Chapter 89
The child kept making sniffling sounds, trying to hold back tears. Even with vision blurred by tears, after confirming that Seo Won and Baek Rak were human, the droplets quickly became round again and floated in the air.
Seo Won let out a small sigh of relief. Though the child seemed to have calmed down a little, their ability was moving in response to their emotions. It would be dangerous to approach carelessly right now.
The child, who had been shedding tears for a while, crawled toward the two motionless adults. Then began shaking them to wake them up.
“Mommy… Daddy.”
“……”
“Wake up.”
But they lay there bleeding profusely without any response. They only moved briefly when the child shook them.
Looking closely, the man had a gaping hole in his chest, and the woman’s neck was more than half bitten off. It seemed they had met their end at the hands of creatures.
Seo Won turned his head away, briefly avoiding the tragic scene. He didn’t know what comfort to offer a child who had just lost their parents.
Looking at the child again, they were still flowing energy while trying to wake the two people. The water droplets floating around repeatedly changed shape randomly.
Then, having somehow caught up to them, the alpha’s voice was heard.
“…What’s this.”
Baek Rak shielded Seo Won and the child behind his back and slowly walked toward the alpha.
The two people were already dead, and now that he knew the child was a hunter, there was no danger to Yoon Seo Won.
He rolled his throbbing shoulder once and raised his sword.
“What do you mean what – it’s your grave.”
Now it would be over if he just killed the alpha. Baek Rak immediately kicked off the ground and rushed out to engage in battle with the alpha.
After confirming that the alpha and Baek Rak were fighting frantically, Seo Won slowly got up and approached the child. The child crying with tears streaming down looked so pitiful.
How much more so having lost their parents right before their eyes.
Seo Won knelt on one knee beside the child and examined the two dead people. Since the wounds from the creatures wouldn’t be good for the child to see, he took off his coat and covered them with it.
Then the child, who had been sniffling and crying, looked up at Seo Won.
The water droplets around them began moving here and there, circling around Seo Won. It looked like they were examining him to determine what kind of being Yoon Seo Won was – enemy or ally.
Seo Won didn’t pay particular attention to them and looked into the child’s eyes while stroking their head. The droplets that had been reacting violently soon calmed down, and the child nestled into Seo Won’s embrace.
“Sob, hng, waaaaah!”
The child, unable to hold back their sorrow any longer, burst into loud crying.
Seo Won held the child tightly in his arms and silently patted their back. What words could he say to a child who obviously wouldn’t be okay?
Just lending his embrace until the crying stopped and they calmed themselves down – there was no other way to comfort the child besides that.
The greater the emotions the child poured out, the more wildly energy flowed out than before. Seo Won patted the child while anxiously watching the water droplets swirling roughly around them.
He could feel coolness from the water droplets brushing past. He thought that if they couldn’t properly control their power, they might hurt themselves.
So he held the child even tighter in his arms. Feeling the tears and resentment soaking his chest, Seo Won looked at Baek Rak fighting the alpha.
Though it was close, fortunately he could tell that Baek Rak had the upper hand.
Baek Rak struck away the charging alpha’s arm and drew his sword in a long horizontal slash. Then blood spurted up from the alpha’s chest with a splurt. When the alpha stepped back, this time he extended his arm forward to try to cut its neck. But because it bent its head back to dodge, the attack went futilely.
Still, Baek Rak relentlessly pressed the creature. Not just for the safety of Yoon Seo Won and the child with water abilities, but because the darkness approaching from afar had already come quite close.
Unable to avoid the creature now, he had to finish it completely here.
Baek Rak, who had sharpened his energy more keenly, dove into the alpha’s embrace more boldly than before. When he crossed his two swords in an X and swung with all his might, the alpha staggered while trying to dodge the attack.
Thud.
Baek Rak wasn’t one to miss this opportunity. He stamped his foot forcefully and blew off its shoulder before the creature could straighten its body.
“Kgh!”
As red blood burst out, a massive arm protruded from the severed shoulder. Chasing the creature as it used its hand to turn its body, Baek Rak swung his sword again. Then the other shoulder was also cut off and flew through the air.
The alpha extended tentacles from its other severed shoulder and swung them at Baek Rak. But Baek Rak lightly cut off all the tentacles and threw his sword at the back of the alpha’s head as it tried to flee.
