Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Culling (5)
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"Urk."
Slamming back-first into a tree, Yasuri Yaiba clutched her shoulder and let out a groan.
The moment that fist had entered her vision, she'd instinctively twisted her body to take the hit on her shoulder—but she couldn't maintain her usual expressionless facade this time.
"Oh, you blocked it with your shoulder even in that chaos. But tanking it like that doesn't mean you're all good."
As Yang Woo-bin said, the impact and explosive shock had dislocated her shoulder.
Her mana-reinforced shoulder and arm muscles had been shattered by a single punch—an overwhelming power far beyond her expectations. Yasuri Yaiba immediately revised her assessment of Yang Woo-bin.
'Much stronger than I thought. The power, the reflexes—everything's a threat. Shoulder dislocated, arm muscles torn. My left arm's basically useless now... ...Avoid him.'
From an opponent she needed to take down at full strength, he'd become an incomprehensible danger she had to flee from at full strength.
Whoosh—
Yasuri Yaiba swiftly spun around and bolted in the opposite direction from Yang Woo-bin.
Her legs, specially trained since childhood in the organization's training halls, carried her forward silently and swiftly, like a shadow clinging to the ground.
'He countered like he knew it was coming, but he still won't be able to keep up with my escape speed.'
Moving with steps so light they seemed to defy gravity, Yasuri Yaiba cleaved through the forest path, pressing onward.
'Once I shake him off and survive the day until the culling ends, I'll add Yang Woo-bin to the watchlist. Another strong guy showing up means one more target to eliminate... ...'
Thud...
"...?"
The heavy rumble from behind snapped her out of her thoughts.
A sound like something enormously heavy crashing down from a great height.
Thud... Thud. Boom!!
The roar grew closer, and as the distance to its source narrowed, the nature of the sound became clear.
Boom!
Now too close to ignore, Yasuri Yaiba finally grasped its true identity.
The roar was the sound of an explosion.
The same devastating blast that had pulverized her shoulder was pursuing her, closing the gap.
Boom!!!
And at an incredible speed.
"Kuh...!"
Yasuri Yaiba was confident her straight-line speed ranked among the top five in her freshman year.
Yet something was narrowing that distance so quickly—it was utterly unforeseen. Gritting her teeth, she gripped her dagger tightly, spread her senses wide, and braced herself.
Bang!!!!!!
At the same moment, an explosion rang out so close she could feel its heat.
Immediately after, a bold presence entered her sensory range, unhidden and unashamed.
Yasuri Yaiba spun reflexively, swinging the dagger in her right hand.
Slash—!
The blade's instinctive arc sliced only a few strands of golden hair.
But the turn allowed her to face the man who had chased her down.
"Whew, you're a real pain, you know that? No letting your guard down."
Raising his head after ducking the dagger, Yang Woo-bin smirked with one corner of his mouth.
"At least you stopped. You can't run. Fighting gives you better odds anyway."
"...Tch."
Yasuri Yaiba clicked her tongue softly, knowing he wasn't wrong, and reversed her grip on the dagger to a reverse hold.
Her best condition was dual-wielding daggers, but with her left arm out, one-handed was her only option.
'He blocked my ambush so easily, countered effortlessly, and now he's caught up to me while I'm fleeing... Was a guy stuck in general classes until the entrance eval really this strong all of a sudden?'
Assuming her stance, Yasuri Yaiba tensed her entire body as she stared at Yang Woo-bin, who stood casually, as if inviting her to prepare whatever she needed.
'...Is this guy like that man? A mutant with two mana cores despite being male?'
Yang Woo-bin's inexplicable strength and growth rate reminded her of a certain man she knew.
'Not certain yet, but the signs point to a high probability. If Yang Woo-bin is a mutant with two mana cores like him...'
"...Hoo."
Yasuri Yaiba paused her thoughts, exhaled deeply to empty her mind and chest completely.
A breathing technique forced upon her during her upbringing as the organization's weapon—one that turned the mind to nothingness.
With nothing left inside, she filled the void with pure killing intent.
'This man... I have to kill him here, no matter what.'
Eliminating males with dual mana cores was her ultimate purpose for infiltrating Dabcheon.
"Whoa."
Until moments ago, Yasuri Yaiba had perfectly restrained her aura, leaking nothing. Now, as she unleashed her killing intent without restraint, Yang Woo-bin let out a small exclamation.
As a hardcore player of Reverse Hero Tale, witnessing Yasuri Yaiba's final phase up close and personal moved him deeply.
'He's admiring my blatant killing intent? What the hell is this guy...?'
But unaware of who Yang Woo-bin was, Yasuri Yaiba could only break into a cold sweat inwardly at his reaction to her naked hostility.
He was the first to casually admire it without a hint of wariness.
In that fleeting moment of mental disruption from his unexpected response, he didn't miss the opening—he kicked off the ground and charged.
Bang—!
Unlike their first clash, this time Yang Woo-bin struck first.
He didn't propel himself with an explosion this time, but he was plenty fast regardless.
"...!"
Closing 10 meters in an instant.
