Chapter 40 …
“Whaaaaargh—!”
The pig demon collapsed to the ground and died, its eyes rolling back.
“H-hey, wh-what the—!”
The men, startled by the sudden surge of power, jumped to their feet and looked around. The one who seemed to be their leader quickly grabbed Seol, who was crying, and pressed a dagger to the back of her neck.
“Who the hell are you?! Don’t hide cowardly—come out!”
From above, a cold voice answered.
“You should know… you won’t die easily.”
At those words, the gazes of the three men, Seol, and even No Mun-woong were drawn upward toward the tree where the voice came from.
Seol’s eyes widened as she recognized Seon-oh, crouched above and looking down at them.
‘The pretty lady from the inn!’
“Who… who are you?! You want to see her die?!”
As one of the men tried to press the dagger deeper with trembling hands, a sharp shard of water, like a piece of glass, flew out and severed his wrist.
“Ugh… Aaaahhh!”
The man screamed in unbearable pain and collapsed, giving Seol the chance to flee. Another man attempted to reach her with a blaze, but a water barrier instantly formed around Seol, blocking his pitiful attack.
Seol ran toward No Mun-woong, and with Seon-oh’s intervention, No Mun-woong, freed momentarily from his restraints, pulled Seol into his arms and hurriedly hid behind the tree.
“R-Retreat!”
The men, instinctively realizing the gap in strength between them and Seon-oh, hastily tried to gather the piglets and escape. But immediately, the protective barrier surrounding Seol thickened into a wall around the men, blocking them.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Seon-oh murmured coldly as he descended from the tree and approached them.
“Ugh!”
One of the men launched a desperate attack toward Seon-oh, but vines sprouted from the ground under Seon-oh’s feet, ensnaring his legs. Seon-oh stopped in place, glaring fiercely at the men while trapped in the vines.
Even with his legs restrained, his face showed no fear—only heavy, palpable anger.
“There are people in this world who would be better off disappearing.”
As Seon-oh finished speaking and clenched his fingers, the water barrier surrounding the men sharpened and pierced both their thighs.
“Aaaahhh!”
Their screams of agony echoed as they toppled to the ground, writhing in pain.
Having temporarily stopped their escape, Seon-oh turned to check on the woman and child hiding behind the tree.
“Are you alright?”
At the polite question, No Mun-woong flinched and held Seol tighter. Seol looked up at him and whispered:
“Dad… it’s the lady from the inn. She came to save us…!”
No Mun-woong froze, staring at Seon-oh. Somehow, her face seemed familiar—but why…?
“It’s fine now. Don’t worry, just go back. Ah, and…”
Seon-oh glanced around, seeming to remember something, and spotted the pig demon’s corpse. He approached it. The grotesque demon lay dead, its tongue sticking out, and a spirit stone protruded from its side.
As Seon-oh bent down to pick up the stone, the ground beneath it suddenly sank, then shot up like a terrifying spike, threatening him.
“!”
Startled, Seon-oh jumped back just in time as the earth began to quake.
‘A superhuman?!’
He glanced back hurriedly and saw the men crawling away, clutching their thighs. None of them had the ability to manipulate the earth, and there were no superhumans among the human traffickers.
Then who…?
Suddenly, the ground beneath one of the men began to ripple like waves.
“Aaaahhh! S-save me!”
The man cried desperately, but it was useless. The trembling ground swallowed him whole like a swamp.
Chilled by the horrifying sight, Seon-oh looked toward the tree where No Mun-woong and Seol were hiding. Seeing the ground in front of the pair undulate, he quickly reached out.
A circular water barrier formed around the two of them, shielding them. The quivering ground did not attack the pair, instead redirecting its movement toward Seon-oh at terrifying speed.
‘Damn it!’
Seon-oh rolled just in time to evade the rising earth, clearly an attack from a superhuman.
Yet none of the traffickers had the ability to manipulate the earth.
‘Who… could it be?’
Perhaps Um-gyo had followed him.
Before he could speculate further, the ground in front of Seon-oh shot up violently, mixing soil and gravel to form the shape of a fierce eagle.
The massive earth-eagle lunged at Seon-oh, who halted his retreat and drew water from the ground, forming a wide, solid water pillar. The eagle collided with it and shattered.
Seon-oh leaped to a nearby tree to avoid the debris and scanned the area. He spotted a figure on a tree a little distance away, and his eyes lit up.
‘There!’
Finally locating his opponent, Seon-oh drew more underground water, aiming at the base of the tree where the figure stood.
Thud, thud, thud…
The heavily vibrating tree split apart under the force of the water.
However, the agile opponent leaped to safety just in time, nullifying Seon-oh’s attack. He caught a glimpse of dark blue hair and a masked face in the process.
It was a woman. The eyes visible above the mask were sharp.
“Stop right there!”
Seon-oh shouted as he pursued, but the woman turned to glance at him. When their eyes met, Seon-oh froze.
‘Wait… dark blue hair and fox-like eyes?’
Recognition struck Seon-oh like lightning. Meanwhile, the woman leaped away at an astonishing speed.
Seon-oh could not pursue further and looked down.
“Hah…”
On the ground, as if nothing had happened, three men lay dead, their eyes wide open. All of it had been done by the woman just now.
And that woman was probably…
‘Heukwolbi…?’
One of the Seven Superhumans, with the power to manipulate the earth.
A woman with dark blue-black hair and fox-like eyes.
Her signature skill, unlike other earth-manipulating superhumans, was the ability to change the ground’s texture, creating earth swamps.
Seon-oh’s face twisted in disbelief as he realized it was Heukwolbi who had attacked.
But there were more pressing matters. Seon-oh descended from the tree to check on the pair. Behind the largest tree, No Mun-woong was lying down, shielding Seol’s entire body and trembling.
Satisfied that the pair were safe, Seon-oh turned to the pig demon. He worried the spirit stone might have been scattered in the chaos, but to his surprise, it remained in the same spot.
‘…This person is incredible.’
Suppressing his astonishment, Seon-oh approached and picked up the spirit stone. This time, the ground did not move. With the stone secured, he returned to No Mun-woong.
“It’s finally over. Are you alright?”
At last, No Mun-woong lifted his trembling head to look at Seon-oh.
“T-The earthquake just now…”
“Oh, that? I was a bit clumsy. There was a mistake in the process of using earth manipulation.”
Seon-oh lied smoothly, but a hint of suspicion flickered in No Mun-woong’s eyes.
Revealing that another superhuman had intervened would only terrify him further. Moreover, that superhuman…
Suppressing his thoughts, Seon-oh crouched to No Mun-woong’s level and handed him the spirit stone. No Mun-woong’s eyes widened.
“If you sell this, it could fetch a good price.”
Even low-level demon spirit stones were valuable. With the money from selling it, No Mun-woong might find a different line of work than traveling as a peddler.
“Wh-why are you giving this to me…?”
“Ah. If it weren’t for Seol, I wouldn’t have come along. This is Seol’s, after all. Here, Seol.”
Seon-oh turned and handed the spirit stone to Seol with a smile. Seol, still hiding shyly in her father’s arms, slowly reached out her hand.
