After Ten Millennia in Hell-Chapter 48Epilogue - Summer Vacation (10)

Boom—!

The man stomped his foot and dashed forward at a speed that could barely be followed with the eyes. Kim Si-Ah moved before Oh Kang-Hyun could even react.

“Dodge!”

“Ngh!”

Si-Ah yanked Kang-Hyun’s arm. The man’s sword passed by the area where Kang-Hyun was standing. Si-Ah bit her lip and stood in front of Kang-Hyun.

“Kang-Hyun, go get the adults! I’ll hold him here!”

“B-But you don’t even have a sword!”

Si-Ah had naturally left the bamboo sword she usually kept at her side, in her room.

“This is good enough!” she shouted as she tore off a tree branch.

Whoosh!

The man assumed a stance again and charged at Si-Ah. She wrapped the branch in sword energy and blocked the man’s sword.

Crack—!

“Ngh...!”

Naturally, the branch that collided with the sharp sword broke into pieces. Si-Ah stumbled backward flusteredly after instantly losing her weapon.

“H-Hehe!”

The man with blood-red eyes reached for Si-Ah.

“Get your hands away from her!”

Kang-Hyun charged like a wild beast and jump-kicked the man. He had put all of his weight behind it, but—

“H-Heh!”

“Urgh...!”

The weight of a boy who wasn’t even ten years old wasn’t much. The man momentarily lost his balance but immediately regained it and gripped his sword tightly. The constellation on his chest shone brightly and an impure blue light, as if black dye had been mixed into it, enveloped the sword.

Whoosh!

The man’s swings had no edge or finesse but the power behind them could not be handled by mere children.

Clang—!

“Argh!”

A powerful shockwave traveled up Kang-Hyun’s arms and throughout his body. Unable to handle the power, he was blown into the air, his field of view flipping. He tumbled across the asphalt floor and blood flowed from his scratches.

“Kang-Hyun!” Si-Ah shouted. “How dare you...!”

She bit her lip and stepped forward. She straightened her hand to make an edge and focused her Qi on it.

‘Can I make sword energy without a sword?’ she thought. ‘I can.’

She recalled watching in secret her father training when they had gone to a valley for a family outing.

‘He was bare-handed.’

It was at dawn when she witnessed Kim Si-Hun standing in the middle of the valley, swinging his arms without even a wooden sword. She recalled seeing the world itself becoming his sword and slashing his surroundings. The air, breaths, leaves with dew formed on it, pebbles, the cries of birds— everything had turned into a sharp blade.

‘I can’t do it as well as Dad, but...’

Si-Ah was sure she could at least turn her hand into a sword.

“Haaah!” she shouted as blue sword energy ignited around her straightened hand.

Unlike the man’s poor swordsmanship, Si-Ah’s swing of her hand was a work of art.

Slash!

The blue sword energy around Si-Ah’s hand cut the man’s chest.

“G-Gah!”

The man staggered backward as blood sputtered from his chest. Bone could be seen between the severed flesh. It might not be fatal but it should at least significantly hinder his movements.

“H-Hehe. Heh. I smell... smell... it.”

However, the man smiled widely and charged at Si-Ah as if he couldn’t even feel the injury.

“S-Si-Ah!” shouted Kang-Hyun, quickly running to Si-Ah as he stared at the man madly charging at her.

“It’s okay.”

Si-Ah did not falter and calmly blocked the man’s attacks with her hand.

Clang! Clang! Clang—!

Her hand covered in sword energy deflected the man’s shoddy swings. Unlike Kang-Hyun, who was blown away with just one swing, Si-Ah made up for their overwhelming difference in strength with her perfect swordsmanship.

“Ah...”

Kang-Hyun stared blankly at the battle. No, he couldn’t do anything else but watch. Even if he were to join the battle, he would only get in Si-Ah’s way.

‘I...’

An overpowering sense of powerlessness suffocated him. He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head furiously to shake it away.

‘Now isn’t the time.’

He needed to call the adults as soon as possible while Si-Ah was buying time.

“KYAAAAAAHHH!”

Kang-Hyun heard Si-Ah’s scream as he turned on his smartphone.

“S-Si-Ah?!”

He turned to her, thinking she had been badly injured. However, she did not seem to be injured. He ran to her, who was as frozen as a frog facing a snake.

“Wh-What’s wrong?!”

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Si-Ah, as white as a sheet, shakingly pointed at the man.

“M-Maggots... Maggots...!”

“What?”

Kang-Hyun looked at what Si-Ah was pointing at and saw the man’s chest exposed between his torn leather armor. His flesh, slashed by Si-Ah’s hand, was covered in countless squirming maggots.

“What... the hell?”

Even Kang-Hyun, who wasn’t particularly scared of bugs or insects, felt queasy from the sight.

