Bang!
There was a sound similar to a balloon bursting.
When the man turned around to see what it was, he froze in horror.
The heads of all the hunters who were standing behind him were missing. It was as though they’d been rubbed out by an eraser. The fact that their bodies still stood there without any blood spilling made the scene even more terrifying.
“Hi-, hiiik…!”
The man collapsed. His head subconsciously turned to look at Lukas.
Lukas looked down at the man whose eyes were filled with fear and horror.
He wasn’t sure how this action appeared to the man, but it caused him to immediately kowtow on the ground.
“P-, please… s-, spare me…”
“…”
He didn’t have any pride in the face of death.
He was a human who wouldn’t even live 100 years. Was it unreasonable to expect such a weak creature to hold onto their pride?
No.
It wasn’t. Despite being human, there were those who would carry their pride to their graves.
Did they not fear death? Did they have no fear?
That wasn’t the case.
Lukas was certain.
There was no human who wasn’t afraid of death. There may have been large or small differences between them, but in the end, everyone was afraid of death.
There were only people who revealed this fear and people who concealed it.
This man was the former.
Lukas felt disgust well up inside him.
This man had killed people here. He had ended their lives. It didn’t matter how many he had killed personally.
In the end, he had committed murder.
But now, when he realised his death was imminent, he bowed his head without hesitation and begged to be spared.
How disgusting could one human be?
Bang!
He wouldn’t accept such sickening begging.
The man’s head burst open.
Even before his blood and brain matter gushed out, Lukas had already turned away from him. Just as he was about to walk away.
Kijik, kik.
Making a strange sound, a corpse rose to its feet. The body had only one eye remaining. With this one eye, it looked at Lukas.
“Let’s… make… a deal… Lukas.”
Even the corpse’s vocal cords seemed to have been damaged.
Lukas had seen this phenomenon once. The same thing had happened to Otsuru earlier.
This meant that Nodiesop’s consciousness had entered the corpse.
Lukas didn’t answer as he swung his finger slightly.
* * *
Kim Go-hyuk wasn’t fighting. After all, the only ones here were a bunch of weaklings.
The few strong hunters who guarded the base had either been subdued or killed.
‘Nicholas, that man wasn’t bad.’
10 years… No. If he had been 15 years younger, it would have been a much better fight.
As he thought this, Kim Go-hyuk yawned.
Fwoosh!
A Fireball flew towards Kim Go-hyuk. He swung his dagger lazily as if it wasn’t worth paying attention to.
Again, Kim Go-hyuk wasn’t fighting.
He was simply accepting his junior’s whining.
“You, what the hell are you doing?”
He asked in a genuinely puzzled voice.
He looked at Min Ha-rin. He could see her calm temperament while objectively noticing her pretty face and well balanced body.
‘That doesn’t matter.’
White Flower.
A First class Swordsman whose sword unleashed streaks of white light reminiscent of flower petals which matched her title.
That was the Min Ha-rin he remembered.
He could still remember watching her fight. Her talent for swordsmanship was remarkable. So he’d kept an eye on her.
In three or so years, another Dragon might have appeared in Asia.
Or so he’d thought.
But now.
“Why did you learn magic?”
His voice became filled with irritation.
Min Ha-rin didn’t respond as she began casting another spell.
For the first time in a while, Kim Go-hyuk became angry.
Crack!
He closed the distance between them quickly before lifting Min Ha-rin by her neck.
“Kuk…”
Min Ha-rin struggled, but Kim Go-hyuk’s hand was like a clamp around her neck that did not let go.
She’d seen Kim Go-hyuk move. After all, her eyes were well trained.
Nevertheless, she couldn’t respond. She had barely trained her body during the last month. No, even if she had, it would be the same.
Suddenly, Kim Go-hyuk lifted Min Ha-rin’s shirt.
“…!”
A white stomach with no blemishes was revealed.
Min Ha-rin’s face flushed with shame, but Kim Go-hyuk didn’t pay any attention to her as he kept looking at her stomach. There wasn’t a speck of lust in his eyes.
Instead, there was curiosity then anger.
“Ha.”
This anger then morphed into contempt.
With a sneer, he threw Min Ha-rin at a wall. Unable to do anything, Min Ha-rin’s body struck the wall heavily.
“Urk…”
Her back felt like it had broken. She didn’t think it had, but the pain was immense.
She looked up at Kim Go-hyuk, who seemed to be simmering with rage as he gripped his dagger tightly.
“You don’t have a danjeon?” (TL: That one comment that mentioned using ‘dantian’ instead. I thought about it when I first encountered it, but since it’s a korean novel, I’d prefer to use Korean terms)
“Cough, cough…”
Min Ha-rin struggled to catch her breath.
