Chapter 22
The Randellof Family (5):
‘So that leaves four uses left.’
Sehyun checked the hand on the Dead Ringer strapped across his chest.
He had used it four times during practice in the workshop.
Another four times in the battle just now.
‘If everything goes as planned… I’ll need at least three more.’
The number of remaining uses was cutting it close.
He couldn’t afford to waste even one.
His grip on the spear shaft tightened.
From here on out, everything had to align with perfect precision and timing.
Whiiing!
A straight streak of blue light tore through the Kraken’s body like a bolt.
Crackle-crash!!
At the same time, shockwaves spread out, and the monster’s head and tentacles instantly froze solid.
Thud──
Sasha dropped to her knees, coughing up blood.
“Please… just hold on a little longer.”
Leaving those words behind, Sehyun dove straight into his own shadow without hesitation.
For a moment he swam through that pitch-black space where nothing could be felt.
He leapt toward another exit he had opened directly beneath the Kraken.
The instant he burst out of the shadow, concentric circles rippled outward.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
The dozen or so weapons he had left floating in the air earlier surged up from the shadow through the circles, striking the frozen Kraken in a storm of steel.
In no time, the beast’s body was shredded apart.
Amidst the scattering shards of frozen chaos, Sehyun’s eyes darted rapidly.
‘Where is it?’
Small wounds would heal instantly. But if its body was hacked apart into chaos, that was different.
The Kraken would have to gather itself back together around its nucleus, the core of its stellar force.
And sure enough, the fragments drifting in the air began to converge around the ruined spire.
“There!!”
Sehyun confirmed its position and glanced at Inha.
Bang!
Before he even finished speaking, Inha was already sprinting straight toward the spire.
He had been about to open a shadow passage for her since the distance was far, but she had realized it first and moved on her own.
‘Thanks, Inha. Saved me from wasting energy.’
That left three cartridges for the Dead Ringer.
Sehyun lightly slipped back into the shadows.
From where he perched halfway within the shadow of the spire’s tip, caught under the moonlight, he could see Inha racing toward him.
Slice──!
Craaaash!!!
Inha’s blade swept across the tower’s midsection, and explosions tore the stone walls apart in a cascade of rubble.
‘Knew it.’
The Kraken’s last tentacle was left fully exposed, writhing helplessly.
Sehyun drew out a massive greatsword from the shadow-space.
At the same time, he gripped several soulstones—collected earlier from the pterosaurs—in his other hand, then slammed them all into the greatsword.
Clack-clack-clack!!
Vrrrmmmm!!
Blue cracks spread across the sword, the whole blade trembling as if it would explode at any second.
That instability was exactly what Sehyun wanted.
He swung the blade straight down into the obsidian-colored tentacle.
KAANG──!!!!
A straight streak of blue carved down, striking against the Kraken’s core and unleashing a deafening rupture.
Inha joined him, swinging her sword alongside.
But—
‘Even this isn’t enough…?’
The Kraken’s soulstone, half-merged with the Succession Stone, shook violently but still refused to trigger a backlash.
They were exactly one strike short of pushing it past its limits.
‘Damn it… guess I’ve got no choice.’
Sehyun bit his lip and pulled something from the shadows.
“I’d been saving this…!”
In his hand gleamed a dagger, imbued with the Phantom’s stellar force.
He had kept it as a backup artifact in case he exhausted his shadow powers.
It wasn’t strong, but for this one last push, it was enough.
Clang!!
Gripping it in reverse, he drove the blade hard into the critical spot. A surge of stellar waves burst outward.
And then—
Crack-shatter!!!
Finally, the stellar forces collided in backlash.
The tentacle shattered into fragments and collapsed.
Through the gap, the Kraken’s soulstone was revealed.
‘Found it!’
Sehyun reached out toward it.
They had brought the Kraken down, but it wasn’t time to relax yet.
If left unchecked, the unstable soulstone could erupt into a stellar-force storm and obliterate everything nearby.
“Not happening!”
The chain bracelet on his wrist glowed blue.
It latched onto the soulstone’s energy, dragging it down and slamming it into the ground.
The bracelet absorbed the stellar force and was swallowed into the summoned shadow below.
The connection to the Succession Stone was severed completely.
After a swift stabilization process, the Kraken’s soulstone finally calmed.
“Phew…”
With a sigh of relief, Sehyun collapsed onto the ground.
Wisps, which had vanished earlier, now floated back into view one by one.
The distorted environment of the rift was beginning to heal.
“It’s over…”
Finding the Succession Stone was still left, but that was none of his business.
He had already done far more than what was contracted.
The rest could be left to others.
“Still… I’ll make sure to collect hazard pay.”
With a satisfied expression, Sehyun closed his eyes for a moment.
The cold air brushing his skin drew out a faint groan.
But it wasn’t unpleasant.
It felt like the crisp yet gentle breeze of early spring.
When he opened his eyes, he found Inha letting him rest on her lap.
“…How long was I out?”
“Not long. About an hour.”
“You waited that whole time?”
“Not just waiting for you to wake up. They have things to do here too.”
Looking around, Sehyun noticed the Randellof family members were gone.
