Chapter 1074: Side Story – Sung Chae-eun of Extreme Heat (4)

-Chyaeeeeng!!

“Keeuuk…!”

“Haha, what the heck! Weren’t you so confident blocking me earlier, but now you’re struggling?!”

“No way… would that happen!”

-Hwi-iing!

A man, striking down his own blazing feet with a giant greatsword while enveloping himself in chilling cold.

Due to the attack, which was so fast that if her reaction had been even slightly delayed, her wings would have become sluggish, Sung Chae-eun’s body shot upwards.

“Haa, you’re really annoying! That useless magic!”

“As for you, Sung Chae-eun-ssi, you’ve been a bit bothersome since transforming into that state. To be honest, I don’t even know where to look.”

“Is this the time for you to be distracted?!”

-Hwi-i-i-ing!

Sung Chae-eun, floating in the air, swung her arms and wings to create blades of flame, shooting them towards Sung Taekyung, who stood in a defensive stance on the ground holding his greatsword.

Even though it was a sparring match between Hunters, and a dangerous attack that could sever a body if things went wrong, she didn’t particularly mind.

After all, she had already grasped through over ten minutes of sparring that the man before her eyes could easily defend against attacks like hers.

‘Since coming to this world, fighting against a man like this seems like it might be the first time!’

What on earth was wrong? The men of this world were all weaklings, every single one. Among the guys claiming to have trained even a little, there wasn’t one who could properly block even a single punch from me, a woman. And the guys insisting they were strong, calling themselves Hunters or whatever, were all unqualified from the start in terms of physical strength.

The male half-dragons back in her homeland, though stupid, weren’t this pathetically weak.

‘…Though they did end up destroying themselves by fighting amongst themselves because of that stupidity.’

It was around the time the male half-dragons had all died or gone mad, and she seriously had to consider the extinction of their race, that the Dungeon Gate leading to Earth opened. Sung Chae-eun was one of the beings who crossed through that gate.

It wasn’t particularly difficult to blend in among humans. Because half-dragons could change their appearance into an identical human form anytime.

Even after crossing through the gate that way, Sung Chae-eun had one conviction that never changed: not accepting the seed of ‘a man weaker than herself’.

After all the trouble of crossing through the gate with the purpose of racial reproduction, it would be meaningless if she ended up giving birth to descendants weaker than herself. To her, who had lived in a society of half-dragons where those without strength were eliminated, such a thing was unacceptable.

Although her companions who crossed over with her had gotten married a long time ago and had children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren…

‘I won’t compromise with reality like those bitches.’

Anyway, the population of this world was said to be billions, and since half of them would be men, she thought there must be at least one man stronger than herself somewhere. If such a man hadn’t been born yet, she was even prepared to wait. For herself, who possessed half dragon blood, about 100 or 200 years of time was the same as flowing by in the blink of an eye.

In order to find a satisfactory man, at times she had participated in wars of countries completely unrelated to her, and changed her identity to become a Hunter to meet human Hunters, but… Not a single man Sung Chae-eun had met until now could even pass her most basic test.

…Except for this one man, swinging his greatsword right before her eyes.

-Kaaaaang!

“Ha, ahahat…!”

It was an attack she launched with the resolve that she might kill him, but to think he would cut it down so easily. If you keep showing me this, I really can’t help but get my hopes up.

-Gulp.

“Hu, huhuhu….”

She ended up picturing the future in her mind: being cut down with that giant sword and then forcefully raped. No matter how fleeting 100 or 200 years might be, she couldn’t infinitely endure her sexual desire during that time.

Maybe an arm or a leg…? Ah, no. It doesn’t matter if I just give it all up. I found a man who can defeat me, so what do those trivial arms and legs matter? I’m fine even if treated as a broodmare for life, just bearing children. If only I could somehow carry those burning genes inside me.

-Taaaaak!

While having such thoughts, the man suddenly flew up from the ground, holding his greatsword. He probably knows that mid-air is his stage. Perhaps he has that much confidence? If he challenged me in a way that showed confidence, I have no choice but to respond accordingly. And if he truly shows he can defeat me even high up in the sky…

…At that time, I’ll have no choice but to gracefully admit defeat.

“Aha, ahahahahaha…!”

Covering her whole body with burning flames, Sung Chae-eun’s body soared like a falcon and lunged towards Sung Taekyung.

-Peoong!

