Chapter 28: White Flame Sword Dancer

I squinted my barely opening eyes to survey the situation around me.

I was collapsed in the back, and Si-woo was also unconscious. Did he pass out during that panic state earlier?

Looking at this mess, it seems impossible to win against that.

"Why the hell hasn't backup arrived yet?"

"You idiots. Sure, Jin-seok might be different, but he's away on an overseas assignment right now. And around the Academy, my subordinates and I set up a new barrier so it looks fine from the outside."

So he even had subordinates?

Well, there were many Hunters who got sidelined at the Association for siding with Kim Jae-soo because of Jin-seok. There were probably quite a few who wanted revenge.

If he turned them into Mutants, it's not unreasonable they'd follow him.

"What? Then we..."

"You annoying little shits. It means there's no backup coming for you, you idiots."

I can't listen to this anymore.

Reina and Soo-ji seem pretty hurt too, and seeing how Demonic Power is flowing through the whole Academy, this is basically a field for Mutants. This isn't a fight we can drag out.

First I decided to absorb the Demonic Power.

When I waved my hand through the Demonic Power, that black smoke visible to the eye was absorbed into my palm.

Just this will make it easier for the remaining Hunters to fight the Mutants.

"Huh? The Demonic Power..."

"What the hell is happening... Eun-ha?"

"Kim Jae-soo. Thanks to you, I undid the seal. I should thank you for that."

He claims he repeated hundreds of times, but if that bastard hadn't brought an SS-Class Core, I would've been stuck as just Stimpak Eun-ha.

"W-what did you say?"

"Anyway, I'll be your opponent now."

Since it's kind of awkward to put the injured kids up front.

"What's with those golden eyes? Your pupils look like a snake's."

"Snake is right, but call me a dragon, you dumbass."

Who does he think he is.

"What the hell, you look just like Azhi Dahaka."

Sure, in the monster guide Azhi Dahaka's eyes are similar to golden snake eyes.

"Eun-ha. You..."

Soo-ji and Reina stared at me with shocked eyes.

My current appearance must look pretty strange. But now's not the time for girl talk.

"Reina. Take Si-woo to the infirmary. Senior has potions so go get treatment. Soo-ji, you help take out the monsters and Mutants attacking from the north."

"What about... you?"

"I'll handle this trash."

He doesn't even look that strong so I boldly pointed at him.

"Trash?! You arrogant bitch!"

Not even giving time for Reina and Soo-ji to escape. Seems this bastard doesn't know about ladies first.

*Swoosh-WHAM!*

When he kicked from the side, I grabbed his leg and threw him.

His speed is pretty fast, but weak compared to me.

Then suddenly I noticed the black spear in his hand.

"Hooh. A spear made from Demon Dragon scales?"

Looks like a pretty powerful spear. The hardness should be similar to the Flame of Purification Spear.

Kim Jae-soo passed the Flame of Purification to his student and seems to be trying to cover with skill but...

"If you thought becoming a Mutant would amount to anything, you're dead wrong!"

Oh? Coming at me again?

"Works for me though?"

*CRACK!*

I easily caught and broke the Demon Dragon spear as it stabbed at me.

Did he think a spear made from the scales of a being far inferior to an Evil Dragon could pierce me?

If anything, for dragon-type weapons, I have an overwhelming advantage in compatibility.

Since I'm feeling relaxed, I want to mess with him a bit.

According to the original setting, and my memory, Kim Jae-soo's parents were eaten by me while I was doing a nun-concept massacre when they went on a family trip to China.

Ah, right, as in cannibalism.

"Come to think of it, your parents died to me right? Did I eat them?"

"What?"

I did do some cannibalism back then.

I ate his parents who were protecting young Kim Jae-soo.

Especially when I ate them after making them let their guard down while looking like a nun, it was fucking delicious. Ah, this isn't the time for that.

"I'm Azhi Dahaka."

"You... really!"

"Your parents were tasty as fuck."

When I flicked my snake-like forked tongue with an ecstatic expression, blood vessels popped in Kim Jae-soo's eyes.

"You fucking bitch!"

"Feel the Evil Dragon's Breath."

Even in the days I lived as a human, I could use Breath.

So I decided to use it now.

The Breath I use is white flame that burns everything in the world. White Flame.

I opened my mouth and shot the Breath straight at Kim Jae-soo who was charging mindlessly from the front in a way that made it hard to believe he had a human brain.

*RUMBLE*

With one super powerful shot, I heated up our Kim Jae-soo's upper body nicely.

"Oh my, I thought he'd endure it, but his upper body just flew right off."

"Y-you monster."

"Sorry, I tried to burn you in one go, but it's been a while so I couldn't aim for the head. Well, that still won't die until the target burns completely anyway."

My Breath has an effect beyond white phosphorus.

The fire won't go out until the living being burns completely. The victim has to watch as their flesh turns to ash bit by bit.

That's Kim Jae-soo right now too.

It's not just burning to death. That pain is indescribable. With his upper right body gone except the face, the attached flames gradually turned his body to ash.

"KYAAAAAAH!"

Not long after, I cut off the neck of the bastard who was screaming.

First I need to cut off the mastermind's head so the Association will know and handle it later.

Letting them know there were traitors inside the Association is one way.

"Eun-ha?"

"What about Si-woo?"

"Like I said, Reina took him to the infirmary."

"Let's deal with the remaining Mutants too. We need to save as many of the remaining Hunters as we can."

We need to save at least some for the future decisive battle with China who will have Greed.

