Long Cherished Wish

“……”

Tang Seo-ran stared blankly, watching the scene before her.
Having lived many years,
She was not easily startled by most things.

Yet this Tang Seo-ran stood frozen, unable to react.
It meant that Yu Seha’s effortless power on display was shockingly overwhelming.

It was inevitable, of course.
She had reduced vice Tang Pyo-rim to a bloody mess in ten seconds,
And even Ju Yuri, stronger than Tang Pyo-rim on paper,
Was being subdued head-on right now.

It was literally unprecedented strength.

Surely, among the Awakened she had seen in her life, this was a sight only someone at the very pinnacle could display.

“…This is impossible?”

Yu Seha’s name had first been mentioned at the Tartarus meeting.

Tang Seo-ran had replied that she vaguely remembered—but
that was actually a lie.

It had been spat out by a traitor no less contemptible than an insect, Moon Ha-yeon had been the one to say it.

It was clearly a provocation meant to unsettle her.
Tang Seo-ran considered Yu Seha not worth her attention.
She had erased him from her mind entirely.

Her assessment wasn’t wrong.
It made sense that she regarded him as insignificant.
In fact, under normal circumstances Yu Seha would have been overwhelmed.

Because of a pact with the Demon King,
Tang Seo-ran had S-rank mid-tier power.
Tang Pyo-rim was A-rank mid-tier.

Lastly, though mentally manipulated and thus lacking control, Ju Yuri, with S-rank lower-tier specs, was also present.

They represented overwhelming force.
They had reason to be arrogant.

Frankly, the three of them together could have laid waste to the Gonis Hunter Academy.

The problem was Yu Seha.

A genius who had reached, with casual ease, a realm that even the Sword Ghost admired, praised, and laughed maniacally about.

In short, a talent unmatched across past and present had bloomed magnificently.

And it wasn’t just natural blossoming.
Not merely by talent alone,
He had surpassed the wall entirely.

Yu Seha had made a deal with the System.
The Tyrant, the King of Demons.
He swore himself to the Eye of Reversal.

He resolved that he would, at some later point, pay an unknown price.

Thanks to that, Yu Seha was now in a state where calling him a demigod was not an exaggeration.

At this moment, one could say for certain about Yu Seha.

Sword Ghost So Hang-woo,
That no one could stop him unless the Sword Ghost So Hang-woo or a fully resurrected Demon King appeared.

Tang Seo-ran might not have known,
She had essentially arrived at the worst possible moment.

“……”

Tang Seo-ran soon regained her composure.
She put distance between them and professionally clasped her hands.
Poisonous energy coiled around her sleeves, gathering like thick cloth.

A formation designed to blind and confuse the opponent,
Was followed by countless dark blades of poison and mana raining down.

Each was a three-stage combination carrying <Guidance>, <Invisibility>, and <Poison> effects.

An Epic grade,
A derivative skill of the innate ability [Master of Poisoned Blood],
[Hydra’s Head].

But Yu Seha did not budge.
He gathered divinity into his hand.
A tiny orb of light no bigger than his thumb.

It contained divinity that surpassed not only Divine Light Garam,
But also that saintly woman.
When he dropped it to the ground, a [Usurping Wave of Light] spread out.

Kwak kwak kwak-!!!
A surging wave of light,
No, a sea of light swept the surroundings.

The incoming dark blades vanished as if they had never existed.
Additionally, Ju Yuri, who had been blocking him, coughed up blood in agony.

“…!”

Yu Seha looked at Ju Yuri.
He had heard from Ju Na-young about Ju Yuri’s situation.

Thanks to that, he couldn’t know exactly what had happened,
but he could guess that she was being used by Tang Seo-ran.

Of course, he had no intention of letting that slide.

He clenched his fist and struck her abdomen.
Ju Yuri’s eyes bulged wide,
sent flying into and slamming against the wall.

Yu Seha immediately turned his gaze to Tang Seo-ran.
He might have wondered why she was here, but he didn’t care.
He resolved to eliminate her while he still could.

“……”

Tang Seo-ran, who had watched it all, broke into a cold sweat.
An overwhelming aura of a supreme being emanated from Yu Seha.

That gaze,
this intimidation.
It matched the eyes of the three she remembered.

‘The Red Dragon King, Kearis.’

And Kearis’s father,
the Tyrant Drakorn who went mad after she died.
And finally, the Sword Ghost So Hang-woo.

Tang Seo-ran felt the same aura as the three absolute powers one must avoid confronting head-on, emitting from Yu Seha.

She tried to deny it.

‘This can’t be.’

Such a…
A kid barely nineteen years old…
on the same level as those monsters?

“There’s no way that could be…”

Meanwhile, at the same time,
in the same place.
A short distance away.

Ju Na-young knelt on her knees,
Staring blankly at the scene.

Tang Seo-ran and the recovering Tang Pyo-rim.
And…
Even her cousin Ju Yuri, who had risen again.

