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Chapter 218

“…So you’ve been up to these shenanigans behind our backs, huh?”

Dang Sa-ryeon muttered coldly as he sifted through the pile of documents brought by Dang-myeon. Dang-myeon, kneeling in front of him, felt like he was about to faint. The mood was terribly tense, and he tried to hold it together, but it was utterly impossible.

“Uh, Miss. The poison is leaking out.”

“Oh my.”

Dang Sa-ryeon finally seemed to notice, his eyes widening in surprise as he withdrew the poison. Only after the creeping emerald green toxic energy that had been snaking across the floor disappeared did Dang-myeon let out a sigh of relief.

“I nearly got overwhelmed.”

“Please be more careful.”

While it was no big deal for Dang Sa-ryeon, who harbored extreme poison within, a prolonged contact with that stuff would definitely mean curtains for Dang-myeon.

The martial art known as Chaos Transformation was like that. It was a skill that could instantly kill even the guard, Nokpungdae, who had been soaked in all sorts of poison and was so resistant that he wouldn’t feel even the slightest sting.

To think this little girl could create such a technique all on her own at this age, and handle it without any side effects—no one could doubt her talent any longer.

She was sure to surpass even the current head of the family, the “Poison King,” and reach a realm similar to the chaos of the world itself.

‘A pure human, isn’t she.’

It would have made the household cringe in shock if they found out. They believed that only those heavily infused with the blood of chaos could reach such a domain. It wasn’t merely about discussing some inherent physical traits either.

Dang-myeon’s back trembled slightly. Could it be her? Could she possibly rid the Dang family of the darkness that loomed over them? Was there a region that a pure human, not some monster that had forsaken humanity, could reach?

Who knows? But he thought it was worth a try.

“Miss, would you listen to my story?”

“Yes, go ahead. What is it, Myeon?”

Dang-myeon’s back shivered. The ‘traces’ lurking beneath his tightly wrapped clothing stirred up his pain.

“I have something to say about the realities of the Dang family.”

Once upon a time, the man had been human. Before the insect wings were grafted onto this very body.

And ideally, he hoped other children wouldn’t face such a grotesque fate.

*

Yeon-woo swung her pure white great sword fiercely. The moment Ja-young jumped high, she landed a few paces away. Yeon-woo didn’t want to miss her opportunity to strike. Her body reacted faster than her thoughts.

With a speed so intense it put the term reaction speed to shame, Yeon-woo accelerated, altering her direction and charging toward Ja-young, who had crouched low and started bolting sideways.

“Hey, where are you going!!”

Seeing that, Yeon-woo instinctively shouted and chased after her. It’s not like yelling would make anyone stop, but she shouted anyway. Naturally, Ja-young didn’t care and just zoomed ahead.

As Yeon-woo blindly followed, she soon realized Ja-young’s intentions. The direction was toward where the Elder Tree, Shar, and Kim Yoo-min were engaged in battle.

She was likely aiming to mix two separate battlefields into one chaotic melee.

‘Cat Shrek, making tactical judgments, huh?’

No wonder Ja-young was in the top two for brains among her four masters, Yeon-woo thought, sticking her tongue out. The bigger issue was that her natural swiftness meant that Yeon-woo’s light-footed skills couldn’t keep up.

“Kim Yoo-min, behind!!”

“Huh? Wait!? You should have held on properly!!”

“No use whining, switch to Formation B!!”

At Yeon-woo’s shout, Kim Yoo-min hurriedly turned around. If she kept that up, she’d be exposing her back to the Elder Tree. Instead of hitting Ja-young from behind, Yeon-woo charged directly at the Elder Tree.

『───!!』

The rustling of the forest coalesced into a monstrous roar. The Tree Giant swung its massive arms. Fortunately, Yeon-woo was relatively used to that kind of attack.

Yeon-woo braced herself to take the Elder Tree’s strike, but then a tree on the side began to sway and toppled toward her.

It looked as if the very will of the forest was attacking Yeon-woo. Startled, she swung her sword wildly, cleaving through the falling tree, then leapt up.

If she let it be, Kim Yoo-min and Shar would undoubtedly get swept away, so she unleashed a fierce gust of wind to lift the two of them off their feet.

The arm of the giant tree swept across the ground beneath her. The backlash knocked down surrounding trees, which then clung to the Elder Tree’s trunk.

Wearing mana imbued with the essence of ice, Yeon-woo quickly fashioned wings of cold energy. She caught Kim Yoo-min and Shar, who were floating in midair.

“You’re safe, both of you!”

“Ugh, this is dizzying…!!”

“Thanks to you, I’m alive, Yeon-woo!”

Seeing both of them unscathed made Yeon-woo breath a sigh of relief. It was great that she had bought them time, but they couldn’t stay up there forever.

Though she had jumped to a height that the Elder Tree couldn’t reach, if the Tree and Ja-young teamed up, they could definitely get to that altitude.

“It can’t be helped; we’ll just have to go with Formation B.”

