Why Do You Have Yokai Energy?

‘Two, no, three.’

Now that its comrades had arrived, there was no need to hesitate.

It was better to reduce their numbers while he could. He hurled himself at the stationary bee.

Gyo-ha’s fist aimed for the bee’s head.

The bee beat its wings and slipped aside.

Then it swung the stinger on its tail.

A stinger as long as a spear.

Gyo-ha twisted his body to evade and swung his leg.

Kwachik!

Unlike the rest of its body, the rump was weak.

The bee’s hindquarters burst, and it staggered and crashed to the ground.

Gyo-ha stomped down on the falling bee’s head.

Kwachik!

Fluids splattered across the ground.

The sticky fluids splashed onto Gyo-ha as well, but he calmly turned his body.

He already knew the reinforcements had arrived.

Yet unlike what he expected, the bees that arrived kept their distance and only watched.

There were two of them in all.

It was different from before.

Gyo-ha soon guessed the reason.

‘…They, remember me?’

Sure enough.

One bee remained and the other flew off somewhere.

It was probably going to fetch the soldiers.

And soon, others appeared.

Worker bees, the same kind as the one that had left.

They circled around Gyo-ha from a distance.

Gyo-ha watched the worker bees as if he found them fascinating.

Just then, the bug that had collapsed began to move, perhaps waking from the numbness.

The bug raised its forelegs toward Gyo-ha.

Gyo-ha stepped aside and kicked the bug’s head.

Puk!

The bug collapsed.

Gyo-ha cast a brief glance behind him.

Just as he thought, even with an opening shown to them, the bees didn’t charge.

They were only keeping watch.

‘They are trying to keep me from escaping.’

They did remember him. They were not just remembering, they were forming a new strategy based on past experience.

Their behavior was different from before.

“Good.”

In that case, he would play along.

Gyo-ha folded his arms, yet the bees still didn’t move.

Like that, Gyo-ha waited for the bee soldiers.

---

The wait wasn’t long.

The bees circling around him all drew away at once.

Then from afar came the sound of beating wings.

It was more than just the sound of wind.

Wiiing, Wiiiing.

It felt like a typhoon was blowing in.

In the distance, a black cloud was rolling in.

Seeing that sight, Gyo-ha’s lips curled up.

An army of bees.

“An hour…”

What the old man wanted was for Gyo-ha to keep running for an hour.

But.

“That wouldn’t be any fun.”

Gyo-ha sat down on the spot, then stood up.

Then he pulled one arm with the other. He was loosening up his body.

Before he knew it, the soldiers had come close enough to see.

The noise was so loud it made his ears ring.

Those sharp forelegs.

They were truly soldiers armed with spears.

Looking at them, Gyo-ha clenched his fists.

It was a massive swarm.

They were not like any enemies he had faced so far, and on top of that, they could fly.

Gyo-ha settled into stance.

‘To start…’

Radiant Burst Strike.

If he didn’t use it now, it would be hard to use at all.

Gyo-ha clenched his fists. The bees flew at him.

When they came close, he swung his fists.

Kwagagagang!

With an explosion, the bees were blasted in all directions.

Their formation collapsed in an instant.

The power was immense.

But there was no time to catch his breath.

Fresh bees formed up to restore the broken lines.

Their movements were perfectly in step.

He couldn’t feel any gaps.

And soon the swarm of bees swooped down on Gyo-ha.

---

The bees drove in on him in a frantic rush.

Their sharp forelegs ceaselessly targeted Gyo-ha.

The bees’ assault was more precise and more powerful than any combined offensive of expert fighters Gyo-ha had faced before.

Gyo-ha dodged their attacks and swung his fists.

Kwaang.

The chest of the bee he hit caved in.

There was a heavy sensation, like striking iron.

The bee that fell to the ground was still not dead and writhed.

Just then.

Amid the loud beating of wings, he heard a discordant sound.

It could have been his imagination, but Gyo-ha followed his instincts.

He ignored the incoming strike and rolled his body.

Because of that, sharp spears pierced his back and shoulder.

However, unlike that, he could see a single barb stuck in the ground.

When he lifted his head, the bee he had knocked down was trembling.

On the bee’s rump, something that should have been there was missing.

