Before long, the confrontation reached its peak.
“Want me to grind you into fish paste?”
Sa Jeil’s eyebrow twitched at the giant’s taunt.
Knowing his personality as I did, that oversized idiot should have been dead already. But perhaps because there were too many people watching, Sa Jeil did not reveal his true nature so easily.
Sa Jeil spoke.
“Follow me. If you want a fight, I’ll give you one.”
“You fucking idiot. Who do you think is scared?”
The giant answered with forced bravado. He seemed to have finally realized who Sa Jeil was.
Still, like the spectators, he clearly did not believe he could possibly lose to that skinny man.
As though no more words were needed, Sa Jeil turned his back on the giant and started walking away.
He did not hesitate for even a second in choosing a direction, as though he knew the area well.
There was still some time before the assessment began.
Unwilling to miss such a major spectacle, a crowd of onlookers started trailing after them.
Sa Jeil suddenly stopped and turned around.
“I’ll kill every last one of you if you follow.”
How bloodthirsty.
It was not an empty threat.
A chilling killing intent seeped into my skin.
What extraordinary talent. Even if the Death Notice Guild had given him every possible advantage, he had only Awakened two days ago...
I turned to Lee Hasol.
“Hey. Let’s go too.”
“Didn’t he say he’d kill anyone who followed? And didn’t you just say we should avoid fights?”
Our Hasol was such a good kid. He actually listened.
Still, I could not miss a show like this.
And honestly, I was a little worried about the giant.
It’s not like he’d really kill him... probably.
“We’re not going to fight. We’re going to stop them.”
Lee Hasol’s eyes widened as he looked up at me.
“You’re actually a really nice guy, huh?”
“...”
If I had married young, I could have had a son about his age.
Still, thanks for the compliment.
Watching Sa Jeil walk away, I got a rough idea of where he was headed. There were only a few secluded spots nearby where someone could avoid prying eyes.
I took Hasol with me and hid near the place I expected Sa Jeil to choose.
Sure enough, the two appeared not long after.
Sa Jeil stopped and quickly scanned the area.
Once he confirmed that nobody was watching, he pulled a box cutter from his pocket and sliced open his palm.
“Hey, what the hell are you—”
The giant muttered in alarm, but Sa Jeil did not even look at him.
From the blood pooling in his palm, he drew out a crimson greatsword as tall as he was.
The thick scent of blood spread through the air, and razor-sharp killing intent pricked at my entire body like needles.
“N-No way...”
The giant stumbled back in shock.
His momentum had already crumbled. Whatever Trait the giant possessed, it was undoubtedly far tamer than Sa Jeil’s.
Without so much as a warning, Sa Jeil swung the sword at him.
The giant, who had already been floundering, fell backward on his ass and barely avoided the blow by sheer luck.
Still seated, he frantically scrambled backward.
Sa Jeil approached at an unhurried pace, then brought his sword down without hesitation.
That lunatic really intends to kill him.
I did not have time to think.
I rushed out and drove my foot into Sa Jeil’s shoulder.
“Urgh.”
Sa Jeil staggered and was shoved aside.
“Who the hell are you? I clearly said I’d kill anyone who followed.”
He pointed the tip of his sword at me.
“No matter how badly you got into it, this is too far. Keep swinging that thing around, and someone could actually die.”
“Mind your own business. I was only going to cut off an arm or so. The guild will compensate him generously.”
He was strangely calm.
Those were not the eyes of someone who had lost his temper and was about to hurt another person on impulse.
This bastard... don’t tell me...
His Trait was Blood Sword, a condition-type Trait.
It seemed to be a Trait that used blood as a medium to form and wield a sword.
Generally, the more abundant the required medium for a condition-type Trait, the stronger its power became.
And probably...
It does not matter whether the blood belongs to him or someone else...
A person’s supply of blood was limited.
Thinking back to the overwhelming combat prowess Sa Jeil displayed in the future, it was obvious that he had continuously absorbed other people’s blood.
So he is not causing all this just because he has a rotten personality?
The giant had started the confrontation, so Sa Jeil had his pretext.
As long as he did not kill him, the Death Notice Guild could clean up the aftermath however it wanted.
—Before the Hunter Selection Assessment begins, sharpen my real-combat instincts and strengthen my Trait.
That had to be his real objective.
Maybe he had even provoked someone into picking a fight with him from the beginning.
The giant had merely gotten caught in a carefully laid net.
This had nothing to do with the hot blood of a nineteen-year-old.
He had still been a minor last year.
What kind of life had he lived to become this cold and merciless?
“Ah! That asshole is running away!”
Just then, Lee Hasol shouted and pointed.
I turned to follow his finger and saw the giant fleeing in a panic.
What an idiot. All that size, and not a shred of courage to match it.
“Oh, come on.”
Reacting to the sudden surge of killing intent, I ducked on instinct.
Sa Jeil’s Blood Sword passed over my head by a hair.
“You fucking bastard! If I hadn’t dodged that, I could’ve actually died!”
“But you did dodge.”
This, this fucking lunatic.
Sa Jeil adjusted his grip on the sword and continued.
“Because of you, my materials got away. He was huge, too. Looked like there would have been plenty to draw out of him... Since things have come to this, you two will have to do instead.”
Sa Jeil charged straight at us.
My guess had been right.
He had been looking for prey to make himself stronger.
“Kim Daram! Let’s fight together!”
Lee Hasol fearlessly moved toward me.
I appreciated the thought, but it was far too dangerous.
I shouted at him in urgency.
