The Incompetent Hero and the Return to Yeom Kingdom (4)

"Looks like we've got a few interrupters."

"Interrupters? What do you mean, Doryeong?"

While the two of them continued their duel, there were those who showed signs of trying to interfere with the match.

Naturally, they were martial artists of the Dan clan — men on Dan Seollyun's side.

Of course, not every martial artist of the Dan clan moved to intervene. Only some ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠among them. Likely those I could guess were Dan Seollyun's closest confidants.

The rest of the martial artists seemed confused about ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whom they ought to side with in this fight. In other words, it was proof that Dan Seollyun had yet to seize complete control over the entire Dan clan.

Which means there are still people within the Dan clan who harbor doubts about Dan Seolpung's death — and about Seollyun's actions.

Shring.

I drew the Holy Sword from my inventory. As the pure white blade revealed itself, I swept my eyes over every person I needed to mark as a target.

My sword aura, which ignored distance entirely, sliced clean through the wrists of those who had moved to interfere.

"Argh!!"

"Guhhh!!!"

Of course, I hadn't severed them completely enough to cripple them for life. I'd merely made sure they couldn't throw any hidden weapons for the time being.

"If you have any conscience left, you won't interfere now. Watch carefully. See which direction your Dan family will take from here."

Then I turned my gaze back to watch the two of them fight.

"Doryeong, does that mean you have no intention of helping even if Seollin falls into danger?"

"Well… if it gets truly dangerous, I'll have to save her. And the moment I intervene is the same as Seollin having lost — so we'll leave this place right then."

Before Yeom Kingdom went to war with the Beastman Alliance, it would first have to go to war with Sichuan.

"…"

"Why? Are you worried?"

"How could I not be? Rather, how can you remain so calm, Doryeong? We have spent quite a long time together with Seollin, have we not?"

"That's…"

Whether from a hidden weapon or a graze, Seollin staggered, barely managing to keep her balance as she glared at Seollyun.

From what I'd overheard, the poison Dan Seollyun had used was Serpent Poison…

An extreme toxin created from the blood and resentment of an Imugi. The fact that he could handle it meant he had already sold several of his own kin to the Beastman Alliance.

"You know what an Imugi is? It's a creature that crawls across the earth, striving to become a dragon."

"?"

"I see… So you believe that child of the Imugi can become a dragon?"

"Who knows?"

I shrugged in answer to Baekho's question, then looked at Seollin as she gritted her teeth and tried to rise to her feet.

"If Seollin can't become a dragon here… then I'll have to wipe this place off the map."

"…!"

"What… what are you saying… Serpent Poison is…"

"So you already knew. Well, you did say you'd already met the Demon King. Did he run his mouth about something useless?"

"…Dan Seollyun!!!"

Even the word brother felt too precious to waste on him now. She roared his name in fury — but in a battle of hidden weapons flying at blistering speed, that kind of rage was a grave mistake.

Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip!!

"?!"

In an instant, several daggers buried themselves in her body. The moment she registered them, pain surged so violently that tears nearly spilled from her eyes of their own accord.

But she did not fall. She could not fall.

"The head of the Dan clan — using his own people as sacrificial lambs?!"

"Ha! That's the funniest thing I've heard yet, Seollin. Do you honestly believe poison advances without a single sacrifice? How lethal a toxin is! What it takes to handle it! Do I have to explain every last sacrifice one by one?! The Dan clan's endless prosperity was built atop the blood of our own house!!!"

Seollyun answered Seollin's rage-laden words with fury of his own. At the same time, his arm moved.

"Ninefold Death!"

Ping! Fssssssshhh!!

Nine shadows of death, each tracing a twisted, unpredictable trajectory. Seollin desperately tried to twist her body out of the way — but she had already taken several hidden weapons, and the poison was spreading. The instant she put strength into her legs to dodge, her power simply gave out.

Six more projectiles punched through her body, dyeing her clothes a deep red.

"Ghhhk…!!!"

What kept Seollin on her feet was nothing but sheer willpower. Through willpower alone she endured the agony of the Serpent Poison and swung her arm.

"Soul-Chasing Flying Blade!"

A single line shot outward. But for Seollin, who was standing on willpower alone, the accuracy and force of the weapon were pitifully weak.

Seollyun tilted his head just enough to let her projectile sail past, then drove the exact same technique straight through her body. Naturally, the power and precision of Seollyun's technique made any comparison to Seollin's an insult.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, Seollin dropped to her knees. Trembling like a rain-soaked animal, her face drained of all color, she collapsed.

"Urgh—!"

A gush of blood poured from Seollin's mouth. Only after the dark, dead blood had spilled out did she barely manage to cling to consciousness. Sensing Seollyun slowly approaching in the meantime, she somehow forced her body up and looked at him.

