Chapter 19: You’re also strong

“Areum… how about you stop using your abilities now? We have cleared the dungeon. You don’t need to use your energy anymore.”

Cheon Areum heard him loud and clear. He had known Yoon Seoyul was still using his skill and keeping an unbreakable grip on him all this time, but he hadn’t harmed any of the humans here, so why did he have to stop using his energy? No words came from Cheon Areum. He only glared openly at Yoon Seoyul, who sighed upon seeing that he wasn’t going to listen to him. He hugged him tightly, squeezing him against his chest. Cheon Areum listened to the loud thuds of Yoon Seoyul’s heartbeat, wanting to see his heart—but humans needed their hearts to stay alive.

“Seoyul, we should take him out of here. Maybe it’s because of the dungeon that he cannot clear his head.”

Han Kakta began to suggest something just as Cheon Areum pushed Yoon Seoyul away, his hands already reverted, the claws gone. But before he could even take a single step back, strong hands clamped down on his shoulders. The grip was firm—unyielding. Cheon Areum stiffened, a sharp sense of threat crawling up his spine as he realized he couldn’t pull away.

“Where are you going?”

Cheon Areum didn’t speak. His gaze dropped to the hand on his shoulder, black energy stirring faintly beneath his skin. He could cut it off cleanly. Easily. The thought came sharp and instinctive—but just as strangely, he didn’t want to. Why had he stopped fighting that human? Why had he hesitated? He knew his name. Yoon Seoyul. He knew his presence, his scent, the way his energy felt when it pressed close.

But what else?

The question lingered, unsettling, as Cheon Areum stood still—caught between the urge to destroy and the inexplicable need to stay.

[Mind Corruption has been activated.]

[You are currently using the skill: Mind Corruption. Your ability to corrupt negative energy will be enhanced during its activation.]

Deciding it would be simpler to control him, Cheon Areum lifted his gaze and locked eyes with Yoon Seoyul.

Black, white, and lavender dipped into black energy as his corruption skill activated. The air between them was strangling. For a brief moment, the fingers digging into his shoulders flickered—twitching as if caught between obedience and resistance. Then, a few seconds later, the connection snapped. The corruption slipped from Yoon Seoyul entirely.

[Mind Corruption deactivated due to an unsuccessful attempt.]

“You’re strong….”

Amused, Cheon Areum reacted instantly. He kicked out midair, aiming straight for Yoon Seoyul’s stomach. Yoon Seoyul caught his foot just before it could land, but in doing so, he had to release Cheon Areum’s shoulders. The force of the kick still sent him stumbling a few steps back, boots scraping against the sand.

Cheon Areum remained balanced and light on his feet, wings shifting slightly behind him as he smiled at Yoon Seoyul, his foot still held in Yoon Seoyul’s grasp, before launching his body into the air, using the grip on his first foot as leverage. He flipped smoothly in the air and snapped his other leg forward, his foot hitting Yoon Seoyul right on the face—on his cheek.

“Seoyul!”

Han Kakta called out, already moving to intervene—but Yoon Seoyul lifted a hand sharply, signaling him to stop. Slowly, Yoon Seoyul raised his head. A vivid red mark bloomed across his face where Cheon Areum’s boot had struck him. The chain at the side of the leather shoe had sliced his skin open, blood trailing down his cheek in a thin line. He didn’t wipe it away. Instead, he looked straight at Cheon Areum—steady, unflinching—just as Cheon Areum finally freed himself completely and landed lightly on his feet, the distance between them now clear.

“Where do you plan to go, then?”

“Why? Are you planning to follow?”

Shaking the blood and shredded flesh from his wings and body, Cheon Areum spoke, pointedly refusing to spare Yoon Seoyul even a glance. Spotting the white floating box, he shot out his energy and dragged it toward himself. The space warped as it moved, a piercing screech tearing through the air—like chalk being dragged violently across a blackboard—as the box was forced down onto the sand. If he couldn’t find anyone of his class here, he would just go to another gate where he would be able to fight against more monsters.

“If you can’t subdue your omega, should we take action? We can’t be here all day now, can we?”

Watching the display of Cheon Areum rebelling, the guild master of Voidwalkers asked Yoon Seoyul.

“We have fought monsters before. If we all attack at the same time, he should run out of energy soon enough.”

“Don’t touch him.”

Cheon Areum, who had been about to leave quietly, heard him and formed a small, sharp black knife with his energy, turning and throwing it like a dart at the one who had made the suggestion—straight into the liver. No one saw the motion, only the result. The blade sank cleanly into the speaker’s liver, burying itself to the hilt. The body jerked once, a strangled sound escaping their throat.

“I changed my mind. I should just kill you all.”

He declared it and took a step forward—only for his arm to be seized with brutal force. Before Cheon Areum could even react, the grip twisted and threw him bodily into the white box. His back slammed into the interior with a dull thud, sinking not into metal but into soft, blood-slick walls fused unnaturally to one side of the structure. The moment he hit, a heavy red energy collapsed on him. Heavy pressure crashed down on him, dense and suffocating—red energy flooding the box, pressing against his limbs, his wings, his chest. It wasn’t restraint through bindings or corruption; it was as if he was being drawn to the ground with an unprecedented force.

Yoon Seoyul stepped into view, walking toward him without haste, eyes burning as his skill fully activated. The red energy intensified with every step, pinning Cheon Areum in place, forcing even his breath to slow.

Cheon Areum was the one being overpowered.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep