Chapter 613

Even though they were both slums, the atmosphere of Sinchon and Guro was markedly different.

While Sinchon, which held the Goblin Market and a portal, was filled with vitality from explosive growth, Guro had no such driving force for growth.

The most underdeveloped place among the slums. That was why it had the highest crime rate, and why Guro was such a bleak place.

Naturally, the people who lived in Guro were rough and extremely cruel.

Because of that, even people from other slums were reluctant to enter Guro.

If that was the case for adults, it went without saying for children.

Unless they had a special reason, children from Sinchon never entered Guro. But today, at the entrance of Guro, children from Sinchon were swarming.

Their faces were filled with fighting spirit.

At their head stood Levin.

A sinister aura clung to Levin’s face.

It was so chilling that even the children who came with him swallowed dryly.

After staring at Guro for a moment, Levin opened his mouth.

“Where is it? The place where our kids are being held.”

“We’ll guide you.”

Aaron and Dominic quickly stepped forward.

They entered Guro without hesitation.

As a large group of unfamiliar kids appeared, a commotion broke out in Guro.

“Who the hell are those brats?”

“Why are people from another district here?”

Especially kids around the same age as the Sinchon children got excited.

Normally, they would have been wary of Guro’s kids, but right now, the eyes of the Sinchon children saw nothing.

They walked, looking only at the backs of Aaron and Dominic leading them.

“Hey, you little bastards! What are you?”

“You’ve got some nerve crawling in here!”

Apparently annoyed by them, some rough-looking adults stepped in.

They were all thugs settled in Guro.

Each of them was big and intimidating enough that nearby people trembled just at the sight of their shadows.

Naturally, the thugs thought the kids would do the same.

Crackle!

At that moment, sparks burst from Levin’s hand.

The sight of white lightning violently flickering made them instinctively polite.

Then Levin spoke a single line.

“Would you kindly get lost?”

“Yes, sir!”

They immediately bowed their heads and ran.

They didn’t care about pride or dignity.

The most important thing was their lives.

Thus, several adults approached only to flee in a hurry, and the same scene repeated.

Levin and the children walked straight down Guro’s main road.

Overwhelmed by their momentum, people stepped aside and cleared the way.

After walking down the main road, they arrived at the most dilapidated building in the area.

It looked like it could collapse at any moment from lack of maintenance—the unstable structure was their destination, Beggar’s Den.

Aaron pointed at the entrance.

“Here!”

“So Harbin and Kaden are inside?”

“For sure!”

“I see.”

A chilling aura settled around Levin’s eyes.

Killing intent.

Flash!

At that moment, lightning shot out from his body.

A single bolt shattered the entrance of Beggar’s Den into pieces.

“What the hell?”

“Fuck! Who are these bastards?”

People inside the den rushed out.

Judging by the stench coming off them, they hadn’t washed in ages.

The name Beggar’s Den wasn’t given for nothing.

Walking toward the entrance, Levin spoke.

“Wipe them out!”

“Waaah!”

“Let’s go!”

The children shouted and charged inside.

“Aaargh! You sons of—!”

“These bastards are from Sinchon!”

“Fuck! Stop them!”

The kids of Beggar’s Den tried desperately to block them, but it was useless.

The Sinchon kids had already lost all restraint.

They pushed forward relentlessly, knocking down Guro’s kids as they advanced.

As they went deeper into the den, adults began to appear.

“Hah! What are these little brats?”

“Still wet behind the ears and you dare charge in here? You’re all dead today.”

They approached the Sinchon kids aggressively, but before they could even throw a punch, they were taken down by Aaron and Dominic.

Big as they were, they were still just ordinary people—no match for awakened ones like Aaron and Dominic.

Aaron and Dominic were relentless.

They cleared the path, taking down adults at the front.

“Aaagh!”

“Ugh!”

The screams of the adults echoed through the den.

They showed no mercy.

They were just as enraged as Levin.

It was when they finally reached the deepest part of Beggar’s Den.

“That’s far enough, brats!”

“You’ve crossed the line too much.”

A group emerged from the darkness.

They exuded a completely different level of presence and killing intent compared to those before.

Levin spoke.

“Awakened, huh? What is there in a place like Beggar’s Den that makes so many of you gather?”

“You’re Levin from Sinchon, right?”

Among them, one who looked especially strong recognized Levin.

“And you are?”

“No need for you to know my name. Turn back here. Then I’ll let you off.”

“Are you the boss?”

“What?”

“I asked if you’re the boss of Beggar’s Den.”

“You think the boss would come out to meet the likes of you? The boss is inside.”

“Then you’re just a lackey.”

“You little—!”

“Then step aside.”

Flash!

Levin fired Purple Lightning.

“Damn it!”

The awakened hurriedly raised a large shield and blocked the attack.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, lightning scattered in all directions upon impact with the shield.

Thanks to that, the awakened of Beggar’s Den suffered no damage.

“Levin of Sinchon! This is a shield specially prepared for you. Your attacks won’t work.”

His words weren’t false.

The shield, crafted by a master in Guro, boasted perfect resistance to lightning.

Levin’s lips curled upward.

“So you trusted that flimsy shield and spread drugs in Sinchon?”

“Tch.”

The man holding the shield clicked his tongue.

His name was Larson.

He was the second-in-command of Beggar’s Den.

A B-rank martial-type awakened, possessing tremendous ability.

Normally, someone of his level would have entered Neo Seoul on their own, but he remained in Beggar’s Den.

Because of his older brother, Teddy—the boss.

Teddy was extremely ambitious, aiming to unify the slums and become their ruler. But his ambition collapsed before it could bloom.

