The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 326

324. Sibling Rivalry (4)

Thick raindrops drenched me completely, soaking me from head to toe as I stared at the unbelievable sight. Small puddles were scattered here and there from the rain. That was it. The lake was gone. I was so dumbfounded I almost laughed, but I couldn’t afford to relax.

As the water that had been blocking them disappeared, the fire began to spread. I staggered slightly and stood up, wet soil clinging to my feet.

“Amazing.”

At my involuntary exclamation, Yoohyun smiled brightly, as if in full bloom. The weapon melted by the Sword Devourer seemed to have vanished. Had he used the skill’s power all at once to blow away the lake? Even so, it was truly amazing.

At the same time, my chest swelled with pride.

“Am I the first one you’ve gone all out against like this?”

In a one-on-one fight, against another Hunter. Yoohyun nodded.

“Yeah. Especially since I have Hyung [older brother] by my side.”

For both the current Yoohyun and the Yoohyun from before the regression, using all his power would have been a last resort. Especially since Sword Devourer is a skill with significant risks. He had me behind him, so he could use such a skill.

The same must have been true during the ranking battles. No matter how enjoyable the fight was, he would have held back, fearing that taking more than a certain amount of damage would hinder his ability to protect me. Yoohyun even avoided participating in matches held overseas altogether.

Perhaps that was also why he mainly provoked Song Taewon. Because he was a safe opponent who couldn’t recklessly harm a valuable S-Rank Hunter.

“I was a shackle.”

At the same time, right now, this is his only escape.

Only I could bind him, and only I could release him. I used my transformed claws to scratch my arm, drawing blood, and grasped the flaming sword. I lightly lowered the sword and smiled at my brother.

“Don’t say that, Hyung. I’m having a lot of fun right now.”

“Yeah. It looks like it.”

I took a deep breath of the air thick with the smell of wet soil.

“Of course, I’m having fun too.”

Although it wasn’t reality, I was overjoyed that I could give my brother this experience.

I was always envious. I was jealous. He’s my brother. I’m his protector. But I couldn’t do anything but watch. I resented the Haeyeon Guild people who took my brother away and stood by his side. I felt pathetic for not being able to stand alongside my brother.

So.

I didn’t want to end it here. It was disadvantageous. I could barely hold on, and I didn’t see any chance of winning. But I still didn’t want to. Not just because of Yoohyun, but because I myself didn’t want to stop. Even if the conditions were bad, my stats were S-Rank, and my skills were S-Rank or higher.

I struggled for years as an F-Rank to get closer to Yoohyun, so how could I surrender now that I was an S-Rank?

I took a short breath and kicked off the ground. I charged at Yoohyun in a straightforward path, as if asking him to attack. His red eyes narrowed for a moment. Even while doubting my reckless behavior, he mercilessly swung the Ruler’s Sword.

Dodge it! Battle Sense warned me, indicating the path of the sword. But instead of dodging completely, I only avoided the vital points.

Clang!

The black blade pierced my shoulder, and at the same time, I transferred the pain twofold and swung the Black Blood Sword. Yoohyun didn’t seem greatly shaken, probably because he expected me to use Noah’s skill [pain transference]. But even if he was prepared, extreme pain was extreme pain. He thrust his sword at my reflexively twitching body.

Thud!

The sword made of flames collided with my arm. Even with the overlapping defense enhancements of the equipment, it couldn’t completely withstand it, tearing and leaving a long wound. I put strength into the sword and froze the wet ground beneath Yoohyun’s feet. Yoohyun’s balance faltered for a moment on the slippery ice that suddenly appeared, and without missing the opportunity, I strongly twisted my body, pulled out the sword from my shoulder, and kicked him.

Screech—

Yoohyun slid along the ice I created. But before he went far, he stopped by breaking the ice with his toes. I accurately predicted the point where he would stop and teleported a step ahead.

Clang! Sword and sword made a loud noise. Despite the difficult timing, Yoohyun quickly blocked the attack. But at the same time.

Crackle! Electricity sparked in front of his red eyes, blurring his vision. I slammed my elbow, firmly wrapped in golden scales, into my brother’s collarbone. The collarbone is a particularly weak bone in the human body. Originally, even an S-Rank would have had their collarbone broken by such an attack, but the equipment’s defense reduced the impact.

Yoohyun immediately countered against the weaker-than-expected attack. The dagger in my brother’s hand was already stabbing at my shoulder, which hadn’t fully recovered. I quickly spun my body around and revealed my wings with a whoosh.

Thwack!

