Time of the Hunt

A subordinate approached Kormo as he was tilting a glass of liquor.

,”Roque-gun gave the compass as a gift to the woman who acted as his proxy for the bet.”

,”Ha. Choosing a woman over me, Roque-gun is quite the man, isn’t he.”

Kormo chuckled in disbelief, and the subordinate spoke.

,”Upon checking, the compass was attached to the woman’s waist.”

Kormo burst out laughing at the subordinate’s words.

,”It’s fortunate that the report hasn’t been made yet. I can obtain the compass and return the humiliation to the woman who humiliated me several times over.”

Kormo, picking up the Spear of Decisive Battle, said.

,”Good, lead the way. Once the job is done, we’ll leave Ludwig immediately.”

At Kormo’s words, the subordinates rose from their seats.

***

Following the subordinates who had cleared the hotel’s first-floor lobby, Kormo entered the hotel. Except for one hotel manager, all the employees and guests were corpses rolling on the floor.

,”Did you find out?”

Kormo asked, stretching while stepping on a woman’s corpse and squishing her breasts. The subordinate, who was peeling off the manager’s facial skin with a dagger, stopped and asked for the target’s location.

,”Blue eyes, blonde hair. She came with a similarly looking man, and where is the woman with an unusual gait due to her discomfort staying?”

As he lifted the facial skin with the edge of the dagger, the manager couldn’t bear the intense pain and screamed.

,”Ugh…5th floor! She’s in the Royal Suite on the 5th floor!”

Kormo gestured, and the subordinate slit the manager’s throat with the dagger and called the elevator.

Heading straight to the 5th floor, Kormo’s subordinates broke down the door without hesitation and entered the room. The interior was filled with darkness as the lights were not turned on. There wasn’t even moonlight because the windows were curtained.

Kormo, standing behind the subordinate who was groping the wall to find the light, instinctively thrust his spear forward at the moment he felt a murderous intent.

Chwaak!

The subordinate’s neck, who was standing in front of Kormo, was pierced by the spear blade, spraying blood into the air. Kormo, who was prepared in advance, was able to block the spear blade that emerged from the darkness.

,”A spear master…?”

Before they could even react, spear blades emerging from the darkness continued to pierce the heads and necks of Kormo’s subordinates. In the limited visibility, the notorious Kormo’s subordinates, who were called human hunters, soon all collapsed on the floor, creating pools of blood.

,”…You were expecting an attack.”

Kormo, quickly finishing his assessment, backed away. Kormo, who only fights in advantageous battlefields, had no intention of taking unnecessary risks to obtain the compass. Returning to the elevator, Kormo pressed the call button, but the elevator did not respond.

,”They removed the magic stone.”

No sooner had Kormo finished speaking than Ludwig’s guards, who had climbed up the stairs, filled the hallway. Kormo, scratching his forehead, let out a hollow laugh.

,”It seems they intended to hunt me from the start.”

Kormo, having finished assessing the situation, moved his head from side to side, memorizing the structure of the hallway. Stretching his lips into a long smile, Kormo gripped the spear tightly and charged at the guard standing at the front.

The guards calmly prepared for battle. They raised their shields to cover their bodies and block the spear blade, then gripped the swords in their hands, ready to counterattack immediately, and waited for Kormo.

Taang-!

The spear blade hit the shield. However, the impact transmitted from the shield was weaker than expected. Kormo did not strike the shield with full force, but rather intentionally reduced his power to allow the spear blade to flow along the shield.

Shifting his body’s center and twisting his body to avoid the guard’s sword, Kormo swung his spear and cut the guard’s leg. Without finishing off the guard who momentarily staggered and lost his balance, Kormo continued to move.

With movements close to artistry, blood splattered on the legs and arms of the guards cut by the crescent moon with each swing of Kormo’s spear. Before long, all the guards who had filled the hallway collapsed on the floor, groaning.

Surprisingly, few people died. Kormo, prioritizing escape, chose to go down the stairs immediately rather than spending time finishing off the insignificant guards. Kormo clashed again with the group of guards climbing the stairs behind him, but of course, the victor was Kormo.

As Kormo, who arrived at the first-floor hotel lobby, was catching his breath and trying to leave the hotel, a bizarrely masked being blocked Kormo’s path. Kormo, looking at the black spear in his hand, raised one corner of his mouth and said.

,”You’re the one who killed my subordinates.”

Saying that, Kormo glanced around and realized that the hotel was surrounded by guards and knights. There was no way out. The windows were filled with magic, and it seemed that the hotel’s security magic had been activated to prevent anyone from leaving.

