The moment I heard the message, I froze and found it hard to breathe. I couldnât believe my ears. What? Retrieve his ability? How was that possible? Why was this the first time I was hearing it? Or, did I need to meet certain conditions to make it happen?
However, my questions werenât important. What was important was that I could take away Luca Brunoâs ability. It didnât even take me a second to come to a decision. I nodded my head. Immediately, mana began to leave Luca Brunoâs body. He let out a painful scream.
âKuaaaaaaaaa!â
âEh? Did the pain come later?â
âEh⊠That person, heâs getting paler!â
The mana that left Luca Bruno was absorbed by the white ball of light, which then flew into my hand. I stared at it as if I was enchanted. Another message then rang out.
[A suitable candidate for the ability is nearby. Would you like to bestow the ability?]
Without having to ask, I already knew who the candidate was. It was almost⊠instinctual. I stared at the ball of light, then faced Yua who was looking at me intently. She called me, as if she knew what I was about to say.
âOppaâŠâ
âYua, do you still want to⊠become a dungeon explorer?â
âYes!â
Yua immediately shouted aloud.
âI want to help Oppa by Oppaâs side! I donât to sit back and wait anymore!â
âItâs going to be difficult, think about it, Yua. I want to protect your peaceful daily life. To be honest, I donât want to ask you this, butâŠâ
âOppa, please⊠I want to be by Oppaâs side. Please!â
Looking at Yuaâs fervent eyes, I finished what I was saying.
âBut⊠It wouldnât be bad for you to have the strength to protect yourself.â
âOppa!â
She jumped into my embrace. I had to try hard to make sure she wasnât hurt by my armor, and I managed to succeed. Walker made a dumbfounded expression.
âYouâre too soft on your sister.â
âWrong, idiot. Thatâs not it. Sheâs my everything.â
I lifted the ball of light into the air. Then, I warned Yua for the last time.
âKnow this, Yua. Itâs going to be a lot harder than you thought. Once you get this ability, thereâs no turning back. Youâll be standing in place of another ability user, fighting terrifying monsters and climbing the dungeon. Your life will be at risk and you might receive grave injuries. Will you still do it?â
âBut Oppa is already doing it, right?â
â.. Yeah.â
âThen I want to do it too. Iâm tired of waiting for Oppa to come back, while I just sit and study.â
âIâll say it just in case, but you brother and sister arenât normal.â
âShut it, Walker.â
I pursed my lips and rebuked Walker. Then, I let the ball of light in my hand touch Yuaâs forehead. The ball of light smoothly went inside her, as if it belonged to her.
The boundless mana Luca Bruno had changed its property and began to completely transform Yuaâs body. It seemed Yua couldnât bear the shock as she fainted. I held her in my arms carefully.
âIâll have to take Yua back home before I leave for Britain⊠Walker, do you want to come with me?â
Walker looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
âKang Shin⊠Youâre changing, bit by bit.â
âWhat.â
âNo, itâs nothing. I will. I want to see Brightmanâs end with my own eyes.â
I retrieved the abilities of the other members of Heroes of Shadow (HoS). After doing it once, I got the knack for it, so it was easy to take them away. It seemed the condition was how much they opposed me, the Hero, and how faithful they were to the original mission of ability userâs, monster extermination. As they easily crossed the former standard, it was extremely easy to retrieve their abilities.
It was annoying to keep the small abilities, so I waved my hand and the balls of light flew away. They were most likely going back to Ciara.
âYou canât absorb them?â
âOne ability for one person. Didnât you learn when you were young, Walker? One pudding for one person.â
âYou think abilities are like puddingsâŠ? Plus, Brightman always took my puddings, that son of a bitch.â
âThatâs what I thought.â
I laughed and remarked.
âLetâs go get your pudding back.â
I left Yua in the house to sleep, and talked to the Revival members about making Yua become an explorer. They were shocked to hear that I could take away abilities from ability users, but no one disagreed with me wanting to make Yua into an explorer. The biggest reason was that I already gave her an ability. She had a powerful ability and was undoubtedly on our side. There was no reason not to let her become an explorer.
Kuhum, I promised to talk to them about letting people become dungeon explorers, but we never said anything about giving abilities! Of course, since it was an impulsive action, I couldnât say anything even if they were mad.
I left Father to guard Yua and Mother.
âWhen Yua wakes up, make her into a First Dungeon explorer, Father.â
âYeah, I got it. I agreed to it, but⊠was it what Yua wanted?â
âYes. Um⊠Iâm sorry.â
âNo⊠If thatâs what Yua wanted, itâs fine. I was worried about her being too attached to you, so I wanted to prevent her from being an explorer or an ability user⊠But if itâs to the extent that she obtained an ability and wanted to become an explorer, it seems I wonât be able to see her boyfriend for a while.â
âDonât worry, Father. Even if she canât date anyone, Iâll live with her for the rest of my life!â
âScrew off, Son.â
Mother patted the sleeping Yua and looked at me with a grumpy expression.
âSo, anything for me?â
âMom, to be honestâŠâ
âYes?â
âYouâre not suitable with any ability.â
Mother sulked and hit me, but it didnât hurt at all. I laughed and did my best to protect her hands as she hit me.
I thanked Father again and left the house. First, I went back to the dungeon and joined Daisy. Then, I called Lotte.
âLotte, come.â
[Understood, Hero.]
Lotte was in the resort area training, but considering she immediately responded to my call, it seemed she had finished her training. When I met up with her, I finally understood what she meant by training.
âDonât tell meâŠâ
âYes, Hero. This is the result of my training. No one will be able to stop me now. I can be with Hero no matter where Hero goes.â
In front of Walker, Daisy, and me was not a wyvern, but a young lady. She had long black hair, large black eyes, and a tanned brown skin.
