Chapter 68

Chapter 68 . Kin (3)

A sudden gale assaulted their camp . Scarlett’s small fire couldn’t endure and was put out . Thankfully, the sun hadn’t quite set yet and the sky was crimson, so there weren’t any issues with visibility .

The black haired girl was standing right next to the fire . The place she was standing allowed her to attack both Sungmin and Scarlett .

When?

Both of them thought the same question at once . The girl’s approach was so fast neither of them could recognize it .

Aine stood up from her crouching position . The fact that she was not in a state of hunger was a fortune for Scarlett and Sungmin .

Scarlett didn’t know who the girl was, but felt the ominous feeling coming off her . That kind of feeling was very unfamiliar to her .

“…What are you?”

However, Scarlett wasn’t fearful . One of her strengths – at the same time, a weakness – was that she acted like herself regardless of the situation . Scarlett distanced herself from Aine with a few steps .

‘What are you doing?’

Scarlett acted as soon as she came to a guard, but Sungmin didn’t . He only stood and looked at Aine . His thudding heart resounded loudly in his ears . Aine did’nt move either . She blinked her yellow eyes and stared at Sungmin’s face .

“…You…”

Sungmin’s lips moved . This was his first meeting with Aine . However, she didn’t feel unfamiliar to her . Even though they had never met before… he felt that he knew her . No, rather than that .

A sense of kinship .

“Who are you?”

Before he could ask, Aine asked him first . Aine was feeling the same thing that Sungmin was feeling . It was just that, her progression of emotions was different to that of Sungmin’s . From kinship came discomfort . Sungmin was feeling the same discomfort by that point, but they differed in the way they handled their ‘discomfort’ .

It happened in an instant . Aine’s hand seemed to twist in a strange way before turning into a tentacle, shooting towards Sungmin .

“Hey!”

Scarlett shouted out to Sungmin and she acted at the same time . She swung her hand, and magic energy rippled with it . The tentacle that aimed at Sungmin’s heart changed course mid-way due to the interfering magic energy . Sungmin gasped deeply and took several steps back .

“Get yourself together! What the hell are you doing!”

Shouted Scarlett with a stiff expression . Sungmin sharpened his mind and moved . He picked up his spear from the floor, but he couldn’t be relieved just yet .

Aine returned the tentacle back into her arm . She repeatedly gripped and loosened her hand while looking at Sungmin’s face . Aine did not care about Scarlett’s presence . She only looked towards Sungmin .

“There’s something strange about you,” muttered Aine .

When she reached out with her leg, a pitch-black magic energy shot up from beneath her . The ominous form made Scarlett bite her lips . She reached out inside her chest and took out a large pair of gloves and put them on .

“Who are you?”

Aine asked . Sungmin did not reply . Unfamiliarity, ominousness . And an unknown hostility . No, rather than that, the one in front of him was trying to kill him . He couldn’t just let himself be killed .

“…Lee Sungmin . ”

“Lee Sungmin? Is that a name? I’m Aine . ”

Replied Aine . She frowned once, before smiling .

“So that’s it . ”

That was the end of it . Aine’s right arm changed form again . The right arm that ignored the balance of the human body and became a muscular monster arm . Seeing the punch flying towards him, Sungmin hurriedly used the Shadowless Phantom .

The increase in his internal energy allowed him to move faster . The punch hit the ground and spat earth and rocks everywhere . Sungmin swung his spear towards the cloud of dust approaching him .

The dust cloud settled . Beyond that, Aine once again swung her tentacle arm towards Sungmin . Sungmin realized who Aine was . The words that he heard from Lloyd passed by in his mind . It was about the chimera girl that could change the form of her limbs .

There was no time to think . The girl’s attacks were strange and without pattern . The tentacle that flew towards him was thicker than a whip, yet sharp like a blade . Sungmin exerted his internal energy into his spear and deflected Aine’s tentacle .

No, he thought to do so . Along with the pain that almost ripped his hands, the spear spun in reverse in his hands . Aine’s attacks were incomparably stronger to the punch of the ogre chimera .

‘I can’t… deflect it!’

Because he consumed the Greater and Lesser Restoration pills, he was able to hold . If it was before he had consumed those, the attack would have ripped his arm away from his body .

She couldn’t be taken lightly just because she looked young on the outside . The opponent was a freak that drove the Gold Tower Lord Lloyd half to death . Sungmin barely gripped his hands and defended himself from Aine .

Meanwhile, Scarlett had finished her preparations for battle . Metallic symbols on the gloves on her hands mitted light . Scarlett licked her lips and reached out to empty air .

Every time she moved her fingers, characters were written midair . A yet-incomplete ‘Spell Engraval’ of the Lecir school was cast . Magic was cast through the red string of spells engraved into the air .

Just as Aine was about to attack Sungmin, she trembled, sensing the threat behind her back . The presence of Scarlett, whom she did had ignored, messed up her senses . A bird of fire created through a spell assaulted Aine’s back .

“Uh…!”

Aine hurriedly turned around and extended her hand . The heart that moved Aine’s body made her immune to most types of magic . This ability of hers was something that Prescan wanted his ultimate creation to have, and although incomplete, was capable enough to drive Lloyd almost to death .

