath his head.

He looked so grotesque, as if someone had sliced his head and implanted a transmitter in the cross-section.

With that kind of messed-up brain structure, even trying to control him with slime would be pointless. What kind of information could a brain like that hold?

It looked like they had left a small portion of his brain intact for remote input, just the minimum necessary for execution.

“Is this really… okay?”

Instead of answering, I extended the slime like tentacles to bind Wang Tai-lun and lifted him, slamming him down.

Well, I mean I didn’t exactly slam him down; I left it to Changwon to press down harder.

“See? He still doesn’t respond.”

He did respond, but not in any threatening way. It was like a broken robot trying to do its job in a pitiful, pathetic struggle.

Still, to ease my worries, I completely immobilized him with the tentacles, presenting his revealed forehead to Ageha while signaling Changwon to stop pressing him down.

“Just a light poke, and he should crumble.”

If he had no brain at all, I would have given up on illusions, but luckily, a little bit remained, making it worth attempting.

If I could extract the will from that tiny remnant of a brain, he would collapse like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Alright… I’ll begin now. Hoo, it’s my first time using this on a real person, but since Lady Blanca is counting on me…!”

A purple, ominous magic circle flickered in Ageha’s hand a few times, and soon Wang Tai-lun began to distort grotesquely before going limp.

“Is it… successful?”

“It seems like it might be.”

After poking him with the tentacles here and there, it looked like it had worked since there wasn’t any real reaction.

Even though we’d caught him, it felt oddly underwhelming. To have captured a creature with such survival instincts felt almost disappointing.

But… at the same time, knowing this would significantly diminish the power of the Evil Society made me a bit happy.

“So it looks like we’re on our way…”

Manipulating the slime, I absorbed the surrounding poisonous gas while purifying it back into regular air.

I separated and stored any chlorine or carbon that had been sprayed, releasing oxygen and nitrogen.

While I was at it, I discreetly injected some slime into Wang Tai-lun’s body to probe his brain, but again, there wasn’t much of value there.

Not wanting to leave any traces behind to cause trouble, I carefully extracted the slime without leaving a mark.

As the wall crumbled, my friends approached me, asking what in the world had happened.

Seeing that, I could only chuckle and say it was a long story.

 

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