Chapter 172 – Chapter 172 – Promise (15)

Hoo-wook.

The sight was pushed back.

Before I knew it, I floated up in the air, and without a chance to catch my breath, I repeated the chukji again.

Hoo-wook.

To reach the end of the field of view, we fold the space.

The space where I am standing now and the space to arrive.

The moment I closed the gap between them and pushed my body in, my vision went blank.

I was on my feet when I arrived.

And it wasn’t just me.

Papa papa pat.

In an instant, numerous members of the shadow family appear next to me and step on their feet.

The elite shamans, who had all experienced war, waited for the signal of the shaman in the lead in perfect order.

Chuck.

Jihye Kim.

Kim Ji-hye, who was at the forefront, snapped her fingers.

Then Jihye Kim’s shadow stretched out and swallowed her party.

I, too, was swallowed up and caught my breath in an unknown dark space.

“Heo-eok, heo-eok.”

It was a madly arduous march.

Receiving Kim Si-hee’s shadow sorcery, ‘Support’, she continued to spread a lot of paper.

Around the time when the sense of direction is disturbed and nausea rises.

Kim Ji-hye moved forward again, putting everyone but herself in her shadow.

It was a strange interior where the whole body was suppressed.

Still, it was the only space where I could breathe, so I took a slow, deep breath again.

“… It’s terrifying.”

I was swallowed in Kim Ji-hye’s shadow, but I could feel the magic being used outside.

Axis used in succession.

Kim Ji-hye put us in a sub-space and continued the celebration without a break.

It was downright insane.

Preparing for the moment when I would jump out of the shadows again, I reviewed the current situation.

Ah-reum attacked the conductor’s family.

We hurriedly headed to the scene to prevent the situation.

“……”

At the last moment, I still can’t forget the look of Areumie who said goodbye to me.

With empty golden eyes, Ah-reum seems to have made up her mind.

Do you recall that precarious figure hanging on the edge of a cliff?

Unknowingly, I was clenching my fists.

“Shit.”

I remembered what Jihye Kim had said to me before departure.

“Kang Han-jun.”

With cold eyes she had never shown before, Kim Ji-hye spoke to me.

“Remember, what we are going to rescue now is Merlin, not Areum Lee.”

I knew the reason without even saying it.

Bleeding.

Because of her fucking blood, Merlin didn’t want to die.

Without the true blood drawn out at will, the world would collapse.

The purpose of this group was to ensure Merlin’s survival from the beginning.

But, nonetheless.

I… I.

Back.

Clenching her fists so much that her blood leaked out, she made up her mind.

To be able to make a choice without hesitation when an extreme situation approaches.

* *

The first thing that caught my eye was the endless bloody surface.

As if blood had been spread on a flat floor, nothing existed above the surface of the strangely constant blood.

Shamans and architecture that must have existed in the conducting family.

There was not even a trace of them to be found.

“…!”

That’s why, the only two beings that exist above the surface of the water stood out.

A girl with fluttering light green hair and someone waving her hand in the air.

The sea of ​​blood turns into a skewer, breaking the runes embroidered like stars in the air.

The runes that trembled until the moment they were broken, spitting out sounds.

Whoa-! Whoa-!

Seeing runes shattered on the floor countless times, and those workshops colliding to the point of consuming all the sounds around them.

I could imagine how fiercely they fought.

Wow-!

In the sea of ​​blood, fangs were exposed.

The teeth that appeared without any warning eventually pulled out their huge body.

A dragon’s mouth made of blood.

It twisted its body ferociously and rushed at Merlin in the air.

Merlin narrowly escaped the dragon, but the dragon continued to advance into the air and bit the embroidered runes with a rough bite.

Clink-!

The runes embroidered in the cracked air like threads all crumbled.

Above the empty sky, the swaying dark red water surface.

The winner was decided, and dark red thorns protruded from under Merlin’s crumbling body along with the runes.

But at that moment.

“Stop.”

Kim Ji-hye appeared in the air and grabbed Merlin’s back.

The dark red thorns that had risen from Merlin were shadow food spirits wearing single-eyed glasses that appeared behind Kim Ji-hye’s back before she knew it.

It had been cut by Duoxini’s scythe.

“… Ah.”

And, soaked in her blood, the disfigured Areum looked at this and let out her moans in a daze.

“AA AA AA!”

Ah-Reum screamed as if she was exhausted and filled with anger.

It was a very weak voice, but a sea of ​​blood swayed according to his words.

All of a sudden, the members of the shadow family surrounding Areum started preparing to use magic.

“Keuk kuk kuk kuk kuk kuk kuk kuk!”

Then, Merlin, who was grabbed by the scruff of her neck by Kim Ji-hye, let out a grotesque laugh at her.

“Kuuuuu!”

There are wounds here and there on her, and one of her eyes was pierced and blood was pouring out of her.

Merlin let out a blissful roar.

“It’s beautiful, it’s beautiful!”

Merlin wriggled her hand in delight.

“The one who came to rescue me is the shadow family that has been hiding his identity until now. Besides, that Kim Ji-hye and Kang Yi-joon’s son are coming to rescue me. Kkeuk… Guk!”

