FLIA 66

Seo Yakrin merely circled in wide arcs across the sky, reluctant to attack outright. Judging by the movement of her enormous right pupil, larger than Yohan’s head, she seemed to be gauging Lee Hyunmook’s reactions. Yet her other eye, the left one, rolled restlessly as it persistently tracked Yoon Seungryong.

“Hey! Old hag! Come here! Let’s make it a fair four-on-one fight!”

Though Yoon Seungryong’s taunt was downright shameless, the situation itself wasn’t. It was a testament to how overwhelmingly threatening Seo Yakrin’s presence was. The fact that she was a flying entity made her mobility incomparably vast, which was another problem entirely. Knowing this well, Seungryong roared at the top of his lungs, deliberately drawing her aggro.

“Huh? Scared? You scared now? You are, aren’t you? Always acting tough, but this is all you’ve got, Seo Yakrin? You’ve gotten weak since I last saw you!”

Even in her heavily corrupted state, she somehow understood his words, and they pissed her off. Seo Yakrin finally tightened the wide circle she had been tracing in the sky. Then, with her long neck stretched toward Seungryong, she widened her eyes. Just as Ju Hoyoung had stubbornly clung to protecting his figurines despite being burned by Lee Hyunmook, Seo Yakrin, though fearful of Hyunmook, couldn’t shake her fixation on Seungryong. As she flapped her wings high in the sky and began descending, Hyunmook, who had been silently watching, struck like lightning.

BOOM! CRACKLE-BOOM!

With a thunderous roar, black lightning erupted from Hyunmook’s body, lashing violently at her wings and entire frame. Feathers as large as tree trunks scattered like reeds in a storm. Staggering mid-flight, Seo Yakrin let out a furious shriek. In response, the birds hiding among the reeds suddenly took to the sky, skeletal, skin-clad creatures swirling around her like a swarm of black storm clouds.

The lightning meant for Seo Yakrin struck the smaller birds flying beneath her. Charred corpses rained down. A faint red glow flickered in Hyunmook’s pupils, and the lightning intensified. Finally, a bolt broke through the flock and struck her wounded, twisted wing, once, twice.

SCREEEECH!

The massive bird cried out in agony. As she descended further, Ju Hoyoung, who had been waiting for his chance, didn’t hesitate. He released the taut bowstring, and an ice arrow shot through the swaying reeds, piercing the weakest part of her injured wing.

While Yohan gaped at the incredible marksmanship, multiple ice arrows followed in rapid succession. Only after two more hits did Seo Yakrin frantically twist her body, evading with a sharp turn. Her right eye, blazing with fury, rolled back in pain, Hyunmook’s lightning had scorched her wing.

The sharp, protruding tip of the ice arrow embedded in her wing acted as a perfect lightning rod. The defensive swarm of blackened birds had its limits. By the time Seo Yakrin tried to flee, it was too late. One of her wings was ruined, rendering her incapable of flight. The monstrous avian screamed as she plummeted into the sea of reeds.

The reeds snapped and crumpled beneath her weight before–THUD!–her massive body slammed into the soggy ground.

“Finally, she’s down!”

Seungryong cheered, quickly climbing down from his ice pillar. Hyunmook leaped into the reed bed, first checking on Yohan’s safety. That was when a chilling killing intent surged.

Just as Hoyoung hastily erected an ice wall using the thick reeds as support, a shockwave erupted from where Seo Yakrin had crashed.

The third damage dealer of the Sunrise Teqm, Seo Yakrin. Her primary ability: Telekinesis.

The attack was as terrifying as a tsunami. A golden shockwave burst from her, flattening every reed in the vicinity. In an instant, kilometers of reeds were swept away, revealing a vast clearing under the crimson sky. The sheer force of the shockwave cracked Hoyoung’s rock-solid ice wall, fissures spiderwebbing across its surface. He whistled, pulling his hand away.

“Phase two of the boss fight?”

At his words, Seo Yakrin raised her head from the ground. Grrrruuu… A furious growl rumbled from her throat as she stretched her absurdly long, slender neck, grotesquely disproportionate to her body. Bloodshot crimson eyes locked onto the group. Yohan, trembling, unconsciously gulped.

“Scatter!”

At Hyunmook’s sharp command, they bolted in different directions. As prearranged, Yohan and Hoyoung dove into the reeds for cover, while Hyunmook and Seungryong sprinted into the clearing, drawing Seo Yakrin’s attention.

Her gaze flickered toward Hyunmook, sparking with electricity, but she quickly turned her focus to Seungryong. THUD! THUD! Her razor-sharp talons struck the ground before she lunged.

“You damn–!It was the team leader who hit you, so why–!ME?! Bullshit!”

Seungryong cursed as he fled, thick venomous mist spewing from his body. A dense yellow miasma pooled at his feet. Even in her frenzied state, the monstrous bird hesitated, she knew well just how deadly Seungryong’s poison was. Seizing the moment, he threw fuel on her rage.

Suddenly, foul-smelling clumps of mud materialized midair and splattered onto Seo Yakrin’s face. Though harmless, it was the ultimate insult. Her bulging eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as her head snapped toward him.

Amid the rapidly expanding yellow mist, Seungryong smirked before vanishing. Just like during his fight with Hyunmook, the poison fog was so thick that visibility dropped to zero.

Without hesitation, Seo Yakrin charged into the yellow haze. Whether her feathers melted in the venom or not, she didn’t care–blinded by rage, she slashed wildly with her talons before violently flapping her wings to disperse the fog.

The moment the thick mist blanketing the ground suddenly billowed upward, Lee Hyunmook, who had been keeping his distance, merely letting sparks fly, finally struck with lightning.

Not at Seo Yakrin.

But directly into the densest part of the poisonous fog.

The effect was horrifying.

KA-BOOOOM!

A deafening explosion tore through the air. The flammability of the toxin-laced mist Yoon Seungryong had so meticulously spread was beyond terrifying. The very ground trembled as crimson flames engulfed Seo Yakrin, instantly setting her entire body ablaze.

“SCREEEEEEE!”

Sensing danger, she frantically beat her wings, trying to take flight again, only to crash back down. This time, it was because dozens of Ju Hoyoung’s arrows had pierced her wings. They were ice arrows, pre-treated with a potent paralytic venom extracted from Seungryong.

The monstrous bird, now a mutilated wreck, thrashed in even greater fury. She no longer cared about Hyunmook or Seungryong, just mindlessly trampled and charged at everything around her. Blind with rage, her movements became erratic, which only made it easier for the seasoned hunters to pick her apart.

THUD! CRUNCH! RIP!

Just as Hyunmook had once done to Seungryong, the two men now began methodically carving into Yakrin’s massive body, piece by piece. The sound of rending flesh and splattering blood was so gruesome that Yohan shuddered. They would keep going until she could no longer move, until she was completely dismantled. Only then would Yohan step in to purify her, restoring her to her original form.

But then–

Something changed.

As her fury reached its breaking point, Seo Yakrin suddenly began speaking–clearly, coherently.

“Disappear from my sight right now! Just die! Let me snap your neck and ram your head into the ground! Let me crush you, rip you apart, tear you to shredsssss—!”

Her screams were filled with such bottomless resentment that at first, Yohan assumed she was raging at Seungryong.

But he was wrong.

The target of her hatred wasn’t Seungryong.

It was Lee Hyunmook.

“WHY DID YOU SAVE ME?!”

Thick, blood-like tears dripped from her bulging eyes. Her voice, shredded by deep-rooted hatred and despair, howled:

“WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME TO ROT IN THIS HELL?!”

The man who had never once abandoned his teammates, even in the abyss, listened silently, his face unreadable. The way he endured her distorted rage, as if it were familiar, made Yohan’s heart ache.

When her fear and the overwhelming gap in power kept her from attacking Hyunmook directly, Seo Yakrin’s fury twisted inward. With a violent jerk of her long neck, she began tearing into her own body.

Self-destruction in uncontrollable rage.

Feathers scattered. Flesh split. Blood sprayed. Yohan squeezed his eyes shut.

He desperately wanted to purify her right then, to free both her and Hyunmook from this agony.

Just as her furious shrieks began to weaken, a chilling sensation crawled up Yohan’s spine. His head snapped up.

“Hoyoung… do you feel that? Something’s… off.”

“Feel what?” Hoyoung, still focused on Yakrin, frowned in confusion.

Yohan glanced around, uneasy. He couldn’t explain it, but his skin was crawling. Was it because of Yakrin? Hesitantly, he whispered:

“It’s like… the Flood is coming.”