Swoosh!
When the sword precisely pierced the alpha’s head, its body toppled forward. But just before crashing to the ground, it regained its balance and ran again toward the approaching darkness.
Baek Rak chased after the alpha, afraid of losing it. In the approaching darkness, thousands of red eyes were glinting. There really was nowhere left to retreat.
“Stupid bastard!”
The alpha shouted with a grin splitting its face toward Baek Rak following it. To be unable to abandon attachment and chase into the darkness – how utterly stupid. No matter how strong a hunter was, they weren’t stronger than it in the darkness. Not only did its body regenerate faster, but its strength became twice as strong as during the day. So the moment it drew him in, it could blow off his head.
Just as it was grinning at the thought of finally being able to possess Yoon Seo Won, the alpha suddenly felt something strange.
Though its vision wasn’t good with a sword stuck in its head, spinning around randomly like this made no sense. Sky and ground appeared in its vision alternately, and it felt like it was floating in the air.
Below it, Baek Rak was visible, and in front of him was its familiar body.
“……”
Only then did the alpha realize its head had been separated from its body. It was the severed head that was floating in the air.
It could see Baek Rak swinging his sword toward the body falling to the ground. The defenseless body was sliced to pieces and burst apart. At that moment, the alpha let out a shriek.
“Kiiaaaaaaah!”
Finally letting out the cry of a creature rather than human, the alpha’s head plummeted downward.
Baek Rak indifferently stabbed his sword into the head that had fallen before his eyes. Then the sword that had been stuck there was pushed out by the other sword and fell to the ground. Before long, the alpha’s head was skewered on the sword Baek Rak was holding like a kebab.
Baek Rak stared at the alpha that kept screaming, then chuckled and said.
“The stupid one is you.”
“You damn bas… ggh!”
“To show an opening so quickly just because darkness was approaching. Have you never met an opponent stronger than yourself?”
“Grgh, ggh!”
It seemed like its vocal cords had fallen off along with the flesh dropping from its neck. Looking at the creature that could only make ggh, kgh sounds without being able to make proper noise, Baek Rak continued.
“That’s probably why you’ve survived until now.”
“Kgh, grgh…”
Baek Rak stared into the alpha’s eyes that had turned bright red.
“Your human act ends here.”
Then he lifted the head into the air and swung his sword. The chunks that were chopped into small pieces dripped blood as they crashed to the ground. It was no longer recognizable as an alpha.
Baek Rak let out a long breath and picked up his sword that had fallen to the ground.
He saw pupils moving in the rolling red eyeball, but didn’t pay much attention to it. He had seen creatures move reflexively even after being beheaded more than once or twice.
Rather, darkness had already approached too close, so avoiding it was the priority.
Baek Rak checked the scattered pieces of the alpha’s flesh and turned around without regret to run away. As he ran while shaking off the blood on his sword, the alpha’s red eyes continued watching his retreating figure, but no one knew this.
The eyeball that rolled once more was soon swallowed by darkness and began emitting a redder light.
***
Baek Rak, who had run to where Seo Won was, lightly nodded to him looking his way. At the silent signal that it was handled, Seo Won could finally feel some relief.
“Let’s go to a safe place first.”
The child was unconsciously nestled in Seo Won’s arms, perhaps having collapsed from exhaustion after crying. The water droplets that had been swirling around and the wildly flowing energy were no longer visible.
Baek Rak took off his jacket and wrapped it around Seo Won’s body, then carried both of them as they moved.
Baek Rak, who knew all the safe zones throughout Seoul, headed for a nearby underground bunker. It was better to go somewhere that could block some noise rather than a poorly hidden place.
Baek Rak and Seo Won, who arrived at the underground bunker before darkness completely arrived, collapsed to the floor as soon as they closed the door.
Baek Rak had expended a lot of energy dealing with the alpha and creatures, and Seo Won’s tension had released at the thought of arriving somewhere safe.
Seo Won let out a long breath while holding the child. How much time had passed like that?
Belatedly remembering Baek Rak’s injury, he stared at him intently. The sight of him leaning against the wall rubbing his shoulder… was that where he was hurt?
Seo Won asked Baek Rak, whose shoulder looked uncomfortable.
“Is your shoulder okay?”
“It’ll get better with a little rest.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
