Crushing the Sprout
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Blood Zen smashed wildly at the metal walls closing in as if to crush him flat, and as he shattered them he reflected.
To think I’d be held back by the ones I thought were scared. And by a woman overwhelmingly weaker than me, no less.
He had only been in this world a few years, and the habit of moving cautiously just in case had hardened into second nature, so he had never truly fought the strong of this place.
Anyone else would have clung to their pride and tried to make up for the mistake.
Fighting that bitch in this state would be dangerous.
But Blood Zen put his own interests and safety first above all else.
He had only attached himself to the Outer God Alliance because he needed knowledge, information, and a force to serve as his hands and feet; he had not the slightest intention of working for them.
The proof was that he had rejected every escort the Outer God Alliance assigned him, on the grounds that a strong bodyguard was unnecessary for deceiving an enemy.
And because of that, the hunt had failed.
Having no desire to fight Charlize, Blood Zen desperately smashed through the layered seals he had wrapped around himself.
Crack!
Light!
After breaking several layers, light spilled through the cracks and he poured even more power into the effort.
Crunch—crash!
Once the seals were destroyed, Blood Zen first checked the direction of the cave.
There he saw his prey, at the very moment he emerged, breaking through the wall that had sealed them deeper inside.
Tch. I’d been secretly hoping they’d run outside.
If they had fled into the open he could have snatched up at least “two” useful prey while they ran. A waste.
“Hm?”
Stepping out of the ruined seals, Blood Zen turned toward the fighting spirit aimed at him.
The fact that the prey he most wanted was not running made a smile almost rise unbidden to his face.
Wait. Why did this kid stay behind?
The natural question that followed kept him from approaching rashly; he checked the surroundings first.
Even after expanding his senses to their absolute limit, he felt nothing like a trap.
There’s one strange doll, but just that?
A man who always put his own safety first, Blood Zen hesitated over whether to seize the prey in front of him.
I’ve already used sealing arts twice, and breaking that seal drained a great deal of mental energy.
But if I miss this chance, the next one will never come in my lifetime.
The Outer God Alliance bastards will have realized I used them, so they won’t be able to set a board like this again.
According to the knight he had infiltrated into Akina’s territory, the boy possessed the talent to copy even unknown techniques at a single glance.
Moreover, he did not stop at the basics; he leapt straight into advanced stages and, in an instant, reached the proficiency of someone who had used that technique their entire life.
Greed that refused to let such prey escape collided with the desire for safety—
“There isn’t.”
“What?”
“There’s no trap or anything.”
Kaisent, steeling his fighting spirit, spoke toward Blood Zen.
“Then why do you intend to face this one?”
“Because you hurt my comrades.”
“Hahahaha! For a reason as petty as that? When just a moment ago you were hiding like a coward?”
At Blood Zen’s sneer, Kaisent’s face twisted further.
“That’s right. That’s exactly why. If I let you go like this, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life!”
“Foolish. To throw away your life for empty bravado.”
I don’t know how he undid my curse, but a brat is still a brat. Showing off without knowing his own limits.
Blood Zen had no intention of missing the chance.
I’ll finish him before that bitch arrives!
Time was short, yet dealing with one brat who did not know his place would not even take the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
First subdue the brat, then deal with the doll.
“Arty! Attack!”
At Kaisent’s command Arty charged to strike Blood Zen.
The best possible situation had unfolded for Blood Zen; he sneered and moved at a speed close to teleportation, slipping past Arty’s side to appear directly in front of Kaisent.
First the arm.
Break the arm and the brat would wail like any child and show his true colors.
The moment Blood Zen swung—
Kuoohhhhh—!!
A massive current of mana surged around Kaisent and flung the attack aside.
“Huh?”
Crack!
In the next instant Kaisent formed a sword from empty air and slashed open Blood Zen’s side.
“Guh!”
Tumbling from the unexpected blow packed with monstrous strength, he instinctively corrected his posture only for his face to contort at the pain in his side.
Looking down he saw a large wound on a body tempered by external arts and protected by defensive aura, blood pouring freely.
Threads the color of blood stitched the wound shut and it healed in an instant, yet the pain remained vivid; for the first time Blood Zen turned genuine rage on Kaisent.
“You damn little brat!!”
Kaisent met the killing intent without the slightest change of expression. He dismissed the sword, took up a bow, and began spamming every spell he knew while loosing mana arrows.