,”Is Krahel trying to turn the Order into an enemy?”

Kormo, looking up at the lobby ceiling for a moment, gripped the Spear of Decisive Battle and shouted.

,”If you’re a man, don’t hide and come forward, Roque-gun!”

Kormo thought that if Roque-gun revealed himself, he could use the Spear of Decisive Battle’s ability [Battlefield] to kill Roque-gun and somehow create an escape route. It’s not that he lacks confidence in fighting. No matter how many opponents there are, Kormo could create a 1:1 situation with his ability.

However, Roque-gun never showed himself despite Kormo’s provocation. Kormo had no choice but to activate the [Battlefield] ability towards the opponent in front of him. He intended to deal with the opponent in front of him first before anyone could intervene.

,”Reveal your name, spear master. I am Kormo of Decisive Battle, holding the 7th seat in the Confession, the Supreme Leader-nim’s direct unit.”

As Kormo pointed his spear and spoke, the masked being replied.

,”My name is Ross. The one who will kill you once again.”

,”…?”

Kormo, questioning Ross’s words, momentarily bent his back to avoid the spear blade stabbing from behind. Kormo, not taking his eyes off Ross, realized after seeing that a part of the black spear had disappeared beyond space.

,”Space magic… So you were the Apostle the Supreme Leader-nim was looking for.”

Instead of answering, Kormo dodged the spear blade stabbing towards his side and realized that there were no distance limitations for the opponent, grinding his teeth and rushing forward.

Each time Kormo moved his feet, spear blades stabbed from impossible angles. They were light attacks close to feints, merely intended to block his approach, but the attacks targeting his defenseless back, side, and thighs were things he had to pay attention to one by one from his position.

Kormo stopped breathing and tilted his body’s center, barely dodging the spear blades. By taking short strides, his running speed decreased compared to usual, but he was able to narrow the distance quickly without stopping.

When they entered a range where each other’s spears could pierce their necks, they swung their spears without anyone saying who would go first. Sparks flew in the air. Unlike Ross, who was maintaining his balance by supporting his body with his hind foot, Kormo, who shifted his center of gravity forward using speed, took a continuous motion and lowered the crescent moon while extending his front foot.

Kang!

Ross pulled his leg back as he was extending it forward, and at the same time, he gripped the spear tightly to deflect Kormo’s attack and launched a counterattack. Kormo stopped his downward motion and quickly twisted his body. Kormo, who avoided the surprise counterattack, twisted the spear using his forearm to take an attack stance again.

Kormo, slightly loosening the grip on the hand gripping the spear to intentionally make the spear shaft slip on his palm, gripped the spear and swung it with all his might. Because the spear’s range momentarily increased, an attack that shouldn’t have reached Ross reached him.

No, it only appeared to have reached him in Kormo’s eyes. Kormo’s spear blade was used by Ross’s space magic to cut Kormo’s forearm in reverse. Kormo, instinctively feeling that something was wrong with the feeling in his hand, would have had his arm cut off if he hadn’t stopped the attack.

Kormo, who was wounded in the arm in just one breath, exhaled and gathered all his magic. He realized that the opponent was someone he couldn’t afford to conserve his moves against.

Kormo, strongly kicking the floor with his left foot, thrust his spear forward and unleashed lightning using the magic he had gathered. He judged that the opponent would not be able to respond to the unconventional attack. However, Ross, as if reading Kormo’s move, instead bent his knees and turned his direction sideways as if charging.

Kwaaaang-!

The lightning flash moving in a straight line could not catch up with Ross. Kormo, who had his eyes fixed on Ross, swung his spear without delay towards Ross, who had entered the crescent moon’s range while dodging the flash.

Ross leaped. Because Kormo swung his spear greatly with the intention of cutting Ross’s waist, Kormo’s center of gravity was tilted to one side. However, being suspended in the air meant that he could not avoid the attack. Using the center of gravity that was tilted to one side, Kormo rotated his body as it was and roughly swung the spear in the direction of Ross, pouring all his magic and strength into it.

Sswaeeck!

Along with the sound of cutting through the wind, nothing was felt at the tip of the spear. At that moment, Kormo heard a ‘toong-‘ sound in his ear. The momentary gap that inevitably occurs when rotating the body. In that fleeting moment that disappeared from Kormo’s sight, Ross used space manipulation to use the Shadow Spear as a stepping stone to leap once more in the air and avoid the attack.

Kormo desperately tried to retrieve his spear, even twisting his muscles….

Pook-!

Ross, who had re-manifested the Shadow Spear in the air, pierced Kormo’s head with a concise motion.