Chapter 239

Past Life Returner

"Your abilities and stats are finally back to what they were before they were reset, right?”

Yeon-Hee began to look at the scene behind my back with joy.

I responded, “I got the Moong Special Privilege, and it allowed me to absorb some of their System’s remaining power. Thanks to that, I was able to upgrade myself.”

She blinked. “...Moongs had a System?”

I shrugged. “It collapsed as they were invaded much earlier than us. You must be able to read their minds, correct?”

"I have something to tell you before we discuss that… Just in case I behave weirdly. Nothing will likely happen, but there’s still a possibility,” Yeon-Hee remarked casually as if it wasn’t a big deal.

I deliberately kept my face blank as I asked, “For example?”

Yeon-Hee looked worried for a moment and lowered her head. The aura she gave off now was completely different from the cold, blade-like vibe she had when she first met Lee Soo-Ah and Shin Kyung-Ah. She felt more primitive now, as if she were a dangerous beast wearing the skin of a human. When she suddenly raised her head, her eyes resembled those of a fierce and evil beast. Her small nostrils flared out, and her mouth was clamped shut. The way she bent her neck with such an expression looked somehow unnatural. However, her wild eyes were so familiar to me that I wasn’t nervous, and Yeon-Hee seemed to be in complete control of herself.

Srrr.

Yeon-Hee’s normal expression came back, and she swept her hair back and said with an ashamed look as if she had shown something embarrassing, “In order to fight against an army, I have no choice but to rely on this.”

I hadn’t seen her fighting in a battle, but I could imagine it. The Second Evil always fought like Yeon-Hee in large-scale fights such as the gate battle, and she used nearby enemies like weapons and shields. The Second Evil was able to change her targets in a quick and natural way, so when she fought in a large-scale battle it was as if she was in a completely different world. That must have been how Yeon-Hee had fought against the Baclan Corps before joining us.

"You are saying the monsters’ disgusting feelings linger in you?” I asked.

She clarified, “To be exact, I leave their feelings inside me on purpose. So that I can pull it out whenever I need it.”

Was that so… In the past, Yeon-Hee was easily affected by the monsters’ emotions, but she was now freely using their feelings as if she was alternating items.

She continued, “It was hideous, right…? Mmm… There are things I found out during the battle.”

***

‘Fuck,’ Seong-Il cussed inwardly.

He had been peeking at Odin and Mary as they had their conversation a distance away from them, but he suddenly saw Mary glancing at Odin cruelly. Seong-Il had never seen such a ferocious look before as it was absolutely not something a human could express. His heart sank at the thought that Mary might possibly jump into Odin and attack him. If Odin hadn’t warned him not to act rashly without his command under any circumstances… And if Seong-Il had forgotten the fact that Mary was his superior’s lover, he would have rushed into them to protect Odin. After seeing Mary flash a relieved expression, Seong-Il was glad he didn’t take any action. It must have been a petty fight between lovers.

The way they fight is freaking scary.

Compared to the earlier savage look in Mary’s eyes, the way his ex-wife glared at him when she chucked things at him when they fought was nothing.

I expected this from the moment you sent your lover to the battlefield. You should have followed her and left us here. You dug your own grave, Odin.

Mary likely washed her face on her way back, but the other parts of her body were still covered in monster blood. She must have fought intensely on her own. It was also evident because she had been constantly distributing points to him.

Seong-Il waited for Odin and Mary’s conversation to end, then approached Odin. This happened after Mary walked toward the Moong who was still breathing.

"Are you okay? Mary Seong-Il could hardly string a sentence together. He couldn’t think of a way to refer to Mary in a very respectful way, but his pride would be crushed if he called her by the most honorary term in their language.

In terms of appearance, Mary resembled the teenage idol whom his son Ki-Cheol liked. She was one of those celebrities who danced well, but he didn’t know her name or any of her songs. Watching the singer stretching her legs and shaking her hips on the television was the only opportunity for Seong-Il to talk to his son, who was in the midst of puberty.

That was why he remembered. In fact, if Seong-Il’s ex-girlfriend had gotten pregnant, Ki-Cheol could have had an older sister around Mary’s age. In a way, Mary looked closer to Ki-Cheol’s age than his. Although Seong-Il was aware that age didn’t matter in this world, he couldn’t stop himself from getting conscious of it.

Ugh, I, Kwon Seong-Il, am losing all of my manliness today by lowering myself to a younger woman.

