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Chapter 171

Destruction and destruction intersect. Ironically, the blow from the forest spirit shattered the woods.

I had no intention of taking it head-on. I had to dodge back and parry the shards flying like bullets with my sword.

The forest giant, Green Man. A form of combat created by the intertwining and entangling roots of trees, meant to protect the forest. It was practically like commanding a giant.

And of course, Almerin wasn’t just sitting back, sucking their fingers while leaving all the fighting to Green Man.

The trees all around reached out to catch Yeon-woo, who was trying to evade. As a result, I found myself using my sword more defensively than offensively.

Yeon-woo even felt that what they were fighting wasn’t just Almerin as an individual, but the forest itself.

Hypothetically, if it ever came to fighting Delhain, it was a situation worth considering. The scale would be different, though.

From a distance, Almerin folded their arms with a dissatisfied expression, watching Yeon-woo gather their stance.

“Is this really all you’ve got? If not, I’d appreciate a little more effort.”

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Still, a scouting match is only polite, right?”

It didn’t seem easy to defeat Almerin purely with a sword. After all, Yeon-woo wasn’t the type to obsess over such things, so they sprinkled their mana without hesitation.

“…You really know spirit magic, huh?”

Almerin murmured as a giant shadow loomed over Yeon-woo, almost like a massive crow flying above.

Strictly speaking, Yeon-woo didn’t think what they just used, ‘Tae-oh,’ was spirit magic.

Spirit magic is when natural spirits grant the wishes of the spellcaster. However, the dark spirit, Tae-oh, who was contracted with Yeon-woo, had gifted all of itself to Yeon-woo instead.

In essence, what Tae-oh did in spirit magic was to assist with aspects that Yeon-woo found hard to manage, which made it questionable whether it was appropriate to call it spirit magic at all.

Well, it was a comfortable story for Yeon-woo. They could now use it as easily as using dragon magic.

At that moment, the situation shifted. Countless tree roots surged up from the ground and shot toward Yeon-woo. Perhaps the spirits couldn’t control the ground that Tae-oh had consumed, as the roots sprang from the outer land.

Under Yeon-woo’s will, a Shadow Wall was erected. BANG!! The roots banged against the Shadow Wall. They squished in like rubber, then bounced back due to elasticity.

“Oh.”

With Almerin’s admiration, part of the wall blocking Yeon-woo’s view crumbled away. They needed to adjust it so that it wouldn’t obstruct their sight, but so far, it was hard to gauge.

Using Tae-oh in this way to reveal territory felt closer to great magical battles.

“Isn’t it fun? If you also receive everything from a spirit, you could do this too.”

“Such nonsensical talk. Do you think it’s easy for one life to offer everything to another?”

“True enough.”

Yeon-woo nodded at that remark. Coincidentally, Yeon-woo had experienced that difficult task three times.

Once for their daughter’s freedom. Once for their mother. Once for the warmth they sought.

What beautiful things they were. The heart of one life thinking of another is truly beautiful, don’t you think?

“What a lucky story, really.”

Murmuring that, Yeon-woo dashed forward. No matter how fast they ran, shadows never strayed far from the person. Even during the trivial conversation, the Shadow Wall continued to fend off the attacks pouring in.

『───!!』

Naturally, Almerin wouldn’t allow such an approach from Yeon-woo. Glancing briefly toward the east where the plains existed, Yeon-woo shattered the front Shadow Wall and swung their sword toward the giant’s fist.

Swoosh!!

Aura flowed along the elongated sword blade. Though the Green Man’s body was enhanced due to the existence of a Spirit Master, it didn’t compare to a real giant. The giant’s fist split in two upon impact.

If it lacked sharpness, a sword could easily be bounced off by a giant, but since the Green Man was fundamentally made of tree roots, it wasn’t quite that sturdy.

“Hiyah!!”

Yeon-woo cleanly severed the Green Man’s fist and dashed right between its legs. Only Almerin stood beyond where Yeon-woo passed. It was a perfect moment to take advantage, but Almerin was far from idle.

A swordsman shouldn’t give the mage a chance to approach. This was true for spirit masters as well, and in an instant, trees that sprouted quickly moved in to block the path between Almerin and Yeon-woo.

Seeing their line of sight blocked, Yeon-woo immediately turned their body 90 degrees and took off.

BANG!!

“Ugh, what!”

Almerin, who had been ready for the possibility of Yeon-woo cutting through the trees to appear, received a bullet right in the arm.

Blood poured from the penetrated arm. Almerin quickly turned to the direction the bullet had come from.

“How could you start a battle without me? I’m feeling hurt!! …Huh? Where’s the other guy?”

A participant from Freedom Academy, Bailey, emerged from the smoke rising from the muzzle, puffing out the remnants.

*

“Phew, emergency meeting arranged successfully.”

Whether love could blossom from here was entirely up to those two. If they get married, I’d be willing to contribute a wedding gift.

“Or not.”

That’s the nature of matchmaking agencies. It’s all about having that mindset of “if it works, great, and if not, oh well.”

“Looks like I can get a fight started like this.”

Now, it’s just Dang Sa-ryeon and Moon Gi left, huh? Bailey had always liked to stand out, so it went as expected, but what about Moon Gi?

