Chapter 240 Kill and Take -7
Chapter 240 Kill and Take -7
Quority was weak.
If Jiha hadn't cleaned up all the promising young elves, no one would have ever noticed him. Even within the Seven Council, he was the weakest in terms of combat power.
Jiha assessed him as a fool coasting on his background as a Rosen, one of the powerful families of the Elf Council—and objectively so.
'But to throw a woman.'
It wasn't a matter of morality. It was simply an action the old Quority would never have taken.
His values, his entire behavioral pattern, had been completely overturned.
Then again, the moment he turned into a 190cm muscular giant, he was already a different person.
"Graaaah!!"
Howling in rage, Quority suddenly hurled a fist straight at Jiha's face.
A powerful punch that tore through the wind. If it hit, bones would shatter, but Jiha dug forward without hesitation and drove his elbow in.
"Guwaaah!!"
Screaming louder than his battle cry, Quority was struck in the solar plexus and went flying into the wall.
Having ended it in a single blow, Jiha was dumbfounded.
"What, is that it?"
Quority had grown bigger, stronger, and had more Mana, but to Jiha, it was laughable.
Quority's movements were full of openings, and he didn't even know what a feint was.
Even if his specs went up, his lack of real combat experience meant he couldn't handle the ability properly.
"Keuk. Ugh...."
Staggering, Quority stood right back up.
Jiha asked.
"Answer this before you die. What did Alex do to you?"
"He gave me power...."
Grinding his teeth, Quority glared with flashing eyes.
"The power to kill you!"
As Quority lunged forward with a massive leap, Jiha thrust his fist upward without an ounce of hesitation.
A Mana-infused punch was driven deep into Quority's groin.
"Kyaaaaak!!"
Screaming from the depths of his lungs, Quority writhed on the floor.
He pressed his groin with both hands, and red blood was soaking through his clothes, as if something had burst.
"What on earth made you think jumping was a good idea?"
Jiha tsked at the sheer absurdity.
He had struck while staying on guard, thinking there might be some kind of ability or trick. But astonishingly... Quority had no countermeasure at all.
He just leaped in without thinking and got his groin burst open for it.
Jiha brushed his hands off irritably, shaking off the unclean feeling.
He had lashed out, calculating that Quority would have some kind of backup plan and that the blow would miss. Instead, it hit dead on.
Regardless, the situation was over.
No man in the world could continue fighting after having his groin smashed...
"Grrrrrr."
Drooling, Quority got up.
Even Jiha, who had been through all kinds of hell, was inwardly surprised.
There was definitely the sensation of something rupturing, and the groin area was visibly drenched in blood. Yet Quority was standing up and trying to fight again.
Tears were welling up in his scrunched-up eyes, and agonized groans leaked out. It wasn't that he felt no pain.
'It's regeneration.'
Jiha realized the reason.
Quority's Special Ability was regenerating even if his body was broken.
"You son of a bitch, I'm going to kill you for sure...."
"Everyone says that. Can't you put your own spin on it? If this were a casting call, that line would get you eliminated."
Sneering, Jiha drew his sword.
Quority's skill itself was nothing special, but that regeneration wasn't to be underestimated.
No—underestimating any opponent invites defeat.
As Jiha's expression grew serious, Quority reached out, grabbed the sofa he had been sitting on, and suddenly hurled it.
As the massive sofa filled his vision, Jiha sliced it in half with a downward stroke of his sword.
And Quority came charging in, aiming for that opening...
"So you've picked up a few things."
A Shadow Hand Jiha had placed beforehand shot up and uppercut Quority's jaw.
Not even dreaming that his tactic had been read, Quority staggered, and Jiha lunged in, swinging his sword.
Shunk!
"Kraaaah!!"
With a sickening crunch, Quority's right forearm was severed.
An ordinary human could die from shock just from this. An elf should be no different... but even as he retreated, Quority gritted his teeth.
Then a red energy rose from the gruesome stump of the severed limb.
A force that looked like Mana seemed to connect the stump and the severed forearm. In an instant, the limb was pulled back up and slapped back on.
