Chapter 67

Siwoo, walking down the empty corridor, stopped in his tracks.

Room 811. Yura.

Even though the room should have been tidied up, the sign was still there.

Siwoo slowly unfolded his clenched fist. On his palm lay a crumpled piece of paper.

Whiiii…

A cold night breeze seeped in from somewhere. The wind, carrying moonlight, brushed against his cheek.

‘I think it’s really fortunate that you can express what you dislike.’

…Grandfather.

Was that really true?

Was it really fortunate?

Now, he wasn’t sure. Was expressing what he disliked just a childish stubbornness? He wondered if that stubbornness had pushed Grandfather, Jihui, and Eunha to the brink.

Perhaps he should have just accepted things without being stubborn. Perhaps it was all his fault.

Questions he threw at himself. And endless doubt.

‘Protection? Do you think you’re protecting her?’

A mocking voice brushed past his ear. Siwoo, who had been holding the crumpled paper in his palm, closed his eyes.

Where did I try to hide?

Who did I try to protect?

Was I just hiding behind someone else, doing nothing, and only protecting myself?

Foolishly.

‘Now.’

Tightly clenching his fist again, Siwoo slowly opened his eyes.

His blue eyes no longer wavered.

＊＊＊

Wolf Outdoor Training Ground, Seoul. PM 9:52

“Is it already over?”

Commander, an A+ grade Hunter from Singapore and World Ranking 72, muttered blandly in the middle of the training ground.

His ability was summoning and manipulation. He was a Hunter who summoned and controlled armored soldiers in human form.

The maximum number of armored soldiers he could summon at once was one thousand, the highest among Hunters with summoning abilities. Thanks to this, he was on the verge of becoming an S-grade Hunter.

He didn’t expect to summon at full capacity in such a place, but the conclusion was his victory.

They said he was a talent that the top Korean guild, Wolf, was secretly cultivating, but he was just this level, which was a bit disappointing.

“This is no longer necessary.”

Commander reached for the badge attached to his left chest. It was a convenient item provided by Wolf with a translation function, but it was useless now that his opponent was down.

However.

Commander, who was about to remove the badge, stopped. Something was wrong.

Clang!

A sharp sound was heard.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

Before he could turn his head to the source, the mysterious sounds continued endlessly.

Soon, Commander realized.

They were freezing.

All one thousand armored soldiers he had summoned, one after another.

“…”

Crash!

The frozen armored soldiers fell to the ground, shattering like porcelain.

As he stared at the scene in shock, someone slowly rose from among the fallen armored soldiers.

“…”

A white curtain of light spread across the sky. Below it, a white shadow slowly lengthened.

White Wolf.

A cold howl of a wolf brushed past his ear. An auditory hallucination, perhaps a vision.

As Siwoo withdrew his hand from the ground, a fine layer of white frost fell from the surface.

Unbelievable.

Did he freeze all these entities through the ground in one go?

While thinking it was impossible, Commander involuntarily took a step back.

And he realized another fact. The path he was stepping back on had already turned into a slippery ice rink without him noticing.

Swoosh…

A chill enveloped his entire body.

Thud, thud—

Siwoo slowly approached him. And Commander retreated the same distance.

‘Damn.’

The moment Commander, who had no more room to retreat, gritted his teeth,

Rumble!

The ground began to shake violently.

He had squeezed out his last strength to summon another armored soldier.

Creak, creak…

A soldier as large as ten combined entities appeared with a black smoke.

Commander, hiding his hand behind his back, clenched his fist. Then,

Whish!

The giant soldier, mimicking Commander’s movement, caught Siwoo with one hand, as if catching a fly.

But in the next moment,

Squeak!

Sharp ice thorns sprouted from the back of the giant soldier’s hand. It happened in less than three seconds.

In the instant he was trapped in the fist, Siwoo quickly encased his entire body in ice. His quick judgment and speed were impressive.

“…”

Commander laughed in a defeated manner.

He finally realized Wolf’s clever lie.

A-grade Hunter in training at Wolf. Commander, who had stayed at the A-grade for a long time, knew better. The young man in front of him was definitely not an A-grade Hunter.

A secret human weapon. Yes, that sounded more plausible. Even though it was a simulation, fighting such a guy made him feel like a lab rat.

Thud.

Siwoo took another step toward Commander. Commander no longer tried to avoid. The moment Siwoo pierced through the giant armored soldier’s fist, the outcome was already decided.

Siwoo grabbed his right wrist.

Sss…

White ice bloomed from the touching palm. The ice, which seemed to cover his entire body, stopped abruptly at his shoulder.

If this were not a simulation, Commander would have been frozen solid, including his brain.

“Who’s next?”

Siwoo released Commander and turned his gaze elsewhere.

It was a clear victory for White Wolf.

“I didn’t expect to see such an interesting spectacle.”

With a clap, a new figure appeared. Another Singaporean S-grade Hunter, World Ranking 56, ‘Weather’.

