The Vicious Aunt Who Roars!
BANG!
“Don’t run away, you ugly old hag!”
“W-what? You crazy woman!!”
Maru’s sharp tongue that once sent Lan’s sanity reeling at the welcoming ceremony was shining brilliantly once more.
The innocent swing of her mace was enough to shatter Yeon’s calm composure completely.
Thanks to the thorough training from Teraden, whose temper was like a steel wire, and Wolhyang, whose coldness was like an ice rink in the dead of winter.
Before coming here, Yeon had laughed at the mere thought of being unable to deal with a single brat from the Arirang clan, ignoring the man’s warning.
But unlike her usual confident self, her current state looked far from good.
The man’s concern had proven correct—Yeon’s Cheneung was utterly useless.
The only reason she had ever gained fame was because of her special ability, which she had used to commit countless crimes.
Normally, Yeon had never understood the need for Cheneung, so her physical abilities were nothing special. Compared to Maru, she had no reason to fear her in close combat.
She had plenty of allies ready to fight in her place and an endless supply of dolls—why would she need to dirty her own hands?
In contrast… Maru, who still had no Ineung, had honed only her Cheneung like Haru, so the gap in close-quarters fighting was painfully obvious.
Still, Yeon had clung to two things, so her smile remained on her face.
‘By now the two of them should be dead, right? Hurry up and come over!’
One was her unshakable belief in her allies.
The other was the ability she possessed.
‘Just you try getting caught. I’ll turn you into a doll right away.’
While she was waiting for Maru to show even the slightest opening.
“Eh…!”
BOOM!
The mace swung by Maru, whose concentration had slipped, crashed down not at her but at a random spot right beside her.
She had not let down her guard for a full day since entering here, so losing focus was only natural.
But the timing could not have been worse.
Swoosh.
Yeon did not miss the opening. She closed the distance in an instant and grabbed Maru’s chin before she could escape.
“Ah!”
Maru immediately swung her mace to knock her away.
To avoid the mace, Yeon had no choice but to release her grip on the chin and lean her body sideways.
It looked like it would slip right through as Maru had designed.
However, against the experienced tricks of a woman who had committed countless crimes over the years, even that was impossible.
Yeon dodged the mace with ease, then immediately grabbed Maru again and forced the ability on her.
‘No…!’
Whooosh! Gwoooong.
Maru’s mace, aimed at Yeon’s temple, stopped in mid-air before falling limply to the ground.
She had fallen victim to Yeon’s ability.
The spark in Maru’s eyes had vanished completely, and her movements gradually came to a halt.
“Ha. I-It worked? Haha! AHAHAHAHA! See? You bratty girl! Good….”
Her arms trembled violently, and the mace slowly tilted upward.
“Eh? I didn’t give you any orders—why are you doing this now…!”
CLANG!
The mace that had risen upward struck not Yeon but Maru’s own head.
She had deliberately slammed it down to snap Maru’s consciousness back, since the brainwashing was not yet complete.
Seeing that the brainwashing had not fully taken hold, Yeon could not hide her shock.
“Y-You… didn’t… get caught? How did this happen?”
Maru was not the only one in bad shape.
Yeon, who had been here for a long time, had accumulated even more fatigue than Maru.
‘I must have used too many abilities here….’
Juuuurk.
Two crimson streaks ran across Maru’s right eye as she gasped for air.
The spark returned to Maru’s eyes after she wiped the blood.
“Hoo, you ugly old hag! Are you ready to be scolded by Maru?!”
Face smeared with blood, sweat, dust, and all sorts of filth, Maru flashed a bright smile and gripped her mace tightly.
“Heh… heh…”
‘A crazy little brat like this… brainwashing with such a crude method…?’
“I’m coming!”
“W-wait…!”
Whoosh!
Yeon panicked and tried to show her surrender, but Maru’s mace, soaring upward, ignored her completely and came crashing down at terrifying speed.
“W-wait! You’ll really kill me if you do that…!”
