Ch.144Season 2 – Holding Hands

Karune’s tail bone suddenly sprouted a wing that grew to an enormous size.

At the same time, she let out a monstrous cry.

“KRAAAAAAAA-!!”

The black magic-formed left wing joined with her original white right wing, transforming her into a perfect “Fallen Angel.”

“Is that… Queen Lia’s youngest daughter? She looks like it, but there’s definitely something suspicious about her. Can you handle that one, Laira?”

“Yes! I’ll do my best, Sister Karune!”

Karune flapped both wings and leaped high into the air.

Just before falling toward the human who emanated her father’s energy, she asked her half-sister Laira to support her.

Immediately, Laira charged toward Lia, determined to do her part.

“Little sister! If you stay still, I’ll just restrain you! Got it?”

“Ugh, who are you calling little sister?!”

BOOM!

The two young monsters, differing only in hair color, clashed fists.

And now it was their turn.

“…Here she comes!”

Watching Karune soar high into the sky before diving straight toward him, Shinwoo prepared to subdue her with minimal injury.

But as she fell, Karune suddenly folded her wings and began spinning rapidly.

Seeing her descend like a “drill” surrounded by tremendous rotational force, Shinwoo abandoned his stance and decided to dodge.

‘I can’t block this!’

CRASH!

As expected, Karune’s charge was incredible.

The moment Shinwoo jumped aside, she drilled a clean hole into the ground where he had been standing.

And the scariest part was yet to come.

Rumble rumble rumble.

“This is…”

“An earthquake?”

The ground began shaking violently as if an earthquake had struck.

Then Karune, still deep underground, changed direction and emerged from below Shinwoo at the same speed.

CRACK!

“Ugh?!”

“Brother!”

Shinwoo, who had been looking down at the ground, took the full force of the rotating attack and was sent flying in an arc before crashing back to earth.

The match seemed decided.

“K-Karune! What if you had killed him?!”

“Oh, right! Damn… I really do lose all sense of restraint when I transform… But it’s fine since there’s still one left, right?”

“That’s true, but that human was the only one who had His Majesty’s energy.”

“Hmm… you’re right. Did we just do something stupid?”

Stupid.

Yes, they had.

An incredibly stupid blunder.

They might have just killed someone who could be important to His Majesty.

Karune trembled with anxiety while Laira shook with the same worry.

But toward the two of them…

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“Huh?”

“Do you really think my brother would die from something like that?”

Lia spoke as if their concern was ridiculous.

And true to her words…

“Ow, that hurts!”

“What?!”

“Even though I took your monster drill attack head-on…?”

Shinwoo was getting up as if he’d merely fallen down, rubbing the abs under his torn clothes.

“Brother! Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just… wish I had some ointment. I don’t think any bones are broken, but my skin is pretty scraped up…”

“Then let’s stop by the time machine later tomorrow and get some ointment!”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

It was a rotational force that could tunnel through a mountain.

A single strike that could pierce even decent monsters, a technique praised even by her siblings with the Han surname.

Yet it had been blocked by a mere human without even monster bloodline.

Karune found it unbelievable.

But now wasn’t the time to be surprised.

“Time machine…? Ointment…?”

“Laira! I’ll buy you some time!”

“Sister Karune?”

“Go back to the kingdom and tell everyone! Tell them that a human who can threaten monsters has appeared again after five years!!”

“…! Y-yes!”

They weren’t enough on their own.

And these weren’t the type of opponents who would wait for them to escape.

That left only one option.

A “decoy” and “reinforcements.”

Judging that Laira alone couldn’t handle this human, Karune immediately ordered her to retreat while she stayed behind to buy time.

She began spinning again, but this time on the ground rather than in the air.

As she spun faster and faster like a mint-colored top, Shinwoo felt a chill at the thought of his skin being shredded, yet he still took a “loading stance.”

“Well… let’s test how strong I am in this state.”

The ground seemed hard enough to drill through solid terrain.

Shinwoo prepared a straight punch stance, waiting for his spinning daughter.

Meanwhile…

“Damn it, Sister! Just hold on a little longer! I’ll go to the nearby garrison and bring reinforcements!”

