Chapter 26

The tide of battle shifted in an instant.

The evenly matched fight had begun to tilt, little by little, in Intae’s favor.

Saak!

The sword, which had closed to point-blank range before he knew it, grazed past his collar.

Siyoon drove power into his legs and moved faster.

‘Damn it.’

The bastard’s sword was far more powerful and threatening than before.

Meeting it head-on was a losing strategy.

“How long do you plan on just dodging!”

At that moment, Intae’s sword accelerated.

A speed that, for a brief instant, exceeded perception.

Driven by a sinister premonition, Siyoon immediately pulled his body back.

Seogeok.

The tip of the blade sliced cleanly across Siyoon’s thigh.

His brow furrowed at the sharp pain.

‘And this is despite reacting immediately.’

Siyoon had been reading Intae’s body rather than his sword to react to attacks.

The angle of his arm, the direction of his gaze, the tilt of his torso.

It was only possible through the heightened senses and observational acuity sharpened by Enhancement.

But the fact remained that he was being driven into a corner.

Kkaduk.

Siyoon splashed potion haphazardly over the wound.

Facing off with an injured leg was even more disadvantageous.

Seeing this, Intae accelerated his assault.

Intae’s sword surged forward once more, his body lowered close to the ground.

But this time, it was clearly within his field of vision.

Siyoon deflected the strike with his sniper rifle.

Jjeong!

‘The barrel’s going to break at this rate.’

A sniper rifle was not a weapon suited for swinging.

Even with its durability enhanced, that fact remained unchanged.

‘Still, there was something to gain.’

He hadn’t strained his precious rifle for nothing.

There was a reason he had endured all this time.

To analyze Intae.

And he had learned.

Intae’s attack patterns fell into two categories.

‘His agility and movement speed are generally consistent. But his attacks are different.’

Intae’s attacks were fast and sharp.

But not to the point where Siyoon couldn’t see and respond to them.

However, very occasionally.

The attack speed would spike abnormally.

The reason was clear.

‘It’s a combat-type skill.’

Considering that Intae was also a hunter, it wasn’t surprising.

High-rank Hunters possessed multiple skills.

Siyoon reasoned calmly.

Two Skills confirmed so far.

And Intae was stronger than the assassins.

Kkaang!

Siyoon deflected the sword strike to the side and looked at Intae.

Intae wore the expression of a man certain of his victory.

The weapon remaining to Siyoon was the sniper rifle—he had discarded the dagger earlier.

That said, it wasn’t as if close combat was out of the question.

Intae’s gaze remained locked on Siyoon’s body.

‘He’s planning to cut me down the moment I attempt close combat.’

For all his aggressiveness, the bastard wasn’t stupid.

‘I can’t hold out for long.’

Too much time had already been wasted.

Especially considering the disadvantage in battle and the possibility of reinforcements.

But he hadn’t been standing idle without a plan.

He had analyzed the bastard’s combat patterns to a degree.

Enough to form a concrete picture in his mind.

Now all that remained was to execute the strategy.

Seupat!

At that moment, Intae’s sword grazed his arm.

Blood streamed down from the sliced flesh of his forearm.

“Die!!”

Intae shouted as he thrust his sword forward.

It was still a relentless flurry of strikes.

‘I can’t afford to fail. I’m going all in.’

The chance to risk danger and bait his guard down would come at most once.

He had to settle it in that single opening.

Siyoon hurled his body to the side, simultaneously firing at Intae’s head.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Unsurprisingly, Intae deflected it.

The speed of the counter was almost unbelievable.

But thanks to that, he managed to buy a brief moment.

In that window, Siyoon closed the distance to Intae significantly.

“You think the same trick will work twice!”

He planted his stance and launched a punch.

Intae sneered at the familiar attack.

Not only had he already read and predicted Siyoon’s movements, but he had been bracing for close combat anyway.

Huung.

Naturally, Siyoon’s punch missed.

