Chapter 16 – LV.Two Angel Girl Seo Yun – [Two]

Seo Yun hurriedly scanned her surroundings. There was nothing suitable for cover. Then what should she do?

She had to counterattack.

Seo Yun charged forward. She had thrown away the pickaxe, and now she ran while roughly covering only her face and left chest with her hands to avoid instant death.

As she closed the distance, the opponent’s face finally came into view. Above the crossbow, she saw the face of a girl who looked about seventeen. It was unexpected, but it wasn’t immediately important.

Meanwhile, the girl also looked at her. Seeing Seo Yun’s face, the girl seemed flustered for some reason.

“Uh…”

Seo Yun expected the girl to shoot the crossbow right then, but she didn’t.

As the girl lowered the crossbow, Seo Yun raised one eyebrow. Why?

It was an inexplicable action, but she couldn’t let her guard down. She didn’t know if the girl would shoot or not, but she needed to subdue her anyway.

In an instant, Seo Yun reached the girl and drew her sword.

“Wait…”

The girl panicked and stepped back, but Seo Yun was faster. With a swift motion, she reversed her grip on the sword and struck the girl’s shoulder with the cross guard.

“Ah!”

The girl screamed and collapsed. Seo Yun looked down at her face and asked.

“Who are you? Why were you targeting me?”

The girl hastily opened her mouth.

“I wasn’t targeting you!”

Seo Yun glared.

“What else is here besides me?”

The girl stammered incoherently.

“So, I was going to shoot you, but I wasn’t targeting you… I mean, I targeted you by mistake!”

“By mistake, what?”

The girl cried out indignantly.

“I thought you were a soldier! You’re wearing a military uniform!”

Seo Yun asked incredulously.

“Does a soldier with hair this long make any sense?”

“I thought you were a female soldier!”

Seo Yun was about to argue what kind of female soldier would grow her hair down to her thighs, but stopped.

She looked at the poncho she was wearing and thought. This is a military uniform? She probably just saw the frog pattern and made that assumption?

Given that she hadn’t corrected that misunderstanding even up close, the girl still seemed to think this was a military uniform. If she knew this little about soldiers, she probably wouldn’t know about military hair regulations.

And honestly, something even more absurd than that existed.

“Anyway, are you saying you tried to shoot me dead because you thought I was a soldier?”

“Yeah…”

“You shoot soldiers on sight? Why?”

In response to Seo Yun’s question, the girl answered.

“There’s no reason to keep soldiers alive… Anyway, I realized you weren’t a soldier after seeing your face! I figured it out because you’re young. So I didn’t shoot in the end, right?”

Seo Yun frowned and said.

“Since you didn’t shoot, I also used the back of my sword. If you had really shot, I would have stabbed your shoulder right away.”

The girl laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, thanks for being considerate. So now… won’t you put the sword down? You’re holding the blade right now, so your hand must hurt…”

“How would I know you won’t shoot if I do?”

At Seo Yun’s words, the girl placed the crossbow on the ground. She nudged it toward Seo Yun with her foot and said.

“Here, I put it down. Okay? You can have that…”

Now the girl was completely disarmed, but Seo Yun didn’t lower her sword immediately.

She had many questions. What kind of madness is it to shoot soldiers on sight? Or was she just making excuses because she got scared when I charged and couldn’t shoot?

She was still pointing the reversed sword at the girl to interrogate her further.

From over there, heavy footsteps sounded loudly. Along with them, a shout echoed.

“Sto-op!”

Turning her head toward the sound, Seo Yun’s eyes widened once more.

Someone armored was shouting and running toward them. Wearing a helm, their face wasn’t visible, but judging by the voice, it seemed to be a man.

Given the situation, was he the girl’s backup?

Seo Yun’s Agility Stat was 7, a fairly high level, but the speed at which that man was running was bizarrely fast, enough to surpass that stat. Running away seemed difficult. Seo Yun prepared to fight the man.

Seo Yun glared at the girl, then stomped on the crossbow, breaking the loaded arrow.

Holding the sword reversed, she turned her body toward the man.

And the gaze of the man running toward her went to the sword in Seo Yun’s hand.

The man seemed to notice that Seo Yun was holding the sword reversed. Seeing that he also held his sword reversed.

Finally, both holding their swords reversed, they swung at each other.

The hilts of both swords collided in midair. Not a ‘clang’ but a ‘thud’ echoed.

From that single collision, Seo Yun could tell the outcome of this fight.

She groaned inwardly. Ah, I can’t win this.

Even though she was wearing leather gloves, her hand tingled from the collision. She had clashed with opponents stronger than her quite a few times, but this was a first.

Probably, the opponent’s Strength Stat was around 8.

It was the peak human strength. The kind of strength only an Olympic gold medalist weightlifter or Arnold Schwarzenegger could muster.

And that little guy could produce that? Judging by the man’s build, it didn’t seem possible at all. Was his Level high, or was he benefiting from some item effect?

Whichever it was, it was definitely not a force her small frame could withstand.

Sure enough, as the man’s sword swept through the air, the sound of cutting wind was painfully loud.

And Seo Yun barely managed to deflect that overwhelming force. Then she swung her sword back in retaliation.

Seo Yun’s cross guard struck the man’s fingers. A groan escaped from inside the man’s helm.

