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Chapter 153

“──Choi Kang-hyun, I’ll be the one to take you down and become number one.”

Wow.

This is going to be fun.

Hearing Choi Kang-hyun’s words, a smile spreads across Choi Yeon’s lips.

“I think it’ll be fun.”

“Me too.”

The movements were almost simultaneous.

“Double-ended.”

“Sea wind.

Choi Yeon raises her sword above her head, and Choi Kang-hyun turns the water in his hand into a blade and sends it flying.

As their attacks meet, a shockwave rushes through the air, creating a tremendous gust of wind around them.

“He must have learned properly in Busan, huh?”

The techniques and movements he’s using now look like a second year at the academy.

I didn’t think he’d be fighting Choi Yeon at such a level already.

“Full ship.”

Choi Kang-hyun clasped her hands together, and the water scattered on the ground rose up to form a huge ship.

“This level of skill in a place with no seawater?”

Apparently, his ability can only be triggered in places with water.

Where did he draw all this water from?

“……Ye Hoham. Did he give it to him?”

A treasure that should have belonged to Ye Hoham.

[The Salt Jar]

It’s an object that has no use whatsoever, with only the power to turn poisonous water into salt water.

However, in Choi Kang-hyun’s hands, it was truly powerful.

It’s almost like a dedicated artifact.

“The difficulty of obtaining such a subject was unbelievably high…….”

Choi Kang-hyun got it so things were starting to get exciting.

“──Fall down as you are.”

The huge fleet of seawater ships created by Choi Kang-hyun moved towards her.

At the charge of ships with enormous volume and mass Choi Yeon stoops low and grabs the hilt of her sword in a reverse grip.

“Chop.”

The ships bend and collapse under the force of her blow.

As the ships collapse and her vision becomes cluttered, she seizes the opportunity and begins to run toward Choi Kang-hyun.

The water around her churns and rises in response to her path.

Choi Kang-hyun stomps his foot, forming a barrier of water in front of him.

“Stem the tide.”

But Choi Yeon slices through it with ease, raising her sword above her head as if it were a joke.

“Aren’t you disrespecting me too much?”

Choi Kang-hyun, who had already prepared a counterattack stance inside the barrier, rushes forward and throws a punch.

Neither of them can back down so the fight goes back and forth for a while.

Choi Yeon dodges the attack by turning her head like a cat dodging a snake but Choi Kang-hyun closes the distance between them.

When she realized she was in his range, she took a step back, trying to keep her distance.

“I can’t get away.”

The snake seized the opportunity and attacked her.

There was another fist this time aimed at her head but she ducked her head to the left to avoid it, however a stream of water from Choi Kang-hyun’s hand hit her in the eye.

“Boom!”

Choi Yeon squeezes her eyes shut as her vision is momentarily blocked but Choi Kang-hyun doesn’t miss the opportunity to kick her in the face. However it wasn’t enough to penetrate her defenses.

Rolling to avoid his attack, Choi Yeon swung her sword at Choi Kang-hyun’s arm.

The sword slashed at his arm but he blocked it with both hands as if it’s nothing.

-Boom!

Sparks fly between his arm and the sword.

Is that really the sound of human arms and swords touching?

When I was questioning the scene, Choi Yeon spoke first.

“The man from Busan, his body and mind are like steel.”

Ah, that’s it.

He learned his skills from one of Ye Hoham’s disciples.

“You can’t beat me with a sword.”

As if to say, you can’t cut steel, so you can’t win.

To this, Choi Yeon closed her eyes as if it were no big deal and smiled.

“Steel is not enough.”

“What?”

-Geek. Giggle. Giggle.

Little by little, her sword begins to dig into his arm as Choi Kang-hyun’s arm writhes, blood dripping from it.

Panicked, he immediately gathers the water around him and tries to wrap it around Choi Yeon’s head, but he can’t reach her body, which is already covered in aura so he switches gears and gathers all the water around him to close the distance.

“Sea spear.”

He creates dozens or even hundreds of spears of seawater on the water’s edge at the same time.

It seems to have realized that he can’t fight in close quarters and has decided to fight from a distance.

It wasn’t a bad plan. As a melee-oriented fighter, a barrage of magic from out of range would be an eye-opener.

The only problem is that she’s a speed swordswoman, which is the fastest of the swordsmen, and the sword she’s holding is no ordinary sword.

“You can’t run anymore.”

Choi Yeon lunged forward, trying to seize the advantage.

However, at that moment, Choi Yeon froze.

She looked down and saw that the water around her was already ankle-deep.

The magical seawater grabbed Choi Yeon’s ankles, slowing her down.

“Did you use your head?”

I clap my hands, looking down at them from a comfortable position.

“But it can’t end here. Right?”

I’m in awe of his skill, but only in the creativity department.

Would he be able to pull this off?

The answer came quickly.

She rises to the surface of the water in a very natural way and splashes her whole body.

She broke the surface in a way that reminded me of a ninja from an anime.

It wasn’t that strange, considering that Choi Seon-ho was jumping through the air with only a single leaf to step on, but…… it was clear that Choi Kang-hyun was quite surprised.

“So, ordinary techniques won’t work?”

Choi Yeon shook her head.

“No, because the aura on the foot requires constant concentration so it worked a little bit.”

“You mean a little bit.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re not the only one who created this field in the first place.”

After saying that, Choi Kang-hyun lightly stomped his foot, and a pillar of water rose in the distance.

-Ahhhhh!

