Volume 1 Episode 14
014
“Why should I?”
I Seojun’s flat voice.
“……What?”
Yun Hyeongi’s face went blank upon hearing the voice.
“Because, of course, you need to survive…!”
At the moment the flustered man spat out the words again, Gim Seungyeon’s sword flew toward Yun Hyeongi.
Shwaaak!
A fierce sonic boom.
Yun Hyeongi reacted hurriedly to it, but—
Srrk!
The sword grazed past his shoulder.
Sliced skin.
“Kgh!”
Yun Hyeongi furrowed his brow and let out a groan.
And quickly widened the distance from Gim Seungyeon, catching his ragged breath.
“As expected of Tirion’s youngest. However.”
Gim Seungyeon curled his lips into a smirk.
“At the end of the day, you’re just a fledgling Hunter.”
No matter how hard one tries before becoming a Hunter, it’s a different story from wielding the power gained after becoming one.
Moreover, the gap in experience isn’t easily filled.
In short, the gap between Yun Hyeongi and himself was vast.
Grrk.
Yun Hyeongi, glaring at Gim Seungyeon with his molars clenched tight.
His eyes turned toward I Seojun.
‘Damn it.’
He had thought I Seojun would obviously help him.
A monster that even the instructor, Gim Seungyeon, couldn’t handle alone.
They should all be joining forces to kill such a monster, yet wasn’t Gim Seungyeon killing all the Hunters?
‘He must know it’s dangerous.’
That was why they had to subdue Gim Seungyeon now.
If they couldn’t subdue him, everyone here would die.
I Seojun must clearly know this situation too.
“…….”
But he stood motionless in his spot.
Merely watching this scene with an expressionless face.
Swish.
The moment their eyes met with such an I Seojun, a thought flashed through Yun Hyeongi’s head.
‘No way.’
Grabbing Gim Seungyeon’s arm, clashing against his sword.
The eyes of a sovereign like his father.
He had bet that those things I Seojun showed hadn’t been mere coincidences.
‘Did I fail?’
His gamble had failed.
I Seojun, everything he had shown was nothing more than coincidence.
The reason he couldn’t step forward was nothing else but his lack of skill, it seemed.
If not, there was no reason he wouldn’t step up in this situation no matter how much he thought about it.
“If I leave you alone, you’ll both die on your own. Is there any reason I must go out of my way to save you?”
Then came I Seojun’s voice.
It wasn’t… a coincidence?
“Or create a reason for me to save you.”
Before he knew it, I Seojun was behind Yun Hyeongi.
At that moment.
“……!”
“……!”
Both Gim Seungyeon and Yun Hyeongi could feel it.
‘Impossible…!’
That it was different from everything he had shown until now.
How I Seojun had moved behind Yun Hyeongi just now.
“Kweeeek!”
They hadn’t seen at all when he had thrown a dead Hunter’s sword and plunged it into the Hobgoblin’s chest.
“You….”
Gim Seungyeon’s eyes blazed.
“You were hiding your power!”
Thinking he couldn’t be left alone, Gim Seungyeon began rushing at I Seojun.
Clang!
I Seojun deflected Gim Seungyeon’s sword with a Hunter’s sword he had picked up.
“If I save you, what will you do for me?”
He had originally intended to leave both of them to die, but.
‘Tirion.’
If Tirion was something they thought so highly of, it might be of some help.
“Can you do anything?”
So I Seojun asked Yun Hyeongi.
Because there was no such thing as kindness without a price to him.
But the answer didn’t come immediately.
“…….”
Yun Hyeongi’s blank face.
‘What on earth…’
I Seojun, the power he showed, his attitude so starkly different from before.
Once again visible, the eyes of a sovereign like his father.
He had been bewildered by these sudden occurrences.
But that was only for a moment.
Kwaak.
Yun Hyeongi’s two eyes flashed red.
Rage toward Gim Seungyeon, the desire to live.
“Save me first, then talk!”
All of it burst out in an instant.
And.
“That’s a good look.”
Finally, I Seojun moved.
* * *
“Kuhk!”
Gim Seungyeon groaning with eyes of disbelief.
Sliiide.
Yun Hyeongi’s sword was lodged in his chest.
It was clearly a famed sword made by an artisan guild, befitting Tirion’s youngest.
