Ch.90Blood Steel’s Eun Subin

# 90. Iron-Blooded Subin

“The principle is simple. I’ll use your blood as life force and transfer it to that child. Just enough to restore minimal self-healing ability. Just enough so that the slightest shock won’t extinguish their life.”

Danya drew a magic circle using my blood as material. She laid Glass on top of it, then made my blood continue to flow into the circle.

Until when?

Until recovery.

She also said that since Glass was inherently strong in life force, she would need much more life energy now than ever before, especially with her life force at rock bottom.

And it wasn’t just depleted—whatever she had done had turned her insides into complete rags.

‘Must be because of Bloody Lust. Whatever caused it, it lasted long enough to do serious damage.’

I’d already lost more blood than during a regular donation. Combined with running from headquarters to here, and the struggle to find Glass after arriving, my condition was rapidly deteriorating.

“Nyaang!”

[Stay awake!]

“Honestly, I feel like I could fall asleep in three seconds if I close my eyes.”

“Nyaat! Nyaaaat!”

[No! You can’t sleep!]

I consumed another tasteless health potion while thinking.

‘Glass, what am I going to do with you?’

I thought I was controlling her well. I thought I was handling her mental issues properly.

I’ll need to hear the details directly from her, but I could roughly picture what happened.

Given Glass’s temperament, the operation was probably going smoothly, so she got greedy and tried to push herself further, resulting in skill side effects causing this situation. When we’re together, I can watch over her and give orders, so it’s fine, but who would stop her when she’s alone?

That’s why I had earnestly cautioned her, but it seems that wasn’t enough.

‘First, save her life, then stay alive. Everything else comes after. As for headquarters, Subin will handle things well.’

I wonder if it’s still not enough. I feel like I’ve lost about two blood donation packs worth… Now, with all jokes aside, I felt like I could faint if someone just lightly tapped me.

“Nyaaaang!”

[Don’t fall asleep!]

“Ah…”

Danya raised her claws and scratched the back of my hand.

Oh my poor hand.

Danya… you’re not a kitten…

**

Meanwhile, at headquarters.

Sunghyun’s absence left a huge void.

For Subin casting spells, Soyu providing protection and healing, and Seyeon guarding them from the front.

Without Sunghyun’s concise yet powerful orders, even though they were following the plan, there was an uncertainty—a feeling that things weren’t flowing properly.

Though Vice-Captain Subin was just as capable as Sunghyun, she lacked experience giving orders and had to simultaneously focus on chanting spells, aiming, firing, and moving her body, which inevitably limited her multitasking abilities.

Add to that the anxiety about whether something had gone wrong with Sunghyun and Glass, and mistakes were bound to happen.

“Cough-“

“Subin!”

“Unni!”

“Maintain, cough, maintain position!”

The excessive multitasking had caused an overload in Subin’s spell casting. It wasn’t an overload to increase output but purely due to control issues, which led to failed casting and magical backlash.

Subin felt excruciating pain in her chest and stomach, making even breathing difficult, but she maintained her consciousness through superhuman endurance.

Startled, Soyu and Seyeon tried to approach Subin, but she extended her hand to stop them. Even at this moment, Ayors were dying or getting injured. Especially since she had not only failed to cast the spell but also suffered magical backlash… frankly, it was a painful mistake.

After spitting out dead blood, Subin’s eyes filled with fierce determination.

“Seyeon. Give me a status report. Unni, please heal me with something simple.”

“Um… 60 to 40? No, 55 to 45? We’re being pushed back about that much.”

“How much time has passed?”

“By my estimation, about 22 minutes since the battle started.”

Subin calculated. Soyu’s healing reduced the pain somewhat, but magical backlash couldn’t be cured so easily.

Soyu’s “Radiance of Salvation,” which she had mastered on the first day to everyone’s shock, was an Arch Bishop staple skill that simultaneously provided health recovery amount, rate, and regeneration, but it couldn’t remove status ailments.

Therefore, magical support was virtually impossible right now.

If she endured the pain and forced herself, she could manage a few more times…

Rather than dying slowly like this, better to make a last stand.

Subin slightly modified the plan.

“Unni.”

“Yes, Subin?”

“Damnatio Memoriae. How many times can you use it at maximum output?”

Soyu’s face turned pale.

“Quickly.”

“Once, maybe twice at most…”

“Twice. Confirmed.”

“Subin.”

“You told Sunghyun you could do it. So you have to.”

Of course, Soyu had boasted to Sunghyun that she could do it.

