Kwaang—!
The flames that burst from Hong Seoyoon’s hands blazed with fierce momentum.
It wasn’t entirely Hong Seoyoon’s power. Thanks to the divine power Ian, clinging to his back like a cicada, continuously injected, his stamina wasn’t depleting. He should have collapsed from exhaustion already, firing off S-rank area-of-effect magic indiscriminately. But warm energy constantly surged from Ian, forcibly replenishing his depleted stamina.
Like an inexhaustible cornucopia, the white flames expanded their range.
“Uhaha! This is insane! I’m not getting tired!”
It felt like becoming a zombie.
“Hyung, concentrate! They keep coming down!”
Ian pressed close to Hong Seoyoon’s ear and shouted.
He had erased his presence from the world with [Sanctuary Declaration]. Since his opponents were eyeless monsters, he didn’t hide his appearance. So currently, the demons’ killing intent and aggro were focused solely on Hong Seoyoon. Thanks to that, Ian could hide behind him and safely focus on his role as a ‘human battery.’
However, the situation wasn’t optimistic.
The red gate that opened at the mountain summit showed no signs of closing, and Shadow Stalkers continued pouring out through the gap like a swarm of black ants.
Kieeeek!
“Kill them! Put out the fire and find the light hiding behind it!”
They were cunning.
Where their eyes should be was empty, but instead of vision, they were creatures with extremely developed sensory organs that detected mana. They narrowed their encirclement by extending shadows to blind spots where the flames didn’t reach.
“Damn it, they even have intelligence?”
Hong Seoyoon bit his lip. The flames briefly died down. He had stamina to spare, but more fundamentally, the core that allowed him to use his supernatural powers was starting to run dry.
“Kugh!”
At Hong Seoyoon’s groan, Ian’s complexion paled.
Right. The energy Ian injected by placing his hand was ‘vitality’ that washed away physical fatigue. But what was needed to use magic was fundamental ‘power.’ In the other world, they called it mana. To replenish mana, simple skin contact was impossible.
In the end, it meant he had to do what Hong Seoyoon called a kiss—membrane contact.
Ian urgently grabbed Hong Seoyoon’s shoulder. A knight with depleted mana was nothing more than a meat shield on the battlefield. He couldn’t let Hong Seoyoon become that.
“Hyung, just a moment.”
“Huh? Hey!”
Ian mercilessly grabbed his collar and spun him around toward himself. The flustered Hong Seoyoon squeezed his eyes shut. When had he been joking around, but now that this situation actually arrived, he seemed troubled.
“E-even if we do this, you’re still my younger brother?”
He was stating the obvious. Ian had no intention of being confessed to by anyone else. All of this was just an act to survive. Repeating this to himself, he stood on tiptoe, aiming for Hong Seoyoon’s lips.
That’s when it happened.
A massive roar that seemed to tear through the night sky was heard.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—!
It was the sound of a helicopter. It wasn’t an ordinary helicopter occasionally spotted on normal days. The heavy propeller sound characteristic of a combat helicopter struck above the villa.
And in the eyes of someone who jumped from the helicopter, the sight of Ian and Hong Seoyoon just before their lips touched was captured.
“What are you doing!”
A shout like lightning that fell from the sky.
Before that voice mixed with jealousy and killing intent could reach them, an invisible massive force tore off the villa’s roof entirely.
Crash! Thud!
“Uwagh!”
Hong Seoyoon and Ian were blown away by the tremendous wind pressure. Naturally, the kiss attempt was nullified.
Through the debris of the shattered ceiling, a man landed with his black coat fluttering. The concrete floor cracked like a spiderweb and a cloud of dust rose.
“…Hyung?”
Ian sat down hard on his rear and opened his eyes wide.
It was Choi Jaeheon. But unlike usual, his eyes were half-crazed.
‘You dare touch my younger brother?’
It seemed he couldn’t even see his friend right now. Hong Seoyoon groaned, thrown into a corner, but Jaeheon didn’t care. He scanned the demons filling the living room.
“Vermin.”
When Choi Jaeheon clenched his hand, the heads of the demons in the living room burst like watermelons. Overwhelming force. It was salvation itself.
And one more person.
Following the path Choi Jaeheon had opened, a man descended elegantly, cloaked in divine power shaped like golden wings.
“I apologize for being late, Saint-nim.”
