Growth Type
Evan let out a low hum as he watched Ryung snarl with open delight before him. This was the second superhuman he had faced since meeting the Blue King in the kingdom — an opponent who stirred two contradictory instincts at once. He could cut him. And he might not be able to cut him.
Alright then. Let's test the waters.
Evan trusted his instincts. Both of them were true — that he could cut, and that he could not. Which meant Ryung would use his own power to evade the blade. All that remained was to verify which held the upper hand: Evan's swordsmanship, or the man's ability.
In that instant, Evan unleashed his Magic Sword — the sword arts that swordsmen refined to their absolute limit until they touched the realm of magic itself.
Triple Thrust.
"Hrrraaah—!"
The blade warped and split as if into three swords at once. Ryung's eyes lit up with amusement as he watched Evan divide into three paths.
He tried to discern which of the three was real — and realized all three were genuine, and that no ordinary means could evade the strike.
Trusting the beastman's instinct he had honed to its extreme upon becoming a superhuman, Ryung stepped forward.
KAAAANG—!
"Wh… what?"
"Never been blocked before, have you?"
"In… insane."
Evan fretted as he stared at his sword, locked utterly still in the joints of Ryung's arms and legs. Even with a blade that cut whatever he wished, he could not pierce through those limbs and free it. Whether a sword that cut anything or a sword that cut only what he desired — in the end, it was still a cut. You had to set the edge and draw. It was not a technique that worked when the blade was seized completely, unable to move even a single millimeter.
"Eheheh— experience is what you're short on, brat."
"This— let g—"
Before Evan could finish demanding he release the sword, a fist came flying at his face and sent him hurtling away.
He tumbled across the ground more times than he could count, and only after sailing dozens of meters did he plant a hand on the earth and slowly push himself upright. The moment he rose, blood dripped in thick drops from his shattered nose.
"Evan—!"
Rainia cried out in horror at the sight. As she bolted toward him, the members of Ilgidangcheon swiftly barred her path.
"Boss. Even if you're the head of Gyeongguk Gyeongseong, if you step in there, you die."
"The chief ordered no one to interfere. That includes us — and you, big sis. No exceptions."
"Please just stay put. We'll get chewed out if we fail to stop you."
Their tone was flippant, but the power each of them carried was real. These were the elite personal unit Tiger Ryung, head of Ilgidangcheon, had personally dragged through every kind of life-or-death ordeal.
Realizing she could not help Evan, Rainia fell silent and merely let out a quiet hum of frustration. Tiger Ryung glanced her way, then calmly drew free the sword he had been pinching in the crook of his arm.
"Fine blade."
Even at a glance, it was a masterpiece — a sword worthy of the boy still rolling on the ground over there. That meant the sword was excellent, and that the brat's skill was nothing to sneeze at either.
After a brief inspection, Ryung finished looking it over and casually flung the sword toward the blood-nosed Evan.
Evan snatched the spinning blade from the air and fixed Ryung with a long, hard stare, as if asking what the hell he was thinking.
"…Why?"
"Why, you ask? Because, brat — it would be a waste to let talent and skill like yours die from a single mistake born of inexperience. Bring out more. Scrape the bottom of the barrel and show me everything. —Don't tell me that was all you've got?"
"…Grrngh—!"
Evan blew the blood from his nose in one hard snort, carefully took hold of the sword, and rose. His legs had already begun to tremble from that single blow.
In his entire life, he had never been hit properly like that. Not even by his father…
Am I scared?
Evan found himself unsure whether his shaking legs came from the punch itself or from fear of the man's raw power.
He lifted his head a fraction and looked at Ryung — who stood at ease in the distance, as if inviting him to come whenever he liked.
Seeing that, a sudden urge to land one good hit flared up. Good.
No.
He wasn't scared.
He'd just been hit so hard his head was still ringing.
Certain of that, Evan gripped the hilt and forced a grin. It wasn't a situation for smiling, but he made himself do it anyway.
"Of course not—!"
The Magic Swords Evan had mastered numbered three in total.
Defense-nullifying Absolute Slash.
Evasion-nullifying Triple Thrust.
Distance-ignoring Sky Slash.
And of those, the technique that had taken him the longest to grasp — and the hardest to master — was none other than:
"—Sky Slash."
A slash that transcended the limits of a sword, ignoring distance entirely. From dozens of meters away, Evan swung — and Ryung, staring blankly at him, trusted the instinct that something was flying his way and threw himself aside.
Too late.
SHRAAAK—!
"Ghhk—?!"
Ryung's flesh peeled open. Struck from a range that should have been impossible, he looked down at the blood running from his body — and burst into a hearty, delighted laugh.
"How long has it been since I've seen my own blood!"
Against those arrogant dragonfolk, against those mosquito brats who lived on blood, against the Thunderbolt Horned Beast he had hunted only recently —
He had not taken a single wound.
And yet now, against that sniveling, trembling brat who had just taken one punch and started crying, he was bleeding.
"Good. Good. This is how it should be—!"
Laughing with open gusto, Ryung eyed Evan still gripping his sword in the distance and settled into a stance — a martial stance he had not bothered with until now.
"I'll show you a little of mine as well."
The essence of Howan Style martial arts.
Ryung charged.
"Hrrraaah—!"
Evan swung. A long slash shot out along the path of the blade. It was invisible sword energy — and yet Tiger Ryung dodged it with the ease of someone who could see it plain as day.
