“You son of a bitch!”
A downward slash, accompanied by a curse.
It flew straight for the crown of Tom’s head as if to split it in two, but Tom didn’t even turn his head, despite knowing the attack was coming.
Instead.
He simply twisted the angle of his raised claws to block the strike.
At the effortless defense, Shim Cheong’s brow furrowed deeply.
“…Seo U-jin’s companion, I presu.”
Tom muttered under his breath.
“……!”
“I don’t want any unnecessary conflict, so stop right there. Little girl.”
“But you were the one who ca through the window…”
“From the looks of it, you’ve all fallen for this one’s tricks.”
“……”
“This being is not to be trusted. I don’t know how far back his sche goes, but even if you don’t know it now, you’ll all thank for this later.”
Seueuk-
When the weight of the sword on his claws did not lessen, Tom turned his head slightly to et Shim Cheong’s eyes.
He warned her with his characteristic growl.
“Any further intervention will be taken as a request for battle. I won’t warn you twice, so be prepared.”
“……”
“For your information, with swordsmanship that shoddy, you won’t be able to cut a single strand of my fur, let alone my claws. You’d be wise not to act on so pointless bravado.”
From Tom’s perspective, this was a rather generous response.
When he used to go in and out of the Demon King's Territory hunting Vampires, he wouldn't even give a warning; his hand would fly out the instant anyone attacked him.
It was because the exact situation had not yet been grasped.
‘…….’
Seeing the scent of Beastkin wafting over, he had just been thinking that U-jin’s talk of the ‘revival of the Beastkin’ wasn’t entirely baseless.
But in that mont, he had slled Jerry, and from then on, Tom Hardist’s mind had been a complete ss.
He still wasn’t sure why a Vampire was involved in this, or who the mastermind was.
The only thing he could be certain of in this mont was his calling.
That the extermination of the Vampires had not been fully completed.
And that fulfilling that calling was what he had to do.
Seureuk-
Seeing Shim Cheong, her brow deeply furrowed, withdraw her sword from his claws, Tom turned his head back toward Jerry.
‘…How in the world.’
He rembered it clearly.
The viscous sensation in his hand as he tore through the chest and crushed the heart was distinctly seared into his brain.
Because that mont was the mont he had fulfilled his duty.
No matter how powerful a Vampire was, they couldn't revive after having their heart so thoroughly destroyed.
He hadn’t just hunted one or two Vampires; it was impossible for a veteran Hunter like Tom to miss such a detail.
However, he couldn't deny the existence of Jerry Dracula Junior, alive right before his eyes.
It was definitely the Jerry Junior he rembered, and he was a living being.
He ticulously checked the scent just in case, but it was exactly as he rembered.
Nor did he feel any trace of other mana.
‘…First things first.’
Thinking that his head might overload if he kept this up, Tom cast aside all other thoughts.
There were few things as foolish as endlessly pondering the unknown.
It was right to focus on what he knew for certain had to be done.
Ggudeudeuk-
Having reached that conclusion, Tom poured all his strength into his right hand.
But this ti, too, he was unable to finish the job.
Paaaat-!
Just when he thought things were settled, an unknown wind pressure suddenly raged from behind him.
Seueuk-
This ti, Tom turned his head completely to look back.
Where he looked, there was the sa girl from before, her face filled with rage, gripping the hilt of her sword with both hands.
Her appearance hadn't changed much.
Except for the conical mass of black mana resting on her head like a pointed hat, and the black aura enveloping her.
“…I believe I said I wouldn’t warn you twice.”
“Apologize.”
“…What?”
“This is the swordsmanship of my ancestors, passed down through hundreds of years of their lives. I don’t care if you insult my sword strike as shoddy, but for insulting the sacrifice of my ancestors by calling it shoddy swordsmanship, and for coming through a window when there was a perfectly good door.”
“……”
“For those two things, I must receive an apology.”
Judging by her expression and words, it seed he had touched sothing akin to a nerve.
But Tom was also on edge, having just encountered a mber of the Vampire Clan he thought had been annihilated.
Tom wasn't the type to say things he didn't an in the first place, so even on a normal day, he wouldn't have given a very generous reply. Now, it was even more so.
And in truth, Tom did think Shim Cheong’s swordsmanship was shoddy.
Psik-
“…What else would I call such swordsmanship, full of unnecessary flair, if not shoddy?”
“……”
“Didn’t I tell you? With a sword like that, you won’t be able to cut a single strand of my fur.”
It wasn't an empty boast; he ant it.
The mane of the Silver Wolf Tribe wasn't just so mat for keeping warm; it was a product of evolution developed for combat.
Unlike the fur of ordinary animals or Beastkin, it possessed enough durability and elasticity to deflect most sword strikes.
Especially given the nature of the Silver Wolf mane, which grows more durable by repeating a cycle of damage and recovery through many battles, Tom’s mane, strengthened over decades, boasted a defensive power that could be called iron armor without exaggeration.
Tom truly believed that if her next strike was like the last one, Shim Cheong’s sword wouldn’t even be able to cut his fur.
