The S-Classes That I Raised [EN]: Chapter 325

My heart pounded. The pain in my arm was quickly forgotten as my insides burned. Han Yu-hyun stared at his brother. In a landscape of destruction, collapse, and melting, he was the only one who remained perfectly visible.

The upper part of the building tilted and crashed to the ground. Moonlight streamed in from the exposed sky. The round moon was even larger and whiter than the full moon of last Chuseok [Korean harvest festival]. Its white light mingled with the blazing flames.

The surroundings were filled with heat, and flames licked at Han Yu-jin’s feet. Han Yu-hyun’s heart pounded even harder as he watched his brother, unaffected by the flames crawling up his shoes, stepping onto the crumbling floor.

A brother holding black flames, possessing fire resistance like himself, not from items or equipment. He was his only blood relative, yet so different, but at this moment, he felt like the only kindred spirit, the only one of his kind in the world.

Only the two of them could tread in the black and blue flames.

“It’s a skill that can be halved with painkillers.”

Han Yu-jin opened his mouth. Han Yu-hyun listened to his voice as if entranced.

“I won’t recommend it. It dulls the senses.”

With those words, golden wings unfolded with a snap. Han Yu-hyun felt his blood surge as he watched Han Yu-jin soar into the air. His fingertips twitched reflexively. Even as he spread his blue willow leaves, engulfed in a thick battle aura, his mind coldly assessed the situation.

Toward the lake. He mustn’t let him move to a favorable location. Han Yu-jin’s flight speed wasn’t fast, as if he was trying to lure him. He had also deactivated his stealth skill. But the distance had already widened too much to catch up.

Han Yu-hyun stored the Ruler’s Sword in his inventory and stretched one arm forward. Flames flickered from his fingertips, forming a bow. As expected, an arrow made of fire was aimed at the golden wings. His brother wouldn’t fail to dodge it. So.

“Irin.”

With that soft call, the bow was fired. Cutting through the air and heating it, two, three, four arrows were rapidly fired in succession! Han Yu-jin folded his wings halfway and teleported briefly to evade the relentless barrage. At that moment!

Whoosh!

A massive Imugi [lesser dragon] appeared amidst the raging flames, coiling around Han Yu-jin’s body. He had exploited the gap when he couldn’t use teleportation skills consecutively due to his inexperience. The red Imugi’s claws slashed and gripped the golden dragon’s wings. Teeth filled with blue flames fiercely bit and shook the black flames of the sword.

Taking advantage of the entanglement of the two dragonkins and the Imugi, Han Yu-hyun ran through the air on willow leaves, rapidly approaching. The Ruler’s Sword was back in his hand. The first thing to deal with was.

‘Stealth skill.’

Stealth and teleportation. Either one alone wouldn’t be difficult to handle, but using them simultaneously was quite tricky. Han Yu-jin was even skillfully using tricks. Teleportation was a skill he possessed, so there was no way to stop it. But stealth would drop to A-rank if the buff was removed.

Han Yu-hyun’s eyes met Han Yu-jin’s. His pupils, narrowed from partially transforming to shake off Irin, looked at his younger brother and smiled.

“Hey, isn’t Irin in this state cheating? It’s from the Alpha days.”

“Is it? Sorry.”

With a brief apology, Han Yu-hyun grabbed the half-folded wings. Then, he used his strength to press Han Yu-jin’s body down. Irin disappeared, and Han Yu-jin, unable to withstand the force, fell straight down.

Bang!

With a loud noise, fragments of the road scattered and dust billowed. Han Yu-hyun tried to swing his sword while pinning his brother down. But before he could, poison surged and a dragon’s tail stabbed like a spear. Han Yu-hyun blocked the tail with his sword, burned the poison with fire, and while dodging, grabbed Han Yu-jin’s jacket with his other hand and tore it off forcefully.

Rip, the jacket, which had been partially deformed to reveal the wings, tore off with a loud noise. Taking advantage of the gap, Han Yu-jin rolled out from under Han Yu-hyun and frowned slightly at the tattered jacket. It was too damaged to function properly.