However, the magic that Scarlett casted was fundamentally different to that of normal magic . Scarlett’s Spell Engraval (呪文刻印) was a mixture of magic (魔法) and spellcraft (呪術), and was founded especially on Onmyoudou (陰陽道-Way of Yin and Yang) and Qimen Dunjia (奇門遁甲-A type of ancient Chinese divination) fields of spellcraft .

(T/N: I ain’t translating that shit . There IS NO translation . Go to wikipedia)

Boom!

The firebird that clashed with Aine did not scatter but swallowed Aine’s body whole . Aine’s body flinched amidst ultra high-temperature flames . Aine did not know of pain, but still felt that the flames burning her body were uncomfortable .

Crunch .

Aine’s body transformed inside the flames . If simple magic immunity didn’t work, then she only needed to change her body so that it was inflammable . Her outer skin became ash and fell on the floor, and below that was an armor-like skin .

“Body transformation…? Polymorph? No, wait . It’s not a dragon, right!”

Saying that, Scarlett waved her hand again . Due to her support, Sungmin was able to catch his breath, and calm down the tremor in his heart .

What made Sungmin’s heart chaotic was the existence of the heart inside his chest . The Black Heart – Sungmin didn’t know how he became one with this thing, but if the thing thumping inside his heart was indeed the pitch-black heart levitating inside the dungeon, if it was really that .

‘Aren’t I… . the same as that little girl right now?’

The same as a freak that chewed on and ate a live heart?

He had no room to think about such things . Regardless of the reason, Aine was trying to kill him . The attack that aimed precisely at his heart could not be considered a cute greeting .

Let’s just consider this an opportunity, he thought . This was his first proper battle after he had consumed the Restoration pills . He no longer needed to restrain himself from using the Shadowless Phantom and Nine Skies Infinity Spear that used a lot of his internal energy .

When he approached Aine using the first move of the Shadowless Phantom, Traceless First Step, Aine was raising her head from a crouching position . Sungmin and Aine met gazes . Instinct, and sixth sense warned him . Sungmin retracted his spear and immediately moved sideways .

An invisible punch grazed past his ears . Even though it wasn’t a direct hit, his ears were in pain and his vision blurred momentarily . He could see Aine in a punching stance .

“…Hundred Steps Divine Fist?”

Aine did not reply to that question . However, she was showing discontent on her expression . After gripping and loosening her hands a few times, she went into a punching stance once again .

Then, another round of invisible fists started again . The Hundred Steps Divine Fist was not visible to the naked eye . However, the senses he trained in Mount Msh allowed him to dodge those attacks .

However, he couldn’t focus on dodging . While she punched with her right, Aine changed form of her left hand and attacked Sungmin .

If Sungmin was alone, then he would not have been able to hold against Aine . However, he was not by himself . The fact that Scarlett stayed with Sungmin was a great fortune for him . Lecir School’s Spell Engraval . Albeit incomplete, the magic of the Lecir school allowed Scarlett to become the lord of the Red Magic Tower at a young age .

On top of that, her natural affinity with Aine was also an element of luck . The current Scarlett was far from being on part with Lloyd, but the peculiarity of Spell Engraval gave Aine a tough time . Not only that, Prescan’s help was absent, so it was natural for Aine to be disadvantaged .

A hand of earth shot out from the ground and grabbed onto Aine’s leg . Aine, even while swaying, manage to swing her left arm . The tentacle ripped apart the air and attacked Sungmin . Sungmin lowered his stance and closed the distance with Aine . His spear attempted to pierce Aine’s chest, and at that time, Aine twisted her torso, taking the spear hit with her left shoulder instead .

Crunch! There was a sound of muscles and flesh being ripped, and bones breaking . The moment Sungmin’s spear hit Aine’s left shoulder, Aine almost simultaneously swung her right arm to slice off her legs . Aine was pushed back, but did not roll on the floor . She immediately did a roll in the air, and when she landed, her severed legs had already regenerated .

“You’re a freak . ”

Said Scarlett in an annoyed tone . Yes, annoyance, just that . She no longer felt a threat from that mysterious thing . Although the battle was short, it was enough to determine who was the advantageous one in this battle

“Yeah . ”

Aine’s reply didn’t seem to consider the disadvantageous situation at all . It wasn’t that Aine was ignorant .

It was the truth .

When Aine smiled, an enormous amount of magic energy rippled . Scarlett, who considered her side to be superior, realized how hasty she was in that decision . The scale of magic energy that Aine was giving out was beyond Scarlett’s imagination .

“What kind of freak are you…!”

Scarlett frowned as she muttered that . Scarlett was not aware of the fact that the girl in front of her drove Lloyd, the Tower Lord of the Gold Magic Tower, almost to death .

Sungmin was in a frontal confrontation with that monster . The heart beating inside Sungmin’s body, and the heart that Aine possessed were the same . However, just because they possessed the same hearts, they could not be considered to be the same species .

The enormous magic energy that Aine showed him was beyond what Sungmin was capable of understanding . Even though Sungmin wholly absorbed the energies inside the Greater and Lesser Restoration pills, the ominous magic energy Aine gave off was incomparably larger .

Such a freak was aiming for him . It wasn’t the eyes that looked at the same kin . It was only a cryptic hostility, and it wouldn’t end just with her gaze .

Sungmin did not want to die .