CHAPTER 342: LEE YERIN (2)

Thanks to that, their route changed from the Cheong-an Building to the special training ground next to it.

The last time Kang-hoo had come to the Cheong-an Building, he had only gotten the impression that they were hard at work building something.

Now it was a massive training ground with a neat exterior. It was clear they had executed quite a large budget.

Soon they parked in the training ground’s lot and Lee Ye-rin and Kang-hoo got out.

Looking around, they saw many members of the Cheong-an mercenary corps moving in and out of the training ground.

Kang-hoo spoke.

“It looks like your headcount has increased quite a bit.”

“New sign-ups have been steadily trending up. Since Eclipse lost the Cheongmyeong Detention Center, it’s doubled.”

“Oh-ho.”

“The hunters in Daejeon who had been watching Eclipse’s mood seem to be coming to our corps in droves.”

“A good trend.”

“Right. For that reason we pushed the training ground budget more aggressively, and we massively upgraded security.”

“I can definitely see the attention to detail.”

Kang-hoo nodded.

Security inside and outside the special training ground was extremely tight.

From the front gate to the training ground itself, no fewer than four screenings were required.

On top of that, the always-on barrier-type outer wall functioned as a sturdy defensive wall.

Even if someone tried a snipe from outside into the training ground, most routes would be blocked.

Considering the mana stones consumed to maintain the barrier, you couldn’t call it economical by any means— but for Lee Ye-rin, who prioritized her members’ safety above all, it didn’t seem to be a matter for hesitation.

“Mr. Shin Kang-hoo, a pleasure to meet you!”

“Welcome! We’re honored!”

“We greet our guest as well! Cheong! An!”

Every Cheong-an mercenary whose eyes met Kang-hoo’s bowed and greeted him without exception.

He had thought that, as an outsider, a light nod would suffice.

But when each of them bent at a right angle and paid their respects, Kang-hoo found himself bowing as well.

It also reflected, in part, the character of Captain Lee Ye-rin, who valued propriety in any situation.

Soon the mercenaries receded into the distance.

As the two of them moved on alone again, Lee Ye-rin casually shifted the topic.

“Kang-hoo.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think about Heuksaja?”

“Same bed, different dreams.”

The answer came immediately.

It was brief, but it carried a lot of meaning. That thought had never changed.

Lee Ye-rin nodded vigorously, as if fully convinced.

“Se-hyuk said the same. That one day Heuksaja would take Eclipse’s vacant seat.”

“I don’t think it’s a relationship you can trust for long.”

Kang-hoo answered evenly.

He foresaw a rupture in Lee Ye-rin’s cooperation with Heuksaja, whereas her working with Jeon Se-hyeok looked good.

Jeon Se-hyeok was far from sly. If anything, he tended not to look out for his own interests well enough.

If he had been adept at manipulation and using situations to his advantage— he would long ago have started his own organization and greatly expanded its power. But he hadn’t. 𝙧𝘼ℕꝊ𝖇Ё𝒮

“Thanks for the good advice.”

“Not at all. I only expressed my thoughts in a four-character idiom.”

“That’s more than enough to clear my head. You’re right. We can’t coexist with Heuksaja.”

If she had already reached that judgment, there was no need to say more.

She was a smart person.

She had borrowed the knife called Heuksaja to press Eclipse down, but she surely knew the blade was dirty.

When to discard and scrap that knife… that was for the keen-witted her to decide. No need to play the wind-caller.

----------------------------------------

A little later.

They donned protective gear.

Set up for sparring, Kang-hoo and Lee Ye-rin faced each other.

The daggers provided to Kang-hoo were all wooden practice blades.

And Lee Ye-rin wore special gloves to limit her magical firepower.

Of course, they only greatly reduced damage; they didn’t change skill mechanics themselves.

The same went for Kang-hoo.

Because they were wooden blades, lethality dropped, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t produce what he wanted.

“Using the graceful Mist Tracker skill, based on the constellation ‘Observer of Chaos,’ which specializes in blocking and warping vision.”

That was what Kang-hoo most watched for with Lee Ye-rin. It was also like her signature trait.

But beyond that, there were far more constellations attached to her now that concerned him than before.

【Onmyoji】

【All “magic skill” damage can be continually increased in proportion to the mana spent.】

“With sufficient mana, a normal skill becomes a one-hit finisher—such a constellation.”

As an ally it was reassuring; as an enemy it was a headache. It made her limits hard to gauge.

【Master of Storage】

【You can store mana in three mana stones imbued with constellation energy, and draw it out later.

Only the contractor benefits from the storage; to others the mana is in an incompatible state.】

In effect, she had auxiliary batteries.

Onmyoji and Master of Storage had excellent synergy. If needed, she could unleash power beyond a one-hit kill.

【Nameless Striver】

【When casting skills, one out of ten times the skill fires as if at maximum mastery.】

“What a busted combo.”

A snort escaped him.

He felt greedy to fight her—and at the same time proud, since it was a friend’s growth.

Lee Ye-rin’s rise, as a spearhead of the anti-Jeonghwa line, mattered greatly to him.

He couldn’t handle everything alone.

Hunters like Lee Ye-rin, Park Dong-jae, Jeon Se-hyeok, and An Yeong-ho also had to keep growing for the future to be easier.

“I’d better focus.”

They stood in the ready state for the spar.

Kang-hoo lowered his stance.

