Yuri
Yuri.
It was a name I’d thrown together on the spot, but it fit the blade perfectly.
From certain angles it didn’t look like glass at all, yet whenever light touched it the dagger turned a translucent, shimmering blue.
Floating against the night sky, the only proof of its existence was the grotesque, rippling aura of murderous intent that coiled through the air around it.
Still…
“Hoo… The recoil every time I summon this thing is no joke.”
The instant I called it forth, an enormous surge of spiritual energy ripped out of my dantian. A wave of dizzying exhaustion slammed through my entire body.
I realized that summoning Yuri in the middle of a life-or-death fight would leave a fatal opening. The smart move was to take it out ahead of time in a safe place.
Brrrrrr.
The dagger hovering in the air trembled like a hound in heat, desperate to be unleashed. It practically begged me to fling it into the sky.
It was the crystallized essence of my spiritual power—the pure destructive instinct of a predator that had once roamed the underworld.
I reached out and closed my fingers around the transparent hilt.
It felt like gripping frozen ice. Maybe the alcohol had sharpened my senses, but the cold was almost painful.
The moment it was in my hand the wild trembling calmed, settling into a quiet, obedient stillness. At the same time the drained spiritual energy began to flow back, and my dantian grew heavy and full once more.
“Using it while I hold it works fine. Not a bad control method.”
A chilling, icy power filled my grip and exploded outward, racing along the blade in a frigid torrent.
“What tremendous spiritual energy! As expected of my great, cruel, and utterly overwhelming master…”
“Pretty useful, right?”
“It is the perfect weapon for a master who used to be utterly hopeless in close combat.”
I’d given Mongsil a light mental flick, but the little spider wasn’t wrong.
“Right? The opponent’s a Miao sorcerer from the Triad… First time fighting a human opponent, so I’m a little nervous.”
“I shall assist you with the ultimate defense against physical attacks, Master.”
I scattered a handful of talismans into the air behind me, shaping them into a protective shield with Bibu-cham.
It was a perfect way to guard my back without having to wear clunky armor.
“Besides the Triad, are there any other players?”
“Cambodia is a country rich in shamans, Master. There may be mercenary sorcerers among them.”
Cambodia was the place that had cursed fighter jets and tanks during the war with Thailand. No one had ever proven they actually brought a plane down, though.
“What direction are the enemies?”
“East, Master.”
“Master, you appear somewhat intoxicated.”
“No I’m not. My face is just a little flushed.”
I loosened my grip on Yuri and relaxed the spiritual link connecting us.
Shrrk—
I hurled the dagger toward the eastern sky.
“Yuri, go tear the enemies apart.”
Instead of flying east, the blade immediately changed direction and shot straight toward the restaurant.
It was heading for the building where the Korean agents were staying—trying to find living creatures and rip them to shreds on its own.
“Yuri, come back.”
At the firm command the dagger veered sharply and returned to my palm.
It was uncontrollable, but the moment I sent the thought return, it stopped attacking and flew straight back. Just as I had predicted.
“Tsk—the restaurant is off-limits.”
I threw it east again.
Yuri hesitated in mid-air, then charged toward the restaurant once more.
It really was like a colt that had slipped its reins.
“Yuri, come back.”
Another firm command. Back to my palm.
“Only target those who are emitting killing intent.”
I threw it again.
“Tsk—not that way!”
“Yuri, come back.”
I repeated the process over and over, erasing mistakes like I was training a dog instead of practicing sorcery.
After enough repetition, Yuri would freeze in mid-air the instant I made the “Tsk—” sound, even if it had been flying toward the restaurant.
“Oh my goodness, Master! The divine artifact can actually be trained? If it attacks the wrong target, simply order it to return and it obeys!”
“As long as only enemies are around, I won’t have to worry.”
“However, if it kills too many humans it will turn into a malevolent spirit. You must be cautious about that, Master.”
I gently stroked the now-docile Yuri and whispered.
“Yuri. You must not kill people. Cut their lives short without ending them—go wild however you like.”
The dagger shivered violently.
“Does it… understand you, Master?”
Even so, it stayed floating in the air, blade pointed toward the restaurant, clearly still tempted.
It felt like watching a puppy begging for a snack.
“Tsk—”
Killing easy prey was the instinct of a predator, and Yuri was a predator.
But a short, sharp sound was enough to control it to some degree now.