Seong-Il made a huge decision, and he said loudly, “Is Mary noona[1] okay? She seems to be in a bad mood.”

He scratched his nose in embarrassment.

Seon-Hu replied, “Are you going to call her noona from now on? Well, that must be fine because she is older than you.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Mary is older than me?” Seong-Il could’ve believed that Odin was older than him, but the fact that Mary was older shocked him more.

What the heck???

He felt like someone had smacked the back of his head hard. However, Odin had no reason to lie about her age.

Soon, Seong-Il’s face brightened.

Mary is a noona. She is older than me! Fine, then! I, Kwon Seong-Il, am still a manly man hahahahahaha!

***

Shit.

Seong-Il had lost his smile because it had been ten days since he had entered the mainland of the Baclans. Things were getting tougher every day.

According to Odin’s briefing, they were heading to an area where the Baclan Corps’ civilizations were concentrated, like their capital city. Seong-Il could no longer enjoy the exotic and vast scenery of mother nature because the ox-headed monsters kept him busy. Everything became more hectic especially when he got swept away by the inevitable flow of a large-scale battle and missed Odin and Mary, or when his team encountered the search party of the enemy like they did just now.

Seong-Il shouted, “So what! You guys aren’t the only ones with power!”

A high-ranked Baclan warrior, twice as large as Seong-Il, tried to stand up, but Kyung-Ah threw herself at the monster and killed it. Then, Seong-Il began looking for Soo-Ah as his sight was being blocked by a huddle of monsters.

"Soo-Ah! Soo-Ah! Where are you?” he screamed.

"Here!”

Seong-Il broke through the monsters by avoiding the large axes that fell towards him like the blades on a scaffold. He could finally see Soo-Ah in the distance. He had recently gotten interested in her, and he noticed that she was currently all alone in the middle of the sickening muscles of the ox-heads. He grabbed the ankles of one of them and snatched it up as if the monster only weighed as much as a leaf.

"My father...”

Swoosh- Bang!

“...fed, neutered, and

Swoosh- Thud!

“...married off you cows!”

Swoosh- Kwang!

[You have exterminated a High-Ranked Baclan Warrior.]

Seong-Il resembled a real mad bull more than these monsters who had ox heads and muscles. He had been holding out somehow with his defensive shield, but the color of the barrier had now faded to the lowest level. His protection was about to disappear. When he blew away the last monster that was blocking his way, he saw Soo-Ah’s desperate face.

"Stop touching my healer!” he snarled.

She screamed, “Oppa!”

He scolded, “Soo-Ah! I told you not to get out of my sight!”

"You’ve watched too many romantic movies, Seong-Il. Is this like Beauty and the Beast? Be careful. I’m going to kill you if you even try to hit on Soo-Ah unnie,” Kyung-Ah interjected sharply.

The three were barely able to create their formation again after Kyung-Ah blew apart the neck of the monster that was jumping toward Soo-Ah from behind.

It was only possible to guess how many units were surrounding them after the battle entered a lull. It would have been difficult to even deal with one monster without the items Odin gave them. Accessories, such as rings and necklaces, not only raised certain abilities by one class, but they also increased their defensive capabilities by an incredible amount. Ten days had passed since he had gotten these new items, so he shouldn’t be feeling this much awe towards them. However, the memory of the day when Odin gave him these items came to his mind whenever he killed scary monsters. Also, he never imagined that this entire gigantic area was the territory of the Baclans.

Then, the ground vibrated, and the three looked around without getting any time to rest.

Wooh wooh! Woooooooooh-!

They could hear shouts from all directions, and they soon realized how many monsters there were as the sound got closer and louder to them. The siege was tightening

"Pull yourself together and never give up,” Seong-Il muttered to himself.

He had raised his Sense to B-class temporarily, and he could not detect anything that were from Odin or Mary. A thought flashed through his mind. He realized that this could actually be his last moment. In addition, his defensive barrier was about to vanish, so he thought he would die if he lost his fighting spirit. That was what he learned from following Odin. The moment he lost the desire to fight, he would really die.

"Ugh, you sound like a boring social studies teacher, Seong-Il.” Kyung-Ah rolled her eyes.

He snapped peevishly, “Then, why don’t you say it?”

"The reason why you are afraid of losing is that you focus on how hard it would be to win. Hohoho. My mindset is much better than yours.”

Seong-Il clicked his tongue quietly.

Tsk, tsk. Poor thing.

The only reason why Kyung-Ah didn’t lose her fighting spirit in any of the crises that they had encountered was that Mary had manipulated her mind. It didn’t mean her actual mentality was strong.