“Formation B! Got it!!”

“Ugh, can we really do this!?”

Perhaps startled by the overwhelming destructive force, Kim Yoo-min suddenly became timid, but Yeon-woo soothed her before dropping to a significantly lower altitude. After landing on the ground beside them, she prepared for the next move.

Formation B, where Yeon-woo supported Shar to face the Elder Tree while Kim Yoo-min kept Ja-young in check. This formation was designed for the moment when two monsters combined their strengths to create chaos.

Ja-young skillfully climbed the tree and took her position atop the Elder Tree’s shoulder.

The Elder Tree seemed a bit displeased, but it looked like it recognized that it couldn’t win alone, as it readily let Ja-young settle in.

In this standoff, resembling something right out of a comic, Yeon-woo launched her wings without hesitation. The sharp shards of ice that composed her wings flew in from all directions toward the Elder Tree and Ja-young.

“Let’s go, Shar!!”

“Got it!!”

As the Elder Tree tilted and defended against the ice shards stuck to its body, Yeon-woo and Shar dashed forward.

*

Having gained some free time thanks to a friend named Tae-oh, Shar often spent time with the Demon King.

Thanks to the care of Grandfather Yuri and Grandfather Demon King, she could participate in classes. Strongly encouraged by that, Shar diligently trained her martial arts.

Of course, it was to help Yeon-woo. Magic could certainly be a form of assistance, but Shar figured there was nothing quite like fighting together to prevent her father from getting hurt directly.

It was only natural that Shar’s martial arts skills would improve. She absorbed the essence of the techniques that the Demon King taught like a sponge. Rapidly growing, Shar felt she had become a respectable martial artist.

However, as her skills increased, so did the Demon King’s criticisms. Shar understood that he was more critical because of her talent, but there were some critiques she couldn’t quite address.

“Hmm, is it because you comprehend too quickly? There’s no uniqueness in your punches, Shar.”

That was what the Demon King had said. There existed the talent for martial arts, and a perfect martial mastery. But it was said that her punches lacked personal flair.

Because she understood so perfectly and swiftly, there was no room for personal quirks to be ingrained. If she could discover her own uniqueness, she could take her training to the next level.

So lately, Shar had been troubled. It wasn’t enough to bring it up to someone else. No, she promised herself not to ask anyone for help when she overheard such comments.

She wanted to figure it out on her own.

Coincidentally, until this moment, Shar had been searching for the answer.

Had she at least possessed her own elemental mana, finding the solution might have been easier. But dragons didn’t have that sort of thing at all.

“Ugh…!!”

With proper posture, her straight punch crunched into the Elder Tree’s bark, breaking in. She struck swiftly and retracted her punch, ensuring her strength flowed completely when her arm fully extended.

This strike, embodying the entirety of her learning, packed a power that could rival even sister Kim Yoo-min, who was known as the strongest martial artist of the first-year students.

Of course, the moment sister operated her elemental prowess, the comparison would lose all meaning as the difference became stark…

The Elder Tree’s thick arm swung like a broom, sweeping at the ground. A wall of ice that had climbed along the ground angled upward, sliding down the raised arm, trying to strike at the air.

What would have been Shar’s role at one point, Yeon-woo was now able to handle it skillfully as well.

That scene made Shar question whether she was truly helping her father. Surely, if he had done it alone, he could have taken care of it in no time.

Despite being born as a dragon, which was believed to accomplish everything, her father’s rapid growth made her feel small in comparison.

『──!!』

The sound of wind morphed into the Elder Tree’s wail. The noise was akin to a scene from a horror movie, making Shar’s body flinch.

[Shar, can you hear me?]

In her head, a clear, transparent voice echoed. Of course, it was a voice Shar recognized well. It was Alkeinea, her mother, reaching out to her from Harmony City.

The western forest and Harmony City weren’t very far apart. For a mother who could only manifest the power of a mid-level monster, connecting this distance wasn’t much of a problem.

Much less so because she was a dragon of the same kind rather than anyone else.

‘Oh, mom? What’s going on? I’m a bit busy here….’

[Um, truthfully, I didn’t really want to say this… but what can I say? Actually, I have been watching you since the battle began.]

Shar chuckled softly at her mother’s now more relaxed tone.

It seemed her mother still wanted to maintain her seriousness around dad, so she wasn’t speaking casually to him, but she always spoke kindly to her and Tae-oh. Just like when she had been in an egg.

As she listened to the reminiscing words of Nea, Shar raised her defenses to dodge the Elder Tree’s arm. Pushed back by the overwhelming strength, it seemed Nea had gathered her thoughts to say something important.

[…Dragons don’t fight that way, you know.]

Shar couldn’t help but be shocked. No way was her mom about to say that kind of thing to her!

‘Then, how are we supposed to fight!?’

But for Shar, who was searching for her own uniqueness, there wasn’t a lifeline to hold onto.

(To be continued in the next episode.)

 

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