Chapter 20 - Overwhelming Force

Brilliant aurora light spilled from Minjun’s sword. It flowed along the blade and began to envelop his entire body. For a moment, he was so transfixed by the sensation—one he had never felt before—that he could only look back and forth between his hand and the sword.

At first he thought it might be sword aura, but everyone knew sword aura glowed blue, not with these shifting colors. Besides, his understanding of swordsmanship was nowhere near deep enough to manifest sword energy. This light must have something to do with the dragon’s power lying dormant in the sword, not sword aura.

He couldn’t be sure whether he had drawn out that power in full. He had never experienced anything like this, so there was no telling.

But one thing was certain. With the fierce power surging through his body from the sword, he could overwhelm anyone, whatever the circumstances.

“Hyung, wh-what the hell—” Junhwi stammered, startled by the aurora light rising from Minjun’s body.

“Mr. Junhwi. Follow me for now.”

“What? But—”

Before Junhwi could finish, Minjun charged without hesitation toward the three Seos. It happened so suddenly that even Junhwi, who ran after him, was bewildered.

“I-is that bastard insane?”

The villains were no less stunned. This was nothing like the turn they had expected. As they saw it, Minjun and Junhwi had only two choices: fight the Antmen or flee in the opposite direction. Yet here they were, charging straight at them. It was like watching a mouse grit its teeth and rush at a cat.

“What the hell are they thinking?”

“Trying one last desperate move before they die, I guess.”

“Fine by us... Wait, what’s that around his sword? Is that aura?”

“Aura? From a mere D-rank? Get real. Does that look like sword aura to you?”

Though briefly taken aback, the villains grinned as Minjun ran toward them. With Antmen on his heels, they figured he and Junhwi must be out of options. To them, his sudden charge was nothing more than a reckless gamble with his life. They dismissed the aurora light surrounding him as an effect of some item or piece of equipment.

But...

“Wh-what is that?”

Once again, Minjun defied their expectations. They had thought this was merely a final, desperate struggle before his strength ran out. Instead, he came hurtling toward the three of them like a runaway train, the wind whistling as he cut through it.

How could a D-rank hunter move that fast?

“What the hell happened all of a—”

“H-he’s D-rank...?”

Now that Minjun was displaying physical abilities beyond anything they thought possible, they couldn’t help growing tense.

They could deal with Junhwi and the Antmen later. Minjun was the one they needed to watch.

All three fought at range. They spread out to make the most of that advantage and began concentrating their fire on him. An ordinary D-rank hunter would have trouble blocking the full barrage. His speed made him harder to aim at than expected, but that was fine. They could overwhelm him with sheer volume.

Arrows and spells poured down like a violent rain. No matter how fast he was, dodging or blocking all of them would be difficult.

But...

“... What?”

As they fired spell after spell, they had even worried they were needlessly exhausting themselves when nowhere near this much firepower should have been necessary. Yet Minjun overturned their expectations again, charging fiercely ahead and deflecting every attack with nothing but his sword. A spell knocked aside by his blade grazed the ground, gouging a hollow in it.

“Th-that’s impossible!”

To block that entire onslaught alone without taking a hit, a hunter would have to be at least A-rank. But Minjun looked unharmed.

Which meant—

'Who is he?'

Whatever Minjun’s true identity, this was no time to puzzle over it. Ever since that strange aura had settled into his sword, the battle had turned completely around. A moment ago, they had been happily imagining how to devour their prey. Now they were wondering how to avoid being devoured themselves.

They squeezed out every bit of strength they had and unleashed another all-out barrage. Magic missiles dense with mana sliced through the air, while debuffs flew one after another to stop Minjun’s fierce charge.

None of it was enough. He simply cut down or deflected the incoming magic missiles with his sword and kept charging without taking damage. Most of the debuffs were nullified. A few took hold, but he ran on without a care.

Driven by sheer will.

Following behind him, Junhwi stared, mouth agape.

'That man is a D-rank hunter like me?'

No D-rank hunter should have been capable of this. How could one deflect, block, and cut through that rain of spells with a sword? And how was he so fast? Junhwi was chasing him with all his might, yet the gap between them had visibly widened.