The hesitant blade finally shot eastward, racing toward the enemy.
I was curious whether it would properly subdue them or if it had really listened to my order not to kill.
“Mongsil. Follow Yuri and keep an eye on it.”
“……Yes, Master.”
“That answer was a little slow. Should I go check myself?”
“No! I’m going right now!”
Mongsil leaped off my head and scurried into the darkness.
“KyaAAAAAAGH!!”
“Guhk!”
“Kyaaaak!”
Screams tore through the pitch-black night sky.
Yuri had begun its attack.
The blade was transparent; its trajectory couldn’t even be seen at night.
The enemies’ helpless cries continued without pause—until suddenly—
“MASTER!!!!!! SAVE ME!!”
A terrified Mongsil came flying back through the air like a madman, straight toward me.
Right behind the spider was Yuri, chasing it relentlessly.
Mongsil desperately spewed spider silk to slow the blade down, but Yuri dodged the threads with eerie precision and continued its cruel pursuit.
“Yuri, come back!”
At my command the dagger whipped around and settled neatly into my palm.
“Agh!! Seriously!! This crazy thing can’t tell friend from foe! It was trying to slice my legs off! Did you send it after me on purpose, Master?”
Panting hard, Mongsil waved its little bell-adorned hands wildly in protest.
“Sorry. You’ve got so many legs, I guess it got greedy.”
I softly stroked Mongsil’s fluffy fur.
“When Master apologizes so easily I can’t even stay angry… Anyway, that blade is no ordinary mad knife.”
“Why? Did it kill anyone?”
“No, it followed your command perfectly. Instead of taking lives it cut off wrists and ankles. In the blink of an eye it severed every enemy’s arms and legs. Once there was nothing left to cut, it came after me. What a little son of a bitch.”
Yuri trembled on my palm, clearly hoping for praise.
“Good job, Yuri.”
“Unbelievable. Look at that blade acting all cute in front of Master. Hey! You little shit! I’m your senior! I’m Master’s first disciple!”
Prrrrrrrrr.
Yuri flickered its blue light as if mocking her.
“Hey! Are you showing off because you have more spiritual energy than me?”
Mongsil hid inside my mind and kept making rude gestures at Yuri, complaining bitterly.
That was when it happened.
A sinister presence accompanied by a terrible, rotten stench drifted from a dark corner of the empty lot.
From a place even moonlight couldn’t reach, three human figures slowly emerged.
“Are those the sorcerers?”
I was about to throw Yuri again but stopped short.
The figures that had staggered out of the darkness were tall, beautiful women.
And their bizarre, seductive appearances instantly stirred my curiosity.
All three were dressed in dangerously revealing clothes—whether because of Cambodia’s hot, humid climate or for some ritualistic purpose, it was impossible to say.
Their jet-black hair was braided high, and their upper bodies were completely exposed, breasts and nipples on full display.
Their slightly hardened nipples and firm, missile-like breasts standing at a perfect seventy-degree angle practically begged to be touched.
Instead of covering those exposed tits, they wore clothing that only hid their lower bellies, reminding me of a reverse bunny suit.
Their lower halves were clad in skirts with deep slits that revealed the dizzying bare skin from inner thigh to pelvic line.
Crawling across all that exposed flesh were grotesque, dark-red tattoos of vipers, centipedes, and scorpions that seemed to writhe as if alive.
“Judging by their attire, they are Miao Gu sorceresses, Master!”
“Now that’s what I call refreshingly fucked-up fashion.”
As I sat on the windowsill muttering, Mongsil sent a telepathic reply.
“Master, Gu sorceresses absorb poison directly through their bare skin to fuel their arts. The more they expose, the faster they can draw in natural yin energy through their pores.”
“They just look like cheap strippers to me.”
“…Your aesthetic commentary is, as always, completely devoid of romance, Master.”
The three Miao sorceresses each placed a grotesquely shaped Gu jar in front of them and glared at me.
They said something that sounded like Chinese.
“Who the hell are you?! How dare you ruin our spell!”
“What the hell are they saying? Someone add subtitles.”
When they heard my Korean their brows furrowed.
“Korean shaman! We are sorcerers of the Republic of China.”
The one in front stepped forward and shouted in clumsy Korean.
Every step made her dense, bouncy tits jiggle dynamically.
The slight buzz of alcohol and the pleasant mood that followed were unavoidable.
