Ch.118I Still Won’t Give Up…!

The time was right after the Lee Heejeong incident had just ended.

It was when I was discharged from the hospital, my wounds healing well thanks to the World Tree’s sap.

“Master.”

“Yes?”

“I realized something from this battle.”

“What is it?”

“That I’m too weak.”

“…!”

Korea’s promising talent who was overshadowed by Sophia.

A genius who reached C-rank Hunter before even turning 30.

However, those impressive descriptions seemed meaningless given Yoo Cheran’s recent record, which was so poor that she was constantly being rescued by the very person she had always admired.

And the one most disappointed by this reality was none other than herself.

“I want to become stronger, Master.”

“Cheran…”

“Even when I fought against Lee Heejeong who had turned into a monster, if it weren’t for Shin… the Monster of Jamsil, I would have been killed.”

She had briefly experienced, albeit indirectly, the world in which Shinwoo fought.

It was a realm where her level couldn’t possibly intervene.

A domain inhabited solely by monsters, where even geniuses dared not tread.

And in such a place, Shinwoo was always fighting alone, yet nobly, for the sake of humanity.

But all she had done was buy a little time.

What kind of ‘burden’ was that!

“Master! Is there no way for me to become stronger right now?!”

Yoo Cheran asked.

She asked her master, Rolling, if there was a way to grow faster than her current pace.

Although she was already growing at a rapid rate, it still wasn’t enough.

She wanted more power.

At the very least, she wanted strength that could follow behind Han Shinwoo, if not stand right beside him.

Yoo Cheran desired such strength more than ever before.

“There is one way…”

“?! R-really?”

“Yes… but to use it…”

Rolling stopped mid-sentence and looked at her disciple with worried eyes.

However, it seemed like no one could stop that look in her eyes now.

“You’ll have to risk your life. Are you okay with that?”

“…! Yes, of course!”

Because Rolling had once been in a similar situation herself, she had no choice but to give her permission.

One of the few treasures owned by the Korean Hunter Association.

And so that day.

Yoo Cheran descended to the secret lowest level of the Hunter Association building, where she encountered a divine tool in the form of a four-section staff, elaborately decorated with dragon patterns.

***

“Three-section… no, a four-section staff?”

“Hyah!”

CRASH!

A weapon rarely seen.

The three-section staff, a weapon with extremely few users compared to popular person-to-person combat equipment like swords or spears.

But the divine tool Ryongsanmuhyeom that Yoo Cheran pulled out was a weapon in the form of a four-section staff with one additional section.

Perhaps that’s why.

“Urgh?!”

A weapon she had never faced before.

Added to that, a strangely longer range than she had known.

Due to these two synergies combined, Shina was currently being pushed back despite being in her kaijufied state.

“It hurts…!”

She was hit just once on her shoulder by the staff, but it felt as if her right shoulder was broken from just that much.

“Ugh… equipment advantage! That’s cheating!”

“Equipment advantage… that’s quite hurtful to say.”

Cracks appeared on her kaijufied skin.

Finding it absurd, Shina was protesting that it was unfair.

Plus, since it was a divine tool, using it would also increase one’s stats.

While some people work hard day and night for recognition, this person was quickly catching up to her with just a weapon she obtained by chance.

“It’s unfair! If I had a weapon like that too…!”

“Huff… huff…”

Shina was about to complain to Yoo Cheran.

However, she soon closed her mouth.

That’s because even though Yoo Cheran was clearly the one attacking…

“Phew…”

Drip. Drip.

Her body.

Her flesh.

Whether it was a side effect of the divine tool or not, she was inflicting wounds on herself and bleeding.

“Divine tools are like disobedient children… Master’s words were certainly right. This is quite difficult to handle.”

“…!”

A weapon that damages even its user.

It was incredibly reckless.

I would never use something like that.

Who would use such an inefficient weapon, divine tool or not?

But the woman before her was using it gladly.

Even while bleeding, she smiled as if everything was fine and with what seemed like a clumsy, newly-learned three-section staff technique.

“Hyaaah!”

THUD!

“Urgh?!”

She swung the staff at Shina again.

‘Don’t block, dodge it…!’

Shina habitually tried to block the incoming attack with one arm, but feeling pain as if her bone had broken, she swallowed her tears and thought.

That weapon has a drawback where the user also gets injured in proportion to its overwhelming destructive power.

In other words, blocking her attacks is like engaging in a dogfight where both exchange punches.

Conversely, if she just dodges those still clumsy four-section staff techniques.

CRASH!

“Urgh?!”

“As I thought…!”

The staff missed Shina’s leg by a hair’s breadth and struck the bare ground.