Her eyes had a sense of wildness than reason, while her fingernails were dyed black and curled outward. Lotte was in a human form. Not to mention, her explosive breasts and plentiful butt exuded a feminine charm.
I shouted.
âWhy are you naked!?â
âIs it not obvious? I never wore anything in front of Hero. It would be rude of me to hide myself in front of the person I served. Is Hero doubting my royalty?â
âIâm not, so wear some clothes! No, go back to your wyvern form! Sorry, but weâre not going into any dungeons today. We have to fly!â
âDo I have to make other people ride on me againâŠ?â
Lotte frowned and asked in a low tone. She had a charming husky voice.
âSorry, Iâll make up for it later. If itâs something within my power, anything.â
âHuhu, Iâll remember it, Hero.â
Lotte closed her eyes. By the time she opened her eyes back up, she had gone back to her wyvern form. I jumped on her back with the others, then called Plene.
âLetâs go, Plene.â
âI can go too? Really?â
âYeah, weâre going to need your power.â
âEhehe, Iâll do my best!â
Plene jumped on me excitedly. Lotte flapped her wings as if it displeased her, while Walkerâs expression stiffened. It seemed he was slightly afraid of Lotte. On the other hand, Daisy was stroking Lotteâs back slowly. Then, she murmured.
âKill he⊠If she dies, I want corpse. Iâll bring her back as cool child.â
âI wonât kill her! She wonât die either!â
I initially planned on going to Britain, but after Walker told me Brightman was currently in America, I changed my destination.
After realizing what happened, HoS seemed to have influenced other countries to talk as if I was a criminal, but it wasnât that effective. There was already a precedent of Guardian trying to groundlessly condemn Revival and we had turned it around beautifully.
Although they were using mass media all over the world to scheme against us, they were either ignored or criticized. I felt like I knew why.
âCiara.â
âJust be quiet and accept her help this time.â
âI know. She knows I canât refuse either. I wonât say she owes me a debt, but sheâs mistaken if she thinks Iâll forgive her with this.â
[Hero, there are five fighter jets coming this way.]
âShoot it down. I donât care if the pilots die.â
[Understood.]
Lotteâs black flames covered the air. To provoke Dark Wing, the Queen of the Sky, one had to at least be on the same level as the Flame Drake. Seeing the fighter jets crashing down helplessly, Daisy tilted her head.
âFascinating monster.â
âThose arenât monsters. Theyâre fighter jets, a vehicle made by human technology to fly.â
âWeapon?â
âMm, something like that.â
âShape. Hard to put mana into. With weapon like that, mana wonât advance.â
âYeah, my world originally didnât have many ability users.â
Lotte accelerated. In less than 30 minutes, we arrived at Boston, where Brightmanâs company headquarters was located. I couldnât help but ask Walker.
âWhy is a British companyâs headquarters in America?â
âUnfortunately, thatâs just how it is. Itâs easier to do business across the world here.â
âBrightmanâs in there, right?â
âIsnât that obvious? Thereâs a landing zone on the roof and a helicopter waiting 24/7. Itâs a new model that can travel back to Britain in just 2 hours.â
âHeâs staying in America for his businessâŠ? Iâm surprised he can even leave Britain now that Hwaya isnât there anymore.â
âThatâs how it was initially, but Britain seems to think that it is now âsafe.ââ
Not that it was my business, but they sure sent their minds away to a vacation on Andromeda Galaxy!
Lotte flapped her wings and came to a stop. Now that we were right in front of it, I could see just how big the building was. I was too lazy to even count how many floors it had. It was the tallest and largest building in the area. Beyond the windows, I could see people in the middle of work staring at us with widened eyes. I smiled at them and waved by hand. Then, I asked Plene.
âCan you make everyone in that building leave? Also, make them and others in the area stay away from the building.â
âThatâs easy! Lalala~!â
Pleneâs mana amplified her voice. The effect was immediate. People working mindlessly suddenly stopped as if they were possessed and began to leave. It was happening in every floor of the building.
At the same time, a man on the highest floor stood up abruptly after seeing us. Silver hair pushed back using pomade and the appearance of someone in his 20âs. It was none other than Brightman. I met his eyes and smirked. Walker, on the other hand, was distracted by something else.
âOooh, a mass exodus.â
When I looked down along with him, I saw a countless number of people leaving the building through the door. With the unexpected number of businessmen leaving the company, the murmur of the city people even reached us in the air. However, regardless of what the people were talking about, the employeeâsâ mass exodus continued. Brightman, who realized what was going on slightly late, shouted at us. I canât hear you, you son of a bitch.
âAlmost everyoneâs out.â
âOh, really?â
âBrightmanâs glaring at us, Kang Shin. He looks like heâs ready to charge at you at any moment.â
âMm, I like courageous people. But⊠I hate people that scheme behind peopleâs backs.â
I summoned Peika and Sharana. I leisurely took out a highest-grade Mana Potion and popped open the cork. I put the potion in my mouth and materialized Peika.
âItâs done! Only that annoying man is left in the building!â
âYeah, thanks, Plene.â
âEhehehe.â
I lightly patted Plene and drank the Mana Potion. Then, I ordered Peika and Sharana, who were yawning like they were bored.
âSink this building.â
In less than a minute, the building collapsed.
Authorâs note:
Ah, how refreshing. I wanted to take care of these guys for so long, now I can finally do it.
Yua joins the ranks of explorers! As many people guessed, although Yua had no talent for using her body, she was talented in charming! A cute and powerful SS ranker has joined the guild! Now, how would the girls treat their potential sister-in-law!? How would Yua react to meeting her oppaâs daughter!?