I immediately cast the Teacher Skill on Yuhyeon. Naturally, I felt a pushback.
“...Ugh.”
Although the skill was forcefully rejected, perhaps because he was registered as a keyword through my enhanced mana control, I could just about hold on. Even so, my vision spun and I staggered. In that moment, my brother lunged. Instead of sinking into the sand, willow leaves sprouted beneath his feet. In just two low bounds that brushed the ground, he closed the distance in an instant.
Though I sensed every movement with the Teacher Skill, my body was far too slow to dodge. Yet I had Grace. As long as I avoided being grabbed and having Grace ripped away or my airway cut off, at least I wouldn’t lose—
Vwoom—
Yuhyeon swung his sword straight at me, sheath and all, aiming just ahead of my body. For a moment I panicked, but I soon realized why: a direct attack was blocked anyway. So—
Shhriirr!
The backlash of the strike. Sand shot up as a gust of wind bore down on me. I reflexively raised both arms to block it, but the force thrust me backward, and I tumbled. Right—Grace couldn’t guard against that.
Yuhyeon approached to finish me off. If he pressed down now, it would be over. I had no time to rise and evade. Instead—
Boom!
I detonated a bomb beneath my fallen body. The searing heat and jagged shrapnel were absorbed by Grace, but my body flew upward. In an instant the ground fell far below me.
‘...Ugh, dizzy.’
Desperately trying to steady my swirling vision, I summoned mist. The Pearls of the Sea of Mist, an item lent by Chatterbox: it summoned pure-magic fog, clearly related to the King of the Harmless.
Thick mist spread quickly over the desert. The fog itself was harmless, but could not be dispelled, and it supplemented the owner’s magical power. Combined with my stealth skill, even S-rank Hunters would find me impossible to detect.
I felt Yuhyeon chase through the mist, stepping on willow leaves and rising into the air. I drew another small bomb and set it off alongside a smoke grenade.
Bang!
A deafening blast drove my body into the ground this time. Thanks to the Wildcat set effect and the sandy surroundings, I managed a rough landing and swiftly vanished into the mist.
‘Yuhyeon really has almost no openings.’
They say everyone has a weak point, but there were degrees to it—and it could be trained around.
‘And Elder taught him too.’
When Little Chaos first taught Yuhyeon and Yerim, the first lesson was to recognize and control their own magic. The more adept one became, the fewer gaps there were. Even if you couldn’t eliminate them entirely, those gaps would be smaller and shift faster than with other S-rank Hunters, making them hard to target.
Yuhyeon dropped back down. I felt the mist swirl around him. That made his presence and mana movements even clearer, yet—
‘...My power isn’t enough.’
If I were A-rank, or even B-rank, I might have closed the gap. But Yuhyeon never let down his guard, so I had to get as close as possible—almost to muzzle distance—for an attack. But that was impossible with my physical stats.
If my own strength wouldn’t do it—
Heat flared around Yuhyeon. Dark blue flames roared up, melting the sand. Yet the mist merely shimmered in the blaze, unaffected. If it were ordinary droplets, it would have evaporated, but this mist defied even Yuhyeon’s fire.
With a cool, rigid expression, Yuhyeon slowly rolled his eyes and regarded the fog around him. Then—
“...Han Yuhyeon!”
The fire’s hue lightened. Clumsily, a transparent blue flame flickered forth and swallowed the mist. Startled, he cleared the fog between us. His gaze turned to me.
“What are you doing?! Can’t you stop that right now?!”
“Why?”
He echoed in a low voice. Why?
“If you use that, your lifespan will wear down. Irini told you so! You can’t even control it yet—if you try to burn all this fog, damn it!”
I couldn’t help swearing aloud. With voice chat off anyway, I shouted like a madman. No matter Chatterbox’s safety assurances, this was power that had once shattered the System itself. It could harm his body. Yet Yuhyeon looked at me as if nothing were wrong, his eyes冷.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What?”
“My lifespan is the same as yours. So using it to protect you is actually protecting me.”
“That....”
Strictly speaking, he was right.
“But that’s not what you should be saying right now!”
“Why not?”
Yuhyeon stepped forward. I reflexively backed up, ready to re-deploy the mist. I watched him.
“...Yuhyeon.”
He seemed angry. No—he was definitely angry. His mouth twitched into a faint scowl, teeth clenched.
“It’s disgusting.”
He glared at me as sharply as if he’d tear my throat open—really, it was at my mana imprint.
“If you can burn anything with your flame, I guess you could burn me too.”
Without knowing the exact reason, Yuhyeon felt a strong revulsion at Chatterbox meddling with my mana. I hadn’t realized he would hate it this much.
I took another step back—but the mist held. If I tried to hide in it again, Yuhyeon would burn it with his blue fire. Instead, I focused on the other magic within me.
“You’re my brother.”
I spoke low, almost growling. Yuhyeon lunged toward me. This time, the Sovereign’s Blade was drawn, edge revealed. Simultaneously, the thrown sheath grazed my leg and impaled itself diagonally behind me. My retreating heel slammed into the scabbard.
I saw the black blade shimmer with pale blue fire. I sensed that even Grace could not intercept that. Grace nullified attacks—but the Azure Flame would consume that nullification itself.
If I could raise my rank to SSS or L and exceed it by rank difference, perhaps I could block it. But an L-rank could not sustain even a wellspring of mana. And there were still other Hunters left.
Clang!
With one final leap, Yuhyeon landed right in front of me. Instead of dodging, I crouched low. Grabbing the scabbard that had blocked me, I pressed it against my chest—my heart—just as—
Crrack!
The curved black blade struck the scabbard.
“Ugh!”
