The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 247

Bodra, with her eyes shining coldly and fixed on Lee Shin, moved her hand to place a new arrow on the bowstring.

Then, the other vigilante members surrounding the area followed her and quietly placed their hands on their own weapons.

The momentum rising from the vigilante members piled up layer by layer, pressing down on Mio and Rwen.

An ordinary person would have collapsed long ago, unable to even think of resisting the pressure simultaneously emanating from the enemies surrounding them on all sides.

In other words, the current pressure was too heavy and immense for a week-old martial artist who had just started learning martial arts to endure.

Twitch-

Twitch-

"How dare these things to whom..."

"Are they determined to die..."

However, there are exceptions to everything in this world.

Just as a sparrow's step and a stork's step are not the same, though both are a single step.

A human's day and a dragon's day were too different in quality to be considered the same.

Woooong-

On top of that, since dragons are arrogant and greedy beings, they never bow to pressure that crushes them in any situation, and they never forgive those who touch what is within their line.

"How dare you touch my sister?!"

"What are you doing to my sister right now?!"

The two, who were indignant for the same yet different reasons, matched their heartbeats and raised their momentum.

They were quite exhausted from having used a considerable amount of internal energy in the previous fight, but that didn't matter.

Even in their back-alley days when they had less power than this, they had never let go of anyone who touched each other.

Thump-! Thump-! Thump-!

The two one-horned dragons leaned their backs against each other and matched the beat of their wildly pounding hearts.

Then, the immense pressure that had been crushing Mio and Rwen began to be torn apart by the two horns.

They had expected them to be no ordinary kids, but the sight Mio and Rwen were showing now was far beyond their expectations.

"It seems we can't just think of them as simple kids."

"It seems there was a reason those guys were defeated."

"Kids these days are scary. It wasn't like this in my time, what's so strong about them."

The vigilante members exchanged short conversations in voices thick with tension and quietly drew their weapons.

Seeing the momentum rising from the two, they had realized who the culprits were that had done that to their comrades.

All the vigilante members quietly looked at Mio and Rwen, ready to swing their weapons at any moment if the order was given.

"Hmm, about 50 people? It seems a little small, but the average level seems better than I thought."

However, one person among them, Bodra, was looking elsewhere.

Grit-

From the moment she first aimed her arrow, she had used all her senses only to observe Lee Shin.

Mio and Rwen's momentum?

Of course, she felt it.

That was why Bodra did not blame her subordinates for being wary of those children and drawing their weapons.

Thinking rationally, it was the natural thing to do.

She knew that too.

However, her survival instinct, which had saved her several times until now, had been screaming at her ever since she first came here and shot the arrow.

It was telling her to focus all her senses on that man, who at first glance seemed completely unrelated to the fight due to the lack of any momentum, and to never loosen her surveillance.

And Bodra chose to leave Mio and Rwen to her subordinates and, following her instinct's warning, to be wary of Lee Shin.

'What's with that guy?'

As she focused and observed Lee Shin's appearance, her senses gradually began to pick up on a sense of unease that she hadn't been aware of before.

'Is he smiling now?'

Lee Shin was looking around with eyes full of amusement, as if looking at a toy, and smiling.

Feeling uneasy at that, Bodra pulled the arrow back even further and controlled her internal energy to add sharpness to the arrow, so that she could shoot it at any time.

The strongest blow she could deliver was ready.

Even so, the unidentifiable, strange sense of anxiety did not disappear, still tightening its grip on Bodra's chest.

Grit-

'What the hell is it?'

The one surrounding them is her.

The one with the numerical advantage is also her.

Then why was she feeling so anxious?

Swoosh-

As she was trying hard to calm her heart, Lee Shin's eyes, which had been looking around, moved slightly towards Bodra.

At that moment, Bodra's eyes and Lee Shin's eyes met, and she unknowingly released the strength from the hand holding the bow.

It wasn't that the strength had left her hand.

It was that she had unknowingly tried to attack Lee Shin.

And not with a restraining attack like before, but with the strongest blow she could muster.