“Why… Why… If only I had come a little longer…”

Unlike Merlin’s exasperated voice, Areumie’s voice started to sink to the point of goosebumps.

Rocking.

That time when the bloody surface squirms as if raising a final defiance.

I squeezed the members surrounding Areumie and jumped out.

“It’s beautiful.”

“… Brother?”

Inside the empty golden eyes, my image was put into it.

And in my eyes, the image of Ah-reum came into a mess.

The white dress she had previously gifted from the department store was stained with blood.

Her finely flowing hair was dried in blood.

But more than anything else, seeing Areumie’s eyes that made me think she was already dead.

Without realizing it, I was moving my steps towards Areum.

“Young master.”

Kim Si-hee appeared next to me and grabbed my wrist.

“…”

Looking at Kim Si-hee’s blunt eyes without saying anything, I became angry.

“Let go.”

“Young master.”

Kim Si-hee, still holding my wrist, looking at me.

“Let this go.”

In the past, I called her a lady and laughed at the subject.

The way she now restrains me with her sunken eyes.

Anger welled up.

It wasn’t just Kim Si-hee.

All the members here surrounding Areumie were also members who smiled at Arereum.

The doorkeeper standing over there was also a person who smiled at Areum in a simple way.

By the way… By the way… How is this?

“Brother.”

Then, Ah-reum called me.

Tall.

My body, which was trying to move, stopped.

“Why are you here?”

As if Areum was devastated, she smiled and whispered to me.

“Beautiful, there you are.”

Watching the wound, which would not be strange even if I collapsed soon, I said to Areum.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, let’s go back. Huh?”

“No, brother.”

Areumie had a subtle smile.

“You know, it’s already irreversible.”

At those weak but clear words, I shook my head.

“It can be reversed. Because it can be prevented somehow.”

“No.”

Aumie once again affirmed.

“I’m a being that shouldn’t exist. Even my older brother knows everything, well.”

As if that wasn’t the case, Areum blinked her eyes.

“As long as I exist, and as long as that scum exists. Brother, you’ll be in danger, right? You inherited dragon blood, so I’m sure someday.”

Areum swallowed the words behind her back.

Staggering and retching, Areumyi looked up at me.

“So brother. Don’t appear in front of me.”

Areum whispered, filling me with empty golden eyes.

“When I see my older brother, I keep getting greedy. So… If you show up to me next time… Then.”

Iron puck.

A sea of ​​blood roared.

Before I even noticed, a red thorn came out from under me.

“Uh?”

As if waiting for Kim Si-hee, who was next to me, she threw herself at the red thorns.

Kim Ji-hye, who was holding her Merlin, came up behind me before I knew it, and she was pulling me.

And as if waiting for that moment, Areumie said goodbye to me.

“I might covet my older brother out of proportion, so be careful.”

Fuhuaaaaak-!

As if everyone was waiting for the time when their attention was focused on me.

The sleep of blood that had spread all over the place rushed to Areum in an instant.

A huge amount of blood was soon spread in all directions.

Wanting to stop the waves of blood rushing in like a tsunami, Kim Ji-hye gritted her teeth and developed her defensive magic.

The moment when all the blood spread in all directions and became quiet.

Aumie had disappeared.

* *

The shadow family that rescued Merlin and returned.

As soon as Merlin, who seemed to be dying at any moment, was pushed into the hospital where manager Yuu attended, and everyone returned to the shadow family.

Jihye Kim hit the desk with a bang.

“… Rot.”

Growling, Kim Ji-hye hit the desk and glared at me.

“Hanjun Kang, I’m sure I said it. It sucks, but I’m going to rescue Merlin.”

Kim Ji-hye, who approached me with her steps, clenched her fists.

It was a fist that seemed ready to reach out to me at any moment, so I silently surrendered my body.

Kim Ji-hye, who was watching me like this, trembled her fist and opened her hand.

“Fuck, really.”

Kim Ji-hye hit the desk once more, bit her cigarette, and she sat down on her chair.

And she said to me

“Get out.”

When I didn’t take any action, Kim Ji-hye shouted in a high-pitched voice.

“Get out.”

“Wisdom sister.”

“…”

If you talk nonsense, it’s like he’ll beat you up.

Kim Ji-hye narrowed her eyes, but she looked at me.

“You know the origins.”

“… That’s why.”

I collected my thoughts and organized my words.

“Unconditional kindness and trust to strangers. Do you remember?”

“……”

Jihye Kim must have realized that I was saying something important, and her eyebrows twitched.

“Is it right that the prophecy of a prayer that twists the future in some way to the good side should end like this?”

“Tell me more.”

“Merlin must have gained more information about Areum through this fight. Merlin gets closer to the dragon and Areum dies. Is this really what the origin foreknowledge says?”

“……”

Jihye Kim didn’t say anything.

And I told you the direction of the origin foreknowledge I thought.

“I have to kill Merlin.”

“… What?”

“I think I’ll have to kill Merlin. And…”

Looking blankly at Kim Ji-hye with her mouth open, I uttered one more shocking thought.

“I think I’ll have to pay my blood.”