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Chapter 119

The Mad Dog hated the Blast Dog because of her skill, Mana Assimilation; she could control the residual flames of his Inferno Ring with it.

“If you pair me up with that shady dude on the next mission, I’ll literally blow your head off. Got it?”

The Blast Dog hated the Frost Dog because of his skill, Winter Sky Eyes; he could see through her inner state with it and exploit her weaknesses with his hidden weapons.

“You want me to go with that person? I would rather be beaten to death... on second thought, never mind. Please put down the hammer.”

The Frost Dog hated the Mad Dog because of his skill, Complete Source Resonance, to the point that he even said that he would rather die. Just like the reasons for the hatred of the other two, the Frost Dog’s was because the Mad Dog’s skill affected his own.

Boom!

Se-Hoon’s two types of mana resonated, releasing a powerful special wave.

This special wave’s power—disrupting magic arrays—grew stronger the more intricate the opponent’s technique was. As it was a technique that weakened the foundation of the opponent’s technique until it collapsed entirely instead of methodically demolishing it from the top, even the most intricate techniques would be rendered meaningless if the foundation was delicate.

Thus, against ice blades created from extremely intricate ice, Complete Source Resonance—a better version of the special wave—was especially powerful, rendering them no different than ordinary ice shards.

Crack!

“Ugh...?!”

Again, the newly formed ice blades were easily shattered, and Se-Hoon quickly swung his dagger after penetrating through the fragments.

Clang!

Blocking with the handle of a thick ice dagger, Amir protected his shoulder. He then aimed for Se-Hoon’s throat with the blade. He had been disconcerted that his main technique was dispelled but now was not the time to find out. So, Amir quickly assessed what the problem was and responded immediately by creating a thick ice dagger.

Crack!

But, that solution wasn’t sufficient alone.

Switching his dagger to the backhand grip, Se-Hoon lightly parried the ice dagger shooting toward his throat while forcefully stomping on Amir’s left foot.

Thud!

Amir managed to step back and dodge, albeit barely, but it slightly skewed his stance, allowing Se-Hoon to immediately exploit it. His twin daggers came crashing toward Amir.

“Ugh...!”

Crash!

The textbook way of fighting with a dagger was to parry the other’s attacks, exploit their openings, and accumulate damage before slicing through the opponent’s vital spot—not forcing attacks.

Like a perfect student, Amir flawlessly utilized the textbook dagger technique, whereas Se-Hoon’s was a slightly different technique.

Crack!

Like what shouldn’t be done, whenever the ice dagger and the black dagger infused with Moon Shadow collided, the blades that should have been parrying locked in place together.

But it wasn’t by choice—Amir had tried to parry, but Se-Hoon’s dagger had followed and pressed his dagger down, making Amir grit his teeth due to the inescapable pressure.

He’s using the suction force of darkness mana... all while matching my movements by perfectly understanding how I’m distributing my strength...!

If Se-Hoon knew the exact areas where Amir was putting his force in, it would definitely be easy for him to deflect or overpower Amir’s attacks. However, it was a given that executing such a meticulous technique against an opponent and technique he was seeing for the first time was no simple task, yet Se-Hoon was managing it effortlessly.

“Stay focused, man. What are you doing?”

Wham!

Taking advantage of Amir’s lapse in concentration, Se-Hoon jabbed him with his elbow and then threw a fist, before fiercely thrusting his daggers toward various vital spots.

And while Amir had somehow managed to parry off his onslaught of attacks, he was beginning to feel disoriented in the ongoing battle.

What is... he aiming for...?

Whether he was fighting a stronger or a weaker opponent, Amir always managed to discern their intentions with his Winter Sky Eyes.

He was able to determine whether the attacks aimed at his neck were merely feints or if a secretly powerful move was disguised as a puny strike. Before now, Amir had always been playing a card game where he could see his opponent’s hand.

Scrape!

But with Se-Hoon, he could see nothing.

The dagger he thought was aimed at his neck merely brushed past his hair lightly, and he thought was an insignificant strike had suddenly switched into a backhand swing at his wrist.

It was a completely different sensation from when he had faced the monster of the pleasure district. And it was unpleasantly disturbing.

There’s no need to panic. This isn’t that strange of a situation. Amir forcibly snapped himself back to focus.

