Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter:
Chapter Title: Respect the Elder Before They Strike
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Lee Miran drew a short-bladed dagger she usually kept tucked between her sleeve and arm.
"...A dagger?"
Kwon Sora assumed an attack was incoming and leaped back right away to put some distance between them.
But something felt off.
Out of all those close-combat weapons, why a dagger of all things?
'Aren't daggers usually what Thief Hunters use for ambushes?'
The smallest gear among close-range equipment, it shone in surprise attacks but was pretty much useless for anything else.
To openly brandish such a short blade like that.
What the hell was she thinking?
Or was she trying to say she was some kind of dagger master?
Her opponent was a C-rank Hunter, heir to a hunter family to boot. Kwon Sora figured she'd wrap this up quick.
But right then.
Shlick.
"Huh?"
At the sight of her slicing open her own artery with the dagger she'd just drawn.
"What the hell are you...?!)
Kwon Sora's shock at the wrist gushing blood didn't last long.
"Arise."
Shing.
"Arise."
Clank.
"Arise."
Rumble rumble rumble.
As the blood pooling at Lee Miran's feet spread wider and turned redder, blood-soaked soldiers, golems, and weapons burst forth and began floating in midair.
"Crazy..."
Kwon Sora's jaw clamped shut at the sheer absurdity of that ability's efficiency.
"You're a B-rank Hunter at least, so I'll humor you at your level."
"Creation using blood as the medium?"
"Correct."
"Figures... Summoner Hunters would be pretty pissed seeing this."
A villa-sized greatsword of blood came flying straight at Kwon Sora first.
Krunch!
She managed to pulverize it in one ki-infused punch.
But.
"Archers, fire."
Lee Miran gave the order to the hundred blood archers she'd conjured from her own blood, and in an instant, the sky filling Kwon Sora's vision turned crimson.
"...!"
"Ho, using nearby cars as umbrellas? Smarter than you look."
A rain of blood arrows poured down.
She barely managed to block it by hoisting up an entire car from nearby at just the right moment.
But with no time to catch her breath, a golem the size of the Alligator Warrior Kim Yongchan had taken down earlier came charging out and slammed right into her.
"Guhk?!"
Taking the hit, Kwon Sora finally went flying back, shattering the asphalt road.
"Hmph! Little punk acting all high and mighty when you're nothing special!"
A commoner with no bloodline perks, no less.
She hadn't climbed to B-rank only because of her big sister's interference—Lee Miran was convinced she was already B-rank... no, maybe even A-rank material.
Proof positive: she'd just crushed what seemed like a solid B-rank Hunter without breaking a sweat.
"Well then~ Back to the main event. Time to take our male Hunter and be on our way?"
With the blood trickling from her wrist stanched and that 'minor issue' sorted.
"Urgh..."
"...?"
Lee Miran was finally about to drag Yongchan back to the main house.
She had to.
So why the hell was he getting back up?
"God! Even so, were you seriously trying to kill me?!"
...Obviously.
This was a catfight over a guy—didn't lives have to be on the line or what?
More importantly, why was she totally fine?
No matter how tough a B-rank Hunter's body was, taking a head-on from her blood golem should've snapped something. She shouldn't be able to walk.
Yet there she was, perfectly fine, just pissed off and marching right at her.
"You... what are you?"
No ordinary B-rank scrub.
Lee Miran realized it then and started bleeding from her right carotid again as she demanded answers.
"B-rank Hunter Kwon Sora. No guild."
"Kwon Sora? Hold on—Kwon... Sora? ...No way. You're not that disciple of the Hunter Association President who's supposedly been alive since the Joseon era...?"
"That's me."
An unexpected heavyweight.
Their mother—the current Clan Head of the Supreme Lee Clan—had always said President Im Eonnyeon looked exactly the same as she did now, even back when she was a baby.
"War generation! So that's why you're so strong!"
War generation.
Hunters who'd actually seen combat. Lee Miran got it right away.
"No way... you're not a Korean War vet, are you?"
"Not that old... Vietnam War vet, tops."
"...!!"
At least she wasn't from modern Korea's absolute strongest generation.
But that didn't mean she could let her guard down.
No, something still didn't add up.
"Hang on... a war generation Hunter, stuck at just B-rank?"
"Haha..."
"And why stick around Korea? Every Hunter who fought in the Korean War switched to the US or some other country abroad by the 21st century."
The Hunter Association's Korean branch hadn't even formed until the mid-20th century.
About ten years after the Korean War wrapped up.
Back then, the country's economy was so backward that even A-rank Hunters got treated like crap.
So all the top-tier talent shipped out overseas ages ago. The Korean and Vietnam War vets were no exception.
...And yet here was a war generation Hunter who'd toughed out that era—when they bribed A-ranks with an extra sack of rice—and stuck around in Korea to this day?
