255. Shin Do-hwa (4)
255. Shin Do-hwa (4)
WHIZZ—!
I swung my sword horizontally at the charging Shin Family Guard.
One Slash, Two Halves (一刀兩斷).
The Sword Qi shot from the skill with a sharp momentum and crashed down toward the Shin Family Guard.
CLAAAAANG—!!
As if they had coordinated it, they all drew their swords at the same time and managed to block the Sword Qi.
"······."
The Shin Family Guard stopped, as if taken aback by that single exchange.
I smirked at the sight.
'What, spooked already? Thinking of running because you can't handle it?'
I knew their combat style.
They only charged in when they could guarantee a kill.
The moment it looked like they couldn't, they pulled back.
The only time they'd throw their lives away and charge was to protect Shin Do-hwa.
Since my skill was clearly beyond what they'd expected, they were probably trying to retreat.
Throwing their lives away to protect Ryu Jin wasn't worth the cost.
But I had no intention of letting them.
I'd unleashed One Slash, Two Halves with exactly this in mind from the start.
"I'll handle the Shin Family Guard."
"······Huh!? Wh-what did you say?"
Behind me, Shin Se-hee answered in a startled voice.
"Jin Yu-ha, the Shin Family Guard is······."
"I know. They're not ordinary."
"······."
"If we all jump them at once, they'll probably just run. We have to finish this here. If I go in alone, they'll follow."
"B-but······ even so!"
My party members seemed flustered by my sudden announcement.
But I'd already made my decision the moment those bastards showed themselves in front of me.
I would face them alone.
"You already figured it out, right? That you can't take on all of us at once. But what if I take you on one-on-one? That's doable, isn't it?"
I spoke in a smooth, brazen voice toward the Shin Family Guard, who were standing there in hesitant stances.
The bastards glanced at each other, then gave a slight nod.
Heh.
"All right then, follow me."
Dash—
"J-Jin Yu-ha!!! Wh-what is this─"
I kicked off the ground.
The Shin Family Guard fell in behind me.
* * *
Jin Yu-ha, having suddenly led the Shin Family Guard away, vanished alone.
Shin Se-hee's face hardened.
'······What do I do? What should I do.'
Jin Yu-ha had told her to leave it to him.
But she couldn't stop the wave of worry washing over her.
Just who were the Shin Family Guard?
Creatures who were human, but not.
Combat dolls crafted with painstaking care by the Shin family, boasting a 100% mission success rate.
They had undergone countless modifications no ordinary human could withstand, and they would not hesitate to die if Shin Do-hwa commanded it.
Because even the strongest human was helpless against an assassin who disregarded death and charged in recklessly.
On top of that, their judgment exceeded that of humans.
The fact that such individuals had followed Jin Yu-ha meant they must have calculated that they could win.
'And······ considering the chimeras we saw on the way here, they're probably far stronger now than I knew them to be······.'
Her clenched fists grew damp with sweat.
That was when it happened.
"Hey, Flowerbed."
"······Y-yes, Kang Do-hee?"
"You're worrying for nothing."
"Wh-what do you mean······?"
"Jin Yu-ha is strong."
"I know Jin Yu-ha is strong, but─"
Shin Se-hee tried to object, but Kang Do-hee's sharp voice cut her off.
"No, you don't know. Because you weren't in the fight."
Kang Do-hee bit her lip.
As if she were frustrated.
"That guy······ is far stronger than all of us combined."
"······?"
"That's why, I'm incredibly pissed off."
Thud. Thud.
Fwoooosh─
As Kang Do-hee walked forward, red Mana began to rise from her body like a heat haze.
"The fact that······ I'm still nothing more than dead weight to that Yellow Dog······. That I had to send him off alone again······."
Kang Do-hee burned with such fury.
"Pisses me the hell off."
However, Ryu Jin, standing alone on the opposing side, was just as enraged.
'I knew I recognized you. The troublemakers raising hell in Korea these days. Utopia, those little shits······.'
Seeing the face of the boy who'd been running his mouth so arrogantly moments ago, it came back to her.
He was quite famous, his face known all over the place recently.
'Right, they came here on a request from Shasha Pong.'
Twitch.
Ryu Jin's thick eyelids trembled.
But the actual reason she was angry right now wasn't because of Shasha Pong, nor because Utopia had ignorantly dared to invade.
'Little shits like these, I could kill them with my bare hands. Snap their chicken necks like nothing······.'
