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Join the ServerDrones shot up at an angle, and all the magic manipulation types grounded on the earth poured forth their respective elements. The physical enhancement types braced for any unexpected attack. Making up the majority, their expressions were darker than when they had first started.
With the enemy high in the sky, the only means of direct attack were elemental strikes or charging assaults via drones. Clearing their minds of useless thoughts, they focused intently on guarding the magic manipulation types.
KABOOM! Rumble!
All manner of elements raged beneath the dark storm clouds. The white dragon flying in a straight line took every single attack head-on, without even the slightest intention of dodging.
Fire and water clashed to create a massive cloud of steam, through which lightning seeped to conjure an explosive storm of sparks.
Lee Hyun-su grimaced.
Drip.
Blood trickled from his nose. With all his might, he pressed down the gravity around the area where the dragon was flying.
‘It’s heavy.’
To think that the one exerting the pressure would be the one feeling weighed down.
He didn’t even have time to dwell on how strange it was.
The wind swept the steam away, revealing the dragon.
The overwhelming, colossal white body was nowhere to be seen, and in its place, a pale silver-haired man hovered in midair, looking down at the Hunters.
Everyone recognized his identity.
There was no way they couldn’t.
Groans escaped from the Hunters’ lips. They were far more terrified by the fact that he was completely unharmed than by the dragon suddenly turning into a human.
Among the combatants gathered here, there were ten S-ranks alone, while the rest were mid to high A-ranks. Of course, the magic manipulation types accounted for only around ten percent, but even considering that, it was enough firepower to reduce a small city to a sea of fire in an instant.
Yet he remained completely unscathed after taking all of that?
A sprout of despair took root in someone’s mind.
The rapidly growing vines snaked through the Hunters, spreading despair like a contagion.
Just as everyone was losing their will to fight, a single ice blade manifested in midair.
The sharp blade, the size of two fingers placed side by side, slowly began to multiply. From ten to dozens, and then into hundreds.
Countless ice blades aligned themselves like a wall.
The pale, handsome man’s expression shifted. For the first time, he smiled as if genuinely intrigued.
Roar!
Faintly glowing ice blades surged forward like bullets. Imbued with magic, each blade produced the same lethal effect as firearms against magical creatures impervious to conventional weaponry.
The man did not move.
Hovering in the air, he did not budge an inch.
Shadows appeared before him. Six shadows unfurled a massive barrier.
Shimmering black like fabric cut from the night itself, the barrier deflected every last incoming ice blade.
Clatter.
Shattered and broken, the ice fragments falling below glowed faintly despite the gloomy weather.
‘Is it my turn now?’
Smiling venomously, the silver-haired man snapped his fingers.
At that, ice blades identical to those created by Sagyeol materialized at an even faster speed. At a glance, they were easily double in scale.
The faltering despair of the Hunters swelled once more, like a dry sponge plunged into water.
The man chuckled.
His slender, pale fingers flicked lightly.
His attack was quieter and sharper than Sagyeol’s.
Only a handful had braced themselves to resist the rapidly descending rain of ice. Most simply stared with their mouths agape, like humans standing helpless before a colossal natural disaster.
Swoosh.
The Void made no sound.
Appearing as though it had existed in that spot from the very beginning, a space of nothingness swallowed all the ice blades.
Kratus’s eyes gleamed with interest, while the Hunters were struck dumb.
The appearance of the colossal black wall that shielded them was reminiscent of Black Mist. Yet unlike the mist that had devoured countless Hunters, this wall saved their lives.
Having accomplished its purpose, the wall vanished without a trace, just as silently as it had appeared.
“There you are.”
Kratus’s gaze settled upon a specific spot on a building.
It was a windowless wall.
His figure shot forward like a streak of lightning.
Sagyeol’s face twisted in alarm.
“Stop him!”
Shattering the wall in a single breath, Kratus landed lightly, stepping over the rubble.
It was a sealed warehouse.
Watching the situation from inside via a surveillance camera connected to a terminal, Yeowon faltered and backed away.
His headset had already been knocked off by the shock of the explosion. As if even such a small device had offered him comfort, Yeowon’s complexion turned far paler than before.
He couldn’t even look straight at Kratus.
The trauma he had struggled so desperately to erase, yet ultimately failed to shed, drove deep into his heart like a wedge.
Crunch.
Leisurely steps trod upon shards of broken glass.
A shadow fell over Yeowon’s head.
Kratus lifted Yeowon’s chin with his fingertips.
“Why are you trembling so much, making me go soft on you?”
“…….”
“Still, seeing that you know what you did wrong makes you quite endearing.”
“Besides, on my way here, I noticed an ice-attribute user carrying your scent, which I quite like as well.”
“A substitute for me, I presume?”
