The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 585: Preparing the Ingredients (7)

“Are you kidding me! That’s SS–class!”

It wasn’t completely destroyed. But it had split nearly in half, and about half of the strings hanging off it had been blown away. Even if I’d wrapped it in an SS–class chain to focus the blow and poured in my mana, for it to break that easily… Was the staff a replica with low durability? Did that bastard Chatterbox give me a defective product?

I didn’t even have time to be shocked before the chain turned on me this time. I hurriedly bound the chain with the remaining strings and threw myself into the fog. I dragged as much mist out as I could and used my stealth skill.

‘…Honestly, I’m screwed.’

If the opponent’s weapon was a blade or a blunt instrument, Grace was incredibly effective. But what Seong Hyunjae wielded was a chain that could bind its target. Grace nullified the damage, not the attack itself, so it was useless against something wrapping around me.

‘The only reason I’m still alive is that he doesn’t plan to kill me right away.’

If Seong Hyunjae wanted, he could have crushed my windpipe instantly without needing to probe Grace at all. Even while I was using a stealth skill, I unconsciously held my breath. Clatter, kak! His shoe stepped toward where the staff’s strings and the golden chain were struggling against each other. Beyond the mist I could see his face, expressionless and sunk. His foot lifted and then stomped down hard on the head of the staff.

The staff, planted in the ground, sank into the earth as easily as a candle pushed into a cake. I stared blankly for a second, then hurriedly moved the strings. At some point a thin metal staff had appeared in Seong Hyunjae’s hand, and with a sharp smack he knocked aside the string aiming for his leg.

Even teleportation was useless. His staff pinned one of the strings down. Sparks of electricity crackled around Seong Hyunjae’s hand, ran down the metal rod, and charred the red string black before snapping it clean. Like pressing down and killing a struggling ant, he calmly went one by one; the severed strings scattered around him.

“Your silence is awfully thorough.”

Tak! Sparks flew again and another string snapped away. There weren’t many left now. The Seeker’s Chain had regained its freedom and was circling its master.

“Are you just going to stay hidden and stall for time?”

His voice was low and indifferent. The red strings, twitching from the current before falling still, felt like something dying. Seong Hyunjae lifted his head. His gaze swept over the fog spread around us and, just for a moment, met my eyes. There was no way he could actually see me, but my shoulders hunched reflexively.

I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.

‘…I’m way too intimidated.’

It wasn’t my first time fighting Seong Hyunjae. But I kept shrinking back. He was the kind of opponent you never really got used to no matter how many times you clashed, but still, there was no reason for me to act this pathetic.

I pulled myself together and focused on him. One thing was certain: breaking an SS–class weapon had eaten up a lot of his mana. Even so, he was still steady and–

‘…Huh?’

Something snagged on my senses. One of Seong Hyunjae’s arms felt blurrier than the rest of his body. It was in such bad shape that it was weird I hadn’t noticed until now. Did he get hurt fighting another Hunter? But who on earth could have done that?

I pulled out my radio and used a stealth item. It was a low–grade, single–use sound–blocking item with a very small range, usually used just to muffle breathing—which also meant it would muffle my voice.

“S–class going after an F–class, how classy!”

Seong Hyunjae turned his head toward the sound. His eyes landed on the wireless receiver strapped to a tree.

“What’re you staring at? Never seen a talking tree before?”

I quickly switched channels and didn’t say anything this time. At the same moment—

Crunch!

The chain shot out and smashed the receiver wedged between the rocks. He’d homed in on the tiniest sound. Bits of metal scattered, and as he drew the chain back, Seong Hyunjae’s lips curled up.

“Why don’t you keep talking.”

“I’ve got plenty to–”

A fine current filled with mana spread out in all directions. I could feel his terrifyingly sharp senses catching hold of the radio waves from my walkie–talkie the moment they touched the receiver. Oh, come on! I hurled the radio away and threw myself to the side. Right after—

Clang–!

The chain grazed my arm and slammed into the ground. If I hadn’t already used my teacher skill, I would’ve been caught right then. As I rolled across the ground, that flashing gold chased after me. Thanks to Grace I didn’t get electrocuted, but my hair stood straight up. The chain recoiled again, and Seong Hyunjae lifted an eyebrow.

“What a hassle.”

He’d even traced the radio waves with that fine current, but still couldn’t find me. The fog was perfectly copying my mana pattern and hiding me completely. Even if he couldn’t catch me, I was in the same boat—I didn’t have a good way to attack him. No matter how I racked my brain, all ranged attacks would just be blocked. In the end, what was left was—

“Good thing Han Yujin gave me such a useful present.”

