104.
So without realizing it, he had been depending on Sehun from some point. Instead of protecting him, he was the one being protected.
“Sehun…”
He carefully caressed the frozen cheek. The gaze that had always been fixed on his face was now directed elsewhere.
There was no vitality in the empty eyes. With a sinking feeling in his heart, he placed his index finger under Sehun’s nose.
A faint breath tickled his skin. Jian hurriedly used his recovery skill, hoping that perhaps this symptom was due to depleted physical strength and mana, grasping at straws.
However, even after using the recovery skill, Sehun’s expression remained unchanged. His face, devoid of all emotion, was like a sculpture carved from ice.
“Hyung, what’s wrong with Sehun?”
Hyunsu asked Jian in a tearful voice. It had been scary when Siyun and Yongho were injured, but now he could barely breathe.
“I-I’ll try using my ability too.”
He watched Sehun’s reaction as he used purification and recovery skills. The purification skill was effective not only against poison but also mental contamination.
Hyunsu bit his lip as Sehun remained motionless. What should they do? His mind wasn’t functioning properly, like a tangled ball of thread.
“Hunter Lee Jian!”
Yongho, who was holding off Cerberus alone, raised his voice. Cerberus’s abilities were so tremendous that it had taken all their combined strength to barely defeat one.
Already, the cloak Yongho had been wearing was in tatters, and one of his arms had disappeared after being hit by the breath attack.
As Cerberus found it difficult to defeat Yongho, it turned its attention to Sehun and Hyunsu, who were standing still.
Though Jian was invisible thanks to his concealment skill, the two were completely exposed.
Jian gritted his teeth and grabbed Sehun and Hyunsu’s arms. Cerberus became excited and stomped its feet when the people who had been right in front of it suddenly disappeared.
“Let’s hide behind that rock over there.”
Jian led the two toward a car-sized rock. After hiding Sehun, who had come along docilely, behind the rock, Jian ran his hand through his hair anxiously.
All sorts of thoughts raced through his mind. Could it be that the side effects of the experiment were manifesting now?
His temples throbbed painfully at the thought that Sehun might have had unknown side effects all along, just as he used life force for his skills.
He didn’t think there was such a scene in the original story. He was confused, wondering if something had gone wrong because he had changed the original plot.
GRRROOOWL…!
Cerberus’s roar reverberated through the surrounding air. The area around them became a sea of fire as a flame breath passed right next to the rock.
The toxic gas emitted by the burning snake-type monsters made it hard to breathe. Just then, Sehun, who had been sitting quietly, lifted his head slightly.
“Sehun.”
Thinking his consciousness had returned, Jian called Sehun’s name with a brightened voice. Sehun, who had sprung to his feet, stared at Cerberus.
His iris turned red from the edges, and soon his hair color also instantly changed to blood-red.
The rock behind which the three were hiding rose into the air with a swooshing sound. Then the rock flew rapidly toward Cerberus like a baseball hit by a batter.
WHAM!
Cerberus’s face, which had been holding Yongho’s scythe in its mouth, was jerked to the side. In the meantime, Yongho retreated. He had been in trouble after losing his weapon.
To make matters worse, the duration of the Dark Knight skill was coming to an end. Flesh was attaching to the bones, and blood vessels were forming.
As his gruesome appearance returned to that of a handsome man with a decadent aura, Sehun walked steadily toward Cerberus.
“Sehun!”
Startled, Jian approached Sehun and grabbed his arm, but the force with which he was pushed away sent him sprawling to the ground.
“Jian hyung!”
Unable to believe what he was seeing, Hyunsu ran to Jian. Sehun had just pushed Jian away, and with enough force to hurt him.
Jian’s shocked face was completely understandable. It was a scene he never imagined he would see in his life.
Grrr…
Cerberus growled as it watched Sehun approach. Sehun raised both hands.
As his fingers, which had been spread wide, gradually curled inward, Cerberus made painful sounds, whining and whimpering.
One leg burst with a popping sound, muscles exploding outward. Bones protruded through the skin of the other leg.
