Chapter 19

[19] The Will to Survive, the Will to Dominate

All three of them were villains.

They disguised themselves as low-ranking hunters, robbed the equipment of other hunters who entered gates with them, then murdered them.

Naturally, Seo Yuhyeon, Seo Yura, and Seo Yuseon weren’t their real names. They weren’t siblings, either, but complete strangers unrelated by blood.

“This’ll be harder than last time. That Yoon Minjun guy, was it? The bastard could fight.”

“Maybe it’s just his gear, but he was pretty good for a D-rank. Still, it’s not like we can’t kill him.”

“Well, sure.”

Their actual ranks were B-rank for Seo Yuhyeon and C-rank for both Seo Yura and Seo Yuseon. They had more than enough strength to overwhelm two D-rank hunters.

Barring any unforeseen complications, killing Junhwi and Minjun and stealing their equipment would pose no problem.

“Let’s do what we did last time. Catch them off guard during a fight.”

“We’ll jump them when they’re distracted and exhausted.”

Even with every advantage, they never let their guard down.

“Even a tiger gives its all when hunting a rabbit.”

Their meticulousness served a wicked purpose, but they were certainly thorough.

That was how they had managed to pull off their “jobs” without being exposed so far.

“If we stay away any longer, they’ll get suspicious. Let’s head back.”

With those final words from Yuhyeon, the three left.

***

“Aren’t you going to rest, bro?”

“I thought I should review that last fight. Don’t mind me.”

More precisely, I was revisiting the sensations I’d felt while using my sword, rather than the fight itself.

Watching me swing my sword even during our break, Junhwi shook his head in amazement.

“You’re seriously relentless, bro.”

“Not really. I’ve just found some motivation recently.”

I answered Junhwi as I continued swinging.

Doing this for a few minutes wouldn’t suddenly make me stronger, but every little bit added up.

“Does that motivation happen to have anything to do with your girlfriend?”

“You could say that.”

“Oh, a true romantic. Your girlfriend must feel really secure with you around.”

“Thank you.”

Actually, it was the other way around.

I was the one who felt secure because of Sia.

My dragon girlfriend had torn through dimensions and returned just to see me.

The reassurance her presence gave me was greater than I could ever have imagined.

“By the way, those three are taking a while, aren’t they?”

“They are.”

It had been about ten minutes since the Seo siblings left, but there was still no sign of them returning.

It wasn’t quite long enough to call them late yet.

Still, it was a little strange that none of them had returned when they’d gone in different directions.

But speak of the devil...

“Sorry we took so long. Have you been waiting?”

“Not at all.”

Almost as soon as we finished speaking, Yuhyeon returned with a sheepish expression.

I didn’t ask because it might embarrass him, but apparently, he’d had some serious business to take care of.

The two sisters returned to the group one after the other.

‘Did they all eat something bad yesterday?’

Their vaguely embarrassed expressions looked oddly suspicious.

In any case, once we finished regrouping, we resumed exploring the gate.

“It’ll probably be around five or six by the time we finish, right?”

Apparently still having plenty to say, Junhwi chatted amiably as we walked.

“Yes, probably.”

“How about we all grab a drink afterward? There are plenty of good bars nearby, since it’s such a busy area.”

At this point, I wasn’t sure whether I’d come to raid a gate or attend a social gathering.

The three siblings went along with Junhwi’s chatter, keeping the conversation lively.

Then, in the middle of their conversation, Yuhyeon suddenly stopped at the front and pointed.

“Looks like we’ll have a tougher time than before.”

There seemed to be three or four times as many monsters as before, and some were particularly large.

As Yuhyeon had said, this group would clearly be harder to deal with than the last.

‘Still...’

It wasn’t beyond our ability to handle.

If I thought of it as a chance to gain combat experience, it was actually a good opportunity.

“Uh, bro? Why are you smiling?”

Junhwi asked from beside me.

“There were too few monsters earlier. This looks just about right.”

“...You’re a real masochist, bro.”

“I agree with Minjun.”

Yuhyeon chimed in from beside us.

“Now this will make for some satisfying killing.”

Satisfying killing?

Maybe it was my imagination, but seeing the smile on Yuhyeon’s face as he said that sent a chill through me.

“Brr. Creepy.”

Junhwi pretended to shiver, apparently feeling much the same way.

