𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓𝟗
As you may know if you are interested in predators or have watched related broadcasts,
They tend to act in an interesting way in many situations with an endless instinct for exploration.
If there is a creature they see for the first time, they will approach it for no reason and touch it, and they never leave anything they care about alone.
Myudusa was the same.
「𝘼𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣.」
It may have barely acquired what can be called intelligence, but it does not have the unique wisdom that appears in human-shaped yokai.
In other words, it meant that it was faithful to its instincts.
「𝘼𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙧. . . . . . .」
In fact, it’s not even an attack.
At first, it just wagged its tail after finding us first, and the second time, it just got annoyed and got nervous because it was hurt.
And we barely managed to stop even such tantrums. If we hadn’t handled it properly, there might have been fatalities.
That was the gap between the top yokai and humans.
I focused more and more and warned the members.
“You need to bring your tension to the max. From now on, the guy will recognize us as a clear enemy and attack us.”
If the first impression was an ant that could be trampled on at any time, now the guy’s appearance must be different.
Perhaps Shin No-eul is a ferocious wild dog, and we are like a swarm of bees flying in groups?
Unfortunately, there was definitely that much difference.
“The 1st team will use the restraint technique again, and the 2nd team will attack the eyes with a deterrent technique or draw attention to assist the Team Leader. You should never use a strong technique right now.”
Now is the time to go on the defensive. If you deploy a high-level attack technique and get attacked, your defense will be late.
After giving the instructions, I brought in all the members of the remaining 3rd team and rearranged them so that they could deploy defensive techniques at any time.
And I sent a shadow to Arietta to secretly convey my intentions.
『Shin No-eul alone is not enough. When it’s time to come out in earnest, save your strength.』
As Arietta nodded, Myudusa’s atmosphere changed completely.
And soon, a strange sound began to echo everywhere.
Squeak!
Piiiik!
Swish.
Pirilirik.
It sounded like a whistle, or like the sound of a balloon deflating.
As I listened to the strange phenomenon, I felt like my mind was going numb.
As soon as I felt that dreamy sensation, I instinctively woke up my mind and shouted to Arietta.
“White Yang right now!”
“. . .Here.”
Arietta, who had shaken off the charm at almost the same time, called the pure white fox from her earrings.
And White Yang grasped the situation and immediately let out a cry.
Hoo-woong.
『Keying─!』
Only then did the members, who had completely regained their senses, shudder and open their eyes.
“What, what was that just now?”
“It’s his technique! Everyone, wake up!”
“. . .Tsk, what a nuisance.”
Come to think of it, except for the 1st-grade exorcist Yoo Jin-ho who had regained his senses like us, almost everyone was about to fall into Myudusa’s sorcery.
I almost suffered a big loss this one time.
The members expressed their gratitude to Arietta and I with their eyes.
「. . .𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚.」
However, embarrassingly, the situation had already changed in that short time.
I don’t know when the battle took place, but Myudusa had a long wound on his face, while Shin No-eul was frowning and holding her left arm.
Even in that brief moment, their fight continued.
“We have to buy time! Shoot the spell right now!”
At my words, the members of the 1st team deployed the magic they had prepared, and I also accurately shot an intermediate curse at Myudusa’s wound.
The attack didn’t have much effect, but Shin No-eul was able to take that opportunity to step back.
“Team Leader!”
“Are you okay?”
“. . .Why are you making such a fuss? I knew from the beginning that this was the opponent.”
She spoke calmly, but her wound seemed more serious than I thought. Besides, the fact that she couldn’t move her arm at all seemed like she had been poisoned or cursed.
「𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣?」
An ability that yokai modeled after snakes often possess.
Recalling that, I quickly approached Shin No-eul and said.
“I’ll use the curse of reversal. If it succeeds, the paralysis of your arm will be released and the guy’s movements will be stiff for a moment.”
“What, you can use forbidden techniques too? But will it work on an opponent like that?”
“Yes. It’s likely to work.”
As Shin No-eul tilted her head at my confident words, Arietta, who was next to her, gave her support.
“. . .It’ll work. I’ve never seen my junior’s judgment wrong.”
It was quite an exaggeration, but at Arietta’s words, Shin No-eul seemed to have made up her mind.
“Really, you’re a subordinate who calmly asks your superior to risk her life.”
“Isn’t it for everyone to survive?”
“. . .If you fail, you know to run away.”
Shin No-eul simply patched up her wounds without hesitation and headed towards Myudusa again.
If you have such a superior, I think it wouldn’t be bad to believe in and follow her.
It was a moment when I deeply understood the loyalty of the Red Unit members.
Shin No-eul, who was standing in front of Myudusa, began to chant a mantra as if squeezing out all of her spiritual power.
“Hanjungyushin, Yongyeonkijonggyeong, Geuk, Tae, Yonsaa. . . . . .”
I felt a chill down my spine as I heard it, and I looked at her back with bewildered eyes.
