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Join the ServerChewing on the blood, Beom Yeonhu lowered his voice from deep in his throat.
“
Bang— Kwa-kwang—!
An endlessly vast mountain of stone shot up. Despite the sizzling heat, the rocky peaks stood firm like coral reefs, as unyielding as Beom Yeonhu himself had been all along.
Within the storm of flames, Beom Yeonhu heard a faint voice.
“Then watch closely.”
The cool skin slipped from Beom Yeonhu’s grasp. The figure that straightened its hunched back seemed enormous, unlike when it had been in his embrace.
“A person should live as they please. But just promise me one thing.”
Those strange, exquisite water-colored eyes seemed unreachable to Beom Yeonhu. He realized their vessels were different. Yet he still wanted to match them.
To expand his own vessel.
“When we get out, you’re getting a leash and going to the hospital first, puppy hyung?”
The gently curved water-colored eyes snapped back. Fixing his gaze on the receding back, Beom Yeonhu also rose to his feet. He wiped away the blood, planted his feet on the ground, and steadied his breath.
Now it was his turn to repay. It was time to move forward together. This was the perfect moment to scrape away the old.
“So I’m sorry, Miss ‘Vine.’ It seems I’m not the person you were looking for.”
[The demon of ‘Lemegeton’, ‘Vine’, strokes his beard and silently watches you.]
His life as a Hunter would probably end here. The limit Beom Yeonhu had guessed for himself was this very moment.
“
Dokyeom’s figure, leaping off the solid reef that had risen from the ground, was engraved in Beom Yeonhu’s pupils. The witch’s scream tore through the air, and a form too fast to track hurtled toward Dokyeom with ferocious momentum.
It was the witch’s arm—unnaturally long and slender.
As soon as he sensed the direction of the arm flying like a whip, Beom Yeonhu raised another reef with his skill. Blood sloshed in his mouth.
Kwakwakwakwang—!
With a single gesture from the witch, everything crumbled into nothing. Beom Yeonhu spat blood and breathed harshly.
He had to build something stronger. Something solid and durable that wouldn’t break.
His body, already signaling its limits, boiled as if it had swallowed lava. Stabilized energy clashed randomly, blood reversed throughout his veins, bulging hideously. His heart pounded as if it would leap out of his mouth.
Yet Beom Yeonhu couldn’t stop. Even the letters dyeing his vision white spurred him on.
[Your ‘Fame’ rises greatly!]
“…Not me… to Hunter Han Dokyeom…”
Please.
Before he could even finish the words, Beom Yeonhu gasped. He saw Dokyeom’s back in the distance, a mere dot.
As Dokyeom collided with the witch amid a roar, the heat flared painfully over his body. Beom Yeonhu bit his tongue and squeezed out his remaining strength.
‘
He wished for a single foothold—a place for Dokyeom to step and move. Under the blazing ground, a single solid reef shot up like a nail.
It was smaller and humbler than ever—a tiny spur of rock.
More.
Looking at that small rock spur, Beom Yeonhu whipped himself. Just a little. Once more.
Cracks began to form in the ground around the protruding spur. It was feeble. So weak that it seemed nothing could come of it, a spur that would crumble if stepped on.
But when the cracks multiplied to dozens, then hundreds—it was no longer a pitiful spur.
Something immense existed beneath the ground. As if drawing out that latent force, the ground, walls, and ceiling shook violently, trembling. It felt as if the world was quaking.
Everyone witnessing the scene stared in awe, unable to blink. A once-in-a-lifetime moment unfolded inexorably.
It was just before something unimaginably huge revealed itself to the world.
[The demon of ‘Lemegeton’, ‘Vine’, smiles at you.]
Beom Yeonhu saw his constellation smiling at him. He heard its voice pressing into his ears.
[The demon of ‘Lemegeton’, ‘Vine’, opens his words.]
『Opening of Words』
【What are you so worried about?】
It was a voice that laughed openly. When countless years brushed heavily against his chest, Beom Yeonhu’s vision darkened completely. Swish—the sound of wind came from somewhere, lingering in his ears.
It was the sound of the sea. The splashing of waves against rocks hinted at the hardness of stone. Unfathomable solemnity, grandeur, and solidity.