“Too bad! Good thing it wasn’t the real one!”

Instead of answering, the Ruler’s Sword flew at him. Han Yu-jin quickly jumped back from the attack that came sliding in low to the ground. As soon as he floated into the air, a wire stretched out, and the Ruler’s Sword followed Han Yu-jin, twisting its blade.

Attacks from different directions simultaneously, and while suspended in the air, made it impossible to avoid, even with combat prediction. Failing even with the teleportation skill, Han Yu-jin hastily parried the Ruler’s Sword with his transformed claws and gave his leg to the wire. The wire pulled strongly,

“Ugh!”

His body, losing balance and crashing to the ground, was dragged roughly.

Scratch! Han Yu-jin dug his claws into the ground, resisting, and shot backward. Magic bullets were blocked by the sword, bouncing off lightly. Successive sword strikes rained down, and Han Yu-jin barely dodged the attacks by rolling on the ground. Each time the blade grazed his body, the ground caved in and fragments flew up.

Han Yu-jin, covered in dirt, tried to get up, but Han Yu-hyun pulled the wire each time, preventing him. With the attacks relentless, he had no time to cut the wire. After falling several times, Han Yu-jin spat out the dirt that had gotten into his mouth.

“I didn’t want to use this.”

He couldn’t escape without resorting to a slightly underhanded method. Han Yu-jin twisted his body to avoid an attack that grazed his waist, and then.

“Sleep well, our Yu-hyun~”

He suddenly sang a song. A lullaby. Lullaby, lullaby, A-rank skill. Performing an action to make the opponent fall asleep can cause them to fall asleep. And a lullaby fell under the category of actions to induce sleep.

“…Hy, Hyung!”

Han Yu-hyun staggered for a moment at the unexpected use of the skill. Not missing the opportunity, Han Yu-jin cut the wire binding his leg.

“Lullaby, lullaby, our Yu-hyun, sleeping soundly, our Yu-hyun!”

“Hyung! That’s too much!”

“What’s too much in the middle of a fight?”

Feeling his vision blur for a moment due to the powerful skill effect, Han Yu-hyun dragged his palm along the blade. Blood welled up, and he snapped back to his senses.

In the meantime, Han Yu-jin created distance and jumped toward the building. Without landing on the ground, he stepped on the building wall and ran straight up. Of course, he didn’t forget to provide suppressing fire.

Bang, bang, bang!

Dodging the accurately flying magic bullets, Han Yu-hyun also chased after Han Yu-jin. Each time his foot kicked off the ground, cracks spread. Although he had moved out of the range of the Melting Last Gate’s skill, the accumulated stats remained as long as the skill was maintained. Added to this was the Momentary Acceleration skill of the artifact, and he quickly caught up to Han Yu-jin.

The brother running on the wall and the younger brother running on the road stood side by side, and at that moment, bombs and sword strikes exploded simultaneously. Boom, kaboom! The collapsing building and thick dust obscured their vision. Han Yu-hyun didn’t panic and immediately infused mana into the blue willow leaves, searching his surroundings. But his senses detected nothing.

“…Hyung?”

This time, he was genuinely puzzled. No matter how fast his movements were, it was impossible to avoid all the scattered leaves. The range that Han Yu-jin could escape with teleportation wasn’t enough to escape all at once. Yet he was gone.

Han Yu-hyun quickly stepped on the leaves and jumped upward, escaping the dust. The golden light heading towards the lake caught his eye. Han Yu-jin, half-dragonified, looked particularly small. It wasn’t because of the distance.

“Ah.”

Mini Mini Cookie. He had reduced his body size to avoid the willow leaves. If he was less than 20 centimeters tall, he could easily avoid touching the leaves. To think he had used the cookie in that short moment.

“I lost you, Hyung.”

