Chapter 74

Chapter 74

WHOOSH--!

Dark-crimson Ether engulfed Eunseong.

Wreathed in it, he looked like a Blood Fiend drenched in crimson.

CRACK-CRACK--!

As if crushed by an invisible force, the floor around Eunseong fractured in a web of spidery cracks.

The air grew leaden and pressed down on everything nearby.

POP! POP!

The surrounding lights and the headlights of nearby cars burst.

Slaughter Game, Blooming.

Massacre Banquet.

"HAAAH!"

Gu Taeil clutched his chest.

The pressure pouring off Eunseong made even breathing a struggle.

"N-no way. Haah!"

Gu Taeil simply could not believe it.

Blooming.

The act of a Hunter unlocking a Spirit Sword's latent potential and fully unleashing its power.

It was commonly regarded as the exclusive domain of Hunters who had reached the 5-Star level, but the reality was different.

Not that many Hunters actually succeeded in achieving Blooming.

In truth, the majority couldn't even approach its threshold.

Because the conditions for Blooming varied drastically from Hunter to Hunter.......

As a result, even among 5-Star Hunters, the gap between those who had achieved Blooming and those who hadn't was beyond imagination.

Enough to make the gap between a 4-Star Hunter and a 5-Star Hunter look like child's play.

"N-no. No way."

Gu Taeil stumbled backward, denying reality.

How could a greenhorn who was a mere 4-Star possibly be capable of Blooming?

That was common sense.

No matter how gifted a Hunter might be, if they hadn't reached 5-Star, Blooming was something they couldn't dream of, let alone attempt.

Yet in this very moment.

That common sense--that absolute truth--was crumbling before his eyes.

THUD!

Eunseong advanced toward Gu Taeil.

WHOOSH--!

Dark-crimson Ether, thick and viscous as blood, crept outward and swallowed the surrounding space.

"Urgh!"

Gu Taeil tried releasing his own Ether to resist, but it was futile.

His Ether was devoured, nullified by Eunseong's as if consumed whole.

"Huh......?"

Gu Taeil's eyes shook violently.

THUD!

Eunseong took another step forward.

CRUNCH--!

An invisible force bore down on Gu Taeil's body.

Tremble, tremble, tremble--!

Gu Taeil's legs shook.

Eunseong slowly raised his head and looked at Gu Taeil.

A chill shot through him.

Gu Taeil flinched the moment their eyes met.

There were no whites.

Eyes dyed black.

And crimson pupils.

The Blood Eyes of a Blood Fiend.

Eunseong slowly opened his mouth.

The voice that came out was not his own--a ringing, metallic timbre closer to the scrape of iron.

"Try it."

"Tr-try what......?"

"Blooming."

"......"

Gu Taeil clenched his jaw instead of answering.

"Don't tell me you can't?"

"Sh-shut up!"

Gu Taeil exploded.

"You fucker! Who the hell are you to run your mouth at me!"

Fury overtook fear.

Blooming.

Gu Taeil's reverse scale.

The inferiority complex of a man who had reached 5-Star yet couldn't come close to Blooming, let alone achieve it, was beyond all comprehension.

And all the worse when his opponent was Eunseong.

"Defective."

"D-defective......?"

Gu Taeil sputtered, rendered speechless by the sheer extremity of the insult.

"That's right. Defective."

A sneer curled on Eunseong's lips.

"Substandard garbage. That's what you are."

"......!"

"An inferior breed like that deserves to be culled."

Eunseong slowly raised the Slaughter Game.

SHING--!

The blade, oozing Blood Energy in thick, pulsing waves, glinted dangerously.

"Right here."

BOOM--!

Eunseong compressed the distance between himself and Gu Taeil.

***

A Hunter who has achieved Blooming with their Spirit Sword becomes exponentially stronger than usual.

Perhaps it was only natural.

A Spirit Sword is an existence that grows alongside its Hunter.

The battle between Eunseong and Gu Taeil proved that fact as well.

CLANG, CLANG--!

"Nggggh!"

Gu Taeil was driven backward again and again.

Each time, his Vitality--his crimson life force--was siphoned into the Slaughter Game.

Blood Drain.

The Bloomed Slaughter Game was a malevolent spirit that drained the life force of its enemies through mere contact.

SLASH--!

"......!"

Gu Taeil crossed his Claws in an X to block Eunseong's strike.

CRASH--!

An earsplitting roar, and Gu Taeil was sent flying as if hit by a car, smashing into a wall.

"GURGH!"

Blood erupted from Gu Taeil's mouth.

Once again, his life force was ripped away and drawn into the Slaughter Game in Eunseong's hand.

"Am-Ampoule. Ampoule......"

Gu Taeil frantically pulled a Vitality Ampoule from his Inventory, but Eunseong didn't allow even that.

WHOOSH--!

Red blades rained down.

"......!"

A panicked Gu Taeil threw himself aside with every ounce of strength he had left.

THUNK, THUNK, THUNK, THUNK, THUNK...... THUNK!

Dozens of red blades punched through the wall where Gu Taeil had been and vanished.

"Huk, hurrk!"

Cold sweat streamed down Gu Taeil's spine.

A moment later and he'd have been riddled with holes.

WHIRR--!

The red blades that had pierced through the wall returned to Eunseong and orbited around him.

"Wh-what the."

Gu Taeil's voice trembled.

"Don't tell me ag--"

WHOOSH--!

"Fuck!"

Gu Taeil hurled himself away once more.

RUMBLE--!

He curled into a ball and rolled across the floor.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

Red blades punched through every spot he'd just vacated.

"Fuck......!"

Gu Taeil barely managed to get up.

He'd dodged.

He was sure he'd dodged, and yet......