After loosing several more slashes, Evan finally watched Ryung close the gap and adjusted his grip. Close range demanded a different kind of swordsmanship.
Absolute Slash—!
Having just confirmed firsthand that splitting the blade into three with Triple Thrust did little good, Evan swung the defense-nullifying Magic Sword.
Whether he understood that even a touch of that edge was lethal, Ryung made no crude attempt to grab the sword as he had before.
But he did not take the hit either.
He struck the flat of the blade and knocked the edge aside, then drove a spear-hand into the opening as if to pierce straight through.
"Ghk—!"
"Oho. Not just a fine sword — you've got fine armor too."
Fortunately, the spear-hand was stopped by the Dragon Suit Evan wore. Watching scales erupt across the surface of the suit, Ryung let out a low chuckle.
Sensing something ominous in that laugh, Evan swung on pure reflex — only for Ryung to flow around the blade and close in so tight Evan could no longer swing at all.
"Then how about this."
Ryung's palm settled lightly atop Evan's armor. The next instant, he poured every ounce of force in his body into a single strike.
Howan Style martial arts.
Armor Piercer.
"Kh—!"
The shock punched straight through the Dragon Suit. Evan spat saliva and tumbled backward — but only for a moment. He recovered his stance at once, ready to guard against the follow-up—
"Too slow."
"Ugh—!"
THWACK—! Ryung's kick arrived first and cracked against Evan's jaw. His brain rattled again. His vision swam; tears blurred everything in front of him.
The moment his balance broke, Ryung settled into position for a finishing technique.
"Howan Style Secret Art."
Severing the 108 Afflictions.
In the next instant, a hundred and eight strikes hammered every inch of Evan's body. He took the beating until the dragon scales grown over the Dragon Suit shattered by the dozen, and the final blow sent him crumpling flat on his back.
Ryung dropped to a crouch before the fallen boy and looked down at him with open disappointment.
"Ghhh…!"
"What are you doing?"
"Hah… hah— cough—!"
"Why aren't you using them?"
"Wh… what…"
"Your Magic Swords. Why aren't you using them at the same time?"
Ryung was genuinely curious. Absolute Slash, which even a fellow superhuman could feel was lethal on contact. Triple Thrust, splitting into three paths. Sky Slash, striking across any distance.
Each of Evan's Magic Swords was a sword art formidable enough to threaten even a superhuman. But each alone was not enough.
"If three or four distance-ignoring slashes came at me at once, even I couldn't have dodged them all and closed in. If that deadly sword energy had split into three, I never would have grabbed the blade in the crook of my arm. —So why didn't you use them that way?"
"…Because I can't."
"Says who?"
"What do you mean, who… it just doesn't work…"
"So in the end, it's a limit you set for yourself. Is that it?"
Ryung looked down at him with something like pity, then carefully extended a claw and set it against Evan's throat.
Feeling the sharp tip touch his neck, Evan knew death was coming.
"Any last words?"
"…Ahh."
He had wanted a girlfriend.
Preferably one with a big chest and a pretty face.
But Evan could not bring himself to say it. He simply closed his eyes.
"I see. Then rest we—"
"—Evan—!"
WHOOSH—!
Foxfire slammed into Ryung's temple.
Interrupted, he turned with cold eyes toward the place where his subordinates stood.
There he saw his men frozen for a moment under a nine-tailed fox's allure — and Rainia, who had hurled the foxfire at him.
"I believe I said anyone who interferes dies."
Even with the fight over, Ryung kept his word. He stepped away from Evan and walked straight toward Rainia.
That alone achieved her purpose. Confirming he had left Evan's side, Rainia screamed until her throat tore.
"Run—! Evan!"
"…Rainia?"
"I'll hold him here — go!"
Even as she spoke, Rainia kept flinging mystical foxfire at Ryung. He swatted the flames aside as if they were nothing and closed on her.
No.
She could not beat Ryung. Evan himself had failed — how was she supposed to win?
In the end she would be caught and killed, and once Ryung finished with her he would come straight back and kill Evan too.
Rainia would die a meaningless death.
I won't allow that.
Gritting his teeth, Evan drove his blade into the ground for support and forced himself up, staring at Ryung's retreating back. The man seemed to notice he had risen — and still paid him no mind.
The attitude of a hunter who had already bagged his prey.
Utterly arrogant.
I won't allow it.
Ryung had asked why he didn't use the Magic Swords together.
Truthfully, he had tried more times than he could count.
Using them simultaneously. He had never succeeded once, and so Evan had written it off as impossible and stopped trying.
He needed a miracle now — one that made the impossible possible.
If I think about it… it might not be completely impossible.
Come to think of it, he had already done something similar once before. When Rainia had cried. Hadn't he used a slash and Cyrus's Magic Sword at the same time?
Back then he had swung so purely on reflex he hadn't even noticed — but looking back now, that was exactly what he had done.
"You monster…!"
"Quiet, woman. Just die qui—"
In the distance, Ryung closed on Rainia. The range was long. That meant Sky Slash…
No.
Evan gripped his sword.
The sleeping dragon awoke.
—Grrrrngh—
I'm counting on you.
Sword in hand, Evan finished preparing to loose the dragon.
One dragon would not be enough.
Ryung would brush aside a single one without effort. He was that strong.
If one isn't enough—
Three. No — still not enough—
More—!
Triple Thrust × Triple Thrust
3 × 3 = 9
Nine-Headed Dragon Flash
—KRAAAAAAANG—!
Nine dragons launched as one.