Chapter 74
She was fighting wolves that had turned red, while snipers and magic kept shooting at her from behind but Blanca refused to give up.
Somehow, she regained her composure, and slowly made her way towards me, tearing apart the wolves she had summoned.
“I will kill you with my own hands…….”
Blanca can only be described as furious.
But.
“I think we’ve lost too much time for that.”
A silver knife stabbed in front of her as she tried to approach me, and a grave voice sounded from the hole in the ceiling.
“──I apologize for the delay Master.”
A limp man in one hand, a shiny knife in the other.
It was Parnello Ramici.
“By the looks of……you weren’t in too much trouble.”
Parnello drops the stunned man through the ceiling like he’s taking out the trash, and then drops down himself.
By the look on the man’s face, I realize that it’s Jackal, another villain I’ve seen in the game.
It’s clear that he’s not as simple as he seems.
In reality, Parnello’s clothes are slightly torn and sooty but there were no visible wounds or signs of exhaustion.
Did he notice my gaze on his clothes? Parnello ruffles his hair and smiles wryly.
“Well, it’s hard to tell how many traps they’ve set up in this place, and to be honest, when the landmines and explosives went off in quick succession, I freaked out.”
……Mines and explosives? Seriously, was that the explosion I heard in the middle?
I wondered how the hell I was going to get out of there with my clothes intact.
“Why would Jackal……wait. The hound…… of Corleone is here?”
Meanwhile, the sudden appearance of Parnello caused Blanca, who had only moments before been in a rage, to hesitate and take a step back.
Parnello turns his head to look at her.
“Jackal said that the other villain was torturing Rate…… so that must be you, Blanca.”
Parnello ignores Blanca like it’s no big deal, then looks back at me.
“You did a good job rescuing Rate, Master. Would you like to finish the job……?”
In effect, the battle with Blanca was already over.
Even if she pushed further here, the already enhanced aura would still be inside my body.
“She is my prey, so of course I’ll finish her off.”
“Excellent. ”
Blanca grits her teeth as Parnello steps back behind me, smiling broadly.
“These……, these damned Corleone’s!”
Blanca explodes, feeling that she’s being toyed with, and lunges at me.
“Who, whose prey, the prey is you!”
The lunge is followed by a flash of light.
A moment ago, I would have been decapitated before I even realized it, but now that my body has been strengthened by the multiple enemies, I can clearly see her movements.
‘This ability is such a slow starter.’
Recalling my previous encounter with the Ranger Club, I focus my aura on [Midas’ Gloves].
The image that comes to mind is the red knuckles I summoned on my hand.
I could feel the repulsive force growing stronger and stronger as I poured in my magic, but the aura flowing through my body now was enough to hold it all together.
[Bloodline Ability: “Corleone” dominates “Midas’ Gloves”].
Red knuckles appear on my hands once more.
Red sparks leapt from the top of the knuckles formed by the transformation of the [Midas Gloves], and the unstable Aura, who looked like it was going to explode at any moment, was forced to hold on.
“You still haven’t come to your senses.”
I jam my fist into Blanca’s gut as she tries to swing her nails at me.
“You were done earlier.”
At the point where she entered Phase 2, to be precise.
A fist that plunged into Blanca’s abdomen first with a very slight reach difference.
“Crack──!”
With the sound of a giant drum being slammed, her body flexes greatly. Still, she somehow manages to reach out to choke me.
Probably, if it was a normal punch, it would have reached my body, but……unfortunately, my attack is not over yet.
I’m not done. ─────!!!
The pent-up repulsive force explodes once more, creating an enormous booming sound that shakes his insides to the core.
At the same time, Blanca’s body began to shrink.
If she had received this blow, her lower half would have disappeared altogether.
Luckily, Blanca’s armor was too strong to kill her.
After tossing her aside.
“I’m going to die…….”
After seeing Blanca fall to the ground, I relaxed and just lay there in a heap.
This was actually the first time I’d ever fought a villain in hand-to-hand combat.
Of course, I had some help from the gang along the way, but honestly, it was a fantastic accomplishment for a first-year academy student.
[New story opens!]
“Huh?”
I tried to catch my breath, but the system window showed me a message.
No, a new story? If it’s the main story, isn’t there already a story about the club?
【(NEW) Main Story (Gangs of Corleone) now available!
[NEW] You are Corleone heir and a Hitman. You have defeated enemies from countless organizations and have begun to write your own saga, but what is at the end of it all?
Death to your enemies. Glory for your family.]
[Prerequisite: Increased Influence within the Family]
[Target Influence: 1500 / 3000]
[*Achievement rewards may vary depending on the outcome]
[New main story is open! Open rewards will be given!]
[Open Reward: “Epic Imprint”]
I’ve seen a few instances where each character has multiple main stories……Apparently, Eugene Han Corleone was one of those characters with multiple main stories.
The organization’s influence displayed in the window is 1500.
Judging by the number of missions I had completed so far, I could easily reach 3000.
Most importantly, the [Epic Imprint] was now open.
[Epic Imprint]
In the original game, this system was so important that named NPCs could be determined by its presence or absence.
Players could tell the difference between a shithead and a godhead based on when their character got it, so there you have it.
So…… why is everyone looking at me like this?
“What the hell was that…….?”
Parnello, who has been watching from the back, walks over and extends his hand to me.
“Hmm? Did you just see that?”
“Yep. The one where you used the Red Aura to create the knuckles. How long have you been able to use that technique?”
……Ah.
I got it.
Why the others were looking at me with such awe, and why Parnello was looking at me with such emotion.
They were unknowingly remembering the past.
The man who stepped forward for them when the dungeon first flooded in Korea.
The man whose red knuckles and fists had become a symbol for them all.
[Impressed the other members of the organization!]
[Influence increases by 500!]
[Target Influence: 2000 / 3000]
A 500 increase in Influence just like that.
I mean, I’ve only done a handful of things for the organization so far, and I get a 500 increase just for using my knuckles?
I could see what it meant to them that I had used my knuckles.
They truly saw in me a successor to Corleone.
“……Just. My gloves took on this form when I trained my aura. It’s probably related to my bloodline abilities.”
I couldn’t say that I had seen father’s abilities in the game, so I explained just enough to make sense.
Parnello nodded.
“……Yes, that was obviously Don’s primary technique, and I can’t believe you’ve already mastered aura to such an extent, you’ve opened my eyes yet again today, hehehe!”
In medieval terms, what I did would have been considered an act of tradition.
Not surprising, since I was openly displaying the same abilities as Vito Corleone.
“……We’ve accomplished our goal, so let’s leave the cleanup to the family that’s in charge of cleaning up the site and call it a night. To be honest, I’m exhausted.”
I say with a forced smile, and Parnello naturally supports me.
“I’ve made a call to the organization, and a helicopter should be here soon.”
“……That’s good.”
True to his word, the helicopter arrived shortly after.
I immediately boarded the helicopter and closed my eyes as I was attended to by the healer who was already waiting for me.
“By the way, what happened to Rate?”
“Oh, she was taken to the healing facility first on the helicopter we came in on. They say she’s been in a lot of trouble and will be in need of care for quite some time, but I’m glad she’s alive.”
Parnello smiles as if he means it.
“It’s all thanks to you, Master, because you took care of one of them, if I had come alone, I would have missed the others, let alone Rate.”
I was tempted to ask him how he knew, but for now, I decided to just give him a big smile.
After all, it all worked out in the end.
When I arrived home, I was about to head to the study to report to my father, but Parnello insisted that he would do all the reporting for me, since I had to travel to Gangwon Province tomorrow.
To be honest, all I wanted to do right now was to collapse into bed, so I gratefully accepted his favor and returned to my room, where I took a quick shower before collapsing into bed.
My eyes fluttered open to the new UI in front of me.
[(Epic Imprint]
“……I’m going to have to hit it, just to get rid of the new marker, right?”
I opened the [(N) Epic Imprint] with excitement.
[Character “Eugene Han Corleone: Epic Imprint” will be created!]
There was a moment of silence after the notification popped up.
“Huh?”
Nothing……happened?
Just as I was thinking that nothing happened when I opened the original Epic Imprint, or was it different because Eugene was an NPC by birth──
“Turn it off!!!”
Suddenly, my left shoulder was scorched by a bright red flame.
