HACKED 84

Beyond the flickering flames enveloping the blade, the opponent’s form could be faintly seen. In appearance, they were two children who looked to be about ten years old.

The appearance of the two children was identical from head to toe. From the bangs cut straight across the forehead to the neutral-colored hair reminiscent of steel, the pupils and irises that were indistinguishable from each other, and the expressionless faces.

The S-rank Hunter clicked his tongue.

‘Twin Incarnations. This has become bothersome.’

Very rarely, there are Incarnations like this. Beings who become two as one, and one as two. Because the root that forms them is one, they are treated as ‘one Incarnation’ even though they are two.

All of their movements were perfectly identical as if copied. From the angle of attack to the strength and timing. If the top was blocked, the bottom was pierced; if one dodged to the left, the right was left open. Since they moved as if sharing a single brain, they were twice as annoying to deal with than a normal enemy.

The children were wielding longswords that were much longer than their own heights. While handling giant swords that an ordinary human wouldn’t even be able to lift properly, they showed no sign of struggle. Rather, it looked as natural as moving a part of their body, like an arm or a leg.

‘What are those things? Do they have “Android” or “Machine” traits? Looking at their clothes, they don’t seem to be of Western origin.’

While the S-rank Hunter struggled to guess the twins’ identities, the young man named <The Hunter Hunted by Divine Punishment> did not just stay still either. Instead of his main weapon, the bow, he drew the dagger he had been wearing on his thigh.

“Mr. Hunter, you must not show an opening in any direction. If you let your guard down once, you’ll be hit twice as hard!”

“Don’t play teacher! I know that much!”

The S-rank Hunter shouted back. His magic sword swung fiercely, parrying the blade in front of him. However, at that moment, a chilly killing intent dug into his back.

“Ugh!”

He quickly twisted his body to avoid his vitals. But he couldn’t stop the blade from grazing his side. Blood seeped from the shallowly cut wound.

‘To inflict a wound on me, they’re pretty good. Even so, they’ll be weaker than me. About a low 5-star? Or a top-tier 4-star?’

The S-rank Hunter used his head while counterattacking the surging strikes. Small wounds gradually increased all over his body.

“Do not move lightly (勿令妄動).”

“Be heavy and calm like a great mountain (靜重如山).”

The twins, reciting a phrase each, lunged forward. One aimed for the legs in a low stance, and the other jumped high and aimed for the head. It was a mechanical movement, like performing a programmed command.

“Watch out!”

The young man, who had been watching for the timing, threw himself forward. He narrowly blocked the twin’s sword with his dagger. The direction of the blade that was meant to slash the S-rank Hunter’s legs was diverted.

“I told you not to give me advice!”

The S-rank Hunter, his pride wounded, grit his teeth. However, his body, tempered by countless battles, moved instinctively. His sword swung toward the other child pouncing on him from the air.

Boom!

An ear-splitting roar echoed. The child’s small body flew through the air and crashed into the back.

Among the bookshelves packed tightly in the dark, vast space, some collapsed from the impact. The sight of heavy leather-bound books pouring down and dust rising was faintly visible, reflected in the flames.

The small, frail child was thrown back after sustaining a severe injury. The child was even pinned under the large, heavy solid wood bookshelf and the pile of books that had been filled within it. It was a scene of utter misery.

But the S-rank Hunter was not shaken in the least. To him, those children were just enemies. Enemies he had to kill, no different from the loathsome monsters swarming in dungeons.

The injury of one of the twins was a good opportunity. Even if that child were to clear the bookshelf and books with his own strength, it would take quite some time. He had to take this chance to quickly neutralize the other side as well.

‘These kinds of guys are nothing once you separate them.’

It was just as he said. Unlike the perfect coordination when they were two, the swordsmanship of the child who was left alone was somewhat sloppy.

As the S-rank Hunter and the young man pushed fiercely from two directions, the child soon began to be driven into a defensive corner. The small hand gripping the hilt of the sword could be seen trembling violently.

“This is the end!”

