The man in front was once again asking for permission as he looked at Hyeon Woo-seok.
– “I’ll allow it up to three times. Anything beyond that is prohibited.”
He was probably talking about the unidentified potion he drank earlier, and considering the side effects it had on the evolved creature, it certainly looked more appealing.
‘Can I take it multiple times without serious risks? How on earth did someone create that? Is there an outstanding alchemist in Ilseom?’
I had no intention of relying on consumables to get stronger, but thinking about the impending doom in the future, it was certainly tempting.
‘If I could just gather the materials easily… perhaps I could offer it to ordinary people as well.’
– “It’s Lee Yeon-hee. Once I get past her, the rest are nothing special.”
– “Two summoned creatures? What’s that faintly visible bird on her shoulder?”
– “From the intel I received, it appears to be a support-type summoned creature.”
– “But that skeleton is the real issue. They say he’s a sorcerer who wields a sword well.”
– “A sword-sorcerer? Is that skeleton evolving into a death knight?”
– “Don’t say such scary things.”
As I made my way up, people’s attention focused on me.
Everyone was saying something, and seeing the accurate information about me being discussed made it feel like my efforts paid off.
‘The Skeleton Bomb information is still under wraps.’
And it wasn’t just Ilseom getting noisy.
I could feel that the White Knight Guild was closely watching my every move.
It was hard to believe that Lee Yeon-hee, a hunter who was to join the rival group, wouldn’t care about someone like me leading her legion of summoned creatures.
“Cough, cough… Lee Yeon-hee. As I heard, you’re quite a beauty. I see you’re no longer wearing a hood?”
“……….”
A man with a toad-like face smirked as he spat out filthy words.
‘Hah… starting off already with that nonsense.’
Yeon-hee ignored Kim Gunseob’s comments and focused on her internal flow.
‘Now that I think about it, she hasn’t been wearing her hood much lately.’
Her frequency of hiding her face seemed to decrease over time.
Not to mention in battle.
But looking at scumbags like him, it might be better to hide.
– “Oooooo?!”
Before the battle, Yeon-hee summoned ‘Alpha Rakan,’ a fusion of 32 Rakan.
Now, she didn’t need to summon all 32 again for the fusion process.
It feels like just yet another day since she said we needed improvements for that inconvenience, and she already did it. Watching her grow so rapidly was sometimes downright chilling.
– “What about that werewolf?”
– “Going by the aura, it seems to be at least B-rank.”
– “Hmm… I wonder if Gunseob can handle it.”
– “We have ‘Killbard’ on our side.”
– “Didn’t I tell you not to rely on drugs?”
– “It’s not a drug; it’s a gift from the gods!”
– “Tch, tch…”
With the appearance of Rakan, the Ilseom side grew noisy once more.
However, even for such a big event, there weren’t many from their side who were watching.
They likely didn’t want to show a scene of winning against their opponents in front of their subordinates.
In fact, I didn’t see anyone of higher rank than Hyeon Woo-seok.
‘Did they only gather people of Hyeon Woo-seok’s tier?’
On the other hand, there were about thirty hunters from the Vision Guild behind us.
It almost made us seem like we had the greater numbers.
Despite that, perhaps because of the shock from Noh Ha-yoon’s defeat in the first match, the Vision side was eerily quiet.
“Ran and Rakan, focus on protecting me. We will concentrate on support.”
“Grrr?”
Rakan looked at Yeon-hee with a confused expression, but after I smacked him on the head, he fell into line.
Werewolves have a tendency to obey those stronger than them, making them easier to handle once you break their spirit.
Bzzz──
The sparring began.
As soon as the match started, Kim Gunseob pulled out the item he had previously ingested from his space.
‘What the…?’
Quickly, before he could stuff the item into his mouth, I lunged forward.
[Chain of Flame]
[Special Attack – Flame Cut]
Swish──!
Thud-
“Uh…? Aaaahhh!!”
Having severed the arm of the drugged man, I quickly tossed the potion he had been holding into my space.
Then, I slammed my fist into the face of the man clutching his gushing arm.
Boom──!!
Kim Gunseob, who had been rolling and crashing into the wall, ended up knocked out.
‘Do you really think I’d let you take that during the match? What a funny guy.’
In that moment, the hall where the duel took place was filled with an awkward silence, only interrupted by the crack of my teeth clashing.
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
However, the healers rushing in to treat the knocked-out Kim Gunseob broke the silence, and I kicked his severed arm over to them.
Only then did the onlookers start to murmur in shock.
– “W-What?! Gunseob-senpai was taken out in one hit?!”
– “What happened so fast?”
– “That dumb guy! Why didn’t he take ‘Killbard’ beforehand?!”
‘Killbard…’
What I snatched from the man looked like a small fruit, filled with red powder on the inside as I sensed it through my aura.
– “Even though he was caught off guard, his movements shouldn’t have been like that! He didn’t see it at all!”
– “This monster is using magic and has that level of physical ability?!”
The Ilseom hunters on the opposing side wore expressions of discomfort as the audience’s reactions seemed to bother them, and Hyeon Woo-seok was signaling for them to calm down.
But the one most flustered was probably Hyeon Woo-seok himself.
I sensed a slight wobble in the flow of magic from him.
‘What will he do if he loses this match? It seems he hasn’t even told Hyeon Joong-seob…’
No matter how much he favored his youngest son, if he pulled a stunt like this, I’d feel like I had to knock some sense into him. But who knows? He might just brush it off as a job well done.
‘Well, that’s not my concern. I caught one of the strongest three… should I place the other two in the second and third rounds?’
The shortest girl who seemed the strongest remained seated, gazing dumbfounded at me as if waiting for her turn.
[… The next challenger from Ilseom is Hunter Park Jin-gon. Please step forward.]
As expected, the second challenger was one of the other two men I had seen before. Based on the aura alone, he seemed to be the third strongest.
In order not to repeat the previous man’s mistake, the guy immediately shoved an item into his mouth.
If Gunseob had used a slightly modified combat style, this one seemed like a well-balanced, traditional knight.
‘He might be more interesting.’
“Whew──”
With a deep breath, Park Jin-gon seemed to be preparing an immense technique from the start.
Given how he looked at me and Rakan, it was clear he thought that half-hearted attempts wouldn’t cut it.
The man fixed his grip on his sword and from the onset utilized [Lightning Step] while circling us to find an opportunity.
The advanced maneuver, [Lightning Step], was more stable than Ah-rin’s and significantly faster as well.
I stared at him, slowly closing the distance in a circle, then activated my own movement technique.
Bzzz──
[Lightning Step]
──?!
As I used the unique movement technique of the Ilseom Guild, everyone connected to Ilseom, including Hyeon Woo-seok, bolted upright.
– “N-No way! What’s going on?! That’s [Lightning Step]!!”
– “A monster using [Lightning Step]? Is this even real?!”
– “Did that b*tch Baek Ah-rin pass it on? The guild needs to address this!”
– “If passing it on meant using it, it would have spread across the world already… That’s a unique movement technique obtained after years of training in our methods!”
It was quite the amusing sight to see fully grown adults jump up in panic like meerkats.
Feeling a sense of satisfaction from the chaos, I noticed Noh Ha-yoon sitting nearby, clapping her hands in joy.
But the one most surprised would undeniably be the man in front of me.
He was running with his mouth agape, wishing it was all just a dream as I chased him down.
As I landed a jab to his shocked brow, Park Jin-gon quickly stepped back in surprise.
He then stumbled and fell awkwardly onto the ground.
“Ugh!”
“Clap, Clap, Clap…”
‘Is this his level, even after taking the potion? But still… if you gain over 30% increase in combat power just from taking it, that’s impressive.’
After getting back to his feet, he pointed his sword at me, and at some moment, his sword vanished, then a sharp strike aimed up from below came at me.
[Ilseom – Third Step]
‘Hmm?! A technique I haven’t seen before.’
Swish──!
Feeling something was off, I hastily retreated, quickly realizing how justified that decision was.
Crack—
The sound of my jaw splitting by a few centimeters echoed, and Park Jin-gon charged at me again.
‘Attack power, at the very least… this is why knights are terrifying.’
One-hit kill.
In one-on-one combat, this was a class where one could never let their guard down.
Even though the attack would have done considerable damage to a normal person, I tightened my focus even more.
“Whew──”
[Ilseom – Fourth Step]
The technique that activated from an even farther distance than the first was suddenly upon me, as if the sword had stretched out, posing a credible threat.
Using all the evasive moves I possessed, I darted away. I couldn’t help but mimic how he spun around to check on us, looking for an opening.
“Ugh…!”
Detected earlier than he expected, Gin Jin-gon gazed at the faster version of me with an unsettled expression.
‘His sense of aura is still lacking.’
I could’ve used my magic to easily subdue him.
However, I wanted to avenge what they had put us through, so I aimed to finish him off using just swordsmanship.
‘But a feint should be fine, right?’
I drew the energy of flame into my left hand, and as the sphere of flame swelled quickly, Park Jin-gon’s eyes widened considerably.
“Hyahh!”
He must’ve thought it better to finish me quickly, as he unleashed everything he had and charged at me.
But then.
Whoosh—
“Gahhh?!”
As he ran towards me, Rakan’s claws sunk deep into his side.
“Ughhh… You coward…!”
“Excuse me? Uh… cowardly?”
Yeon-hee tilted her head, not grasping why this was considered cowardly.
For her, it must have seemed like a natural decision to send Rakan, who had been granted [Acceleration], to take him out while he was focused on me.
Though my fun was slightly dampened by Rakan’s intervention, this wasn’t just my fight. Such emotions faded quickly.
Clang—!
‘Hey, take it easy.’
As Rakan, who had landed a fatal strike, was preparing to tear into the man’s neck, I had to intervene with my great sword.
“Urggh…… P-Please… spare me—”
No matter how long one practiced to become a knight, facing down a monster like Rakan while it bore its fangs would be enough to instill fear.
After sending Rakan back to Yeon-hee, I grabbed the man by the nape and hurled him away.
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