A simulation with an A-grade Hunter who had no real combat experience was quite boring for an S-grade Hunter like him. He would have refused if not for the proper compensation.

However, watching Commander’s battle with Siwoo sparked his interest.

Like Commander, he was certain the opponent was not an A-grade Hunter. If not, the Korean Hunter Association’s measuring equipment must have been broken.

“I didn’t expect to have such an experience in Korea.”

Weather muttered, twirling his finger in the air. Sandstorms seemed to swirl around the training ground in the direction his finger pointed.

Weather, as his name suggested, was a Hunter who could manipulate the weather.

While he couldn’t control the weather of an entire country or region, he could set the environment of an outdoor training ground like this.

And he had just finished setting it up.

The training ground was about to turn into a completely dry desert. The time limit was 10 minutes, but it was enough.

Weather stared intently at the young man, Siwoo, in front of him.

Despite his calm appearance, he was clearly exhausted from the previous battle.

Freezing a thousand armored soldiers and a vast plain in an instant must have been a significant burden.

Weather, with his arms crossed, slightly raised his finger and moved it as if giving commands. A massive sandstorm followed his finger, strong enough to be lethal.

However.

“…?”

Whish!

Weather was actually a bit surprised to see Siwoo dodging all attacks at such a rapid speed.

Did he still have that much stamina left? It was hard to believe he was dodging all attacks in his domain using only his physical abilities without using his unique ability.

The sandstorm in the desert-like training ground was so fierce that it was hard to keep one’s eyes open, and the scorching heat made it difficult to breathe with even a slight movement.

Yet, Siwoo was dodging all attacks without showing any signs of distress.

But he was only dodging.

Whoosh…

The water stream that shot from Siwoo’s right side evaporated into steam before reaching Weather.

Summoning ice in such heat was certainly not an easy task.

‘But it’s a commendable talent.’

This was something Wolf might want to keep hidden. Any guild would want to have a joker card.

If they had the same nationality, he would have wanted to bring him under his command immediately.

Whooo!

A massive sand whirlwind rose to the sky. He barely managed to dodge, but the next attack came relentlessly.

Boom!!!

A sand tsunami engulfed Siwoo in one go. This time, he couldn’t avoid it.

“Gah…!”

He reflexively created an ice barrier to minimize the damage, but the ice melted instantly upon contact with the scorching sand.

While minimizing physical damage, Siwoo was completely buried in the sand.

Indeed, the environment here was extremely disadvantageous for Siwoo, who controlled ice and water.

Swoosh!

Siwoo, who had violently shaken off the sand binding his body, wobbled to his feet.

His already exhausted blue eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.

‘I can use the moisture in the air, but…’

If he did, the air in the domain would dry up completely. In other words, once he used this method, there would be no second chance.

It was too risky.

Siwoo had already exhausted a lot of stamina while fighting the thousand armored soldiers.

Moreover, even if he defeated Weather, another Hunter was still left. He needed to conserve as much stamina as possible for the final battle.

“You’re lasting longer than I expected. I can increase the intensity, but I don’t want to. I don’t want the label of a murderer.”

This is a simulation, right? Weather shrugged from a distance.

The moment their eyes met, Siwoo’s gaze darkened.

– There was a way.

A massive shadow loomed over Siwoo. Another sand tsunami was approaching from behind.

Just before it engulfed him,

Flash!

Siwoo disappeared.

Or rather, he leaped at an incredibly fast speed.

“…!”

Even Weather, who had been watching Siwoo, widened his eyes in surprise.

But it couldn’t be threatening. There was nothing he could do in this environment, where he controlled water and ice.

Thud!

Siwoo, who had somehow gotten close to Weather, grabbed his right wrist. The same posture as with Commander.

“Planning to freeze my arm too?”

“…”

“Go ahead, why not. If you can.”

Weather smiled calmly, knowing he couldn’t.

Sure enough, Siwoo could only grip Weather’s wrist tightly but couldn’t produce ice.

Siwoo’s chest heaved violently. His dark blue hair was covered in sand, and countless deep wounds were visible through his torn clothes.

‘This is all he can do, just gripping my wrist.’

Weather was confident of his victory.

If he won this match, the artifact-grade item ‘Silent Clock’ promised by Maestro would be his.

“Now that you’ve got my wrist, what’s next? What are you going to do? As you can see, there’s not a drop of water here.”

Weather asked.

Siwoo, who was holding his wrist, didn’t move. He only muttered softly.

“Did you know that 70% of the human body is water?”

“…What?”

“I can make all the liquids in your body reverse in an instant. I can also raise the temperature.”

Weather, with his wrist still held, stiffened.

He suddenly realized that Siwoo’s breathing, which had been ragged a moment ago, had already calmed down. It seemed like he was just pretending to be out of breath.

“A rapidly heated liquid expands at an incredible speed.”

What is this guy saying…

Weather’s face began to contort. In contrast, Siwoo’s eyes curved into a smile.

Siwoo, standing with his back to the moonlight, slightly bent his upper body and brought his lips to Weather’s ear.

“…Want to see?”