The S-rank Hunter delivered a decisive blow. He exploded the aura concentrated on the blade in the form of flames all at once. The interior, which had been pitch black, was momentarily lit up brightly.

The blade drew a long line across the child’s right arm. A wound was made that deeply crossed the shoulder. It was a serious injury, with the arm half-severed. Red blood burst out from the torn sleeves.

“…”

The child stepped back without a single scream. He also made no effort to cover the injured area or to stop the spurting blood.

Even those accustomed to bone-chilling pain are bound to flinch, even if only for a very brief moment, when receiving such a deep wound. Because that is the instinct of a living being.

But the child was strangely calm. The sight of his youthful, expressionless face splattered with his own blood was chilling. The young man had an intuition.

‘Those twins are not Incarnations originated from living beings. Probably… they are the swords themselves.’

Only now did the sense of disparity he felt from those children make sense. From the ability to freely handle a giant sword with a total length of about 2 meters, to the excessively indifferent attitude.

“Is all that’s left now the finishing blow?”

Confident that he had seized victory, the S-rank Hunter adjusted his grip on his sword with ease.

“Mr. Hunter, behind you!”

The young man shouted urgently. The child who had been buried under the collapsing bookshelf was approaching.

This one was just as much of a wreck as the child whose arm had been slashed. The child walked with a limp, dragging a long blade while covered in blood from head to toe. It seemed the leg was fractured or had sustained an injury equivalent to a fracture.

“Must protect the master.”

“Cannot lose again.”

The eyes of the children, murmuring in a monotone voice, emitted a cold luster like steel balls.

“You, die.”

“Die here.”

Taking their stances, the children swung their long blades. The S-rank Hunter snorted.

It was an attack where they were just blindly swinging in a physical state where it wouldn’t be strange if they collapsed immediately. Winning against an enemy in this state was a piece of cake. It would be over after roughly blocking or parrying and then delivering a counter.

But at that moment, his gaze fixed on the twins’ arms.

“…Tattoos?”

The child’s thin, white forearms were revealed beneath the torn sleeves. There, black tattoos that did not suit the youthful appearance at all were densely engraved.

Strokes written powerfully with a brush soaked in ink intertwined to form a single character, and characters gathered to form sentences.

The blood flowed down toward the arms following the violent movements. As the pitch-black tattoos absorbed the blood, each character glowed red. Eight characters per person, sixteen characters between the two.

Active Skill: ‘Cranewing Formation’

: Pledging to the heavens with a three-foot sword, mountains and rivers tremble (三尺誓天山河動色)

With one sweep of the sword, blood dyes the mountains and rivers (一揮掃蕩血染山河)

Triggered when the health of both twins drops below 30 by having the tattoos absorb their own blood. The sword energy of the two combines to create a blade wave that sweeps a wide area ahead. Inflicts powerful damage that partially ignores defense to enemies within range.

A wind blew in an indoor space where a wind shouldn’t blow. As if a giant crane had spread its wings, a massive wave of sword strikes swept over the two intruders. The wave was too wide to avoid and too sharp to endure with one’s body.

“These damn brats!”

The S-rank Hunter screamed, his face distorted in pain. Even while the skin all over his body was being torn to shreds, the young man tried to remain calm.

In any case, this fight is 2 versus 1. They are two, and although the twins are two people, in terms of individual count, they are ‘one Incarnation.’

Theoretically, they are at an advantage. If they could just block this attack somehow, if they could just endure this time… a chance for a counterattack would come.

However, there was something that the young man, the S-rank Hunter, and even the twins had momentarily forgotten.

The place where one of the twins had been buried under the bookshelf earlier. There, the broken bookshelf and the spilled books were piled up like a mountain. It was a scene just like a grave of books.

Something shone brightly behind it. It was the luster emitted by a sharply ground arrowhead.

…Fft!

A single arrow left the bowstring with a very small sound. That arrow flew straight and embedded itself into the neck of the young man… the unfortunate hunter who had momentarily put down his bow and grabbed his dagger to deal with the twins.