Dance of Blood

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“Get down!”

Teacher Sena’s voice rang out, and

the entire world behind the wall of flames turned white.

“Pour water on your clothes! Cover your faces! Hold your breath!”

Teacher Sena commanded again. The cool breeze flowing from her helped ease the heat slightly, but a much hotter wave of scorching air surged in from beyond the wall of flames.

People hurriedly hit the ground and upended their water containers to soak their clothes.

“Kak… grrrr…”

But two adults near the wall of flames writhed on the ground, unable to even think of covering their faces, as if their lungs had caught fire. Their faces twisted grotesquely as they made wheezing sounds.

Huff.

“Urgh…”

Even for me, who had become stronger as a 1-Star mage, the heat wave was agonizing. Pouring water on my clothes and covering my face seemed to help, but I could feel the cloth drying rapidly in real time.

“The heat wave itself is infused with magical power! Hold your breath and endure! Don’t breathe until I say so!”

With Teacher Sena’s shout, the cool breeze she was generating grew stronger. But it was still not enough to drive away the heat.

The nomad members sprawled on the ground trembled violently.

These were the same people who had been running through the forest at full speed just moments ago, right? Their lungs were already heaving for air. People clawed at the ground in agony. Blood welled from fingertips that scraped the dirt.

“Hurgh! Hack!”

One small child who had been lying motionless finally couldn’t hold out any longer and took a deep breath. After gulping in oxygen and panting, he suddenly clutched his throat and rolled over. It was Do Gyeong-su’s younger brother, Do Min-jun.

“Ack! Kak! Hot!”

A strange, harsh, high-pitched voice escaped as his vocal cords dried out. Do Min-jun thrashed on the ground and let out a shrill scream.

“Mom! Dad! Help me… it’s hot…”

Do Min-jun’s father, Do Mak-jin, slightly raised his head. Despite the hot winds distorting his face, he looked at his son. He desperately glanced toward Teacher Sena. But she only continued her desperate struggle against the incoming heat and hostile magical power, her eyes tightly shut.

Do Mak-jin’s eyes turned to me. By then, I was already running toward Min-jun. Standing up made the heat much worse than when lying down. Still, I trusted in my 1-Star Ki-blood mage’s physical abilities and ran.

“Min-jun! Snap out of it!”

I got in front of him and opened my water container. I held the convulsing Min-jun and poured water into his mouth. I also liberally doused his small body with water.

“Ten seconds left!”

Teacher Sena shouted.

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

“Haaack!”

At the count of eight, another girl took a deep breath. It was Mukuru’s only remaining sister, Moglu. She crawled along the ground in agony.

I could see Mukuru barely lifting his head and desperately crawling toward Moglu. I looked back and forth between distant Moglu and Min-jun in my arms.

“Five.”

Teacher Sena’s countdown reached five when Mukuru finally reached Moglu, wrapped his arms around her and sprinkled water on her.

The Min-jun in my arms had by then dropped his head, and his trembling body stiffened as he died.

“Min-jun! Min-jun, wake up!”

I shook him, but… finally realizing it was futile, I placed his corpse on the ground.

“Hack! Hack!”

Instead, I spotted Miri’s younger brother Miro clutching his throat in the distance.

‘Another one?!’

This time I ran toward him. It seemed the younger children were having the hardest time holding their breath.

Four, three, two…

“One! Raise your heads!”

“Hurrgh! Hack!”

Sounds of labored breathing rolled across the ground from all directions. The air was still hot but no longer life-threatening.

The wall of flames that had blocked our front collapsed with a whoosh, revealing a terrifying scene beyond. A black path had formed between the dense forest. Trees had crumbled to ash along the path where the flash had passed, creating a choking trail.

At the far end of the path, something glowed blue. That seemed to be the source of the terrifying flash.

“Aah… ah… brother… thank you…”

Miro, cradled in my arms, flailed his hands and mumbled.

He’s alive!

“You did well.”

I stroked Miro’s hair.

Despite Teacher Sena’s good handling of the situation, so many had died.

Do Gyeong-su’s brother Do Min-jun died, and Mukuru’s sister Moglu also died in the end. Only Miro, who took a breath at the last moment, barely survived.

Even… Do Mak-jin, who had raised his head to check on his son Min-jun,

“Honey!”

“Kruk. Cough! Keu… shouldn’t have followed… this path…”

“Honey!”