It lost both front legs in an instant. As it struggled to support its body, which was about to collapse forward, all three of Cerberus’s heads opened their mouths simultaneously.
Just as different colored breaths were about to be expelled, Sehun’s eyes streamed with blood-red light.
The blood flowing from Cerberus transformed into a long whip. The line, which had been writhing in the air like a living snake, tightly bound Cerberus’s mouths.
The breaths that couldn’t be released exploded inside Cerberus’s mouths. Under the blood and flesh scattering in all directions, Sehun finished it off with an expressionless face.
A large amount of blood that splashed from the beast’s body spread widely and soon formed a net. It quickly attacked the staggering body that had taken a heavy blow, then rapidly burrowed into the flesh.
POP!
Cerberus, which had been displaying tremendous prowess just moments ago, turned into a heap of flesh.
A thin stream of blood flowed from under Sehun’s nose. Despite showing signs of strain, Sehun immediately moved to find his next victim.
Not far away, Siyun was struggling against another Cerberus. He could be seen holding on to the handle of a greatsword embedded in its back.
It was precarious how he narrowly avoided being bitten each time the enraged Cerberus turned its head back to try to devour him.
Before the Cerberus caught in the blood net turned to ash and disappeared, Sehun created a giant sword from the beast’s blood pooled on the ground. His face was as emotionless as a doll’s as he ran toward Siyun, holding that sword.
“…What the Director was concerned about has happened.”
Yongho, who had been watching Sehun, composed himself and approached Jian, speaking in a gloomy voice. Jian’s eyes wavered at the words that suggested he knew something.
“What do you mean? What Director?”
He must be referring to Shin Yoonjae as the Director. Jian stood up and grabbed Yongho’s arm. His pale fingertips were trembling.
“He asked me to do something. To make sure Han Sehun inhaled this medicine as smoke every time he slept.”
Yongho took out a small glass bottle from his inventory. An opaque white liquid sloshed inside the glass bottle.
“I don’t know the details either. I did it because the Director asked me to. I was told it would help Hunter Han Sehun.”
Jian’s eyes widened with surging emotion. If what Yongho said was true, the Director certainly knew something.
Jian snatched the bottle and opened the lid. When he smelled it, there was a bitter herbal scent.
“What exactly is this?”
At Jian’s question, Yongho looked at the medicine bottle with a sunken gaze. He recalled Yoonjae’s face as he had secretly approached him before entering the Tower, handed him the bottle, and made his request.
“He said that Han Sehun might lose his mind soon. He said this medicine would delay that time.”
Yongho turned his head to look at Sehun. Sehun was now rampaging in an even more irrational state than before.
Siyun could be seen gasping for breath after dodging to the side in surprise. Despite blood streaming from under his nose, Sehun wasn’t thinking about his own body at all, focusing only on destroying Cerberus.
“Why is he bleeding so much…”
Hyunsu stamped his feet anxiously as he watched Sehun. Despite the blood soaking the front of his clothes, Sehun was using his ability madly.
There was no moderation. He attacked Cerberus as if destroying it was a lifelong mission. The mana emanating from Sehun was making the surrounding air vibrate.
Jian closed the lid of the medicine bottle, put it in his bosom, and walked toward where Sehun was.
He won’t last long using his ability like that. Moreover, Sehun was only minimally blocking attacks directed at himself.
His limbs that had been grazed by breaths were turning black, blisters on burned areas were swelling and bursting, and his leg touched by ice breath was frozen solid, yet he didn’t even flinch.
Jian took out life force recovery potions from his inventory and drank them one after another. One bottle, two bottles, three bottles. Eventually, he drank without counting.
After emptying the last bottle completely, he threw it to the ground.
Glass fragments that shattered upon meeting lava grazed his leg. Jian was as out of his mind as Sehun. Ignoring the pain from his leg, he only checked his fully charged life force.
Jian exhaled deeply. He could only see Sehun destroying Cerberus while damaging his own body.
“This is insane. Another one is coming!”
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Siyun also rubbed his bald head vigorously and warned his companions.
The air rippled blackly, and then three dog heads, sickening just to look at, suddenly popped out from the doorway.