The dragon’s wings, which suddenly appeared and spread out strongly, accurately struck Yoohyun’s wrist and chest. The wings’ power, which allowed for high-speed flight, was strong, although it seemed weak due to the membrane. Yoohyun, who had been strongly hit all over his body, flew backward and threw a wire. Whirring, the wire wrapped around the wings without a chance to retract, and my body was dragged along with it.

Thud.

Muddy water splashed, and we both rolled on the ground almost simultaneously. I removed the wings, freed myself from the wire, and took out the bombs from my inventory, throwing them as if sliding them across the mud.

Kaboom! Bang! Because it was the soft lake bottom, the water-soaked soil obscured the vision and soared into the air. I broke through the rain of mud and charged again. Yoohyun also got up in the meantime and raised a flame. The soaring clods of mud were instantly baked?!

The hardened clods of mud, filled with heat, were hit by the flexible sword that was swung like a whip and flew towards me. Was it because it wasn’t caused by ordinary fire? It was as if chunks of metal were pouring down. Just as I was about to use a shield to block the clods of dirt, Yoohyun came right in front of me.

Bang!

The Ruler’s Sword that was brought down collided with the shield. The S-Rank barrier skill was destroyed in an instant, and the blade fell towards my shoulder. I bent my knees and leaned back, shooting the gun. Thud! The sword and bullet collided, and the blade, slightly pushed aside, grazed my shoulder and got stuck. As soon as I rolled my body to the side, a flame spear with a darker blue light than before was stuck and exploded in the spot where I had been.

My ears were slightly ringing from the close-range explosion. I took out my tail and swung it, kicking up mud, and tripped Yoohyun’s legs. At the same time, I spread my wings. I sprang up as if bouncing off the ground with the force of the wings pushing against the ground, and with that momentum, I pounced on my brother, who had lost his balance because his legs were tripped.

“This will sting!”

An item I had bought from the store when moving to the lake, Selm Sea Night Clam Thorns. I turned off my poison resistance skill and accurately inserted the long, needle-like brown thorns into the torn gap in the equipment. Of course, my brother didn’t stay still either, and the Ruler’s Sword tore off half of my wing. Since there were no identical parts on the wing, pain transfer was impossible. Yoohyun quickly created distance and pulled out the thorns, but the SS-Rank paralysis poison spread instantly.

“Ugh…!”

My brother staggered and collapsed to the ground, and I also collapsed powerlessly. I could feel my back getting lukewarm from the blood flowing from my wings. I quickly used a healing skill, but I couldn’t muster any strength in my body, probably because the bleeding was worse than I thought. As I took out a potion and turned my head, I saw my brother taking out an antidote in the distance. The small earcuff on Yoohyun’s ear, barely visible, was faintly shining. I hadn’t seen it before, so I thought it was some kind of temporary detoxification item, not a poison resistance item.

If you add a temporary detoxification item to the original poison resistance item and a detoxification potion, even an SS-Rank paralysis poison won’t last long. He’s an S-Rank Awakened, so his own resistance is also high.

But I thought I would be able to get up first.

Clang!

“Hey!”

The potion bottle I was holding suddenly heated up and shattered. The spilled potion evaporated in an instant. It was Yoohyun’s fire.

“No, how can you do that with something in your hand… I have fire resistance too!”

I even got a burn on my finger. Could it be that Yoohyun’s fire is now superior to my fire resistance? But… it’s a skill from before the regression. Of course, the rank was also high. And it’s not even within the range of the melted last door [a reference to a previous event].

“I didn’t, think I could, either.”

My brother smiled, even while stammering with a stiff tongue. Yoohyun, who had drunk the antidote, forcibly raised his upper body. The flame, which had become closer to blue than black, swirled around my brother as if wrapping around him. Did it gain some special ability as the color changed? Black Blood Flame also has the ability to slow down the opponent’s recovery. That’s why I was able to easily stab the thorns into Yoohyun’s wounds and poison him.

I gave up using the potion and got up, supporting myself with my tail. The fact that I couldn’t use mana potions was a bigger problem than not being able to use health potions.

‘…Because I don’t have Grace [a specific skill or blessing].’

Fortunately, my real body had Grace, so I wouldn’t run out of mana like when I fought Seong Hyunjae. Certainly, compared to then, I didn’t feel much strain on my real body.

Yoohyun tried to pick up the Ruler’s Sword, which he had dropped due to the paralysis poison weakening him. That sword is the most troublesome! It’s too late to jump in now, but I don’t need to move with my own feet. I used the teleportation skill and.

“Ugh, Hyung!”

I wrapped my arm around my brother’s neck and rolled on the ground. Fortunately, the ground was slightly sloped, so I laid down an icy path, and the two of us slid together for a long time.

