Wuuung—.
Red mana started boiling up rough all over Cha Yul again.
"Yes! That's how it should be! Prey's gotta thrash right to the end — that's what makes 'em worth chewing!"
Kwang!
Mad Dog kicked off the floor and came at him like a shell.
His vicious claws were slicing in for the boy's throat, and instead of dodging, Cha Yul stretched out a hand, bold. He was going to grab the wrist and drain that whole massive charging kinetic energy right into himself.
But in that instant.
Chiiiik—!
"Ugh!"
Cha Yul swallowed a scream and hurriedly stepped back.
The palm he'd extended was scorched black in a heartbeat, giving off acrid smoke.
Mad Dog's entire arm had heated up like a slab of red-hot iron.
He hadn't just transformed his claws.
He'd heated his own body — every inch of it — to high temperature, turning himself into a living flame.
His own skin had to be cooking off in agony, but he didn't stop.
If anything, he seemed to be relishing the pain — drooling, giggling like a lunatic.
"Kwahaha! Just as I thought!"
Mad Dog clacked his scarlet claws together, showering sparks.
"You can absorb the impact, but can't swallow the heat, huh?"
One exchange, and he'd pinpointed Cha Yul's fatal weakness.
He could absorb kinetic energy, but heat energy was beyond him.
"I'll grill you nice and crisp!"
Shu-shu-shu-shwik—!
Mad Dog's attacks shifted into a rapid combination loaded with heat.
Cha Yul defended, desperate, but every touch seared into his flesh, and in no time his body was in rags.
"What, too hot for you to grab? Come on, show me that great ability of yours!"
Cha Yul blocked a mocking kick.
His arm swelled up like it had been pressed with a hot iron, but the kid didn't back off.
If anything, he gritted his teeth through the pain and clamped down hard on the burning ankle.
Chiiiik—!
"I'm — not letting go!"
The horrific sound of a palm searing came off him.
Cha Yul held on through the agony of his hand turning to charcoal, and condensed every scrap of mana he had left into his other fist.
Even if his own bones melted, he was going to break one of the guy's legs — raw venom in it.
"Cha Yul! Stop!"
I was about to bolt out, screaming, when—
"Yeah. That's the posture."
From somewhere, a languid voice — and a pressure behind it that chilled to the bone.
That instant.
Cha-ja-ja-ja-jak—!!!
The air split open.
Along with an enormous storm, hundreds of black blades poured down like rain and punched clean through the spot where Mad Dog had been standing.
"Grrrr—?!"
Mad Dog jerked back in shock, throwing himself away.
The concrete floor he'd been standing on a heartbeat before was gone without a trace, ground into a deep crater.
The thick dust cloud lifted, and in the center of the destruction stood a man.
The same red hair as Mad Dog's.
But the character of it was completely different.
If Mad Dog was an uncontrollable wildfire raging in every direction, this man was cold, hardened crimson magma.
Korea's Rank 1.
The Sword Emperor — Han Jewoon.
The moment Mad Dog registered him, his eyes rolled back with joy and he screamed:
"Finally, you're here! Sword Emperor!!!"
Ku-kwaaang—!
Mad Dog stomped, and the mana he'd been holding back erupted like a volcano.
Not just Bestial Transformation.
Full release.
Chiiiik—.
Coarse red fur pushed up through muscles bulging fit to burst, and grotesquely twisted knobs of bone shoved through his skin.
Scarlet steam blew off his shaggy body in every direction, like an explosion.
The air around him shimmered and screamed with heat.
"Grrrrr..."
Behind him, an enormous tail rose up; his mouth split back to his ears, and jagged fangs glinted, grotesque.
That was no longer a human.
Every inch of him ablaze, it was — literally — an enormous burning wolf, walked straight out of a hellfire.
"Kwahaha! I've been waiting for you!"
Mad Dog let out an eardrum-splitting mad-laugh and hurled himself at Han Jewoon, wild.
"Let's play like a couple of madmen, shall we?!"
Kuguguung—!
The two monsters collided, and the whole factory shook like an earthquake had hit.
The Fox — leisurely tapping on the barrier in front of me — must have felt that overwhelming pressure, because he glanced back over his shoulder.
"Hmm... this is inconvenient."
His gaze swung back to me.
Every trace of playfulness gone; only cold killing intent left.
"No time to watch the show, it seems. In that case... shall I hurry a little and wrap things up?"
Papapat—!
