VSP 165

Ah.

Dogyeong realized it was too late to dodge. He raised his arms to block his front, but it didn’t help much.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

Dogyeong’s body was thrown straight into the ground along with a deafening sound.

He rolled across the dirt without even being able to break his fall properly. He couldn’t move for a while.

“Ugh.”

He barely managed to lift his upper body after a long time, but he vomited a bucketful of blood. Seeing the bright red blood soaking his front, he felt like his insides were being shaken.

Fuck, it hurts like hell.

The price was too horrific for a momentary lapse in judgment. Fortunately, nothing seemed to have been broken, but the convulsion inside him seemed to significantly limit my movements.

The situation was grim.

Rumble!

Just then, thunder and lightning struck. The wind and rain were growing stronger.

Dogyeong closed his eyes, helplessly being hit by the pouring rain, as if it were creating the right atmosphere for the destruction of this country, no, this world.

He had to move. It would be over if he keeps going like this… maybe it was already over.

Suddenly, everything felt pointless.

There wasn’t much hope for Dogyeong even if he stood up and defeated him.

What was the point of this struggle if his hyung couldn’t return?

He failed to persuade Sejun. To be precise, he didn’t have the luxury to check if he succeeded.

Was he even alive? He didn’t have the ability to sense a person’s presence like Hangyeol, he couldn’t tell what Sejun was doing now. He could only believe that Sejun was able to dodge it since he could dodge it himself.

He wondered why Sejun remained quiet and didn’t join the fight yet. However, he couldn’t think about it any further because he was afraid he’d go crazy. His heart was already searching the surroundings for Sejun. But in reality, he couldn’t leave Asura’s side to stop the disaster.

Sejun, or the world?

If anyone asked such a thing, Dogyeong would choose the latter without hesitation. The world had to exist for the person to live.

Therefore.

…Therefore.

Dogyeong, who had been buried in the rubble for a while, slowly got up.

“…Ugh.”

His head slumped down naturally. The blood he spat out washed away thanks to the rain pouring over his head.

His head bowed down involuntarily. The rain pouring down on his head washed away the blood he had vomited.

But if there was even a slight chance that Sejun was alive, Dogyeong had to struggle.

In the distance, he saw the thing tearing at his chest again. Perhaps because there were no other obstacles nearby, he had more time to leisurely prepare for the attack.

Something an EX-rank hunter’s body couldn’t handle was coming. It would be a dog’s death if it reached here.

“Fuck.”

Dogyeong hurriedly stood up. But his head spun for a moment. His vision became blurry. Unable to keep his balance, he fell to his knees.

–Grrr!

Just like before, Asura’s core was flashing and about to emit a shockwave.

A blue light flashed.

The moment he thought he saw a clear blue light shining in contrast to the ominous color of the crimson core, a giant tiger appeared from somewhere and struck the exposed crimson core with its huge claws.

He didn’t even think that the sound of Asura’s screams that was ringing in his ears was loud.

“…….”

It’s a tiger.

He saw a very familiar tiger. It wasn’t that strange dragon that didn’t look like a dragon or a drake.

Was it a dream? But the rain hitting his face and his stomach churning from the injury reminded Dogyeong that this wasn’t a dream. His head usually ran well like a high-performance engine, but it froze completely and he couldn’t think of anything else. He felt suffocated for some reason.

The tiger before his eyes trembled. No, perhaps it was his vision that was shaking. Feeling dizzy, he lowered his head.

“Dogyeong.”

At that moment, he heard a familiar voice. He couldn’t tell if he actually heard it with his ears or if it was a hallucination in his head.

When he raised his head, his vision was no longer blurry. It was just a single, clear image of a person.

There was a person standing beyond that sight.

Someone so fucking familiar.

Seo Sejun, who was drenched in the rain just like him, was running towards Dogyeong ith a pale complexion.

“Dogyeong! Cha Dogyeong!”

Sejun, who approached Dogyeong, immediately grabbed him.

The hand that held his dirty face without hesitation due to the blood that had been vomited out was still warm, and the touch on his cheek was incredibly soft.

