Chapter 87
Baek Rak, who had quickly opened his eyes, tightly embraced Seo Won and said.
“Yoon Seo Won, I told you not to think useless thoughts.”
“……”
“A guardian is something to be grateful for just by existing. You don’t need to get involved in fights like this.”
“……That’s.”
“I’m just doing what I have to do. So you just do what you have to do. Keep your head straight.”
Baek Rak lifted Seo Won up once and opened his mouth again to Seo Won who was looking at him with troubled eyes.
“From now on, I’m going to fight the alpha.”
“……”
“I have no intention of putting you down, so hang on tight so you don’t fall.”
At Baek Rak’s words that summarized things simply and clearly, Seo Won let out a small sigh. For some reason, he felt comforted. Though he had drawn a line saying they each had separate things to do, he could feel some consideration within that. Because of this, Seo Won shook off his complicated thoughts and nodded.
“Got it.”
Seeing that Seo Won seemed to have calmed down, Baek Rak immediately moved. From now on, he planned to finish this with lightning speed.
The alpha watched the two people running toward him and drew a light smile. Chasing was fun too, but welcoming those who came charging had its own entertainment value.
Baek Rak, who had finally approached right up to the alpha’s nose, sharply swung his sword. The alpha leisurely dodged while welcoming the two.
“Welcome. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting? I was going crazy wanting to see you.”
It was an affectionate tone as if speaking to a lover.
Baek Rak chuckled in disbelief and said.
“You sure talk well about waiting with your neck washed and ready.”
“Who told you to run away so well? I’m already dying from weakness because it’s daytime – it’s not fair.”
“Fair?”
The sharp sword rushed toward the alpha’s lips. Other things aside, that mouth was the biggest problem. For something that wasn’t human, it acted too much like one. Even the selfish aspects were identical.
The moment the blade slightly grazed the edge of its lips, red blood droplets scattered in the air.
“Ouch, come to think of it, you always attack the mouth first, don’t you?”
“Since you won’t shut up, I have no choice but to cut it off.”
“How brutal.”
Baek Rak attacked the alpha while avoiding the charging creatures. But every time he tried to cut the alpha, creatures would throw their bodies to die in its place repeatedly. Without giving even a moment’s opening, the alpha used the surrounding creatures like that.
Then the sound of sharp wind howling was heard. Seo Won trembled at the chilling goosebumps. Wondering what was happening, Baek Rak suddenly leaped high.
Then a massive sword swept right below them.
“……!”
Whoosh!
The other creatures that couldn’t dodge were cut in half as black blood spurted up. Baek Rak clicked his tongue and looked back. Then a giant holding a long spear had entered striking range, having arrived here at some point.
Looking at the alpha again, it shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped.
“It came following the human scent. It’s not like I ordered it, you know?”
No sincerity could be felt from the shameless self-defense. As if no one would know it had prepared tricks in advance.
Seo Won bit his lips and looked up at the giant targeting Baek Rak’s back. The striking distance was far, making it difficult to attack the creature. Unless Baek Rak wrapped energy around his sword to swing it long or throw it, there was no way to deal with it at this distance.
Because of this, the number of attacks on the alpha gradually decreased, while avoiding attacks from surrounding creatures and the giant increased.
No matter how he thought about it, they couldn’t kill the alpha like this.
“Are you done attacking now? Then I’ll attack too?”
The alpha, who had only been dodging until now, giggled as if judging itself to be in a superior position. At the same time, it transformed both arms like a mantis and approached at tremendous speed.
Baek Rak raised his sword to block the mercilessly incoming attack.
Clang!
The sound of hard metal clashing against metal burst out. The alpha attacked continuously as if it had expected this. Even if it was daytime, an alpha was still an alpha. At those heavy attacks, Baek Rak couldn’t help but grimace.
Most of all, the situation was worse than expected. Tentacles, claws, and projectiles poured from all directions, while behind them a giant was watching for opportunities to attack.
For an ordinary hunter, this was a worst-case situation where they would have already been eaten by the creatures.
“You really endure well. I knew that even among hunters, abilities differ, but I’ve never seen someone like you. What’s different about you?”
The alpha’s eyes sparkled as if its curiosity was piqued. Previously it had only shown interest in Seo Won, but now it seemed interested in Baek Rak’s abilities too.
“Tell me, hm? Is there some other special reason?”
