Obsession (6)

Kwaaang!

What Kang-hoo chose was not pressing down, but launching upward.

The energy of Black Cross Flame Lotus, which suddenly surged up from the ground, struck every enemy within range.

Since there could be no exceptions, the bodies of all Heuksaja hunters who were charging at Kang-hoo floated into the air.

Since he had already calculated the strike range of Black Cross Flame Lotus and used it with precision.

Gwak Hyeong-seok was the only person who was not caught in the launch.

Using the power of Sacred Leap gathered to its maximum, Kang-hoo pounced on him like lightning.

The target of the “Seongjeokgoedae” skill linkage was Gwak Hyeong-seok, the younger brother, just like his older brother.

Great Decapitation, loaded with all his strength, combined with Kang-hoo’s momentum as he closed the distance in an instant and produced destructive force.

Kkaang!

“Krgh!”

Unlike his older brother, whose crown had been pierced before he could respond, the younger brother at least reacted quickly.

With swordplay that could not be clearly called instinct or judgment, Gwak Hyeong-seok barely managed to receive the attack.

Calling it receiving sounded generous; it was only at the level of barely blocking it. Because of that, his body’s center of gravity collapsed.

Instead of a dagger attack using his upper body here, he unexpectedly deployed Flying Heaven Strike, which used his lower body.

He had defended once in the realm of instinct, but even Gwak Hyeong-seok was helpless against a foot attack that rose from a place he truly had not expected.

Ppagak!

Gwak Hyeong-seok’s body, struck directly under the chin, floated into the air.

The force of the foot that struck his chin surpassed imagination, to the point that the fact that his body was floating in the air felt quite long.

In the meantime.

Kang-hoo briefly charged the hidden skill White Sun Slash.

His Dark Energy was recovering, but it was insufficient to use Black Moon Slash, so he had used White Sun Slash.

Soon, the sword energy of White Sun Slash flew toward Gwak Hyeong-seok as he fell from the air.

Although he had gathered mana for only a very short moment, a clear half-moon-shaped sword energy fiercely flew straight ahead.

Kang-hoo had no interest at all in how Gwak Hyeong-seok would respond. Right now, concentrated firepower came first.

“Uaaaaah!”

“Fuuuuuuuck……!”

Meanwhile, the Heuksaja hunters who had been hit by Black Cross Flame Lotus and floated into the air were still riding the amusement ride.

They had floated so high that even the victims of the skill themselves felt a sense of unreality.

It was as if their bodies had floated too high after being swept up in an irresistible updraft.

Kang-hoo sent all the several daggers made of mana flying by linking them to Lightning Flying Dagger.

In the process, he made the recovered Dark Energy seep as much as possible into the mana daggers, and did not forget to add a knockback effect as well.

From this point on, hell unfolded for Gwak Hyeong-seok.

Just when he seemed to have barely escaped the impact of Flying Heaven Strike, White Sun Slash flew in and struck him first.

He somehow blocked even this, though it was impossible to tell whether his body had moved first or whether he had somehow managed to block it by chance.

Of course, he had not blocked it properly, so he merely avoided a direct hit, and the sword energy sliced past the side of his elbow.

The problem started after that.

Puuk! Puk!

The moment the mana daggers that followed flew in and stuck into various parts of Gwak Hyeong-seok’s body like sprouting thorns.

Kang-hoo linked Dark Energy Ignition to the mana daggers that had contained Dark Energy, creating flames of death.

Since part of the Dark Energy had already been burrowing into his wounds together with the mana, the flames caught fire inside as well.

“Kkeogeogeogeok!”

Calling it a linkage sounded nice, but in reality, it was no different from something that had happened almost simultaneously.

Gwak Hyeong-seok, exposed to consecutive attacks without even having time to block properly, screamed and staggered.

There was still a little duration left on Gaksinhwan.

Still feeling the long stretch of eternal time, Kang-hoo crushed Gwak Hyeong-seok even more thoroughly.

Peopeopeong!

