Ranking Duel(3)

As Shin-yeon entered the duel ground, an unsettled silence fell over the spectator seats.

The audience fell silent at Shin-yeon, who came out holding a wooden bat in the duel ground where they should be giving their all against each other.

And such silence also fell inside the room where Neon was.

“””……”

No matter how you looked at it, what was clearly held in Shin-yeon’s hand was a wooden bat.

Shin-yeon had now come out to the duel ground holding a wooden bat that looked like it could be used in a neighborhood baseball game, with nothing special about it.

It was only natural that silence fell over the four people in the room at this absurd sight.

Then Neon, who was looking at Shin-yeon, let out a sigh.

“Why on earth did that guy come out with such a weapon? Where did she sell that iron bat she always carried around?”

“Since our Ancestor didn’t wield that bat much, I don’t think it matters much… But it seems there was some minor problem.”

At Yeon-ah’s words, Neon nodded unconsciously.

After all, there was no reason for Shin-yeon to come out with such a wooden bat unless it was for the reason Yeon-ah mentioned.

Probably some problem that Neon or Yeon-ah couldn’t know about had occurred, so she came out with a wooden bat.

And apart from being surprised by Shin-yeon’s weapon, there was no one here who imagined she would lose just because she came out with such a wooden bat.

No, they couldn’t even imagine such a thing in the first place.

“……Well, there’s no way she’ll lose.”

Unlike the general audience who had only heard floating rumors and seen what was publicly released, all four of them knew well what kind of things Shin-yeon had been up to.

Of course, in the case of Arashi or Seo-hyun, they knew less compared to Neon and Yeon-ah, but they at least knew what Shin-yeon had done in the undeveloped gate.

Shin-yeon, who was said to have knocked down a fusion monster by throwing a rock.

Just from that fact alone, they could already think that there was no way Shin-yeon would lose to Se-young.

“But Hunter Se-young seems quite angry.”

“That can’t be helped……”

However, separate from the four not worrying, Se-young facing Shin-yeon seemed to have her already rising anger boiling up to her head.

Se-young’s angry face was clearly visible even from afar.

“Well… She can’t help but think she’s being looked down on since she came out with such a weapon.”

“I think I can hear teeth grinding from here?”

Looking at Se-young’s face like that, Seo-hyun and Neon uttered one line each in succession.

Unlike themselves who knew the circumstances, Se-young naturally had no choice but to get angry seeing Shin-yeon’s weapon, which could only be seen as looking down on her.

After all, unlike Se-young who was equipped with both armor and dual swords, Shin-yeon came wearing her usual crop top, shorts, and loose jumper, holding a wooden bat instead of an iron bat.

So it wasn’t incomprehensible why she was so angry.

In addition, just as Neon was inwardly muttering that it was pitiful in many ways since she would now lose in the duel too, Arashi suddenly burst into laughter while covering her mouth with her fan as if amused.

“Ufufu, if it turns out like this, Hunter Se-young won’t be able to deny it either.”

“What do you mean, Ancestor?”

“If Shin-yeon uses such a wooden piece that’s not even her original weapon, and Se-young loses to such a Shin-yeon, she won’t have anything to say even if she has her gene mana stone retrieved and is kicked out of the hunter team, right?”

“Hmm… It’s certainly as you say.”

What was that about?

As Neon listened with such curiosity, it seemed that on the day Se-young requested a duel with Shin-yeon, Arashi had additionally set the condition of expulsion from the exclusive hunter team for Se-young.

The reason was that she had ruined the place where Arashi was talking with her friend Shin-yeon.

Of course, judging from Se-young’s visible personality and conduct, there probably wasn’t much good in keeping her around for long, but it was truly a pitiful situation for Se-young.

To have everything she would have suffered eventually pulled forward all at once due to one misstep in her words and actions.

“Is this also a talent if you call it that……”

Neon muttered like that and made a small resolution inside while looking at Se-young, who could be called the process itself of the result led by wrong words and actions.

