Hunters Keep Coming To My House - Chapter 126

Chapter 126

The blue mana and black mana collided forcefully.

Kaaaang!

The sound of metal hitting against each other reverberated fiercely, striking the surrounding air. 

Cha Jae-joon and Jung Tae-il fiercely exchanged blows, concentrating solely on each other.

When Cha Jae-joon swung his Black Ego Sword filled with mana, Jung Tae-il created a barrier with blue mana to block it. Despite Cha Jae-joon’s formidable strength causing the barrier to shatter quickly, it didn’t matter. The barrier breaking filled the surroundings with hazy smoke intentionally to obscure visibility.

Jung Tae-il, after completely suppressing any signs of movement, agilely aimed at Cha Jae-joon’s back. Just enough to incapacitate him, or until inflicting a fatal wound.

Precise control of strength was crucial to avoid involving not only Cha Jae-joon but also Seo Yeon-oh and Han Seung-hoo, who were nearby, in the onslaught driven by Cha Jae-joon’s rage.

Jung Tae-il once again clenched his teeth and swung his sword down towards Cha Jae-joon’s neck. However, it was easily blocked by the black sword.

Cha Jae-joon’s instinct or perhaps heightened senses due to his rage allowed him to quickly block with his sword. Despite Jung Tae-il being the one attacking, Cha Jae-joon’s arm trembled ever so slightly indicating how strong the block was.

“Is this all you’ve got?” 

How annoying.

Jung Tae-il, following Arvani’s lead, slammed the ground with his tail, instantly creating distance between him and Cha Jae-joon.

The battle returned to square one.

Cha Jae-joon’s rampage was far stronger than an S-level monster. Despite his movements resembling those of a wooden puppet, his reaction speed seemed to be the fastest among any hunters Jung Tae-il had encountered.

How difficult it was to incapacitate such an opponent without killing them.

Moreover, using this power directly against a person was a first for Jung Tae-il, making it difficult to control.

The Black Ego Sword contained the power of the Black Dragon, while Jung Tae-il wielded Arvani, the Blue Dragon. Furthermore, Jung Tae-il was even borrowing Seo Yeon-oh’s weapon, the Blue Ego Sword.

As she said, his spear would have shattered upon contact with the Black Ego Sword. How could a mere mana-made spear withstand a sword meticulously crafted by a Black Dragon?

Well, if it did shatter, he could always create a new one. But even that had its limits.

Considering Jung Tae-il’s body wouldn’t hold up, Seo Yeon-oh’s judgment was accurate. Jung Tae-il needed to use the Blue Ego Sword to have any chance against Cha Jae-joon.

Even if he wasn’t the owner, just wielding the Blue Ego Sword and following Arvani’s power should suffice. However, it seemed Seo Yeon-oh overlooked one fact.

No matter how much Jung Tae-il followed Arvani’s power and wielded the Ego Sword, the probability of him defeating Cha Jae-joon in the current situation wasn’t very high.

Because neither Cha Jae-joon nor Jung Tae-il’s power was overwhelmingly superior, whoever won would inevitably face consequences. Of course, Cha Jae-joon shouldn’t have been overwhelmingly dominant.

Jung Tae-il sighed deeply, clenching and unclenching his hand that wasn’t gripping the sword. The Dragonization caused a Blue Mana Clot to emit a chilly light in his hand, where sharp claws were growing. Jung Tae-il hurled it directly at Cha Jae-joon. With frightening speed, Cha Jae-joon effortlessly split the mana clot into two.

Perhaps expecting to create a thick haze of smoke with a loud noise again, Cha Jae-joon took a step back. However, this time was different. The split mana clot flew back at Cha Jae-joon as if its coordinates were predetermined. 

Despite the unexpected attack, Cha Jae-joon swiftly reacted by deflecting the mana clot flying towards him with his Black Ego Sword, this time without being cleaved.

Upon contact with the black undulating mana, the blue mana clot made a hissing sound and slowly dissipated.

At that moment, Jung Tae-il’s fist struck under Cha Jae-joon’s chin. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Cha Jae-joon was left defenseless. Having realized that the previous mana clot was merely a distraction, Cha Jae-joon swiftly attempted to create distance.

But it was too late.

Cha Jae-joon’s Ego Sword was firmly held by Jung Tae-il, equivalent to being an extension of his body. Cha Jae-joon couldn’t discard the sword; doing so would mean his death.

In the end, Cha Jae-joon had to allow Jung Tae-il’s attack.