“Three of you striking poses like that— are you a C-pop girl group called Demon Hunter or something? You’d look perfect doing shorts on Stargram while singing ‘Chup-chu chup-chup-chu~’.”
“We don’t understand Korean well. You run, we let you live. Everyone else dies.”
So their goal really was to kill the special forces team.
They seemed to be offering to spare me.
Looking at how pretty they were, it was obvious they’d been treated like princesses their whole lives with zero sense of reality.
Otherwise they wouldn’t dare challenge me.
They had clearly watched their own subordinates get sliced apart by Yuri.
“Don’t you know Korean is trending these days? You know this line, right? ‘Eternally unbreakable!’”
I thumped my chest with one hand and mixed the English and Chinese I knew.
“I am strong. Worth… eternally unbreakable! Invincible.”
Then I raised a finger and did the Bruce Lee beckoning gesture.
All three sorceresses’ faces flushed red at once.
They were seriously pissed.
“Motherfucker!!”
“Fuck!”
““Fuck your mother!!!””
They formed hand seals and sat in lotus position.
The fact that they pronounced “fuck” with a perfect native accent proved it was a word they used often.
At the same time their lips moved, chanting Miao sorcery.
From the Gu jars, malevolent spirits began exploding outward.
“But sorry… I don’t feel any danger at all.”
I kept Yuri gripped firmly in my hand.
The dagger’s overwhelming spiritual power made their display feel almost embarrassing.
Yuri had been trembling nonstop, screaming at me to let it go.
It was like taking a Doberman for a walk while a leashless chihuahua tried to pick a fight.
The moment I dropped that leash, the pretty wrists and ankles of this C-pop girl group trio would disappear.
Oblivious to their fate, they sat in lotus position with their eyes closed, practically begging to be killed.
“Cutting the arms and legs off beautiful women isn’t really my taste… but if you keep provoking me, you’ll die, you know?”
Watching them chant Gu spells and keep summoning spirits filled me with a strange sense of pity.
“By the way, isn’t that just summoning magic? Summoners are boring, aren’t they?”
“……”
“Summoners don’t do anything. They just hang back, pick up items, and watch their summons fight. Right? Oh, you said you don’t understand Korean well?”
“Kiiiieeeeek!!”
The snake spirits bared their fangs and charged at me.
I spread both arms wide.
Exactly like Jack Dawson in Titanic shouting “I’m the king of the world!”
Pop. Pop-pop. Pop. Pop!
The moment the spirits touched my body they burst apart.
The souls that touched me and vanished were instantly converted into my own spiritual energy.
This was the true terror of the Two-headed Serpent.
The C-pop girl group trio sitting with their eyes closed and focused still hadn’t realized their attacks were being neutralized so easily.
“Hey… you should stop. Right now I feel like I’m auto-hunting on the first floor of the Talking Island dungeon. The more you attack, the more my spiritual power rises.”
That was when the woman at the front, sensing something was wrong, opened her eyes and shouted sharply.
“Hold on... Stop right now! That man's incantation... it’s not right!”
I couldn’t understand the words, but the urgent tone made her stop the other two from calling more spirits.
They looked shocked.
The women rose to their feet again.
“Korean shaman… you are strong. How did you defeat our snakes?”
“Just did.”
With my left hand in my pocket, I twirled Yuri casually in my right and walked toward them relaxed.
That was when it happened.
Two of the Gu sorceresses exchanged glances, then suddenly started kissing each other.
Chup, chup. Smack.
Lewd wet sounds echoed across the night sky.
I was slightly surprised.
They had grabbed each other’s faces and begun a deep, passionate kiss out of nowhere.
“Chup-chu chup-chup-chu~”
I hummed the “Chapchu” song that played in the background of so many TokTok and Stargram shorts, cheering them on.
The killing intent in their eyes as they glared at me while still kissing grew thicker and thicker.
“How disappointing. Keep going. Watching pretty girls lick each other is hot no matter how many times I see it.”
The sight of half-naked beautiful girls making out in the middle of a fight.
From a spectator’s perspective, it was quite an arousing scene.
But the pleasant view didn’t last long.
As they tangled tongues and exchanged saliva, their bodies began to merge with grotesque sounds of breaking bones, slowly fusing together like clay.
Crack! Crunch!
“Whoa. You guys… that’s scary. Please stop.”
Even so, I didn’t stop humming “Chup-chu chup-chup-chu~”.