It was simply a matter of pride.
Those bastards Shin Do-hwa had assigned to her, the Shin Family Guard.
The ones who were supposed to protect her, to obey her commands, had completely ignored her orders and slipped away on their own.
An indescribably deep humiliation washed over her.
She absolutely could not stand the bitches she had taken in treating her with such disregard.
'This is why I shouldn't get involved with those fucking panzies!!!'
She regretted accepting that offer back then several times a day.
But she'd never regretted it as bitterly as she did now.
"Right now, I am in a very bad mood. So, you lot will have to be my punching bags. You're Koreans like that bitch, after all."
She spoke to Kang Do-hee, who had stepped forward, her voice thick with suppressed rage.
"Is that so? That's a relief."
"······What?"
"Because I feel the same way."
Kang Do-hee cracked her neck with a pop and stared at Ryu Jin.
"······Hmph. You don't seem like enough to work out my anger on. You'd be about right as a sandbag, though."
Crunch─
Ryu Jin bit her lip.
"All talk······."
The moment she finished speaking, she swung the greatsword in her hand at Kang Do-hee.
WHIZZ—
The blade flew through the air, slicing toward her.
Lee Yu-ri tried to step in and block it with her shield.
"Stay out of it!!!!"
Kang Do-hee shouted ferociously.
And toward the incoming blade, Kang Do-hee stretched out her right hand.
Crunch.
The blade caught in her hand.
Drip─
Drip─
The edge bit into her hand, drops of blood falling to the floor.
"Wh-what the······."
Ryu Jin was flustered, not expecting such a brutish act as grabbing a blade with bare hands.
Wham──!
Kang Do-hee's fist slammed mercilessly into her abdomen.
"Urgh─!"
Ryu Jin's massive body folded into a V.
Kang Do-hee spat out, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"This bitch is my prey."
"Y-you crazy bitch······."
Crunch─
A vein bulged on Ryu Jin's forehead as she clutched her stomach and looked up.
"Get up. I trust you're not just this much."
Kang Do-hee spoke in a voice gone cold and subdued.
* * *
Dash—
Every time I kicked off the ground, the surrounding scenery blurred past.
'Hmm, so it's playing out like this.'
I headed for a deserted clearing, my eyes cast low.
'Originally, the one who appears here alongside Ryu Jin isn't these guys—it's Shasha Pong's father······.'
But the ones who had actually appeared were the Shin Family Guard.
That wasn't a bad sign.
It meant that Shin Do-hwa's experiment had gone awry because Ga-eul sunbae had recharged the White Magic Stone.
'Sure enough, if it goes down like this, we can drastically reduce the damage.'
The reason I'd drawn the Shin Family Guard away separately like this.
Because we couldn't afford to let even one of these bastards slip away.
Even in the original game, Velvetsra, these guys were the problem.
The final boss of this scenario, Shin Do-hwa, originally confronts the Player with the Shin Family Guard.
Shin Do-hwa is fairly strong, and the Shin Family Guard are a pain in the ass.
But there's no way she could stand against veteran Players who'd boosted their characters through gacha pulls.
So, when Shin Do-hwa is on the verge of defeat against the Player-controlled characters,
she commands the fallen guard.
— ······Did you think I would simply stand by and watch the Shin family's ambition crumble so meaninglessly?! Arise, my guard, arise, and unleash all the chimeras!!!
Then, the already defeated Shin Family Guard rise again
and release the chimeras that were bound underground.
The real chimeras—not the incomplete ones we'd dealt with on the way in.
'And from that point on, Shin family chimeras start showing up mixed in among the enemies you face······.'
Well, looking at it from the game company's perspective, it was an obvious move.
The idea was to break the monotony for Players who were getting sick of only hunting Demonized Humans and monsters, by having them face new enemies.
A little consideration from the developer's side, you could say.
Back when I was a gamer, I would've actually welcomed it, since it just meant a wider variety of enemies to fight.
'The problem is, this place isn't a game anymore.'
If those chimeras were unleashed upon the world, it would be no different from a horrific new disaster striking the people living here.
Which meant I had to finish these bastards off for good right here.
Tap.
I came to a stop in a clearing devoid of people.
I turned around.
Ten expressionless dolls draped in black robes.
"Sorry, but not a single one of you is getting out of here alive."
I leveled my sword at them.
"This is as far as you go."