67 Smoke Clears To An Angry Man

"Y-Yeon, I've put the robe on."

She put her dirty robe inside the cheap spatial ring that was shared between Mia and Emily.

Mia readied her sword and put on a serious front, but she was having difficulty calming her rapidly beating heart.

Yeon's robe still had his lingering warmth and now that she was wearing it, his heat was being replaced by her body's.

'I feel like a pervert who stole his clothes…', the thought of that strangely excited her.

It was hard to notice due to the noise the monsters were making but Mia's breathing was unusual. But she wasn't ill or hyperventilating.

She took deep breaths through her nose and exhaled through her mouth as if she were trying to calm herself down.

"Don't be so nervous Mia, we're going to be fine. Both of you already have 9 points which is very impressive, we can just build up from here," Yeon said comfortingly.

His back was still turned, and Mia's distracted eyes couldn't leave his exposed torso.

"T-thanks, Yeon," she managed to squeeze out.

There was no way she would ever admit that she was slowly and deliberately breathing in his scent.

A woody musk that was distinctly masculine with a blend of floral sweetness. It was like a mature perfume designed for both men and women that had a miraculous effect of both enticing and relaxing those who smelt it.

She loved it.

"How shall we do this Yeon?" asked Emily who was deliberately looking in another direction as to not get distracted by Yeon's back.

'Is he not embarrassed?' she felt as if she were the shameless one for feeling all anxious when Yeon was acting so carefree.

She steadied her breathing and collected herself, she had to take this trial seriously. They had been helped by Yeon through the first trial and now there was a chance to repay his favour.

"We have to keep moving since the blood gathers on the floor. It'll be a disaster if we get stuck. I'll lead at the front, focusing on making room for combat and incapacitating them, you two can fend off anything I miss and kill them."

"Then what about your points? Wouldn't we end up monopolizing most the points that way?" Emily asked while kicking away a monster.

It fell over and struggled on the floor. It's bottom-heavy weight distribution meant that it was incredibly solid against resistance but once they had fallen, they would be like sitting ducks waiting to get killed.

"I think it'll be ok. The tall man who threw the smoke pill…"

"What about him?" Emily answered while scowling at the thought that man.

Yeon noticed her displeasure and laughed, "don't worry, I already killed him."

"Already?! Good riddance…"

"Anyhow, he hadn't killed any other people, right?"

"Not that I know of…"

"Then-", Yeon swung his sword to make a deep cut into the monster in front of him.

It squealed in pain like a dying pig.

Yeon then kicked the dying monster to Emily, "Kill it."

Emily didn't ask any questions and struck down on the monster. It was a clean and simple cut that sliced through the torso diagonally.

Yeon's points went up by 1 to 14 and Emily's went up by 2 to 11.

"You get points for assists…"

"Which also explains how the tall man had 14 points. He must have assisted his friends in a few kills. This way, if I feed you and Mia equal assists-"

"Then the point distribution is exactly even!" Mia exclaimed.

Yeon smiled at Mia who was like an excited student wanting to show off to their teacher that they knew the answer.

"Exactly, Mia."

Yeon had turned back to face Mia when answering her.

The frontal view of his nude torso - his chiseled abs and pecs were on full display to the girls.

Mia only stared dumbly while laughing to herself in a creepy manner.

Emily, startled by his body, shouted at him by instinct, "cover yourself!"

"…How?" Yeon asked, enjoying their reaction.

He had done this purposefully to calm down any anxiety potential anxiety. He had been worried since Mia kept breathing as if she were nervous and was trying to calm down.

"Ah… Sorry. It's fine. Let's just go," Emily sighed. She realized that Yeon was teasing them when she saw his eyes curving in up into a smile.

The three set out into the fog, killing any monsters that popped up.

***

Yeon:30, Mia and Emily:26

Since Yeon had entered the smoke, they had accumulated a total of 17 kills including the test monster he had killed with Emily.

They had planned to kill all the monsters in the smoke, but it was dissipating much faster than expected. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to hunt in that area as the monsters regained their composure and began swarming them.

Yeon had been at the forefront, acting as the spearhead when they moved about.

Sometimes like water flowing down a stream, sometimes like a solid rock that resisted that flow, sometimes embodying both natures using his different hands, Yeon injured and pushed the monsters towards the girls.

It was a breathtaking display of genius and creativity, but it was apparent to the more powerful spectators that it was far from polished.

Mia and Emily were both very neat in their swordsmanship.

Mia used her distinctly rapid footwork to position herself perfectly before going in for the kill. She had a surprisingly sinister habit of piercing only the heart or head.

It was like she was a rapier user rather than a regular swordsman, but she was just as good in her slicing motions. It was just that she preferred to stab instead.

Emily on the other hand performed large and powerful clean strokes. It was a graceful style that suited the Divine Sword Arts and given time she would surely become a powerful swordsman with a hard yang style.

Unlike Mia who pierced vital points, Emily simply cut their bodies in half. As if she were slicing through butter, her katana-like sword lopped off their heads and torsos.