…Of course, the small horn on her head and the unknown energy were a bit concerning.
But even so, there was a limit to the power a human could possess.
Through countless battles, Tom had gained the combat assessnt ability to roughly gauge an opponent’s power with a single sword strike.
The previous strike seed to have been quite serious, and he had a good grasp of Shim Cheong’s physical strength.
Tom couldn’t know how much of an effect that small change in her appearance would have, but judging from her previous strength, no matter how much power she mustered for this next strike, it would be well within the range he could block with his claws.
Seueuk-
Therefore, watching Shim Cheong raise her blade for a horizontal slash this ti, he naturally raised his hand.
…No, he was about to raise it.
“That.”
“……?”
“Doesn’t seem like a very good choice.”
U-jin, who had entered at so point and was leaning casually against the doorfra, offered a short piece of advice.
Considering the circumstances, it was incomprehensible why U-jin, the very person who should have been stopping this situation, was watching so nonchalantly.
But before he could even think about that, Shim Cheong’s sword strike flew at Tom.
Buuuung-
There was nothing special about the sword strike.
Just as Tom had said before, it was a strike full of unnecessary flair.
Of course, it wasn't as if the black horn had no effect; the attack was a little faster, but it was still within the range Tom had anticipated.
His claws, which could shatter most artifacts whole, seed more than capable of blocking it.
Normally, he would have swatted it away without a second thought.
…However.
Strangely, U-jin’s short piece of advice bothered Tom.
He didn't know why.
He couldn't see any basis for the advice with his own eyes, and it wasn't a particularly kind piece of advice either.
But for so reason, it created a hesitation in Tom’s mind.
Tom, who had been deliberating right up until the mont the sword was swung.
Buuuung-
In the end, he followed that nagging advice and dodged the strike just as it was about to hit him.
“……!”
In that instant.
Tom realized that U-jin’s advice was by no ans nonsense.
‘…The sword?’
Tom’s prediction that he could easily block it was based on the assumption that Shim Cheong’s weapon was nothing more than ordinary.
However.
The sword Shim Cheong was holding was by no ans an ordinary sword.
Until it had blocked his claws earlier, he hadn't noticed anything special and had just thought it was a common artifact found on so battlefield.
But the sword strike, unleashed after her appearance changed, was far more densely concentrated with the unknown black energy that had been scattered around Shim Cheong.
What exact effect it had was a domain even Tom couldn't comprehend.
But the mont he witnessed the strike devouring the space before him as it cut through the air, he realized one thing.
That, just as U-jin had said, trying to block that with his claws was not a very good choice.
‘…….’
His unconscious combat senses, honed through countless battlefields and assassinations, were warning him.
Warning him never to clash head-on with that sword strike.
An unknown threat, on a level beyond re swordsmanship or physical strength, lurked within that sword.
Realizing the real threat was the sword itself, Tom waited for the strike to graze past his nose before smacking Shim Cheong’s hand upwards.
Pow-
With the overwhelming difference in speed and strength, it was not a difficult task.
The perfectly tid blow knocked only the sword from Shim Cheong’s hand, and the mont the sword left her grasp, the black aura that had enveloped her instantly subsided.
Tom then brought his middle finger, now held down by his thumb, to his own forehead and muttered.
“…I’ll let you off one more ti.”
And then he flicked his finger.
KWAANG-!
Simultaneously, with a powerful sound that was impossible to believe ca from a simple forehead flick.
Shim Cheong’s body was sent flying backward.
She spun several tis in the air before embedding herself in the side of the mansion.
“Oh.”
Whether it was surprise that she had followed his words at once, or admiration for the power of Tom’s forehead flick.
Or perhaps, surprise at seeing Shim Cheong’s skull still intact despite it all.
U-jin let out an exclamation, his lips forming an ‘o’.
Watching him, Tom, unable to contain his boiling anger, shouted as he threw Jerry, whom he was still holding by the collar with his left hand.
“…You bastard!!!”
“……”
“If you know sothing, then explain it! Explain it!!!”
It was tantamount to letting his prey go, but U-jin’s nonchalant attitude had a way of pissing a person off.
Buung-
The short wind-up ant it wasn't packed with all of Tom’s strength, but it was still more than powerful enough.
“Whoops.”
Seeing Jerry’s body flying toward him, U-jin pushed himself off the doorfra he was leaning against and casually dodged the incoming projectile.
Kwagwagwagwak-!
Thrown through the doorway U-jin had just vacated, Jerry’s body hit the ground with a horrifying sound of friction and dug into the earth.
The frictional force upon impact was so strong that instead of flying far, it gouged out a 45-degree trench in the guild house’s yard.
It was a trendous noise that would make anyone think he had been killed instantly.
But perhaps because he knew the traits of a Vampire better than anyone.
Tom didn’t even glance toward Jerry, instead growling at U-jin.
“You… did you deceive ?”
But U-jin.
Shrug-
“Well. I’m not so sure… but I don’t think I deceived you about anything.”
“……”
“I called you to reconcile.”
He simply shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant expression.
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