Because right now, Shin No-eul was doing something crazy, chanting the mantra of a grand spell in front of Myudusa, a S-rank yokai.
「. . . . . . .」
Only then did I realize her determination.
「𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝.」
It wasn’t just words. Shin No-eul really risked her life on the suggestion of a mere academy student.
And all of that was to defeat the powerful yokai Myudusa and save the members.
Shin No-eul’s gaze, who had briefly turned her eyes back, turned to me. I met it without avoiding it and nodded.
「. . .𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡.」
Hwarreuk.
Hoo-woong!
I took out all the spiritual power that had seeped into the Baryok Beads, and used the Spirit Absorption trait to pour all the spiritual power I could into a single technique.
And I quietly chanted the mantra.
“The grudge of the soul , the desire of the source. . .”
Sreuk.
Pass-swaeng.
Next, I used the Evolution technique to send a shadow to Shin No-eul’s left arm.
It was a transfer, an advanced technique that sends out a spell deployed through a shadow.
“Anti-original Resentment.”
Pasasasak!
As the technique was completed, Myudusa’s curse that had eroded Shin No-eul’s arm began to collide with my forbidden technique.
At first, it seemed like they were fighting hard, but unlike the other side who had only cast a curse for a moment, this side was a technique that had used all of its power.
To that, the correction of my karma value was added, and the forbidden technique finally devoured the curse, making it stronger and returning it to Myudusa.
“Shwiiik!”
I guess the effect worked more than I thought, Myudusa froze for a moment with a stiff expression.
And at that moment, Shin No-eul’s grand spell, which had completed the mantra without a single flinch, hit the guy exactly.
“Loan Thunderbolt.”
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Kwarrreung!
Zheeeeng!
Kwak!
Kwakakakak!
Far away in the sky, a spiritual power spear strikes the ground like a bolt of lightning.
Its scale was so large that it covered a certain space, and Lee Doo-sik, the vice-leader of the Red Unit, knew exactly what the technique was.
It was the grand spell of his superior, Shin No-eul’s Loan Thunderbolt.
「𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧. . . . . . .」
It could be seen as a good thing, but it could also be interpreted as a bad thing.
On the one hand, it meant that the opponent was so strong that it was necessary to use a grand spell, and on the other hand, it was proof that they had succeeded in somehow hitting the opponent with a grand spell.
The exorcists who watched it next to Lee Doo-sik also expressed their admiration.
“. . .Amazing.”
“Is that the grand spell of Team Leader Shin No-eul?”
“If it hits properly, no one will be safe.”
Lee Doo-sik, who had suffered a considerable wound in the previous battle, had recovered enough to participate in the battle after going through hardships.
Besides, he had gathered all the exorcists from the nearby Defense Corps.
“I’m sorry, but please give me a little more strength! Time is of the essence!”
“I understand.”
“I will cast the family’s secret body strengthening spell on everyone.”
Hoo-woong.
Finally, a Baek family member, who was a guest of the Defense Corps, helped the exorcists from his hometown to increase their speed, and they headed to the battlefield with both anticipation and concern for the outcome of the battle.
And there, they witnessed despair.
“T-This, this can’t be. . . . . . .”
His precious colleagues who had spent many years with him, and the 1st-grade exorcist Yoo Jin-ho, whom he considered a rival and a great competitor, were all bleeding and lying on the floor.
Just in case, he checked the pulse of the 3rd-year member Kwak Woong-gil, who was closest, and he was already dead.
Sreuk.
As Lee Doo-sik knelt down in frustration, an elderly exorcist who had been watching the situation spoke urgently.
“Don’t jump to conclusions! Most of them are still breathing!”
“Huh?”
When he hurriedly ran to hear that, it was definitely true. Although each of them had a miserable appearance, everyone except Kwak Woong-gil hadn’t given up their life yet.
「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙞 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮.」
If so, the judgment was easy.
Someone had lured the yokai to another place and was still fighting.
There were only three people who were not currently present: Shin No-eul, Han Kang-yoon, and Arietta Morgan.
「𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣? 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙢𝙚𝙣?」
It was hard to believe, but all the clues pointed to it.
Yoo Jin-ho, who had after feeling the presence and regained his senses, said to Lee Doo-sik with a gasp.
“The team leader and the freshmen. . . . . . .”
It was a small voice that was about to crack, but that was enough.
The exorcists, who understood the situation, quickly began to act without anyone giving instructions.
“Three people will stay and collect the patients.”
“We have to hurry. Even that monster must be pretty hurt if it’s a fight of this level.”
“I’ll take the lead!”
If the team leader was still there fighting the guy, this time he had to lend his strength.
Lee Doo-sik once again squeezed the hand of Yoo Jin-ho, who had lost consciousness, and ran towards the direction where he felt the energy again.
He sincerely hope that the lives of the three of them will be preserved until they arrive.
Leave a Reply