Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 86

The Hunters and the Cloud (3)

A man I had spent many long years with, even forged a sworn brotherhood with, had died.

That alone was enough to tear apart both Cheonghong and Mandeok’s hearts but on top of that, Kairus had the audacity to provoke them.

“You’d best give up on dying a clean death.”

“Sounds like you think you can kill me?”

Instead of an answer to Kairus’s question, a volley of arrows flew toward him.

These arrows, breaking the sound barrier as they flew, were coated in a deadly poison potent enough to kill with the slightest graze.

Even at a glance, the odd color of the arrowheads was enough for Kairus to notice.

He swung Flicker to deflect the arrows while steadily advancing.

‘Ileyna’s already pulled back, so...’

Each time Kairus swung his sword, the wind kicked up and coiled around his body.

There was no longer any reason for him not to use Swift Blade.

“Hey archers, this time it’s gonna be a bit different from earlier.”

Unlike Ileyna’s incomplete version, Kairus’s Swift Blade was a finished technique.

As if to prove his words, Kairus swung his sword wide, and a powerful surge of wind rose up like a wall, blocking dozens of incoming arrows.

“Who the hell’s your friend?”

“That was just a polite greeting, asshole.”

The wall of wind that Kairus had summoned wasn’t something ordinary arrows could pierce.

In a situation like this...

‘That monster of an arrow from before will probably come flying again.’

A monstrous arrow weighing six geun.

Having once taken the full brunt of its power, Kairus had no choice but to brace himself physically and mentally.

“What the hell now?”

An arrow shot up from underground, aimed straight at Kairus.

The tip, soaked in a dark green liquid, soared up right in front of Kairus’s face and embedded itself into the ceiling. If he had reacted just a moment too late, that poisoned arrow would’ve hit him.

“You think you’re the only one who uses battle gear?”

Jangpal had died like chopped firewood before he could even activate his battle gear, struck down by Ileyna’s sudden and fierce blow.

That alone showed just how abrupt and powerful the attack had been.

But now, the two hunters facing Kairus had the leeway to use their battle gear and their murderous intent to kill him was unmistakable.

“Sure, this started because Teacher Lukas asked us.”

“But not anymore. Didn’t the second die already?”

At Cheonghong’s words, Mandeok nodded. Pontus or whatever—it didn’t matter. Now, the top priority for these two hunters was Ileyna, who had withdrawn and was recovering.

“There’s a bitch we absolutely gotta take down right now. If you kindly step aside, we won’t lay a hand on you...”

Cheonghong said this while flicking his hand to the side, signaling Kairus to scram.

Of course, Kairus had no intention of letting someone who insulted his younger brother walk away alive.

But to avenge the death of Jangpal, Ileyna’s death mattered more.

“Well, got some brilliant plan or what?”

Kairus asked, and Deoksam answered.

“Gonna rip her tongue out, cripple her, and send her off to marry into a leper colony.”

Kairus let out a low whistle.

“Then I guess, unintentionally, I’m doing you two a favor.”

At Kairus’s words, Cheonghong let out an impressed sound.

“Thinking of stepping aside? Smart choice.”

“No, I plan to stop you with everything I’ve got. That’s better for you too.”

Ripping out the only daughter of Simid Kellogg’s tongue and marrying her off to a leper colony?

If—by some absurd chance that plan succeeded, these hunter brothers would suffer a fate far more horrific than Ileyna’s.

So really, Kairus stepping in to block them was their savior in disguise.

“Goddamn. If you’re gonna get in our way, then we’ll just trample over your corpse.”

Sadly, like most saviors, Kairus’s sincerity was lost on the two hunters.

“Three Stars, was it? You two have one hell of a cursed fate.”

They would either die at the hands of the Kellogg family in revenge, or die here, killed by Kairus.

Their deaths were already determined—there was no path left to change that.

So, at the very least, it would be better to make it quick.

“Even if it’s only half as much pain as I feel over my brother’s death, suffer.”

The moment Cheonghong finished speaking, the two hunters unleashed a storm of arrows at Kairus.

“What a load of horseshit.”

Kairus’s eyes gleamed with a chilling light as he deflected the oncoming arrows.

Two men had fought with their lives on the line. The weak one died, and the strong one lived. That was all there was to it—nothing to grieve over.

“And that still hasn’t changed.”

Once again, just like before, the strong one would survive.

Starting from where Kairus stood, white frost spread like a plague, blanketing the walls, floor, and ceiling in a pale sheen.

It wasn’t impossible using the full output of Flicker, and for someone skilled in using battle gear, it was entirely achievable.

What mattered was what happened next. Kairus briefly glanced in the direction where Ileyna had disappeared.

‘Please.’

The outcome of this situation now rested, to some extent, in Ileyna’s hands.

“Shed your skin. If not now, there might never be another chance.”

With those final words, Kairus swung Flicker with full force.

“Local Wind, Mistral.”

A violent march of storm winds charged through the sewer system, carrying a cold of minus 70 degrees Celsius and speeds over 50 meters per second.

In the humid underground, fighting without sweating was impossible. After such a prolonged battle, the two hunters were soaked in sweat.

That minus-70-degree chill enveloped the two men.

“Aaaaargh!”

Their sweat-soaked clothes instantly froze white, then shattered. The metal of their gear tore away the flesh it touched. Frost clung to their entire bodies, and their fingers and toes turned purple under layers of ice.

With every breath, it felt like their lungs were freezing. The two hunters couldn’t even scream properly.

‘Please.’

