TOP 09

Chapter 9

 Win

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Whoooooosh──!

A massive axe swung at my ribs as if to split my body in two.

Hut.

Instinctively, I leaned my upper body back.

The axe barely grazed my abdomen.

Tat-tak.

As soon as the axe passed, I launched my body backward, put my hand down, spun around once, and stood up.

“Not bad,” Yong Taesu muttered, praising.

I didn’t feel even a shred of happiness.

Hoo.

Calmly catching my breath, I drew the Everfrost Sword.

“Finally decided to fight properly? I’m looking forward to it,” Yong Taesu said, unable to hide his excitement.

He was the embodiment of a battle maniac.

[He’s crazy! Crazy about fighting!]

Pril.

[And Eugene is crazy about survival! Crazy vs. crazy, this’ll be fun!]

“…You need to calm down too.”

I tried to calm the dopamine-fueled Pril.

“And get ready. You might need help.”

[Okay!!]

Following earlier, I was about to engage in combat with Yong Taesu again.

I had felt a sense of crisis before, but this time the situation was much worse.

Unlike before when he didn’t use weapons, this time he charged wielding his main weapon — the axe.

“If you’re ready, I’ll go again.”

“…You’ve been waiting?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because it wouldn’t be fun if I just ambushed and killed you!”

With that shout, Yong Taesu stomped powerfully.

Immediately, that huge presence charged at me.

Crazy.

It was nothing short of horror.

A massive rush of overwhelming weight.

The first attack had been threatening enough, but was that just him going easy?

This time, it reminded me of an 8-ton truck with broken steering barreling toward me.

Just before collision, I barely dove to the side.

Crash!

Yong Taesu smashed through the wall and into the next room.

“W-what!?”

“Huh! Captain Yong?!”

Amid the commotion, he quickly returned.

“You dodged that? You’re no ordinary guy.”

“…Then should I have just taken it?”

“Most people are too scared to dodge.”

“I see.”

Fair enough.

I almost peed myself out of fear.

Also, I wanted to talk down to him casually, but that just wasn’t coming out.

Felt like my anger control had slipped automatically.

At that moment, Ma Gwangjin, the HR team leader, who was watching Yong Taesu’s heavy charge, spoke.

“T-Team Leader, please try not to destroy the building if possible…”

“HR Team Leader.”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“…”

Apparently, Yong Taesu didn’t care about the guild’s property or anything.

Having silenced Gwangjin, he grinned and said to me,

“How dare you recklessly upset our HR team leader.”

“…”

“I’ll repay you with death.”

I was speechless.

Who was the one just telling the HR team leader to shut up?

“Isn’t that a pretty weak excuse?”

“Does that matter?”

“And HR team leader didn’t even tell me to kill you… ugh!”

Whoooosh─!

The giant axe slashed diagonally through the air.

“Talk too much.”

“…”

Yeah.

Honestly, I still had some hesitation.

Hoping to resolve this without much fighting.

‘Honestly, I don’t want to fight an experienced 4-star Hunter.’

It had been less than a day since I regained full use of my powers.

I didn’t want to face this kind of crisis so soon, so I wanted to avoid it, but now I accepted it.

“You’ve got the right look in your eyes.”

“…”

This wasn’t something that could be solved with talk.

Clack.

I reversed my grip on the Everfrost Sword.

Hoo.

To be honest, I’m not confident with swords.

But I couldn’t avoid using it either.

“Then come on, struggle all you want!”

Kwang─!

Yong Taesu’s huge body charged to crush me.

And the giant axe swung down.

Kang!

I tilted the Everfrost Sword and deflected the giant axe.

“I can’t just keep dodging.”

I couldn’t fight him barehanded.

Blocking an axe with bare hands was impossible, so I had to dodge these brute attacks, which was almost suicidal.

Huk-!

Just after deflecting the axe, a left hook flew toward me.

“Like a shield, not a sword.”

Again, I blocked it with the Everfrost Sword.

Since I wasn’t good at swordplay yet, normal sword fighting was a curse.

Like bunting in baseball, I held the sword reversed and short, using it as a shield.

That was one of the few solutions I could come up with quickly in this situation.