Even though it kept asking, Baek Rak consistently ignored it.
Then Baek Rak found an opening and swung his sword toward the alpha’s neck. Only then did the alpha’s chattering mouth stop. It quickly pulled its body back, but the sword tip touched its neck.
About 2cm deep?
Swoosh!
The skin split open and red blood poured out.
The creature’s grinning face finally hardened. Even in this cornered state, Baek Rak’s attack was sharp. It was tremendous concentration. If they had fought one-on-one, it would have definitely lost. Night might be different, but during the day it couldn’t help but be this way.
The alpha, which had learned knowledge and emotions by eating humans, had its pride hurt.
For a mere human that was just prey to possess such abilities was absurd. It would definitely become a great threat someday. It was already displeased that Yoon Seo Won hadn’t been handed over, so it seemed better to clean everything up at this opportunity.
“Shall we end the playing around here?”
The alpha stroked its neck that was beginning to heal bit by bit and stepped back. Baek Rak tried to follow it, but creatures rushed to block him as if filling the opened space.
Kill and block, kill and block. It was impossible to ignore the pouring numbers.
“You know what? The difference between humans and creatures.”
From a slightly distant place, the creature that had returned its arms to human form crossed its arms and asked. When Baek Rak glared at it, the alpha shrugged.
“Humans get tired, but creatures don’t.”
It planned to drain all of Baek Rak’s strength. If it couldn’t win, it just had to create a situation where it could win. That’s why it had set up this trap.
“Let’s see how long you can endure.”
The alpha that laughed mockingly stepped back again and sat on a building pillar. Then it propped its chin as if watching a video.
Seo Won, who had been watching the standoff between Baek Rak and the alpha, gritted his teeth in frustration.
Baek Rak had said they each had separate things to do, but even in this situation, he couldn’t find comfort in those words. He wanted to help Baek Rak deal with the alpha. He wanted to quickly return to Yeongdeungpo Station where people were waiting for him.
In his heart, he was already fighting alongside Baek Rak, but reality didn’t allow it. He was only being protected by him and holding him back.
‘……Damn it.’
While Seo Won was frustrated with reality, Baek Rak realized he could no longer move forward and stopped in place. The surrounding creatures were a problem, but the biggest obstacle was indeed the giant creatures.
As the alpha said, humans had limits.
Having already used half his strength, if time continued to pass like this, things might flow as the creature wanted. The one with the bow didn’t attack when the alpha was nearby, so there was a possibility if he just dealt with the one using the spear.
Baek Rak turned around and began rushing toward the giant holding the spear. The creature, realizing the target had changed to itself, swung its spear more fiercely than before.
Each time, other creatures besides Baek Rak were crushed and sent flying, but such things had no meaning to the creature. It acted as if its only goal was to kill Baek Rak somehow.
Baek Rak, who had reached close range, grabbed the giant’s armor and leaped upward. Since sharp spear tips had maximum efficiency as weapons only with distance, they were inevitably disadvantaged in ultra-close combat like this.
But that didn’t mean it was completely defenseless. The creature swung at Baek Rak floating in the air using the lower part of its spear.
Baek Rak twisted his body to barely avoid the attack and ran forward stepping on the giant’s hand. Just as he was about to cut its neck in one stroke by infusing energy into his sword, suddenly a tremendous sound of air being torn was heard and something flying this way could be felt.
Baek Rak instinctively raised his sword.
Crack!
“Kgh!”
Though he blocked the attack, he couldn’t prevent his body from being knocked away. Even while falling, Baek Rak swung his sword to push away whatever had flown at him. Looking closely, it was a huge arrow.
The moment he moved away from the alpha, the giant with the bow had immediately started attacking. Though he had no choice but to block the arrow, if he had dodged, it might have been a bold enough attack to pierce the neck of the spear-wielding giant.
Baek Rak straightened his body and barely landed on the ground. The arm that had blocked the arrow throbbed in pain. But without time to endure that pain, he had to move his body.
Because the spear-wielding giant was lifting its foot to try to step on them.
When Baek Rak hastily dodged, there was a thud sound and the ground vibrated slightly. It was enough to make the bodies of other creatures that had been charging sway.
Seo Won felt his body and head ringing from the impact of the arrow and the ground’s vibration. Since Baek Rak had received direct impact, he was affected to some degree.
“Ugh, hey, Baek Rak, are you okay?”
“……I’m fine.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