"Check that killing intent. One slip and my head's gone."
His words feigned caution, but his movements showed none.
He slipped into the range of the dagger-wielding weapon that was Yasuri Yaiba as naturally as entering his own home.
She mechanically swung her dagger to slice him—as was only natural—but she couldn't.
Whoosh—!
Yang Woo-bin's fist flew at her first, ahead of her swing.
Aiming for her ruined left side, she twisted her body to evade the right hook.
"Hup...!"
Simultaneously rotating to counter with her dagger—but just like before, she couldn't execute the ingrained motion.
Bang—!!
Because Yang Woo-bin's left fist followed up.
Rotating to deflect and counter was her standard pattern, but failing to deflect left her wide open to massive risk.
"Kuh...!"
Thus, Yasuri Yaiba opted to rotate backward instead of sideways, creating distance.
Her gymnast-like flexible backflip was a versatile technique blending evasion and attack, slicing at the foe with the blade on her toe while dodging.
Whoosh—.
"...!"
But even that irregular backflip couldn't graze a single inch of Yang Woo-bin's skin.
As if he knew her every move in advance, he perfectly evaded all her sharpened ambushes.
Bang—! Bang!
"Hngh?! Urk...!"
Not content with evasion, he relentlessly chained his attacks into the unavoidable gaps between her motions.
Humans, when facing enemies, inevitably had judgment gaps between actions.
Because enemies were unpredictable existences, and humans instinctively wariness toward the unknown.
Yet Yang Woo-bin showed no such wariness or hesitation.
"Krgh, urk?! Guh!? Hup!"
Bare-handed, with his unprotected body vulnerable to a dagger's slice, he unleashed punches without fear or pause.
Yasuri Yaiba tried to counter his ultra-aggressive onslaught, but each time, he effortlessly dodged, followed by a terrifying counter.
With one arm already wrecked from a single punch, Yasuri Yaiba couldn't afford even one hit from Yang Woo-bin.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang!
"Heut, ah, urk. Khrgh...!"
Thus, at some point, she abandoned offense entirely, devoting all her focus to evasion.
But pure evasion doesn't end a fight, and even her specially trained concentration had limits.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang!!!
"Hit?! Huit. Kut. Huw?! Ha-ut!"
Dodging the chain of thick, hard, bronze fists with gritted teeth, her guard slipped momentarily on something other than the punches.
"Got your opening, bitch!"
Crack!
Yang Woo-bin, sensing it like a ghost, stomped down on Yasuri Yaiba's instep—the target he'd been eyeing from the start.
"Kyaaak?!"
The intense shock and pain, like her foot was shattering, drew an involuntary scream from her.
But compared to what followed, that was nothing.
"Finally caught you."
"Hngh?!"
Pinned and unable to flee or dodge, Yasuri Yaiba reflexively raised her right arm in guard at the sight of his clenched right fist.
At the same instant, his massive, thick, hard bronze fist slammed onto her forearm.
Crack!!!
"Auk...!"
Even mana-reinforced, his punch cracked her arm bone with raw power.
But the fist's strength wasn't the real threat.
"Go."
Boom!!!
The explosion that followed the impact was.
Crash! Thud! Roll roll boom—!
Caught in a point-blank blast, Yasuri Yaiba flew backward, tumbling wildly down the forest path before slamming back-first into a tree.
"Cough...!"
The collision spasmed her lungs, halting her breath; both arms broken, left instep shattered—she couldn't even flee.
Yasuri Yaiba felt the killing intent filling her chest dissipate.
Her body and mind drowned in utter defeat.
'I... I never stood a chance... Should've run the moment I sensed Yang Woo-bin...'
Late regrets changed nothing.
Step. Step. Step.
"Uh...!"
As footsteps approached through the explosion's smoke, Yasuri Yaiba began to tremble.
Step. Step. Step.
"Hnnngh...!"
Cleaving the smoke, a giant man with golden hair and bronze skin emerged, intensifying her shivers; uncontrollable fear leaked from her lips.
The hunter's icy crimson eyes, fixed solely on her as prey, filled Yasuri Yaiba with terror.
She wanted to cover her face and shut it out, but her broken arms made it impossible.
"P-Please... mercy... spare m..."
All she could do was beg in a quavering whisper, teeth chattering—but Yang Woo-bin merely drew back his fist.
"Don't play weak now. Just die!"
And as always, he thrust forward to smash her face.
Whoosh—!
But that fist never reached her face.
Clang—! Shiiiing—!!
A sharp sword beam from the side perfectly sliced between Yang Woo-bin's fist and Yasuri Yaiba's face.
Yang Woo-bin halted his punch midway and turned to look.
"...Ha, timeout it is."
Sighing softly, he shifted his stance toward the one who had fired the sword beam at Yasuri Yaiba.
"What the hell are you doing to my friend Yasuri?!"
The one who halted Yang Woo-bin's fist with the beam was a single man.
"Baek... Woo-jin...!"
He was the mutant with dual mana cores—Yasuri Yaiba's original target.
"And the protagonist arrives."
The protagonist of the game Reverse Hero Tale.