-How did you know!

All of the creatures that had been hiding in various parts of the Han River Park are suddenly summoned or revealed by the sudden attack.

And

“I didn’t think you’d hit me.”

Choi Yeon twisted sideways as she felt the magic beneath her feet, and a pillar of water rose from where she was standing.

“Honestly, I was kind of hiding, weren’t I?”

Well, there’s no way they would have missed the second-place title hovering over my head.

“Uh, Eugene, hi.”

Meanwhile, Choi Yeon was greeting me as if she didn’t realize I was close.

How could she be so focused on the fight that she didn’t see this shiny title?

It was so like her, I thought.

“Choi Yeon, let’s take out the runner-up then we’ll decide who’s on top.”

Isn’t it for nothing that the community is saying things like, “Doesn’t your IQ increase by about 30 points when you fight Choi Kang-hyun?”

But Choi Yeon shakes her head and raises her sword.

“No.”

“What?”

“I’m going to take you all down anyway.”

Hearing her words, Choi Kang-hyun was shocked.

I just realized how little I knew about Choi Yeon’s personality so I didn’t expect that we would end up in such a confrontation.

“You’re trying to set me up like this by messing with me?”

I was going to take my time and just watch, but I couldn’t stay still if I was attacked first.

“Let’s clear the area first.”

[Activate Skill: Aura Sonar]

I scanned the area once before engaging in a three-way battle, and the locations of the hiding rats began to appear one by one.

There were three of them left, not including the three of us.

“Anyone want to take a shotgun blast? I’ll give you a chance to get out of the field on your own two feet.”

I spread the fear by infusing the Ancient Berserker Ring with aura, and one by one, the hiding people began to run towards the magnetic field.

-Run!

-Hic!

Of course, there were some who stayed behind to fight to the end, but…….

─Bang! ──Bang!

The ones who had been casting shitty spells up to this point were barely holding on.

In front of a great bargaining tool, they had no choice but to leave.

“Alright, so there are only three of us left. How about we start right away?”

Choi Yeon nods as we briefly warm up before the intense battle ahead.

“Yeah.”

At the same time, she charges at me, swinging her sword.

I was expecting it, but I didn’t expect her to charge at me right away.

───Grrrrrrr!

I wrapped the Midas gloves with aura and blocked her sword.

The red aura and the blue aura created a repulsive force to push each other away, sparking colorful sparks.

“I thought it was a gap.”

“As if I don’t know you.”

Apparently, she’d forgotten that we both were taught together.

“When you see an opening, you have to take it, don’t you think?”

“I agree. Talking about being cowardly in the real world only makes you sound like a loser.

I’m a fast learner, after all. I’m doing exactly what the elders said yesterday.

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t take your eye off the ball.”

This is not a one-on-one, but a three-way battle.

Behind her, Choi Kang-hyun, who has water in both hands, rushes in and tries to take advantage of Choi Yeon’s weakness.

She quickly ducks and twists her waist to attack from behind.

But

“I got you, huh?”

I point the muzzle of the shotgun at her back, my finger on the trigger.

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

‘That way I can f*ck both of them at once.’

──Quang!

With a tremendous momentum that seemed to sweep away everything around, the shots hit the two of them.

It was not an ordinary attack, but an attack unleashed with Aura powered by my bloodline ability.

As if to prove its destructive power, Choi Kang-hyun, who was already exhausted from his battle with Choi Yeon, was sent back with a look of horror on his face, and Choi Yeon, who had tried to evade it, was sent flying away by the impact.

In that brief moment, she had the judgment to turn her body to the side, reducing the landing range and releasing the aura to reduce the damage.

She was an astonishing creature.

Choi Yeon slowly stood up, using her sword as a cane.

“Eugene, you’re dead.”

“You’ve heard your grandfather say that talking about cowardice in combat is only an excuse for a loser. Besides, you’re the one who tried to ambush me, right?”

“…….”

Arguing was one of the things I was best at and her lack of words meant she was a no-go for me.

“Can you fight more with that body?”

Even if she’d dodged the bullet, she’d taken a good shot from Billy the Kid’s shotgun following her fight with Choi Kang-hyun.

I’m not sure if she’s actually injured her leg or if her body is off-balance.

“Yeah. I can do more.”

As if this was no big deal she nods and points her sword at me once more.

Again, I knew she’d do that.

And it wasn’t completely unfounded, either. I would have done that, too.

Chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-ch.

Little by little, I can see her body starting to recover.

The healing powers of the Illusory Saint Sword, the new sword she showed me yesterday, were beginning to kick in.

“……Well, we’ll have to make this quick, won’t we?”

I was confident in sustained combat, but I didn’t want to drag it out against a woman who got stronger the more she fought.

“Choi Yeon.”

I call her name and begin stacking aura in my right hand.

“I’ll take the number 1 spot this time.”

“If you can…….”

Her sword begins to glow blue but I had no intention of prolonging the fight.

[Bloodline Ability: “Corleone” controls “Midas’ Gloves”]

A black aura begins to emerge from Midas’ gloves, which have now taken the form of red knuckles.

“Two ends.”

She swings her sword toward me.

In my world, I would have allowed the attack to continue, looking for a counter…….

[Triggers Black Sword]!

I wasn’t playing around either so I activated Black Sword and dodged the attack, then slammed my fist into her body as hard as I could.

“Hmph-!”

At the same time, a bright blue light fills the surroundings.

[Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!]

[This concludes the midterm evaluation of the first year]