Yuhyeon played it off, laughing as he asked whether he’d sounded a little scary.

As though he had deliberately been joking.

But that lasted only a moment.

Once the battle began in earnest, all traces of humor vanished from everyone’s faces, including Yuhyeon’s.

With so many Antmen, I couldn’t call it easy. Still, perhaps thanks to the Dragon Bone Sword and the other equipment Sia had given me, I had no major problems apart from the physical exertion.

But that was only true for me.

By the time we’d dealt with about half of them, I began worrying about the others. First, I checked on Junhwi, who was right beside me.

“Junhwi, are you okay?”

“Ugh, I’m having a bit of a hard time. Maybe it’s just me, but the healing doesn’t seem to be coming through properly, either.”

Junhwi was honest about his condition.

I could see it for myself. Not only did he look pale, but his movements had become noticeably slower than at the start.

“I’ll buy you some time. Fall back and catch your breath.”

“I’ll take you up on that.”

Junhwi accepted my suggestion and retreated without hesitation.

He seemed to have trouble even raising his voice, so I called to Yura on his behalf.

“Yura! Please take care of Junhwi!”

I shouted loudly enough to make sure she heard, but no answer came.

“...Yura?”

I turned toward the rear while fending off the swarming Antmen.

Junhwi still wasn’t receiving any healing, and neither Yura nor the other two were anywhere to be seen.

With all three out of sight, an ominous feeling began creeping over me.

Had they all been ambushed by Antmen from behind?

‘We definitely checked that there weren’t any monsters back there before starting the fight.’

Still, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that more monsters had arrived to reinforce the others.

“Yuseon! Yuhyeon!”

I shouted the other two names, but again, there was no answer.

We couldn’t keep fighting like this. We needed to change our plan.

“Junhwi, I think we need to fall back farther. Once we’re clear—”

Before I could finish...

Something came flying toward us from behind, cutting through the air.

Without even having time to identify it, I instinctively knocked it aside with my sword.

Clang!

The instant my blade struck it, I realized what it was.

An arrow formed from condensed mana.

‘Seo Yuseon...!’

An Antman couldn’t have fired a mana arrow.

It had to be hers.

Had she hastily fired from cover after being attacked by monsters, only for the arrow to stray toward me?

Just as that thought crossed my mind, another identical projectile came flying.

It wasn’t aimed at the Antmen.

It was aimed straight at my heart.

This couldn’t possibly be an accident.

Which meant...

“Those bastards... They’re villains.”

“What?”

“Those three siblings. They’re villains. I had my suspicions, but still...”

I deflected the arrow and turned toward where it had come from.

There stood Yuseon, her eyes malicious as she aimed another mana arrow.

“So close.”

There was no need to look for the other Seo siblings.

Yuhyeon and Yura were standing right beside her.

“How the hell did you miss him?”

“My aim was fine. He knocked it aside with his sword. Fuck, I didn’t know a D-rank could block that.”

The other two were also licking their lips, vile grins on their faces.

Just moments ago, we had all been chatting and laughing together.

“You people... You’re villains?”

Junhwi’s voice trembled.

“What if we say we aren’t?”

“Hand over everything you’ve got, and we’ll give you a painless death. How’s that? Sounds good, right?”

Yuhyeon beckoned for us to surrender our equipment with a nasty grin, while Yuseon and Yura snickered beside him, egging each other on.

There were three of them and two of us.

And if they were villains, they had probably lied about their actual ranks. Anyone could see we were at a disadvantage.

To make matters worse, most of the Antmen were swarming toward us rather than them.

Junhwi and I had been on the front line, drawing the monsters’ attention from the beginning.

As that realization sank in, cold sweat trickled down my back.

Dying here wasn’t part of my plan.

I had to find some way out of this.

‘A way out... That’s right.’

Faced with a life-or-death crisis, I suddenly remembered the artifacts from Sia stored in my subspace.

I wasn’t sure we could win as we were, but if I took those out and used them, we would have a real chance.

But—

“...Huh?”

My subspace wouldn’t open.

No matter how many times I reached out, my hand grasped nothing.

“Pfft. Look at him.”

As I repeatedly failed to open my subspace, the villains pointed and laughed.

“Wondering why it won’t open?”

Yuhyeon taunted me with a vicious smile. I glared at him instead of answering.