After one explosion, only one person remained standing on two feet in the training ground.

There was a huge explosion. A huge explosion caused by the collision of high-heat flames and condensed wind magic.

‘To think she’d charge head-on with flames the moment she confirmed I was defenseless… What a person, completely lacking in restraint.’

With such a ruthless attack, even an ordinary S-Class Hunter would probably have had a hard time avoiding injury. At the very least, one would have had to prepare for full-body burns and a few fractures upon falling. She was truly a living Bird Missile. It’s fortunate that I can use magic with multiple attributes. Otherwise, I too would have been caught up in the explosion and scattered.

Just before Sung Chae-eun’s flames touched my body, I blocked the front with a wall of wind, and then wrapped my entire body in ice armor made with cold magic. The flames enveloping her body exploded the moment they touched my highly compressed wind wall, and since Sung Chae-eun charged with her bare body itself, she couldn’t have been unharmed, even as a half-dragon. Conversely, my body withstood the impact relatively safely since I blocked the explosion with ice magic to prepare for the shock. Even when falling, I came down slowly with a tailwind.

‘If it’s this much, I think I’ve shown her everything worth showing. Won’t she fall down soon?’

In fact, if I had intended to show the difference in skill, I could have done so long ago. Just now, instead of deliberately flying in with the greatsword, I could have just enchanted the spear taken from my subspace pocket and thrown it straight into the air. The reason I didn’t use that method was… because I wanted to subdue her without inflicting overly severe wounds, if possible. I didn’t want to deliberately inflict wounds on the body of the woman who would become mine, simultaneously with winning. Because I don’t particularly have that kind of preference.

“Ugh, ughh…”

Fortunately, perhaps because my wind had some effect, Sung Chae-eun groaned, having fallen after the explosion and unable to get up. From here on was the most crucial point. If I unnecessarily showed a halfway weak appearance, I wouldn’t be able to play the role of the ideal man she desires.

“Ugh, uh… Hoo…”

“Is it over now, Sung Chae-eun-ssi?”

“You’re really strong… Maybe you’re even stronger than a real male half-dragon…”

“As for you, Sung Chae-eun-ssi, you aren’t as strong as I thought. To be honest, I never felt overwhelmed by you throughout the fight.”

“…I’m sorry for disappointing you. But honestly, it’s not that I’m weak, it’s that you’re strong. I rarely showed my half-dragon form to others… Recently, besides No-eul and Hyunyoung, no one else has seen it…”

-Puk!

“Ugh?!”

…The wing, it’s a treatable area if I get it treated later, right? I stabbed it roughly in a place that seemed relatively less painful with the greatsword, but I was a little flustered because she seemed to be in more pain than I expected. Besides, stabbing the sword into her arm or leg seemed too grotesque, so that wouldn’t do. Although deliberately inflicting wounds on a woman’s body wasn’t my preference… I had to go along with Sung Chae-eun’s crazy preference somehow right now.

“You make a lot of excuses, Sung Chae-eun.”

“Haa, haa, haa…”

“If you lost, you should just meekly admit it. Why are you rambling on with so many excuses?”

-Tup!

“Ughh…”

“Because of you, I wasted a whole set of clothes. Why did you unnecessarily call me out in the middle of the night for something like sparring…?”

“Haa, haa, hahahaha…!”

…Look at those crazy eyes. She really doesn’t have all her marbles. I don’t know if all humans called half-dragons are originally like this, or if Sung Chae-eun is just a bit special, but anyone could see that look in her eyes was that of a woman in love. In the first place, seeing that the expected acquisition points kept increasing from the moment I started speaking informally and treating her condescendingly, she must have been expecting this situation from the beginning.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Sorry for what?”

“For daring to attack Sung Taekyung-nim without knowing my place, I sincerely apologize…”

“Right, you know well. Then what will you do now?”

“I will accept any punishment… You can even make me your slave for life…”

“Really?”

“Y-yes… Please, Master…”

“……”

All over her body were large and small wounds from the aftermath of the explosion, and on her hands and feet were cuts from the greatsword. Lying on the ground with her left wing pierced by my sword, only after having her neck stepped on by me did Sung Chae-eun finally declare surrender.

‘This is a tempting method I definitely don’t want to experience twice.’

…Because subduing someone while inflicting wounds on a woman’s body isn’t really my preference at all. I hope Min Hyunyoung isn’t also a half-dragon like Sung Chae-eun, or something like that.