But the one who had plunged it in was not its owner, Yun Hyeongi.
“You….”
It was I Seojun.
Gim Seungyeon’s eyes contorted in terror.
“What in the world…”
He had hidden his power.
No, it couldn’t be expressed to that extent.
Overwhelming—this word would be most appropriate.
Therefore, I Seojun’s Hunter grade.
‘A-grade.’
Was clearly wrong.
Having felt it firsthand, he was definitely not D-grade as known.
He thought that maybe he was A-grade, or perhaps even higher.
But if that were all, the experienced Gim Seungyeon might have somehow endured.
“What are you?”
I Seojun didn’t seem to merely have a high grade, but also possessed skilled experience.
Reading everything, deceiving, and driving back Gim Seungyeon, a veteran even among B-grade Hunters.
—Clang!
—Puhwuk!
Just two moves.
In but two exchanges, Gim Seungyeon’s chest was pierced.
“Kuh, kuhluhk!”
Gim Seungyeon vomiting bright red blood from his mouth.
His eyes were slowly closing.
And.
“What are…”
In the end, he couldn’t finish his words.
Thud.
Gim Seungyeon collapsing powerlessly to the floor.
That was the end of the instructor, Gim Seungyeon.
The end of a rather sinful human.
“I Seojun—!”
But this was not the end.
There was no time to let his guard down.
“Kweeeek!”
Bwhooong!
A double-bladed axe tearing through the air and striking down at I Seojun.
Clang!
It clashed with I Seojun’s sword, creating a shockwave.
The colossal strength of the creature that had devoured all the other Hunters was contained in this double-bladed axe.
“Kgh.”
Even for I Seojun, there seemed to be impact, staggering for a moment.
Srrk!
I Seojun slipped past the axe and in an instant plunged his sword into the Hobgoblin’s body several times.
“Kweek!”
The Hobgoblin let out a roar of pain and kneeled on one knee to the ground.
Kwoong!
A loud noise echoed through the hall befitting its massive frame.
Kwaak.
A man watching this scene clenched both fists tightly, his eyes sparkling.
“……We did it…!”
It was Yun Hyeongi.
He spoke in a hopeful tone.
‘It’s over now.’
That monster, which no one seemed able to take down, had finally knelt.
That meant they could soon get out of here.
In the end, his judgment had been right.
The gamble he had thought failed had actually been a success.
“What do you mean, ‘we did it’?”
But someone denied Yun Hyeongi’s words.
The one who had brought the monster to its knees.
Bwoong!
It was I Seojun.
I Seojun widened the distance from the Hobgoblin again and threw his sword toward Yun Hyeongi.
Flinch.
The sword stuck in front of the trembling Yun Hyeongi.
“Buy me some time.”
I Seojun said, looking at him.
“What?”
“If you want to live, buy some. Just a moment is enough.”
Yun Hyeongi couldn’t understand even after hearing I Seojun’s words.
‘Why on earth?’
I Seojun had fought that monster alone until now and even brought it to its knees.
It seemed he could perfectly finish it off alone soon.
So why was he asking him to step up now?
Therefore, Yun Hyeongi couldn’t understand this situation, but—
Tat!
knowing this wasn’t the time to argue, he immediately grabbed the sword and rushed at the Hobgoblin.
‘He said a moment is enough.’
Only I Seojun could completely finish off the monster right now.
Hadn’t he said a moment was enough?
If he wanted to get out alive, he had to cooperate with him.
Shwaaak!
While Yun Hyeongi was swinging his sword at the Hobgoblin with such thoughts.
“…….”
I Seojun stood before the dying Gim Seungyeon.
“Haa……”
Gim Seungyeon, eyes closed, was faintly catching his breath.
A flickering light—was he still holding onto hope at the end?
Puk.
But I Seojun plunged his hand into Gim Seungyeon’s chest without hesitation.
“Kuhk!”
Then a death throes scream burst out.
At the same time.
“Fusion.”
Finally, I Seojun’s ability activated.
Flash!
A red luminous mass spread in all directions.
* * *
[Fusion Lv. 1]
Attaches the target’s body to your own body.
*Everything the target possessed is automatically adjusted to match your body.
A Hunter is something beyond human.
‘Mana.’
And they possess mana.
