The Hero and the Vampire(3)

The fight of Ahn Seo-hyun, the team leader of the Punishment Team, is unsightly.

This was a fact determined by none other than Seo-hyun herself.

She achieves victory against her opponent by any means necessary, scattering her own blood, flesh, and internal organs.

What Ahn Seo-hyun gained from receiving the ghoul clan’s genetic mana stone transplant was a body with an absurd regenerative ability.

Based on this, Seo-hyun fought using her semi-immortal life as the price, and that’s why Seo-hyun described her own fighting as unsightly.

However, the important thing is that no matter how unsightly Seo-hyun’s fighting may be, she never loses.

Because Seo-hyun had a belief.

An extremely altruistic human belief.

Seo-hyun’s belief was to value the lives of others who were not evil more than her own life, and for this, Seo-hyun did not consider her own life important.

Thus, by burning her own life, Seo-hyun ultimately achieves unwavering victory.

No matter what enemy she faces, no matter what group of monsters she confronts, Seo-hyun ultimately claims victory at the end of her unsightly and dirty fight.

And thus, her proven past and record made the existence called Ahn Seo-hyun, the team leader of the Punishment Team, into confirmed victory itself.

That’s why people call her a hero.

---

With a flutter, the wings that sprouted on Evelyn’s back flapped greatly.

It had been a long time since the declaration to take her life had fallen from Seo-hyun.

And now that she couldn’t escape due to the barrier laid around, Evelyn couldn’t avoid the option of combat, and since that was the case, she tried to distance herself from Seo-hyun to prepare her magic first.

“How stupid! As if a race without wings could reach where I am!”

Although Evelyn herself had been scared of Seo-hyun, that was only because she thought her own chances of victory were extremely low.

In other words, Evelyn was also fully considering the possibility of her winning.

No matter how much Seo-hyun was rumored to be an immortal who doesn’t die, what could she do if her entire body was burned or her heart was cut into cube steak?

Even the vampire clan, the owner of the genetic mana stone that Evelyn herself had received, had powerful regenerative abilities, but they die if their entire body is burned or their heart is pierced with a silver weapon.

Therefore, Evelyn thought that if she could just create distance and pour out large-scale magic, she could kill even Seo-hyun.

…Yes, if she could create distance.

“You’re certainly right. I don’t have wings, so no matter how good I am, there’s no way for me to close this distance that seems to be over 100 meters.”

Seo-hyun nodded her head, readily agreeing with Evelyn’s words.

Seo-hyun, standing on top of the building, had no wings, not even magic, so realistically it was impossible for her to reach Evelyn who was flying in the sky.

However.

That’s only applicable in normal cases.

Slash—!

“But that doesn’t mean there’s no way.”

As soon as Seo-hyun finished speaking, she cut off her left arm and then tightly gripped the greatsword she had been holding in the hand of the severed left arm.

Then, blood dripped from the shoulder where the arm had been cut off.

“Self-harm? What suddenly…?!”

And while Evelyn was surprised by this absurd action, Seo-hyun grabbed her severed left arm and threw it with all her might towards Evelyn who was flying in the sky.

Whoosh—!

Seo-hyun’s left arm, still gripping the greatsword, flew through the air.

The thrown left arm instantly reached the side of the startled Evelyn, and it was at that moment that Evelyn, who had been unable to understand the situation, grasped what was happening.

A sound like bubbling was heard from Seo-hyun’s left arm that had flown to Evelyn’s side, and then Seo-hyun’s body began to regenerate from that left arm.

Gurgle–!

The regeneration was completed in the moment Evelyn blinked once.

Evelyn felt a gasp escape at the sight of Seo-hyun who had reached her with such an absurd method, but unfortunately, there was no time to leisurely exhale it.

“I may not be able to fly in the sky, but I can at least create a foothold…!”

“You cra-… Ugh!!”

A mana foothold generated from the soles of the full-body suit implanted in Seo-hyun’s skin.

Seo-hyun, who had stepped on it to stand in mid-air, swung the greatsword she was holding in her left arm, and Evelyn, startled by Seo-hyun’s greatsword swung right in front of her face before she could even finish her curse, had no choice but to duck her upper body.

Crack—!

But the moment she avoided Seo-hyun’s greatsword, the sound of muscles twisting was heard.

‘Where from…?’

It wasn’t a sound coming from Evelyn’s body that had avoided the greatsword.

Evelyn’s body was fine, and there was no place where muscles had twisted.

The place where the sound came from was none other than Seo-hyun’s left arm holding the greatsword, right above Evelyn’s head.

And Evelyn could understand why that sound had occurred the moment she raised her gaze.

Crack……!!!

“Let me tell you one more thing, I’m the type who doesn’t care much about my body.”

Seo-hyun was forcibly changing the trajectory of the greatsword that had already been swung, adding her right hand at the moment Evelyn dodged.