The three of them launched a combined attack on Yu Seha.
A cold-blooded assault without hesitation or shame.

But Yu Seha, using an otherworldly body,
Moved with unbelievable agility for such a massive form and fought them.

When Yu Seha moved once, it was like lightning,
The sword he swung itself became a calamity.

“…Yong.”

Ju Na-young opened her mouth in stunned disbelief.
She remembered the barrier she felt a month ago when facing her mother.
No—she felt awe at a strength far beyond that.

Ju Na-young sensed it.
No matter how much she trained her whole life,
she would never be able to reach Yu Seha.

“……”

Ju Na-young clenched her fist.
Then she grit her teeth,
And stood up.

‘Get yourself together, Ju Na-young!’

That sight.
She could tell, whatever it was, it wasn’t a normal power.
She had the instinct that Yu Seha had paid some unknown sacrifice.

Someone precious,
Someone she loved,
Was risking their life to fight—she couldn’t stand by.

Then, a small hand grabbed him.

“…Hana?”
“……”

Ma Hana had taken care of the fainted Moon Bora and brought her along.
She placed Moon Bora on her lap and looked at her sadly.

She shook her head.
Firmly.

“You must defend.”

A single decisive statement.
Ju Na-young felt her heart break.
Ma Hana felt the same.

In truth, in this battle right now,
There was no room for them to intervene.

Their A-rank strength achieved through shared power,
And Epic grade skills.

All of it meant nothing in this fight.
Ma Hana patted Ju Na-young, who bowed his head.

“It’s okay.”
“…Hana.”
“A chance will come, surely.”

Ma Hana raised her shield.

“For now, trust Se-ha and watch.”
“…Okay.”

About one minute.
A fierce battle unfolded.

Tang Seo-ran continued to be pushed back by Yu Seha’s absolute nonchalance.
She felt a shiver as a blade narrowly grazed her neck.
She thought that if she had been any slower, she would have died.
Watching blood trickle, she felt true fear.

‘……’

Tang Seo-ran clicked her tongue as if lamenting a loss,
And watched Yu Seha utterly crush Ju Yuri and Tang Pyo-rim.

Both had reached their limits.
In thirty seconds, it would be decided as defeat.
She thought this couldn’t continue.

Suddenly Tang Seo-ran grabbed at the air.
Not a special skill,
A trigger to activate something.

Immediately, Ju Yuri halted abruptly.
Then, before Yu Seha could react,
A powerful mana surged from Ju Yuri’s entire body like a storm.

“…!”

Yu Seha saw it clearly.
Ju Yuri spewing a terrifying mana comparable to a Demon King.

At the same time, near the heart covered in dragon scales,
An imperfectly formed band,
Fluttered and emitted light.
Yu Seha immediately knew what it was.

‘Could it be, the <Yoke of Scales>!?’

The creator of [SlaSla], the summoner Julius, said to be the most capable in history.
A Myth-grade artifact obtained by gathering all of his legacy.
Its effect opens up and advances all the potential of the blood flowing through the target’s body—an apex summoner item.

‘However…’

On closer look, the band had many defects here and there.

It was clearly a result of incomplete assembly.

It made sense.
After all, Yu Seha possessed most of the components.
This was, in reality, a desperate act.

Yet somehow she had managed to assemble it,
Meaning Tang Seo-ran must have had a blueprint that unified the parts.
In the original story flow, she was indeed meant to become the heir to that legacy.

Cre-eak-!!!

“…Damn.”

Soon, Ju Yuri’s form began to contort grotesquely.
The speed of the change was so fast
That everything was over before she could even move to strike.

―Kkkiieeee!!!

A strange yet majestic shriek.
Yu Seha blocked the shockwave with both hands and looked ahead.

A dragon.
A creature about five meters long, what one would commonly call a dragon, appeared.
Glossy black scales,
A club-like thick tail,
Wings with membranous skin like a bat’s.

However…

“So it failed after all.”
―Kkkiieeee!!!

The dragon form Ju Yuri had transformed into was grotesque.
Honestly, it was too complex to describe easily,

if forced to describe, it was closer to a wyvern.
Clearly it hadn’t been fully unlocked and remained incomplete.

At that moment, he sensed a presence and raised his head.
When had she even moved?
Tang Seo-ran was riding on the dragon-form Ju Yuri’s back.

A memory flashed across Yu Seha’s mind.
The image of Tang Seo-ran, the dragon-witch, mounted atop the Dead Serpent in GAL.

To prove it, Tang Seo-ran cast a spell.

The dragon power flowing through Ju Yuri transferred to her, forming a far more powerful ‘poison and blood’ magic circle.

“Die, die, just die! You monstrous brat!!!”

Tang Seo-ran screamed in agony.

The Tang Seo-ran Yu Seha knew had been arrogant and
Full of the final-boss confidence.

But now she looked like nothing more than a frightened, screaming villain.