'I’m going to live.'

When the three had first shown their true colors, Junhwi had thought he was as good as dead. But after seeing what Minjun could do, he was certain: at least he wasn’t going to die today.

While Junhwi watched, spellbound, Minjun steadily closed the distance to the three villains.

“Wh-what is this?”

The villains scrambled to put as much distance between themselves and Minjun as possible, but the gap refused to grow. Speed buffs made no difference, nor did scattering in different directions. As that sank in, all three went pale.

Minjun was close enough to reach them with his sword.

“G-get away from me, you bastard!” Seo Yuhyeon, the closest to him, fought back with a flurry of spells.

Minjun easily dodged several, knocked the next ones aside with his sword, then drove the blade into Yuhyeon’s shoulder with all his strength.

“Aaaaaagh!”

Yuhyeon clutched his shoulder and writhed in pain. Without sparing him a glance, Minjun raced toward Seo Yura and Seo Yuseon. Seeing Yuhyeon go down so easily, they gave up trying to fight and attempted to flee. The difference in their strength was too overwhelming for resistance to mean anything.

But before they could even make their escape, they were sent tumbling ignominiously across the dirt.

Once he had confirmed that all three were completely unable to fight, Minjun searched them and found the artifact locking their pocket dimensions. He immediately deactivated it and opened his own.

'Among the artifacts Sia gave me...'

He remembered one that would be perfect for this situation. After a quick search through his pocket dimension, he pulled it out with a satisfied smile.

“Found it.”

To make sure the villains couldn’t escape, he quickly fastened an artifact to each of them, then surveyed the battle.

The last time he had looked, the Antmen were far away. But while he had fought the three villains and dealt with them, the monsters had closed to little more than ten meters. He had no idea where the others had come from, but there were now more than twice as many Antmen as when he had first seen them.

Amid the doubled swarm, he spotted Junhwi. He seemed to have kept himself alive by running with everything he had, but he was nearing his limit.

'As I am now...'

He could take care of all those monsters with ease. He couldn’t say exactly what gave him that confidence, but he felt strangely sure of it.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Minjun charged at the monsters coming toward him. The Dragon Bone Sword in his hand began to shine more brilliantly than before.

“Move!”

At Minjun’s urgent shout, Junhwi summoned the strength to change direction. The instant he did, Minjun surrendered himself to instinct.

'Was my swordsmanship always this beautiful?'

A strange sensation came over him. It felt not as though he were swinging the sword, but as though the sword were guiding him. Something in the aurora light imbued in the blade swept outward in a broad, beautiful arc.

SKREEEE!

Though the Antmen pursuing Junhwi were not cut by the blade itself, every one of them was struck by the light and fell where it stood. It had all happened in mere seconds.

Antman corpses lay underfoot. The three bound villains screamed and raged at the tops of their lungs. Junhwi was so dizzy that he wondered if he was seeing things. None of it felt real.

'What am I looking at?'

How had this miracle happened? He had so many questions he wanted to ask Minjun.

But...

“...”

“Hyung?”

One look at Minjun told him the man was in no condition to hold even the briefest conversation. Had he poured out too much power all at once? The aurora light that had blazed so brightly only moments ago had faded. Minjun was using his sword as a cane to stay upright, but he looked ready to collapse at any moment.

“Hyung, are you all right? Hyung! Stay with me!”

Junhwi was on the verge of exhaustion himself, but he hurried over, supported Minjun, and laid him down on level ground.

'Nothing’s seriously wrong, is it?'

He anxiously checked Minjun’s condition. Thankfully, his life did not seem to be in danger. His pulse was beating, and his fingers moved ever so slightly, so he hadn’t lost consciousness either. Junhwi couldn’t be sure, but it seemed he had collapsed from overusing his power. He hurriedly took out a potion and gave it to Minjun.

Some time passed.

“Phew.”

Minjun opened his eyes and met Junhwi’s gaze. He was far from fully recovered, but he could at least move.

“Are you all right?”

“Feels like I nearly died. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I’d have died long ago if it weren’t for you, hyung.”

Junhwi thanked him again and again for saving his life.

