The One Who Saved a World Before Will be Best at Saving Another

The spear that aimed for the throat was suddenly struck aside by Kim Ji-hyun.

"Ha… damn it."

Kim Ji-hyun, who was pushed back with an explosive sound, spat on the ground while glaring at me. But I had no intention of stopping.

I kept up the attack, drawing blue trails through the air. The continuous strikes came like waves, aiming for her throat.

Kim Ji-hyun barely blocked and dodged the onslaught, but even while being pushed back, her eyes stayed calm.

"For someone spouting garbage logic, you're pretty good."

She was on a completely different level compared to that ugly bat-haired monster that got beaten up on Gyodong Island.

"You son of a bitch… you were hiding your strength?"

"That’s none of your business."

I was drawing mana from the glove as needed. As long as the glove's power hadn’t run out, I felt confident I could survive even against Lee Se-eun if she came running to kill me.

"And a Taekwondo-loving nationalist too, what a combo."

Not only was she reinforcing her body through mana, but when she deflected the spear earlier, that part of her body turned silver.

So she could even metalize herself?

"Move it, will you?!"

The blows from her arms and legs made savage sounds. Each strike had the reckless force of a truck driven by a drunk driver after a bottle of soju.

"Stop messing around… with cheap tricks!"

She stomped heavily, and with a boom, the ground erupted like a mine had gone off. I had no choice but to retreat from the advancing trajectory.

Dust clouds surged like waves, and as stones rained down from above, Kim Ji-hyun emerged, wiping her lips.

"You're dead."

"Hey now, watch your language."

Holding the spear like a pool cue, I took aim and batted away falling stones like billiard balls. The spinning stones made sharp cracks as they struck her forehead in succession.

I heard clanking and clanging sounds.  

"A clang?"

How did smashing stones into someone’s forehead make a clang instead of a thud?

"Seriously, how dumb does someone have to be…"

With a ripping sound, an afterimage lingered where Kim Ji-hyun had been, and suddenly her heel was right next to my temple.

"Ugh."

The shockwave cleared the floating dust instantly.

I managed to block it just in time by raising my arm, but the pain echoed to the bone. If not for the glove’s power, not just my arm but my skull would have shattered.

"You blocked that?"

"Of course I did, what else?"

Then, the Paradoxical Flame jumped onto her leg where it touched my arm. I grabbed her leg and hurled her away.

While flying, she adjusted her posture in midair and landed, inspecting her leg.

"Damn it."

She didn’t know the details, but she must have realized that something bad would happen if that flame stuck to her.

Normally, dragging things out in this state worked to my advantage. But unless I used the glove’s power, I couldn’t last against her.

Even with careful use, I had about thirty minutes max. The flame on her leg, and her understanding that it was bad news showed she had caught on.

"You’re not the only one who can amplify mana, you rookie punk."

The piercings all over her face glowed even more intensely. At the same time, wind blew outward from her body.

From what I could tell…

"Looks like you can’t even control it. Your mana is leaking."

Each piercing seemed to hold mana, and she was planning to use them all.

"Like I care. If I don’t kill you today, I promise I’ll destroy that Erosion Zone."

"Oh wow, making promises you can’t keep."

She was fast before, but now it was on another level. Kim Ji-hyun rushed in, unleashing bomb-like kicks at a speed that was hard to track.

I gritted my teeth and drew from the glove's mana to block and dodge each one.

"Kegh."

The impact kept accumulating. But I couldn’t burn it away with the Paradoxical Flame, because I’d have to extinguish the flame stuck to her leg first.

I couldn’t let go of the one successful flame I’d placed. I swallowed the blood rising in my throat and raised my guard, enduring as much as I could.

"This is the end!"

With a loud crack, a kick exploded against my left leg. Off-balance, a roundhouse kick struck my head, sending me flying into a wall.

"Ugh…"

My vision blurred, and my ears rang. I couldn’t hold back and vomited blood onto the floor.

"This bastard, thinking he's hot shit."

If it was just about enduring, I could overuse the glove's power. But then I’d run out of mana soon after.

"Yoo Chan-seok."

Han Sang-ah stepped in quickly and stood between me and Kim Ji-hyun.

"Who the hell are you? Stay down. You can’t handle this."

"On that point, I agree."

She wasn’t someone Han Sang-ah could handle. And I hadn’t lost yet either.

"I know I can’t win. I’m just trying to recover."

Then Han Sang-ah pulled something from her pocket.

"I didn’t want to do this."

She pressed a button and opened a vial. I realized what it was and became stunned.

"Are you serious?"

Those vials clearly contained refined elixirs of mana. The issue wasn’t just that, but it was that each one had been processed to suit Han Sang-ah’s unique body.