When explosions of blood erupted from the places where the mana daggers were embedded and the flames had surged up, Gwak Hyeong-seok vomited blood.

Blood Flower was fatal because it was not enough to inflict deep wounds; it caused another explosion within them.

Nevertheless, Gwak Hyeong-seok’s breath had not been cut off yet, so this time Kang-hoo charged straight ahead.

Anyone could see that he was rushing in along a path that was easy to respond to, but that was because he had a sufficient aim behind it.

Gwak Hyeong-seok, who had no way of knowing Kang-hoo’s strategy of twisting and twisting the situation again amid the chaos.

Swaak!

He responded while led by instinct.

The enemy was approaching, so he swung his sword to keep him in check! It was one-dimensional, but that was why it was a natural response.

The problem was that this became the most fatal response for Gwak Hyeong-seok.

A skill that Kang-hoo could rejoice over was deployed against Gwak Hyeong-seok’s counterattack, which came along an obvious path.

The Binding Rotation skill he had obtained before by eating the black-and-white fruit. There had never been an opportunity to use it as usefully as now.

“Eukkeugeu……!”

Along with the unpleasant feeling of stiffening from his head to his shoulders, Gwak Hyeong-seok’s upper body stiffened as well.

With the binding’s success, Kang-hoo was already behind Gwak Hyeong-seok, and he had seized an extremely good opportunity.

Without measuring anything further, he thrust out his dagger. The area Kang-hoo aimed for was the back of Gwak Hyeong-seok’s neck. It was the most vulnerable spot.

Puuk!

“Keoheok!”

A parade of screams.

Amid the dizzying attacks, where he could not even utter a single other trivial word, the light in Gwak Hyeong-seok’s eyes gradually went out.

With the dagger still stuck in the back of his neck.

Kang-hoo sent as much of the recovered Dark Energy as possible around Gwak Hyeong-seok’s face.

When he immediately used Flame of Annihilation there, blazing flames surged up despite the small amount of Dark Energy.

It went without saying that Gwak Hyeong-seok’s face and entire head began to burn while he was still alive.

“Kuaaaak!”

Pain he could not escape from.

A crisis he could not break free of.

In the situation where Kang-hoo had one-sidedly dragged him into a battle of calculations, the only thing Gwak Hyeong-seok could do was let out a scream faithful to instinct.

But that, too, was brief.

Together with his rapid loss of HP, the Judgment option activated on Gwak Hyeong-seok, just as it had on his older brother Gwak Hyeong-su.

Gwak Hyeong-seok had an item that could recover his HP, and if he had put his mind to it, he could have attempted recovery as much as he wanted!

But as the saying went, saving something could turn it into shit; trying to save it as much as possible became the root of the disaster.

Gwak Hyeong-seok, who had no way of knowing Kang-hoo’s “Judgment,” made his recovery decision one beat later than choosing Judgment.

In the end.

“……!”

Right before he activated the item’s recovery option, Judgment activated first and took his life.

It was a mistake where he tried to save an extremely precious opportunity, only for it to become not shit, but something worse than that: death.

But because it was such a strategically important card, he could not help but save it. It was Gwak Hyeong-seok’s predetermined death.

“Leader! Save the leader!”

“What the hell is happening?”

By the time the effect of Gaksinhwan faded, the surrounding situation also changed anew.

Subordinates who had gone much farther ahead than the main force, or who had been following behind the lengthened pursuit team, began to join up.

Moreover, the subordinates who had been swept up in Black Cross Flame Lotus were also getting back to their feet. It was the cleanup stage.

Since he had already achieved his objective, there was no need to waste his strength here.

Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok were dead, and he had succeeded in plundering a large number of their constellations as well.

He had no time to confirm it leisurely right now, but it was true that he could be certain of their deaths.

It was regrettable that he could not even covet their items, but right now, he needed to make a strategic judgment.

If he was swept up here as if surrounded by Heuksaja hunters from the front, rear, and middle, there would be no answer.

Furthermore, if even the detached unit centered on mage hunters returned, then he would fall into danger in reverse.