“Stay right there!”
“Okay.”
Lee Hasol stopped.
Our Hasol was such a good kid. He listened so well.
At the beginning of the fight, Sa Jeil relentlessly targeted places that would bleed heavily without endangering my life.
But I had no trouble avoiding his blade.
As time passed, though, the point of his sword gradually began to aim for my vital areas.
The moment an Awakened Awakens, their original physical abilities roughly double.
Sa Jeil, who was wildly swinging his sword, and I, who was casually evading his attacks—both of us were roughly twice as strong in every physical respect as we had been two days ago.
But the reason there was such a difference between us was simple.
I had adapted to my enhanced physical abilities far more completely than Sa Jeil had.
An Awakened’s physical abilities improve in proportion to their Level.
Having already surpassed Level 50 in my previous life, adapting to the mere doubling of my abilities at Level 1 was nothing.
I deflected Sa Jeil’s thrust toward my thigh, hooked his foot, and knocked him to the ground.
“That’s enough. This is your final warning.”
There was no way he would listen, but I should still say what needed to be said.
“Whoa! That was awesome, Kim Daram!”
Lee Hasol suddenly exclaimed from behind me.
“Fuck you! I’ll tear you apart!”
It had the opposite effect.
By now, even someone as cold and calculating as Sa Jeil could not have helped but explode in anger.
His face turned even paler as the sword in his hand began to grow larger and larger.
It was nearly as huge as the greatsword wielded by the berserker in that famous manga I used to enjoy.
Maybe he had pushed himself beyond his limits, because Sa Jeil’s eyes rolled back until only the whites showed.
Hmm...
That was dangerous.
His Trait was encroaching on him.
It was known that an Awakened’s Trait could influence the formation of their personality in many direct and indirect ways.
An Awakened had to study and utilize their Trait more deeply than anyone else, but at the same time, they had to remain constantly vigilant against being consumed by it.
The moment a Trait began to control its owner, the Awakened’s Encroachment Rate rose exponentially.
And once that rate exceeded 50%...
Returning to normal was practically impossible.
For all I knew, his Encroachment Rate was shooting upward at this very moment.
I could not just watch anymore.
I needed to subdue him quickly.
I summoned a Puppet Needle.
【Trait】
[Manipulation] Puppet (LV 1)
└ Summonable Quantity: 2
└ Duration and Recharge: 1 hour
└ Controls the target pierced by the needle.
Puppet Needle.
A skill I had relied on most heavily in my previous life—and one I both loved and hated.
The description, Controls the target pierced by the needle, sounded more powerful than anything.
In reality, it was not.
First, unless there was an overwhelming difference in strength, I could not manipulate someone like an actual puppet.
Against an opponent close to my own level, all the needle could do was make them more favorably inclined toward me.
And against anyone even slightly stronger than me, it had no effect at all.
That had caused me plenty of headaches in my previous life.
There had been more than a few times when I had barely managed to get close enough to plant the needle, only for absolutely nothing to happen.
As my Hunter career progressed, I developed a better eye for judging the gap between myself and an opponent, reducing the margin of error.
Then, when I acquired [System Observer] ten years in, the risk in that judgment disappeared completely.
Because Performance Score gave me the perfect standard for Puppet Needle.
I’m 27k. You’re 19k. Sa Jeil, you’re about to fall in love with me.
I lightly jumped over Sa Jeil’s horizontal swing and drove the needle into the nape of his neck.
Still, it was strange to think that Sa Jeil would be the first target of my Puppet Needle.
In my previous life, I could not have even dreamed of something like this.
His body trembled.
Then he quietly lowered the raised sword.
His pupils, which had rolled back, returned to normal.
Sa Jeil met my gaze, then hurriedly bowed his head.
“Kim Daram, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I was going to kill that fucking giant, but I got carried away and swung my sword at you when you came to stop me. Are you hurt anywhere?”
I patted Sa Jeil on the shoulder.
“No. And Hunters should not fight each other like this.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. I was thinking of draining every drop of blood from that oversized muscle-brained idiot, but fighting is bad after all. I’ll think of another way.”
Do not think of another way either, you psychopath.
Lee Hasol came over to me.
He stared at the suddenly meek Sa Jeil with a horrified expression.
“Kim Daram, is that guy insane? Why is he suddenly acting like that?”
I leaned close and whispered into Hasol’s ear.
“One of my abilities makes bad people nice.”
Lee Hasol looked at me with eyes as round as a rabbit’s.
“That’s fucking cool!”
“But it only lasts an hour.”
“Then after an hour, he turns back into a psycho murderer?”
“Yep. That’s right.”
“Then what do we do? What if he suddenly attacks us at the assessment site?”
“He is not stupid enough to do that. There will be instructors at the assessment site.”
Still, just in case, I turned to Sa Jeil.
“Hey.”
“Yeah. Tell me, Kim Daram. I’m listening.”
“From now on, run at full speed to the assessment site. Wait in the very front row, right in front of the instructors. A dangerous element like you needs to stay somewhere people can keep an eye on you.”
“Yeah. I think so too. A ruthless, cold-blooded man like me should remain somewhere highly visible. That way, the chance of an unfortunate incident will be reduced, even if only a little.”
After saying that, Sa Jeil took off at full speed toward the assessment site.
Watching him go, Lee Hasol tilted his head.
“I don’t think he got nicer. I think he got a little crazier.”
“Maybe that’s what happens when you try doing things you never normally do. Just be understanding.”
“Okay.”
“Then let’s go too.”
We started walking toward the assessment site.