'Damn it, now I feel like the total bitch here.'
Making her feel guilty for no reason.
Worse, wasn't the Clan Head gonna chew her out later?
The Supreme Lee Clan practically was Korea's living cultural heritage.
Which meant, for the sake of their image, maybe she shouldn't mess with this vet... lady?
But.
"Urgh..."
"Hm?"
"Ah!"
Like some cosmic joke.
Right then, a man's groan echoed between them.
Lee Miran whipped her head around at the strangely tantalizing sound tickling her eardrums.
Clack clack. Click.
Yongchan, still unconscious and writhing, started shedding his armament everywhere except the helmet—just like back on the 8th layer.
Thud.
His suit naturally disengaged, revealing those mouthwatering chocolate abs underneath.
The floodgates had opened.
"...Fuck, that's hot as hell."
Lee Miran, heir to the clan, spewing profanity like it was nothing.
Her 'instincts' had outrun her 'brain'.
And the biggest issue here...
"Gulp."
"We're screwed..."
Was Lee Miran's own headspace.
A virgin who'd never even held a guy's hand, now staring at this sight (historically rare male Hunter, S-rank physique, and a virgin to boot).
"Uh... uhihihihi...!"
Staying sane would've been weirder.
"Lee Miran-ssi?"
"I only wanted to be Clan Head to be happy, right?"
"Uh, Lee Miran-ssi?"
"But if I've got that, do I even need to bother?"
"Excuse me...?"
"Fuck holding back. Screw that."
Her eyes rolled back with heart-shaped pupils.
To the drooling Lee Miran, war vets and bullshit were all just 'old hags' in her way now.
"He's mine!!"
With that, she slashed her remaining left artery too, unleashing even more blood than before.
In response, Kwon Sora dropped back into her stance for the plan she'd been executing from the start.
The weakness of Vampire Hunters.
They could pull off versatile blood-based combat, but at the cost of massive blood loss—which meant anemia was inevitable. Drag it out, wait for it to hit.
But.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Why.
RATATATA.
Why.
Crack. Split. Splat.
Minutes of nonstop bombardment like this, and she was still standing fine despite all that blood loss?
Blood cavalry charging through the crimson arrow storm.
She kept melting them back to liquid form, buying time.
Yet the situation hadn't budged an inch.
No—things were exactly the same as when they'd started.
A blood puddle the size of a small lake had formed under Lee Miran's feet, but there wasn't a hint of anemia.
And that's when Kwon Sora caught on.
The Supreme Lee Clan's second heir.
Lee Miran was a genius Vampire Hunter with the rare 'regeneration ability'.
"Making more blood inside as fast as she bleeds it out?"
"Hah! Took you long enough. Too late now!"
Were those blood donation trucks right by the clan territory for that reason?
Everyone figured Vampire Hunters had tight ties with blood banks to restock their supply on the fly.
But the clan wasn't receiving donations—they were the ones donating.
"Hah, still just clinging to past glory. Nothing special for a war generation has-been."
Stalling was pointless. Anemia wasn't coming for her.
With that realization, Kwon Sora lowered her guarding arms.
Lee Miran flashed a triumphant grin at the sight.
"Fair enough—even war generation's just a regular human at heart, right? And Vietnam was US-led, so the Korean troops didn't even have it that rough."
"......"
"Still, you sacrificed for the country and all that. Aunty, just run away and I won't chase you special."
"A... aunty?"
Aunty.
Aunty...
Kwon Sora had planned to bide her time, snatch Yongchan, and bolt.
But hearing that word snapped something in the Vietnam vet whose body was still in her twenties.
"...Little girl."
"L-little girl?!"
"You know humans only use 10% of their brains total?"
Kwon Sora began her 'preparations'.
"Normal people stick to 10% on average. Even Hunters max out at 20%. That's the human brain for you."
The air suddenly grew heavy, cold sweat beading on Lee Miran's forehead.
"The reason we only tap 10% is mostly to avoid 'overload', or so the consensus goes."
"Overload...?"
"Yeah. Push past that, and you risk taxing your whole body. So we unconsciously lock the 'limiter'."
But.
A lifetime Fighter Hunter with nothing but her body as a weapon—with her master's help—Kwon Sora had finally stepped into the next realm. A true 'strong one'.
And so.
In the West: Limiter Removal.
China's martial world: All Phenomena Under Heaven.
The land next door, Japan: Lotus Bloom.
"30%... Release."
"Eek?!"
Crunch crunch.
Seeing her shift into full 'combat mode', even another woman would've gone weak in the knees at that savage transformation.
"Aunty..."
"......"
"Still got your hymen at that age..."
Wham!
Lee Miran blacked out from the beatdown before the facts could even hit.
"Shut. Up."