It had been a while since they’d crossed blades, so he meant to approach the opening as a probe.

Of course, if a chance showed itself, the probe would instantly turn into counterattack and assault. But the purpose of the first clash was scouting.

Fwoom!

A Mist Tracker left Lee Ye-rin’s fingertips with a sonic hiss and flew toward Kang-hoo.

Not to mention that it was much faster than before—its path had even been optimized.

Early on, there had been a lot of wobble, with wasteful travel; now it traced a straight line.

【Acceleration】

【Shadow Step】

While he used Acceleration to move backward, Shadow Step opened multiple movement options.

A kind of insurance.

Then, facing the tracker that had already closed the distance head-on, Kang-hoo threw out a sacrificial lamb.

【Clone Technique】

Boom!

True to a clone’s duty to stand in for the real body, the clone collided with the Mist Tracker and exploded.

A cheap trade.

He thought he had created an opening in her main skill—when the follow-up came immediately.

“Missed it.”

Seeing a black pillar coil up from around his feet, Kang-hoo bit his lip.

His response was late.

He was already exposed to her skill—a loss in rock-paper-scissors, for the moment.

In that instant— a brief blackout came.

Apparently a vision-blocking skill.

Vision-blocking and warping attacks were Lee Ye-rin’s specialty; it was nothing new.

The scary part was that, despite the distance between them, her skill struck straight away.

From the opponent’s position, you were exposed at an unexpected timing and lost your sight.

【Sight of Resonance】

【Skill Mastery: Lv. Max】

【Even if blinded by poison or forced by a skill, you can still secure vision.】

【Sight of Resonance actively helps the user perceive the world in black and white.】

【It automatically consumes 0.5 mana per second only while blinded; if mana runs short, the ability is limited.】

Sight of Resonance triggered immediately.

It was the skill he had robbed from Gloria, the main boss of a dungeon he’d cleared with the Groo Guild.

Thanks to it, Kang-hoo had almost no fear of the “blind” state that stole vision.

Apart from the sense that a color screen had turned black-and-white, there was nothing inconvenient at all.

However— if he acted as though nothing was wrong and fought like there was no issue, that would be the worst choice.

Kang-hoo pretended to fall into Lee Ye-rin’s trap: he jabbed a dagger in the wrong direction and feigned fluster.

Having learned from watching hunters who suffered from his own skills, his reaction held not a trace of awkwardness.

“Tch!”

With a grimace, Kang-hoo unfolded an Immaculate Wall. It was angled forty-five degrees off from where Lee Ye-rin was.

He lowered his body.

Pulled the wall tighter to himself.

Seemingly holding his breath to the utmost and scanning his surroundings, he suddenly spun and flicked wooden daggers in all directions.

And, as if to keep insurance for just in case, he scattered shadows with Shadow Step.

Shaaaa! Thunk!

“Urk, damn.”

Presently, the Mist Tracker Lee Ye-rin sent as a test struck squarely into Kang-hoo’s flank.

At the point when the swift, quick-witted Kang-hoo failed to counter her skill, Lee Ye-rin became sure he was blind.

Even more defensive now, he fell back, scattering shadows along the way.

But sensing his lack of conviction, Lee Ye-rin ignored the shadows and aimed another skill at him.

Looking the wrong way, Kang-hoo sent out Corruption Beasts, but their path went in the exact opposite direction.

In the next moment— gripping her right wrist with her left hand, Lee Ye-rin unleashed a finisher-level strike at Kang-hoo.

Thanks to the special gloves, the power would be reduced, but it was more than enough to set off his armor’s alarms.

No matter how skilled an assassin, you can’t beat variables. Lee Ye-rin was certain of victory.

But right then— the trace of a shadow she hadn’t even cared about—one that had just drifted past her like smoke—changed.

She had thought it was a mere decoy passing by her side, but then she felt human warmth.

And the moment she sensed warmth and turned her head, a wooden dagger was already coming in.

It was Kang-hoo’s Lightning Dagger Dash.

Fired from an extremely close distance—with even a shove effect applied—the blow carried considerable force.

Boom!

“Kyah!”

Even though she wore armor— and even though the blade wasn’t an item dagger but a wooden practice sword for sparring!

The power of the wooden dagger slamming into her armor was shockingly strong.

【You tripled the mana cost for the ‘Lightning Dagger Dash’ skill and produced a doubled effect.】

It was thanks to that eccentric constellation.

Ever since killing Yuji and robbing it, its trait let him invest more mana to boost firepower!

It might be lacking in cost-effectiveness, but it was perfectly specialized for creating variables.

Knocked properly by the dagger’s force, Lee Ye-rin’s body tipped sideways, losing balance.

In that gap, Kang-hoo pressed in tight to her side.

In a real fight, her neck—or something—would already have flown, and she would surely be a bloody mess.

But since this was a spar, Kang-hoo settled things with a low but clear statement that carried a definite message.

It was something that would make Lee Ye-rin rethink and recheck many things.

“Assassins live on variables. Nothing is a given. Not even a shadow that looks trivial.”

In that instant, Lee Ye-rin felt her face flush hot. It was an unbearable scorch of embarrassment.

This mistake—!

Driven by the desire to beat Kang-hoo no matter what, she had fallen headlong into a fatal blunder.

Without realizing it, a phobia toward Kang-hoo—a phobia—had begun to form in her heart.