The stinger.

The poison was so strong that smoke rose along with a stench.

‘So that thing can be fired as well?’

Clicking his tongue once, Gyo-ha swung his fist. One of the charging bees crashed to the ground.

This time it didn’t move, as if killed on the spot.

Gyo-ha shot that sight a quick glance.

Now he had to watch the ones that had fallen too.

‘…One hour. This is going to be hard.’

It seemed there was poison not only in the stinger but in their legs as well, because he was starting to feel dizzy.

If this was what their legs did to him, what would happen if he took a stinger head-on?

It would be dangerous.

Cold sweat trickled down his back.

On the ground, drops of blood Gyo-ha had shed were falling.

Strangely, the blood on the ground grew faint and then vanished.

Since he had no physical body, the blood was not real either.

Yet a smile came to Gyo-ha’s lips.

Gyo-ha once again hurled himself at the bees.

It was not that he had no countermeasures.

Their chests and heads were as hard as if they wore armor.

But their hindquarters were different.

There was no difference between worker bees and soldier bees in that.

On top of that.

Pung!

When the rump burst, the stinger fell to the ground.

If he did this, he didn’t have to worry about the stinger.

But there was something Gyo-ha had not considered.

Chiiiik.

His fists and arms burned.

‘…So there are poison glands in their rump?’

Since he had been focused only on the stingers, he had not anticipated it.

‘So shortcuts will not work, is that it?’

Gyo-ha clenched and unclenched his fists. In that case, all that was left was a frontal fight.

A spear-like leg thrust at his side.

Gyo-ha neither blocked nor dodged.

Instead, he thrust out his palm.

At the same time the spear pierced his flank, Gyo-ha’s palm struck the bee’s head.

Kkadeudeuk.

With a chilling crack, the bee’s body bent.

Radiant Burst Strike, simplified form.

Gyo-ha’s two hands moved busily.

In the process, the technique was becoming more and more refined.

Before long.

The bee’s body burst, and its fluids spread out in a round arc.

Seeing that sight, one name came to Gyo-ha’s mind.

Radiant Burst Strike, simplified form.

Red Blossom Palm.

The new move was now close to complete.

Gyo-ha swung fists, palms, and feet, dropping the bees that charged in.

---

Puk.

Another bee’s stinger lodged in his back.

It was already the third time. His body nearly collapsed, but he forced himself upright.

He had truly reached his limit now.

How many had he taken down?

A hundred? Two hundred?

He could no longer count. Even his vision had grown blurry.

‘This is really going to kill me.’

Even so, Gyo-ha’s fist flew toward the head of a fresh foe.

At that moment.

Twitch.

The bees all shuddered at once.

Their attacks stopped. Gyo-ha stared at them blankly.

Only belatedly could he guess the reason.

‘The old man moved.’

They had clearly noticed an abnormality with the queen.

In the midst of fighting, Gyo-ha had forgotten the very reason he had started.

Leaving Gyo-ha, who was still fighting, the bees pulled away.

They were heading back to the hive.

As he caught his breath, his dizzy head began to settle.

‘Has an hour already passed?’

Gyo-ha looked at the dead bees.

The ground had turned pitch-black.

It was hard to tell how many there were. Gyo-ha’s task was now over.

He watched the bees receding into the distance.

They were in such a hurry that not a single one remained behind.

No, among the bees on the ground, there were some crawling along.

Crawling in the direction of the hive.

Kwachik!

Gyo-ha’s foot crushed the bee’s head.

Then he looked at the bees flying away.

“…It would be a shame to end it like this.”

Gyo-ha stepped forward.

Soon his body shot out like a cannonball.

Flying Dragon Chasing Lightning.

Kwagagagang!

The bees exploded apart, and with his speed reduced, Gyo-ha landed on the ground.

His whole body stung from the poison mixed with the bees’ innards.

He looked up at the bees with his face twisted into a deep grimace.

Perhaps it had some effect, as the bees stopped.

Countless bees stared straight at Gyo-ha.

The sight of hundreds of eyes fixed on him was eerie.

Gyo-ha took his stance.

But the bees turned away and flew off as if nothing had happened.

Seeing that, Gyo-ha, his excitement gone, slumped down as well.