He smiled as if regretful. A more intense stimulation than ever before swept through his entire body. The battles up until now were like silly games, and this moment was enjoyable to the point that it could be said to be so. The pounding in his chest didn’t stop. Rather, it was increasing.

Goo-goo-goong!

The building behind Han Yu-hyun collapsed. The area where the Melting Last Gate’s skill was activated was transforming into a lava zone. The flames swallowed the building, the ground boiled, and the flames spread beyond the range.

The roads, houses, roadside trees, vehicles, and everything else were burning. The melting, boiling, and rising heat soared as if it would reach the moon.

Han Yu-hyun waited until his stats had accumulated to the limit before moving. The flames spread quickly as if following him, and soon he reached the lake.

“Yu-hyun.”

Han Yu-jin floated lightly on the rippling surface of the lake. The water vapor froze white, and dozens, hundreds of large water spheres swayed. It wasn’t pure water. Some contained electricity, others poison. The black flames in Han Yu-jin’s hand also contained poison.

The vast amount of cold air rushed right up to Han Yu-hyun’s nose. The heat immediately countered, but neither easily gave way.

Han Yu-hyun looked up at Han Yu-jin beyond the white mist, enraptured. His spine tingled. He wanted to grab his sword and jump in, and then.

“Hyung, I really like you.”

“…Why are you saying something so obvious here?”

Han Yu-jin shrugged, wondering if he had said that on purpose. Outside the lake, everything was red and black. It was only a matter of time before the entire city was engulfed in flames. Han Yu-hyun stood at the forefront of that fire. Was it just his imagination, or did the color of the fire surrounding Han Yu-hyun feel even bluer?

Clang! An S-rank longsword brought from Japan was plunged into the ground in front of Han Yu-hyun. Followed by another sword, a dagger, and a katana. Seeing this, Han Yu-jin raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Yu-hyun, hey. You said you like me.”

“Yeah. I like you, I love you. I’m almost disappointed that I can’t melt the Ruler’s Sword. I like you so much.”

Seeing his younger brother smile brightly, Han Yu-jin swallowed hard. So he was going to use the Sword Devourer. He knew he had to stop him, but there was no way. If it were Park Ye-rim, she would move the entire lake water and pour it out or collapse the ground, but Han Yu-jin didn’t have that level of control.

Chiii-

The weapons began to heat up around the longsword and melted in an instant. Red-hot molten metal drew smooth lines, circling around Han Yu-hyun. Before he knew it, his eyes were also dyed red. What he had been suppressing all along was being released little by little each time he faced Han Yu-jin with all his might.

How far is it okay to go, when should I hold back again. Such thoughts were swept away in the excitement. Wouldn’t it be okay to pour out all of this? It would be okay. The blue water and cool air filling his eyes fueled the flames even hotter.

“Hyung.”

Han Yu-jin swallowed briefly at the call filled with affection. Even though he had moved to a favorable location, he still had a bad feeling. His stats and equipment were disadvantageous in many ways. He could stop now. If he said to stop and go out, his younger brother would surely listen, albeit with regret.

But he couldn’t open his mouth.

While he hesitated, Han Yu-hyun began to move. He fearlessly jumped into the lake, stepping on the willow leaves and gliding across the surface as if it were flat ground. Han Yu-jin, watching his younger brother rushing towards him, pressed a button.

Boom! Poong!

The bombs he had thrown into the water exploded, and pillars of water soared. Han Yu-jin had borrowed the power of the bombs instead of directly manipulating large amounts of water like Park Ye-rim. The soaring pillars of water poured down on Han Yu-hyun. Frozen spear blades were mixed in between.

Despite the enormous amount of water and the attacks of dozens of sharp spears, Han Yu-hyun rushed forward without the slightest hesitation, throwing the melted weapons above his head. The terrifying heat and the freezing lake water collided. With a loud noise, steam rose and the ice spears shattered. Han Yu-hyun burst through the cloud of steam and lunged towards Han Yu-jin.