The Academy main building itself was being protected by Yoo-jeong's Golems.

Thanks to that, the students training at the Academy and those in the dorms seem to have survived.

But dealing with Kim Jae-soo doesn't end all the problems.

The Academy main building where Reina went was gradually being surrounded by monsters.

"There's quite a lot of Mutants and monsters."

The monsters and Mutants attacking the Academy are being blocked by the Golems, but they could break through quickly using the windows.

But it's not like we have an army of Golems either.

I wrapped White Flame around the sword in my hand.

"I'll fight too!"

Soo-ji drew her spear.

"No. What I said earlier was just talk. You're exhausted from fighting Kim Jae-soo."

He was still her Master once. She fought someone like that, and saw him die, so it must be hard to fight in that condition.

Anyway, taking out these mere monsters isn't difficult.

When I swung my sword, the White Flame coating it spread out in a fan shape and started burning the monsters.

"KIEEEK!"

"KUAAAH!"

In an instant. Like purifying the world.

The white flames that once burned people were now killing monsters to save students.

"We're saved! We're saved!"

"Hurray for Yoo Eun-ha!"

Students could be seen clapping and cheering from the Academy windows.

If I had Firebat, it wouldn't have gotten this bad at least.

Surely the Mutants were Kim Jae-soo's subordinates. The monsters... seem to have gotten support from the Black God Church.

There are some among the Black God Church executives who can summon monsters. In cities, barriers prevent easy use.

Especially here in the capital region. Kim Jae-soo must have undone the barriers to enable this raid.

"Eun-ha. Look over there!"

Where Soo-ji pointed. Right at the Academy back door was a Gate.

An artificially created Gate.

In front of it were scattered corpses of Hunters, monsters, and Mutants.

Behind them were Hunters who seemed to be from Guilds or the Association.

They were already holding weapons ready to enter the Academy when they stared blankly at the White Flame sweeping away the monsters at the Academy main building.

And so Kim Jae-soo's raid event ended.

However, the damage was severe.

The Association's D to F-Class Hunters were practically wiped out.

The Guilds that urgently dispatched reinforcements also had to lose Hunters.

In this world where causality was adjusted, there was tremendous Hunter casualties that shouldn't have existed originally.

* * *

Korean Hunter Association

On the day of Kim Jae-soo's betrayal and the raid on Hanseong Academy.

Association President Choi Cheol-sik and Vice President Jeong Na-yoon were dying inside.

The Hunter casualties were just too massive.

"The dead Hunters exceed 300. It seems we can no longer use the Hunter Force."

Hunter Force.

The right for the Association to use their Hunters in national crises like monster outbreaks or wars without government approval.

Quite a lot of Hunters were casualties in this Hanseong Academy raid. Not only do they lack the forces to use Hunter Force, but they also failed to detect Kim Jae-soo's betrayal beforehand, and monsters and Mutants even openly invaded the city.

"What about the Guilds..."

"The Rose Guild urgently dispatched 10 D-Class Hunters who died or were injured. Also Steel Guild Vice President Choi Jun-oh is in intensive care at Hunter Central Hospital after taking a hit from Kim Jae-soo. He probably won't be able to work as a Hunter again."

Not just the Association but Guild Hunters too... And Choi Jun-oh was quite a famous figure even among A-Class.

The damage is just too massive. Who would've thought that guy who once completed the Pyongyang Escape with Jin-seok would so openly betray humanity like this.

"Who was it that killed Kim Jae-soo this time?"

"Jin-seok's sister Yoo Eun-ha. Here, take a look at this."

Na-yoon played a video file sent by Hanseong Academy 2nd year student Lee Yoo-jeong on the laptop.

On the monitor, Eun-ha was one-sidedly beating down S-Class villain Kim Jae-soo who had struggled against Divine Sword, Spirit Arrow, and Flame of Purification Spear.

"Did she undergo a second awakening or something? What insane power... Forget the White Flame ability for now, she's overwhelming Kim Jae-soo with just physical abilities alone."

Not her main ability, but fundamentals. She subdued Kim Jae-soo enough to shock him with just martial arts, and completely destroyed even the spear made of Demon Dragon scales.

You could call it a miracle.

"Yes. It seems she's ready for actual combat anytime."

"Won't this break the balance in the group battle?"

"Well, this year's students are all amazing anyway."

But still, would there be anyone else besides Eun-ha who could subdue someone who was Jin-seok's comrade in the previous generation?

Probably not. Hanseong's defenselessness was exposed through this incident, so it would be better for the Academy to put Eun-ha forward.

"Jin-seok will be happy."

His sister becoming as strong as him. Actually at that level she's stronger than Jin-seok was as a student.

What do you mean as a student? Even after graduating, it took Jin-seok a long time to get strong.

But if Eun-ha is this strong just as a student, after graduation she might become not just a Hunter but one of the 12 Apostles, an organization made up of the 12 strongest Hunters in the world.

"At this level, shouldn't we give her an alias from the Association?"

"Us?"

"That way it would look like Eun-ha helped us, wouldn't it? Jin-seok is already an Association figure too."

We don't need to forcefully pull in Eun-ha.

Just by the Association giving an alias, it proves there's some connection between Eun-ha and the Association.

"She uses a sword right? And handles white fire..."

"Yes."

"How about White Flame Sword Dancer?"

That White Flame is very similar to what Azhi Dahaka used according to old photos, but since Eun-ha looks so much like a princess it suits her well.

And so Azhi Dahaka was reborn as White Flame Sword Dancer Yoo Eun-ha.

* * *