Chapter 328: Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko (6/10)

Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko (6/10)

Torca glared at the Ice King with a flabbergasted face.

Regardless, the Ice King took a step back. It was clear he really didn't want to be involved this time.

'This is why we shouldn't work with old people.'

Torca could feel the last of his respect towards the Ice King disappearing. The Ice King was fearful. Way too scared for Torca's taste.

Just what was the Hoarder anyway?

Torca nodded at his subordinates in the back. The warriors of Iron Lion all raised their weapons at The Hoarder.

Kashing—

Torca silently raised his twin swords, his trademark weapons, and stepped forward.

* * *

『I didn't want to show this side of myself, haha.......』

Victoria smiled bitterly and looked toward Yeon-woo. Through her blood-drenched hair, he could see that her eyes were focused somewhere behind him. In other words, her vision was destroyed.

'She's in danger.'

Yeon-woo's eyes hardened as he looked down at Victoria in his arms. Victoria was in critical condition.

One of her hands was cut off, and her entire body was covered with burns. On top of that, she had internal injuries from forcing her magic power. It wasn't good.

Healing and Recovery were at work, but it wasn't enough. Her life was being drained at a quick pace.

'The Adamantine Nova.'

Just then, Yeon-woo saw the Adamantine Nova rolling around on the floor in the corner of his eye. It wasn't shining like usual, but there was still a powerful wavelength of magic power emanating from it.

When Yeon-woo stretched his hand forward, the Adamantine Nova floated upwards and landed on Victoria's hand.

Urrrng, urrng—

Victoria rubbed it with her hand. The Adamantine Nova was what she wanted to catch but couldn't in the end. Now, it was back in her possession. However, her empty gaze continued to look blankly in front of her.

『This time...... I wanted to be of help.』

Yeon-woo thought Victoria was blaming herself for leaving Kahn behind on the Five Mountains of Penances.

The regret from back then was still stacked up in her heart. Yeon-woo didn't know what to say.

All he could do was hold her tight.

『Boo.』

Checheche—

On his command, two Inferno Sights flared like will 'o' the wisps behind Yeon-woo.

「Yes. Sir.」

『Save her. No matter what it takes.』

「Yes. Sir.」

Urrrng—

Just then, the Adamantine Nova began to tremble fervently and shine brilliantly. The light began to wrap around Victoria.

Her eyes widened. How? The Adamantine Nova was a tricky item to work with.

Even Anastasia had only used it as a core to seal in artifacts, and Victoria herself extracted magic power from it through a tool. And when it was broken, she couldn't use the Adamantine Nova anymore.

But the Lich who seemed to be Yeon-woo's subordinate appeared unaffected and was using it smoothly.

Also, the magic it was using was a superior magic called 〈Healing Potion〉. Normally, it wasn't magic that Lichs, who dealt with death, should have been able to use.

However, Boo didn't stop at her curiosity and focused on healing her like Yeon-woo ordered.

While Yeon-woo was also absorbed in supplying the magic power for the treatment.....

『Hand over Red Deodara, Hoarder. 』[TN: I found that Deodara means sacred tree, and I'll change Sacred Red Tree to Red Deodara so the flow is smoother.]

Many players were starting to close in on them. Their eyes were full of greed.

It wasn't visible because of the mask, but Yeon-woo's face was colder than ever.

Instead of replying to them, he swished his wings of fire to the side.

With the intense heat, the things he didn't want to see were swept away.

Kwakwakwa—

『......!』

『......!』

The faces of the players stiffened. All the players who were in Yeon-woo's attack range had been vaporized.

Not a single one was left behind. They were all gone.

The ones who raised barriers and the ones who were on the defense—there were no exceptions. Only ashes remained where they used to be.

The problem was that the great heat was still circulating around Yeon-woo.

Shwoo!

『Everyone be careful!』

Torca, who realized the danger first, shouted, dashing forward.

The chiefs of Iron Lion all jumped forward, and even the famed bounty-hunter Moon Walker Streege stepped up.

Every time the wings of fire thrashed around, intense heat waves spread around them, heating up the atmosphere.

Dust clouds rose to blur their vision.

『Hup!』

Yeon-woo suddenly popped up next to Moon Walker. He moved as stealthily as a ghost. Yeon-woo had moved so deftly that Moon Walker hadn't been able to read his presence at all.

Moon Walker widened his eyes and quickly tried to defend himself, but Yeon-woo was in front of him before he knew it.

Kwang!

Yeon-woo's fists flashed forward. It was a simple punch. However, its destructive power wasn't simple at all.

Moon Walker was blown away. His armor was crushed, and the blood that poured from his mouth had pieces of his internal organs within it.

Yeon-woo had shown a shocking amount of strength that shouldn't have been possible while he was holding Victoria with one arm.

However, that wasn't the end. Yeon-woo's wings of fire grew even larger, and he quickly chased after Moon Walker, who had been blown far away. Like how Moon Walker cut off Victoria's hand, Yeon-woo planned to slice Moon Walker's throat.

『Where do you think you're going?!』

『Stop!』

The mercenaries of Iron Lion shot forward. Streege was guarding their backs from behind them. He was planning on launching the Shot of Moonlight to keep Yeon-woo busy.

But Yeon-woo didn't clash with them directly. He suddenly stopped in the air and spun his body.

His wings of fire drew a huge whirlwind around him. When the power of the heat was so intense that the players couldn't approach him, something popped out.