Han Yu-hyun swung the Ruler’s Sword and simultaneously stepped on a willow leaf with his left foot, strongly rotating his entire body to thrust a kick. Thwack! Han Yu-jin blocked Han Yu-hyun’s kick as if receiving it with his transformed hands. At the same time, water droplets around his head instantly froze, were struck by the blade, and shattered. The twisting chain sword didn’t completely block it, but it was enough to change its direction. The distorted Ruler’s Sword narrowly grazed the top of Han Yu-jin’s head.

Han Yu-jin lowered his body, grabbed Han Yu-hyun’s foot as it landed, and twisted it. With the strength stat concentrated and raised by Noah’s auxiliary skill in addition to the transformation, Han Yu-hyun spun his body instead of resisting. Crack, crack, the cold air climbed up Han Yu-hyun’s leg and froze it. But that was only for a moment, a blue flame rose, and the molten metal that had returned to Han Yu-hyun was fired at Han Yu-jin in dozens of arrows.

It was a terrifying force that was difficult to block head-on.

Han Yu-jin released Han Yu-hyun’s foot and quickly retreated, and an ice shield appeared in front of him. The arrows slammed into the ice plate.

Pajiijijik-

The ice plate, which had cracked in an instant, shattered. It was not enough to block the arrows, each of which was an SS-class weapon. But there was plenty of water. Ice shields appeared in layers, and the arrows barely stopped after piercing through five ice plates.

“Seriously cheating, huh!”

The moment he barely blocked the arrows, the Ruler’s Sword pierced Han Yu-jin’s chest again. There was no way to win in close combat. Han Yu-jin teleported to create distance and descended close to the surface of the water. At the same time, he stretched out the poison water droplets he had made in advance like spears and froze only the outside before throwing them at Han Yu-hyun.

Several ice spears containing poison flew quickly. Han Yu-hyun collided with the ice spears as they were, with the Ruler’s Sword in front, without even thinking of avoiding them.

Smash! Crack!

The ice spears shattered, and the poison contained within spread out. The freezing ice briefly suppressed the flames surrounding Han Yu-hyun, and the poison seeped in without missing the gap. He was wearing a poison resistance item, but the difference in grade was severe. Despite clearly being poisoned, Han Yu-hyun rushed towards Han Yu-jin as he was.

This time, water droplets containing electricity blocked his path. The electricity in the water droplets writhed fiercely.

Boom! Poong!

It exploded loudly. It wasn’t proper electrolysis. It was only a level of imitation, but it was enough to buy time.

The scattering water droplets and the re-soaring water jets. The bombs continued to explode below the surface, and a wall of water blocked Han Yu-hyun, and ice spears aimed at Han Yu-hyun’s entire body. Magic bullets also flew through the gaps.

On the other hand, Han Yu-hyun’s ranged attacks were blocked by the walls of water and ice that were endlessly created in layers.

“It will be difficult for you to approach me until all the lake water disappears, Yu-hyun.”

What are you going to do, Yu-hyun. Han Yu-hyun raised the corners of his lips at the light question after taking a breather.

“As Hyung said.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll just get rid of it all.”

The melted swords that had been divided into several strands to block the attacks of water and ice gathered together and were held in Han Yu-hyun’s hand. A deep blue flame wrapped around the melted sword, and Han Yu-hyun threw it forcefully towards the lake.

Chiiiik!

The sword, which instantly evaporated the water and pierced through to the bottom of the lake, began to emit tremendous heat. And then.

Kwaaaang!!

“Ugh, wha-!”

A pillar of fire soared from the bottom of the lake and exploded as it was. Han Yu-jin’s body was pushed back and slammed into the ground as if hit by a storm of heat. It was the bottom of the half-dried lake. A huge, empty pit came into his blinking eyes without knowing why. Soon, rain poured down from the sky.

Shwaaaaa-

The rain that fell for a dozen seconds was the end. The lake had disappeared. Han Yu-hyun, standing tall in the middle of the empty lake, looked at his brother.