Made wheezing sounds and died belatedly.

Do Mak-jin, whose son Do Gyeong-su had been executed by Teacher Sena and who had received expulsion orders from the nomad… Even so, he had desperately wanted to provide his other children with a good education, stubbornly begging on his knees. At Red Tree Crossroad, during those chaotic and insufficient four days, he had worked like a dog under Teacher Sena to regain her trust and rejoined the nomad. And now, here, he dies. Along with his son Min-jun.

…I didn’t particularly like him. He was the father of Do Gyeong-su, the most annoying person in our nomad, and someone who constantly picked fights with me.

But… it still doesn’t feel good. I forced myself to shake my head and said to Miro in my arms,

“Can you stand on your own?”

“Yeah… thanks.”

Miro staggered but managed to stand up on his own. That tiny boy somehow pulled himself up with his own strength. A boy who had lost both parents in this expedition. Miro probably already knew. That if he couldn’t stand on his own, he wouldn’t survive.

“At least… did those calamities all die from that flash?”

Yuria muttered as she looked back. Smoke rose from between the dense forest. There was no sign of the calamities that had been pursuing us just moments ago.

Even the dark clouds in the sky had completely cleared, suggesting that the harpy and even the Lightning Calamity had been destroyed.

Just then, Teacher Sena approached our parents and exchanged a few words. I could see Mom and Dad nodding with serious expressions.

After finishing their brief discussion, Teacher Sena turned to all of us and shouted.

“Listen carefully, everyone! I don’t know about the others, but there’s no way that ogre died from just this. Plus, this commotion is going to attract more calamities from the outskirts.”

She spoke in an agitated tone, almost spitting out the words.

“We have no choice! Run forward! Escape however you can! I’ll draw their attention… dig into the ground, climb trees, run away from calamities, whatever it takes to survive.”

This was, in essence… a declaration dissolving the nomad.

Her voice seemed choked with emotion as she paused briefly before continuing.

“You followed me and ended up like this… but I’ll apologize after I’m dead. For now… run!”

Run! The moment we heard that word, we instinctively started running.

Thud thud. Thud.

As if that were the signal, ogres rose from the ground behind us, turning over the earth.

[ROAR!]

They howled toward the sky. Boom boom boom! The sound of footsteps shaking the earth quickly drew closer.

Bang! Bang!

From the distant blue-glowing place, metallic giants were launched. The Guardians flew through the air and instantly approached us.

Crash! Boom!

They fell like artillery shells and charged at the ogres. Once again, war broke out with us caught in the middle.

Crack!

A massive club swung by an ogre shattered a tree, and one person who had been running straight ahead was unluckily caught and sent flying through the air.

Boom!

Teacher Sena leaped toward the ogres to draw their attention. Wrapped in wind, she moved quickly through the forest, causing explosions in various places.

Some people just ran straight ahead, others frantically dug into the ground to hide. Still others, muttering the names of gods they’d never believed in before, climbed up trees.

“Guardian… the Guardian will protect us…!”

Kallin, who had been muttering while running, was crushed by a Guardian falling from the sky with a thud! He was squashed so flat he couldn’t even be seen.

“Aaah… aaaaaaah!”

Mukuru, for whatever reason, grabbed an axe and charged toward the ogres in the opposite direction. No one… bothered to stop him.

I focused only on protecting Mom, Dad, and Yuria as I ran forward. A Guardian tried to grab me as I passed by, but was suddenly struck in the face by an ogre that appeared from the side, and tumbled to the ground. I deflected flying debris of wood and stone to protect my parents and Yuria.

“Baek Jun-woo! Listen carefully! Teacher Sena said you absolutely must survive.”

Even while running through this chaos, Mom spoke without a trace of fear.

“But your aggro is too high! Whether it’s calamities… or Guardians… the magical power you possess will be detected! So…! Use it all up!”

I stared at Mom with wide eyes. Use up all my magical power in this situation? Shouldn’t I be conserving it instead?

Mom desperately shouted.

“It’s not like you’re at a level where you can handle all these calamities and Guardians anyway, right? If that’s the case, it’s better to completely empty your magical power to lower your aggro! You can survive as a Ki-blood mage! If you deplete all your magical power, your aggro will temporarily drop even below that of a normal person! You can live!”

It made… sense.

