The pink-scaled dragon turned its small head and looked around. Sleep still lingered in its eyes. It had not fully recovered the power it had used, but the magical beast created by Diarma's method was affected to some degree by its master's stats.
Thanks to that, now that Han Yoojin possessed abilities above S-rank, it was able to wake, if only for a little while.
Chainling climbed up onto Han Yoojin's shoulder, scratching lightly at his clothes with its tiny claws. Then it whispered softly.
Daddy, are we really doing this?
"Of course."
…As long as you really are my Daddy, I can't refuse.
Chainling wound itself around Han Yoojin's neck as if encircling it, then pressed its head to Daddy's cheek and rubbed against him affectionately.
I still need to sleep more, so I'll go back in. Depending on how you use it, you should be able to keep it up for anywhere from one hour to up to three.
"Thank you."
The faerie dragon's form scattered and vanished. Silver eyes moved slowly as they looked down at the people standing below. The corners of Han Yoojin's lips lifted gently.
"How kind of you all to wait for me. Well, I guess you couldn't really stop a child living inside my body anyway."
"Isn't it too much to use our child in a fight?"
At Sung Hyunjae's words, Han Yoojin's brows drew sharply together.
"You really must be insane. Why do you always talk like that even when you're just speaking? And I told you, this has nothing to do with you."
Grumbling, he clicked his tongue.
"...!"
Han Yoojin's figure vanished on the spot. Han Yoohyun and Bak Yerim tensed, and at the same time Sung Hyunjae moved. The place he headed for was none other than right in front of Noah.
Boom!
Sung Hyunjae's foot slammed hard against the asphalt, and in an instant he shot toward Noah. At the same time, chrrrack, a golden chain wrapped around his wrist.
Kagagak!
Han Yoojin's sword and the chain clashed head-on.
"You always take out the healer and support types first."
Han Yoojin said with a smile as he flicked his sword back. Sung Hyunjae did not pursue the lightly retreating Han Yoojin. Instead, water pooled beneath Han Yoojin's feet and instantly froze.
A slick sheet of wet ice, perfect for slipping. Just before stepping onto it, Han Yoojin ignited flames at his own feet.
Whoosh—
Dark crimson fire melted the ice in an instant, and stepping down on the now-wet asphalt, Han Yoojin's body sprang back, widening the distance even farther. Bak Yerim shouted in frustration.
"I hit that perfectly!"
"It was a good attempt, Yerim-ah."
Han Yoojin had retreated in an instant all the way to the middle of the wide road, and Han Yoohyun charged straight at him. Kagagak, the pitch-black blade, accompanied by the sound of scales colliding, transformed into a flexible sword and curved through the air—
Kang! Kagang!
—only to collide with the ice spears flying toward it. Shards of ice scattered in every direction, and both Han Yoohyun, who had been rushing in, and Bak Yerim, who had been floating in the air, hesitated at the same time. Han Yoojin looked at the two of them and shrugged.
"Yoohyun-ah, Yerim-ah. The compatibility between you two is terrible."
"But I worked well with the others, though."
"Attribute-wise too, yes, but Yoohyun's fighting style is tricky to coordinate with other people. Ever since he got the Ruler's Sword, he fits team play even less. If anyone could match his pace, maybe Riette? Or someone purely support-type like Noah-ssi. Yerim, out of everyone here, you match best with Sung Hyunjae-ssi."
"…You really are Ahjussi."
In the meantime, Han Yoohyun had already rushed right up to Han Yoojin's face. Whiing, the Ruler's Sword cut through the air and came crashing down mercilessly toward Han Yoojin's body. Han Yoojin bent his upper body backward and evaded the attack, and the aftershock of the missed slash went kagagak! and tore the asphalt apart. Spinning with the force of the slash, Han Yoohyun suddenly flung the dark blue-black flames that had materialized in his grasp.
