Metro City's Stadium…
–This is the first time…
–I've used this technique on someone.
Adela's words rang throughout the arena, showing her resolve to go all out. Arden was genuinely impressed by YuSung's skill.
"To think… Adela would struggle this much. As I thought… Yu WonHak, he really is your disciple. What an incredible young lad."
"It's too early for you to be surprised by him," he replied confidently, crossing his arms. "I told you, right? That YuSung is going to become stronger than I am?"
Arden stared at Adela and became lost in thought.
'…Adela. You look like you're having fun.'
The disaster of the Winter Witch, Luisa—a rank 7 boss.
He had wondered if Adela had lost her heart and her emotions to the frigid temperatures she had to endure during the event. A bitter taste appeared in his mouth at the thought.
But the sight of his granddaughter genuinely enjoying the match gave him a sense of relief.
'…I know I said all that, but…'
Yu WonHak aimed a sincere gaze towards YuSung amidst the heartwarming atmosphere that had been created.
'You would've needed to grow as well in order to overcome this opponent.'
YuSung had left the Martial Spirits' Mountain and Yu WonHak's care. The last he had seen him, the boy had been on the third form.
If his growth had halted there, Adela would be too strong of an opponent to face.
However, he believed that his disciple would be able to move onto the next form.
'Show it to me!'
* * * *
Whoosh!
A violently churning blizzard.
Adela stared at YuSUng, standing perfectly fine even in the middle of the severe cold.
"It seems like the reason why I came to Korea was to meet you," she spoke, words coming out slow.
The chill was slowly encircling YuSung. He, however, did nothing but wait, mana encircling his body as he took his stance.
'By the time I see what shape the technique takes the form of, it'll be too late.'
It was a high-level fight where one mistake could lead to one's loss. YuSung poured his concentration into the mana in the air.
"Then, I'll make the first move."
Adela emotionlessly swiped at the air with her hand in a horizontal motion. The mana in the air began to glow with a blue light as she did so. YuSung took that chance to quickly lunge himself towards his opponent.
Bambambam!!
Ice appeared right over the location his body used to be and exploded with the force of a bomb. The leftover ice shards scattered into the shape of flowers, creating a beautiful display.
Whoosh!
YuSung, who had been attacking Adela head-on, stretched out his fist. Right at that moment, however, he felt mana gather at his feet.
'…Multi-Skill?'
Using more than one skill at the same time.
He had no choice but to back off as a giant spike of ice shot up in front of his opponent.
'It'll be hard trying to blindly close the gap.'
YuSung distanced himself even farther from Adela in order to get another chance at an attack.
While the distance technically gave him less chances to do so, it also made the opponent's Skillcasting slower—another piece of knowledge that all hunters knew.
'She already used a barrier Skill. Taking into account the amount of mana she's consumed, the longer this match continues, the better of a position I'll be in.'
YuSung's thoughts were even more calculating than ever in the face of a tough opponent.
Adela suddenly began talking to him while he was in that state with a blank look on her face.
"Are you… sensing… the mana in the atmosphere?"
'But how?' was the question she clearly had. YuSung had not reacted to the attack as a result of seeing it with his eyes. An opponent who did would not be able to dodge the attack hidden behind the feint that she had just done.
'But…'
From what she had seen, YuSung had already been in position to perfectly dodge the attack right before the Skill had even been cast.
This was a feat that was absolutely impossible for a regular hunter to perform. But YuSung's Trait, Heightened Focus, was enabling him to do the impossible.
"A little," was his rather casual response. Adela's heart began to beat even faster at it.
"How amusing."
Using her Overture meant that she had to finish YuSung off before her concert ended. Adela had given herself a time limit for the fight.
'If I don't beat him…'
The thought itself was enough to make her excited. She could finally understand what emotions her opponents had felt while battling against her up to that point.
'It's my loss…'
Their fight wasn't even the least bit boring, even when they were standing still and sizing each other up. Adela spent every single moment focusing on YuSung's movements, straining her mind in an effort to find a gap in his defenses.
'I can't find any.'
But she couldn't see anything of the sort, nor could she think of any sort of plan.
He had dealt with her ice trap earlier. Considering that, it was meaningless to force even more short-range fights using high-speed Skills.
What Adela had to rely on was her greatest talent—the overwhelming scale of her Trait and her exceptional control over it.
"Intermezzo (Interlude)."
At her crooning, ice in the shapes of weapons began to form in the air. Not a drop of mana was wasted in order to create the greatest curtain call she could muster.
Wave!
Adela moved her arm in a grandiose motion, the tip of her finger pointing towards YuSung. And as promised, the ice weapons began to fly towards him.
Wshhhhh!!
Deadly ice began raining down on him.
YuSung used his mana to bring out the full extent of his Trait.
Blink!!
He looked up at the sky, eyes wide open. His perception of time became slower and slower until it stopped altogether, while his head began to process things faster and faster.
'Three steps to the left in order to dodge the nearest ice weapon.'
Taptaptap!
The deadly projectile hit the ground right next to him as soon as he made his move.
'Left!'
His heart began to pound as the speed of his thoughts accelerated.
YuSung pulled his foot back.
Stab!
A spear of ice hit the ground.
'Back.'
He spun his body around in a half-circle motion.
Crrrrrack!
More ice fell right next to him in an avalanche.
While he had dodged any mortal wounds, scratches were left behind on his flesh every time sharp ice nicked it.
'Next, a large step back.'
YuSung took a short breath after dodging as many of the attacks he could. Even after using up an incredible amount of concentration, his eyes maintained a sharp glare at Adela.
'Not yet.'