A warrior only truly digests what he has trained when he experiences real combat.
That was why Patisha, seeing the boy hide behind Arty in fear, felt disappointment yet answered herself with “What can you expect from a kid?”
Had he experienced real combat?
She had assumed that with the powerful swordsman Wolf (Lillian) and Priscilla holding the front, all the boy ever did was nibble from the rear with bow or magic.
What fixed that judgment even more firmly was the sight of him cowering behind Arty, terrified of Blood Zen’s power.
Boom! Bang bang! Rumble!
So Patisha was less astonished that he was not yielding an inch against Blood Zen than that the boy who had been paralyzed with fear moments earlier had become a ferocious warrior.
“Is that all right?”
As the surrounding terrain changed under the two combatants, one knight voiced doubt toward Wolf’s group.
“What do you mean?”
“He seems able to fight for now, but if even a little time drags on he’ll clearly fall behind in mana and stamina.”
Learning Prana increased total mana according to realm, yet they had heard Kaisent used the internal energy methods of Murim people.
Those methods only grew stronger with time; how much could a child who did not even reach their chests have trained?
“There’s no need to worry.”
Lillian, still acting as Wolf because her helmet had barely survived intact, instantly quieted their concern.
“If that child puts his mind to it, he is stronger than we are.”
“!!”
The knights who had married early were stunned that a boy the age of their own children was stronger than a Master.
In truth the only thing they still surpassed Kaisent in was raw physical strength; in everything else he had long equaled or overtaken them.
Cool…….
Only yesterday the child who had looked like a girl—wearing women’s clothes and tearing up under her bullying—now wore a man’s face and was fighting a formidable enemy terrifying merely to look upon.
Perhaps because of that gap, Patisha gazed at Kaisent battling Blood Zen with a dazed expression.
That kind, fragile child…….
It was the same for Merencia.
The boy who had seemed so small and delicate she might crush him if she held him tightly was roaring in rage at his comrades’ injuries.
The two who until now had seen Kaisent only as a child, upon recognizing him as a “man,” felt some emotion quietly raise its head from the scent of him that had accumulated over time.
“Huuuup—!”
Blood Zen, who had expected an easy finish and was now being given a hard time, shook Arty off, charged Kaisent, and exploded in rage.
Kakakakakakakak!
Drawing a blade that looked more like an axe and unfolding blade aura, he swung with the force of a massacre.
Yet Kaisent, generating a shield at the same instant he activated Helix Flow, blocked an offensive that would have turned him into dozens of meat scraps the moment his concentration broke even slightly.
Ugh! The strength……!
Kaisent’s posture steadily crumbled under attacks from a man whose monstrous power overwhelmingly surpassed his own.
Whoosh!
But when Arty swung the edge of her hand like a spear thrust at Blood Zen’s back, he widened the distance to escape the danger of being pincered and slashed her body.
One arm was cut so deeply that half an inch more would have severed it completely, yet she, having blocked all pain signals, continued her assault without a single groan.
Until now Arty had rescued Kaisent several times whenever a prolonged contest of strength would have endangered him; cuts and kick marks covered her frame.
Tch! That damn doll!
Blood Zen realized he could not seize the advantage because of Arty and considered changing targets.
To that degree the non-living Arty was a thoroughly troublesome opponent.
That brat is stronger than I thought!
Moreover Kaisent was stronger than expected; even if he gained the upper hand, finishing him would not be easy.
I can’t let more time drag on……!
He’s thinking of running. I can’t let him escape like this!
Sensing Blood Zen’s impatience, Kaisent instinctively knew that if someone this powerful grew still stronger by devouring people, the result would be worse than any natural disaster.
He had to force Blood Zen to keep fighting him, no matter what.
But how?
Before coming to this world he had never even hurled a malicious insult at anyone.
After a brief moment of thought, Dang Seol-yeong’s advice rose in his mind.
Not every master rejoiced in a disciple’s growth.
There were those who assassinated disciples whose talent surpassed their own.
There were even masters jealous of their disciples’ gifts—so what of a villain like Blood Zen?
And a villain who grew stronger by devouring the talents of others, at that?
Having found the direction for how to provoke him, Kaisent flung his self-control into a corner.
“Heh heh heh.”
As restraint vanished and malice toward the opponent erupted, an evil smile he had never shown anyone formed on his face.