Laira was about to dash toward the military outpost that regularly hunted mindless monsters and human bandits outside the city walls.

As long as her sister Karune was still alive.

It was only about a ten-minute distance from here, so she could arrive quickly.

But blocking her path was the young monster she had thought was her little sister.

“Who… are you really?”

“Hmph. Now you ask?”

“At first I thought you were my little sister. But my little sister would never attack us like this.”

Laira bared her teeth with a growl.

But such threats were merely amusing to Lia, her mother.

“Do you think that scares me?”

“…What?”

“Come here. Mother will teach you properly.”

“Mother? What are you talking about?!”

Laira decided to quickly deal with this small child and move on.

She revealed her black demonic claws that could melt anything they touched.

Then she swung them at Lia.

SLASH!

“Oh, my clothes…?”

“That was just a warning. If you have your mother’s genes, you should have some healing ability. So before I cut off an arm or leg, just step aside.”

“Hmm? So you have regenerative abilities too?”

“Of course! I’m also from the Lia family!!”

Once more.

Laira swung her demonic claws again, this time aiming properly for the right arm.

But before her attack could connect…

“Phew. That’s a relief.”

“?!”

It was a powerful attack, but just claws.

Having seen this attack from her little sister before, Lia knew she only needed to avoid the hand area, so she grabbed Laira’s wrist to stop her attack.

And then…

“Straight punch.”

“…What?”

A technique that even Queen Lia had never taught any of her children.

One of the martial arts said to have existed when humans were stronger than monsters.

Kyokushin Karate.

How could this person possibly know how to use it?

The straight punch to the solar plexus made Laira cough blood as she flew backward into a ruined building.

And then…

“…N-no way?”

The stance before her.

With legs turned slightly inward, delivering a punch that was neither too weak nor too strong—what Laira saw before losing consciousness was the very image of her mother.

The mother who secretly threw punches in the palace garden every dawn.

“Mo…ther?”

“I’m sorry, daughter. But it won’t kill you, so I’ll just tie you up for now.”

“L-Laira!!”

“Lia. You did well.”

Seeing Laira fall before she could escape, Karune realized the gravity of the situation.

At this point, a “change of plans” was necessary.

Whirrr…

WHIRRRRR-!!

“The rotation…”

“It’s getting faster?”

“In that case, I’ll give up on ‘capturing’ you and just kill you! Human.”

The air around her spinning body began forming currents, creating tremendous winds.

It was the moment when a single living being was evolving into a natural phenomenon.

Seeing his daughter like this, Shinwoo quickly ran forward and delivered the straight punch he had loaded.

CRASH!

But like steel striking steel, powerful sparks continuously flew between the two.

“Ugh?!”

Judging that his bones would be ground down if this continued, Shinwoo quickly pulled back his bloodied fist.

However, as if waiting for this moment…

“Now!!”

Karune’s swirling form instantly approached Shinwoo’s face as he pulled back.

“Brother!”

“Father!!”

At this sight, not only Lia but also Jaewon and his group who had been watching from afar all came out.

It looked truly dangerous.

This whirlwind could easily turn Han Shinwoo in his human state into a mass of red meat.

If completely trapped in that blade-like wind, he would be cut into pieces like meat in a blender, leaving no trace.

“Victory is mine! I’ll slice you into nothing!!”

Karune was certain of her victory.

As the human fully entered her vortex, she displayed maximum output, creating a tornado powerful enough to darken the sky with storm clouds.

Like a tornado born to wipe out an entire village, she began swallowing even the debris of nearby skyscrapers, growing stronger by the second.

But.

The next moment.

CRASH!

“Kuhak?!”

With one completely blackened fist, the swirling atmospheric cloud dispersed without a trace.

The bright moonlight illuminated the ground below.

There was Karune, falling with the whites of her eyes showing, and the human who had barely caught her arm with his partially transformed monster arm.

Having finally succeeded in partial kaijufication, Shinwoo looked at his unconscious daughters and said softly:

“I’m sorry, kids. Dad will explain everything carefully later.”