129. G1 vs Rin - Heaven-Breaking Kick (破天脚) (12)
129. G1 vs Rin - Heaven-Breaking Kick (破天脚) (12)
***
"...What the hell is that?"
Minha stared at the Colosseum. She muttered as if she couldn't make sense of it at all.
'No, seriously. They threw away their weapons—what are they doing?'
Minha turned her head toward Minseong, Hajun, and Jinhyeok, as if demanding an explanation.
Minseong answered with an awkward laugh.
"Probably... hand-to-hand combat? Something like that?"
Even Minseong, who was answering, hadn't expected this match to unfold like this, so every part of it looked just as astonishing to him.
A berserker clad in pitch-black armor and a silver-haired beauty in red robes fighting hand-to-hand... he'd never even imagined such a sight.
Beside him, Hajun burst out laughing and shook his head as if giving up.
"Ha. There's nothing to say except that she's actually insane. When we lost the earlier match, I thought it was a shame, but now that I'm seeing this... I don't think that's it."
The moment the weapons had dropped, Hajun had predicted Kang Hyeok's advantage. But Rin was showing yet another side of herself, to the point that his own prediction seemed laughable.
So he looked at Minseong and added one more thing.
"Minseong. I'm gonna be a Rin fan from now on too."
"Right?! Hajun! I mean, how could you not fall for her after watching Rin move?"
Minseong nodded brightly, and Hajun let out a short laugh and nodded.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!!!
Even while they were talking, the two people fighting in a hand-to-hand brawl straight out of an action movie were a spectacle in themselves.
No, to be precise, Rin's every movement was a spectacle.
It wasn't that Kang Hyeok was lacking in hand-to-hand combat or anything... it was just that Rin's movements against him made no sense.
She showed not a single opening in the fight itself.
In their fierce close-quarters battle, Rin was always the one with the upper hand.
With a body so slender it seemed fragile, she moved lightly, as if dancing, her feet playing across the ground, her movements airy and weightless.
Every time her pale white leg swept through the air, the blood-red light trailing behind it flared savagely, and even from a distance, the murderous force could be felt.
WHOOSH!!
Kang Hyeok, his entire body swollen and flushed from the Blood Frenzy skill, kept throwing heavy blows as if exploding with raw power.
But not a single one of his attacks ever touched Rin.
"Rin... I don't think I've ever seen her look like that on stream."
Jinhyeok, who had been watching them, muttered as if he couldn't understand.
And no wonder. This wasn't the Rin who wove beautiful patterns through space with her Crescent-Moon Weight.
Fighting hand-to-hand at point-blank range against Kang Hyeok, whose build was overwhelmingly larger than hers, she became more astonishing the longer he watched.
Dodging attacks that carried Kang Hyeok's strength—attacks that seemed like a single graze would end it—with near-miraculous precision, her legs kept drawing lines of blood-red light...
They extended every time with a clean form that drew involuntary admiration.
He didn't know the details, but they were surely Dancer techniques.
Sometimes a bizarre spinning kick that seemed to shape a blood-red flower, sometimes rapid-fire attacks that looked like a chain of strikes focused on speed.
It was hard to believe she had such high proficiency while using so many different techniques.
Normally, when using a technique with low proficiency, there was a clear difference in the movement compared to a technique with high proficiency.
Rin's movements, smooth as flowing water, always seemed one step—no, several steps—ahead of Kang Hyeok. As the blood-red lines roamed the air and struck all over Kang Hyeok's body, he flinched at every single moment.
Because every strike from a hand-to-hand technique carried the system effect of 'Stun.'
Kang Hyeok, who kept allowing attacks to land, eventually reached out to trade blows even at the cost of taking damage.
But Rin dodged even those movements of his, as if she had read them all.
"Making each other drop their weapons, fine. Rin's skill with the Crescent-Moon Weight is overwhelming, so I'll give you that. But then what the hell is this hand-to-hand proficiency she's showing right now..."
Minha, speaking as if she couldn't understand, was only now realizing it. Up until the moment Kang Hyeok dropped his weapon and even disarmed Rin of her Crescent-Moon Weight, his movements had clearly been planned.
And no wonder. Up until then, Kang Hyeok's movements had been close to perfect, as if he had anticipated every single one of Rin's moves.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!!
But at the end of it all, the sight of Kang Hyeok being beaten indiscriminately by Rin was beyond bizarre—it was incomprehensible.
Every class had a few attack techniques for hand-to-hand combat.
But most people didn't bother raising proficiency in them or learning them. Polishing weapon techniques was enough.
And yet Kang Hyeok clearly had relatively high proficiency in hand-to-hand combat too. That was what she had known.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!!
Amid countless impact sounds, Kang Hyeok staggered roughly.
Swish-swish-swish-swish!
Rin's pale white leg wove through space strangely, as if drawing a line of blood, and struck Kang Hyeok's back hard.
BOOM!!
