Chapter 19 - The Will to Survive, the Will to Dominate

All three were villains. They had disguised themselves as low-rank hunters, entered gates with other hunters, stolen their equipment, and murdered them. Naturally, Seo Yuhyeon, Seo Yura, and Seo Yuseon weren’t their real names. They weren’t siblings, either, but complete strangers.

“This time might be harder than the last. That guy earlier—Yoon Minjun, was it? The bastard can fight.”

“Could be his gear, but he was pretty good for a D-rank. Not so good we can’t kill him, though.”

“True.”

Their actual ranks were B for the man posing as Seo Yuhyeon and C for each of the women posing as Seo Yura and Seo Yuseon. Together, they could easily overwhelm two D-rank hunters. Barring any other complications, they would have no trouble killing Junhwi and Minjun and taking their gear.

“Let’s do what we did last time and ambush them during the fight.”

“Hit them when they’re distracted and at their most exhausted.”

Even with every advantage, they never let their guard down.

“Even a tiger gives its all to catch a rabbit.”

They were remarkably thorough, albeit in the worst possible way. That was why they had managed to carry out their “jobs” without getting caught.

“If we take much longer, they’ll get suspicious. Let’s head back.”

With that, the three left.

* * *

“Aren’t you going to rest, hyung?”

“I think I should go over that last fight. Don’t mind me.”

More precisely, I wanted to revisit the feeling of using my sword, not the fight itself. Junhwi shook his head in amazement as he watched me swinging it even during our break.

“Hyung, you really don’t let up.”

“It’s nothing. I’ve just had a little motivation lately.”

I kept swinging as I answered him.

A few minutes of this wouldn’t suddenly make me stronger, but little things added up.

“Does that motivation have anything to do with your girlfriend?”

“You could say that.”

“Oh, what a romantic. Your girlfriend must feel so secure with you around.”

“Thanks.”

The truth was, it was the other way around. I was the one who felt secure, not Sia. My dragon girlfriend had torn through dimensions and returned just to see me. The reassurance she gave me was greater than I could have imagined.

“By the way, the three of them are taking a while, aren’t they?”

“They are.”

It had been a little over ten minutes since the Seo siblings left, and there was still no sign of them. It wasn’t long enough to call them late yet, but it was a little odd that none of them had returned when they’d gone in different directions. Speak of the devil, though.

“Sorry I’m late. Have you been waiting long?”

“Not at all.”

Yuhyeon returned with an awkward expression almost as soon as we’d finished speaking. I didn’t ask, figuring it would embarrass him, but it looked as though he’d had quite a serious bathroom emergency. The two sisters rejoined us one after the other.

‘Did they all eat something bad yesterday?’

There was something strangely suspicious about their sheepish expressions. Anyway, once we had regrouped, we resumed making our way through the gate.

“It’ll be around five or six by the time we finish clearing the gate, right?”

Apparently still full of things to say, Junhwi chatted with me cheerfully as we walked.

“Yeah, probably.”

“How about we all go for a drink afterward? This is a busy neighborhood, so there are plenty of good bars nearby.”

At this point, I couldn’t tell whether I’d come to clear a gate or attend some sort of social gathering. The three supposed siblings enthusiastically agreed with Junhwi and joined in the conversation.

In the middle of it, Yuhyeon, who was leading the way, stopped abruptly and pointed ahead.

“Looks like we’re in for a tougher time than before.”

There seemed to be three or four times as many monsters, including some that were especially large. As Yuhyeon said, it was a much more daunting group than the one we’d met earlier.

‘But...’

It still wasn’t too much for us to handle. If I thought of it as a chance to gain combat experience, it was actually a good opportunity for me.

“Uh, hyung. Why are you smiling?” Junhwi asked from beside me.

“There weren’t enough monsters earlier. This looks like just the right number.”

“... You’re kind of a freak, hyung.”

“I agree with Minjun,” Yuhyeon cut in from nearby. “This is just enough to make killing them fun.”

Make killing them fun? Maybe it was my imagination, but the smile on his face as he said it sent an involuntary chill down my spine.

“Ugh, creepy.”