My skin seared. Unable to withstand the crushing force, I collapsed onto the sand. Then—thud—Yuhyeon’s foot stepped on me, scabbard and all, pinning me down.
“...What the hell did you do to me, hyung?”
His voice sounded almost sad. He raised the Sovereign’s Blade. Yuhyeon’s eyes fixed on my neck. My chest pressed tight, I panted and raised a hand.
If I couldn’t manage it on my own—
The sword fell toward me. My outstretched hand met the blade’s tip, palm open.
And—
Crack!
“...?”
Blood spurted. Yuhyeon’s eyes went wide. Crimson stained his lips as he squeezed between them. I saw myself in his gaze: within my jet-black eyes, a needle-thin red dragon pupil.
Just before the blade would have pierced my palm, its edge bent—toward its owner.
“...Hyung, this is....”
“...I have the Black Dragon, and I have your blood.”
The owner’s blood in the sword and the dragon’s heart that was the sword itself. Normally, I couldn’t wield that alien power. But now, even if only temporarily, I could swing that mana as if it were mine. Moreover, I was linked to Yuhyeon via the Teacher Skill.
“I am you, and I am that sword, so I could move the Sovereign’s Blade—instantly.”
“...Hyung.”
Gulp—my brother vomited blood again. It was as though he’d stabbed himself with his own strength—a grievous wound impossible to endure long. Yet Yuhyeon’s expression relaxed. A faint smile touched his lips.
“I can... use the sword—Huff...”
“...What?”
Completely drenched in blood, Yuhyeon drew the Sovereign’s Blade. Though he staggered violently, he stood firm and offered me the sword. He was definitely smiling now.
“I can... use your blood... I can...”
I caught the falling sword quickly. Yuhyeon collapsed beside me. I rushed to reach out, but he vanished before I could embrace him. Only gold coins tinkled as they fell.
“...Yuhyeon, you—”
I gripped the hilt. This was the blade that Little Chaos had forbidden me to touch—it was far too dangerous. Yet now, it lay docile as a lamb. Soaking in its owner’s blood, it would wield its full power until that ran out.
“...Ugh.”
Suddenly, a dull ache struck near my heart—along my spine. As if it were pounding—
“Gasp, ugh!”
A pain sharp enough to choke me pierced my lungs. I curled in on myself, barely able to exhale. My palm holding the sword burned hot for a moment—
“...Hah!”
The pain subsided. Still pressing on my throbbing heart, I drew a deep breath. What was that? °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° A side effect of siphoning mana not my own?
Meanwhile, the surroundings shifted back to the blood-spattered forest. I looked at the coins strewn on the scorched earth and picked them up one by one.
“...Life sure tastes bitter.”
Once this was over, I’d have to confess everything. I’d debated whether to speak up. But if I did, they might all band together to stop me. Even with just two or three, it would be truly impossible to win. Then the items would be useless. The dice Chatterbox gave me wasn’t just a luck tool—it transformed the battlefield to one-on-one by drawing only those within a certain radius into the altered space. If multiple Hunters clustered, you couldn’t force a one-on-one.
...And if Yuhyeon uses the Azure Flame, I have no right to blame him. Truly. But who could resist such a contract?
I sheathed the Sovereign’s Blade and returned it to my inventory. Bloodied, I rose and checked the map. The number of dots had dwindled further.
‘Peace and Gyeol were probably conceded by Yuhyeon and Seong Hyunjae.’
Kang Soyeong was nowhere to be seen. If she wasn’t going to attack me, she likely conceded to preserve her coins—or perhaps to fight someone she’d wanted to face.
‘Hyeon-ah and Riete are right next to each other... Huh? Yerim?’
Yerim and Director Song were together. It could be team play, but considering Yerim had faced Seong Hyunjae several times... maybe their target was Director Song.
‘They’ll help me in various ways. It’s best to approach after someone wins their fight.’
I saw Seong Hyunjae move on the map. He quickly approached another Hunter and, in an instant, a dot vanished. I swallowed dryly.
‘I’ll have to deal with him at least once.’
And Seong Hyunjae would likely notice something odd about me, just as Yuhyeon did. He wouldn’t treat me lightly. I rotated the map slightly to scan nearby Hunters. Evelyn must have conceded early—she wasn’t anywhere. Perhaps she thought attacking me was troublesome. Another Hunter disappeared from nearby; in their place stood Noah.
‘Noah doesn’t really like fighting.’
Maybe he was holding off someone else for me. I wanted to verify, but he moved too fast to chase. Instead, I chose another Hunter on the opposite side as my next target.
I used my stealth skill and slowly dispersed the mist. A wary Hunter frowned as he saw fog seeping toward his feet.
“Skill?”
Hidden in the mist, I drew the Sovereign’s Blade. It felt wasteful to use Yuhyeon’s power, but I needed to test its reach. I placed Myungwoo’s toy car behind a tree.
“Who’s there?!”
When the mana within the fog solidified, the Hunter raised his weapon.
“We don’t have to fight each other! Let’s talk first!”
He seemed to think someone else had approached through the mist. I stepped quietly closer, entering the denser fog. I closed in directly behind him and pressed the toy’s remote.
Beep-beep!
The toy car honked as it moved. The Hunter’s attention snapped to it.
Slash!
I swung the sword. Aiming for a gap in his mana, the blade sliced his throat with startling ease. He vanished without a scream. Crimson flames flickered briefly around the blade’s edge before dissipating.
“...Wow.”
I couldn’t help but murmur. A warmth spread through my chest. It felt even more comfortable than when I relied solely on Chatterbox’s items.
‘I should use this sparingly, but...’
Still, simply gaining a melee option effective against S-ranks was a relief. I checked the map again.
Rumble—!
The ground shook. Hyeon-ah and Riete, I see.