The Queen of Despair Descends
“Master, wake up!” Mu-yeon shouted urgently, shaking her shoulder with all his might.
Yoo So-rang, who had been dozing off from the mind-numbingly boring meeting, blinked open her eyes in a hazy daze. She let out a long yawn and looked at the tense-faced Mu-yeon.
“Th-this is an emergency! Master, please!”
“Ugh, I was trying to wake you up, but this meeting is already… huh?”
Yoo So-rang’s face went blank. Only then did realization hit her, and she looked around. The hunters from other countries who had been seated at the head of the table were all gone. And from directly below came the sound of violent explosions.
Aaaahhhng—!
Why is this damn siren so loud?
‘…These branch idiots cause accidents every single day.’
Well, trying to control hunters who were practically at the top of their respective nations was ridiculous to begin with. Yoo So-rang gave him a lazy glance. It meant, Tell me what’s going on.
Mu-yeon tried to stay as calm as possible as he spoke. But given the gravity of the situation, his face was still tight with tension.
“An, an intruder has appeared.”
“Really? Well, if the others went down, they should’ve already caught them. Even without the absolute top rankers, there are still plenty of A-ranks and S-ranks. Ugh, I was getting sick of their posturing anyway, so this is actually—”
“It’s the Queen of Despair. And there’s another one with her.”
Yoo So-rang’s eyes flew wide open. She shot to her feet almost in a panic and grabbed her sword. Irritation flashed across her face.
“Why didn’t you say that first?!”
“I literally said it was an emergency! Two S-ranks and five A-ranks are already dead…”
“They’re really going all out with the funeral dirge, huh. Fran… ugh, I’ve been watching way too much anime lately.”
Yoo So-rang muttered to herself while rubbing her throbbing temples. She closed her eyes, lowered her stance, and drew her sword into a ready position.
The moment Mu-yeon realized what she was about to do and quickly drew his own blade to defend—
[True — Continuous]
Clack—!
The blade slid smoothly from its sheath. The moment the sword flashed—
Kagagagagang—!
Mu-yeon squeezed his eyes shut. Even though he had moved outside her range, countless slashes still slammed into his sword. He had taken enough hits from her over the years to react in time; otherwise, he would have already been sliced into ten thousand pieces.
The continuous barrage of sword strikes erased the floor and everything around them. And then—
Kwaaaaaaaaang—!
The floor finally gave way under the relentless assault. Yoo So-rang and Mu-yeon plummeted downward.
Even as she fell, Yoo So-rang kept swinging her sword. She had already entered the radius of the curses and was batting them away one after another.
“Is it… even possible to deflect curses like that?” Mu-yeon asked, staring at her with an incredulous expression.
He was already protecting his body with his own abilities, yet here she was, simply swinging her sword and knocking the curses aside.
Thud!
The two of them landed. Looking around, they saw hunters frozen in terror everywhere.
Yoo So-rang’s cold eyes swept over their pale faces.
“What are you all standing around for? Get out of here!”
“M-Miss Yoo So-rang!”
Kim Kang-seo, an S-rank hunter from the Korean branch, came running in a panic. His usually impeccable pompadour was a mess, and the black glasses he wore were crooked.
‘If even this perfectionist is like this, the situation must be dire.’
Yoo So-rang frowned.
“Speak quickly. Before they launch their surprise attack.”
“Just buy us some time. We need to evacuate the hunters from each country as fast as possible. Only use that when you’re truly about to die.”
“Tsk, understood.”
Kim Kang-seo nodded and rushed off to organize the evacuation.
Yoo So-rang turned her head. There stood a girl drenched in blood and the Queen of Despair. The girl was grinning wickedly. Madness and ecstasy swirled in her expression.
‘What the hell is going on?’
She was sure they had said the top-ranked hunters would be enough to keep things under control. At this rate, they couldn’t even stop a single disaster, let alone maintain order.
“Hehe… you, you bounced back the cuuurses?”
The girl tilted her head. The eerie smile on her lips made her look utterly terrifying.
The black-haired woman beside her—the Queen of Despair—held her back.
“Black Darkness, I think it would be better if I handled this opponent. You’ve already used too many of your abilities.”
“Sister. She’s mine.”
The girl giggled as she spoke.
“Sigh… I guess I can’t stop you. Just don’t die.”
The Queen of Despair let out a long sigh.
At that moment—
Whoosh—!
A massive needle flew toward them at terrifying speed. Yoo So-rang gritted her teeth and swung her sword.
Kaaang!
The impact was so powerful it rattled her entire body. The moment she barely managed to deflect it, the girl grabbed the thread attached to the needle and yanked. In an instant, she was right in front of Yoo So-rang.
While Yoo So-rang’s eyes widened in shock, the girl smiled viciously.
