Chapter 578: Twin Masters Part 2

The next morning.

I woke up feeling slightly uncomfortable.

The cause, needless to say, was Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in.

If they had just rested their heads on me, that would’ve been one thing, but they had me pinned down on both sides with their arms and legs, completely restraining me.

“So as long as you two are comfortable, that’s all that matters, huh?”

“Huhh… you’re awake…?”

Dang Gyu-young mumbled, still half-asleep.

I replied to her,

“I’m awake. You two should get up as well.”

“Ugh… I can’t get up. Let’s sleep a little longer.”

Seo Ye-in chimed in from the other side.

“Sleepy…”

“I’m sleepy too.”

“Very sleepy…”

“Extremely sleepy…”

Looks like laziness is contagious today.

The two of them kept mumbling back and forth.

“From what I can tell… Ye-in isn’t at fault.”

“Innocent…”

“The real problem is how comfortable this pillow is…”

“Strongly agree…”

As they said that, they tightened their hold on me from both sides.

Dang Gyu-young in particular had gone past hugging my neck and was practically choking me.

Feeling like I couldn’t breathe, I said,

“If you keep this up, I’m going to have to use Blink.”

At that, Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in who were still clinging to me muttered that “trigger word”.

“…Caw.”

“…Caw?”

“Caw…!”

“Caw…”

“Do you think that’ll actually stop me? You’re missing the most important part.”

“Ugh, whatever. Five more minutes….no, thirty.”

“Let’s make it twenty. And loosen this a bit, please.”

“Fine, twenty.”

Having reached an agreement, the two of them loosened their hold slightly.

***

After rolling around in bed for twenty minutes to pass the time,

We had a simple breakfast and then headed to the training grounds at the appointed time.

The Dang twins, Il-bi and Han-bi, were already there, seated and waiting.

Each of them had something in their hands.

Clink, clink—

A faint metallic scraping sound rang out repeatedly.

Sensing our presence, they turned toward us, and I greeted them first.

“Good morning.”

Instead of responding right away, the twins studied my face closely, their expressions turning slightly puzzled.

“…You look somewhat worn out. Your skin looks a bit rough, too.”

“The other two look rather refreshed, on the contrary.”

“Did something happen last night?”

“I trust it’s not what we’re thinking.”

I deflected their probing quite naturally.

“I guess I’m just not used to the bed.”

“Is that so? In any case, get ready.”

Still looking slightly unconvinced, Dang Il-bi operated a device.

A resonating sound began to hum beneath our feet,

Wooooong—

And a wave of mana swept across the entire training ground.

Just like the arena and training rooms at Dragon Slayer Academy, safety measures had been activated.

The twins then took their positions at the center of the training field.

“There’s no need to match numbers exactly.”

“Considering the gap in skill, that would be unfair instead.”

“The three of you can come at us together.”

Since we had planned to suggest the same thing from the start, we readily took our positions on the opposite side and prepared for battle.

A shadow began to creep up from beneath Dang Gyu-young’s feet, taking the form of a man in a lab coat.

Qyu Shadow Undead No. 1. The lab director.

She also pulled out a long shadow club in one hand.

Seo Ye-in put a pot over her head, loaded her assault rifle, and I lightly stirred up the wind while holding the Crow Tree.

Whoooosh—

In response, the twins revealed what they had been holding.

In Dang Il-bi’s hand were steel pellets.

Small, but each varied slightly in size.

And in Dang Han-bi’s hand was a handful of coins.

Seeing that, I said,

“That’s Finger Flicking Technique.”

What’s launched with that technique varies depending on its foundation.

Sometimes it releases cold energy like Ice Pellets, but in this case, they were using small physical objects like those.

The two nodded.

“We’ve mastered various weapons and hidden projectiles, but nothing suited us better than this.”

“Devices that fire them can’t compare to launching them directly by hand.”

“There’s a difference in power, and more importantly, the feel is completely different.”

Then they’re closer to mid-range fighters than assassins.