It was Vermouth.
When he swung the sword in his hand, crescent-shaped sword energy sliced through the shadows. The Shadow Stalkers that touched the light screamed and vanished. The lives that fell in that single motion far exceeded the number Choi Jaeheon had killed.
If Shadow Stalkers had killed many clerics and Holy Knights, Holy Knights had also slain countless Shadow Stalkers. They were each other’s counters. But there were no Shadow Stalkers of a higher rank than Vermouth visible here.
“Are you safe?”
Vermouth was smiling at Ian even in the midst of battle. However, that eye-smile was strangely cold. He had clearly witnessed the scene where Ian was about to kiss Hong Seoyoon.
“It’s a healing act.”
Ian tried to explain the circumstances with a sigh, but the battlefield situation didn’t wait for them.
“I’ll kill them all first and listen to the story.”
Vermouth, Choi Jaeheon, and Hong Seoyoon, who joined belatedly, began sweeping away the enemies in front. When Choi Jaeheon pressed down with psychokinesis, Vermouth and Hong Seoyoon took lives. Even while hating each other, they were cooperating in an efficient manner.
‘So it’s not the worst situation.’
Ian thought so.
Meanwhile, the most cunning and large-bodied leader entity was looking inside from outside. And it turned its gaze to Ian, who had already released his Sanctuary Declaration.
“The Saint.”
And there was even a Holy Knight. Though it had no eyes, it instinctively read the traces of disgusting divine power. It was a familiar energy to it.
Lancia’s Saint Ian and Holy Knight Vermouth. When this entity first met them in the past, it was still weak. But now it was different. Even facing them, it didn’t feel as much fear as back then.
Having acquired information that the advance party couldn’t transmit, it immediately conveyed the information to other Shadow Stalkers and sent them up the mountain. Then it moved, targeting Ian. It slowly approached him through the shadows from the edges.
Killing even one of the two would be a great honor. And preferably, that target should be Ian. Without the Saint nearby, the clerics gradually weakened as time passed. That’s what a Saint was. A monster who raised all allied forces.
Perhaps because of that, all the other humans also moved while protecting the Saint. To divert attention, all the remaining Shadow Stalkers changed direction. Then they kicked off from the building and began running down the mountain.
The leader knew how to use its head. What good was charging when they were dying anyway? Humans felt pain at the death of their own kind. So if it attacked other entities, they would become confused and flustered.
And that thought wasn’t wrong.
“They’re heading to the city!”
With a horrified voice, Hong Seoyoon stepped forward. At the same time, Ian shouted to Choi Jaeheon and Vermouth.
“I’m fine, so chase them!”
It seemed he intended to use Sanctuary Declaration again. High-ranking demons knew about the Saint’s Sanctuary Declaration. It was because friendly races among demons exchanged information. So the Saint’s choice this time was wrong.
Sssss—
A shadow surged up from beneath Ian’s feet.
There was no sound, no killing intent. The bizarre face of the eyeless creature approached right up to Ian’s nose.
He noticed something was wrong too late, but it was already too late. A pitch-black blade surged toward Ian’s heart. Choi Jaeheon was too far away, and Hong Seoyoon had run out of power. There was no time to do anything.
‘I’m going to die!’
Time seemed to stop.
The moment Ian squeezed his eyes shut.
Squelch—!
With a dull bursting sound, hot liquid splattered on Ian’s face. There was no pain. His heart hadn’t been pierced. Instead, a solid body was embracing Ian.
“Ugh.”
When Ian opened his eyes, golden hair was scattering before them.
Vermouth. He was tightly holding Ian in his embrace while letting out a pained groan.
“Vermouth?”
Ian’s gaze slowly descended. The blade that had flown toward him was embedded in Vermouth’s body. But the price of protecting him was gruesome.
Thud.
His left arm, which had been precariously hanging by a thread of skin, fell down. That arm was definitely Vermouth’s. The arm rolling on the floor was faintly convulsing.
“Ah.”
Ian’s mouth slowly opened. Not even a voice came out. Vermouth’s face turned white as a blank sheet of paper. Cold sweat poured down like rain, but he forced the corners of his mouth up while putting strength into his right arm that held Ian.
“I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
Even in this moment, his voice was no different from usual. But due to excessive bleeding and shock, the color of his lips was dead.