“S-Suffer for me, please!”
“I’ll block it.”
[New National Sword— Defense]
Mu-yeon immediately struck out. Yoo So-rang was sent flying backward as if repelled.
“Who the hell are you? Are you some kind of Queen of Despair yourself?”
“I-I’m one of the Four Heavenly Kings! The, the Darkness of… uh?”
The girl made a dumb face. She looked back at the Queen of Despair with a troubled expression.
The Queen of Despair pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
“It’s Black Darkness.”
“Y-Yes! That’s right!”
Mu-yeon also retreated using footwork. Yoo So-rang let out a small chuckle as she looked at him.
“Should we come up with one for ourselves too? How about something like Sword Saint Rangers?”
“…Please focus on the battle.”
Even while cracking jokes, Yoo So-rang was thinking hard.
‘I could probably kill that Black Darkness or whatever… but…’
The real problem was the Queen of Despair standing behind her. The moment they had clashed earlier, she had realized it. The woman wasn’t even injured—she was in perfect condition. If she fought seriously, they would all die.
‘And I still don’t know what her ability is.’
She at least knew the girl used curses. Yoo So-rang had survived this long relying solely on her swordsmanship. And part of that was thanks to her intuition.
Her intuition was screaming at her.
‘The Queen of Despair… she hasn’t used her ability even once yet.’
Her eyes darkened.
“Then… let’s get started…!”
The girl flicked her wrist and pulled out a small needle. In her other hand was a voodoo doll of Mu-yeon.
Yoo So-rang’s eyes widened in horror.
“Mu-yeon!”
“…Please die for me!”
The girl smiled with pure ecstasy as she stabbed the needle into the doll’s stomach.
Shunk!
“Guh…?!”
Mu-yeon coughed up a mouthful of blood. Yoo So-rang bit her lip hard. A wave of pain crashed over her. She had deflected the curse in the moment, but it had carried an overwhelming amount of murderous intent. She couldn’t block it completely.
“W-Wow… you’re not dead?”
The girl’s eyes widened in genuine surprise. There was a gaping hole in her own stomach, blood pouring out in streams.
‘That son of a bitch!’
Yoo So-rang gripped her sword tightly, ready to charge, but then grimaced and stopped.
‘A curse that harms even the caster… Mu-yeon will definitely die if I do that.’
That was when it happened.
Step.
Step.
Yoo So-rang’s eyes flew wide open. The Queen of Despair was moving. The woman who hadn’t taken a single step until now.
Her footsteps drowned out the sirens, the screams of agony—everything. That quiet sound dominated the entire space.
Ping—!
Ping—!
Silver threads sliced through everything blocking her path. The black-haired woman, the Queen of Despair, spoke with an expressionless face.
“The objective has been achieved.”
“Huuuh… O-Okay thennn.”
The girl nodded. The Queen of Despair brushed past her and began walking toward them.
‘…’
Yoo So-rang gritted her teeth, trying desperately to raise her sword, but—
“Do you want your disciple to die?”
At those words, Yoo So-rang’s sword clattered uselessly to the ground.
The Queen of Despair stood before her. Yoo So-rang let out a hollow laugh.
“What… do you want? At least spare my disciple.”
“…”
“Do I need to lick your shoes? Bang my head on the floor? Commit seppuku? I’ll do anything, no matter how humiliating. Please.”
“Haa…”
The Queen of Despair sighed. Yoo So-rang lifted her head and met her gaze. Those crimson eyes. That freezing, utterly cold stare. It was terrifying.
‘Ha.’
Yoo So-rang let out a bitter laugh in her mind. It seemed no negotiation would work. If she used that now, Mu-yeon would be killed by the Queen of Despair immediately.
She glanced behind her. Mu-yeon was glaring at the Queen of Despair with bloodshot eyes. Even with blood dripping from his mouth and unimaginable pain coursing through him—
“You… bitch… how dare you… to Master…”
In the end, it would be better if she died instead. Yoo So-rang had no talent. She had simply swung her sword for a long, long time, over and over, until she finally reached this level. That was it. She felt she could grow no further.
But Mu-yeon had learned nearly everything she knew in just a few years. He would definitely surpass her.
‘Yeah.’
Yoo So-rang smiled bitterly. That was right.
‘As expected… this is how it ends…’
Without even fulfilling that one dream. Just as tears were about to fall—
“I will not kill you. And if I did, the damage on our side would be too great. It would be ridiculous to lose one of the Four Heavenly Kings, wouldn’t it?”
Yoo So-rang looked at the Queen of Despair with stunned eyes. Those crimson pupils remained exactly the same. There was no emotion in them whatsoever.
“Just make sure to tell the others.”
What happens when you provoke us.