Quite an unusual case for the Dang Clan.

They don’t seem to rely on poison much, and even their hidden weapons are used head-on?

True warriors.

I looked at them with genuine respect.

Perhaps noticing my reaction, the Dang Twin Heroes spoke with a hint of embarrassment.

“Let’s begin.”

“As we said, you’ll need to go all out.”

“We’ll be doing the same.”

As we faced each other, the tension in the arena steadily rose.

Then, suddenly, the Dang Twin Heroes stepped forward.

At the same time, they crossed their arms in an X before spreading them wide, sending the pellets and coins fitted between their fingers scattering like a shotgun blast.

Papapapat—!

Immediately, Qyu Lab Director swelled his body to shield us.

In an instant, his upper body was shredded to pieces, but it seemed he managed to hold on.

From behind the one advancing in that state, Dang Gyu-young and I followed, beginning to close the distance with our opponents.

At that, the Twin Heroes’ eyes flickered with interest.

“Some kind of undead, it seems.”

“Quite a sturdy one.”

“But I wonder if it can withstand this as well.”

The coins and pellets concentrated on the Qyu Lab Director alone,

Pububububuk!

Unable to maintain its form any longer, it scattered apart.

There would be a short delay before it could be summoned again.

Just as their projectile technique was about to rain down on us without our shield.

The shadow beneath Dang Il-bi suddenly surged upward, lunging at him with terrifying speed.

Swoooosh—!

It was Qyu Shadow Undead No. 2, the Shadow Lord.

Since it worked best as a surprise, she hadn’t used it at first.

Despite the sudden move, the twins responded calmly.

Stepping with their movement techniques, they intercepted the passing Qyu Shadow Lord.

Pububuk,

Even so, it was enough to shift the initiative to us.

Dang Gyu-young kicked off the ground and swung the shadow club.

In response, Dang Il-bi didn’t dodge and instead thrust forward a fist fitted with pellets on each finger.

Ping—!

It seemed he was quite skilled not only in projectile techniques but also in fist techniques.

A side of him very unlike the Dang Clan.

For a moment, he even resembled Kim Gap-doo.

A true warrior.

In any case, the situation was still in our favor.

Dang Il-bi who had been stepping back with his movement technique suddenly faltered.

Whooosh—

A gust of wind from behind blocked his path.

At the same time, Dang Gyu-young tried to bring down the club, but in the next instant, sensing something, he pulled back to create distance.

Coins brushed past the spot he had just occupied.

Dang Han-bi had provided covering fire.

Magic bullets rained down toward him.

Tududududu!

Dang Han-bi had to immediately return to his artillery exchange with Seo Ye-in.

With a flick of his fingers, coins and magic bullets collided in midair and canceled each other out.

The power’s right on par, I’d say.

Since the most important factors, [Core] and [Magic Bullet], are both A-rank.

Though the technique is still far from refined.

Soon, Dang Han-bi swung his arm dynamically, like a pitcher throwing a curveball.

The coins rushed in along different trajectories.

Swish-swish-swish-swish—!

As Seo Ye-in stepped lightly in all directions, her figure turned faint and hazy.

It seemed she had judged that dodging everything would be difficult and activated Ghost Dance.

Still, it’s a shame she lacks mobility skills.

At this rate, Ahn Jeong-mi would probably bring something soon.

Thinking that, I fired a Frozen Spirit Shot and locked eyes with Dang Il-bi as he evaded.

[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs’.]

[Activated ‘Mutual Destruction Eyes’.]

Five times should be the limit.

I had to consider the cooldown, too.

But then, I couldn’t help but flinch in surprise.

[Target has been afflicted with ‘Poison (B)’ status.]

[Target has been afflicted with ‘Poison (B)’ status…]

[Target has been afflicted with ‘Poison (B)’…]

[‘Poison (B)’…]

[‘Poison (B)’…]

What are the odds?

Breaking through a one-in-three chance five times in a row?