“You’re not much, after all.”
“…What?”
“Even though it looks like you’ve been hunting humans for quite a long time, if that’s all you’ve got, you really must have had no talent whatsoever, huh?”
Normally, given his nature of protecting his own safety first, Blood Zen would have ignored the taunt or pretended to answer while looking for a chance to flee.
“If you want to run, go ahead and run. I have no intention of chasing you.”
Along with the evil smile Kaisent wore a gaze that looked down on an inferior opponent.
“No matter how many humans you’ve eaten, if the result is only reaching this far, there’s no reason to chase you. I still have plenty of room to grow.”
“!!”
Blood Zen’s eyes twisted slightly at the words that Kaisent would grow with time.
Even at an age that seems to have just reached fifteen, he’s matching me evenly. If he grows older from here…?
The power a boy could produce and the power an adult in his prime could exert were on entirely different levels.
If a brat who had not even become an adult already possessed this much skill, what would happen when he trained steadily, aged, and became a man?
Dangerous.
As a predator who had devoured countless talents, he could tell.
Kaisent was not a common genius known in one village or city, but a hero-level figure who could leave his name in history—and among them, at a level far, far higher.
If he made an enemy of him and fled, only to face the grown Kaisent again later?
Having thought that far, intense killing intent poured from Blood Zen’s body.
I must crush the sprout here!
Until now he had controlled his strength to capture the boy alive for better absorption efficiency, but for the sake of his own future he discarded efficiency entirely and decided to kill Kaisent.
Got him!
Having successfully induced the man to crush the sprout that was himself, Kaisent began to correct his stance at the killing intent—then revealed another sneer.
“Pfft. You’re going to fight when you don’t know when the people who went into the cave will return? That kind of trick won’t work on me.”
“Ssshhh—”
But Blood Zen did not fall for the provocation; he simply regulated his breathing to kill his opponent.
He’s coming!
Having finished the work of making Blood Zen drop all suspicion, Kaisent set his stance and prepared to answer whatever form the attack took.
—Master! Your leg!—
At the same instant Artemis urgently warned him.
The blood Lilith had vomited had crept along the ground and shot toward Kaisent’s leg.
“Hup!”
Kaisent hurriedly activated Helix Flow and flung the blood aside, yet that brief opening was exactly what Blood Zen had aimed for.
Swish swish swish!
He pulled throwing knives from his subspace pouch and hurled them at the Kaisent who had created the gap.
No—more precisely, he threw them so they would surround him.
Sensing the strange energy Blood Zen poured into the blades, Kaisent instinctively knew he had to break out.
“Arty! Right side!”
He tried to punch through in one direction together with Arty, but the strange energy contained in the knives rose like smoke and formed human shapes.
Translucent yellow light, yet unmistakably Blood Zen.
No way!?
Every energy sealed in the throwing knives created clones of Blood Zen, instantly surrounding Kaisent and Arty.
Each clone carried a different weapon: sword, dual swords, blade, spear, axe, crescent moon blade, halberd, flail.
The Blood Zen standing in the right-hand direction they had tried to flee swung a halberd, fiercely and ferociously attacking Kaisent and Arty with both the spear blade and the sharp protruding spikes.
Clang!
Kaisent swung his sword to meet the clone that was wielding the halberd.
The clone staggered back, corrected its stance, and attacked again.
Weak. Lower level than the clones Father makes. But even if the physical aspect is weak, the technical aspect is copying perfectly.
While the two hesitated, the clones born from the other knives swung their weapons and charged.
Stats lower than the real Blood Zen, yet techniques copied without flaw.
The true Blood Zen seemed ready to exploit any opening, but Arty planted herself directly in front of him as if protecting Kaisent.
I can escape anytime if I want.
A single teleport spell right now and Blood Zen’s secret technique would fly away in vain.
But looking at it another way, this is an opportunity!
He could learn techniques for every kind of weapon, and even the method of creating clones.
“Arty! Don’t take your eyes off the real Blood Zen!”
“Yes!”
—I will assist with your field of vision.—
If she focused only on Blood Zen even Arty’s vision would narrow, yet if Artemis helped as before, full 360-degree awareness was possible.
Kaisent, intent on stealing techniques from the man who had stolen the talents and arts of countless others, unfolded Helix Flow and charged the clone that held the halberd.