SQUELCH--!

Something heavy and solid pierced Gu Taeil's flank.

"HAAAAAH......"

A wheezing gasp escaped Gu Taeil's lips.

"That ability really suits you."

Eunseong whispered by Gu Taeil's ear.

"......!"

Shock flooded Gu Taeil's eyes.

When had he--?

What had pierced Gu Taeil's flank wasn't a red blade.

A jungle machete with a dark-crimson edge.

Its blunt, crude blade was buried in his side.

"Rolling really is your thing."

"What kind of bull-- GAKH!"

"Like a bug."

"A-a bug......?"

"Just like you."

Gu Taeil realized the smile on Eunseong's face was unmistakable mockery and contempt.

Eunseong was not looking at Gu Taeil as a fellow human being.

Just a bug.

Nothing more, nothing less.

"RRRRRGH......!!!"

Gu Taeil trembled with rage.

He wanted to fire back.

But he couldn't bring himself to.

The image surfaced.

Himself, rolling desperately across the floor to stay alive.

"Ha, haaah......"

Gu Taeil's breathing grew more and more ragged.

His strength was slowly fading.

It was being stolen.

SLUUURP--!

The Slaughter Game embedded in his flank was greedily devouring his life force.

Like a blood-starved fiend.

HISSS--!

Gu Taeil's skin turned papery and withered, his muscles deflating like a burst balloon.

"N-no! NOOOOO--!!!"

Gu Taeil's scream echoed through the underground parking garage.

***

The fight between Choi Yura and Jeong Mujin was evenly matched, with neither holding a clear advantage.

Both were 4-Star Hunters with abundant combat experience, so the outcome wasn't easily decided.

"Why are you going this far? Is there really a reason to risk your life over some two-bit thug dying?"

Jeong Mujin genuinely could not understand Choi Yura.

Her ex-boyfriend hadn't been a great person.

He'd been a delinquent-turned-street-thug, a third-rate tattoo artist who specialized in irezumi tattoos, and ultimately a lowlife criminal who'd even worked as a Wrecker.

What was so worth caring about that she'd let things escalate to this......?

Choi Yura did not answer.

SLASH--!

She simply swung her chains in silence.......

"Shit!"

Jeong Mujin reflexively raised his sword.

Chain and blade met with a burst of sparks.

The instant Jeong Mujin thought he'd blocked it--

CRACK--!

The chain's trajectory bent.

SPLATTER--!

Flesh tore away and blood sprayed.

CLATTER--!

The chain lashed through the air again.

"......!"

Jeong Mujin's eyes lost the chain's path.

He couldn't read it.

It was neither a straight line nor a curve.

Choi Yura's chain moved as if it had a will of its own--like a living serpent, unpredictable, worming its way into Jeong Mujin's every opening.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

"Rrgh!"

Jeong Mujin deflected the chain again and again, but each time his body lurched violently.

Bit by bit, ever so slightly.

The balance of power was shifting.

"Hurrk, hurrk!"

Jeong Mujin's breathing grew ragged.

Choi Yura was different.

Her breathing was steady, her eyes clear.

"Why are you going this far?!"

Jeong Mujin screamed through clenched teeth.

"All this over some piece of trash--!"

SLASH--!

A chain flew in place of an answer, as always.

"Fuck!"

The instant Jeong Mujin cursed and threw himself aside--

CLATTER--!

Another chain coiled around Jeong Mujin's ankle.

WHOOSH--!

His body was lifted into the air.

The ceiling.

The chain snaked upward around a thick pipe running between the concrete.

"Hurrk!"

Jeong Mujin's vision flipped upside down.

And the result--

"Ngh!"

Jeong Mujin hung upside down, dangling.

"Son of a b--"

CLATTER--!

SQUEEZE--!

Another chain coiled around Jeong Mujin's throat.

CLANG--!

Jeong Mujin's Spirit Sword clattered to the ground.

"Gkh!"

Jeong Mujin strained with every fiber of his being, but the harder he struggled, the deeper the chain bit in.

Drip, drip, drip.......

Blood poured from where the chain cut into his neck and hands.

Her chain was like a thorny rose vine--a weapon bristling with blades that jutted out like the teeth of a saw.

"Did you think......"

Choi Yura whispered in Jeong Mujin's ear.

"I'd waste my words on garbage like you?"

"Ngh!"

"The only thing I want to hear is you screaming."

As she said it, Choi Yura's face was more ruthless and chilling than anyone's.

"Remember? I promised I'd give you the most painful death this world has ever seen."

Choi Yura drew a dagger and spoke.

Fear seeped into Jeong Mujin's eyes.

And then Choi Yura's punishment of Jeong Mujin began.

"AARGH, AAAARGH, AAAAAAAAAARGH--!!!"

A wretched scream ripped from Jeong Mujin's throat.

......For a very, very long time.

***

SQUELCH--!

The Slaughter Game slid free of Gu Taeil's body.

THUD--!

Gu Taeil's knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground.

"N-no. No......"

Muttering like a man who'd lost his mind, Gu Taeil crawled across the floor and picked up a car's side mirror that had fallen to the ground.

Of all things, it was the side mirror of a Rolls-Royce Phantom--the very car he'd once called his dream car back when he'd been broke beyond broke.

His hands trembled.

Gu Taeil held the cracked side mirror up to his face.

"......!"

Gu Taeil's fading eyes filled with shock.

"......AARGH!"

He flung the side mirror away as if he'd touched something filthy.

"N-no."

Gu Taeil shook his head.

"No, it can't be. No. No. NOOOOO--!"

Gu Taeil simply could not accept it.

What stared back at him from the side mirror was the past version of himself he had so utterly despised.