Chapter 99: 99

“Anyone left?”

“No, sir . ”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir . There’s not even a single dog . A mother and her son were the last . Everyone in C&D Tower has been evacuated . ”

“We need to evacuate people around the building, too . You know the safety of the civilians is the top priority, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

Zhu In busily gave orders to the members of the guild . Fortunately, the evacuation of civilians went smoothly . Thanks to the combined effort of all twelve guilds that had gathered, there was more than enough manpower .

“Something is strange,” Zhu In thought .

There was something strange about this terrorist act . If it really was terrorism, it wasn’t very convincing . When he had felt the magic from the top of the building for the first time, he thought the terror had begun . But soon, he realized that was not right .

“This is a fight . ”

It was not one person’s magic . There were two different magic signatures . People might wonder how only two people could be the cause . But those two signatures were at a different level . Zhu In assumed they were S-Rank awakeners, possibly even stronger . He could feel the magic’s enormous Factors reverberating through the very air .

“If not terrorism, then what could it be? Why did that note label it an act of terrorism? Who sent the message from the small dragon?”

His mind was so complicated . But there was no time to think . The evacuation of civilians was the most important thing now .

“Sir, what should we do now? The situation over there looks—”

“Wait . It’s not the time to get involved yet . ”

“Are you saying we should just sit on our hands?”

“Don’t you see? That’s not a terrorist act, that’s a fight between two people . Perhaps one of them…must be a member of the Dump Guild . ”

It was obvious that one of them had sent the note using the dragon . It seemed obvious that the sender wasn’t a member of the Dump Guild . It wouldn’t make sense if the Dump Guild worried about civilians . In addition…

“We can’t interrupt this fight . ”

“What?”

“Didn’t you read the note? It is said we should only evacuate civilians, nothing more . The sender was certain…” Zhu In bit his lips and continued to say, “that we would just get in the way of the fight . ”

“We have a lot of awakeners . We can help . ”

“Even if we stop that fight, what good will it do if we all die?”

“That—”

“Just wait . That is the right thing for now . No B- or C-Rank awakener could make a difference in this fight . ”

The Great Wall Guild was the largest, but the other eleven guilds had few high-rank awakeners amongst their ranks .

“Zhu In . People said there was no trace of Hwang Jun-peong among the evacuated . ”

“…What?” Zhu In opened his eyes wide at the guild master’s statement . His brain began to spin quickly, quickly coming to a conclusion . “Wait… That fight is occurring in…”

He had heard that Hwang Jun-peong bought a penthouse in the C&D building . And the top floor seemed to be the site of the battle . Zhu In frowned .

“Damn it…”

“Wh-what should we do with Mr . Hwang…”

There were only two possibilities . Either Hwang Jun-peong had been a casualty of the fight or he was involved in it . Zhu In’s head quickly spun . He thought he saved all the civilians but there was one still left .

“What should I do…” he thought .

Then, as he anxiously watched the top floor where the fight raged…

Rumble—

“Huh? What is that?”

“The building…”

C&D Building had been the tallest building in Guangzhou . But suddenly, some force sliced off the top and began to collapse .

“Run away!”

Act 6

Ruuumble—

Along the oblique cut line, the upper part of the building slid down . Hwang Jun-peong’s wide-open eyes shook . He swept his chest with one hand in awareness .

“I almost got cut . ”

It was one swing . At that moment, he felt like his waist was cut . If he hadn’t responded instinctively, he might have been cut .

Rumble—

Boom—!

The tilted upper part finally fell to the ground below . Vibrations echoed throughout the area . Su-hyeun and Hwang Jun-peong stared at each other, both standing in the open-air corridor .

“That is disappointing,” Su-hyeun said .

Tramp, tramp—

“Well, I still have time . ”

“What the hell are you…?” Hwang Jun-peong asked .

Hwang Jun-peong couldn’t believe the man who stood in front of him . This didn’t make any sense . It had only been two years since Su-hyeun became an awakener . But Hwang Jun-peong became an awakener eight years ago . There was no way Su-hyeun should have been capable of matching his skill .