‘…Pathetic.’

Dozens of green and red magic circles were drawn.
Each spewed forth magic.
Their power was no doubt significant, but…

Shuk-kuk-!!

Yu Seha sliced them all with the Sword of the Saint.
It was, of course, no ordinary strike.

Even if his stats had reached the realm of a demigod,
Tang Seo-ran and Ju Yuri as a pair were by no means weak.

The sword Yu Seha swung,
was the pinnacle technique forged through prolonged hardship.

He had not embodied it for long,
But even a little mastery of it
Was a power that could cleave the world itself.

Yu Seha raised his head.

He looked at Tang Seo-ran, swallowing dryly in fear.

“Hoo…!”

He set his stance.
Just as he was about to decisively cut them down and end it.

A sharp pain—!

“…Kuk!?”

A constricting pain in his heart made him drop the sword.
Looking down,
smoke rose from his body as the lower half of the Kirin slowly crumbled.

Yu Seha instinctively knew.
That his limit had arrived.

It was literal.
Why now of all times?

Of course, he knew there was no conscience here.
Because of that, he had pulled off something absurd alone.

“……”

Frowning, Yu Seha reverted to his original human form.
As his human legs touched the ground,
He trembled, feeling utterly weak.

Tang Seo-ran watched this.
She let out a hollow laugh.
The fear in her eyes did not vanish, but she drew a magic circle as if sensing an opportunity.

“Yes, yes! Though unexpected… what’s important is winning in the end. Die, die! You monstrous brat!!!”

Tang Seo-ran’s spell.
Ju Yuri opened her mouth and blew a breath attack.
Yu Seha, with no strength to move, closed his eyes.

Boom-!
A massive explosion.

Instead of pain, he felt mana—and opened his eyes in shock: ‘Impossible!?’

“Mnyaaaaaang!!!”

Ma Hana,
Meowi,
The angelic meowi.
My favorite character and
Someone I love.

The small furball wearing [The Devotion of the Wolf King],
Raised a shield larger than itself.

It projected a protective barrier many times larger.
It was undoubtedly the [Dusk Wolf’s Veil].

Ma Hana was not alone.
Ju Na-young, the girl with wings unfurled, shouted ‘Dragon King!!!’ and vented a mighty breath.

Thanks to them, the assault was barely held off.
Of course, it was only a standoff.
They began to be pushed back.

“You two! It’s dangerous—get back!”
“M-Meow! I-I’ll never… step back!”

Ma Hana looked at Yu Seha, voice trembling.
Tears flowed from her eyes,
Filled with resentment and apology.

“I won’t let only Seha sacrifice himself!”

Ju Na-young replied.
Even as he exhaled his breath attack…

“Right, Yu Seha! Do you think we’ll just let you be the only one acting cool!?”
“…You guys…”

Ma Hana and Ju Na-young screamed in defiance.
Each A-rank mid-tier.
A fight they ideally shouldn’t even be able to defend against.

Pa-ang-!

But somehow, a miracle worked.
They squeezed out all their strength and barely succeeded in suppressing it.

Ju Na-young collapsed and Mahana staggered, clutching him.

“Ju Na-young! Meow!”
“Yongkkweeeek…”
“Mya, mya… M-Ma-king…”

Soon, as if to mock such a miracle,
Tang Seo-ran was seen casting magic again.

Yu Seha clenched his fist.
He had no choice.
Even if the Demon King were to resurrect, he had to survive for now.

He took out the necklace linked to the pocket dimension.
He was about to activate the <Magic Tag> necklaces each wore, including himself.

A gust of wind swept in.
A sharp green energy sped toward the breath attack.
On closer look, it was a huge wheel-shaped projectile commonly called a ‘chakram’.

Yu Seha knew what that skill was.
It was a derivative of the Unique-grade [Fiercely Rushing Blade Wind].

A thick spreading explosion and smoke.
Then, with a heavy sound, a woman clad in armor appeared like the wind.

“Yu Seha! Are you alright!?”

A familiar face.

“Cho Seol-hwa… Team Leader?”

Yu Seha asked blankly.
Then a slender, strong hand rested on his shoulder.

When he naturally looked up,
He saw a woman wearing a red robe.
A red robe emblazoned with a blazing dragon symbolizing Dragon Sword Mir.
She addressed Yu Seha with an apologetic tone.

“…Sorry I’m late, truly…”

And thank you.

“Even after such sacrifices, you protected the girl and everyone…”
“…And you are?”

The woman removed her robe, draped it over Yu Seha’s shoulders, and placed her hand above his head.

She resembled Ju Na-young,
But with slightly sharper eyes.
She offered a gentle smile.

“Now leave it to the adults.”

The woman strode confidently toward Tang Seo-ran.
One of the few S-rank hunters in the world,
And unquestionably among the top S-rank elites.

The master of the Dragon Sword Mir clan.

Ju Yae-young.

She had finally joined the battlefield.