Ch.131Giving and Taking – 2

“Fuck, this really hurts like hell. Feels like my leg’s been completely severed.

And on top of that, I can feel blood slowly draining from my entire body.

My shoulder and leg. All horrific injuries just to look at.

No matter how sturdy my body is, I can’t win against excessive blood loss.

Dragging this out works against me. I have to settle this fight now.

“Phew.”

The fortunate thing is what I’m holding in my hand.

Until just now, it was something terrible embedded in my leg.

But now it’s another limb faithfully carrying out my orders.

The large shadow Sujin Hyun stabbed into my leg.

That terrible dagger that kept flying at me no matter where I dodged or how I blocked.

Now that shadow is pointed back at Sujin Hyun instead.

Though it’s just one against Sujin Hyun’s many, this single one is more than enough for me right now.

“…I finally understand what The Yellow Madwoman meant. You’re insane.”

I’d appreciate if you didn’t call me insane to my face like that.

I admit it. What’s happening now isn’t normal. I understand that a hundred, a thousand times over.

It seems to be related to those experiments or whatever they were.

I’d like to know more about what they did to this body, but that’s for later.

Right now, I need to stop the person right in front of me.

I position myself once more. I gather the scattered wind.

I draw the broken path, engraving the scattered sword path that hasn’t yet coalesced.

“I told you it was impossible!”

Whoosh!—

Countless shadows pour in from the front.

They look like waves. No, not waves—more like a tsunami.

My injured leg momentarily refuses to obey.

Just moving my arms and swinging my sword isn’t enough to block everything.

Sometimes I need to step back, and other times charge forward two steps.

In such a situation, my current injuries would be fatal.

If not for the shadow I stole from Sujin Hyun.

‘Forward. Charge straight ahead.’

I use the wavering shadow at my side to fill the spaces I couldn’t cover.

I had worried about what would happen when shadow meets shadow.

But that worry was quickly, completely erased from my mind.

It’s no longer Sujin Hyun’s but mine now, and though it’s just one, that’s enough.

Crack!— Boom!—

The collision between my shadow and Sujin Hyun’s shadows.

The winner was the shadow that had become one with me, despite being just one.

‘The situation seems better than expected.’

How do I know? For a brief moment, I saw Sujin Hyun’s expression contort.

She probably expected them to break equally. Instead, her shadow was pushed back.

If she can maintain composure after seeing that, then my psychological warfare is lacking.

‘Back again, keep going back. Back. Back.’

Perhaps thinking that attacking only from the front had its limits,

Several shadows circled behind me, flying in from outside my field of vision.

As if that wasn’t enough, attacks now poured in from all directions.

Blood continues to flow from my wounds.

Stopping the bleeding would help, but Sujin Hyun won’t give me that luxury.

And I need to keep moving to block attacks and draw the wind path.

That’s probably what Sujin Hyun is aiming for.

If she forces me to keep moving, I’ll eventually collapse from exhaustion.

So before that happens, I must complete the path.

Boom!— Thud!—

The shadow is still holding up well so far.

Thanks to that, I have one less thing to worry about, so I try to speed up.

I strike down all of Sujin Hyun’s shadows, creating space for the wind to enter.

One stroke of the sword, one stream of wind. Block once, strike once.

Bring the wind in again, place it in position, then block approaches with the shadow.

Sujin Hyun’s offensive becomes even more fierce.

As if challenging me to endure, as if asking how long I can hold out with just one shadow.

Countless shadows pour down like a torrential rain.

“Huh, hah.”

It feels like my heart might burst at any moment. I’m breathless.

Blocking all attacks while simultaneously drawing the wind path is too strenuous.

I considered looking for alternatives to Minseong Kang’s wind.

But thinking again, there was no better option.

First, Hyuk Kwak’s spear is impossible to deploy without an opening, so that’s out.

There’s no guarantee that Hyunwoo Lee’s sword is better than Minseong Kang’s.

And all other options weren’t superior to the wind path either.

Besides, I’ve come too far to turn back now.

Crack!—

This is bad. The shadow that had been holding up well now shows signs of cracking.

A very small but definite crack. And it will only grow larger.

Feeling that gap, I unconsciously became anxious.

A flash of light burst from Sujin Hyun’s eyes.

She seems to have noticed my urgency.

From now on, it’s a race against time. Will it break through or not?

Will she succeed in interfering, or will I achieve what I want despite the interference?

The shadows form a massive curtain flying right up to me.

To avoid being suffocated by that curtain, I must move.

I can’t rest even for a moment. I have to swing like mad to escape.

Bang!— Boom!—

Sword energy scatters in all directions before I can even pay attention to where it’s going.

Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around.

If there were, someone might have lost their life to these blind energies.

Crash!—

“Ugh! Aaaagh!”