CLANG! CLANG!
Maru’s mace hammered down on Yeon’s head like a nail.
“Um…”
‘What am I even seeing right now.’
Meanwhile, Blanser, who had just arrived here and was witnessing Maru’s violent scene for the first time in his life, rubbed his eyes with one hand and blinked.
* * *
Tsk.
Oban clicked his tongue and glared at us with his eyebrows furrowed, as if trying to file them onto his forehead.
The man simply stared at us with fierce eyes and did not attack recklessly.
Because we had driven him into a corner with our flawless synergy with Teraden, we had barely managed to secure a draw.
“Puhuu, hey… that guy, his name is Oban, right? He’s insanely strong—how the hell is he fighting all alone?”
As the fight cooled down, Teraden pulled back slightly and asked with a dumbfounded expression.
“Fighting? We could barely hold him off. We were in such a hurry just to block. Even with one weapon destroyed and us combining, this is the best we got.”
“Ugh. Today’s luck is so damned. Nothing easy is ever going to happen. Then let’s go again. I’ll head left this time.”
“Got it, be careful with your left.”
It had been a long time, yet Teraden and I had always worked seamlessly.
From the very beginning, we could read each other’s eyes and guess what the other was thinking and what they would do.
Paht!
Teraden, who had first stomped the ground, scattered small glowing orbs all around Oban.
Anticipating Teraden’s left, I had prepared the left side. When Teraden instead charged from the right, I reacted in panic, scattering my stance.
“W-what?!”
“How can someone actually believe that? Hahahahaha!”
While Teraden distracted Oban from the right, I circled around from the bottom of the left side and struck from behind.
The man who had to face us both from front and back handled the situation with his long limbs and experience, reacting swiftly and effectively.
Even though he faced two opponents, he showed no signs of giving ground.
CHEEENG! Whoooong!
He had repelled Teraden and now struck sharply at my side.
One, his foot tip merely brushed my thigh. It had not caused any damage.
“Tsk!”
Oban clicked his tongue once more, hurriedly withdrew his foot, and tried to break out of the encirclement and switch to a defensive stance.
But Teraden was not the type to just let him be.
Hwaaak!
Teraden burst his right in front of the man’s eyes to blind him.
“KRAHHHH…!!”
Whoosh! BOOOOOM!
Temporarily blinded, Oban swung his fists wildly in every direction to prepare for any possible attack.
“Hoo, hoo.”
He kept throwing punches into empty air to buy time until his vision returned.
When sight finally returned, he stopped and took a deep breath, his chin rising with the effort.
“Now I’ll do it my way. I’ll kill you all. You two. You girl who looks like your brother. The young disciple of the Grand Duke and the son of the Iron Duke. Not one of you will escape death.”
“You damned X bastard!!”
“Teraden, calm down! Stop!!”
Ignoring our pleas, Teraden charged out.
He had fallen for Oban’s provocation, designed to separate us using his hot-tempered personality.
Since he could not handle the man alone, I followed behind him as well.
“HAAAAAP!!”
BOOOOM!
Oban stomped the ground with a roar, and the earth shattered with a deafening crash, sending up clouds of dust.
“W-what…! KYAHH!!”
The dust blocked our view, and before long a scream came from the direction Teraden had rushed ahead.
I tried to rush into the smoke to help him, but the man came out of it one step ahead of me.
Paeok! Puk!
“Ugh!”
He had broken through the smoke and his fist, coming out of nowhere, struck my side and thigh.
The protruding spikes on his gauntlets mercilessly pierced my thigh. Flesh tore and blood sprayed from the wound.
“Hoo… Even his is dangerous, but he’s still not awakened his Ineung yet, and he’s this strong already. You are dangerous in a completely different way too. …Are you really not awakened?”
“…”
“Yeah… Well, you’re already going to die. It doesn’t matter what you are.”
Tump tump.
The man, turning his gaze toward us, walked slowly toward me while leaving the motionless Teraden behind.