Of course, there was little to worry about since she belonged as an ‘adopted daughter of the General Management Team’s founding family’ and had a deep personal connection with ‘Shin-yeon, the ancestor of the General Management Team’, but you never know about human affairs, right?

Especially since Neon herself was planning to enter high school while hiding her General Management Team background, it could be said that it was fortunate to have awakened such awareness in advance.

And just as Neon was making that resolution, and the unsettled silence that had fallen over the spectator seats was beginning to break.

The guidance announcement that had stopped for a moment echoed through the arena once again.

[Then we will now start the duel. A protective barrier will be deployed, so spectators on the boundary line, please step back.]

The guidance announcement signaling the start of the duel while deploying the barrier of the spectator seats with a humming sound of mana.

“It’s finally starting, it seems.”

“You seem excited, Ancestor.”

“How could I not be excited? Shin-yeon told me to look forward to it.”

Arashi looked down at the duel ground that was now truly about to start while conversing with Seo-hyun.

Swinging her feet back and forth as if really excited, Arashi put a prepared rice cake in her mouth.

It was a rice cake with a truly ominous color, with blood dripping from it.

“Oh? She’s looking up here.”

However, before Arashi could chew the rice cake she had put in her mouth, she tilted her head as she made eye contact with Shin-yeon, who was looking up at the VIP room.

Shin-yeon raised her gaze towards the VIP room where Neon, Arashi, Yeon-ah, and Seo-hyun were, right before the start of the duel.

Wondering why she was suddenly doing that when she should be concentrating on the duel, Neon also looked down at Shin-yeon following Arashi, and Shin-yeon looked around as if searching for someone.

Shin-yeon rolled her eyes several times since the structure was such that the inside couldn’t be seen from the outside.

But only for a moment, Shin-yeon looked exactly at where Neon was and moved her small lips.

“‘Watch and learn properly.’… What does that mean?”

Shin-yeon’s words that only Neon could understand since she lip-synced while looking at Neon seated at the far left.

Neon tilted her head at those incomprehensible words, but the answer to that question came right after.

She could understand when the duel started.

[Both of you, while maintaining respect for each other. The duel begins!]

Unlike the dry announcements until now, the guidance announcement echoed loudly, followed by the start of the duel between Se-young and Shin-yeon.

A hologram countdown appeared in the center of the duel ground, and the spectators fell into a cauldron of excitement.

[It begins!]

Thud—!

And the sound heard as soon as the duel started was the sound of something being buried in the sandy ground of the duel ground.

The sound of a light object being buried, not something heavy like a person.

And everyone in the arena could see what it was by looking at Shin-yeon’s now empty hand.

“……No matter what, Hwa-gon has its pride. Even if I had to bring it out because of regulations, I can’t use such a bat instead of Hwa-gon.”

What was buried in the sandy ground was none other than the wooden bat Shin-yeon had brought out.

She who had caused a commotion by coming out with a wooden bat just now had now thrown it away as if she didn’t even need that weapon.

Shin-yeon took a stance raising both hands moderately as if saying she could handle Se-young barehanded.

“Y-you fucking bitch…!!!”

Naturally, at such actions from Shin-yeon, Se-young’s already crumpled face flushed even redder, and Neon could now get the answer to Shin-yeon’s lip-sync from earlier.

The meaning of Shin-yeon’s words ‘Watch and learn properly’.

That was a performance shown to the spectators, evidence of fun shown to Arashi, and at the same time Shin-yeon’s teaching for Neon herself who only had a goblin’s body.

“……She’s really amazing, I tell you.”

This duel with ranking at stake…

It seemed Shin-yeon was going to use it as a textbook for Neon herself.

---

Thump—

Shin-yeon facing Se-young with her fists raised in a stance that looked crude but flawless.

Seeing Shin-yeon like that, Se-young felt strength entering her two hands holding the dual swords.