Inha laid a hand on his forehead.
“Want to lie down a bit longer?”
“No. I need to check something.”
Sehyun sat up.
The sky, once stained red like fire, now bore a bright moon.
Wisps drifting in the air shimmered blue in the moonlight.
The charred wasteland had turned green again, as if nothing had happened.
The rift’s scenery now looked like full spring.
Taking a few steps forward, he saw a frozen, transparent lake down the hill.
There, the Randellof family had gathered.
Moonlight shone over them, as though embracing them.
Whoosh──
Sasha raised her arm, and the Succession Stone floated from her hand.
“So that’s the Randellof succession ritual.”
A ceremony to inherit the will of Randellof, built up over centuries.
The successor offered up part of their own power, in return gaining the right to wield the vast stellar force stored within the stone.
Dense streams of stellar energy flowed from Sasha into the stone, synchronizing with it.
The sight resembled a divine revelation—grand and solemn.
When the light subsided, Sasha opened her eyes.
The condensed stellar force spread outward.
Everyone bowed their heads in reverence, as though compelled by the power.
Thus Sasha became the true leader of Randellof.
Watching from afar, Sehyun recalled a memory from his past life.
— “You’ve reclaimed your home, so naturally, there must be a price to pay. But don’t worry—I won’t take your most precious thing.”
Receiving the Succession Stone as his “reward for salvation,” Hailhwan had said that.
The so-called “baptism”—passing Randellof’s will to a benefactor—was nothing but hollow ceremony.
Then followed his long-winded, polished speech like the politician he was.
That Randellof’s true will did not lie in some mere stone, but in their homeland and in their families.
‘What a moving performance that was.’
Some family members had even teared up at his words.
That was how much this rift meant to Randellof.
Back then, Sehyun too had thought it fortunate that they could reclaim their home without further loss.
But looking back—
‘It was all bullshit.’
From the start, Hailhwan had only been after the Succession Stone, manipulating the situation for his own ends.
He had never once cared about Randellof’s wishes or circumstances.
He was a man who acted only for his own goals.
Even his words about not taking their “most precious thing”… likely meant they should be grateful he didn’t take their lives.
It wasn’t hard to imagine Sasha’s feelings when she was forced to hand it over back then.
It must have felt like facing a monster even scarier than the Kraken.
‘This way is right…’
Sehyun had helped, but in the end, the stone returned to its rightful owners.
He had hoped they would reclaim it on their own, but not everything goes as intended.
‘At least that bastard didn’t get his hands on it.’
That was enough.
There was no need to covet the side benefits, or else he’d become no better than Hailhwan.
As Sehyun sank into thought, the Randellof members began climbing the hill one by one.
Their faces shone brighter than he had ever seen.
“Until next time, Nam Sehyun.”
“Yeah. Call me if you ever need me.”
Vladivostok Airport.
After a brief farewell, Sasha departed immediately.
With the succession completed, she would no doubt be busy inheriting the boss’s full authority and duties.
Rattle-rattle-rattle──
Sehyun turned away as the old engine noise faded.
“Well, what’s left now…”
Squeak…
A pitiful whine came from the bundle in Inha’s arms—a damned bear cub.
He had said they could just leave it, and it would naturally return to its mother. But Inha thought differently.
“This little one was abandoned.”
Her expression turned bitter, as if she had read something in the cub.
Perhaps it had been abandoned for having different fur from its mother or siblings, left to wander the plains until it stumbled upon the box.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Doesn’t it seem that way? Just look at it. It doesn’t look like it grew up loved…”
Inha gazed at Sehyun with tearful eyes.
‘Honestly…’
Ever since she was little, Inha had a tendency to over-immerse herself in things like this.
Even just walking past a pet shop, she would cry her eyes out, saying the animals in cages looked pitiful.
“If we leave it here, it’ll just wander until eventually—”
“Fine, fine. Don’t make me the bad guy. Just say honestly you want to take it with you.”
“…We really can?”
Her eyes sparkled instantly, as if she had been waiting for that.
Sehyun let out a long sigh.
Of course they couldn’t.
But whether she’d accept that was another question.
If she tried sneaking the cub back anyway, that could lead to an even bigger problem.
Better to help now than clean up trouble later.
“It’s not going to be easy bringing it back.”
From what he’d heard, importing wild animals required complicated procedures…
“There’s no way?”
“…Not none.”
Who was Sehyun, after all?
If there truly was no way, he wouldn’t even bother thinking about it.
The only hesitation was whether to use his ability on something like this.
The Phantom’s shadow ability.
If he placed the cub inside the shadow subspace, they could bypass departure and entry checks.
He even had one use left.
“Though I’ll have to meet that woman again to recharge the cartridges.”
“Oh, you mean Phantom-unnie?”
…When did they become “unnie” and “dongsaeng”?
Sehyun grabbed the cub by the scruff and tossed it into the shadow space.
Strangely enough, it stayed quiet.
“See you later, damn furball.”
And so, the two returned home safely.
But once Sehyun got back—
“You… YOU DAMNED BEAR BRAT!!!”
He opened the shadow space and screamed in despair.