“Well, you’ll feel less wronged if you at least know why you’re dying. It’s simple. This artifact. It can lock other people’s subspaces—and force them open, too.”

Junhwi reached out to open his own subspace, but just like me, he repeatedly grasped at empty air.

I didn’t know how they had done it, but they weren’t lying.

“What the hell...?”

“You probably wouldn’t know, but the black market sells all sorts of things.”

“See? What did I tell you? I said this was worth buying, even if we had to stretch our budget.”

There was no point listening to any more of this.

“Fuck. You assholes sure love to hear yourselves talk.”

I spat toward the villains as I cursed.

“All bark and no bite. If I were you, I’d have killed us already instead of running my mouth.”

“It’s fine. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

Yuseon crossed her arms and cocked her hip.

“Unlike you.”

The Antmen were closing in from behind, while the villains watched for an opening in front of us.

We were sandwiched between them, and I had only one ally.

We were trapped.

“Seeing that panicked look on someone’s face always makes this job feel worthwhile. I’m so glad I got into this line of work.”

With that taunt, Yuseon nocked another arrow of condensed mana and drew her bow.

“Who should I kill first?”

Wearing an evil smile, she released the bowstring.

Once again, the mana arrow targeted me rather than Junhwi. I twisted slightly and dodged it.

Fortunately, the arrow struck an Antman that had been about to pounce on me.

Kieeeee!

The Antman crumpled the instant the arrow hit.

Its destructive power was on an entirely different level from the covering fire she had provided earlier.

There was no doubt about it. She had been hiding her actual rank.

‘Wait.’

The moment I saw the Antman struck by her arrow, a thought occurred to me.

Maybe I could make that happen deliberately.

‘Use one enemy against another.’

Not a bad idea for something I’d come up with on the spot.

Whoosh!

After dodging another of Yuseon’s arrows, I moved close to Junhwi and whispered.

“I’m only going to say this once, Junhwi. Keep moving and avoid their attacks. Don’t cross my path.”

“What?”

Since I hadn’t explained why, he looked confused.

But there was no time to explain everything.

“Kieeek!”

An Antman lunged from behind, and Junhwi and I dodged in opposite directions.

The villains seized the opening and unleashed another fierce barrage.

I quickly ducked behind a large Antman, and their attacks struck it instead of us.

‘Good.’

A quick glance showed me that Junhwi was also dodging their attacks nimbly, squeezing out every last ounce of strength despite his exhaustion.

But they weren’t idiots. It was only a matter of time before they figured out our plan.

To delay that realization as long as possible, I kept darting in and out of the swarm, pretending to engage the Antmen with my sword.

Junhwi seemed to catch on, because he copied me and slipped among the Antmen as well.

How many minutes had passed as we wore down both the monsters and the villains by pitting them against each other?

“Aren’t those bastards doing that on purpose?”

“You’re right, fuck. I was wondering what they were up to.”

As expected, they saw through our plan. The moment they did, they started looking for a way to counter it.

“Hey, just stop attacking. Let them fight it out. The monsters are all focused on them anyway. We’ll go again once they’re worn out.”

“Okay. Smart call.”

I couldn’t make out exactly what they said after that, but I understood their strategy well enough.

They would sit back and wait for us to exhaust ourselves dealing with the Antmen.

It was a depressingly rational decision.

‘Is this... the end?’

But—

‘It ends here? When I only just got Sia back?’

No.

I had to survive, whatever it took, so Sia wouldn’t have to grieve over my death.

I had to live and return to her side.

The moment I thought of Sia, I felt a powerful resolve surge from deep within my chest.

The will to survive. The determination to break through those villains.

“Will?”

‘Domination isn’t the wrong answer, but what matters even more is will.’

Ultimately, the key to wielding a dragon’s power was my own unyielding will.

The desperate will to survive. The will to defeat my enemies. And beyond that, the will to dominate those I had defeated.

That will would awaken the dragon’s power sleeping within the sword—or perhaps even within my own body.

Filled with an intense determination to defeat them and survive, I gritted my teeth and glared at the villains.

I would return to Sia. No matter what.

That meant I would never let them break me.

I would break them completely.

At that moment...

A brilliant light began to shine from the sword.

A dazzling, intense light unlike anything I had ever seen.

Suddenly, I remembered what I had heard yesterday.