However, just before the arrow completely left Bodra's hand.

Thud-

"Oppa?"

Midra quickly grabbed Bodra's hand along with the arrow, and the attack ended in a misfire.

Bodra, surprised that Midra, who should have been hiding and watching the situation, had suddenly come out, was about to ask him why he had come out.

"Stand back."

"...Alright."

However, at Midra's following words, Bodra swallowed what she was about to say and stepped back.

She couldn't understand why Midra had revealed himself in the front, but he was their leader.

Therefore, Bodra decided to trust Midra and fulfill her role as the captain of the vigilante group.

To attack Lee Shin and protect Midra if the worst-case scenario occurred.

Creak-

The moment Bodra, who had made up her mind, aimed her arrow at Lee Shin again, Midra whispered softly in her ear.

"Thanks, thanks to you, I was able to notice too."

At that, just as Bodra was about to ask what he meant.

Thud-

Midra put the sword he was holding back into its scabbard at his waist, kicked off the branch he was standing on, and landed right in front of Lee Shin.

At Midra's sudden action, everyone, including Bodra, looked at him with surprised faces.

Among them, only Lee Shin looked at Midra with eyes that flashed with a slight hint of interest.

◎ ◎ ◎

Thud-

At Midra's sudden action, the eyes of the vigilante members widened with surprise and bewilderment.

Lee Shin, who had read the atmosphere, spoke quietly.

"Seeing the atmosphere suddenly become agitated, it seems you're the leader of this group."

"That's right. Well, even if I'm the leader, I'm just a figurehead leader who doesn't do much."

Midra said that and slowly raised both his hands above his head, showing everyone present that he had no intention of fighting.

"What's that? A sign of surrender, that you have no intention of fighting?"

"That's right. At the very least, I swear we won't cause any harm first."

At Midra's words, Lee Shin smiled slightly and said.

"You called yourself a figurehead with your own mouth, is it okay for you to just decide that on your own? It seems your subordinates are also flustered."

"Even a figurehead leader is a leader, and I have enough power to enforce this much of an opinion, so it's fine."

Midra said that and looked at Lee Shin with his arms still raised.

Midra's continued declaration of surrender spread softly around.

Even so, the stinging tension that enveloped the surroundings did not easily subside.

No, on the contrary, it was feeding on the confusion among the people and growing heavier.

"Surrender..."

At that moment, Lee Shin, who had been quietly thinking about something, muttered softly.

Thud-

And just like that, he sat down on the spot.

If Lee Shin had just sat on the ground, a little bewilderment might have spread at his sudden action, but a big commotion would not have occurred.

"Keup..."

But now, Lee Shin was sitting on the back of the man he had used as a teaching material for pressure points until a moment ago, in other words, crushing their comrade.

"Strange, you guys are in such an advantageous situation, are you really not going to do anything?"

Lee Shin's mouth, as he said that, was filled with a deep smile, and his head was tilted slightly to the side, revealing a playful look.

Grit-

At the blatant provocation that even a child could understand, the vigilante members' teeth clenched.

The moment a few of them, unable to hold back, were about to rush at Lee Shin.

Clang-

Faster than they could move, Midra drew the sword at his waist and swung it.

At Midra's sudden attack, Mio and Rwen quickly stood in front of Lee Shin and took their stances.

However, the direction of the slash that extended from Midra's sword was not towards Lee Shin, but the opposite.

Slice-

It was towards his own subordinates.

"Haa..."

The subordinates who had tried to attack Lee Shin were startled by the sharpness of the slash that passed right in front of their noses and stopped in their tracks.

Seeing that, Midra let out a tired sigh and spoke to Lee Shin.

"No matter how much you provoke us, we have no intention of moving. Of course, I know it's hard to believe when an enemy suddenly says this, but I hope you'll believe me a little with what just happened."

Midra said that and put the sword he had drawn back into its scabbard.

It was a persuasion directed at Lee Shin, but also an explanation for the vigilante group behind him.

"I feel sorry for the kids you've captured, but I can't step on the tail of a quiet tiger and give the other guys as toys too."