Seong Hyunjae spread his arms as he spoke. I wondered what he meant—until I saw the yarn in his hands. That damn hot–pink yarn.

‘How long is he planning to keep carrying that around!’

I seriously never should’ve given it to him! The tough, durable yarn spread out in every direction. If I so much as brushed against it, he’d notice right away. It was dungeon loot, so regular bombs wouldn’t even scratch it. I ground my teeth silently while he calmly strung the yarn all over the place, then broke his chain down with a metallic clatter into short lengths. More than ten short chains orbited around him.

“I’m not just fond of Han Yujin’s voice, I like his face as well.”

As if asking me to come out already, he poured his mana into the chains.

Look in a mirror yourself, why don’t you!

The chains, dyed a deep gold, shot out in all directions at once.

Crack! Boom!

Dirt flew up and rocks split. The short chains pierced through trees, then curved and searched the surroundings. They cleverly avoided the yarn and slowly narrowed their search radius. I moved, dodging both the yarn and the chains. But the yarn was laid out more densely than I’d thought. If I transformed into Delroux, I could probably slip through, but I couldn’t fight in that form.

Instead, I rolled the die.

Rattle rattle—the die rolled across the ground and a chain came whipping right up in front of me. Behind me was the yarn. Watching the die come to a stop, I threw myself backward.

Thump! Grass seeds scattered.

The yarn spread everywhere was suddenly gone. When you used the die to move locations, only the awakened one’s active skills and weapons were carried along. The yarn, not being a weapon, was left behind.

…Along with my bombs and various other items, unfortunately.

I started to get up in a hurry when Seong Hyunjae laughed.

The moment I thought, that sounds ominous—

Kra–boom!

Lightning crashed down. Golden mana focused toward the short chains planted all around, and the wild grass that had grown up to my waist blackened and burned. Whoosh—the flames flared up and spread fast. Thick smoke billowed up, choking me.

Damn it, he’s literally smoking the rabbit out of its hole.

It was better than fighting in a place full of water, but of course it had to be a field packed with dry grass. The fire spread faster than I could run. If I just dashed outside, I wouldn’t be able to escape the suffocating smoke. Instead, the area around Seong Hyunjae was already cleared, the grass erased in a circle by his electricity. He stood there at the center, waiting for me.

I walked out toward him with a wry smile. In an area this small, even if I hid in the fog I wouldn’t last long.

“So, how many do you have left now?”

“…If you mean what Chatterbox gave me, only the mana imprint is left.”

“That one belongs to Han Yujin, though.”

I raised my hand and unconsciously rubbed the back of my neck.

“Originally, it was something I shouldn’t have been able to use.”

“The mana interfering with it is unpleasant, yes. But you risked your life to get it, and you’re the one using it like this—it’s all Han Yujin.”

Well, yeah. I straightened my posture. Crackling sounds and the acrid smell stabbed at my ears and nose. Knowing only my own things were left made me feel stripped bare. But I’d always been like that.

With a rattling sound, the chain, long again, flew toward me. Instead of resisting, I stretched out my arm. The chain wrapped around my arm and yanked. My body lurched forward. I barely managed to keep my balance thanks to the Lynx set effect, and—

Shing–!

I drew the Ruler’s Sword. My senses caught Seong Hyunjae’s movement as he lightly avoided the blade. The sense from combat precognition and the teacher skill collided and crossed. My head throbbed like it was going to split open, but I endured somehow. Seong Hyunjae didn’t completely avoid it.

Clang!

Sparks flew. On the Seeker’s Chain, dark–red embers dripped off like blood. I gripped the sword in both hands and pushed with everything I had. Beyond the chain blocking my way, those golden eyes curved in a smile.

“This as well—it belongs to Han Yujin.”

“I’m only borrowing it.”

Even if I was the one who accepted it and nurtured it. My palms and back burned. Cr–k, a crack formed in the chain. I felt the next attack coming in a row. I caught a glimpse of myself getting kicked away. My body was too slow to dodge—and just like that—

Thud! With just enough force that Grace wouldn’t block it, the tip of Seong Hyunjae’s foot hooked my leg and kicked. My balance broke, but instead of flailing and falling, I twisted the sword that was stuck against the chain.

Claaang! With a loud clatter of metal, the chain tangled around the jet–black blade, and a poisonous–looking flame climbed up it. It wasn’t Black Blood Flame. But it was definitely poison. Under the surging toxin, part of Seong Hyunjae’s glove melted away as if burning. Even so, he didn’t let go of the chain. Instead, he reached out toward me. It felt like my black eyes were reflected inside his golden ones.