And yet, the one maintaining Mistral, Kairus, had all his nerves focused solely on Ileyna.

Because there was something she absolutely had to do.

“This… you crazy bastard!”

Ileyna, who had been resting after receiving treatment from Tanya, shouted as she urgently pulled out her stained glass.

The raging Mistral was a wind filled with extreme cold and it didn’t distinguish between friend and foe.

“So this is why you told me to fall back?! You bastard! You son of a bitch! If you come back, I swear I won’t forgive you!”

Ileyna had no confidence she could survive inside that windstorm tearing through at 50 meters per second.

She couldn’t even guarantee her own survival—hoping Tanya or Melvin could survive was out of the question.

‘I have to… I have to stop it!’

That’s why Kairus had pulled her back. She had to block the rampaging Local Wind somehow, with her still-unpolished Swift Blade.

It wasn’t about whether she could or couldn’t. If she failed, she would die. And Ileyna didn’t want to die. She especially didn’t want to die in this stinking sewer.

“God... damn... it!”

Blocking the Mistral Kairus had unleashed with her clumsy Swift Blade was almost impossibly difficult.

Holding a candle in a hurricane would be easier.

“Still…”

If Kairus’s attack had been aimed directly at her, it would have been impossible.

But what Ileyna was blocking now wasn’t the brunt of Mistral.

Because of that, the frost hadn’t yet spread to the area behind where Ileyna was standing.

‘I have to... keep it up.’

An air curtain. She was holding back the cold wind by creating a wall of air flowing from top to bottom.

In an open field, stopping this kind of cold blast with an air curtain would be impossible. But here, in a sealed underground space—

Total defense was out of reach, but using the air curtain to block part of the chill was doable.

“Ugh…”

A white puff of breath escaped from Ileyna’s groaning mouth.

She couldn’t block it completely. The wind pressure of Mistral was stronger than the air curtain she created.

Every now and then, gusts of cold pierced through the curtain, rapidly dropping the temperature.

“…”

A harsh grinding sound escaped from between Ileyna’s teeth.

What she was holding back wasn’t even Mistral’s full force. It was just the aftermath caused by Mistral.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me. I can’t even block the leftovers?!”

The aftermath of the Swift Blade Kairus had unleashed—just the aftershock alone—was more than Ileyna could handle.

Her pride took a severe hit. Ileyna wasn’t the type of person to laugh it off with a cheery “I’ll work harder and catch up!”

“It just means I lack finesse.”

She remembered the Scarlet Leaf Order captain mentioning what to do in this kind of situation over drinks.

‘Lack finesse? Then make up for it with strength and speed.’

If one strike isn’t enough, swing twice. If twice doesn’t work, swing three times.

More, and harder. If you don’t know the trick and haven’t had the realization, then you fill that gap with sheer physical suffering.

“…”

She didn’t even have the mental space to muster up a battle cry. Just more, faster, stronger.

Ileyna was reinforcing the air curtain in the most brutish way imaginable.

Her body began to make strange noises. A predictable result when your brain fails and your body has to make up the difference.

In just a moment, blisters formed and burst repeatedly on both hands holding the sword. As soon as one burst, another formed rapidly in its place.

Each time a new blister appeared, the liquid inside grew redder.

Ileyna had no idea how her body was even moving anymore. But it was moving, and in the process of moving and swinging her sword, the wind began to obey her.

Barely, but surely, the air curtain reached a state of relative stability and was successfully holding back the cold.

For now, that was enough. As long as she kept it up, neither she, Melvin, nor Tanya would freeze to death.

“Ha… it’s hot.”

Ileyna muttered, shaking sweat off her forehead with a flick of her head. Her vision was completely blocked by the thick fog that had formed.

“…Hot?”

That’s when Ileyna realized something was wrong.

This absurd amount of fog obscuring her vision—she couldn’t make sense of it.

But one thing was clear: the air curtain she had created was filled with heat.

“I did it. You bastard… just wait till you get back.”

Using her battle gear’s output to regulate temperature while executing Swift Blade—she had no idea how she managed it.

Only now was Ileyna able to examine her own body. Both hands were utterly destroyed, blood pouring freely.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the flesh on her palms, which had gripped the hilt, had been torn away.

Flesh ripped from her hands, exposing bone—the pain was intense enough to be forgotten in the ecstasy of that success.

Now that her senses had returned, Ileyna wouldn’t be able to pull off the same feat again.

She collapsed to the ground, completely drained.

“You did well.”

Kairus emerged through the thick fog, having successfully frozen the two hunters solid, and gently supported her.

“You, you…”

“Congratulations on completing Swift Blade.”

At Kairus’s words, Ileyna fell silent for a moment, then gave a small nod.

She had succeeded in mastering Swift Blade. Kairus’s recognition made it official.

‘Well, damn…’

Because of what Ileyna had accomplished, Kairus had managed to catch a faint glimpse of the path toward Cloud Seizing Art—in the strangest of ways.

“To weave the wind and seize the clouds. These are what we call Swift Blade and Cloud Seizing Art.”

Swift Blade began with creating wind. Similarly, Cloud Seizing Art had to start with creating clouds.

The dense fog blanketing the entire sewer system was, in effect, no different from a cloud.

‘Cold air colliding with warm air. And the naturally humid environment of the sewers...’

Thanks to a mix of effort and coincidence, Kairus had managed to grasp the basic principle behind forming clouds.

Of course, he couldn’t say for certain that this was how Cloud Seizing Art actually formed clouds. But it was far from a meaningless discovery.