A man wearing nothing but a black leather vest over his bare upper body swept his hair back.
Charles clenched his trembling fingertips into a fist.
He could feel that the man who had just appeared was fundamentally different from the ones he had been fighting moments ago.
His skin prickled as if needles were piercing through his whole body.
‘Can I even take him on?’
Though his body and mana had recovered, Charles had lived for a long time without limbs.
Because of that, his own body felt discordant, as if it were creaking.
The others were easy enough to handle even in that condition, but this newly appeared man was different.
“Big brother! We can handle this ourselves… ugh…”
One of the men who was about to protest to the man in the black vest clutched his chest and collapsed.
A dagger was plunged deep into the center of his chest, leaving only the handle visible.
His eyes rolled back, showing he was barely clinging to life.
“Shut up. Hey, you look like a fairly well-known Hunter. What’s a guy like you doing here? Does the orphanage director have connections with the Hunter side?”
Even as the man in his own dagger was dying, the black-vested man didn’t so much as blink.
Charles, who had already turned one of the men into a half-corpse, was the same way.
He had seen countless cruel scenes while rolling through battlefields.
What needed focus now was to take down the man in front of him.
“You sure talk a lot.”
Charles generally disliked people who babbled instead of acting.
These two were enemies anyway.
Useless conversation would only waste time.
“Seems you’re as taciturn as you look.”
Suddenly, two sharp, gleaming daggers spun in the man’s palm.
Then a third was added.
The dagger he had just plunged into his subordinate’s chest suddenly lifted as if tied by invisible threads.
The three bloodstained blades danced dangerously on his palm.
Ssssh, ssssh, ssssh—
Just as Charles gathered his mana and focused on the man, the three daggers flew toward his head, chest, and thigh, each with a slight delay.
“…Damn.”
Charles dodged the daggers aimed at his head and chest but the blade grazed the outside of his right thigh.
Though he moved in time, his thigh muscles twisted involuntarily.
“Hmm. Strange. Judging by your energy, I thought you’d easily dodge attacks like this. How could you get hit by a greeting?”
The man shrugged, offering a cryptic smile.
He hadn’t used even half of his strength in the daggers he’d just thrown.
It was literally a mere taste, a greeting.
The blood-soaked daggers returned swiftly to his palm and spun faster.
“What’s with that stance? Looks ridiculous.”
Charles had relatively long limbs compared to his torso.
Relaxing his shoulders, he let his arms hang down so his fingertips almost brushed his knees.
The man sneered at Charles’s awkward posture, then hardened his expression.
Swish—
“…Not kidding around, huh?”
Charles, who had been standing some distance away, blinked once and the man was right in front of him.
Charles turned his head sideways to avoid the heavy sound of a powerful strike, but he was just a moment late.
The hammer-like fist grazed his cheek, slicing a thin, red line as if cut by a sharp blade.
Wiping the trickling blood roughly off with the back of his hand, the man raised the corner of his mouth.
“Judging by your power, you’re clearly a high-ranking Hunter, but your face is unfamiliar.”
Among Hunters, some stay hidden to avoid the Association’s attention after awakening.
This man was one of them.
He had already stepped away from the Association’s eyes due to his involvement in all sorts of illegal activities.
Because of that, those who worked in this world generally knew each other’s faces.
Even if they didn’t know someone’s face directly, they remembered distinguishing features and abilities through word of mouth.
The man searched his mind but had no information about Charles.
‘Who the hell is this guy?’
Charles was nearly two meters tall and boasted a completely bald crown.
His eyes were large like a cow’s, and while his appearance might seem gentle at a glance, his sharp facial features gave off a distinctly menacing aura.
“Ugh.”
But continuing to think was difficult.
The moment Charles realized the first attack had missed, he immediately swung another punch.
Usually, a large frame like his meant slower speed, but Charles was not only strong but also fast.
“As expected of Big Brother Taejin…”
“A-class Hunters really are different…”
The voices of the subordinates barely registered.
Even though he was an A-rank Hunter, the strength was enough to make Charles frown at the thought of being pushed back.
A heavy fist descended over crossed arms.
A deep groove was carved into the ground by the heel of Oh Taejin’s foot.
“Haa. It’s been a while since I faced a worthy opponent. But I don’t have time.”
The client promised to pay twice the agreed reward if he finished the job today.
The reason Oh Taejin operated in the shadows without affiliating with the Association was simple.
To make a lot of money.
With money as his life’s top priority, the double reward was an offer hard to ignore.
Even the initial promised reward was the highest among the requests he’d taken in nearly a month.