"Grugh, urrrgh...."
Having restored his arm in a flash, Quority glared at Jiha with bloodshot eyes, but couldn't bring himself to attack first.
Even with regeneration, the pain was still there.
The tears beading in both eyes showed just how agonizing it truly was.
But Jiha didn't swing his sword again and instead replayed the moment in his head.
'That was red Mana just now, wasn't it?'
In Warsland, the color of Mana differed depending on faction.
Blue Seal members had blue Mana, and Purple Liberation had purple.
There was no red.
As far as Jiha knew, only his own Bloodsucking Mana was red.
He could disguise it as blue, so no one else had caught on yet.
"What did Alex do to you?"
Quority's absurd transformation, his incredible regeneration—it was all Alex's meddling.
And that could be connected to Bloodsucking Mana, to the Demon God.
"He gave me power...."
"Don't give me a cliché answer."
Jiha spoke dryly and swung his sword again.
Quority reflexively dodged backward, raising his Mana-enhanced arm to block.
Like a beast fearing fire, he was trying to block just in case, even while getting as far away as possible.
It was a distance where the sword strike wouldn't reach, but Jiha activated the Special Ability he'd gained from biting Narsha: Weapon Enhancement.
The blade length of the Gladius extended by 60cm and sliced cleanly through Quority's left arm.
"Uwaaah! Uwaaaaah!!"
Quority writhed, screaming in agony.
Seeing him freak out, tears and snot streaming down his face, Jiha gave a contemptuous snort.
"You can beat people and kill them, but you can't handle having your own arm cut off? Hurry up and regenerate."
"Kraaaah!!"
As Quority continued screaming in pain, the red Mana manifested once again and his severed arm reattached.
"Which part do you want cut off next?"
As Jiha approached nonchalantly, Quority was completely at a loss.
He could just trust his regeneration and rush in... but was that as easy as it sounded?
'If I resolve to die....'
If he trusted his regeneration and could land just one hit on Jiha, he could win.
As Quority steadied his breathing, Jiha made a careless sword swing.
It was a deliberate opening, inviting him to lunge in, but Quority hastily retreated.
"Resolve to die doesn't look so easy, does it?"
Reading Quority's expression perfectly, Jiha sneered.
His body was intact, but his spirit was broken.
It was true that Quority's specs had gone up.
But in Jiha's eyes, it was nothing more than a body bloated up like a balloon.
"A moron is still a moron, no matter how much weight he gains."
Without fighting spirit, what good was regeneration, no matter how powerful?
A more competent man would have mistaken Jiha's clumsy attack for an opening and at least tried to rush in.
But Quority was now completely terrified of Jiha and desperate only to flee.
"Are you afraid of my sword? Here."
As if to prove a point, Jiha sheathed his sword in the scabbard at his hip.
Sheathing his sword—a blatant act of utter disrespect—but Quority didn't believe it right away and just rolled his eyes around.
"What are you, a frog? Why are you rolling your eyes like that?"
Even when Jiha gestured at him, Quority showed no intention of attacking first.
"Don't like that? Then I'll come to you."
Jiha walked forward calmly, with a posture that seemed defenseless at a glance, and Quority retreated until he realized his back was against the wall.
"...Kraaaaah!!"
When Quority charged in with a battle cry, Jiha countered with a kick, utterly unimpressed.
Hit by the kick, fully loaded with Mana, Quority screamed as he smashed through the wall and was sent flying outside the house.
"Why are you screaming before you even attack? Want to tell me you're begging to die?"
Clicking his tongue, Jiha walked out through the hole Quority had made.
Blood-soaked, Quority was crawling across the dirt, trying to stand up by any means.
At some distance away, the elves who had gathered in a fan shape were watching Quority wallowing pitifully.
"Huk, heok. Heok...."
Looking at the faces of his kin, Quority desperately scrambled forward at the sound of Jiha's approaching footsteps.
He was so terrified he couldn't even think of standing up and running away.