Yeon enjoyed watching Emily out of the corner of his eyes since it reminded him of his sister's style of swordsmanship.

Just as the pressure was beginning to become too much, they heard a furious roar from afar.

The large plumes of smoke had attracted everyone's attention and now that it was clearing out, it was becoming easier to identify who it was that was inside the smoke.

With his unique black and white hair, Yeon was easily recognizable.

"YEEOOONNNNNN! I'LL HAVE YOU PAY FOR THIS HUMILIATION!"

During the wait for the second trial, Yeon had delicately adorned him with a beautifully decorated and eye-catching green hat in front of a crowd of spectators.

This was far from the truth, but no one knew this.

This was supposed to be the day he entered the Sapling Sword Sect while receiving the praises and admiration of all, especially so since his clan wasn't a particularly prestigious one. He had, thought that he would be bringing home great honour but was instead remembered for being cuckolded.

He was livid.

Even though his shout attracted more monsters, he simply increased the speed of his swings to kill them all.

With a huge score of 72, Rueben Fastilla was rushing towards them.

"Is he seriously going to do this now?" Yeon said while furrowing his brows.

Reuben Fastilla was mumbling to himself as he killed the monsters and pushed them away. He was using them to vent his anger and frustration.

"To a weaker man than me. To an uglier man than me. Why? Why? WHY!?" he finally snapped and resumed screaming again, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"I guess he is," replied Mia while looking up at Yeon.

"It seems like you're his target, Yeon," Mia laughed while watching Yeon grimace in disgust. She thought that his annoyed face was cute as well.

Rueben was talking to himself, and he was talking to the spectators that knew were watching. All the killing had gotten him riled up and he wanted nothing more than to fell Yeon the same way he was massacring the monsters.

"What doesn't she understand? We were meant to be! The heavens had decided for you to be mine, yet you've thrown away your purity like a shameless whore…" he kept rambling, explaining his distraught thoughts out loud.

He probably sought understanding and sympathy from the spectators. To him, it was obvious that Yeon was in the wrong. The spectators would understand and support him.

"I'll show them. I'll show that bastard that he's no better than me. Then she'll come begging, crying and begging on her knees. Back to me. Then I'll…" he laughed like a madman as he imagined how he would humiliate her before tossing her aside.

Yeon saw that the murderous aura emanating from his blue eyes was directed solely towards him.

"Why isn't he going after Emi? She's the one who ran away…" he pouted.

"Y-Yeon!" Emily shouted back in disbelief. How could he betray her in this way!?

"Quick! We have to run!" Yeon cheekily replied while running in the opposite direction of Rueben Fastilla.

Emily looked like she was about to complain, but before she could Yeon interrupted her:

"Emily, launch me into the air."

"What?", she couldn't understand what he was thinking.

"Emi, you should listen to our lover," Mia taunted.

"Mia! Not you too!"

Despite getting bullied by both sides, Emily felt more relaxed as they ran away wading through the mass of monsters. Even though the source of all her miseries was chasing after them, she didn't fell too bad.

"…Fine. I'll launch you so high into the sky that you'll become the star you mistakenly think you are!" she said, taking a jab at him.

She put her sword into the communal spatial ring that she kept hold of and gathered her hands to make a platform.

"Come on then."

Yeon gave her a nod of thanks as he stepped on her hands. True to her words, Emily put all her strength into helping Yeon jump into the sky.

He twirled in the air like a bird doing acrobatics. But he wasn't doing that to look pretty, he was scanning the area ahead of them to think of any possible plans to escape Reuben Fastilla's angry chase.

He spotted two familiar figures up ahead.

They were the ones he had labelled 'meathead' and 'Btech C2 lookalike' inside his head. It was Caddel Spade and Elsher Elrod.

They were fighting just ways from each other without any consideration of the noise they were making.

Caddel Spade with 63 points was standing atop a hill of corpses. It seems that he had brute-forced this trial and had not moved from his summoning spot.

Elsher Elrod was at an astonishing 101 points.

They were like magnets attracting all the surrounding monsters to them and therefore there was a thin strip of land where there were very few monsters.

But that area was becoming more densely populated by the second as Elsher Elrod made steady progress towards Caddel Spade.

"I see. What a nasty girl, she's hunting humans." Yeon smirked.

If he were in her shoes, he would do the same. But he had decided against it considering Mia's and Emily's nature.

Yeon landed lightly on his feet and changed his course of direction towards that strip.

A dirty smile came over his face that was hidden by his veil and his eyes turned more sinister.

"What perfect timing. A three-way it is," he said while laughing to himself while thinking of his plan.

'What… in the world does he mean by that?!' was the only thought going through the girls' heads.

They had no idea of what was going on.

Reuben Fastilla had suddenly started chasing them to which Yeon's reaction was to twirl majestically in the air.

Mia and Emily both shook their heads to clear out any dirty thoughts.

Emily followed behind Yeon who had changed his trajectory and mumbled to herself:

"It's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding."