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Chapter 70

The three of them rushed out to evade in different directions. Despite being as big as a house, its body was reinforced by the power of a curse, making it like a hill.

Boom!!

A tremendous sound. Yeon-woo’s body soared into the air with the nearby snowdrifts. A long arm swung toward Yeon-woo, who was astonished by the excessively enlarged scale. Naturally, in the time it took to take two breaths, the timing to evade was off.

Usually, as bodies get bigger, their speed slows down, resulting in lower accuracy… or so one might think, but when something becomes this large, accuracy ceases to matter.

Attacking with a huge surface area is akin to using a fly swatter to catch a mosquito—despite slowing down, it becomes more difficult to evade.

Moreover, at this size, the mass alone provided sufficient destructive power, so any mediocre defense was out of the question.

Even flailing about like a child, the absurdity was such that an ordinary hunter would face a one-hit kill level of attack.

Yet, when one excels in a certain field, does precognition come into play? Over the past month, the swordsmanship that Yeon-woo learned flowed from her fingertips as if it were anticipating this very moment.

The Flowing Cloud Sword. Yuri referred to it as such. It was hardly something one could call a sword technique, but it would be useful for someone just starting out.

At first, it was difficult to even imagine what kind of swordsmanship it could be, but after a month of twisting a stiff body to grasp the key, it turned out to be a highly defensive style of swordsmanship.

One person flew in close, and Yeon-woo brought her sword to the tip of her finger. She lightly touched the ground and relaxed her joints.

At the moment of collision, Yeon-woo threw herself backward. Her body, still relaxed, traced a smooth arc through the air.

She swung her sword as she slipped away, but it hardly seemed to inflict any meaningful damage.

Having to take a few more steps back to regain her balance, Yeon-woo wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.

“Phew!”

[We’re fine, Dad!?]

‘Of course! How about you two!?’

[We’re both fine!]

Well, it wasn’t as if she or Baek In-hwa would fall to such a simplistic attack. Thus thought Yeon-woo as she twirled her sword and regained her posture.

Apparently, she hadn’t completely absorbed the blow, as her joints creaked. The fact that she was able to partly deflect the impact likely stemmed from the effect of the area being deployed at peak efficiency and having absorbed the Dongja Sam. If she let the force flow out more than three times, her body would explode, so a warning bell rang in her instinct.

Although stained by the curse, she had been selected as a Divine Body, taking on a fitting form, surrounded by an overwhelming amount of curses. Facing one side alone would have been overwhelming, let alone both sides. If it weren’t for Shar, it would have been impossible to contend with.

The fortunate thing was that the creature wasn’t yet accustomed to using its body. It was instinctively controlling the curse, and it wasn’t familiar with the form of the primate it had adjusted to. Still, its overwhelming size and mass allowed it to swing around as if it had been doing so since its past life.

The creature, flailing its limbs while lying down, seemed to realize something, grabbed the ground with both hands, and began to wobbly rise up.

Beyond the mass of its body, Baek In-hwa and Shar appeared uninjured.

Despite how careless the creature appeared, the three didn’t rush in due to the caution the curse entailed.

The dense, thick curse was a lethal spear and shield in and of itself. Even a mere touch would allow the curse to burrow into their bodies, so they’d agreed to proceed carefully.

“How’s the analysis going, Shar?”

“Umm, yes, it’s a realm close to Divine Art, so it took a bit, but I think I can figure it out soon.”

“Once Shar’s analysis is complete, we’ll fight from there.”

At Baek In-hwa’s words, Yeon-woo nodded. Watching her nod calmly, Baek In-hwa couldn’t help but feel startled. Everything was happening just as they had discussed beforehand.

Sure, she could say she was leading the conversations with the gods. She was bad at conversing, and Shar was too clumsy to take the lead. She thought like that.

However, when she had received time to prepare after the conversation ended, Yeon-woo had proceeded under the assumption that she would bless them definitively.

Sebek would bestow a blessing; they’d focus on defense until Shar finished analyzing. Baek In-hwa asked her what kind of blessing it would be, but Yeon-woo shook her head. The gods were notoriously quirky and wouldn’t provide proper answers even when asked.

And that prediction bore fruit. Sebek delivered an unknown heretical blessing to them, while Shar’s analysis was nearing completion.

It was suspicious how knowledgeable they seemed. It had been that way since before. When the Doppleganger appeared, they had thought it came from the knowledge of the dragon. Looking back now, it seemed Shar was explaining it, and for someone so young, that perspective of hers contradicted the earlier claims.

Something was being concealed. Baek In-hwa didn’t like that.

“I’ll be watching.”

“Huh? Suddenly, what about?”

“Nothing.”

In the midst of that brief exchange, the swaying giant shook its body. It seemed that the real challenge was about to begin. Yeon-woo surmised as much.

And indeed, it was. The crocodile giant realized what those ‘hands’ were meant for, unlike moments before. Its elongated limbs had learned what they could do and why they had taken this form.

The giant raised one arm above its head. At the same time, Yeon-woo shouted while running to the right.

“You know what to do, Baek In-hwa!?”

“Of course.”

Baek In-hwa’s new form gracefully stretched out from the opposite side of Yeon-woo.

Just in time, the environment that Yeon-woo had destroyed was slowly being restored. Yeon-woo had a poor long-range response capability, and Shar needed to concentrate on analysis. In that case, it had to be her who drew attention.

As she spun her body, the gently swirling snow began to whirl and gather between Baek In-hwa’s two hands.

The remaining energy was sufficient, and their opponent was formidable. To catch attention, she needed to unleash a somewhat powerful move.

Hooooww…

The chilling sound cut through the air as snow spiraled endlessly into Baek In-hwa’s hands.

‘How much of it will be absorbed?’

Baek In-hwa didn’t hold high expectations for this blow. After all, the thing had been born a Frost Alligator and had even become undead.

Seven years ago, back when they had torn it to shreds while it was alive, it had required raw internal energy and physical confrontations, more than the skill level or the intensity of the dark energy.

‘But it’s the first time condensing this much internal energy and domain.’

It wasn’t that she had never gone all out, but it had only been the extent of sparring with her father. Naturally, it was her first time elevating the power of her spell to such a degree.

Baek In-hwa shyly opened her mouth.

“…Snow Flower Palm? Maybe?”

The Ice White Divine Art, focusing on its role as a technique, didn’t name or categorize its moves.

This was because the foundational aspect of the Ice White Divine Art revolved around dance, and it had developed into a primitive form of dance aimed at the great nature, emphasizing inspiration in each moment.

Of course, this was also influenced by the rugged mentality of someone born in harsher lands, whose logical thinking deemed naming techniques unnecessary.

However, now, Baek In-hwa found herself in such a warm place at a young age. Spending a year in such a warm environment and mingling with many had begun to melt the ice lodged in her heart.

Thus, taking a letter from her name, she whimsically named her technique.

Boom!!

With a tremendous sound, the giant ice block, engulfed in a blizzard, exploded against the white skull of the crocodile giant.

Boom!!

It sounded as if a cannonball had struck, causing the giant to stumble heavily. The arm that had been swinging overhead had to come down to support its body, resulting in the giant staggering several steps.

This situation was quite a surprise for both Baek In-hwa and Yeon-woo. After all, it had become undead after being a creature of the snowy plains, and its resistance to cold would have been considerable, yet to think it could crack its skull…

Perhaps gathering excessive snow and condensing it, as the negative energy mixed in, had turned it into a mortally hard ice block, yielding enough force to crack the skull.

While Yeon-woo was entranced by this thought, the red glow in the giant’s eyes slowly turned toward Baek In-hwa.

Yeon-woo and Baek In-hwa’s eyes met. As previously discussed, they needed to take turns distracting the giant until Shar’s analysis was complete.

In its fury, the giant swung its arms wildly. Starting from behind, the attacks followed a centrifugal path. Though powerful, their trajectory was too large, and Baek In-hwa managed to evade.

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo unleashed a simple attack magic toward the giant, one that was effective for mana efficiency, though it was a distraction.

The power couldn’t be expected, but taking into account the mana recovered from Shar, what remained was only about a third of the total. If she didn’t conserve it, she would end up fighting with nothing but aura at the end.

‘That’s not good. Telling me to only engage in close combat with this curse-laden giant is tantamount to suicide.’

However, if she didn’t finish this quickly, that future might soon come upon her.

Under the dark elemental enhancement on her raised right arm was her original arm, which had absorbed about half of that dense curse. Currently, it maintained its power, but if she exhausted all her mana, she would be unable to meet Na Yang-ho for purification, leading to a possible catastrophe she couldn’t even imagine.

Still functioning for now, Yeon-woo glanced at her alien black right arm and then thrust out her unarmed left arm. The Dragon Heart pulsed brightly, and vitality evident of her resolve seeped out.

Swish, flames coiled in the air. The flames, elongated like a serpent, transformed into a sharp arrow and shot toward where the giant’s arm was reaching out. Taken aback by the heat, it hesitated, allowing Baek In-hwa to pull away.

Thanks to becoming a Divine Body, its intelligence had improved dramatically, allowing it to attack much more efficiently than before. Unlike before, when it’d merely swung its arms overhead, now its strikes were akin to jabs.

Since its mass alone provided sufficient force, it determined that increasing accuracy and speed would be more efficient. The reason it persistently targeted Baek In-hwa, despite its intelligence, was likely due to her being the cause of its death.

As Baek In-hwa’s relaxed expression gradually hardened, a welcome sound reached her ears.

[I’m sorry for being late!! The analysis is complete!!]

‘It’s alright. So, what is it? I’ll relay it to them.’

[It’s a blessing called ‘Binding the Soul’! You probably get the gist, right?]

‘I’m not entirely sure what it means, but under the circumstances, that sounds about right. Got it, Shar. Jump in as soon as you’re ready.’

After comparing with Shar, the giant, which had been entirely unconcerned with her, allowed for easy access from behind.

As Shar dashed out of the snow, she poured all her strength into a straight punch aimed at the giant’s heel.

Naturally, attacking someone enveloped in curses with her fists, even with gauntlets on, would mean she came into contact with the curse.

The writhing curse mist attempted to engulf Shar, but—

Boom!!

The curse mist that approached her fist was suddenly ripped apart. This wasn’t due to any magical function in the gauntlets. The magical function merely allowed her punches to relay a bit more force.

So why had the curse been torn apart? The answer lay with Sebek’s blessing. Shar had analyzed that it contained the capability to bind souls.

How did this blessing manage to tear away the curse?

One alternative thought could be that if the Frost Alligator’s soul were deemed the correct and whole version, then the parts deemed impurities—namely, the curses or the divine intervention brought by Sebek—would be unnecessary. Those had forcibly intertwined with the Frost Alligator’s soul.

Thus, by stripping away both the curse and the divine essence, the fragmented soul would presumably bind back into its proper form, emerging from an absurdly crude and simple concept.

Recently, Shar had been breaking not just wood but rocks with her fists. So when she struck with her heel, the giant could not entirely overlook it; it left an opening in its otherwise unrelenting attacks, enabling Yeon-woo to shout at Baek In-hwa.

“Did you see that, Baek In-hwa!? You can attack directly now!”

“I don’t know what that means, but… alright.”

However, from that point onward, the plan that one person would take the hits became meaningless. Realizing that targeting Baek In-hwa while sustaining attacks from behind was illogical, the creature adapted.

As a result, the three stood side by side, the enraged giant looming before them.

(To be continued)

 

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