Kang Hyeok's back bent sharply as if he would fall forward, and he urgently twisted his body to throw a punch.
WHOOSH!
The moment Rin's foot on the ground shifted, her body dodged the punch like a ghost.
"Watching this... I think it might actually be better if they just picked up their weapons and fought."
Minseong blurted that out while watching their hand-to-hand fight, and Minha nodded without realizing it.
"Yeah, seems like it. But seriously... I don't get it. Rin. How did someone like her suddenly appear?"
She wielded the Crescent-Moon Weight, a weapon of extreme difficulty, freely, and she'd heard Rin could also handle a greatsword at a high level.
And now, on top of that, the Rin she was seeing now was showing incredibly high proficiency even in hand-to-hand combat.
At the very least, a Fighter class.
Only someone at that level could probably properly trade blows with Rin in hand-to-hand combat.
"...A once-in-a-generation genius monster. Doesn't that title suit Rin? At worst, she's got talent on par with Jeanne d'Arc."
Hajun said that with a light laugh. Ever since losing to Rin in Game 4, he had been watching the match with a clear mind.
Acknowledging the opponent and accepting the difference between himself and her.
As a pro who had been extremely afraid of defeat, he had been able to let go of a small part of that through this match.
Just by giving his all against Rin, he felt like he had shaken off one burden.
"Once-in-a-generation genius monster, what the... Hajun, what kind of weird thing is that to say?"
Jinhyeok looked at Hajun and said that in disbelief, but Minseong nodded before Hajun could respond.
"That weird title doesn't suit Rin, you know?"
"...So the 'once-in-a-generation genius monster' part is right?"
Hajun laughed in disbelief at Minseong, who had focused on the title not suiting her rather than the content.
"It's right. I mean, isn't it? But then the name's just not cool. Rin's that pretty, and calling her a monster... what kind of monster is she?"
Minseong said it with a serious expression, and Hajun tilted his head and spoke.
"Is that so...? Then how about 'Warrior Maiden'?"
Minseong sighed at Hajun's suggestion and shook his head.
"Hajun. You seriously sound like such a boomer. Warrior Maiden? What even is that..."
"Hey! You and I are only two years apart! You little shit, what do you mean boomer!"
As Minseong shook his head as if asking when that term was ever popular, Jinhyeok chimed in to back him up.
"Yeah, rather than Warrior Maiden... how about Goddess of the Battlefield, or Athena? Wouldn't something like that be better?"
Minseong and Hajun looked at Jinhyeok almost simultaneously with disgust.
"Wow. Jinhyeok is such a mega-boomer..."
"Jinhyeok, you're kind of too much, man..."
"No, why are you reacting that hard just to embarrass me? Fine! Do you two have anything better?"
Minha let out a small sigh at the sight of them.
"...Look at these hardcore Rin fans, would you."
Now they were literally debating what title to give Rin. As someone had said, they had already become Rin fans, and it was ridiculous.
Then, with a glance, Minha turned her gaze back to the Colosseum.
The wounds Kang Hyeok had suffered from the first attack, the ones that had burst with blood, were gradually healing.
As a Berserker trait, he regenerated most damage quickly, but now more and more places were bleeding beyond that.
Which meant the damage was accumulating.
'Warrior Maiden, huh...'
Watching Rin unleash countless attacks at Kang Hyeok with an indifferent expression, Minha thought that might actually be right.
Then she quickly shook her head.
'I-I'm... not a boomer.'
***
WHOOSH!
Serin watched the trajectory of the fist extending toward her through the thick pool of blood, twisted her body naturally, and immediately lowered her waist.
BOOM!!
The massive force with nowhere to go struck the empty air and burst against the atmosphere, and Serin immediately began to move.
She extended one leg, stomped hard on the ground to gather power, and at the same time straightened her lowered waist and unleashed the technique.
—Heaven-Breaking Kick (破天脚).
BOOM!
As she twisted the foot planted on the ground sharply to add propulsion, her leg received that force and began to glow with a dark light, beyond blood-red, close to pitch-black.
Whirr!
As she rotated her body half a turn, the pitch-black energy coiled in her extending leg flared savagely, spreading its destructive power through the air with a heavy hum.
HUMMMM!!
A split second. Facing Kang Hyeok, whose expression said it was already too late, Serin struck his fully exposed neck with precision.
BOOOOM!!!
A massive sound that was hard to believe came from flesh striking flesh rang out, and Kang Hyeok's body shot up into the air.
Heaven-Breaking Kick (破天脚).
It was the technique with the greatest destructive power that could be used without holding the Crescent-Moon Weight, and it was a finishing move.
And if she used this technique and failed to end it, there was no next move.
Confirming that her stamina gauge had converged to near zero in an instant, Serin blankly raised her head and watched Kang Hyeok's body rise high into the sky.
"At the very least... I think I hit him a few hundred times."
With those words, muttered in a slightly apologetic tone, Kang Hyeok's body floating in the air turned into light and vanished.