“Quickly! Teacher Sena said she’ll draw their attention, so hurry and deplete your magical power! Don’t think about what comes after! We’ll only survive if you lower your aggro!”

I had no choice but to make a decision.

Though the option to deplete all my magical power made me uneasy… the situation was already too dire to be picky. In a position where we could only survive by relying on luck anyway.

‘Alright… let’s see what happens…!’

<Saíl>

As I uttered the Primordial Incantation, the magical power throughout my body quickly condensed and boiled up.

[Roar!]

Perhaps sensing the surging magical power from me, an ogre charged straight at our group.

“Keep running.”

I told my parents and Yuria, then turned around.

Ki-blood magic worked on fundamentally different principles from Gifts or Circle magic.

Gifts and Circle magic used magical power to imprint patterns on mana. They followed a process of ‘magical power->mana.’ But Ki-blood magic didn’t require separate mana.

It simply used the magical power existing within the body. It unified ‘body and magical power’ to freely utilize magical power’s immense strength.

When magical power infuses the arms and legs, they gain tremendous power. I squeezed that strength and channeled it to the blade. When a shimmering energy enveloped the blade, the sword could cut even sound itself.

“Get lost!”

Slash!

I sliced through the charging ogre’s ankle.

The ankle tore open lengthwise, and the creature tumbled forward.

I didn’t even try to kill the ogre. With its extreme vitality and defense, it would be difficult to take down even one ogre even if I poured out all my magical power.

Just slowing down their pursuit speed. That was all I could do.

After toppling the ogre, I immediately turned and ran toward my parents. A Guardian targeted me and charged. The Guardian now seemed to recognize me as an enemy and pursued me precisely.

Swish!

I sliced its ankle too. Crash! It tumbled to the ground with a tremendous noise. The Guardian that raised its head again was tackled from behind by the ogre I had toppled earlier. The two monsters became entangled in a brawl. Meanwhile, my family and I continued to move forward.

‘Unbelievably tough…’

I massaged my tingling hand.

Just cutting through part of an ankle had already consumed half of my <Saíl> magical power.

I still had plenty of regular magical power that hadn’t transformed into <Saíl (射日)>, but… it couldn’t guarantee the same destructive power, which was frustrating. But there was no choice. I squeezed out every last bit without holding back. Whenever a calamity or Guardian approached, I cut through their ankles to clear a path. We kept moving forward.

Gradually, the strength began to fade from my fingertips.

+ – + – +

To bind as many calamities and Guardians as possible, Teacher Sena was fighting as loudly and dramatically as she could.

But even in the midst of this, she kept track of Baek Jun-woo’s location.

Her eyes caught Jun-woo beginning to freely expend his magical power. Jun-woo targeted the ankles of nearby monsters and Guardians, making them collapse. He was attempting to clear a path as far as possible while depleting all his magical power. A clever approach.

‘Good, he’s following my instructions.’

Teacher Sena felt slightly relieved.

And then became even more tense.

She bit her lip and surveyed the battlefield. Perhaps because Jun-woo was releasing his magical power without restraint? She could see more calamities and Guardians showing interest in him than before.

‘I need to hold them back.’

Teacher Sena steeled her resolve once more.

Until Baek Jun-woo depleted all his magical power and his aggro level dropped, until the magic-depleted Jun-woo could safely hide away,

‘I need to draw their attention! That’s how Jun-woo will survive!’

And because of that… she had no choice.

“Teacher! Teacheeer!”

Teacher Sena bit her lip. The one desperately calling for her was Miri’s brother Miro. The small boy was sprawled in one corner of the forest, unable to stand for some reason. Like a baby chick, he could only cry out. Right next to him, an ogre and a Guardian were fighting, smashing trees.

“Teacher!”

Miro called out desperately for Teacher Sena.

But the teacher… very slowly… turned her back.

‘I need to conserve my strength… it’s already a struggle just to save Baek Jun-woo…’

‘I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…’

In the end, Teacher Sena left Miro behind and departed.

Instead, she charged toward another ogre that had begun to show interest in Baek Jun-woo.

“Flames of Trimacos… pierce the enemy before me according to your ancient promise!”

She shouted as she launched a spear of flame.

“Where are you looking! Look at me, you monster bastards!!!”

Her voice, amplified by wind magic, shook the entire forest.

She had already made up her mind. Whatever it took, she would at least try to save Baek Jun-woo.