Beom Yeonhu felt those things in the pitch-black darkness. And when he realized that the hardness of that surface was himself, he heard the old man’s voice again.
【Greatness late in bloom is a process of steadfastness by nature. As I was.】
[Your ‘Constellation Skill’ enters preparation for blooming.]
A burning heat slammed into his entire body like a scorching fire. Blood raged. All his energy collided as if exploding, devouring and tearing at each other, ravaging Beom Yeonhu’s body.
Did he scream? Did he grit his teeth and endure?
When that excruciating pain finally pierced through something stubbornly blocked and scraped away all the rot, a faint figure like smoke coalesced tightly, giving birth to letters.
The moment he read those letters, for some reason, everything made sense. Every moment he had endured was explained and empathized.
Soon, everything he felt began to recede. The wind that brushed against him, the sea that held the mountains and splashed spray—all gradually pushed Beom Yeonhu away.
And when he saw the light that filled his vision endlessly, Beom Yeonhu returned to that moment when everything had gone black, trembling.
[Your ‘Constellation Skill’
These letters, bright before his eyes, firmly guided him. What he must do, and the path forward. Also the path of this very moment that he must now show.
That small rock spur. He thought he could do it now. Looking at the protruding spur at the center of hundreds of cracks, Beom Yeonhu wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand and muttered lowly.
“
An unprecedented result derived from that single word.
***
The air changed subtly. Feeling the ground shake as if having a seizure, Dokyeom turned his head to find the epicenter. This sensation of the world rumbling. The sign of something happening sent a chill down his spine.
[Your ‘Fame’ is rising!]
Not yet, not yet.
Melted ice from the ceiling had pooled, creating puddles around. Over a dozen shallow puddles, flames large and small rose as if oil had been ignited.
But now those flames were shaking violently, as if blown by the wind. No, it was the ground shaking. Dokyeom landed on a nearby rock pillar and surveyed the situation. The vibrations thumping under his feet told him something was approaching.
After a moment of looking around, his eyes caught a small rock spur jutting out from the ground.
Dozens, hundreds of cracks spreading around that fist-sized spur engulfed the ground like ripples.
His gaze was stolen by the sight. It was just a small rock spur. Merely an incomplete shape.
Yet seeing it, Dokyeom felt an unknown, bitter endurance. Something enormous was about to raise its head.
In that instant, amid a tearing explosion, Dokyeom saw the witch’s thorn-like fingertips cutting through the air.
“You persist to the end…!”
It was too late to dodge. Gritting his molars, he crossed his arms and took a defensive stance as firmly as possible.
But just before the witch’s charred fingertips touched Dokyeom, the world changed.
With a tremendous roar.
Kwakwakwakwang—!
A suffocating pressure sealed his breath and squeezed his lungs, swallowing the moment. Mist covered his vision. The smell of the sea came from somewhere. The shape seen through the mist was faint.
Only rock.
But its size was unimaginably huge. Feeling the silence thick in the air, Dokyeom slowly lowered his arms. His gaze gradually went down. To where the fist-sized rock spur had been.
Shooo—
The water that had shot into the air finally poured down. The mist also cleared. When everything became perfectly clear, Dokyeom was stunned by the sight before him. He couldn’t help it.
In the drizzle, the majestic rock. A giant reef, mossy as if it had emerged from the sea, revealed its immense body, rising beyond what could be taken in at a glance. It was a mountain of stone. A sea mountain that had been submerged.
That small rock spur. As he climbed to its end, he saw the witch’s pierced body.
Impaled through the belly and pinned to the wall, the witch stared with bulging eyes and spat blood foam.
Soon, a terrible scream that shook the world swept across the area.
Kyaaaaaaa—
Only then could he finally breathe. Dokyeom quickly shifted his gaze to check behind him. Amid the piles of risen rocks, brilliant golden eyes flickered. It was Beom Yeonhu.
Something had changed. The eyes raised like a fierce dog, the steps that came out wiping away the blood that gushed up—it was too different from before.
‘Do, Dokyeom-ah.’
Beom Yeonhu whispered. Only after hearing that did Dokyeom let out a sigh and laugh. An inexplicable laughter surged from deep in his lungs.
The excitement doesn't stop here! If you enjoyed this, you’ll adore The Moon Reflected In The Water. Start reading now!
Read : The Moon Reflected In The Water