“Good choice. Not enough strength, huh?”

Luckily or not, Yong Taesu misunderstood my reason.

I honestly didn’t care.

I calmly rotated my magic power.

Suuuuu—

I had confirmed earlier that normal attacks didn’t work.

At minimum, my Everfrost Sword or attacks imbued with magic had to connect.

Whoosh— whoosh─!

Yong Taesu’s attacks continued relentlessly.

The giant axe kept trying to split me, and his solid limbs constantly looked for openings.

“He’s not just good with the axe.”

The axe is powerful in a single strike but slow to recover.

That’s okay against monsters, but in human combat, it’s a glaring weakness.

But Yong Taesu covered this weakness with excellent martial arts skills.

“How long will you just defend?”

After swinging the axe, he would follow with punches or kicks.

His rock-hard body forced me to defend against those as well.

One solid hit and it would be over.

Finding a counterattack opening was difficult.

Still,

“The opportunity will come.”

I focused calmly on dodging and defending.

With my current skill, rushing to attack would be dangerous.

“I see it!”

After enduring, Yong Taesu’s attack patterns began to become clear.

Whoosh─!

The giant axe swung down.

A sense of déjà vu.

“Next… left hook!”

I had been hit by that attack before.

Thanks to that, I recognized the movement half a beat early.

Huk-!

I lowered my posture and slipped the left hook over my head.

This time it wasn’t like before where I had to block with the sword.

“!?”

Naturally, my side was exposed.

But hitting there was pointless.

His hard body wouldn’t take damage properly.

“But what if I hit him with a magic-imbued strike?”

I concentrated magic into my left fist…

Kwaaang!

I struck Yong Taesu’s side.

“Hgh!”

Yong Taesu gasped, stepping back quickly.

He seemed to feel the impact, putting more weight on his side.

And then,

“Oh my, Captain Yong is pushed back!?”

“Who’s that guy? A Hunter I’ve never seen.”

“Isn’t that that rude porter from Team 8?”

“…That guy?”

Spectators had gathered by then.

They were other Gwangcheolpa Hunters watching through the wall Yong Taesu had broken.

“What to do now. He got hit in front of his subordinates.”

So I tried to provoke him.

If I could unsettle him, it might be easier to find an opening.

But Yong Taesu just smiled slyly.

“So what?”

“…Calm.”

“In a real fight between men, pride doesn’t matter. Whatever.”

It seemed all he cared about was having a good fight.

Actually, the one who seemed flustered by my provocation was the HR team leader Ma Gwangjin, crouched in the corner.

“Hey, wait, who are you guys? Everyone out!”

From his position, having too many watchers wasn’t good.

If Yong Taesu really killed me, he’d have to clean up the mess.

‘Of course, I don’t intend to die.’

That wouldn’t happen, whether I died or the other Hunters gave up watching.

“Let’s have a proper fight.”

At that moment, Yong Taesu readjusted his grip on the axe and caught his breath.

‘Magic power in the axe…’

Then I felt the flow of magic.

What this meant was clear.

“Oh, aura!”

“A 4-star Hunter’s privilege!”

“Everyone out! Damn it!”

“What’s going on?”

“Captain Yong is using aura!”

“Wow. I can see this with my own eyes!”

He was about to use aura.

Magic shimmer began to gather on the axe’s blade.

“I’ll give you credit. You made me use this.”

“No, isn’t it unfair to use aura just because you got hit once?”

“That hit was pretty solid.”

I was just speechless.

If I had been pushing hard, I’d understand.

But I’d just landed one hit after being pushed back for so long, and he immediately pulled out this card?

Aura.

Simply put, an insanely powerful skill.

Only another aura can block aura attacks.

And obviously, as a 3-star, I couldn’t use aura yet.

‘Can the Everfrost Sword block it?’

I wasn’t sure.

Though unique-grade, I wasn’t confident it could stop aura.

Even if it could block, it probably couldn’t absorb the shock.

“Then try to block this too!”

Before I could think further, Yong Taesu charged again.

Same attack pattern but with much heavier impact.

Hwaah─!

The giant axe tore through the air violently.

I rolled hurriedly to the side.

Crash!