A spear of bluish fire tore through the darkness toward Han Yoojin. Instead of dodging, Han Yoojin thrust out his palm toward the tip of the spear.
Crunch!
The spearhead pierced straight through his hand, and red blood splattered. The blood that ran down turned black and wrapped around the blue-black flames.
And before long, a spear of jet-black flames rested in Han Yoojin's hand.
Black Flames blooming from droplets of blood. Without realizing it, a smile formed at the corner of Han Yoohyun's mouth. His heart pounded. The sight of black fire swallowing up his own flames was enough to thrill him. Heat raced up along the Ruler's Sword. Han Yoohyun stepped in, kicked off the ground hard, and closed in on Han Yoojin as though throwing himself into his arms.
Kagakang!
Flame and flame collided, tangling together, staining and being stained black and blue. The dark blue-black fire empowered by the Ruler's Sword met, head-on, the flames so black they seemed bright in their own way. Looking at his younger brother, Han Yoojin smiled too.
"Even if the stats are only S-rank, I've still got a double boost on attack skills."
The fire Han Yoojin was handling now was at a level comparable to SS-rank, but it was weaker than the Han Yoohyun of age twenty-five, whose Black Blood Flames alone were of an even higher rank. But with the double buff added in, it should have been stronger than the Han Yoohyun of age twenty. So the fact that Han Yoohyun was standing up to it this easily, even with the added power of an SS-rank sword, meant that the current Han Yoohyun had grown that much.
"Our Yoohyun's grown a lot."
Han Yoohyun's eyes curved into crescents. The blade that had been stretched straight bent, then snapped toward Han Yoojin's nape like it was trying to bite into it. A hand covered in scales caught the blade, and with a grating sound painful to the ears, blood seeped out lightly.
"It's all thanks to you, Hyung."
Han Yoohyun yanked the flexible sword hard toward himself, and at the same time swung his long leg toward Han Yoojin's side. Normally, the other person would let go of the sword rather than be pulled along. But Han Yoojin endured his palm being torn open, gripped the sword even tighter, and flung his body up into the air.
His body was pulled by the force of the drawn sword, naturally letting him evade Han Yoohyun's kick. As if burrowing into his younger brother's arms, Han Yoojin sharpened the nails of his uninjured hand. Han Yoohyun's chest was raked in a long line. But thanks to Yejang's defense, only the ordinary clothing underneath was torn, and no wound was left.
Han Yoohyun raised his elbow and slammed it down toward Han Yoojin's shoulder, now pressed close against him. At that distance, dodging was practically impossible. But Han Yoojin let go of the sword he had been gripping and abruptly lowered his body downward, almost as if he were half-lying down.
Han Yoohyun's elbow cut through empty air, and the sword tip, now changed into a longsword, was just about to stab into the defenseless Han Yoojin lying there—
Crack, with the sound of a cookie being crunched and swallowed, Han Yoojin's body suddenly shrank. On top of that, he vanished with a whoosh through teleportation.
Whoosh—
Han Yoohyun did not panic. He raised flames to search for his brother's position. The mana he released, taking shape as fire and spreading out, immediately caught the presence behind him. Han Yoohyun's body spun around, and he swung his sword precisely toward the shrunken Han Yoojin.
Crunch!
"…Hyung?"
Han Yoojin's body split in half and fell to the ground with a thud. At the exact moment Han Yoohyun stopped moving without thinking, a kick came flying at his back.
"Ugh!"
He twisted his body quickly, but Han Yoohyun still took a heavy blow to the waist and slid away. The tiny split Han Yoojin was kicked by his foot and crushed completely. Bent over, accepting the healing skill Noah was sending him, Han Yoohyun looked toward his brother, who had reappeared at full size, perfectly fine.
"That was the mini version of the doppelganger doll. If you're using spread-out mana to detect things, you can only read the shape and movements. Since it's smaller, it's even easier to get confused."