But even if she had refined it properly for her own use, it hadn’t been processed directly through her blood vessels and meridians. So once the mana is consumed, it’d simply turn back into ordinary mana and scatter into the air in the end.

They were essentially single-use.

She took out three vials and swallowed their contents all at once.

"How much does that cost?"

"Enough to build an eight-story building. And they’re custom-made, so making more will take time."

She started the process after getting accepted into the academy, and only finished after graduation.

"Rich people, huh."

No wonder she had been saving them. They seemed to be less than 100ml in total, and it cost the price of a building? Someone like me wouldn’t even have the courage to use such things.

"I’m in debt to you now. I wonder if I’ll be able to pay it back."

With those, she could probably hold out against the piercing-faced freak for a while too.

"If you want to repay me, then teach me more diligently from now on."

"So you’re saying I should repay you by teaching you how to catch a big fish like that?"

"You know how to fish? But that’s not the kind of lesson I need.”

Another weird answer, but I let it go this time.

"Unleash it all in five minutes."

Han Sang-ah replied,

"I can last longer if I conserve my mana. And even if I unleash all my strength in five minutes, I’ll only be barely holding out against her."

"I know. Do it anyway."

She glanced at me and nodded. Pale sparks crackled around her.

"If that’s what you need right now."

With those words, she charged at Kim Ji-hyun, drawing her sword. This time, learning from earlier feedback, she created three rails in the air before even drawing her sword.

The blade would ride one of those rails.

Three choices. That made it no longer a telegraphed attack.

"She does have good talent.”

I muttered with a smirk and focused on recovering. I withdrew the Paradoxical Flame from Kim Ji-hyun’s leg.

I couldn’t maintain it much longer. It took too much concentration.

"Haha. Dumbass."

Seeing the flame vanish from her leg, Kim Ji-hyun looked visibly pleased while still dealing with Han Sang-ah.

Of course she was glad the annoyance was gone.

"After I crush her skull, you’re next."

I didn’t reply. I simply stared at her. She said "next" like she’d actually win.

Han Sang-ah was fighting quite well. She used the brief training I gave her to fend off attacks and find chances to counter.

Honestly, the only problem was the massive mana Kim Ji-hyun was using. In terms of combat skill, I was far better.

"That girl…"

With a building’s worth of mana, Han Sang-ah was pouring everything out and was holding her own.

If we hadn’t spent time training, she’d never have lasted five minutes. But now, she could execute the goal I gave her.

"Agh… guh…!"

Finally, five minutes passed. She took a kick to the gut and flew back, clutching her stomach and groaning into the ground.

"One down!"

Kim Ji-hyun leapt into the air and dove toward her.

"Down my ass."

But the ambitious finishing strike never landed. She was deflected by a perfectly timed spear strike, and her kick slammed into the dirt.

"What? How?"

"What are you so surprised about? That attack wasn’t even that impressive?"

With a few cracks from my body, I was settled. Kim Ji-hyun stepped back slightly.

"You recovered that fast?"

"Thanks to you and Han Sang-ah."

Kim Ji-hyun failed to control the mana stored in her piercings and spilled much of it. Han Sang-ah, meanwhile, burned through expensive custom-made amplifiers in five minutes.

All that wasted mana dispersed into the air, and I used it to reinforce my meridians.

I became strong enough to the point…

I no longer needed the glove to face her. Of course, I didn’t become overwhelmingly strong to the point I could defeat her easily.

But the fact that I could now fight her evenly with just my own mana meant…

"You’re finished."

I could now fight a long, drawn-out battle.

"You like classical music?"

"What the hell are you babbling about all of a sudden?"

Not a fan, huh? It didn’t matter since she’ll be punished for it. It’s not like she’d be able to avoid it just because she knew classical music anyway.

I rushed in and swung my spear, which left behind blue trails.

"That trick again?"

She prepared for a double attack, expecting the same trick as before.

"...What are you planning?"

But the blue trails just floated in the air and didn’t sync with my attacks.

Sixteen strikes in total. Kim Ji-hyun had to deal with them while also blocking mine, countering, and chasing.

But the blue trails didn’t disappear.

"That completes the motif."

The trails in the air began to attack in a sequence, matching a rhythmic pattern.

"It’s not much different from before- "

She stopped mid-sentence.

Unlike before, these blue trails didn’t vanish after one strike. They stayed in place.

"Damn it."

The tempo sped up and slowed down, the force fluctuated. It wasn’t just sixteen repeated hits.

Meanwhile, I swung with the Paradoxical Flame-tipped spear, filling gaps and amplifying the attacks of the repeating combo.

"That’s why I asked if you liked classical music."

Because this attack was inspired by Canon in D.