“Is it a gap in talent?” he wondered .

But he did not want to admit it to himself .

“I’ll ask again—what the hell are you!”

Whoosh—

Hwang Jun-peong’s magic started to twist out of a mix of blind jealousy and anger . His hands stiffened with ferocious magic . At the same time, scales began to grow all over his body .

Crunch, crunch—

Two horns sprouted out from Hwang Jun-peong’s head . Wings sprouted from his back . His eyes turned reptilian . He had become some sort of an unholy cross between man and beast .

“Dragonize skill . ”

It was one of the ten most powerful skills in the history of awakeners . Su-hyeun had gained the strength of Imoogi with the transfiguration skill, but it was not in any way comparable to Dragonize . His transfiguration skill simply mimicked the Imoogi, but Dragonize actually transformed a human into a dragon .

“Huuu—”

A hazy breath flowed out from Hwang Jun-peong’s mouth . His face looked like a mixture of human and dragon . His size had increased as well to become twice as large as he was before .

“Yes,” Hwang Jun-peong said .

Flap—

Hwang Jun-peong spread his wings to their full span . “As you said, let’s end this now . ”

He narrowed his eyes at Su-hyeun . Then suddenly, Hwang Jun-peong’s body quickly disappeared .

Whiz—

Boom—!

Hwang Jun-peong’s body appeared in front of Su-hyeun . He struck Su-hyeun with his open palm . Su-hyeun raised his sword and blocked it in the nick of time . The floor beneath him gave out and he began to fall . Hwang Jun-peong spread his wings and flew after Su-hyeun . But that was a mistake .

Whoosh—!

Slash, slash—!

Minor wounds were carved on the body of Hwang Jun-peong .

Slash—!

One of them was quite deep . Hwang Jun-peong recoiled from the strike and quickly flew back up .

“Where are you going?”

Crack—

Su-hyeun grabbed Hwang Jun-peong’s wing from behind . Hwang Jun-peong urgently tried to shake off Su-hyeun’s hand, but he couldn’t .

“What the… He is too strong…”

He saw the scales on Su-hyeun’s body . It looked similar to his skill, but he thought it was just an imitation . The Dragonize enabled him to truly unite with a dragon . He thought there was no awakener in existence who could match his power .

“Out you go!”

Flap, flap—

Hwang Jun-peong desperately flew up to shake off Su-hyeun . But Su-hyeun’s hand maintained the firm grip on the wing .

Crack—

“…!”

Finally, Su-hyeun pulled one of Hwang Jun-peong’s wings from his back .

“Argh!”

Hwang Jun-peong screamed at the loss of the wing . He turned his body and swung his arm .

Rip—

His claws tore through the air . Su-hyeun easily avoided all the attacks and fell down .

“Damn…”

The pain from the amputated wing still remained and caused Hwang Jun-peong to moan . He stared at Su-hyeun as he fell . Despite the pain, Hwang Jun-peong didn’t care much about the loss of his wing .

“I can recover in a few days,” he thought .

The dragons didn’t actually use their wings for flight, but magic . So he could still move freely in the air . Now, it was time to focus on killing Su-hyeun .

Whoosh—!

Hwang Jun-peong rushed toward Su-hyeun as he was in freefall . His ten claws were sharp as blades . Su-hyeun did not dodge them . Instead, he channeled his magic into his sword and swung at Hwang Jun-peong .

Craaack—!

Boooom—!

Hwang Jun-peong used his massive weight to crash into Su-hyeun, slamming his body on what remained of the building .

Ruuumble—

A huge hole formed in the center of the building . Hwang Jun-peong continued to slam Su-hyeun through the building, all the way to the bottom . Once they reached the bottom, Hwang Jun-peong breathed heavily and then flew back up .

Gasp, gasp—

The eyes of the dragon flashed through the cloudy dust . Hwang Jun-peong’s gaze was fixed hard on Su-hyeun .