Even knowing he would heal, the pain terrified him, the suffering horrified him.
It was a natural reaction for a living creature.
But those who fight make painstaking efforts to overcome it. They train their bodies and cultivate their minds.
Since they are still living beings, they can't suppress reflexive screams and pain entirely... but they train to exert their will even in life-or-death situations.
This kind of basic training tends to seem pointless at first glance.
But Jiha never neglected sparring or any other kind of training.
His Mana capacity had increased tremendously, and he had acquired many Special Abilities through Bloodsucking, but he couldn't rely on those alone.
"Unearned power."
Jiha tsked, watching Quority crawl on the dirt.
"A balloon just floats up until it grows big enough to pop. Power is built up day by day, while constantly solidifying your foundation. It might look stupid, but if you don't, you'll crumble at the crucial moment."
These words were meant for the other elves to hear.
It was a declaration to inform them what kind of man Jiha was, why he could pin down Quority, and why he was qualified to stand above them.
At the sound of Jiha's footsteps, Quority floundered, then shouted towards his watching kin.
"H-Help me!"
"...."
The elves were silent.
"Th-That human is trying to kill me! Are you going to let an elf, let me, die?! You're elves!"
A flicker of hesitation crossed the elves' faces.
For elves who had grown up in a closed society prioritizing family authority, even if they disliked Quority, it was true that he was qualified to stand above them.
At Quority's desperate struggle, Jiha stopped, crossed his arms, and observed.
Snuffing out Quority's life was easy, but he needed to see what decision these elves would make.
'If they're the type to take Quority's side here, then they really are useless....'
No matter how important numbers were, they would be nothing but a detriment.
Quority squeezed out his voice with effort.
"Y-You have to help me drive out that human! We're elves!"
"...."
Within the elves' silence, one woman stepped forward.
The female elf standing beside Narsha, with light-brown hair, had a haggard face.
Trembling all over, the woman who had been crying just moments ago while being harassed by Quority threw what she was holding.
Thwack!
As a fist-sized stone struck his head, Quority blinked, unable to grasp the situation immediately.
"Y-You should throw that at the human?"
"Th-That man...."
A tear drop trickled down the trembling jawline of the female elf.
If her tears before were from despair, these were from rage.
"That man saved me!!"
When the female elf picked up another stone and threw it, Quority covered his head, unable to understand.
Yet he reflexively bared his teeth.
"How dare a mere woman...."
"Get out of here!"
"I'm sick of looking at you!"
The elves threw whatever they were holding—objects, stones—at Quority.
Women and men alike, young and old, all burst out in rough, furious anger. Quority's face became even more bewildered.
"What is this? What?"
"What do you mean, what? It's your funeral."
Seeing the roaring anger of the crowd, Jiha approached Quority.
Quority, who had been about to get angry, spun around and reflexively scrambled backward.
It was a struggle just to get a little distance away from Jiha. Turning to flee, Quority spat venom at the crowd.
"Just you wait! You bastards!!"
As Quority fled, the elves erupted in cheers of joy.
'Not bad.'
The elves here had made a choice that transcended the shackles of family that bound them.
Under Jiha's gaze, the voices of the rejoicing elves died down, and they began to watch him cautiously.
They couldn't immediately decide how to treat the human who had driven out Quority for them.
"Guason, handle the cleanup. Narsha, guard this place."
"What?"
"You've got nothing to do, right? Stand by here. The kids will be coming. Don't cause trouble and behave yourself."
Narsha looked displeased but said nothing.
By leaving her here, the elves could feel reassured in case Quority came back.
As Guason bowed his head at Jiha's command, the female elf who had been freed thanks to him also bowed, crying.
"Thank you, human lord."
"Call me Jiha."
At those words, the other elves also bowed their heads one by one.
It meant total submission. Anyone in Warsland would be astonished to see elves bowing their heads to a single human.
The elves residing in Waris had now decided to follow Jiha.
"Alright, then...."
Having received their submission, Jiha looked in the direction Quority had fled.
The hunt began.
The real night was just starting.