…Ah, wait a minute. Why am I hearing someone screaming?

Damn it. My mouth jinxed it. I shouldn’t have mentioned whether people were around or not.

I took my eyes off the nearly completed path for a moment to look at the source of the sound.

Up ahead, between collapsed buildings, I spotted a man in his 50s.

The suit he was wearing was all torn and damaged.

Seems like an ordinary family man who couldn’t evacuate during the chaos…

“Rina! Rina!! Where did you go?!”

No, not an ordinary family man—he wouldn’t be calling for Rina like that.

Come to think of it, Rina definitely told me she was working.

In this situation, if an S-rank is personally working, it’s likely VIP protection.

Swoosh!—

For a moment I thought I was seeing things. Sujin Hyun, who had been fiercely pressing me until just now,

Was suddenly flying toward the man as soon as she saw him.

I thought she might be taking a hostage. But then I wondered ‘why?’

Currently, I’m the one at a disadvantage, not Sujin Hyun. She’s not the one trying to buy time.

So why take a hostage? My conclusion is that there’s absolutely no reason for her to do so.

Once I reached that conclusion, my mind started working quickly.

The “work” Rina mentioned, and Sujin Hyun’s reaction.

The conclusion I reached was singular.

Shaaaa—

While Sujin Hyun left her position, the path was finally completed.

The wind gently touches the corridor where the sword has flowed.

And along that texture, the gentle breeze instantly transforms into a storm.

‘A woman who was trying to kill me until just now suddenly behaves like this.’

The reason Sujin Hyun betrayed her past and colleagues to become an Elder.

For revenge. Because that revenge was so desperate she was willing to sacrifice herself.

All her actions can be said to be just stepping stones for that revenge.

If that Sujin Hyun turns her back on our battle to take care of that man?

And if that man is important enough to warrant Rina’s protection?

‘It means he’s connected to the past, and to her revenge.’

There was nothing more to think about. I was certain. This was my chance.

She’s a woman whose revenge comes before her honor, her past, even her life.

If that man is a fragment of her revenge, she will definitely try to protect him.

Which means she won’t be able to resist my attack.

Rumble!—

The wind surges and strikes fiercely at the tip of my sword.

I’m controlling it with all my might, but it’s overwhelming.

My body, which had been holding up well until now, is on the verge of overload.

That’s how difficult this path that Minseong Kang taught me was.

It’s called wind, but saying “drawing a path” only sounds easy.

In reality, you have to swing that heavy sword in empty air with zero margin for error.

I understand now why his disciples and children all struggled to draw the path.

But in return, it was just as deadly and sharp.

Looking at what’s swirling from the sword right now gives me goosebumps.

I understand why Sujin Hyun desperately tried to prevent me from drawing the path.

Ping!—

The sword, containing an intensely powerful storm, wails.

It’s at its limit. It cries out that now is the time to pour it out without restraint.

In response, I gritted my teeth and slowly raised the sword.

There is only one place this wind needs to go.

The Elder who has turned her back and is leaving the examination site.

That’s not right. Where are you trying to go during the examination?

I gripped the sword handle so tightly it might crush.

No wavering, not a moment of hesitation is allowed.

With one gust of wind, I will achieve my wish in one go.

My wish now is “the complete defeat of the enemy before me.”

Wooooo!—

The wind that has accepted my wish roars.

It tells me to let go now. It’s enough, so guide it to the end of the path.

I no longer resist and drop the sword downward.

Sujin Hyun, just about to grab the man. My clear enemy. An opponent I must stop.

I drew the final path toward that woman.

*

“Cough! Hack!”

“Stop exaggerating. I’m the one who was poisoned, so why are you acting like that?”

Rina threw Alexei down with a cold smile.

Despite being unable to use her left arm and suffering various minor injuries,

She didn’t yield at all against the two Elders. Rather, she had the upper hand.

Perhaps it was inevitable. What should have been three Elders attacking became two.

The difference between two and three is significant. And that was possible thanks to Seojin Baek.

‘I should finish this quickly and go help Seojin oppa. Am I rescuing a prince in crisis? With Seojin oppa’s personality, he’ll definitely thank me… Should I ask him to show his gratitude in ways other than words?’

As she was thinking that with a smile,

Boom!—

An enormous sound came from the opposite direction, and a tremendous shockwave engulfed everyone.

It was enough to make Hyuk Kwak, Alexei, and even Rina momentarily stagger.

“…Ha.”

When the massive vibration finally subsided, Rina let out a sigh.

This was no time to be complacent. If she wasn’t careful, she might end up being the one who needed saving.

“Let’s end this. It’s dragged on too long.”

The smile disappears from Rina’s lips.

Boom!—

A massive golden energy releases an enormous flash of light.

Soon after, the entire area was buried without a trace in that immense light.