Even though she hadn’t hit her opponent, Yoo Cheran was taking damage from the divine tool just for striking something.

“So you take damage just from swinging that four-section staff?”

“Huff… huff…!”

“Then I don’t need to block at all!”

Just two hits were enough to render one arm useless due to its power.

However, finding an unexpected advantage in this situation, Shina smiled as if celebrating victory.

And so Shina continued to dodge the strikes of the four-section staff that flew at her several times by a paper-thin margin.

“Cough, cough!”

Each time, Yoo Cheran took damage to herself and eventually fell to one knee, seemingly at her limit.

The match was essentially decided.

“Hmph, as expected. It’s still 20 years ago. There’s no way the Yoo Cheran of this time could defeat me.”

“Huff… huff…”

“History books said you’d become one of my father’s greatest enemies in the future. So I’m going to erase you here so that never happens.”

“I… become Shinwoo’s greatest enemy…?”

The schoolgirl looking down at her, about to deliver the final blow.

However, Yoo Cheran’s response to her words was none other than a smile.

“…?! W-what’s so funny?”

“I’m not really… laughing because it’s funny.”

“Then why?”

“Because it’s absurd.”

“Absurd…?”

“What you just said. I’ve been saved by Shinwoo many times. I find it impossible to believe that someone like me would become his enemy.”

“!! T-then! Are you saying the history book written by my father himself is lying?!”

“Well, that’s something I’d like to ask the future Shinwoo myself.”

A wicked woman who lies even until her dying moment.

With that assessment of Yoo Cheran, Shina was now truly ready to finish off this venomous woman.

“Dieeee!”

CRASH!

She struck down with all her might using her one functioning arm.

But.

“W-what?”

She shouldn’t be able to move even a finger anymore.

Yet Yoo Cheran, covered in blood, had blocked her strike with the four-section staff.

And at that moment, Shina had a hallucination of being devoured by a massive dragon.

“What was that just now…?”

She felt a chill.

She had the overwhelming advantage.

But somehow, like a cornered rat, her heightened monster instincts were screaming at her to flee this place immediately.

And as if confirming that prediction.

“My divine tool Ryongsanmuhyeom is quite demanding…”

“Demanding…?”

“Yes, this one only reveals its true power when its user is on the brink of death.”

“!!”

Golden magical energy began to slowly flow from the dragon-patterned four-section staff.

That energy started to be absorbed into Yoo Cheran’s wounded body, and soon transformed her into a completely different being as she stood up.

“Ryongsanmuhyeom – Peaceful World.”

“What… is it an ability that makes you stronger the more you get hit?”

“Something like that. This state is my first and last moment. If you withstand this attack, the victory is yours, Lady Shina.”

“…! T-then come at me if you dare!”

Now facing each other at eye level again, Shina instantly realized.

This strike wouldn’t be something she could easily dodge like before.

She expected a terrifying power, almost like a self-destruct mechanism, to come flying at her soon.

But even so, she had only grown physically stronger.

‘Her four-section staff skills are still terrible.’

Even if she couldn’t dodge it, she could block it.

It meant that if she sacrificed her one remaining functioning arm, this opponent wasn’t unbeatable!

“Here I come…”

“Bring it on!”

The trajectory of Yoo Cheran’s four-section staff swings had been very simple so far.

So simple that it was clearly visible to the eye.

It was so predictable that she could dodge it right away after just two exchanges, even though it was a weapon she’d never seen before.

With that confidence, Shina shouted boldly, ready to have her bones broken.

“Taekwondo…”

“……Excuse me?”

“Straight punch.”

No, what the hell.

When you pick up a weapon, you’re supposed to fight with it until the end.

“Gah?!”

After showing off fancy tricks with the four-section staff, Yoo Cheran suddenly threw a straight punch that caught Shina completely off guard, and she took the attack head-on without a chance to block.

CRASH!

Despite her determination to somehow endure, Shina was lifted off her feet from the courtyard.

She flew past Grandfather Lee Seokgyu who was watching quietly, crashed through the door of the detached house, and completely demolished Shinwoo’s recently repaired home just like Lia had done before.

“My child!”

Lee Seokgyu hurriedly ran toward his granddaughter who was buried under the building debris, unconscious and with her kaijufication undone.

“I… won…!”

Having used up all the golden energy in her body with a single strike, Yoo Cheran could peacefully pass out with relief.

Meanwhile.

“W-what the heck?!”

Kersy, who had fallen asleep while eating combat rations on the second floor, was forcibly awakened by the collapsing house.

“What happened…?”

She was dumbfounded looking at what had become a demolished building that was her shelter.