Observation (2)
The days he spent in Mother Jimjo's embrace.
When he had first succeeded in flying, and when he had to forage for his own food.
Instead of hunting beasts, Dang Sobaek had once gone to harvest a spiritual herb called the Red Pine Ginseng. And what he had seen there was that very same small, light-brown weasel.
A pressure that was infinitely faint compared to Mother Jimjo's.
A tiny body not much different in size from Sobaek's own.
Yet, that did not mean it was a yo-beast to be taken lightly.
It is a monster.
Its power was incredibly difficult to gauge.
This was true even though Sobaek had achieved remarkable progress compared to his past self.
Cold sweat trickled down.
He did not know yet.
Whether the weasel harbored malice,
Was merely curious,
Or had some other hidden agenda.
Dang Sobaek first nudged Jim-i and Jim-il behind him. He had no idea what might happen if they accidentally offended the weasel.
By nature, weren't weasels notoriously ill-tempered, eccentric, and cunning creatures despite their appearance?
To say nothing of a weasel that had become a yo-beast.
It exuded an extremely dangerous aura.
"Why do you not answer?"
Dang Sobaek blinked and stared at the weasel. Since he had not yet awakened the Yo-language, he could not formulate a reply.
I should have brought that monkey...
It was regrettable, but regretting it now changed nothing. Shaking off the thought, he looked for an opportunity to escape.
"Do not roll your eyes like a rat. You seem to have formed a core by now... Don't tell me you still haven't awakened the Yo-language?!"
He nodded.
He felt no particular shame.
It had been barely three years since he was born into the body of a Jimjo.
Even humans could not speak properly at three years of age, so it was only natural that a beast would take much longer. No matter how much of a spiritual beast a Jimjo was, the same rule applied.
But the weasel did not seem to care about such trivial excuses. Its expression contorted fiercely.
"Ha! And here I thought you were someone special. How disappointing. You are barely any different from the common yo-beasts scattered about. The other two are bound to be just as pathetic."
As if reflecting the weasel's emotions, its yo-qi surged, whipping up a fierce, blade-like wind. Then, in an instant, it fell quiet again.
"Why is that? I cannot comprehend it at all. You can understand the language, yet you cannot speak it? You do not seem stupid by any metric. Do you think this makes any sense?"
Dang Sobaek merely listened in silence. The weasel furrowed and smoothed its brow repeatedly, muttering to itself for a long while.
To Dang Sobaek, this sight was not unfamiliar.
Old monsters who had lost their minds to martial arts often behaved like this.
The Sword Ghost, Jeong Yun-chang, who once slaughtered Demonic Cultists with nothing but a single sword, had been exactly like this. The Mad Demon, Wi Mu-yeong, and the Evil-Warding Sword, Seomun Gwang, were no different.
Their sole commonality was that they were all out-of-bounds powerhouses.
In times like this, it was wisest to observe the situation quietly without needlessly provoking them.
"Ah... what to do. What should I do? I thought you would be useful... This is a dilemma. The adult Jimjo must have died after its core was extracted anyway."
Dang Sobaek's body flinched.
It was not simply because Mother Jimjo was dead. Sobaek was not so naive as to be shaken by that alone.
Rather, it was because the weasel seemed to know the full details of the disaster that had struck the island.
The weasel did not miss Sobaek's reaction. Its two black eyes gleamed chillingly.
"Judging by your reaction, it is certain the Jimjo is dead. Hmm. This is quite a dilemma. As you are now, you are of no use to me. What would I do with someone who has awakened neither the Yo-language nor even Divine Sense?"
Dang Sobaek sensed that battle was unavoidable. The weasel was slightly more unhinged than he had anticipated. He slowly circulated his yo-qi to prepare for an immediate response.
At the same time, he carefully blended his Qi-Dispersing Poison and released it into the wind, praying that it would work.
"Since your mother is already dead, there is no need to worry about any aftermath. A spiritual beast without a guardian... Yes, I have decided."
The moment the weasel finished muttering to itself—
Crackle!
White lightning struck down toward Dang Sobaek.
"I am merciful, so I shall grant you a chance. Go ahead and prove your worth."