Maybe it would be better to approach this with thoughts of eliminating Dang Sa-ryeon here.

Almerin was fine since it was clearly a forest spirit, but which of the marsh or cave would be Moon Gi’s starting point?

While pondering and stroking their chin, Yeon-woo decided it was better to get moving than dwell on these questions.

*

“Ugh.”

The damp and soggy feeling made Dang Sa-ryeon grimace. The already green hem of their skirt became even darker green, stained by the marsh.

‘Why do I have to face such misfortune…’

Sighing deeply, Dang Sa-ryeon emerged from the swamp, shaking off the sticky mud that clung to their legs. Then they mumbled into the air.

“Stop hiding and come out, Yeon-woo.”

“Oh dear, it seems my stealth doesn’t work on martial artists.”

It’s a common occurrence. For martial artists, especially those focusing on developing their spirit sensitivity, ambush attacks typically don’t work well.

It might be possible if one mastered hiding their own mana to a degree beyond mere insight, but Yeon-woo wasn’t quite at that level. Even now, they thought they had hidden themselves enough.

‘I should ask my master for some tips.’

Despite considering their mana manipulation skills relatively good, failing like this suggested there was surely a methodology to it.

“I would have preferred to settle things when only the two of us were left.”

“Having a skirmish is also an option, right? How about lightly warming up before the main event?”

“If we do it, I’ll go all out. Right now, I can give you a chance to retreat. I’d prefer to win if possible.”

“What would that make me then? All this is being broadcasted, and if I flee now, I’ll be bashed nationally.”

“Wouldn’t it reflect the qualities of a Hunter to take into account that possibility and plan an escape?”

That wasn’t entirely wrong. But still…

“Since you’re looking forward to it, it wouldn’t seem courteous to leave now.”

Muttering that, Yeon-woo tightened their grip on the sword and charged at Dang Sa-ryeon. In response, Dang Sa-ryeon smiled brightly, and a gleaming silver needle shot forth from the ends of their wide, long sleeves.

I couldn’t tell what secret technique was employed due to the concealment of the sleeves, but I could make some predictions.

Moonflower Needle (月華蝶). The most basic secret technique learned by the Tang Family women. Rather than power, it emphasized precision and speed.

If a man from the Tang Family had the Soul-Search Needle, a woman would use the Moonflower Needle. These two techniques were considered the most suitable for starting a battle, so in most cases, they would often begin with one of these two techniques. That was especially true in this type of fight.

Instinctively, Yeon-woo ducked, following the memory engraved in their body. As they felt something brush past their neck, they simultaneously lifted off the ground.

“Oh my.”

Secret techniques generally lack power. Therefore, the norm is to aim for vital points to ensure a quick kill or target areas that would hinder movement.

However, if the user was skillful, executing both simultaneously was not impossible.

The silver needle aimed at Yeon-woo’s head served as a decoy to draw attention there. The real attack would be the black needle aimed at their leg, concealed from sight.

Of course, attempting to deceive Yeon-woo with mere sight was a foolish act. The reason for hiding the fact that one could perceive mana visually lay right here.

Merely not knowing information about oneself had already nullified one of the opponent’s methods.

Naturally, Dang Sa-ryeon didn’t remain stagnant. They retreated while swinging their arms. The movements were swift and discreet.

With the smooth and flexible wrist rotation, needles flew out in a torrent. There were so many that I couldn’t even figure out where they had been hidden.

Those speeds, that power. It appeared they had taken Yeon-woo’s likely reaction of raising shadows to sweep them away into account and adjusted the power accordingly. It was evident that a shadow, which had weak material characteristics, would be easily penetrated.

“Ugh!!”

Suspended in mid-air, Yeon-woo spun their body. The sword danced in their hand like a blur. They swung as much as needed to ensure that a single sword could counter dozens of needles.

As a result, the needles were knocked away without breaching the swirling center. Then, Yeon-woo withdrew their body, compressed to the maximum through the gap that had opened.

“Oh-ho.”

Thinking to overcome precision with numbers, they had attempted to use a barrage, but Yeon-woo effortlessly escaped the encirclement. One wouldn’t believe this was the same awkward guy met a few months ago.

Even the somewhat clumsy way of swinging the sword had become sophisticated, not to mention their prayers. The sheer volume of mana had drastically increased since the time they first met in this city, but it evidently showed that they hadn’t merely focused on increasing capacity.

“This is amusing. It seems like I might be able to fight you a little more seriously.”

“Please don’t.”

“No, I will.”

With a beaming smile, Dang Sa-ryeon rolled up their sleeves. Yeon-woo was well aware of what that motion meant.

A pure white fingertip suddenly appeared. The pure aura concentrated in their hand. A drop of deep green liquid fell from the tip of their finger onto the ground.

Sizzle…

The ground began to melt away.

“I’m going nuts.”

“Now, make sure to only look at me, Yeon-woo.”

If you don’t focus on me, I might just kill you.

As Dang Sa-ryeon said that, another silver needle was shot from their fingertips, this time cloaked in deep green mana.

(To be continued in the next episode)

 

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