But maximum output Damnatio Memoriae…

“Start charging when I tell you. It takes time and you’re not familiar with it, so you won’t be able to move, making you a target. Seyeon, you guard Unni.”

“Yes, Unni.”

“I’ll also maximize my output and fire simultaneously with Unni. Aim where I order. Then move to the next position I order and charge again. Then fire at the next ordered location. Just twice. Nothing difficult.”

Subin’s cold, rapid orders suppressed Soyu’s anxiety.

“Subin. What about you?”

“I can handle it, so worry about my body later. If we don’t want to disappoint Sunghyun when he returns, we need to succeed. He’s set the table and prepared the spoons—we should eat well, not kick it over.”

Though her mouth and eyes were twitching from pain, Subin forced a slight smile.

“Unni. Charge.”

“…Okay.”

From Soyu’s hands—hands that had never even caught an insect—emerged not a warm, comfortable white light but an ominously dangerous dark red glow.

Matching her, Subin cast a flame spear instead of a fireball to maintain stealth until the last moment, then brutally poured magical power into it. She endured the extreme pain by thinking, somewhat embarrassingly, about her first night with Sunghyun.

“Unni!!!”

“Just a little, more!”

Seyeon’s urgent cry indicated she was struggling to block the enemy attacks, but the timing wasn’t right yet. As they were preparing a powerful strike (visibly just one person), they couldn’t fire carelessly.

Subin began counting down from 5 in her mind.

5.

“Unni! It’s dangerous!”

Not yet. Not yet.

4.

“Ugh, Subin, ah, uh, when.”

Not yet.

3.

“Un- Kyaaak!”

“Seyeon!”

…Not yet.

2.

“Subin! I can’t hold on anymore!”

…No choice.

“Now! 10 o’clock! Seyeon 6!”

– DAMNATIO MEMORIAE!

The fully charged ultimate skill of the #1 ranked Arch Bishop, the physical therapist’s “Damnatio Memoriae,” fired from 4 o’clock to 10 o’clock.

– Flame Second Form “Pierce, Penetrate, Incinerate”

And the modified version of “Flame Spear,” one of the trademarks of the #1 ranked Elemental Sorcerer, Yebeop Nojeong, fired from 8 o’clock to 2 o’clock almost simultaneously.

Piiiiiiiiiiiii——————-

KWAAAAAAANG——————-!!!

Flickering light. Ringing in the ears and explosion sounds. The acrid smell of burning.

And screams.

“AAAAARGH!!!”

“My leg… my leg!”

“I… I can’t see… I can’t see anything…”

The dark beam that erased whatever it touched and the flame spear that penetrated, crushed, and incinerated swept through the Albs.

The cross-fire formation ensured that even those who tried to escape would be hit or affected by at least one of them.

“By Ladaniya…”

“Being on the same side as those humans must have used up all my lifetime’s luck.”

Though both were area attacks, their range was narrow, so not many were directly hit despite the devastating power.

But the impact was no joke. Not only the enemy Albs but even the allied Ayors tried to distance themselves from the two as much as possible.

Two humans had created what amounted to a localized natural disaster.

And in the eyes of Soyu, one of those who created this carnage, focus was gradually fading.

‘I… I…’

Extreme cognitive dissonance.

Beyond the horror and disgust at the carnage she had created, her body felt twisted and turned inside out from the disconnect between experience, memory, and reality.

“Move.”

“…”

“Seyeon.”

“…Yes, Unni.”

“Carry her. Move to the next point.”

But Subin, the other disaster creator, didn’t leave Soyu alone. She forced Seyeon to carry Soyu, who had lost focus from the mental shock and couldn’t hear orders, and moved to another pre-selected location.

Then, she pointed her index finger at the Alb formation still caught in the chaos.

“Charge.”

“…”

*Slap*

“Charge.”

“Charging…”

To reach the highest level, I can’t falter over this much pain and difficulty.

Subin’s determination intersected with the second disaster.

Perhaps due to overexertion, the firepower was significantly reduced compared to the first strike, resulting in fewer casualties, but the Albs were already demoralized and began fleeing in disarray.

– Wooooooah!!!

– Look at those damn pointy-eared bastards running away!!!

The Ayors cheered at the sight.

*Thud*

“U-Unni! Subin Unni!”

“Ah…”

“S-Soyu Unni! Stop spacing out and heal! Quickly, heal!”

“M-magical power…”

“Potion! I’ll help too!”

Only after confirming they had cleared the quest did Seyeon and Soyu scream at the sight of Subin, who had vomited a basin of blood before losing consciousness.

They desperately wished Sunghyun was there more than ever before.