It was only a single advantage of his that had vanished; the battle was still far from over. Compared to what he felt from the monster of the pleasure district, which was a primal fear of the unknown, the disconcerting feeling from his current opponent was simply because of his unfamiliarity with Se-Hoon’s battle tactics.

If I can just become accustomed to his combat patterns...!

If he could understand his opponent’s techniques and weaknesses, then he could just respond accordingly and be victorious. Believing in that thought, he settled the disconcerting feeling and faced the reality of being on the back foot again.

Clang!

The ice daggers that were blocking Se-Hoon’s charge were easily brushed aside, exposing his chest to Se-Hoon’s two viciously swinging daggers.

Skkkkkk

Watching the sparks created by the daggers scraping against the armor underneath Amir’s clothing, Amir’s eyes gleamed. It was a strike that could have been fatal, but Amir felt thrilled instead.

His physical abilities are lower than I thought.

Even with a buff spell applied, if Se-Hoon couldn’t slice through his armor, then it meant that apart from his skills, Se-Hoon’s pure strength was woefully inadequate. Finally grasping a weakness of his opponent, Amir forcibly regained his composure and created a sheet of ice beneath him.

“Whoops.”

Originally, Amir had planned on using the sheet of ice to destabilize Se-Hoon’s stance even slightly, and that would have failed, seeing as how Se-Hoon had sensed it and quickly stabilized himself by channeling mana into his toes.

Whoosh!

So Amir had changed his plan—he would use it to regain his own balance. Narrowly managing to twist his body, thanks to his flexibility, to dodge Se-Hoon’s attack, Amir charged him immediately.

Crack-

Another thinner blade formed over the ice dagger, crashing powerfully against Se-Hoon’s dagger.

Cackle-

The thin blade shattered, but it was designed to break upon impact. And since it had, he could finally successfully parry Se-Hoon’s persistent black dagger.

Seeing the flow of the situation changing in the direction he intended, Amir pressed on more vigorously.

Crack!

His ongoing assault allowed Se-Hoon more opportunities to strike back, but Amir relied on his armor to deflect most of them. And now that he had confirmed that Se-Hoon wasn’t able to land any effective hits, Amir began swinging his dagger even more fiercely.

He had finally begun to gain the upper hand.

Just a little more...!

If he could find one proper opening, he could reverse the one-sided battle and end it all in one go. And so to find that opening, Amir relied on his own eyes for once, instead of his Winter Sky Eyes, to perfectly capture Se-Hoon’s movements.

Clang!

Once more, the daggers collided in the air forcefully and bounced off. He then spread his arms wide.

Realizing that Se-Hoon had been creating the special mana waves by colliding his daggers with each other, Amir swiftly created something new.

Frost Alchemy: Snow Drill

At the expense of their completeness, he created white ice awls as fast as possible.

The appearance of the countless ice awls targeting the vital parts of his body surprised him, but it made Se-Hoon smirk once he recovered.

So you can still adapt your combat style, huh?

Since he had been disappointed that he could overwhelmingly push back Amir, the fact that he could use Frost Alchemy to produce a new weapon to counter his opponent wasn’t bad at all. Se-Hoon switched his daggers to a reverse grip.

Mortal Combat Techniques: Ice Breaker

Responding in kind, he swung his daggers with speed incomparable to before.

Crash!

“Huh?!”

Easily crushing what was supposed to be Amir’s decisive move, Se-Hoon thrust the tips of both daggers toward Amir’s vital spots.

Completely caught off guard by Se-Hoon’s sudden increase in physical capabilities, which far exceeded the previously identified level, Amir hastily swung his ice dagger to block.

Crack!

However, the thick ice dagger he had created with all his might snapped before his eyes.

“Ah.”

There was a tiny fracture in the dagger that he hadn’t noticed, likely meticulously formed during their previous exchanges. And the fact that Se-Hoon had been aiming for a chance to utilize that with a perfectly executed strike, filled Amir with utter shock.

Whoosh!

Se-Hoon’s twin daggers dug into his body.

Crunch! Crack!

Se-Hoon then mercilessly stabbed Amir’s shoulders, arms, wrists, sides, waist, and thighs—all areas not covered by armor.

Feeling burning pain throughout his body, Amir’s strength drained away and he collapsed backward, unable to regain his posture.

Thump!

“Ugh...”

Painfully crashing into the floor, he reflexively tried to get back up, but it only caused more blood to flow from his wounds. He couldn’t muster any strength in his body, and even his mana didn’t respond to his will.