Without lingering attachment, Kang-hoo sent one shadow into a side alley, then immediately changed positions and moved away from the scene.

Then he erected Wall of Integrity.

Several Heuksaja hunters fired at Kang-hoo without distinguishing between skills and arrows.

But they could not pierce through Kang-hoo’s defense, which had already set a thick wall in front of him like a shield.

They also had no boldness to rush in recklessly, since a major accident had already occurred at the scene.

The two leaders they had revered as if they were the sky had crossed the River Jordan within barely a dozen seconds.

In such a situation, it did not seem as if anything would change even if one or two of them, who were far inferior in ability, grouped together.

As quick as their loyalty, their understanding of the situation was also fast, and they no longer overexerted themselves.

The match was over.

Since the control tower that would map out and command every situation had disappeared, only retreat remained.

Because they had a decision-making process that depended so deformedly on Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok…….

They began to retreat chaotically according to each person’s improvised judgment at the scene.

Among them, the pursuit team that had not properly received the situation report became isolated while chasing without even looking back.

From that moment on.

Hell began for Heuksaja.

Having lost all leaders who could give orders, they could not respond consistently in their respective positions and collapsed.

And after confirming the deaths of Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok, Lee Ye-rin gave the order for total mobilization and an all-out attack.

The curtain rose on the counterattack.

“Ah, so bright.”

Around daybreak.

Takashi, who had finished cleaning his house for the first time in truly a long while and had come out to separate the recyclables, rubbed his eyes at the brightening sky.

Because he had been living indoors with even blackout curtains drawn, even the shallow sunlight felt dazzling.

Takashi’s “main body,” who rarely came outside the house.

But if things continued like this, his house seemed likely to become a giant garbage dump and a cockroach den, so he had come out.

Still, thanks to the refreshing morning air, he felt good. Of course, he did not want to come out because of this air.

“Hello?”

When Takashi happened to meet eyes with a stray cat and greeted it.

Aeoooong!

The cat jumped in fright and ran away.

Wondering why, he checked the broken mirror that happened to have been thrown away on one side of the recycling area.

“Tsk. No wonder it ran away.”

His appearance was awful.

His beard had grown so thickly that it was impossible to tell when he had last shaved, and his face was also extremely oily.

His hair had hardened in a matted state, as if he were wearing a helmet.

Even though a strong wind was blowing between the buildings, unlike his fluttering clothes, his hair did not move at all.

Tudung! Tududung! Tung!

While Takashi separated the plastic first, he propped his smartphone diagonally beside him.

It was because he always had a habit of keeping something on and watching it, and recycling was no different.

The video he had turned on was a named news channel on Huntergram, which he enjoyed watching. It was a broadcast being reported in real time.

However, he was not focusing on the content and was only perceiving the noise caused by it.

At that moment, a voice came from the “voice room” that Takashi always kept connected, whether he was sleeping or going to the bathroom.

The Takashi Fam voice room, which only the Takashi Family could enter.

There, almost simultaneously, several colleagues poured out surprised reactions all at once.

-Hey, Takashi. Your friend is on the news right now, you know?

-Korea. Is the identity of the assassin who single-handedly eliminated Heuksaja’s Gwak Hyeong-su and Gwak Hyeong-seok Shin Kang-hoo? Isn’t this about your friend?

-Wow, that’s insane. Even so, he killed two guys with pretty big names in less than 20 seconds?
-How the hell did he design the assassination plan for such a crazy result to come out?

While Takashi had been indifferent to the news, the Takashi Family had already become completely absorbed in the news from Daejeon.

The being who assassinated both leaders during a full-frontal war where the Cheong-an Mercenary Corps had fallen into inferiority and completely reversed the situation.

The protagonist who had made the live news chat window become entirely filled with praise for him was none other than Kang-hoo.

The man Takashi, the leader the Takashi Family trusted, supported, and followed.

The story of the friend he treasured so much had become a heroic tale and was being broadcast.

It was an exclusive report.