‘This fucking bitch… You look down on me this much?’

The handles of the dual swords rubbing together with a creaking leather sound.

When she first came out holding a wooden bat instead of the iron bat she usually carried around, Se-young felt like her anger was about to explode.

The feeling that she was still being looked down on just like when they first met yesterday was vividly conveyed.

Seeing Shin-yeon’s extremely relaxed expression as if saying someone like you is enough with this wooden bat, she felt the urge to tear that face apart.

But what has she done now?

‘Fists…? You’re going to beat me with fists?’

She had even thrown away that wooden bat that had been mocking Se-young, and now Shin-yeon was raising her fists.

Undoubtedly bare fists, without even wearing gauntlets or knuckles.

Just from that fact alone, Se-young felt the anger she had barely been suppressing until now finally bursting.

“Y-you fucking bitch…!!!”

Swear words flowing out of her mouth as she could no longer hold back.

The countdown had ended, the barrier over the spectator seats had been erected, and the duel had long since started.

In other words, there was no reason for Se-young to hold back anymore, so she rushed at Shin-yeon while spewing curses the moment she uttered them.

“You’d better not expect to leave here in one piece!!!”

Originally, she had planned to stop at just cutting off one arm, but Se-young revised that plan anew.

‘I’ll smash all your limbs to pieces!’

Not just one, but she would cut off all of her limbs.

In order to leave enough cutting power to deliberately cut off arms and legs, she had received the Curse of Limit from the magician in the contract.

Half the level of the Curse of Limit normally set for the duel ground.

She had lowered the curse to that level by paying a bribe, so if the swords touched, Shin-yeon’s seemingly fragile limbs would easily fly off.

‘Don’t blame me!’

It’s all your own doing anyway.

If she cut off all the limbs, people around would point fingers disgustingly, but Se-young herself would just have to lay low and bow her head appropriately for a few months.

Isn’t a hunter participating in a duel getting injured clearly an ‘accident during the duel’?

Se-young swung her dual swords towards Shin-yeon’s arms without a moment’s hesitation at the future where her boiling anger would subside just by imagining it, and.

“Die!!!”

Swish—!!!

Just before Se-young’s dual swords touched the snow-white skin.

“……Huh?”

Se-young uttered a dumbfounded sound at Shin-yeon’s fist stretched out in front of her eyes at some point along with the sound of cutting through the wind.

A voice that flowed out from bewilderment.

But unfortunately, even that voice couldn’t be fully uttered.

Craaack—!!!!!

Se-young’s head and body tilted back with a terrible sound, spinning several times in mid-air.

“Kuheogh…!!”

Se-young’s body spinning round and round, splattering blood along with the sound of bones breaking.

Se-young let out a primal scream at her fading consciousness for a moment, and when the endless rotation ended, with a thud.

“Kuhuk…?”

Se-young was somehow standing on two feet on the ground again.

…No, she wasn’t standing.

“Oh my… You shouldn’t fall with one hit.”

It wasn’t that she was standing, but Se-young’s body that should have been lying face down on the ground was being held up by Shin-yeon grabbing her collar.

With that one punch just now, her legs were trembling and her nose bone was crushed and caved in, but the 80% synchronized ghoul gene mana stone implanted in Se-young recovered her instantly.

Then Se-young’s body returned to its condition.

But unfortunately, the impact from earlier was still in her head, so Se-young could only look at Shin-yeon with dazed eyes.

Because she couldn’t properly understand the current situation.

And Shin-yeon spoke while releasing the collar she had been holding onto Se-young’s face.

“Since you’re also a ghoul… You can hold out for about a few dozen minutes, right?”

I saw Seo-hyun’s regeneration last time. Adding that, Shin-yeon raised her fist once again.

And only then did Se-young, whose mind had fully returned, realize.

That the one who couldn’t leave this duel ground unscathed was none other than Se-young herself.