The giant axe struck the ground.

Then,

Creak!

The floor cracked and the whole floor shook.

That was aura power.

‘Scary as hell.’

The good thing was, Yong Taesu didn’t seem to fully control that power.

If he did, he’d have attacked repeatedly instead of breaking the floor.

Of course, it didn’t mean he had no follow-up attacks.

There was just a slight delay between attacks.

“Die!”

Yong Taesu charged again.

It was like a mountain charging forward.

And I…

“…Go in!”

I gritted my teeth and pushed forward, overcoming my instinct to retreat.

I was familiar with Yong Taesu’s moves.

Now was the time to advance, not retreat.

One step forward, then another.

Whoooosh──!

His axe swung horizontally.

He struck the floor.

Forward, then upward.

I crouched as tightly as I could in midair.

Swish─

The aura-imbued axe grazed under me.

Watching Yong Taesu’s surprised face, I stabbed forward with the Everfrost Sword.

Hup!

If luck was on my side, this might end the fight here.

But…

Screech!

“Damn.”

I only managed to slash his shoulder.

Yong Taesu twisted his body suddenly.

To make matters worse,

Taang-!

Yong Taesu swatted the Everfrost Sword away with a quick hand gesture.

Thunk!

The sword flew and stuck into the ceiling.

“Ugh.”

“Impressive. I’ll give you credit.”

Yong Taesu said to me leisurely.

“…”

I had no reply.

It was a desperate strike for me but fell short.

The difference in basic physical ability and combat experience was too great.

‘Damn. If only I’d been in a few real fights with a sword…’

The thing I regretted most was my swordsmanship skills.

“Good effort. But I think the match is over.”

Yong Taesu slowly walked toward me.

“You have nothing more to show? It’s been fun after a long time.”

Though my shoulder had some frostbite effect, it wasn’t enough to change the tide.

Sigh.

A sigh of regret escaped me.

‘Definitely, I’m still inexperienced.’

4-star Hunter’s specs and skills were outstanding, but if I were just a little better…

No, honestly, if I had more time training after regaining my powers…

‘Maybe I could have won.’

I couldn’t be sure, but…

‘I would have.’

At least, that’s what I believed.

So, once I got out of this, I’d train properly.

That’s what I vowed.

Then,

“You. Surrender and join me.”

Yong Taesu’s shadow fell across my face.

Surely, this guy didn’t want to kill me.

Maybe he just wanted a proper fight and said he’d kill me.

That’s how it seemed.

“Indeed! Good idea, Captain.”

Hearing that, HR team leader Ma Gwangjin brightened.

From his perspective, this was far better than me dying.

No cleanup needed, and I would be forced to sign the slave contract without resistance.

But,

‘Nobody cares about my will.’

Whoever said I lost?

‘I won’t rot here.’

I had a goal.

‘Revenge.’

Namgung Myung, who killed my parents.

And the Gaia Cult, who everyone mistakenly thinks are the world’s protectors.

I would tear them to pieces with my own hands.

I had finally solved the side effects of my “Magic Overload” and opened the path to revenge, so I couldn’t kneel now.

So,

‘One Punch.’

I used a finishing move to turn this situation around.

[‘Power: One Punch’ skill activated.]

[A small amount of magic power consumed.]

Swoooooosh—

All my magic surged into my right fist.

The considerable magic movement and concentration.

Did he feel it?

“…What?!”

Yong Taesu recoiled and raised his axe.

Then, as if trying to kill me before my attack,

He swung the axe.

“Pril!”

[Been waiting!]

But I had one more useful weapon.

The ice spirit Pril, contracted to me, whom Yong Taesu couldn’t guard against.

Zzzt-

In an instant, an ice arrow formed on the back of Yong Taesu’s head.

Stronger attacks would have been better, but Pril lost most of her power when contracting with me.

Still, this was enough to catch the enemy off guard.

“Ugh!?”

Yong Taesu recoiled and turned his head.

His attack naturally canceled.

Whooooong─

I threw a destructively vibrating punch charged with magic.

Tchooaaak──

Magic exploded forward.

The “One Punch” skill slammed into Yong Taesu.

Kwaaaaaaang─────!!!