“Kuk!”
“Hey! Stop just lying there…!”
Teraden, who had fallen like me, squeezed out a signal with his voice, but his body did not respond as it should.
It was because the strike to his vital point moments ago had weakened him too much.
In that split second, our eyes met. Teraden bit his lip as if making a decision and leaped toward Oban.
“What are you doing…!”
Teraden had run toward me, but Oban had turned his attention to him instead.
“Uwk!?”
Whether it was some kind of synergy or what, Oban who had grabbed Teraden’s ankle lost his balance and staggered.
I did not know exactly what Ineung it was, but the victims Teraden had held had always lost their balance for a short time.
The same thing was happening to this man.
Teraden used the moment Oban was off-balance to detonate his remaining iron gauntlets with his .
Paaang! Tutterutong!
“Ah…”
Oban simply stared blankly at the exploding metal fragments.
Watching him, Teraden who was bleeding from the corner of his mouth lifted one side of his mouth in a grin.
“Ha, ha… You should have never taken your eyes off me… Right?”
“You little shit—!!”
With his last weapon gone, the man could not contain his rage and slammed Teraden’s head down hard.
“U-uek.”
The left side of Teraden’s head was struck, and he coughed up blood while collapsing weakly.
Before Teraden could move again, the last thing he saw was our eyes, filled with a silent plea to buy time so he could recover.
“Fine, die first.”
Kkjak! Uddeudeuk!
“KRRAAAAH!”
Oban stomped down on Teraden’s arm with all his strength, and the sound of bones breaking filled the air along with a chilling scream.
“Aaaaah!”
He did not stop there. Grabbing a fistful of Teraden’s hair, he yanked him up roughly.
Then he slowly pulled the arm back and aimed at Teraden’s body.
Teraden’s broken arm shook helplessly and could not move. Trying to free himself using his other arm, the man’s grip on the hair would not loosen.
Teraden was simply too exhausted right now.
Kkjak! Kkjak!
Every time Oban’s shoulder pulled back, a bone-chilling sound echoed. At the same time, Teraden’s body was lifted with it.
“Teraden…! Uuuk!”
Swooosh.
The man who had been attacking the helpless Teraden repeatedly slowly pulled his shoulder back again.
I have to stop that.
If I don’t move, Teraden will die for sure.
Move!
But even if I forced my legs to straighten, I had no strength left, and a horrific pain accompanied by convulsions shot up my thigh.
‘The Grim Reaper is coming for me. Don’t worry. I’ll send you off nicely. You won’t be lonely.’
‘Haru is my friend! I’ll protect him! Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!’
He had always done that.
In Seo-Wangdo and here as well, he had repeatedly sacrificed himself to save me.
So this time, it was my turn to save Teraden.
The same thing had happened before, and I had never wanted to see anyone else get hurt again.
Move!
Even if this body breaks… just move a little!
Kkdeureuk.
“KRRAAAAH!!”
While biting his lip and screaming in agony, something strange happened.
My vision blurred and darkened, and the pain subsided, sending sensation back into my legs.
Paah!
After that, in an astonishing speed that seemed impossible for a wounded leg, I leaped toward Oban.
Caught off guard by the unexpected situation, he lost his grip and flew backward after releasing Teraden.
“Uuk! You? How!!”
“How dare you touch my friend….”
“You, you—die…!”
Paaapaaapapapeng!
“KRRRAAHK!”
The orbs Teraden had scattered around earlier exploded near Oban’s face.
Grabbing his left cheek, he lost his mind and went berserk.
“Didn’t I tell you before? Don’t take your eyes off me.”
“Die! I’ll kill you for sure!!”
“Leave the back to me… and hurry and finish that bastard!”
The moment Teraden’s words ended, dozens of light orbs appeared in the air and stretched long tails, surrounding me.
Paah! BOOOOOOOOOOM!
At the same time as leaping toward the man, the light orbs that had filled the surroundings shot toward Oban, following my movements.