Of course, my surprise was nothing compared to Dang Il-bi’s.

His eyes widened as if they would split, glaring at me.

“When did you poison me?!”

“What? You’ve been poisoned?”

Dang Han-bi’s eyes widened as well.

Even if he mainly used projectile techniques, he was still fundamentally from the Dang Clan, so his expertise with poison and resistance to it would be considerable.

And yet, he hadn’t sensed even a hint of me using poison and had ended up poisoned anyway.

It must seem utterly inexplicable.

Naturally, I had no intention of explaining.

Half of the power of Mutual Destruction Eyes lay in its activation conditions.

If anything, this is an opportunity.

If we exploited the opening created by his worsening condition, we could land solid hits.

Joining forces with Dang Gyu-young, I pressed Dang Il-bi.

The club swung and a streak of cold surged in, and compressed wind burst outward.

Pupupung!

Even so, Dang Il-bi’s response was as skillful as expected of an A-rank expert.

He deflected the club with a kick, dodged the Frozen Spirit Shot with a slight tilt of his body, and twisted to take the Wind Force head-on.

Only a few attacks landed as effective hits, and even those had their damage cleverly minimized.

If this were HP, maybe we’ve shaved off about five percent.

And there was no way his only method was projectile techniques.

It was about time he revealed something else.

As expected, after knocking away another shadow bat, Dang Il-bi scattered steel balls.

They seemed to hover briefly in midair before gradually picking up speed and orbiting around him.

Dang Gyu-young tried striking a few of them as a test—

Clang—!

“……!”

The rebound was no joke, judging by his hardened expression.

Seizing the moment when his opponent faltered, Dang Il-bi launched a counterattack.

Steel balls infused with internal energy fired out like a machine gun.

Swish-swish-swish-swish—!

But a mass of shadow suddenly surged up and blocked them with its body.

It was, of course, the resummoned Qyu Lab Director.

Booom!

Right after, I disrupted Dang Il-bi’s stance with Wind Force, and the likewise resummoned Qyu Shadow Lord thrust in with his sword.

As if that weren’t enough, shadow butterflies fluttered in as well.

“Impressive.”

Even as he moved frantically through his movement technique, a relaxed smile lingered on his lips.

The Dang Twin Heroes who had been fighting separately had somehow regrouped in one place.

Soon, their momentum surged sharply, and they scattered steel balls and coins in all directions.

Then they spun their bodies like windmills.

Whooooooooooooosh—!

Metal fragments whirled like a vortex, tearing everything within range to shreds.

The shadow undead and butterflies were resummoned once more, but fortunately, we had already evaded in time.

I linked Blink with Ghost Dance to pull Seo Ye-in out, and Dang Gyu-young also escaped the vortex with Shadow Leap.

However, this was also a ploy by the Twin Heroes.

Steel balls and coins circled around the two of them.

Using the gap we had created in distancing ourselves, they further reinforced their defenses.

Although we had nearly lost the initiative early on, Dang Gyu-young and I kicked off the ground once more.

And collided with Dang Il-bi.

Ping!

Meanwhile, between Dang Han-bi’s thumb and index finger, a single coin was loosely held.

Woooooong—

A resonant hum rang out, far too heavy for such a small piece of metal.

It likely meant an immense amount of power had been infused into it.

The next moment, the coin left Dang Han-bi’s hand and shot toward its target at a terrifying speed.

“…….”

Seo Ye-in tried to step sideways with Feather Step to move out of its path.

But as if it had already been anticipated, the coin’s trajectory suddenly curved.

“…….”

As if realizing it couldn’t be avoided, her gray eyes met the incoming projectile.

Then, as if greeting it, she slightly bent at the waist and stuck her head forward.

More precisely, the pot she wore over her head.

Ting,

The coin bounced off futilely and rolled across the ground.

Caught completely off guard, Dang Han-bi blinked.

“What?”

“……Kim Ho, sturdy.”

Seo Ye-in raised her hand and made a V sign.