Junhwi seemed to feel the same way; he mimed a full-body shudder. Yuhyeon played it off, laughing as he asked if he’d sounded a little scary just then, as though he’d only been joking.

But the joking didn’t last. Once the fight began in earnest, the playfulness vanished from everyone’s faces, Yuhyeon’s included. There were too many Antmen for the fight to be easy, but thanks to the Dragon Bone Sword and the other gear Sia had given me, I had no major problems apart from fatigue.

That was only true for me, though. Once we’d cleared about half the monsters, I grew worried about the others and checked on Junhwi, who was right beside me.

“Junhwi, are you okay?”

“Ugh, I’m struggling a bit. Maybe it’s just me, but the healing seems to be working well, too.”

He was honest about how he felt. I could see it too: his complexion was poor, and his movements had grown noticeably slower.

“I’ll hold them off. Fall back for a moment and catch your breath.”

“I owe you one.”

He accepted my offer and withdrew without hesitation. He looked as though he could barely speak, so I called to Yura to look after him.

“Yura! Please take care of Junhwi!”

“...”

I shouted loudly enough that she couldn’t miss it, but got no answer.

“... Yura?”

I turned toward the rear while fending off the Antmen surging at me. Junhwi still hadn’t received any healing, and neither Yura nor the other two were anywhere in sight. A sense of dread began to creep over me.

Had all three been attacked by Antmen in the rear?

‘I’m sure we checked that there were no monsters back there before the fight.’

But I couldn’t rule out the possibility that other monsters had come to reinforce this group.

“Yuseon! Yuhyeon!”

I called the other two as well, but again there was no answer. We couldn’t keep fighting like this. I had to change the plan.

“Junhwi, I think we need to fall back farther. Once we’re clear—”

Before I could finish, something came slicing through the air from behind us. Without even a chance to see what it was, I instinctively knocked it aside with my sword.

CLANG!

At the moment my sword struck it, I saw what it was: an arrow of condensed mana.

‘Seo Yuseon...!’

An Antman couldn’t have fired a mana arrow. It had to be hers. Had she hidden from a monster attack and fired in a panic, only for the arrow to fly my way by accident?

Just as I thought that, another identical arrow came at me. It was aimed not at the Antmen but straight at my heart. There was no way this was an accident.

Which meant...

“Those bastards... They’re villains.”

“What?”

“Those three siblings are villains. I had my suspicions.”

I knocked the arrow aside and looked toward its source. There stood Yuseon, aiming another mana arrow with a wicked look in her eyes.

“Damn. So close.”

I didn’t have to look for the other two. Yuhyeon and Yura stood right beside her.

“How did you fail to hit him with that?”

“My aim was fine. He knocked it away with his sword. Fuck, I didn’t think a D-rank could block that.”

The other two wore nasty smiles, licking their lips. Only moments ago, we’d all been chatting together in a friendly mood.

“You people... were villains?” Junhwi asked, his voice trembling.

“What if we say we’re not?”

“Hand over everything you’ve got now, and we’ll make your deaths painless. How’s that? Fair enough?”

Yuhyeon grinned viciously and beckoned for us to surrender our gear. Beside him, Yuseon and Yura egged each other on and snickered.

There were three of them and only two of us. If they were villains, chances were they had lied about their ranks, too. Anyone could see we were at a disadvantage. Worse, most of the Antmen were converging on us, not them. Junhwi and I had been on the front line drawing the monsters’ attention from the start.

Cold sweat ran down my back as I realized it. Dying here was not part of my plan. Somehow, I had to find a way out.

‘A way out of this... Right.’

Faced with a desperate crisis, I suddenly remembered the artifacts from Sia piled up in my pocket dimension. I didn’t know how we’d fare as we were, but if I could take those out and use them, we would have a real chance.

But...

“... Huh?”

My pocket dimension wouldn’t open. No matter how many times I reached for it, my hand closed on empty air.

“Pfft, look at him.”

When I repeatedly failed to open it, the villains pointed and laughed.

“Wondering why your pocket dimension won’t open?” Yuhyeon taunted with a sneer. I glared at him instead of answering.