He looked down at Seollin crawling across the ground and frowned.

"Did you think someone like me — someone who couldn't use Blood Awakening — would be easy to beat? No. This is reality. Once the difference of Blood Awakening is gone, this is how far apart you and I truly are."

His voice carried a mix of anger and something that sounded unmistakably like inferiority. And Seollin, pouring every scrap of strength into a body that would not obey her, somehow forced herself upright. Cold sweat poured down her face as she spoke to Seollyun.

"Blood Awakening… You clearly… couldn't use it before… So how… how are you able to use Blood Awakening now?"

"Ha… Is that what you want to know?"

"Your Blood Awakening… it's the same structure as that Divine Beast Transformation the Beastman Alliance uses, isn't it…?"

Gritting her teeth, Seollin shouted, tears of pure rage pricking at the corners of her eyes.

"All for a power like that?! You killed your own father!! You sacrificed the people who followed you?!"

"You can only say that because you already had power!!"

Open, unmistakable fury. Seollyun's face twisted violently as he roared.

"Those of you who could use Blood Awakening would never understand!! Born the eldest son — and unable to use Blood Awakening! Father's gaze was always ice-cold! Because of that single difference called Blood Awakening, I could never even match your skill!!!"

It was the expectation and burden that came naturally with being born the eldest son — and the crushing despair of knowing he could never live up to his father's hopes. All of it tangled into a mess of emotion that Seollyun poured out as he crushed Seollin's hand beneath his foot.

"Ghhhk…!"

"But it's different now. I've obtained this power. And this power will soon spread through the entire Dan clan. When that happens, the Dan clan will become the foremost family in all of Yeom Kingdom."

"All for… something like that…"

Crrrk.

"?!!!"

The pain was so severe she couldn't even form words. She could only twitch, trying to endure it. Seollyun watched her coldly.

"Don't worry. I won't kill you. Living Imugi blood is needed to produce Serpent Poison, after all."

"Sh… shut…"

"The Serpent Poison we have now was made from the blood of an Imugi that couldn't use Blood Awakening. If we make it from the blood of an Imugi that can… don't you wonder how much more powerful the poison will become?"

Was it the helplessness of being able to do nothing? Or simply the Serpent Poison spreading through her body and the agony that came with it? Strength began to drain from her limbs.

If I fall… he'll probably move.

He had stayed out of it only because this was the Dan family's affair. If she fell, he would begin to act. And by then… the Dan clan would likely cease to exist.

His purpose in coming to Yeom Kingdom was to eliminate the fragment of the Demon King that was acting alongside the Beastman Alliance. He would not leave a Dan clan that stood in the way of dealing with the Beastman Alliance untouched.

So I wanted to end this with my own hands…

The moment she thought this is my limit—

A cool sensation began to coil around her dying body.

Shaaa…

"…You."

Approaching so secretly that even Seollyun failed to notice it was Seollan's pet snake. What had become of Seollan? Had she, too, been dragged off to the Beastman Alliance as material for Serpent Poison? Or was she still safe? All manner of worries flashed through Seollin's mind. In the meantime, the snake opened its jaws wide, drew a small bead from its mouth, and passed it to Seollin.

A voice suddenly rang through her mind — a lament filled with resentment, grief, and rage. Neither a man's voice nor a woman's, but something androgynous, and at the same time like the howl of a beast. It spoke directly to her.

A rage that made her body tremble. Somehow, it looked exactly like her own brother. She knew full well how hard her brother, Dan Seollyun, had worked. That was why, when their father named him the young master of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clan, she had raised no objection. She had never been suited to a position of such responsibility — she had only wanted to hone her own skill through the hidden-weapon arts that were the pride of the Dan family.

But how must that have felt to Seollyun?

If she were not careful, she felt she might be swept away by that rage. Then, in that moment, a man's voice cut cleanly through the chaos in her mind.

"Want some help?"

The calm voice of the man whose depth of strength she could not even begin to measure — the man her dear friend Baekryeon adored… and the man she herself had come to hold in her heart. The man they called a Hero in foreign lands.

"…I'm fine."

Rage alone solved nothing. Quietly, she stilled her heart. She recalled her father's teaching: to keep the edge of a hidden weapon sharp, one needed an unshaken mind — a mind at perfect peace.

Shaaaaaaa……

The scale and flow of the energy Seollin carried began to change.

"Wh-what… What just happened… You—!"

Seollyun noticed the pet snake clinging to Seollin's body far too late. The situation was already decided.

To an Imugi that had trained for so long, waiting to be reborn as a dragon, a small Yeouiju had been placed in its grasp.

KRAAAAAANG!!!!

"…Haa…"

And so a small dragon was born — one that had severed the Imugi's bitter resentment.