And I was smiling too.

The chain pulled, the entangled sword pulled, and my body was lifted. His hand clamped around my neck. My hand grabbed his wrist.

“I’ve got one more thing that’s mine.”

I could feel Seong Hyunjae’s mana under my palm. And the power packed into my arm stretched out toward his. His golden eyes trembled for a moment. I was clearly smiling. It felt like our two arms, filled with the same mana, were entwining, and the moment they completely blended—

I abandoned my arm.

Following the mana I twisted by force, flesh tore and blood sprayed. The hem of my white coat was soaked bright red.

“Aaagh!”

The scream burst out of me on its own. Seong Hyunjae also let out a small groan between clenched teeth. Our bodies both staggered as if we were about to collapse.

“Th–that…”

I wanted to answer his question, but only ragged breaths slipped out. Back then, with Changeling’s help, I’d extracted a part of Seong Hyunjae and put it into the mana stone embedded in my arm. In other words, it was Seong Hyunjae’s mana.

“Since it’s the same… hahh… mana…”

By pressing close and mixing the mana, I could make it so his arm and mine couldn’t be told apart. It was possible thanks to the mana imprint, plus the teacher skill backing it up. To his combat foresight, it felt like the same person, so even that didn’t immediately notice the intrusion.

And after that came a sort of self–harm. It was hard to twist someone else’s mana, but twisting your own wasn’t. Since I was tearing myself apart from the inside, Grace couldn’t stop it either, and he ended up in this state along with me.

I grabbed the Ruler’s Sword with my other hand, the one that wasn’t shredded. Even with one arm each effectively blown away, Seong Hyunjae should still have the advantage.

“That arm of yours isn’t actually fine, is it.”

The arm he had left, which looked fine on the outside, was actually a wreck. With the mana flow in that shape, even handling the Seeker’s Chain properly would be hard.

“I told you to take better care of your arms!”

I kicked off the ground and charged. My own face, slightly paler, wore an even brighter smile than before. Even if he couldn’t use both arms properly, my movements would still look endlessly slow to his eyes. His legs were fine; he could dodge as much as he wanted.

But Seong Hyunjae didn’t move at all. The chain flew at me and wrapped around my neck. My breath was crushed off, but thanks to Grace it wasn’t enough to break anything, so I could endure it. I swung my sword. The scattering flames brushed past his faded hair, and his tall body spun half a turn and delivered a big kick to me.

Clatter!

With the sound of chains, I rolled across the ground. Blood sprayed again from the arm I hadn’t even managed to properly stop the bleeding on.

“Cough! Ghk!”

I hurriedly cut the chain strangling my neck with the Ruler’s Sword. In that brief instant, his shoe came stomping down toward my neck.

Crack!

He stepped on my shoulder instead of my neck. The upper half of my body, which I’d half–raised, was slammed back into the ground. I swung my sword through the ash left from the burned grass puffing up around us. As if he’d been waiting for it, Seong Hyunjae slipped lightly back, and the chain came in its place, binding me again.

“At this rate, even if I lose—”

“Shut… ngh… up!”

With the chain still dangling and persistently going for my throat, I practically crawled along the ground and raised my sword. Through the ash, I saw the die rolling around. I brought my sword down on it with all my strength.

Cr–rack. The die shattered, and as the scenery around us snapped back into the original forest— I pulled every bomb switch I had from my inventory and slammed them with my whole body.

KWA–BOOM! BOOM!!

Fire shot up everywhere. Regular bombs mixed with item bombs exploded with a terrifying roar. My own body didn’t come out unscathed either. I avoided a fatal injury, but I kept popping up and bouncing across the ground like popcorn in a pot.

Smoke hung thick in the air. Nowhere within sight was intact. Through the settling dust, I caught a glimpse of Seong Hyunjae. Considering he’d been caught up in all those explosions, he was annoyingly fine. But he wasn’t completely unscathed. His mana consumption looked heavy, and the blood dripping from his half–torn arm was black. I had mixed quite a bit of poison in there. Since it had gone straight into the wound, it looked like it was taking effect even with his poison–resistance items.

“You’ve got an antidote on you, don’t you?”

I asked as I pushed myself up. I raised the Ruler’s Sword with difficulty, somehow having managed not to lose it. Those golden eyes looked at me. Needlessly clear eyes.

“It doesn’t seem I’ll have the time to use it.”

“If you leisurely pop open a potion cap, I’ll pop your neck along with it.”

It’d be even harder since we both only had one hand left. Grinding my teeth, I charged at him again.