Vol 3 Chapter 42

The skill books were mostly for general life skills. They included skills like dancing, cooking, crafting, playing guitar, and so on. However, sword skills appeared occasionally, and though rare, there were also low-circle magic spells.

'Is that... a singing skill? ...For the tone-deaf?'

While there were some skill books that almost made him laugh, none of them made Kapros want to buy them. As he chuckled and turned to go in another direction, it happened.

That sensation pierced through his mind so suddenly.

Ping-!

Feeling a chill down his spine that he seemed to have experienced once before, Kapros quickly looked around.

A moment later, his eyes met with a person standing alone amidst the constantly moving crowd, staring straight at him. It was a face he could never forget. The man's silver hair was dyed a dark red in the fading sunset.

'...Jeong... Seung-jo.'

It was ridiculous. Even now, that name was more familiar to Kapros than Caesar. Just as when he had first seen him again, something boiled up inside him with tremendous force.

Kapros had thought that no one would see him as a mage, having changed his hair to gray to avoid people, wearing a mask, and even carrying a sword. But he could instinctively feel it. The guy had recognized who he was even before they made eye contact. How he had recognized him, Kapros didn't know, but...

As soon as their eyes met, Kapros immediately lowered his voice and chanted a spell.

"Haste!"

A fierce wind that startled a passerby whirled around his body once, and then he turned and ran as fast as he could, pushing through the crowd.

"Ah! What the hell!"

"You should apologize if you bump into someone!"

He heard complaints from people he had pushed aside, but there was no time to turn back and apologize. Thoughts that couldn't even properly form were raging wildly in his head.

Currently, Kran, Un-o, and Kapros were all separated. If it were the three of them, it might be different, but alone, he had to assume it would be difficult to face Seung-jo... no, Caesar. Damn, the names were confusing. Anyway, he had to assume it would be difficult to face Caesar.

Kapros didn't know for what purpose the guy had appeared before him again, but he was now steadily chasing after him. It certainly didn't seem like he had any constructive thoughts about just having a conversation.

Even without looking back, Kapros could feel it. His back had turned ice-cold, in contrast to his heart that felt like it would boil over and explode at any moment.

'But that bastard... Did his personality change while I haven't seen him?'

Strangely, the guy didn't seem to be running desperately, but just chasing after Kapros. If his purpose was to catch him, he should have already caught up dangerously close even with Kapros's Haste spell, but the guy was just leisurely pursuing him like a lion eyeing its prey on a full stomach.

"..."

As soon as Kapros realized this, he couldn't help but feel anger rising, but he couldn't cause a commotion in this crowded place, so he just kept running through alley after alley. He didn't know about the guy, but at least Kapros didn't like it.

As the number of people looking at him with surprised eyes decreased, and the occasionally visible open shops became more distant, Kapros entered a maze-like path of mud-walled alleys. That's when he heard the footsteps chasing him from behind gradually picking up speed.

At the sound of those heavy footsteps quickening as if they had been waiting for this moment, Kapros momentarily thought about turning back to where there were more people, but having come this far, he had no choice but to see it through. The pressure from behind was gradually intensifying.

'Damn it. I can't even use Blink well in these complicated alleys...!'

Glancing back, Kapros saw Caesar approaching, almost touching him, seemingly starting to unleash his original speed explosively rather than slowly accelerating like a tightening noose. Kapros ran with gritted teeth as much as he could, but finally, when he reached his limit.

Bang!

"Ugh!"

A hand that reached out from behind and grabbed Kapros's neck slammed him into the wall with the full momentum of the chase. As Kapros groaned from the impact of his forehead and body hitting hard, the hand pressing down firmly on the back of his neck unhesitatingly twisted his left arm behind him.

"Like this."

A languid voice was heard from behind.

"What were you thinking, letting yourself be caught so easily? Mage."

With those words, the grip on his neck tightened a bit more.

"Or is this your limit?"

Thanks to the system where only 20 percent of pain was felt, the actual pain wasn't great, but the pressure of his head being pressed against the wall and the feeling of a wound on his forehead were very real. When Kapros didn't answer, the force on his twisted arm also increased.

"Why didn't you regroup with your companions?"

Crack.

Kapros gritted his teeth at the precarious pressure he felt in his twisted arm bone. He couldn't answer the guy's question truthfully. Kapros had heard Kran say he was going to the temple, but he didn't know where in the city that temple was located.

The basic map window in MIST only showed a large, simplified continent map. To see a more detailed map, one had to obtain a city map made separately in shops or elsewhere, but since he could fill it in himself as he went around, and if he needed directions, he could always ask NPCs or people around, Kapros hadn't bought a map. So all he could see was just the paths he had taken. Moreover, he had no idea where Un-o had gone, so there was no way he could find him.

'...And.'

In fact, the moment he encountered the guy again, a thought had instantly crossed his mind. It was none other than about Yu-wan.

As things stood now, this guy was the only one who knew about the final situation of 'that day' with Yu-wan, who had essentially deceived them. After all, what Kapros and Kran had seen was only the end of the fight between him and Yu-wan.

The moment Kapros realized this fact in a corner of his mind that felt like it would explode upon meeting 'Jeong Seung-jo' again, he felt a strong desire to ask about it. This realization had unfrozen his body, which had been stiff as stone upon seeing the guy, allowing him to turn and run.