He was waiting for something. That was what his battle instincts, honed and sharpened up to that point, were telling him.
Adela and YuSung stared at each other.
"Aria (Aria)."
The swept-up winds settled at her crooning.
A moment of silence and calm.
Then, a single stream of furious storm aimed itself right towards YuSung. It was the queen's aria, the highlight of the [Snow Opera].
A translucent, blue-tinged barrier also went up.
'I… can't dodge this.'
YuSung knew this, as he could sense mana. The scale of the Skill that had been activated was much too big.
Adela's expression was calm.
'You can't do anything so long as you're trapped in that barrier.'
YuSung's Trait and Adela's Trait were on completely different levels.
That was not an evaluation made with the fact that the former was F-rank, and the latter S-rank, in consideration. Even if everyone in S Class attacked Adela, victory was not guaranteed; that was just how oppressively powerful her Trait was.
And the [Snow Opera] Adela was using was her ultimate attack. She was fully confident in her win.
Sss!
The barrier continued to close in to finish off her opponent. It was time to close the curtains on this concert that had risen to a fervor. Adela slowly lowered her arms, which had been crossed, in front of her.
"Finale (Finale)."
The end of the concert.
Inside the barrier YuSung was trapped in, a fierce storm was hitting him on all sides. The ice shards were flung violently by the winds, tearing him to shreds like the blades in a blender—that was the final song to be performed in Adela's [Snow Opera].
'…Is this the end?'
Her face was awash in disappointment as she stared at the barrier.
Adela's fight against YuSung felt like a piece of candy she had eaten during the disaster. A short, but delightful amount of time that was so very sweet on the tongue. Precious enough to her that she wanted to savor it and let the candy melt slowly melt in her mouth.
'But… that happiness has to end now.'
Adela closed her eyes, a complicated expression on her face.
* * *
* * *
The winds were growing stronger.
Shards of ice were flying everywhere.
Even in the middle of this hell, YuSung's body was fine.
Tink! Tap!
The ice shards were repelled away from his body thanks to the mana barrier around him.
But that would only be true for a moment. If the winds grew faster, he wouldn't be able to hold out, no matter how much mana he had.
'I only have one chance.'
However, Adela herself was using an enormous amount of mana for her [Snow Opera]. His current moment of crisis was also his chance.
YuSung brought all of the senses in his body up into greater focus. It was a process he had endlessly repeated during his constant training.
With the least amount of concentration…
The most amount of mana…
'Spread it evenly.'
He poured all of his concentration into using the skill. As he did so, his mana barrier began to gradually weaken.
Shnk! Drip.
Blood began to flow from the wound in his arm but froze immediately. The pain was quite severe, but YuSung's focus didn't falter.
A wound of that caliber was no longer a problem to him; YuSung had become impervious to physical pain.
The day he had been cast aside from the Shin-oh family…
He had learned sadness.
The day his master had chosen him…
He had learned happiness.
Similarly, the pain he had experienced had dulled over the course of time, as well as his memories. Of course, there were still remnants of it.
As YuSung opened up the senses in his body and remembered his training, those remnants of his memory began to pass through his head.
[Because Shin YuSung-ssi taught all of us that.]
Among those were the words from the first comrade who had opened up to him—
[Tch, not a single cute bone in your body. Yeah. What I want to say is… you need to loosen up your shoulders every once in a while.]
—as well as a kind master who tried to teach his disciple the concept of taking a break—
[I wish… that my talent had gone to my brother instead…]
—and a comrade who shared her deepest, most hidden insecurities with him.
The experiences he had with those people happened because he had strived to reach his goal. To YuSung, that was why there was no chance of some sort of problem occurring to him that would make him give up on his goal. Everything in his way was nothing but a wall to smash through or stairs to climb.
The mana in his body began to spread evenly throughout it alongside the fragments of his memories.
It was time to perform the last step.
"Pull it out!" shouted YuSung, his forehead creasing.
As he did so, blue light began to emanate from his body.
But that wasn't the end. As long as he had a goal in mind, he didn't stop putting in the effort. YuSung became even stronger as a result.
Ssst!!
The blue light shone even brighter, repelling the ice shards with its force. Gradually, the color of the light began to darken to black.
Battle God Style Fourth Form – Black Dragon's Body Armor
An incredible show of mana.
The ebony-dyed energy formed into the shape of a dragon and shot up to the heavens in an effort to destroy the barrier.
Crack! Snaaap!!
The one who pulled the curtains closed on the [Snow Opera] was not Adela.
* * * *
Crack! Craaaack!
Black energy blasted out of the cracks forming on the blue barrier.
"That's…"
Adela's heart beat even faster at the sight.
The girl had never used the Skill [Snow Opera] before. She had no need for an extravagant, ultimate Skill like that.
Until that day…
[Snow Opera] was crumbling before her very eyes.
Boom!!
The barrier shattered, and mana shaped like a black dragon burst forth from it like it was hatching out of its egg, soaring towards the heavens. Adela watched it happen, forming an unconscious smile on her lips.
"Shin YuSung…"
It felt like her cold, frozen heart was beating hot and fast in her chest.
The dragon-shaped energy plummeted back down to the ground and hit YuSung, infusing him with its energy.
Zzzzt!!
After performing the fourth form, a black aura crudely radiated from YuSung's body.
Adela had drawn her mana out, forming an aura of sub-zero chill around her.
A fight to the bitter end with the title of the representative of Korea on the line.
The two participants looked at each other. There was no need for words. Both were already set alight by their instinctive need to win, to crush their opponent.
All that was left was to check the results.
YuSung and Adela grinned in sync.
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
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