What did he do...?

Feeling abnormally exhausted, which shouldn’t have been the case considering that he wasn’t attacked to such an extent, Amir furrowed his brow.

At that moment, Se-Hoon calmly said, “I know it’s exciting to exploit weaknesses, but you really should carefully check if it\'s real or not. How naive of you.”

While it was uncommon, there were people who pretended to be weak long before a fight began. It was especially common among those who were physically weak but possessed strong skills and quick wits, so it was important for one to always be cautious if they felt something was even the slightest bit off.

“...I thought we’d finish this quickly given the urgent situation, but to think you’d actually use that to your advantage. An unimpressive-looking tactic that’s quite useful indeed. I’ll keep it in mind for next time.”

The response mixed with sarcasm and sincerity, made Se-Hoon chuckle.

“I suppose you would.”

It was a tactic the Frost Dog often used himself before the regression after all, so of course he would keep it in mind.

Approaching the immobilized Amir, Se-Hoon looked down at him and said, “Don’t try to move around too much. I’ve cut a few of your muscles and mana circuits, so they can get twisted easily. You might even end up with mana impairment if you’re unlucky.”

“...I really don’t understand who you are.”

Neither his Winter Sky Eyes nor his Frost Alchemy worked on Se-Hoon, and Se-Hoon could even toy with him in close combat, completely suppressing him by just precisely striking several points in his body without any special skills whatsoever.

With that kind of skill in so many areas, his identity was truly elusive.

“Well, that’s nothing you need to know... let’s see.”

Se-Hoon lightly slashed at his chest with a dagger.

Ripppp-

Having cut Amir’s dress shirt open, a thin piece of armor was revealed. It looked quite valuable and seemed to have been designed to be unremovable by anyone else.

However, Se-Hoon needed to get past it. Inspecting its form, Se-Hoon brought the tip of his dagger wrapped in Scarlet Flame Wheel to one spot and then struck its side with another dagger wrapped in Moon Shadow.

Complete Source Resonance: Through Sound

Wooong- Craack!

The resonance created by the two daggers spread deep into the armor, and seconds later, the area covering Amir’s chest cracked open.

“What...”

Ignoring Amir, who was startled by his strange technique, Se-Hoon forcibly widened the gap and peered down at Amir’s chest, which made him narrow his eyes.

On Amir’s left chest was a lavender-rose pattern that would have looked like an ordinary tattoo had it not been for the strange magical power emanating from it.

“A Mark of Dreams, huh...”

The tattoo was a mark created by dream mana, which was capable of traversing the boundaries between reality and dreams—a branding technique used by the Dream Demon.

Having seen such a mark before the regression, Se-Hoon began to examine it quietly.

“Who... no, what exactly are you?” asked Amir, completely taken aback.

Anyone who knew about the Mark of Dreams was involved with the Dream Demon to some extent, like slaves who were directly affected by it. Thus, Se-Hoon’s identity became even more enigmatic, making Amir look at him with a complex expression.

But Se-Hoon just responded indifferently to his gaze.

“What could you even do if you knew who I was?”

“...”

“You’re practically a corpse right now so stop yapping and just stay quiet.”

Annoyed at Amir’s incessant questions, Se-Hoon shut him up with a sharp retort and then used his Eyes of Clairvoyance to take a closer look at the Mark of Dreams.

Overlaying the item over the heart, huh? It sure is a secure method, but it is downright malicious.

If someone tried to forcibly remove the item, both the item stored within the mark and Amir’s heart would dissolve into dreams. It was an extreme method that ensured the item wouldn’t fall into other people’s hands at the cost of the carrier’s life.

And the fact that Amir had it acutely reminded Se-Hoon that he had returned to the past.

Well, Amir did say that his treatment wasn’t very good before his abilities were recognized.

The Dream Demon had only kept him alive because it needed someone to be the head of the Singhs, but that never stopped the continuous threat of being disposed of if found to be utterly useless.

Thus, in his youth, the Frost Dog had striven fiercely to survive, becoming an executive in the pleasure district and gaining the protection of the Dream Demon, though they later turned into the very shackles that bound him down.

The Dream Demon engraved marks all over his body because it liked him too much.

It was fortunate that Amir had been able to remove them with Se-Hoon’s help back then; otherwise, he might have been exploited by the Dream Demon until his death.