The instant the words were out, the Fox's right arm blurred and vanished from view.
No — it started pounding on the barrier at a speed too fast to see.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
At a brute destructive power that made his earlier strikes look like nothing, the golden film screamed and cracks spidered out across it.
"D — Director! It — it's breaking!"
Suho, terrified, grabbed a fistful of my waist and screamed.
"It's all right, Suho. Keep your eyes shut."
Soothing the kid, with a trembling hand, I brought the [Mana Pistol] up and lined it, precise, on the point between the Fox's eyes.
My palm was slick with cold sweat.
At his reaction speed, he'll dodge. Doesn't matter.
The instant the barrier broke, I'd fire and buy a single second.
Even a tenth of a second of him pinned would be enough.
While I was holding on for dear life, the fight on the other side was burning far more fiercely.
"See if you can block this!"
Mad Dog — now the full shape of a wolf — kicked off the ground and shot forward.
This time not even an afterimage was visible.
He'd become the red flash itself, going for Han Jewoon's throat.
But in the face of that killing-intent charge, Han Jewoon looked bored enough to yawn.
"Some mangy stray came crawling in, I see."
He slowly drew the old sword at his waist.
Sreung—
A clear, pure ring of steel cut through the noise of the battlefield.
"For a rabid dog... a stick's the cure."
Along the elegant arc his sword traced, hundreds of mana blades — waiting at attention in the air — came pouring down all at once, like a dance.
Krakakang—!
Inside the storm of blades, Mad Dog rolled bloodshot eyes and roared.
"Fuck, I said I'm not a rabid dog! Why do you all keep pulling that same shit — you, everyone else!"
He detonated red mana from every inch of him, batting away and breaking the swords raining down, indiscriminate.
Kwang—!
At last Mad Dog's burning claws and Han Jewoon's sword collided, head-on.
The shockwave exploded outward, and the factory's aged roof was torn off and blown away like a sheet of paper.
"Kraaang!"
Mad Dog used even the recoil driving him back as forward thrust and ricocheted straight back in.
Every swing was an offensive that seemed to tear the air itself.
But in the eye of that typhoon, Han Jewoon was almost too elegant, too calm.
He spun his sword one-handed, letting every one of Mad Dog's attacks slide past.
And with the other hand, he moved as if conducting the air.
Shu-shu-shu-shwik!
At his gesture, hundreds of mana blades came at the wolf's blind spots like living things.
"Ugh!"
Mad Dog twisted his body and dodged, but the blades chased him to the very end — like they were alive — cutting and stabbing into his hide.
Overwhelming.
If Mad Dog's power and speed were the peak of the beast, Han Jewoon's swordsmanship was the peak of the art.
A merciless sword-dance, taking his opponent apart with flawless precision — not a single wasted motion.
Kwaaang—!
Han Jewoon's heavy sword-force slammed into Mad Dog's chest.
The huge wolf spat out a bucket of blood and went tumbling back, ugly.
But Mad Dog was smiling.
"Kwahaha! Yes! This! This is what I'm talking about!"
The beast, drenched in blood, coming at him again — and the Sword Emperor looking down cold, sword leveled.
That wasn't a fight between humans.
It was a clash of monsters.
But I didn't even have the room to take in that overwhelming sight.
Krak—!
Because the world in front of me was cracking.
The last thing standing between us and them — the absolute barrier — had hit its limit and was screaming.
"Hmm... an A-rank artifact really is strong."
The Fox on the other side of the barrier smiled, elegant, and raised his glowing red arm high.
His narrow slit eyes curved cold as a crescent moon.
"But that ends here."
Kwang!
The instant his hand came down, a clear, hopeless shattering sound burst out.
Chaang-grang—!
The golden dome the A-rank artifact had made shattered like glass and scattered into the air.
Completely defenseless.
Now!
I lined up the [Mana Pistol] on the point between his eyes and squeezed the trigger, no hesitation.
Pang—!
A blue flash shot out in a straight line. Distance, timing — flawless.
But.
Swik.
The Fox tilted his head just a fraction and let the bullet slip past.
An impossibly smooth, unhurried motion.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you."
In the blink of an eye, he was already in my face.
Close enough to touch, his slit-eyed face filled my vision.
"I'll just knock you out for a bit. Your arms and legs... I'll take them off nicely, cleanly, so it won't hurt."
He slowly stretched the hand — now with beast's claws — toward my throat.
A cold blade was about to brush the fine hair at the nape of my neck when—
Kwaaang—!