If there were time, it would be possible to distinguish the fake from the real even in the case of a tiny object by sensing the target's mana and presence. But in combat, when you had to move based on judgments made in less than a second, it was difficult.
Han Yoojin treated his injured hand as he looked over toward Noah.
"Like I said, the standard thing is to deal with the Hunter with healing skills first."
Noah, now the focus of Han Yoojin's gaze, took a step back. Standing in front of him, Sung Hyunjae was still holding the line. Bak Yerim, too, remained nearby in the air.
"I'll protect Noah Oppa, so how about joining forces?"
"I won't get hit either. Hunter Bak Yerim, or maybe Song Taewon-ssi, would be all right, but right now dragging out the fight is the best option."
Rather than all rushing him at once, the safest and most reliable method was to take turns facing Han Yoojin, stall for time, and wear him down. More than anything, Chainling's power could last only three hours at most. Which meant that if they could just hold out for exactly three hours, Han Yoojin would lose all of his attack skills.
However. Sung Hyunjae's eyes narrowed slightly.
"It still seems like little more than a warm-up."
"Huh, Ahjussi?"
Kagang! Once again, flames crashed against flames. Han Yoojin had still not used that many skills. Without taking his eyes off Han Yoojin, Sung Hyunjae spoke.
"Noah Hunter, do you have enough potions?"
"Yes. Once Han Yoohyun Hunter disengages from direct combat, I'll use one."
In other words, healing skills capable of backing someone up during battle should be conserved as much as possible. Bak Yerim, who still lacked experience, tilted her brows as if to ask what he meant.
"It means Han Yoohyun Hunter is likely to be injured more frequently."
"Really? I think it'd be about the same as Ahjussi's. No, Ahjussi got hurt more."
"I told you it'd be difficult for you to handle large amounts of water."
Bak Yerim nodded. She had already used too much strength. Even if she replenished her mana, the fatigue already accumulated would remain. Large-scale control on the level of bursting water mains and raising waves like she had before sunset would be difficult.
"I think I could do it if I pushed myself."
"Then focus on teleportation. Hunter Bak Yerim is the only person here who can immediately catch up if Han Yoojin-ssi tries to break away."
Skreeech, boom! A streetlight cut through by a blade toppled onto the broken road. Han Yoojin ran up the wall of the building across from them, and scattering Azure Willow Leaves, Han Yoohyun chased after him. Crash, crash, crash, windows burst one after another.
Han Yoojin looked at the younger brother following him as if he were adorable. This time, he was a younger brother he had raised not only as a human being but even as a Hunter.
So naturally, he belonged to him.
"Yoohyun-ah."
Silver eyes narrowed thinly. From midway up the building, Han Yoojin kicked off the wall. Crunch, the wall dented beneath his feet, and Han Yoojin's body shot toward Han Yoohyun, who was in the air. Facing the older brother rushing straight at him, Han Yoohyun calmly raised his sword diagonally.
It looked like a simple charge, but there was no way to know what kind of variable might come into play. Teleportation? Or perhaps he might use the Azure Willow Leaves skill to change direction. He might eat another cookie, use a skill other than Black Blood Flames, or even pull out an unfamiliar item.
Han Yoohyun's mind worked frantically.
But it was none of those.
Han Yoojin came charging exactly like that, defenselessly, straight toward Han Yoohyun.
Crunch!
The Ruler's Sword pierced Han Yoojin's shoulder. Why? Even though the situation had gone completely against expectation, Han Yoohyun tried to press the attack immediately, to fully subdue his brother.
At that moment.
Jallang.
Together with the small sound of bells, silver chains poured down.
"Han Yoohyun!"
Bak Yerim's startled shout rang out through the air thick with the smell of blood. Using a flight skill, Han Yoojin moved behind the younger brother pierced through by the chains and wrapped him in an embrace. There was no fatal wound. But both arms and legs had been skewered by moonlight, leaving movement impossible. Blood-soaked arms twitched, but he could not even put enough strength into them to break the chains.