The price for that was her arms terribly twisting, breaking, and turning to powder, but even that was being repaired at the same time as it was injured by the ghoul clan’s regenerative power.

So what was left in the end was only Seo-hyun’s greatsword falling on Evelyn who had ducked her upper body.

Faced with this attack that could be called unfairness itself, Evelyn, on the brink of death, let out a hollow laugh and murmured.

“…As expected, a hero is different.”

A result that could be considered natural because her opponent was her.

And Evelyn closed her eyes to the face of the team leader that lingered in her mind until the end, who had pushed her to this state.

Slash—!

A dry cutting sound.

Along with the cold chill that came over her, that was the last thing Evelyn remembered of her end.

---

“…She’s strong.”

Seo-hyun’s greatsword slashed near Evelyn’s heart, and Seo-hyun quickly collected her corpse and landed on top of the building.

The sight of her cutting off her own arm, throwing it, regenerating anew from there, and cutting down Evelyn.

Having watched the entire series of events, I couldn’t help but evaluate Seo-hyun like that.

“It’s certainly incomparable to the hunter exam.”

『To think she can come back to life even if her body dies as long as a tiny piece of flesh remains… She could be called an invincible warrior without problem.』

Although she would die if made unable to regenerate even that, at this level she could already be called immortal without issue.

As Hwa-gon said, I honestly admired Seo-hyun’s appearance that could be called truly invincible.

I wonder if I could win if I fought this current Seo-hyun.

The appearance that Seo-hyun showed now was so overwhelming that such thoughts naturally arose.

“…Of course, I would win though.”

Of course, needless to say, the answer to the question that arose was the certainty that I could win.

No matter how immortal-like her regenerative ability seems, that’s not a reason for me to lose.

However, it seemed certain that most yokai would all kneel before Seo-hyun’s hand.

She was said to have stopped a horde of monsters alone, so I wondered if Seo-hyun alone could survive even in the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

I watched Seo-hyun coming up, collecting the corpse of herself who had fallen after losing her left arm and Evelyn’s corpse on top of the building, while having such insubstantial thoughts.

“How is it, Lady Shin-yeon? Isn’t my Seo-hyun strong?”

And Arashi asked me that with a proud expression, as if boasting about her own child.

Arashi’s expression was somewhat provoking, but I nodded at that question which I couldn’t help but acknowledge.

“She is, really strong.”

“Whoohoo, right? She’s a child I took in and raised to that level with my own hands?”

“Ah, certainly… You said you took in that Seo-hyun, right?”

At the words that suddenly flowed from Arashi’s mouth, I uttered a short sound, recalling a story I had heard in the past.

The story I had heard from Yeon-ah on the flagship when going to take the hunter exam before.

“I heard you recognized her talent from the beginning and took her in, but where on earth did you find someone like her?”

“Hmm… that would be quite a long story? It’s quite an old tale, you see…”

At my question, Arashi closed her eyes as if reminiscing about distant memories and fluttered her fan.

At her attitude that truly made one curious about the inside story, Esi and I, who were opposite her, looked at her with eyes demanding an answer, and at these gazes of mine and Esi’s, Arashi twitched the corners of her mouth as if she had no choice and opened her mouth.

“Ahem! If you insist so much, I have no choice but to tell you. I wasn’t really planning to talk about it, but if you want, I have to tell you.”

『That twitching corner of her mouth is truly hateful. To the point where I want to pull and stretch it.』

‘…Just bear with it for now, Hwa-gon.’

Hwa-gon, hanging on my back, said so in a voice that seemed irritated at the sight of Arashi opening her mouth with a grinning smile as if it had been very itchy.

But I was still curious about Arashi’s story, so I stopped Hwa-gon and calmed him down, and finally Arashi raised her voice.

And just as her story was about to begin.

“Seo-hyun, I met that child 12 years ago…”

Clang—!

The aircraft carrier’s bulkhead opened roughly, cutting off Arashi’s words.

And through the opened bulkhead, Seo-hyun came in, holding two corpses in her arms.

“Phew… I’m back, then shall we resume our departure now?”

“Ah, Seo-hyun is back. Then let’s leave this story for next time.”

As soon as Arashi saw Seo-hyun, she immediately closed her mouth and swallowed back the story she had started to tell, and Esi and I turned to look at Seo-hyun without anyone going first.

“…Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Seo-hyun awkwardly stiffened her body and scratched her head at mine and Esi’s gazes.

“It’s good that you’re quick to handle things, but…”

“Being fast isn’t always a good thing…”

Although Seo-hyun had returned after handling the matter in an instant, there was never a time when such a quick Seo-hyun was so regrettable.

Seo-hyun’s past, which only tickled our curiosity and then disappeared far away because of her quick handling of the matter.

Finally, leaving behind only lingering regret for that story, the aircraft carrier’s flight resumed.

Towards the goblin warehouse in Mount Seorak.