Seong-Il had thought Mary was a melee dealer when he first saw her wrapping up a small battle. Aside from her amazing, god-like abilities, her skill in handling two daggers was beyond what a human could conceivably do. She stabbed, pulled her weapons out, and sliced at her target in an incredibly fast and fluid manner. When Mary went around the monsters and killed them using her daggers, she seemed like a combat machine made exclusively for slaughter.

However, Mary’s true ability was even more grotesque as she had the ability to control others’ spirits. She sent back the monsters, which had been rushing at her, and made them kill their fellows. One of them even threw itself in front of Mary to protect her, even though its head had almost been crushed into pulp. Seong-Il wouldn’t have minded if this only occurred sporadically, but this happened on every route she took. She quickly moved her target from one monster to another, over and over again. The hapless monsters quickly became Mary’s hands and feet. At one point, even the commander of the corps was sacrificing his life for her. Mary was a woman who freely manipulated even the terrifying commander monster.

It must have been easy for her to mess up Kyung-Ah’s mind.

Seong-Il got goosebumps whenever he thought of Mary. To be honest, he felt like he had to lower his head modestly in front of her. But the strange thing was that she acted like an adorable puppy in front of Odin. They were a creepy couple that couldn’t be understood with common sense.

Seong-Il switched his attention to Soo-Ah.

Soo-Ah…

He didn’t have to worry about Kyung-Ah since she would never lose her fighting spirit anyway. However, ever since they entered the ox-heads’ hometown, Soo-Ah had been in the back of his mind. Seong-Il used to hate her as she pulled stunts and did anything to win Odin’s favor.

That soon disappeared when he noticed that she was quite intimidated after Odin’s lover joined the team. She became so quiet that Seong-Il sometimes got surprised that she was actually next to him. Her diminished presence didn’t matter in a non-combat situation, but the problem was that she remained the same way even during battles.

Even now, Soo-Ah acted as if she had lost confidence as she blinked blankly. Seong-Il actually liked the current Soo-Ah more.

He put an arm around her shoulder and said, “My protective barrier is all worn out. I’m sure you know this already, but from now on, your role is very important.”

"Uh… Oppa she stuttered.

"Huh?”

She squeaked, “Ms. Mary is a healer, right?”

Mary had regenerated his arm when he lost his arm again.

He nodded. “That’s what she said.”

"But how can she do that?”

What?

Seong-Il turned his head to the side after noticing where Soo-Ah was looking, and he could barely see Mary in the distance even after raising his Sense as high as it could go. The joy he felt from knowing that she would finally join them only lasted for a second, and he became speechless at the sight of her speeding along with the bloody wind. He couldn’t really see her properly.

Seuk. Sheeeek-

Only the trajectories drawn by the two daggers were flashing. Her targets that became her puppets quickly changed from time to time, and it felt like time in that area was flying by so quickly.

Mary’s participation meant that Odin was there too. As expected, a huge pillar of fire soon soared up. It was hard to recognize, but the scattered images of Odin and Mary began to intertwine here and there. When the shadows of the two overlapped when they were killing monsters, it looked as if they were hugging.

That couple’s love language is so aggressive.

Anyway, Seong-Il grasped the situation. He thought he had been swept away from Odin and Mary, but it wasn’t the case this time. Everything was planned. The three had lured out the Baclan’s search party, and Odin and Mary were wiping them out at once.

Seong-Il could finally smile after not being able to do so for the past ten days. He thought he would be just a burden to them, but he was actually helpful to Odin’s strategy. He turned toward Soo-Ah, and she was looking at Odin and Mary’s terrifying harmony with envy and surprise. Seong-Il lightly grabbed Soo-Ah’s face with both hands. Her eyes widened at his unexpected action.

Seong-Il said to her face, “If a crow-tit tries to walk like a stork, he will break his legs. Look at me, not them. I will be the one who will be taking care of you. In fact, your safety is a higher priority than mine.”

"What… what are you doing!?” she shrieked.

"There is nothing to worry about. Make sure not to get out of my sight. Let’s go.” Seong-Il then yelled at Kyung-Ah and Soo-Ah, “Attaaaaaack!”

It didn’t matter if he couldn’t manage fire and lightning like Odin and if he didn’t have delicate combat skills like Mary. Seong-Il immediately defeated the two high-ranked Baclan warriors with his brute strength and resumed the battle by grabbing a third monster’s ankles in both hands.