152. The Family's Crisis (5)
“D-don’t move! If you move, I’ll kill this woman right now… Gaaah!”
Eunhyeon had anticipated the classic hostage scenario.
In an instant, using phantom step, he closed the distance to Elenoa and seized the wrist gripping her throat, squeezing hard.
The thug screamed in agony and had no choice but to release her neck. Eunhyeon swept the man’s legs, sending him crashing to the floor.
It all happened so fast that the thug, now sprawled limply on the ground, couldn’t even comprehend what had hit him.
Crunch!
Eunhyeon stomped down on the thug’s head with all his strength. The man’s skull smashed through the rotten wooden floorboards, leaving a deep crater below.
“You bastard!”
Dozens of men surrounded the Vesta priestess restraining Elenoa’s arms.
But Eunhyeon showed no sign of intimidation against these scrawny slum thugs, who lacked any real muscle despite their numbers.
Protecting Elenoa behind him, he effortlessly parried the fists flying at him from all directions. His movements were utterly relaxed.
“Huh? What’s this? A little kid?”
Emilia arrived late to the thugs’ side and grabbed the leg of one on the outermost edge.
Her eyebrows twitched slightly at the thug’s words, and a clear, melodic voice emerged from the girl’s lips.
“This unit is…”
Gripping the thug’s leg with both hands, she effortlessly hoisted his body into the air.
“Wh-what the—?!”
“Hereby declaring that this unit is not a child!”
She swung him like a baseball bat, smashing him into the other thugs.
“Gaaaaah!”
Like bowling pins struck by a ball, the thugs were sent tumbling one after another by Emilia’s human bat swing. They screamed and rolled across the floor.
As the thugs were mostly cleared out, Eunhyeon summoned a dagger and neatly sliced through the handcuffs binding Elenoa’s wrists.
Her arms fell free, and with the tension gone, Elenoa’s limp body slid into his embrace.
“Hah… hah…”
“……?”
Looking closer, Eunhyeon realized something was off with Elenoa’s condition.
Her breathing was ragged and irregular, her face flushed hot with unnatural color. She squeezed her thighs together tightly, writhing in a way that was utterly unlike her usual demeanor.
His gaze involuntarily drifted to her erect nipples, stiff on her blatantly exposed breasts. He quickly summoned a robe and draped it over her.
“D-damn it…!”
Ashton, sensing the situation spiraling out of his control, hurriedly turned to flee.
Eunhyeon tried to lay Elenoa down and give chase, but—
“Don’t… don’t go…”
“……?”
Elenoa’s hand grabbed his, stopping him. Her voice was nearly a plea, her trembling fingers clasped tight around his.
She still hadn’t recovered from the ordeal. Eunhyeon gripped her hand reassuringly with both of his, then gently pried it free.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Ah…”
“Lia, tie that one up. We need to take him alive to the kingdom.”
“Command accepted.”
Eunhyeon pointed at the unconscious Bark on the floor, issued the order to Emilia, and vanished in a blur of afterimages.
It was clear he’d gone after the fleeing Ashton.
It was the right call—the necessary one. Rationally, Elenoa understood Eunhyeon’s actions, yet an inexplicable resentment gnawed at her heart.
She’d endured the thugs’ lecherous gazes raking over her body, staring at her fully exposed breasts while their crotches bulged obscenely.
Under those eyes, it felt like bugs crawling over her skin, like hands groping and violating her every inch—a humiliating sensation.
And thanks to the aphrodisiac, that degradation was twisting into pleasure.
Her body burned with heat, in heat, filling her with shame and rage at her own pathetic state.
That fury and arousal had melted into relief the moment Eunhyeon held her. Deep down, without realizing it, she’d craved for him to keep holding her like that.
She’d wanted him to protect her, to comfort her. But he hadn’t heeded her plea, and now that unexplained grievance bloomed in her chest.
“Hnnngh…”
Letting out a heated moan, Elenoa stared at her crotch, soaked lewdly from the aphrodisiac. Unconsciously, her mind conjured Eunhyeon’s face.
Shell Piercer
It was the terrifying technique he’d unleashed in the Arkys Great Labyrinth, boasting immense destructive power—but this strike was a plain javelin toss, devoid of mana.
The spear struck Ashton’s shoulder mid-flight with pinpoint accuracy, not a fraction off the mark.
“Gaaaaah!”
The javelin embedded in a dilapidated building, yanking Ashton’s body airborne with it. His face slammed into the wall, pinned tight.
“Guhhh!”
He strained to yank the spear free, but with his shoulder pierced and one arm useless, his weakened body couldn’t manage it with just the other.
Eunhyeon approached with quiet steps. He balled his fist and slammed it into the spear shaft with full force.
The shaft vibrated violently, shredding the wound in Ashton’s shoulder even further.
“Gaaaaah!”
“Maybe I should’ve just killed you back then. Regretting it now?”
“Guh…”
“I always considered you might stab me in the back someday. Even so, I spared you.”
He could’ve killed him easily—when the gumiho drained all his mana and knocked him out.
But Eunhyeon had let Ashton live anyway. Why?
“Because your father begged me.”
—It’s my fault for failing to raise my children properly. I know it’s a pathetic request. But please, don’t kill him.
In the end, because of that bloodline.
Eunhyeon had kept Ashton alive, possibility in mind.
And this was the result.
Elenoa could’ve been raped, left pregnant with some bastard’s child.