They seemed to have no intention of fighting.

Gyo-ha scratched his head.

“Whatever.”

He lay down on the ground.

The blue sky filled his vision.

A gentle breeze blew.

The scent of flowers drifted up.

As he absentmindedly gazed at the sky, a bird circled once and came toward him.

[You may come now.]

It was the old man’s voice.

He sounded in good spirits, as if things had gone well.

When Gyo-ha nodded and rose, the bird took flight slowly.

The bird flew ahead, circling as if to tell Gyo-ha to follow.

When Gyo-ha approached, it widened the distance again.

Following the bird like that, he soon saw the old man and Ah-ryeong.

“Oh, you’re here. You’ve worked hard.”

The old man welcomed Gyo-ha warmly. Ah-ryeong beside him looked at Gyo-ha with worried eyes.

It was because Gyo-ha looked a complete mess.

But the old man didn’t seem to care.

“Ah, of course.”

As Gyo-ha came closer, the old man took something from his robe.

Two small gourds.

“It’s honey. A special honey kept in the queen’s chamber. In the lower realm it’s a rare elixir money can hardly buy.”

He handed the gourds to Gyo-ha and Ah-ryeong respectively.

The gourds looked ordinary in shape, but an unknown energy swirled around them.

They were surely no common containers.

“It is best to drink it while its spiritual nature still remains. As time passes, its effect will weaken.”

But they couldn’t simply eat something given by someone else.

As the two hesitated, the old man spoke as if it were nothing.

“It’s precious, but you can drink it. I have no need for it.”

He had long surpassed the level where he needed such things.

Only then did Gyo-ha uncork his gourd.

A sweet fragrance instantly filled the air.

Without hesitation, Gyo-ha brought it to his lips.

Watching him out of the corner of her eye, Ah-ryeong squeezed her eyes shut and drank the honey as well.

The old man had not lied.

Vitality surged through them the moment they drank.

Even Ah-ryeong, who had taken a cautious sip, began to drink the honey as if bewitched.

He had called it honey, but it was not sticky like ordinary honey.

It went down in an instant like water.

It felt as if their strength were springing up.

As he watched them, the old man’s eyes narrowed.

“How strange.”

What was strange?

The two quickly came to their senses.

“Normally, your spiritual power would swell or their soul would grow larger, like that girl there.”

The old man, who had been looking at Ah-ryeong’s shivering body, now turned his gaze to Gyo-ha.

“Why did you gain yokai energy?”

Yokai energy.

It was a word he had never heard before, but he could guess its meaning.

The power yokai possessed.

And it was also the power Gyo-ha had lost.

When he drank the honey, that power rose again.

In the past, he had not even known yokai energy existed, so he had no idea how much he had possessed. Yet he could tell that the yokai energy rising in him now was no less than back then.

A power different from his internal energy rampaged through Gyo-ha’s whole body.

At that sight, curiosity rose in the old man’s eyes.

“You are not a yokai, yet you have yokai energy.”

His eyes were different from before.

Gyo-ha instinctively realized that this was dangerous.

The old man reached out his hand. That alone made Gyo-ha feel an immense pressure, and he dropped into stance by reflex.

It felt as if his whole body were being crushed.

Then the old man’s hand, which had been stretching toward Gyo-ha, stopped.

Looking closely, Gyo-ha saw the old man’s waist trembling.

“This is not the time for this.”

The old man took something from his belt.

A small box.

Inside was a single bee.

What set it apart from the earlier bees were its long antennae and its large abdomen.

An abdomen several times the size of its body.

It was the queen bee.

Gyo-ha didn’t know how, but the queen bee had been shrunk and trapped inside the box.

On top of that, even at this very moment, it was laying eggs.

As the number of eggs grew, the box began to shake. The bottom of the box was already full.

Seeing this, the old man furrowed his brow.

“This little one will not last long like this. I must find her a new home.”

The old man looked back at Gyo-ha.

The curiosity in his eyes had faded compared to before. To him, the queen bee was more important.

“First, I should settle our contract. It was a Dream Moth you needed, was it not?”

When the old man gestured, clouds billowed in from afar.

“Wait here a while.”

Leaving those words behind, the old man vanished along with the clouds.