“I’ll spare that fellow as a special favor, thinking of him as something like your comfort doll.”
Was he abnormal for feeling relieved even in this situation, thinking that Sagyeol would survive?
Yeowon sneered at himself.
He struggled with all his might to move.
But like a ship that had lost its rudder, his body refused to obey.
Cold sweat poured down his skin.
There were countless things in this world that could not be achieved through sheer will alone, but this was his own body, of all things.
Shouldn’t this, at least, move according to his will!
Yeowon clenched his teeth so hard his molars ached.
He thought of Sagyeol, who had confronted this monster head-on for his sake.
His head, once impossibly heavy, creaked upward.
At last, he looked Kratus straight in the eyes.
A pale face smiling gently came into view.
Steeling his resolve, he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again.
“I am not going with you.”
“…What?”
“I… I will no longer stay by your side.”
Kratus dug at his ear with a finger.
“Either something’s wrong with my ears—”
Tilting his head, he waved his hand.
BAM!
An ice pillar erupting from the floor slammed into Yeowon’s flank.
Hurled through the air, his body crashed against the wall.
“Gah!”
“—or something’s wrong with you for growing so undisciplined after roaming free for barely a few years.”
Part of the wall crumbled.
Struggling to steady his staggered body, Yeowon coughed lightly.
“I’m inclined to think it’s the latter; what do you think?”
“…….”
As Yeowon’s face turned ghostly pale, Sagyeol, who had arrived late, burst in through the hole Kratus had blasted open.
“Ah, your comfort doll.”
‘No. Don’t come.’
Yeowon’s mind was already a battlefield.
Was it really right to say something like this in a situation like this? Would it only provoke Kratus further?
He thought furiously in the span of a split second, but in the end, he could find no answer.
While he hesitated, Kratus acted.
Stamping his foot without even looking, faint ridges of ice on the floor slithered forward like serpents.
It was a familiar attack.
It was also a move favored by someone Yeowon loved.
Rumble.
Crash!
Sagyeol retaliated with the exact same attack.
An equal number of ice serpents opened their jaws and collided with one another.
CRACK!
As the serpents of mana shattered upon impact, a shockwave erupted.
Flying ice fragments grazed Sagyeol’s shoulder and flank.
Kratus effortlessly shielded himself with a barrier of mana, but Sagyeol was blasted back out through the hole.
Yeowon’s mouth dropped open.
His parted lips made no sound.
Letting out only ragged gasps, he belatedly gritted his teeth and threw himself toward Sagyeol.
“Stop.”
“……!”
The muscles that had been moving frantically froze on the spot.
Kratus gripped Yeowon’s cheek with his fingertips, forcing him to look at him.
“The real thing is right in front of you, so why do you keep looking over there?”
“You’re already in for plenty of punishment—do you enjoy hurting that much?”
“I’m… I am Yeowon.”
Even while trembling violently, Yeowon barely managed to squeeze the words out.
He no longer remembered how many times he had repeated this exact same struggle in the Demon Realm.
The other’s response was always predetermined.
Either ‘Right, Yenis,’ or ‘Yes, you are Aewon Yenis.’
But Kratus’s reaction was different.
Taking his hand off Yeowon’s cheek, he stroked his own chin.
“I’ve thought something was strange for a while now.”
“A sense of dissonance, should I call it?”
“Oddly enough, even though it was your name, it never quite felt like your name.”
“Yeowon—so that was your real name.”
Yeowon regretted it instantly.
He was seized by the terrifying realization that his true name—once protected by a dimensional disparity that could neither be explained nor understood—might be stolen away by a single slip of the tongue.
Whether fortunate or not, Kratus paid no mind to his real name.
“However, as long as I have decided to call you ‘Yenis,’ you are Yenis.”
Yeowon defied him with his eyes alone.
It was a declaration of will that no matter what he called him, that would never be ‘him.’
Kratus scoffed derisively.
“You are Yenis.”
“Yes. I am Yenis.”
Yeowon flinched at the words that had tumbled out without passing through his brain.
A searing heat flared in his chest.
It felt as if alien blood were coursing through his veins.
“No, I am—”
“Yenis.”
“…Yes.”
His mouth had slipped completely from his control.
Yeowon gritted his teeth.
It was the power of the contract of subordination that bound its subject.
In hindsight, Kratus had rarely used that power, except in the beginning when Yeowon had resisted and attempted to escape after learning the true nature of the contract.
That was why he had briefly forgotten.
Just how cruel that monster could be.
A brief taste of freedom had made him soft, making him forget the terrifying extent of what that power could do.
Obeying the master’s orders rather than one’s own will.
The most horrific part of it had not even begun to show.
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, Madam, Please Behave Yourself! is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : Madam, Please Behave Yourself!