"Umm..."

At Midra's words, Lee Shin made a strange sound and stared at him, then stood up.

"Strange, I thought I was hiding it pretty well, how did you notice?"

"My eyes are a little better than other people's."

At Midra's words, Lee Shin looked at him for a moment and then muttered.

"I was aware that I was a bit unstable because I've gained a lot recently, but I never thought it would be to the extent that a guy like you would notice. This is a serious problem."

"If that's the case, you don't have to worry. I didn't see anything."

Midra said that and smiled lightly.

"The reason I noticed the sense of unease was thanks to my sister."

"Sister..."

Mulling over Midra's words, Lee Shin's eyes moved slightly to one side.

Creak-

There, Bodra was aiming an arrow at Lee Shin with eyes that said she wouldn't let him get away with it if he did anything to Midra.

"It was thanks to her feeling something from you first that I was able to notice the sense of unease from you."

"Hmm... what was the identity of the sense of unease you felt?"

"The fact that I couldn't see anything."

At Lee Shin's words, Midra answered immediately.

When Midra first saw Lee Shin, he couldn't feel any kind of unease from him, just like it's hard to find a shadow that has blended into nature.

However, Bodra's instinct had sensed something from Lee Shin, and thanks to that, Midra was able to get a clue to single out the individual named Lee Shin from the overall scenery.

As a result of observing Lee Shin with concentration, Midra was able to figure out the identity of the sense of unease that Bodra's instinct had found.

No matter how much he concentrated, he couldn't see inside Lee Shin.

What Midra had thought was a shadow was not a shadow.

It was a cunning darkness that had mixed in with the shadows and was thoroughly hiding its true self.

And the fact that this was possible meant one thing.

That he was a master of skills far superior to his own.

"Ah, that was certainly a bit of a blind spot."

Hearing Midra's words, Lee Shin could roughly guess how the situation had turned out.

A small mistake caused by suppressing his killing intent more strongly than usual due to the [Blessing of ■■■].

Midra had found that.

"Well, leaving that aside, how did you know I had no intention of killing you?"

"I didn't know at all. I just believed that you didn't seem like our enemy and that you had no hostility, and took a gamble."

At Midra's words, Lee Shin chuckled.

"Wow, is today not my day? It's not like me to be fooled so much by one person."

"You're just letting yourself be fooled, you're lying."

Lee Shin smiled like a sly old fox at Midra's words, and Midra sighed as if he were fed up with Lee Shin's appearance.

"Fine. You got one over on me and avoided the trap nicely, so you get a perfect score of 100 so far."

Having said that, Lee Shin smiled and lightly tapped the man in front of him with his foot.

"But if you give up on fighting me, what are you going to do about these guys? For reference, I'm not so kind as to let go of a guy who started a fight with me."

Lee Shin probed the gap in the logic Midra had spoken with a playful, provocative tone.

At Lee Shin's words, the vigilante members who were observing the situation bit their lips in a sense of powerlessness that they were of no help and anger that they couldn't step in even though their comrade and leader were being insulted in front of them.

At that moment, Midra stared at the ten people captured by Lee Shin and asked.

"Those ten, it's because they attacked you first that they ended up like that, right?"

"That's right. It's a kind of interspecies self-defense, you could say."

At the words Lee Shin nonchalantly spat out, the men who had been lying at his feet until a moment ago wanted to shout and argue, 'Didn't you provoke us first?'

But no matter how much they felt like it, they couldn't say anything with their mute points pressed.

At Lee Shin's words of self-defense, Midra nodded as if he had decided.

"Alright, then I'll make a proposal."

Midra pointed at himself with his finger.

"Take me instead of those ten."

At Midra's words, not only the vigilante members who were on guard, but also the ten captured by Lee Shin looked at him with shocked eyes.

Grit-

'When we get back to the village, I'm telling Tafra unni everything...'

And Bodra, who had thought it would turn out like this after seeing the situation unfold, silently bit her lip and glared at Midra with fierce eyes.

(End of Chapter)