‘Wait a second.’

He recalled when he went cherry blossom viewing with Si-Ah. She had been so terrified by one caterpillar on her shoulder that she couldn’t even move or scream. If she saw a group of maggots—

“A-Aaaahh. M-Maggots... Maggots...!”

“Si-Ah.”

“I-In his flesh...!”

“Kim Si-Ah!” Kang-Hyun grabbed her shoulders and shouted.

However, she couldn’t hear him because she was struck with panic.

“Dammit...!”

He made another black blade with the Authority of Blades and stood before the man. The man’s eyes were filled with madness, his flesh was covered in maggots, and his sword was enveloped with power that Kang-Hyun couldn’t imitate with his tiny amount of demonic energy.

“Haaa, haaa.”

Kang-Hyun’s legs shook uncontrollably. He was scared— he wanted to run away.

‘Father or Uncle Si-Hun will come to the rescue anyway, won’t they? Yeah. I’m sure of it, so...’

- To become stronger... you must overcome the fear lying dormant inside you.

Just then, Uncle Balrog’s words popped into his head. Kang-Hyun gritted his teeth and drew out all of his demonic energy. It was nowhere close to the mana wrapped around the man’s sword.

‘Even so...’

Kang-Hyun looked at the girl trembling in pallor. He calmed his breathing and focused all of his demonic energy on his black blade.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” he roared like a beast and charged.

The distance between them narrowed in an instant. The man raised his arm high and swung down his sword like an ax.

Clang—!

Kang-Hyun was pushed back as the recoil almost ripped open his palms.

“Heh,” the man smiled.

‘I don’t have a chance in a frontal assault.’

If that was the case—

‘Authority of Haste.’

Kang-Hyun used explosive speed to reach the man’s flank. He would use his small stature and attack the man from his blind spots. He extended his bent legs like a spring and swung his sword toward his left armpit, aiming for the menacingly shining blue constellation mark.

“HAAAAHHH!”

It was the best attack he could use, taking advantage of the delayed reaction from the Authority of Haste’s explosive speed.

“Heh.”

Crunch!

However, the man bent his torso at an impossible angle to dodge the slash.

“What the—?!”

The man’s back bent like a flip phone but in the opposite way. Any normal person would have become paraplegic from such an injury but the man swung his arm like a whip despite that.

WHAM!

“Kurgh!”

Kang-Hyun was hit by the whiplike arm and was blown away like a soccer ball.

“H-Hehe. You... bother.”

Crack.

The man’s back returned to normal and he staggered toward the collapsed Kang-Hyun. He raised his sword high, enveloping it with impure blue light.

“Ahh,” Kang-Hyun groaned.

‘In the end, I...’

An overpowering sense of powerlessness that engulfed his fear crushed his soul.

“Authority of Shattering Air.”

Rumble—!

Just then, a thunderous sound echoed as the man, about to swing down his sword at Kang-Hyun, was blown away. A familiar silhouette dashed toward the man being blown back dozens of meters.

“Uncle... Si-Hun?”

The sword of Martial God Kim Si-Hun, the man worshiped as the savior of humanity, was brought down on the man.

━━━━━!

Soundless four slashes severed the man’s limbs.

“A-Argh. Gargh!”

The man was instantly turned into a nugget. Si-Hun, eyes as cold as ice, approached the man struggling like a fly without wings.

Crush! Crunch!

The sound of flesh being torn away echoed. Just then, Kang-Hyun heard the voice of someone he had desperately longed for.

“I understand how you feel, but don’t forget there are children here, Si-Hun.”

“F-Father?”

“I’m sorry, son. I’m a bit late, aren’t I?”

Kang-Woo smiled and approached Kang-Hyun.

“Ahh... Sniff. DAD—!”

Kang-Hyun, who usually called Kang-Woo Father, jumped into Kang-Woo’s arms and burst into tears.

“There, there. You don’t have to be scared anymore.”

“Sniff... I-I was so... weak, that I... couldn’t do anything...”

“What are you talking about? I managed to reach you because you bought enough time for us.”

“Is that... so?”

“Of course, it is.” Kang-Woo smiled and nodded.

“KRRK, KRRRRK! BLEEEEEEGHHH!”

Just then, the squirming man opened his mouth widely as his eyes flipped backward. Thousands of flies flew out of his mouth opened so widely that the corners were ripped apart. The flies surrounded the group and suddenly expanded to grow several meters each.

Si-Hun and Kang-Woo were immediately surrounded by an army of flies. Kang-Woo leisurely looked around and rustled Kang-Hyun’s hair.

“I’m proud of you, son. You can leave the rest to me.”

The corners of Kang-Woo’s mouth rose as his golden irises surrounded by black sclera blazed fiercely.