Piiing— pingping—
Oh Taejin let out a fierce laugh as new daggers began to float around him.
Feeling a bad premonition, Charles pressed the attack using even his feet to pressure him.
But as time passed, Oh Taejin effortlessly dodged Charles’s strikes and blocked some with daggers.
‘…Damn.’
Wounds began to spread across Charles’s body.
Charles’s body was unlike a normal person’s.
His body was essentially a weapon; when channeling mana, even if an ordinary person struck him with a blade, no scratches would appear on his skin.
‘If this continues, excessive bleeding could cause shock.’
Yet whenever Oh Taejin’s dagger blades touched him, wounds formed.
Just moments ago, Charles had struck at Oh Taejin’s temple but ended up cutting the back of his own hand on a dagger.
With a burning pain, bright red blood streamed down the blue veins on his hand.
“Shall we get serious now? Time is precious for me.”
Oh Taejin sent all the daggers floating around him flying toward Charles.
What started as three daggers had quickly grown to more than ten.
Glancing at the time on the watch around his wrist, Oh Taejin controlled the daggers freely.
“Kugh…”
Charles deflected seven of them but three still pierced various parts of his body.
He gritted his teeth as he pulled out the dagger stuck in his left shoulder.
There were no clothes for Charles to wear at the orphanage.
Fortunately, the director was handy.
Within an hour, he had sewn clothes from scraps of old garments the children no longer wore.
It had been a long time since anyone had given Charles a heartfelt gift.
Though the patchwork clothes might look ridiculous to others, mixed with many colors of fabric, they were precious to Charles.
Now those clothes were torn by daggers and soaked with his blood.
The whites of Charles’s eyes started to redden.
“Persistent guy.”
Oh Taejin watched with a somewhat discouraged expression as Charles pulled out the daggers embedded in his shoulder, thigh, and lower abdomen like they were nothing.
He recalled the daggers falling from Charles’s body and called them back, the air thickening with the coppery scent of blood.
The smell of enemy blood, not his own, was strangely pleasant.
“Must hurt quite a bit. How about surrendering now?”
It had been a long time since he met a worthy opponent.
If the mission hadn’t been involved, he might have leisurely enjoyed the fight and broken Charles’s tendons limb by limb.
But the mission came first.
“I prefer feeling pain.”
Charles had been held back by the ghosts of his past from showing his true strength.
Phantom pains, nonexistent yet persistent, gnawed at his new limbs, forcing his body to twist unnaturally in battle.
But now, as the daggers stabbed painfully all over, the phantom pains retreated like a frightened puppy.
“Ah, this is troublesome.”
Charles let his arms hang long despite the blood flowing freely.
Oh Taejin bit his lip.
Charles’s fighting spirit had changed.
Until now, facing him had not been easy, but it felt like things were about to get much harder.
Piiiiiing—
The daggers spinning like tops above Oh Taejin’s head began to merge into one.
Like a lie, they melted like water and, upon touching, expanded in size.
This was a secret technique Oh Taejin rarely used due to its extreme mana consumption.
Thwack—
But this time Charles gave Oh Taejin no time to attack.
Launching himself off the ground, he spun dozens of times in midair.
Maintaining his outstretched arms during the spin, he shredded everything his fingertips touched.
Kwah-kwah-kwah—
A nearby tree disintegrated in an instant, scattering fragments everywhere.
Those watching the battle held their breath and hid in fear.
One of them collapsed, clutching an arm pierced by a splinter.
“No matter how tough your body is, it can’t compare to my weapon.”
Even as Charles, transformed into a massive whirlwind, charged, Oh Taejin didn’t back away but instead pushed his sword’s mana to the limit.
The blade, once an ordinary dagger, gleamed like the surface of a lake reflecting sunlight.
Kwah-aaah-aaang—
Finally, Charles’s body clashed against Oh Taejin’s sword.
The roar was so tremendous it was hard to believe a person and weapon had even touched.
Red lines spread across Charles’s skin.
Blood flowed from not only the dagger wounds but also fresh cuts, droplets scattering wildly.
“Just die already, damn it…!”
Oh Taejin wasn’t unscathed either.
The recoil twisted his insides.
Blood trickled from his mouth in a dark red stream.
All the trees nearby were shredded in the chaos.
Though their strength seemed evenly matched at a glance, the uncontrolled bleeding gradually weakened Charles’s body.
He held on with a mind tempered by long battles and training, but his vision began to blur.
“Charles!”
A familiar voice pierced his eardrums.
At the same time, Oh Taejin spat blood like an arrow and his body was thrown back.