“You might as well know why you died. It’ll make it feel a little less unfair. It’s simple: this artifact. Not only can it lock other people’s pocket dimensions, it can force them open.”

Junhwi reached out to open his own, but his hand, too, met nothing again and again. I didn’t know how they’d done it, but they weren’t lying.

“What the hell...?”

“You wouldn’t know it, but you can find all kinds of things on the black market.”

“See? What did I tell you? I said this was worth buying even if we had to stretch our budget.”

They weren’t worth listening to any longer.

“Fuck. You assholes never shut the fuck up.”

I spat toward them along with the curse.

“All talk and no action. If I were you, I’d have killed us instead of wasting time running my mouth.”

“That’s fine. We’ve got time to spare,” Yuseon said, folding her arms with a cocky tilt. “Unlike you.”

The Antmen were closing in behind us, while the villains watched for an opening ahead. We were caught between them, and I had only one ally. There was no way forward or back.

“Seeing those panicked faces makes this work so rewarding. I’m glad I got into it.”

With that taunt, Yuseon drew another arrow of condensed mana and aimed her bow.

“Who should I kill first?”

Wearing a wicked smile, she released the string.

The mana arrow targeted me again rather than Junhwi. I turned my body slightly and dodged it. Fortunately, the stray arrow struck an Antman that had been about to pounce on me.

SKREEEE!

The Antman toppled over the moment it was hit. The arrow’s destructive power was on another level from her earlier covering fire. She really had been hiding her true rank all along.

‘Wait.’

As I looked at the Antman she’d hit, an idea struck me. Maybe I could make that happen on purpose.

‘Let them fight each other.’

It wasn’t bad for a spur-of-the-moment plan.

WHOOSH!

After dodging another of Yuseon’s arrows, I moved close to Junhwi and whispered, “I’ll only say this once. Keep moving, and make sure our paths don’t cross.”

“What?”

I hadn’t explained why, so his confusion was understandable. But I couldn’t walk him through everything right now.

SKREE!

An Antman lunged from behind, and Junhwi and I dodged in opposite directions. The villains seized the opening and unleashed another fierce barrage. I darted behind a large Antman, and their attacks struck it instead of us.

‘Good.’

I glanced toward Junhwi. Despite his exhaustion, he was squeezing out every last bit of strength and deftly evading their attacks. But the villains weren’t fools. It was only a matter of time before they figured out our plan.

To delay that as long as possible, I pretended to engage the Antmen with my sword while repeatedly darting in and out of the swarm. Junhwi seemed to catch on and followed my lead, weaving among them.

We spent several minutes pitting the monsters and villains against each other, wearing both sides down.

“Those bastards are doing it on purpose, aren’t they?”

“Fuck, they are. I was wondering what they were up to.”

As expected, they saw through the plan and immediately looked for a way to counter it.

“Hey, just stop attacking. Let them fight it out. The monsters are focused on them anyway. We’ll go in again once they’re worn out.”

“Okay. Smart call.”

I couldn’t make out exactly what they said after that, but I could guess their strategy. They would stay out of the fight until we’d dealt with enough of the Antmen, then strike when we were exhausted. It was a depressingly sensible decision.

‘Is this... where it ends?’

But...

‘It can’t end here. I’ve only just reunited with Sia.’

I couldn’t let that happen. I had to survive by any means necessary so Sia would never have to grieve for me. I had to make it back to her.

The moment I thought of Sia, I felt a powerful resolve well up from deep in my chest. The will to survive. The will to break through those villains.

‘Will?’

Suddenly, I remembered what I’d heard yesterday.

‘Domination isn’t the wrong answer, but something matters more: will.’

In the end, a strong will of my own was the key to wielding a dragon’s power. A desperate will to survive, a will to defeat my enemies, and beyond that, a will to dominate those I’d defeated. That will would awaken the dragon’s power lying dormant in my sword—or perhaps in my own body.

Determined to defeat them and survive, I gritted my teeth and glared at the villains.

I would return to Sia. I would never let them break me.

No. I would break them completely.

At that moment, a brilliant light began to rise from my sword—a brilliant, intense radiance unlike any I had ever seen.