Even though he had coated himself in yo-qi beforehand, the impact transmitted to his wings was beyond imagination.
The weasel stepped freely through the air as if performing the Void-Treading Step, and cast—
It conjured two serpents made of lightning and wind, sending them hurtling toward Dang Sobaek.
What?!
It was a bizarre power.
It was clearly not 'martial arts,' nor was it like the 'divine abilities' of the yo-beasts he had seen so far. It was not a power manifested by relying on mere instinct.
It felt as though some complex laws and systems unknown to Dang Sobaek were intricately interlocking to manifest this power.
Therefore, he could not afford to react rashly. Instead of directly confronting this unknown force, Dang Sobaek chose to lighten his body and evade.
It was the correct choice.
Boom!!!
A tree struck by the two serpents vanished in an instant. It was completely pulverized, scattered into the wind without leaving a trace.
"Hmm. Is this not enough?"
The weasel did not seem to have exerted much effort. It was merely equivalent to a swordsman lightly swinging his blade.
Only then did Sobaek truly understand the gravity of the situation.
I will die.
If he did not show his true strength, he would surely perish.
Jim-il and Jim-i, who had been watching for an opening, joined the fray.
Jim-i manifested her divine ability of flames, while Jim-il circled wide to target the rear, spewing liquefied deadly poison.
The attack carried a ferocious momentum that would have reduced an ordinary yo-beast to a puddle of blood, but the weasel's expression remained utterly indifferent.
It simply swiped its paw through the empty air.
A hemispherical barrier formed in an instant, neutralizing all attacks.
An truly overwhelming difference in power.
He had to buy time, at least until the Qi-Dispersing Poison took effect.
If there was one saving grace, it was that the weasel did not seem intent on ending the fight immediately. It only manifested its spells to a degree they could barely withstand.
That arrogance will choke you to death.
Dang Sobaek responded only enough to offset the weasel's power, conserving his yo-qi. After all, even if he unleashed everything now, the outcome would not change.
Just half a gack.
Dang Sobaek focused entirely on evasion, dragging out the time.
Even though he was merely holding on, his mental energy was draining at an insane rate. Cold sweat poured down.
Perhaps displeased by this, fierce lightning began to crackle at the tips of the weasel's paws.
However.
Now.
Stumble!
The weasel's body suddenly swayed. The lightning flickered erratically, repeatedly surging and vanishing.
It was a textbook symptom of Qi-Dispersing Poison.
This was his chance.
He unleashed his conserved yo-qi all at once.
A violent energy began to vortex around Dang Sobaek, and—
Like a crashing wave, dozens, hundreds of feathers rained down upon the weasel.
Crash! Clatter!
The barrier shook violently, emitting ominous cracking sounds.
Without stopping there—
He poured out successive strikes once more.
Ten Thousand Needles Raging Waves and Shadowless Continuous Waves were two stances that functioned as one.
Like an endlessly surging tide, they relentlessly battered the weasel's barrier.
Soon, fine, cobweb-like cracks began to spread across it.
Shatter!
The sound of something shattering rang out. Without even waiting to confirm, Jim-il and Jim-i unleashed their divine abilities in succession.
Poison and flames intertwined, forming a massive tornado that swallowed the weasel whole.
...
He did not believe they had killed it.
A yo-beast of that caliber would possess a physical body with a durability akin to steel.
Even so.
It must have dealt at least some damage.
He had also coated his feathers with the Tang Clan's ultimate poison, the Soul-Shattering Bone-Melting Powder. If even a single feather had pierced its skin, the tide of battle could turn in their favor.
But unfortunately.
"You have played a petty trick."
That was merely Dang Sobaek's wishful thinking.
The weasel waved its paw through the air, completely unscathed.
In an instant, the wind currents reversed. Debris swirled, forming a cloud of dust.
The weasel's fur bristled.
"You have certainly exceeded my expectations... but that is all. You failed to prove your worth to me. Therefore, die."
With a sharp swipe of its paw in the air, it cast—
Nine thousand serpents imbued with the power of lightning dyed the surroundings pitch black as they surged toward Dang Sobaek.
Jim-i was not very smart.