“Kugh!”

Yoohyun strongly stabbed his elbow into my side, which was clinging to his back. I was momentarily breathless. Immediately after, my brother flipped his body over and pinned me down. At the same time, I swung my tail. With a thud, Yoohyun’s body flew to the side. The paralysis poison effect was still present, so his movements were dull. They should be dull.

Whoosh!

The speed at which he created a spear with flames and rushed at me was no less than usual. The equipment’s instantaneous acceleration skill. Clang! I didn’t have time to draw the Black Blood Flame, so I blocked the tip of the spear with the gun. A faint line was drawn on the surface of the white gun.

“I gave it to you, but it’s really, troublesome!”

I’m proud to see him using it so well, though. I barely twisted the muzzle and pulled the trigger. A magic bullet grazed Yoohyun’s hair. A few strands of black hair scattered, and a fist, slightly slower than usual but empowered by the acceleration skill, flew at me with power no less than that of any S-Rank Hunter.

I dodged the fist by tilting my head back, and then Yoohyun spread his hand wide. Black-green powder scattered from his open hand.

“It’s poison.”

I was dumbfounded by the voice that asked, “Will you detoxify me?” The poisonous powder was sprayed near my head, so it soon began to affect my body. I had no choice but to turn on poison resistance again, and thanks to being so close, Yoohyun, whose paralysis poison had completely recovered, attacked with movements that were impossible to keep up with.

The shield I barely managed to create shattered, and I was kicked straight in the chest and thrown backward. Blood mixed with the cough I spat out. While I was using a healing skill, Yoohyun held the Ruler’s Sword in his hand. The blue flame, with only the innermost part remaining black, rose up the blade with a whoosh.

At some point, the lake pit was also filled with flames. It was expanding its territory and increasing its heat as if it would devour everything, even me, at any moment.

“…Yoohyun.”

The hot air filled my lungs every time I took a breath. My brother smiled, covered in wounds and dirt. He smiled with the utmost satisfaction. It was the face of a sated predator.

If here, as it is. If I let him have his way until the end, even if I don’t know what will happen. Then will the black flames that remain like stains completely turn blue?

The tilted moon scattered a faint light behind my brother, who was slowly approaching.

A whisper came from deep within my chest, asking if this wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to help him until he was fully grown. I wanted to take care of him and raise him until the end, instead of letting go of him early because I had no choice.

I thought I had been completely deprived of that. But in fact, my brother had to be me. So if I give everything now, my duty will be over.

‘…There’s one more person.’

So. Because I couldn’t let go of either, I got up again.

“Let’s wake up now.”

“Why?”

Yoohyun tilted his head and said. No, even if you ask why.

“I also want to give you as much as you want—”

“Hyung said you were having fun too.”

Splash! Water splashed from the few remaining puddles. Yoohyun kicked off the ground strongly and instantly reached in front of me. The Ruler’s Sword cut through the air. My chest was torn open in a long gash. I created a sword with the blood that flowed out and blocked the continuous attacks.

“Yoohyun!”

There was no reply to my urgent cry. The biggest disadvantage of Diarma’s mental skill [likely a dream or illusion] was that it could only be released if both sides wanted to leave. I continued to be pushed back by the raging offensive. Before I knew it, a steep wall was approaching behind me.

Thwack!

The attack that grazed me hit the wall, and dirt poured down. The surroundings were completely covered in flames, so the method of obscuring the vision no longer worked. The embers fluttering around became Yoohyun’s watchers.

The air was so dry that it was difficult to draw water or make ice. It wasn’t impossible, but it consumed an extreme amount of mana. Even if I avoided the crisis with teleportation, it was only for a moment, and I was soon caught up.

“Keugh-!”

I barely managed to avoid the Ruler’s Sword, but I was helplessly knocked back and slammed into the wall by the kick that followed. Yoohyun’s flames wrapped around my ankles. Thanks to fire resistance, it was only slightly hot, but strangely, my strength was draining away.

A spear made of flames was thrown violently. The spear blade scorched the nape of my neck, which I barely managed to twist. The blood that leaked out soaked my collar. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but my mouth was sweet.

This might be really dangerous. If I had Grace, I could have suppressed Yoohyun, even if there was some difference in stats and skills.

Still, I didn’t expect Yoohyun to be so unable to control himself. My whole body trembled slightly at the approaching momentum. I had points left, so I was thinking about how to use the items well to get to the sea, when.

Clang!

“…Han Yoohyun!”

The Ruler’s Sword pierced not me, but its owner’s body. Yoohyun slowly blinked his eyes, which had a faint red tinge.