“Ugh…”

The man’s hand was protected by sturdy iron gauntlets, but that strike had the force of a hammer blow. The strength left the man’s hand.

Seo Yun didn’t miss that moment. She hooked the opponent’s cross guard with her own and pulled the sword.

Clang! The man’s sword slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Seo Yun kicked the sword lying on the ground, sending it far away.

“This…”

The panicked man charged bare-handed. Seo Yun swung her sword from below.

Thwack! The pommel struck the man’s chin, and he staggered.

Seo Yun followed up with another attack. She thrust the sword between the man’s legs, rotated it half a turn, and pulled. Seo Yun’s cross guard hooked behind both of the man’s knees.The man finally toppled forward.

Seo Yun was about to bring her sword down on the back of the fallen man.

A last desperate struggle? The man, still in his prone position, wildly flailed his hand.

And then, uh…

That hand grabbed Seo Yun’s sword hilt. Seo Yun tried to pull the sword from the man’s grasp, but she couldn’t. The difference in Strength was glaring.

In the midst of this, Seo Yun, the Priest, wasn’t even wearing a secondary weapon on her belt. It was a bewildering situation.

Had she just knocked that bastard’s sword to the ground and kicked it far away? Seo Yun glanced over and saw the girl had already picked it up. Damn it.

As she was forced to continue a hopeless contest of strength, the man clumsily pushed himself up. And as he did, he suddenly yanked the hand holding her sword hilt.

Unable to withstand that brute force, Seo Yun was pushed backward. She finally lost her footing and fell, landing hard on her backside.

Seo Yun raised her head and gritted her teeth. The man, now fully upright, was looking down at her.

It was unfair, but the match was over. With her defeat.

The man looked at the girl and asked,

“What should we do?”

Hearing that bleak voice, Seo Yun braced herself for what would happen next.

‘He probably can’t show a favorable reaction to another woman in front of the girl he’s traveling with, right?’

There wasn’t a shred of goodwill in the man’s voice. And when a man and woman travel together, the man tends to react overly sensitively. Seo Yun was thinking that if the word ‘kill’ fell from the girl’s lips, the man might immediately act on it.

The girl answered.

“Do what? Let her go.”

“Didn’t this bitch just attack you?”

Surprisingly, the girl answered honestly.

“No? I attacked first.”

“Why?”

“I thought she was a soldier. But up close, she wasn’t.”

“Right. That aside… You’re not hurt?”

“I’m not hurt. She was hitting me with the sword held backward. I’m not gonna whine about that, so let her go.”

It seemed her claim of attacking thinking she was a soldier wasn’t a lie. Seo Yun finally began to relax.

The man strode over. Not knowing what he intended to do, Seo Yun could only blink as the man opened her backpack.

And as the man rummaged through the backpack’s contents, Seo Yun asked,

“What are you doing?”

The man answered in a disinterested voice.

“Collecting spoils. Why?”

It took Seo Yun a beat to understand his words.

“You’re robbing me right now?”

“Yeah.”

“But she just said to let me go…?”

“Letting you go and collecting spoils are separate things. Got a problem?”

Seo Yun glanced at the girl. The girl met her gaze with a slight smile and looked away. It seemed the girl, too, had no intention of stopping him.

The man muttered sharply.

“Be thankful we’re letting you go nicely.”

Seo Yun sighed.

“Fucking grateful.”

The man finally pulled out the ‘spoils’ from Seo Yun’s backpack. It was the ten days’ worth of Provisions Seong Juri had entrusted to her. As the man stuffed the said spoils into his own backpack, the girl said with a laugh,

“It’s okay. Even if we take this, you won’t starve to death!”

The girl pointed in the direction Seo Yun had come from and continued.

“In that direction, there’s a place called Happy Village, right? I’ve wandered around a lot, so I know—it’s the most prosperous village in Vannes. I hear they give travelers a few potatoes for free, so go ask them for some Provisions!”

With those final words, the girl waved with a smile, picked up the crossbow with the broken arrow, and left with the man.

Left alone, Seo Yun finally got up. A curse escaped her lips.

“Fuck…”

She trembled with frustration. It was hard to accept the defeat just now.

I lost? To a piece of shit like that who only has Strength? In Seo Yun’s estimation, the man’s swordsmanship wasn’t even as good as Park Taeyang’s.

If he hadn’t been wearing Armor, or if his Strength had been just a little weaker…

And the next moment, Seo Yun realized it wasn’t the time to dwell on the defeat.

Recalling the fact that her Provisions had been stolen, Seo Yun muttered.

I’m fucked.

The Provisions themselves aren’t particularly valuable. Losing the entire ten days’ worth she’d packed for training was regrettable, but she knew the village had a surplus. They wouldn’t harass a valuable Hearth Priest just for wasting a bit of Provisions.

The problem was the situation of having to return the training Provisions after completing the training.

If Seong Juri were questioned then about why there were no Provisions? Seong Juri would become the legendary bitch who threw away Provisions because the march was too hard.

Even if Seo Yun confessed she lost them, it wouldn’t be much better. In that case, Seong Juri would be exposed for entrusting her belongings to someone else and be shamed.

It was terrifying just to imagine.

She had to get them back. Absolutely.