Thus, even upon seeing the weasel, she could not remember who it was, but she instinctively felt that it was an extraordinary creature.
Sure enough.
The weasel unleashed its killing intent.
It was truly a monstrous beast.
It had so easily neutralized her flames, Jim-il's deadly poison, and even Dang Sobaek's feathers, which had never failed until now.
Jimjo were born hunters.
Under normal circumstances, they rarely experienced what it was like to be the weak.
A single dose of their deadly poison was enough to kill most beasts, and their sturdy feathers and large bodies made close-quarters combat highly viable.
Hence, the current situation was incredibly foreign to her.
She had never even anticipated that such a thing could happen.
Jim-i blamed herself.
If only she had been a little more cautious, if only she had grown suspicious upon seeing the monkey yo-beast's anxiety.
This would not have happened.
While it was Dang Sobaek who had made the decision, she was the one who had brought them here.
She wanted to apologize.
To Dang Sobaek.
And to Jim-il, whom she had only just reunited with.
Jim-i finally came to understand "guilt"—a complex emotion born of hating her own wrong actions, grieving over the consequences, and feeling anger toward her foolish self.
Though she was the least intelligent among her siblings, it was precisely because of this that she understood emotions the fastest.
This was because she accepted things purely as they were, rather than overcomplicating them. It was safe to say she had now awakened all of the seven emotions.
Even as the vortex of emotions swirled endlessly, Jim-i steeled her resolve.
Feeling guilt was a matter for later.
Whether defeating the weasel or running away, those were things that could only be done after escaping this situation.
Just then—
Boom!!!
The black serpents blanketed the sky, surging toward Dang Sobaek.
It seemed impossible to evade. It would be impossible to block.
Jim-i stared blankly at the black serpents. Her trembling body refused to calm down.
Time slowed.
In contrast, Jim-i's thoughts accelerated.
At the same time, she pondered.
If she turned her back and fled now, she might survive. Her survival instinct whispered incessantly in her head, telling her to run away immediately.
Her body twitched. Her mind and body reacted in opposite ways.
This was because the unprecedented emotion of "guilt" had become a chain, binding her body.
But she shook her head. She must not do that.
Even if she survived here, what meaning would it have?
Jim-i knew that even if she exerted all her strength, she could not block those countless black serpents.
Yet, she did not overthink. She simply closed her eyes tightly and threw her body forward.
This was not the behavior of an ordinary beast.
If Jim-il had inherited their mother's talent, Jim-i had inherited her emotions as if they were carved into her very being.
Jim-i drew up her yo-qi to its absolute limit, igniting her flames. Then, she briefly turned her head to look.
In the distance, she heard Dang Sobaek shouting. She also saw Jim-il, his face filled with shock.
And, just before the nine thousand black serpents collided with Jim-i's body—
Whoosh!!!
Jim-i's flames sublimated into White Flames.
Its momentum was ferocious.
The two forces clashed and mingled in midair. A storm raged alongside a deafening roar that threatened to burst their eardrums.
White flames and black serpents tangled, splattering in all directions.
"Truly absurd. You are better than that fellow."
For the first time, an exclamation of genuine interest escaped the weasel's mouth.
It had never expected that the Nine Thousand Black Serpents, which should have been overwhelming, would be neutralized by a mere sub-adult beast cub.
Of course, she had not blocked it completely.
The black serpents tenaciously clung to Jim-i, ruthlessly tearing away her wings and feathers.
Eventually, unable to hold out any longer, Jim-i's body plummeted toward the ground.
Even so, she seemed to have succeeded in saving Dang Sobaek.
Jim-i smiled with satisfaction.
She saw the ground rapidly approaching. Her eyes kept fluttering shut.
Having exhausted all her yo-qi, her core was completely empty, and her wings refused to obey her.
A bird dying from a fall. Jim-i let out a self-deprecating chuckle. For some reason, it felt ridiculous.
However, as if something had caught her, her descent gradually slowed.
Jim-i barely managed to lift her eyelids. She saw Dang Sobaek's face.
And Jim-i finally conveyed the words that had only lingered in her heart until now.
"Sorry."
It was the blossoming of her Yo-language.