Kim Go-hyuk continued in a disbelieving voice.
“And you have a mana room now. I don’t know how that’s possible, but… Haha. I’m not sure what to say about this.”
He laughed loudly, but anyone could see that it wasn’t out of happiness. Kim Go-hyuk was visibly annoyed.
It felt like seeing someone uproot a steadily growing tree and fill the hole with dog dung instead.
No, it was even dirtier than that.
“Ah… shit… that was really f**king stupid.”
Kim Go-hyuk walked up to Min Ha-rin before looking down at her.
Despite the pain, Min Ha-rin still glared fiercely at him.
If this were any other time, seeing such a gaze would have filled him with joy. He might have even derived some pleasure from it.
But not anymore. Kim Go-hyuk wasn’t interested in broken toys.
Paak!
Min Ha-rin’s face suddenly turned to the side. He’d kicked her in the face.
He hadn’t put his full strength into it. Considering Kim Go-hyuk’s power, this could have been considered a light slap.
If he had wanted to, Min Ha-rin’s head would have been torn off and sent flying like a football.
This was simply to vent his anger.
However, the pain was so sharp that she lost consciousness for a moment. Min Ha-rin’s lip was torn and bleeding.
Kim Go-hyuk clicked his tongue before grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head to the ground.
Paak!
“Seriously. You just did what you wanted without even trying to hide it. Who the hell do you think you are? What made you abandon the way of the sword? Huh?”
Min Ha-rin’s face looked terrible, but her voice was still firm when she spoke.
“It was… my choice.”
She spat out some blood before continuing.
“You have no right to intervene.”
This wasn’t what Kim Go-hyuk wanted to hear. But it seemed that no matter what she said in this situation, he wouldn’t get what he wanted.
He smiled.
“You talk really well despite your appearance. If I had a mirror, I’d love to show you.”
He picked her up again.
Then he kicked her in the stomach.
“Kuk.”
“Where’s the White Flower I remember? It would have been better if you drank nonstop for an entire month than do this. Look at this. You don’t even have abs anymore…”
Paak!
He kicked her again. This time, he added more strength.
“Gah!”
Min Ha-rin’s eyes rolled upwards.
This was a natural reaction when getting kicked in the stomach with military boots. Especially when considering the fact that Kim Go-hyuk was a superhuman being with great experience when it came to violence.
For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. It felt like her guts were trying to climb through her throat.
‘This is danger-… ous…”
She’d almost lost consciousness.
Min Ha-rin coughed up another mouthful of blood.
“That shock went directly to your intestines.”
Kim Go-hyuk was genuinely sad.
He couldn’t believe that his junior, who was growing up so well, had fallen so far.
His heart hurt so much that he could barely even look at her.
“Magic is garbage.”
Kim Go-hyuk spoke in a tone as though it was obvious.
Despite the pain, Min Ha-rin raised her head and glared at him.
“Statistically speaking, it’s the truth. Are there any Wizards in the Top Three Demon Hunters? No. Has a Wizard ever succeeded in defeating a high-ranking Demon Noble alone? No. The role of Wizards is just to stay at the back, as support. That’s all.”
That was all Wizards were.
Of course, you could only choose that path if you had the right aptitude.
But Min Ha-rin was talented. She had the potential to reach or even surpass him in the future.
And yet, this stupid girl had torn that potential apart with her own hands.
How could he not be upset?
“In the end, I guess there are only two people in this room worth sparing.”
After saying that, Kim Go-hyuk turned his head to the duel grounds before clicking his tongue.
“No. He’s dead too.”
A man was standing there. He was covered in blood, as if all the blood in his body had been drained.
Gerard appeared to have died standing because of the sheer willpower in his body.
“Haa.”
He sighed deeply.
Sssng.
Kim Go-hyuk drew his dagger. Now that he was done venting his anger, he had no reason to keep her alive.
Just as he was about to approach Min Ha-rin and end her life.
“…!!”
Kim Go-hyuk hastily retreated.
Fwoosh!!
An enormous Fireball passed through the spot he’d just been standing.
With a glance, he realised that it was a spell.
‘What the hell is this output?’
If he had remained in that spot, he would have been burnt to ashes. He turned to where the fireball had come from.
But there was no one there.
Bang!
In the next moment, Kim Go-hyuk avoided ‘some kind of attack’ with a transfer technique.
The reason he called it ‘some kind of attack’ was because he knew he was being attacked, but he couldn’t tell exactly what the attack was.
But he knew one thing for certain.
If he’d remained in that spot, he would have been dead.
“…aigoo. When did you arrive?”