In that sense, it might be better if he stays somewhat incompetent this time.

Being too noticeable, whether in light or the dark, was not always a good thing. Thus, while hoping that this battle might be a valuable “defeat” for Amir, Se-Hoon placed his hand on Amir’s left chest.

“If you don’t want to die, stay quiet from now on.”

“What do you mean...”

But instead of answering his question, Se-Hoon took out the Phantasmal Spyblade from the Dream Storage.

Fwoosh-

A violet dagger emerged from the purple flames that appeared on Se-Hoon’s chest. Gazing at it, Amir was amazed by its beautiful form, when suddenly, he realized the power contained within.

Dream mana?

Was Se-Hoon truly associated with the Dream Demon? Pondering his identity, Amir’s confusion only grew.

Meanwhile, Se-Hoon had infused his mana into the Eternal Nocturne’s Phalanx embedded in his right index finger.

Eye of the Boundary

Ssssh-

Black mana surged from his finger, covering his eyes. Now able to see boundaries, Se-Hoon carefully stabbed the Phantasmal Spybalde above the black boundary that separated Amir’s heart and the Mark of Dreams.

“Ugh...!”

The violet blade dug deep into Amir’s chest, creating a dizzying sight. But contrary to expectations, the violet blade dissolved like flames, burrowing in without pain. He once again furrowed his brow, perplexed by the strange sensation.

At that moment, Se-Hoon carefully began excising the Mark of Dreams using the Phantasmal Spyblade.

Sssshhh

Every time a part of the mark was severed, the outer edges of the rose pattern dissipated, releasing dream mana contained within outward.

Okay. Now, carefully from here...

Any mistake now could push the remaining dream mana in his body into the boundaries of a dream, potentially leading to instant death if it brought the heart along with it. Therefore, Se-Hoon opted to carefully absorb the dream mana into the Phantasmal Skyblade as he cut through the interior of the mark.

Fwoosh-

The Phantasmal Spyblade, now fueled by the absorbed dream mana, turned even more intensely purple. Eventually, the Mark of Dreams that had clung to the heart was completely excised, and the hitherto blurry item that was embedded in the mark became clearer and revealed itself.

Is this it?

It was a square box, faintly overlapping with the heart.

Having confirmed that the item was indeed there, Se-Hoon swiftly pierced Amir’s heart with the Phantasmal Spyblade and pulled the item out.

Spring-

Like a hazy dream, the blurry box emerged from the purple flames.

Seeing its dream-like state, seemingly about to disperse at any moment, Se-Hoon quickly swung the Phantasmal Spyblade.

Fwoosh!

With a flare, the Phantasmal Spyblade’s dream flame burned away the remaining dream mana surrounding the box, clearing up the view of the item as the boundary between reality and the dream around it collapsed.

Is this the item that they tried to send to the Black Arms?

The box was lusterless and colored a plain black. But what stood out was that its surface was densely covered with various enchantments and talismans, all designed to quell and block flames.

An item related to flames... with this many seals, it may actually be the item that Immortal is trying to get hands-on.

What was Immortal, or rather, what was Offering—the group behind him—after to purchase such an item from the Dream Demon?

Little did Se-Hoon know, he was slowly beginning to realize the massive plot between Watchers and the Ten Evils.

Click-

But before he could fully connect the dots, a small metallic sound rang out from behind him.

Ssssh

The dream mana that had filled the room had seeped into the incense burner placed on the table, summoning purple smoke that slowly began to rise from it.

Immediately recognizing that the smoke was similar to the mana in the Mark of Dreams that he had just removed, Se-Hoon urgently prepared to throw the Phantasmal Spyblade.

“Ah~”

However, it was far too late. Beyond the purple smoke, a voice, dreamy and smooth, echoed.

The voice seemed to penetrate deep into his ears, giving a uniquely eerie and intensely unpleasant feeling. It made Se-Hoon grimace.

That’s the...

Wanting to confirm if it was indeed the opponent he thought, he looked back at Amir and scrutinized his expression. Relief, anger, contempt, and fear—a complex mix of emotions pervaded his face.

Seeing that, Se-Hoon turned back, now fully certain of who the opponent was: the master of the pleasure district and the demon who toys with the whole world, traversing through everyone’s dreams.

“Has something happened?”

The voice of the Dream Demon, one of the Ten Evils, sensually resounded through the air.