In the narrow slice of air between me and the Fox, along with a boom that tore the air apart, a scarlet pillar of flame shot up like a wall.
"Guild Master! How many times have I told you not to run out ahead of me!!"
A familiar shout from behind.
I whipped my head around.
Standing there was a man in an impeccably pressed suit, as always — Seo Jihyeok.
The only thing different from usual was that he had an old, thick book in one hand.
He held the book open, and with his other hand extended toward me, a ferocious jet of flame was pouring out.
"Yikes!"
The Fox made an exaggerated show of widening his eyes and hopped back to dodge the flames.
"Well, well — reinforcements already? That was fast."
Seo Jihyeok completely ignored the sneer.
He shoved his glasses up, irritated, and issued a warning in a voice much colder and more businesslike than usual.
"I don't know who you are, but step off."
At that, the Fox's slit eyes drifted open and slid, up and down, over Seo Jihyeok.
In those narrow pupils, a sticky, unpleasant gleam flickered.
"Ohh... a mage... a rare ability."
That look.
I felt my spine go cold.
It was the exact stare of the Collector from the original novel — the one who had eyed Cha Yul's ability and licked his lips.
"Seo Jihyeok! Don't let him touch you, ever! He copies abilities the instant he makes physical contact!"
At my scream of a warning, Seo Jihyeok's reaction was machine-quick.
Fwoosh—!
He immediately threw up a thick wall of flame and opened distance to the rear, in an instant.
"Ha... a copycat, is it? The type I hate most."
Seo Jihyeok clicked his tongue, disgusted.
That was the moment.
The Fox's fanning, which had been drifting easily, snapped to a stop.
"...Even down to the activation condition of my ability."
He slowly turned his head and looked me dead-on.
His bare face — the fan lowered — was skin-crawlingly expressionless.
"You... know far too much. Can't afford to leave you alive."
The instant that killing intent locked onto me, it felt like my heart dropped straight through the floor.
My breath caught, and an enormous invisible hand was crushing my lungs — that kind of horrible pressure.
Thankfully, the candy melting in my mouth was still forcibly holding my heart rate down.
Yeah... look at me instead. Get your mind off the kids.
I shoved my shaking hands deep into my pockets to hide them, and — cocking my chin up even more arrogantly — put on a show.
"Ha! Can't afford to leave me alive? Don't make me laugh."
I stood cocked to one side, weight thrown onto one leg, ran my eyes over him like he was a bug, and fired back.
"I couldn't get a word out earlier because I was so disgusted, but — what are you? Just what the hell are you, doing all of this?"
At my provocation, the Fox's eyes narrowed.
"Hmm... so you're that kind of personality. Unexpected."
Whip—!
The instant his words were out, he vanished like a mirage.
And in the next moment—
"Kraaang! Die, Han Jewoon!"
Mad Dog, lost to reason, was still charging at Han Jewoon.
Behind him, the air rippled like a heat haze, and the Fox appeared.
Tak!
"That's enough. We're leaving."
The Fox grabbed the scruff of Mad Dog's red-furred neck, rough, and yanked him back.
"Grrrr! Let go! You not gonna let go?!"
The huge wolf, coated in red fur, thrashed and struggled to shake off the Fox's hand.
Between the torn-open lips of his mouth, hideous fangs flashed.
"Not until I've torn that fucker's throat out! Move!"
But the Fox didn't so much as blink — he whispered, low, into the beast's ear.
"Time's up. Any longer and... He isn't going to be happy, is He?"
That one line was like a magic spell.
The wolf that had been thrashing like a lunatic stopped dead on the spot.
"...Tch!"
Mad Dog spat a wad of blood-flecked spit onto the floor, bitter.
Scarlet steam vented out of his nostrils with each breath.
The huge wolf turned its head and glared at Han Jewoon.
"Han Jewoon... wash your neck and wait. Next time, I'm chewing you up. Guaranteed."
Mad Dog stalked off, huffing, tail down, and the Fox slowly turned back toward me.
"Well... a shame that there were more unexpected interlopers today than I'd counted on..."
His gaze fixed on me.
"But you, at least — genuinely quite interesting. Director Chae Junhyeok."
"...!"
Their bodies started going hazy, as if dissolving into the air.
"Let's meet again, without fail. Next time, I'd like to have... a deeper conversation."
Sreu-reuk—.
Along with that pointed parting line, the two villains scattered into the air like black smoke and were gone.
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