Even if it was his half-sister, this twisted, vengeful scum had thrown her to thugs and laughed at the sight.
“Are you even worth keeping alive?”
“Sp-spare… me…”
Even now, writhing in pain and begging for his life—it wasn’t amusing. Just repulsive.
But he couldn’t kill him yet.
“Who was it? Who put you up to this?”
“Guh…”
“With Bark involved, this isn’t your solo act. You’re not the type to scheme something like this. Who’s behind you? Spill it.”
The now-abandoned Lindebalt Barony: two years ago, Baron Lindebalt was exposed as a heretic, captured by Vesta Temple holy knights, and beheaded.
But there’d been no clear evidence against the baron’s family, no facts uncovered—leaving lingering doubts even now.
Harkan, who’d led the purge, was now dismissed, bringing the case back into the spotlight.
Probably why they’d brought Elenoa here—a good spot to avoid the kingdom’s eyes.
Bark’s involvement, as Harkan’s son, confirmed it.
Bark had been obsessed with Elenoa even before his father’s fall. He’d felt betrayed and furious when she rejected their arranged marriage.
He might even suspect her role in his father’s dismissal.
Which meant someone had manipulated Bark and Ashton into this.
“A devil… a devil…”
“…A devil?”
Eunhyeon’s brow furrowed at the word slipping from Ashton’s lips.
“I… I don’t know either…! He just called himself a devil! Said he’d give me a chance to get revenge on the family that abandoned me…!”
“And tempted Bark with the chance to have Lady Elenoa?”
“Y-yeah… that’s right! So hurry up and—”
Woooong!
“……!”
Eunhyeon sensed a sudden mana surge. Like a wild beast bristling at danger, he extended his senses in all directions.
No entity. Just magic? No, this is…
The spell activated, but its caster was invisible.
Eunhyeon considered it might be interference magic from another location targeting this spot.
Crackle!
A circular magic circle sparked into existence, and shadowy figures began materializing at its center, one by one.
“…Teleport.”
Slower and with a bigger mana ripple than Iliana’s Gate, but unmistakably a spell that interfered between spaces to transfer objects—and people.
Did they teleport Elenoa here too…?
That meant the enemy had either a high-digit mage or an absurdly expensive artifact loaded with teleport magic.
Eunhyeon had never sealed high-digit teleport into an artifact himself, but he didn’t rule it out.
As the teleport ended, a red-haired man glanced around, then frowned at Eunhyeon and Ashton pinned beneath his feet.
“Who the hell are you? And what’s up with him?”
“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself before asking my name? Manners.”
The redhead blinked blankly at Eunhyeon’s calm retort, then burst into laughter.
“Puhahaha! Funny guy, huh? You clueless about the situation?”
He raised his hand in signal, and nearly twenty people gripped their weapons in unison.
Twenty-plus against one—it was natural they’d underestimate and mock him.
Eunhyeon swiftly scanned the newcomers: varied weapons, genders, ages, outfits. No uniformity whatsoever.
“Hmm, you… not some average joe, are ya?”
The redhead noted Eunhyeon’s unflinching, cold analysis—scanning, judging in an instant—and grinned with interest.
A sly smile spread as he drew the sword from his waist and pointed it at Eunhyeon.
“Changed my mind! Name’s Baron! The man who’s gonna kill you right now!”
Baron’s gaze shifted from mocking the weak to the thrill of facing a worthy foe.
“…Eunhyeon.”
“Eunhyeon? Weird name. Ancient?”
“Yeah.”
Eunhyeon nodded calmly and yanked the spear from Ashton’s shoulder with brutal force.
“Gaaaaah!”
As Ashton screamed, Eunhyeon stomped his back hard and shook the spear to fling off the blood coating the blade.
One man dashed past using footwork, aiming for the sealed temple behind—where Elenoa waited.
Squelch!
“Guh!”
Eunhyeon thrust the spear into the man’s thigh. He collapsed, gritting his teeth against the pain.
“Oho?”
“You guys must be the underlings who put ideas in this trash’s head.”
“Heh, and you’re the knight guarding the girl in that temple back there?”
They knew about Elenoa.
This confirmed a mastermind pulling Ashton and Bark’s strings.
“For a knight, I look way too shabby, don’t I?”
“Hey, did you see that attack just now?”
“Saw it, but…”
His tone implied he wasn’t sure if he could’ve reacted in that moment.
“Way stronger than that woman’s escort knights we killed back then.”
“Right?”
“…You’re the ones. The ones who openly killed two knights on Fernin’s streets and took their heads.”
These were the ones who’d directly killed Elenoa’s escorts and kidnapped her.
“So what?”
“Boss, can we… play a bit?”
“Yeah! Been a while since we met a real fighter! Let’s have some fun!”
“Yaaaaah!”
“Hunting dogs hunt like dogs!”
“Rip the prey to shreds!”
Baron raised his sword, shouting with fervor. His innocent tone clashed with the mood.
His men’s cheers echoed wide, shifting the atmosphere.
Despite the disadvantageous one-against-many, Baron and his crew showed no shame—only excitement since glimpsing Eunhyeon’s skill.
Their eyes gleamed with inexplicable ecstasy, like facing a massive boss in a life-or-death brawl.
Eunhyeon’s first thought: Battle maniacs. Mad dogs. Hunting dogs.
As the ‘boss,’ he grimaced and tightened his grip on the spear.
“Crazy bastards.”