The people of this world still don’t know where mana comes from or how it’s generated.
But he was different.
Having dissected countless monsters and spliced their flesh for Fusion, he knew.
[Fusing Gim Seungyeon’s mana core.]
That existences with mana have a core, and that mana is generated from it.
[Skill level is too low; perfect fusion of the mana core is impossible.]
[A portion of Gim Seungyeon’s mana core’s mana may be used temporarily.]
A voice was heard along with the numerous blue windows floating before his eyes.
“Hoo.”
At the same time, power overflowed within his body.
‘It’s temporary.’
His body and abilities downgraded by the system.
He could temporarily use the mana obtained through it.
It was incomparable to the past, but still.
Tat!
This much was enough.
“How long do you expect me to hold out!”
Yun Hyeongi, crossing swords with the Hobgoblin’s axe.
He was pushed back and shouted with a bewildered voice.
“I’m at my limit….”
The moment Yun Hyeongi tried to continue.
“Move aside.”
The voice of I Seojun, who had vanished like a shadow, was heard beside Yun Hyeongi.
Tat!
I Seojun pushed Yun Hyeongi aside and snatched the rebounding sword.
At that moment.
Kwaang!
A massive noise echoed.
The Hobgoblin’s axe had fallen right where Yun Hyeongi had been.
“……!”
Seeing this scene, Yun Hyeongi’s eyes widened and he gulped.
Gulp.
If not for I Seojun, he would have been turned into minced meat.
He had survived thanks to him.
Yun Hyeongi looked at I Seojun with simultaneous shock and relief.
The next moment.
Kwaang!
A huge explosion occurred.
I Seojun’s sword and the Hobgoblin’s axe had clashed.
Grrrrk!
Just as intense sparks flew between the two weapons.
Swish.
I Seojun let go of the sword he held.
Srrrek—!
A clear sound of tearing flesh.
Bright red blood gushed from I Seojun’s severed arm.
Kwoong!
And right as the Hobgoblin’s massive axe fell to the ground, leaving a deep mark.
Kwaak.
I Seojun caught the sword that had been falling from his hand a moment ago with his other hand.
Srrrek—!
He swung the sword.
A cold cutting sound echoed through the hall.
Fyusuuuk!
At the same time, a fountain of blood burst forth, blocking I Seojun’s vision.
His whole body was dyed bright red in an instant.
“Kweeeek!”
The Hobgoblin’s arm had been severed by I Seojun’s sword.
The Hobgoblin flailed on the ground.
“……!”
Yun Hyeongi’s eyes went wide at the sight.
—Swish.
He had clearly seen it.
That I Seojun had deliberately dropped the sword.
So he had been greatly surprised, but soon a thought flashed and calmed him.
—…Could it be!
A method of giving flesh to take bone.
I Seojun seemed to have chosen that.
And sure enough, his thought had been correct.
He had deliberately offered his own arm to aim for an opening.
‘W-what the.’
But what I Seojun had aimed for wasn’t the Hobgoblin’s neck, but its arm.
Even though the opportunity was certain.
Why was that?
He couldn’t understand at all.
‘Why did he do that?’
Did he aim for the neck and fail?
No.
That couldn’t be.
‘The arm of the Hobgoblin was what he aimed for from the start.’
Would someone who boldly gave up his arm to fight such a monster make such a mistake?
Then why?
What in the world was the reason he aimed for the arm and not the neck?
“Kweek!”
The expressions of the two who had lost arms were polar opposites.
Unlike the Hobgoblin groaning in pain.
Ssik.
I Seojun was smiling.
He picked up the severed Hobgoblin arm again and said.
“Fusion.”
At that moment, red light burst out simultaneously from his severed arm and the Hobgoblin arm he held.
“Kgh!”
Yun Hyeongi’s vision was obscured by the intense red light that felt like short pain.
After some time, when his vision returned.
“……!”
Yun Hyeongi’s eyes went wide.
Swish!
The Hobgoblin’s massive arm, which hadn’t even matched in size.
As if finding its rightful match, it naturally adjusted and attached itself to I Seojun’s arm.
I Seojun looked at his arm and spoke.
“Not bad.”
I Seojun’s blackened arm charged toward the Hobgoblin’s chest.
The greatest villain of all time had returned.