Because of Zeon.

When Zeon fully emerged in Sinchon, all his plans turned to dust.

Zeon’s ability was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even dare to clash with him. So for a long time, he didn’t even approach Sinchon.

But recently, things had changed.

Teddy had acquired drugs from somewhere and started spreading them in Sinchon.

Naturally, Larson tried to stop him. But Teddy didn’t listen—instead, he got angry.

Saying that if not now, they’d never get another chance to take Sinchon.

Larson couldn’t bring himself to stop his brother.

And this was the result.

They had thought they were moving secretly, but Levin found out and came charging in.

In a way, it was inevitable.

Levin wasn’t a fool—there was no way he wouldn’t notice Guro’s involvement.

So they prepared as best they could.

And the result was the shield in his hand.

Raising it again, Larson spoke.

“As long as I stand here, you won’t take a single step inside.”

Having already seen it work once, his confidence swelled.

Levin sneered at him.

“Bullshit.”

“What?”

In that moment, Levin turned intangible and moved straight into the middle of Larson’s group.

Like a ghost, he passed through the shield—something Larson couldn’t stop.

The price was devastating.

Flash!

Levin unleashed Purple Lightning right in the middle of them.

“Aaagh!”

“Ugh!”

Larson’s subordinates collapsed screaming.

Being low-level awakened, they had no power to endure or defend against Levin’s lightning.

Larson himself wasn’t in good condition either.

Levin had detonated Purple Lightning at his back, where the shield couldn’t protect him.

His back was charred black, smoke rising from it.

The only reason he was still standing was because he was B-rank.

“Ghk!”

His strength drained, he could no longer hold up the shield.

Looking at him, Levin spoke.

“Pray that Harbin and Kaden are still alive. If they’re dead, I’ll make sure you die too.”

“W-wait…”

Larson tried to say something, but Levin had no intention of listening.

Bang!

His fist slammed into Larson’s jaw.

The jaw shattered like glass, and Larson lost consciousness on the spot.

But it wasn’t just Larson’s group—other awakened were appearing from all around.

Levin shot down the corridor as he spoke.

“I’ll go in first. Clean this up and come after.”

“Got it.”

“We’ll be right behind you.”

Aaron and Dominic’s voices came from behind.

Levin trusted them.

He and Zeon had trained them hard.

Thanks to that, he could move freely and reach the deepest part of Beggar’s Den alone.

“Damn it.”

As he entered, a foul stench stabbed his nose.

It was a smell he knew well.

‘Drugs!’

He had already experienced it once unintentionally, so he knew how dangerous it was.

Levin immediately put on the mask he had prepared.

The inside of the den was far filthier than the entrance.

It was such a terrible environment that it was hard to believe people lived here.

As he looked around briefly, Levin’s eyes widened.

He saw two people trapped in a small cage—barely big enough to hold a small animal like a dog.

Curled up tightly inside were Harbin and Kaden.

“Guys!”

Levin rushed over to the cage.

Even though they must have sensed someone, Harbin and Kaden showed no reaction.

Their pupils were unfocused.

They were deeply addicted to drugs, having lost their reason.

“Fuck!”

Enraged at how they had been drugged and then thrown into a cage like animals, Levin cursed.

There were lines that even the worst of humans shouldn’t cross.

But these people had gone far beyond them.

Levin opened the cage door to take them out.

That was when it happened.

Whoooom!

A magic circle suddenly activated beneath his feet.

With a blinding light, immense pressure crushed down on Levin.

He struggled, but couldn’t escape the magic circle.

“Heh… got you.”

At that moment, a hidden door opened and someone appeared.

A man in a loose robe covering his entire body, and another with a face full of beard.

They looked at Levin trapped in the magic circle and smiled sinisterly.

Levin asked them,

“You set a trap and waited?”

“That’s right. We knew you’d come eventually. So we installed a binding magic circle with the help of the Blue Scorpion leader.”

The bearded man answered proudly.

He was Teddy, the boss of Beggar’s Den.

Levin’s gaze shifted to the robed man beside him.

“The Blue Scorpion… a group of scavengers active in the desert.”

“Oh? You know us?”

“How could I not? You helped trigger the golem uprising in the East District, didn’t you?”

“You still remember that? Sharp memory.”

The Blue Scorpion leader was genuinely impressed.

“So Beggar’s Den joined hands with the Blue Scorpion and spread drugs in Sinchon.”

“Well, something like that.”

“And you think you’ll get away with it?”

“You should worry about your own life first.”

Teddy sneered.

At that moment, the pressure crushing Levin intensified severalfold.

The magic circle was fully activating.

Levin struggled to break free, but it was useless.

The magic circle completely sealed his power.

The Blue Scorpion leader spoke.

“It’s called the Abyss Prison. A one-time item we got after clearing a dungeon with great difficulty. They say once you’re trapped, you can never escape. Seems true.”

Whoooom!

The longer it went on, the stronger the binding force became.

It felt like not only his body but even his mind was being crushed.

As if his consciousness was being dragged into the abyss.

Levin tried to phase out, but the Abyss Prison perfectly suppressed his ability.

‘I rushed too much. I should’ve been more careful.’

He had overestimated himself.

He had already suffered once at the slaughterhouse, yet made the same mistake again.

‘Damn it!’

His mind was growing more and more hazy.

Just as he felt like giving up—

He saw Harbin and Kaden, trapped like animals in the cage.

He couldn’t die like this without saving them.

Thump!

At that moment, his heart pounded powerfully.

Crackle!

Sparks burst from his heart.

As the sparks flew, the shell surrounding his heart began to crack.