Clack, clack—

Su-hyeun lay on the ground, then rose up again as if it was nothing .

Drip, drip, drip—

But blood freely flowed down Hwang Jun-peong’s chest . It was a very deep cut . Su-hyeun’s sword had sliced through the dragon’s scales and skin and actually managed to cut into the flesh . The amount of bleeding was significant . The wounds from earlier still hadn’t healed yet, and these only compounded the problem .

“What the hell is this guy…?” he thought .

Hwang Jun-peong thought Su-hyeun would be dead by now . But he barely had a scratch on him . Hwang Jun-peong had planned to overwhelm Su-hyeun with his Dragonize skill, but it didn’t work . The battle wasn’t over yet, but…

“I should admit . I can’t win against that bastard,” he thought .

Hwang Jun-peong had a vague understanding of this outcome ever since Su-hyeun revealed his power . But he had wanted to deny those thoughts . He had tried to fight . And this was the result .

“I should run away,” he thought .

For the first time in his life, he actually had some fear that death was imminent .

Flop—

Hwang Jun-peong started to move using one wing . And at that moment, Su-hyeun’s body quickly moved .

Whiz—

After a few leaps, the distance quickly narrowed down . Hwang Jun-peong could not run away .

“If that’s the case…” he thought . His gaze turned to the awakeners who crowded around the building and civilians who were evacuating from afar . “I will buy myself at least a little time . ”

Flop—

Hwang Jun-peong moved without hesitation . He flew down toward the nearest awakeners .

“Help me!” Hwang Jun-peong shouted in an urgent voice .

Many awakeners had been taking precautions against him . Doubts were raised when they heard his human voice . At first, they thought he was a monster, but now they began whispering amongst themselves .

“H-human?”

“Is that not a monster?”

“So is he the terrorist then?”

“I have no idea what they’re talking about, but I’d better come up with a good explanation…” Hwang Jun-peong thought .

“I’m Hwang Jun-peong . ”

“Hwang Jun-peong?”

“Oh, it’s true! Look carefully!”

“Re-really?”

“Is Hwang Jun-peong an awakener?”

Fortunately for him, many people recognized his face . His figure was a little changed, but people could still notice him .

Hwang Jun-peong started to speak again with relief . “Yes . I’ll explain the details later, but can you help me—”

Swish—

Clank—!

Hwang Jun-peong turned quickly and opened his hands . Su-hyeun had caught up to him and stabbed him in his back . The magic spread widely in all directions . The awakeners around them quickly retreated as far back as possible .

“What…what the?”

“Is he the real terrorist?”

It was a different level of battle . Hwang Jun-peong could not bear the power of Su-hyeun’s sword and stepped back . When he was this close to Su-hyeun, the first emotion he felt was fear .

“Damn it…” he thought .

It would be difficult to run away in this situation .

Hwang Jun-peong shouted out loud, “Help me! He’s the terrorist!”

There were about hundreds of awakeners from the twelve guilds . Individually, each of their ability might not be good enough . But if they combined all their power together, they might have a chance .

“This is what I call reversing the situation,” Hwang Jun-peong thought .

He believed in the power of his name . In China—all over the world, in fact—the name Hwang Jun-peong was well-known . And though Su-hyeun’s name was also well-known, not many people actually knew his face .

“What do I have to do…” Zhu In thought .

At the appearance of these two, Zhu In felt embarrassed . Looking at the situation, he felt like he should help Hwang Jun-peong, but it was not easy to make a decision . He had doubts Although Hwang Jun-peong had been known as a civilian before, now it turned out he was an awakener . The whole situation was incomprehensible . And then, in that moment…

Grrr—!

Miru revealed his teeth and roared at Hwang Jun-peong . Immediately after, Miru sprang out at Hwang Jun-peong .

“Miru!” Su-hyuen called .

Miru halted flapping his wings and came to a stop .

“It’s dangerous, so stay away . ”

The dragon’s reaction was all the evidence Zhu In needed to be convinced . He could at long last tell who had sent the note asking to evacuate the civilians .