The mercenaries, who thought it was Yeon-woo, were taken aback. What came from the fire wasn't Yeon-woo. They were monsters dripping with Residual Poison Blood.

Behind them, ashy ghosts appeared and confused their surroundings.

[The 2nd Soul]

Kyakyakya—

Kiaaak!

『W, What is this!』

『Keaccck!』

The Monster Portents that kept on growing in number quickly amounted to about fifty, digging deep between the ranks of the mercenaries.

Every time they flung their fingernails around, blood spurted out, and the poisoned mercenaries plopped down to the ground with pale faces.

『Where is he?』

Amid all the confusion, Streege hesitated with his arrow nocked, ready to fire.

'He's gone?'

He didn't see Yeon-woo at all. Where had he disappeared to? Feeling shivers down his back, he quickly turned around, but.....

『You're too late.』

Yeon-woo appeared behind him and was already striking with his Magic Bayonet.

Phwooo!

A fountain of blood splattered out, and the bodiless Streege collapsed on the floor. There was another corpse laid nicely next to Streege's. It was Moon Walker's.

Two rankers had died in an instant.

『You......!』

Torca ran forward with a red face. No, he tried to. And he may have done it, too, if it wasn't for the monstrous energy that suddenly appeared before he could reach Yeon-woo.

Boom!

This time, an explosive sound rang out from behind.

Torca turned his head in the direction of the sound and frowned.

A Gumiho that was the size of a house stood above their heads.

The Howling she released while her nine tails were pointed up made him shiver.

『A mere human dares to lay a finger on my disciple?! A mere human?!』

Torca wasn't given the chance to reply.

When the Gumiho stomped one of her feet, Fox Fire flared up and spread around her in an instant.

The rest of the remaining players were swept away.

『Ah, ahhh!』

Torca found himself scooting back on his butt. He was half-conscious. The mighty monstrous energy the Gumiho was exuding had killed his fighting spirit.

『Die.』

That one word was enough to determine Torca's death. The moment she gave the command, looking at Torca with Monster Eyes, the rest of his will was cut off. He was gone.

Plop—

Yeon-woo looked at the only person who remained.

『What about you, sir? Would you like to fight?』

『Leave me out. I didn't join the fight when you appeared.』

The Ice King smiled bitterly and looked around at his comrades, no, the "things" that used to be his comrades.

They were completely gone or reduced to ashes. One poor choice had led to their deaths.

Yeon-woo nodded silently. He was going to take care of the Ice King while he was here, but because he didn't seem to have any will to fight, Yeon-woo didn't do anything.

『Still, allow me to take care of the corpses.』

『Feel free to do so.』

『Thank you.』

The Ice King bowed with genuine gratitude and quietly murmured to himself.

『......It'll be loud this time, too.』

-There's always commotion when the Hoarder appears.

Such rumors of the Hoarder were spread throughout the Tower, but it seemed like it wouldn't stop at that this time.

The strongest mercenary clan, Iron Lion, wouldn't let this go easily, and with two rankers dead, the people chasing after Kahn would be greatly shocked.

The Ice King already felt tired from the questions he would receive.

* * *

『This is all because of you.』

Anastasia, having returned to her human form, spoke to Yeon-woo, holding Victoria in her arms.

『If you didn't appear to encourage this child, this wouldn't have happened.』

Anastasia left, leaving those words behind.

「What's up with that granny? She's so rude. Why is she talking to you like that?」

Shanon muttered to himself in annoyance. Would Victoria have gone searching for Kahn even without Yeon-woo's visit? Shanon thought so. Yeon-woo was just stuck in the middle.

Anastasia just needed someone to blame.

However.

『.......』

Yeon-woo didn't say anything for a while. He had experienced something similar in the past. It wasn't because of Anastasia. His gaze was fixed on Victoria.

Victoria had moved to rescue Kahn. He was trying to find his brother's soul. The two images overlapped.

「Master?」

『Huh? What?』

「Why are you acting like that suddenly?」

『It's nothing.』

Yeon-woo shook his head. Shanon was worried about him, but he didn't reflect it and quickly turned around.

「What are you gonna do now? That granny has quite an attitude.」

『We have to find out what happened here.』

However, Victoria, who could explain the situation, was gone with Anastasia. Who could he ask? He looked around aimlessly and saw the Ice King about to leave after taking care of the corpses.

It was bad to stop him from going after telling him he could leave, but there was nothing he could do.

'And it's a bit annoying.'

He felt wronged by what Anastasia said to him. She had blamed him for what the Ice King, technically, had done.

『Please wait a moment.』

Thinking that he had done something wrong, the Ice King straightened his back and turned to Yeon-woo. Sweat dripped down his back.

『What's wrong?』

『I changed my mind. I think you should stay here with us.』

The Ice King laughed awkwardly.

『What is it......?』

『I need someone to explain the situation.』

『.......』

Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes.

『Do you not want to?』

He spread his palm open. Black fire flared up and disappeared.

Whoosh—

Only

Images of Torca and the others being swept away by the fire in an instant flashed through the Ice King's head. Moreover, fire was the perfect weakness of his skillset.

『Ha, haha.......』

He laughed awkwardly.

『Of course not! It's you who's requesting it, so of course I'll listen to it. I know your teacher, too. Ask me anything you want.』

He smiled brightly.

『So. Where should I start?』