It was funny how he felt as if he was touching a piece of porcelain that would break if he were even slightly shocked. It had already rolled around and was damaged to the point of dents.

But even though it was funny, he was glad.

Sejun was completely flustered at the sight of Dogyeong, who was obviously in a bad state, and started to speak rapidly.

“Blood… No, fuck, why are you hurt this much? You’re EX-rank! Aren’t you invincible? No, wait. System, don’t you have anything else for me besides mana potions?”

He had been in many battles together until now, but he probably never saw Cha Dogyeong, of all people, this injured and out of it. However, Dogyeong was stunned in a different sense.

It’s Sejun. The real Sejun.

He knew the Sejun he had seen so far wasn’t fake, but he couldn’t express it any other way. He’s real. The real one came back.

“Ah, fuck, why is there nothing! What should I do? Where’s Yerin? What… what should I do now…?”

Sejun was flustered because he had never seen Dogyeong this hurt. The latter burst into laughter even though it wasn’t the right situation, as he saw Sejun fumble without being able to organize what to do first. He still didn’t know how it happened, but the person he waited and waited for had returned.

Sejun frowned, he found it absurd that Dogyeong was laughing despite such injuries.

“You crazy bastard, are you laughing?”

“I can’t help it.”

Even the way he spoke was the Sejun that Dogyeong knew. He laughed because he was genuinely happy. Sejun must have thought he was really in a bad condition and had gone crazy, because he abruptly stood up.

“I’ll go find Yerin. Just hold on a bit.”

But Dogyeong grabbed Sejun as he tried to leave. It was an instinctive hold, born of anxiety.

He was afraid Sejun would leave again. He quickly relaxed his strength as he saw Sejun frowning as if the hand that was holding his arm tightly was hurting him.

He grabbed Sejun reflexively out of anxiety, but a natural excuse came out of his mouth.

“There’s no time for that.”

There really wasn’t any time, so Dogyeong’s words didn’t sound awkward.

Hoya struggled alone, but fundamentally, a summoner was someone who fought together with his summon. Hoya was also just buying time. He couldn’t defeat Asura alone in the end.

Sejun bit his lip. Not a single thing in Dogyeong’s words was wrong.

Killing that damn monster was more important than an individual’s injury right now. Even if there was much to talk about between them, the time and place weren’t right.

“…Yeah. We should catch that bastard first.”

They had to cross the biggest mountain for them to have the luxury for such a conversation. It was the right thing, regardless of how upset he felt that Dogyeong had to move despite his injuries.

But he still felt upset. It felt like he was being made to shoulder too much weight just because he was the main character.

Dogyeong slowly rose to his feet. Unlike his usual self, his clothes were torn and tattered, a testament to the harshness of the battle.

“Will you be okay?”

“I have to be okay even if I’m not right now.”

Dogyeong stared down at Sejun. Sejun wasn’t short by any means, but he had to look up. Sejun met his gaze and then looked away.

“Did you re-awaken?”

“Yeah.”

I see. Dogyeong believed the news that Sejun became an EX-rank without much doubt. He probably had many things he wanted to ask, but he said something else without asking anything.

“Did you saw the core’s location earlier?”

“Yeah. Near the heart.”

“Hoya hit the core, but he didn’t fall. He stumbled after the hit… but it wasn’t enough impact to destroy the core.”

“…Yeah.”

“If you give it your all, do you think you can break the core?”

Sejun thought over what Dogyeong’s words meant. The conclusion came quickly. He was asking if Sejun was confident he could break the core if he took the role of the attacker.

Could Hoya break the core if he went all out? He didn’t know if it was possible or not. This was Sejun’s first battle after his power was reinforced. It was called a power reinforcement, but Hoya had almost no changes. It was just that Sejun could handle Hoya now, so he could use his full power. However, Sejun still didn’t know how much that power was.

“I don’t know.”

Sejun replied honestly. But even then, there was something Sejun was sure of. Cha Dogyeong could do it.

“What about you?”

But Cha Dogyeong was seriously injured, even if Sejun didn’t know the details. Was it possible for him to exert the same strength as usual?