“But hyung, what are you going to do now?”

An exit had appeared, signaling that the gate had been cleared, and all the villains had been subdued. Only one problem remained: what to do with them.

All three had suffered serious stab wounds, but when Minjun bound them, he had also taken measures to keep them alive. They simply couldn’t move because of the restraining artifacts.

“Fuck it, kill me! Just kill me already!”

Rather than cry or beg, Seo Yuseon seemed tireless in her screaming and swearing.

“Hey. Shut up. If you want to die, die alone,” Seo Yura snarled at her.

“Please spare me. Please, just let me live, all right? We have lots of expensive artifacts. Name anything you want, and I’ll give it to you...”

Seo Yuhyeon tried to bargain for his life with the artifacts he had stolen from hunters he’d killed.

“Where’s your pride, you pathetic bastard? Hey, Yoon Minjun. Don’t listen to those assholes. Just kill us. I’d rather die here than rot in prison.”

As if she’d watched too many crime films, Yuseon kept demanding that he kill them.

Minjun ignored them all and took an artifact he had seized from them out of his clothes.

“Mr. Junhwi. Do you know why I went out of my way to keep this trash alive?”

“... Because killing people doesn’t sit right with you, even if they’re villains?”

“Of course not.”

It was an absurdly powerful artifact: it could lock other hunters’ pocket dimensions, but it could also force them open. Minjun had intended to empty theirs with it from the start. That was why he hadn’t killed them. A hunter’s pocket dimension disappeared the instant its owner died.

“You said you’d give me anything?”

“Y-yes! Anything!”

Unaware of what Minjun was thinking, Yuhyeon nodded eagerly.

“Why would I need you to, when I have this?”

The moment Yuhyeon saw the artifact in Minjun’s hand, he realized his mistake. He had been so excited by the prospect of his plan succeeding that he’d blabbed about what it could do. Now he had lost even the slightest chance of bargaining for his life.

“That f-fucking moron!”

“All that posturing earlier, and this is what you do? Fucking brilliant, huh?”

Yuhyeon’s face went rigid as Yura and Yuseon hurled abuse at their idiot accomplice, who apparently knew how to do nothing but act tough. The three kept arguing and swearing at one another, but Minjun paid them no mind. He used the artifact to force open their pocket dimensions.

Each time another opened, Minjun and Junhwi exclaimed in astonishment.

“You’ve stolen a hell of a lot. How many people did you kill to get all this?”

“Seriously. These pieces of shit,” Junhwi added as he watched.

Artifacts of every kind kept coming out, no matter how many they removed. The villains had amassed wealth through robbery and murder, as well as crimes ranging from drug trafficking to smuggling. Their pocket dimensions were packed not only with artifacts but with pure gold and jewels. There was so much that Minjun’s own pocket dimension was nearly filled.

A little while later, Minjun spoke. “Right. We’ve got all the artifacts. Time to finish this.”

It was time to send the villains to hell. Some might ask whether killing them was right, villains or not, but under international hunter law, it counted as self-defense. There would be no problem.

“Any last words?” Minjun raised his sword and glared at the three, his expression cold.

Yuseon pretended to be defiant to the end, saying it was just as well. Yura spat curses too vile to repeat.

Then, as if deciding he was finished anyway, Yuhyeon spoke.

“Gold-digging bastard.”

His face twisted into an expression more spiteful than ever.

“Bet you used that pretty face to hook some clueless rich lady and milk her for equipment. Hah. I should’ve gotten my face done and found some clueless bitch to keep me in comfort, like you.”

Did he think he had nothing left to lose? Even at the end, Yuhyeon couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He insulted Minjun and Sia alike.

“I’m curious, so let me ask you one thing. Hey, how much does your sugar mama pay you a month?”

“How old is this rich lady? She’s not married, is she?”

Once Yuhyeon started, Yuseon and Yura joined in, snickering as they poured out insults too offensive to bear.

Minjun had heard enough. His face set, he took off their heads.

Ever since Minjun had learned to wield sword energy, the energy he gave off had shone with brilliant aurora light. In that moment, it glowed a deep bloodred.