Bak Yerim reflexively created ice spears, but Han Yoohyun's body completely blocked Han Yoojin from view, making it difficult to attack. The same was true for Sung Hyunjae. Noah, too, could not use a healing skill while the chains were still tearing through the wounds.
Connected to the moonlight in the sky, the chains slowly lowered both bodies toward the ground. Han Yoohyun's feet touched the ground first, and he swallowed a faint groan. Han Yoojin still floated slightly in the air, one arm wrapped around his younger brother's neck.
"My little brother. Such a good boy."
Han Yoojin kissed the top of his younger brother's head, then grabbed hold of the partial wig with his other hand. Han Yoohyun's head tilted back slightly.
"Everything suits you, but I still like it better short."
The wig was ripped away just like that, caught fire, and turned to ash in an instant. Han Yoohyun exhaled a breath mixed with blood.
"I'd like to play with you more since you like it so much, Yoohyun, but Hyung doesn't have time. I have to find Chief Secretary Song and kill him. Or, Yoohyun-ah, even now, do you want to come with me? Be on Hyung's side."
You love Hyung the most. You said you only loved Hyung.
At the gentle whisper, Han Yoohyun's eyes moved to the right, toward his older brother.
"…That's true. But it isn't what you want, is it?"
"That's true. It's what the crescent moon wants. But Yoohyun-ah, I really do want to kill Chief Secretary Song. In fact, Chief Secretary Song might want that too."
Instead of answering, Han Yoohyun raised flames. Dark blue-black fire climbed up his body and spilled over toward Han Yoojin too.
"With my Flame Resistance—"
Seeing the color of the flames gradually turn into a clear blue, Han Yoojin's eyes sharpened. Clink, the silver chains were withdrawn in an instant, and Han Yoojin violently threw Han Yoohyun away. Han Yoohyun's body slid a long way across the ground.
"Han Yoohyun!"
"Hyung is… cough, really Hyung after all."
Bak Yerim used teleportation to bring Han Yoohyun over to Noah, and then a golden chain shot out as if taking the place of the others. It grazed Han Yoojin's cheek by a hair's breadth and pierced into the building wall behind him. At the same time, crackle, a powerful current leapt out.
The intense light that burned through the darkness for an instant blocked Han Yoojin's vision, and in that brief gap Sung Hyunjae closed in tight. Han Yoojin crossed both arms to block the fearsome kick driving toward him and was pushed back until he almost reached the building itself.
Silver eyes turned sharp.
"There's no reason for me to go easy on you."
"That is exactly what I'm hoping for."
Lowering his raised leg, Sung Hyunjae smiled.
"Still, it's a relief to know for certain that you're Han Yoojin-ssi."
"Even if the crescent moon settled into me, did you think I'd suddenly start fawning all over you instead of Yoohyun?"
From Han Yoojin's toes, reddish flames surged up, gradually turning black as though swallowing the darkness. Silver eyes looked at the black-red coat draped over Sung Hyunjae. Since he possessed lightning resistance, focusing on flame resistance was the correct choice.
"For the sake of your dear partner, take that coat off and come at me."
"Han Yoojin-ssi has been coveting Silekia for quite some time."
Sung Hyunjae's hand lightly smoothed down the coat collar.
"If you come to the aquarium with me, I'll gladly take it off."
"Really? Then let's write a contract right now. Once we write the contract and I get paid in advance—"
"Unfortunately, I don't have an L-rank contract on me, so let's settle afterward."
"Bullshit. What exactly am I supposed to trust? If you don't want to part with it, just say so."
"Do you really think I'd begrudge a mere coat like this?"
Crk, golden chains emerged from the wall, shedding fragments of concrete. Watching the chains coil around Sung Hyunjae's body, Han Yoojin dug his nails into his palm. The blood that ran down took the shape of a sword, and silver chains hung around Han Yoojin like a curtain of jeweled strands.
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