But he couldn’t have known.

That even this was part of the plan.

Hwik.

As the attack missed, Siyoon smoothly opened his fist.

Intae tensed at the sight.

Even a cornered rat will bite—or so the saying went.

No amount of caution could be too much.

“…?”

But the next moment, Intae doubted his own eyes.

What Siyoon held in his hand was a stone.

A plain, ordinary stone with no abilities or effects whatsoever.

‘That’s what anyone would think.’

But for Siyoon, it was different.

Seizing on his moment of bewilderment, Siyoon rapidly used Enhancement.

[ Using ‘Skill: Enhancement’ to enhance ‘Stone’. ]

[ Enhancement successful. ]

[ Using ‘Skill: Enhancement’ to… ]

This was the strategy built around Siyoon’s Skill—Enhancement.

The Enhancement Skill could strengthen a designated target.

Regardless of what that target might be.

And finally.

Ttiring!

[ Enhancement failed. ]

After rapid, repeated enhancements, failure arrived.

The moment the enhancement failed, an ominous energy surged through the air.

“What are you—!”

Sensing this, Intae recoiled in horror and tried to retreat.

But it was already too late.

Siyoon had planned this from the very moment he engaged.

Kwaaaang!

Ultimately, a powerful explosion erupted right in front of Intae.

“Kuaaaagh!!”

An agonized scream tore through the air.

Having taken the explosion dead center, it was only natural.

Indeed, his skin was scorched an angry red from the burns.

Siyoon was far from unscathed himself.

“Ugh…”

It hurt.

Even with the potion’s painkilling effect still circulating, it hurt.

The blast had torn away the flesh of his hand to the point where bone was visible.

Even so, it was bearable.

No—he had to endure it.

If he didn’t finish Intae now, he would be the one to die.

Kwajik!

Siyoon downed a potion.

And clenched his slowly healing hand.

Blood still seeped from the wounds that hadn’t yet closed.

But it didn’t matter.

Only one thing mattered now.

Kung.

Siyoon stomped his foot hard against the ground.

At the sound, Intae’s gaze snapped toward him.

“Kuh…! You bastard!”

Despite taking the explosion head-on, the bastard hadn’t released his sword.

But his posture had become unsteady.

In that condition, even a skill wouldn’t deliver its full power.

It was an opportunity Siyoon couldn’t afford to miss.

Udeuk.

“Keok!”

Siyoon’s fist buried into his right flank.

Simultaneously, he knocked the sword-wielding wrist away with the back of his hand.

‘A sword is a powerful weapon. But at point-blank range, there’s no room to swing it.’

Close the distance, and the space to swing a blade vanishes.

And this range was Siyoon’s domain.

‘I can see exactly how and where to strike.’

The Close Combat Technique he had recently acquired.

Counters and attack patterns flowed through his mind like water.

And Enhancement could amplify the destructive force of his techniques.

Ppadeudeuk.

“Kullok!”

Blood poured from the bastard’s mouth after the direct blow to his gut.

Evidence of internal damage.

Whatever posture he had left collapsed entirely from that strike.

Siyoon seized the opening without hesitation and drove his fist into the man’s jaw.

Udeudeudeuk.

Bones cracked as his head was wrenched completely backward.

Intae, who had barely been standing, crumpled to the ground.

“…Dead.”

Siyoon stared down at Intae, who didn’t so much as twitch.

After confirming that he was no longer breathing, he raised his sniper rifle.

To confirm the kill.

Peogak.

He pulled the trigger, and Intae’s head burst apart.

Only then could Siyoon breathe a sigh of relief.

It had been exceedingly difficult, but his final gambit had proven to be the decisive blow.

“Now all that’s left is to get out of here.”

Siyoon turned his back on Intae’s fallen corpse.

And vanished beyond the smoke that was beginning to clear.

In the end, Siyoon had succeeded in killing Min Seolah.

The moment the cursed bond that had tormented him for weeks was finally severed.