With a raised eyebrow, Jung Tae-il placed a human hand on Cha Jae-joon’s chest instead of the expected agony, Cha Jae-joon felt a surge of pleasure. He exerted force with the hand holding the sword, trying to push Jung Tae-il away. However, it was not easy to cut through the sturdy dragon’s hand. Only a chilling sound of scraping was heard.

Jung Tae-il tightly closed his eyes and activated his skill.

“<Crystal Generation>”

This was a skill that gathered the opponent’s mana and turned it into crystals. It was also necessary to use his <Everything is a Pawn (SSS)> skill. Furthermore, it was the cause of Cha Jae-joon’s rampage.

He believed the gold appearing on Cha Jae-joon’s body was due to the inability to handle mana. Cha Jae-joon seemed to share this assumption, so Jung Tae-il attempted to create crystals to remove some mana and prevent the gold from deepening further.

If only the deafening sound hadn’t resounded and Cha Jae-joon hadn’t rampaged.

That’s why he had to try now, attempting to stop the black mana from filling the already split areas even further.

As he chanted the skill, black mana gathered in Jung Tae-il’s hand and placed on Cha Jae-joon’s chest. However, it lasted only a moment.

“…Urgh.”

Jung Tae-il furrowed his brows, realizing he had no choice but to lower his hand. The black mana rapidly gathered in his hand had instantly melted his skin.

If Jung Tae-il had kept his hand there a little longer, his hand would completely melted away. It seemed directly manipulating the crystals was risky.

Once again… Seo Yeon-oh was right.

“I’ll gather the mana. Jung Tae-il, please be careful not to directly touch the black mana as much as possible. It might be okay since you’re currently surrounded by Arvani’s mana, but… you’re still human.”

In this world, besides Seo Yeon-oh, there would probably be no one else worrying about an S-level hunter transformed into a dragon.

She truly was an amazing woman.

Jung Tae-il regained his composure. He quickly wrapped a bandage around his injured hand, muttering a curse. The dragon hand that had just held the Black Ego Sword was in the same state.

Both of his hands were in a terrible state.

Thinking he should find a healer as soon as he finished this, Jung Tae-il scattered blue mana around him.

The blue mana gradually gathered in one place, forming a small entity. The familiar form of the being seemed displeased with Jung Tae-il for some reason.

“…Looks like it’s done.”

Jung Tae-il took a deep breath, which meant it was time since Arvani had come to his side as promised.

Before that, Jung Tae-il wanted to finish this alone, so he sighed deeply.

At that moment, Arvani looked at Jung Tae-il intently. Rolling on the ground with his front paws, Arvani seemed to demand something from Jung Tae-il.

“…Alright then.”

With a grin, Arvani jumped up onto Jung Tae-il’s shoulder. The sight of a small dragon perched on a human who was half a dragon was quite amusing.

But the reality was different.

“…This is good.”

The penalties accumulated in his body while following Arvani’s power disappeared in an instant. It didn’t completely erase everything that had accumulated, but this was enough.

Now that Arvani had also arrived, it was time to do what Seo Yeon-oh had asked for.

Since it would take some time to prepare, the command to attract attention until the signal was sent was now over.

Taking a long breath, Jung Tae-il flew towards Cha Jae-joon with the Blue Ego Sword tightly gripped. Sensing the tense atmosphere, Cha Jae-joon conjured a deep darkness.

Cha Jae-joon’s surroundings were engulfed in darkness, while Jung Tae-il’s surroundings began to freeze.

Kaaaang!

The two swords that had been repeatedly clashing collided once again.

This time, instead of exchanging blows and then retreating as before, something was different.

He had only accepted Arvani’s suggestion, and Arvani was only lending his power without reservation…

He felt stronger than Cha Jae-joon.

Before he could even fully comprehend this fact, Quaduduk! With a loud noise, the Black Ego Sword began to freeze.

The ice swiftly engulfed the sword and even attempted to swallow Cha Jae-joon.

Then, suddenly.

“……!”

In an instant, a flash of light occurred, causing both Jung Tae-il and Cha Jae-joon to instinctively close their eyes.

At the same time.

“<Wind that Absorbs Anything.>”

Seo Yeon-oh’s voice pierced through their ears.

In this space where mana intertwined, only the black mana was swiftly sucked away somewhere. As everything that had dominated the surroundings disappeared, even the mana within Cha Jae-joon’s body now vanished towards a single point.

Just as Cha Jae-joon, who had been completely engulfed in black, began to regain his color…

Thump!

Cha Jae-joon collapsed.

He released the Black Ego Sword that he had never let go of.