Level Up Machine

Chapter 34 Liberation (2)

“You bastards……”

Yu-na gripped the handle of her sword and spoke with a stiff voice. She was well aware of the man with the menacing look.

“Hong Seung-gal.”

She glared at the man with a look of disgust. He laughed as he looked at her.

“Well, well, for Choi Yu-na, a key executive of Salvator, to remember a lowly summoner like me, I’m truly honored.”

He said, smirking. Yu-na’s face twisted in anger at his words.

“How could I not remember scum like you? A trash who swindles novice summoners.”

“Haha! Swindles? That’s too harsh. I just gave them a taste of life’s bitterness.”

Hong Seung-gal laughed as he spoke. Yu-na bit her lip and opened her mouth.

“Life’s bitterness? Don’t talk nonsense. Because of you…!”

She glared at him with burning eyes.

Yu-na and Hong Seung-gal knew each other because of a woman. In her novice summoner days, a woman had been deceived by the Light Shield Guild, sold into slavery, and forced to wander through brothels until she was dramatically rescued by the Salvator Guild.

After hearing the woman’s story, Yu-na was furious and immediately proposed to Tiria that they should destroy the Light Shield Guild. They even organized a subjugation team and clashed with a unit led by Hong Seung-gal.

At that time, the Salvator Guild was far more powerful than the Light Shield Guild.

Hong Seung-gal had to flee to another city to avoid her.

But that was short-lived. When internal strife erupted in the Salvator Guild, making further pursuit or assassination impossible, Hong Seung-gal returned to Belen as if nothing had happened.

“Tsk, tsk, with such foolish thoughts, no wonder your guild ended up like that.”

“You bastard!”

Hong Seung-gal taunted. Yu-na stepped forward with a murderous look, ready to tear him apart. Bae Han-seong grabbed her shoulder.

“Calm down, Yu-na.”

Han-seong’s face was stern as he surveyed the surroundings.

‘There are too many of them.’

The number of Light Shield Guild members surrounding them was at least fifty. Moreover, judging by their demeanor, they were not just any summoners but the elite members of the Light Shield Guild.

‘How is this possible?’

Han-seong looked at Hong Seung-gal in disbelief.

Hong Seung-gal was just a branch manager of the Light Shield Guild. He might be strong in Belen, but towards the northern border, he was just an average summoner.

How could someone like him mobilize such an elite force from the Light Shield Guild? Such a force could only be moved by the guild master himself.

“Wait, could it be……”

Realizing this, Han-seong turned pale and turned his head.

At that moment, a hulking figure with a heavy presence, as if carved from a rock, walked slowly among the Light Shield Guild members surrounding them. He held a large shield emitting a faint white glow.

Seeing him, Han-seong’s face filled with shock.

“Han Cheol-ho! Why is the Light Shield Guild master here……!”

At Han-seong’s words, Yu-na’s face also turned pale.

Han Cheol-ho. A powerful summoner known to be nearly a ranker.

“Dammit?”

Yoo Na looked around urgently. Surrounding her were fifty or so members of the Light Shield Guild and Han Cheol-ho.

It was an overwhelming force, with no apparent escape route.

‘Even without Han Cheol-ho, the chances of winning are slim!’

No matter how powerful she, Chae-rin, and Bae Han-seong were as summoners, all over level 80, facing more than fifty members of the Light Shield Guild head-on was insanity.

However, with Han Cheol-ho added to the mix, the chance of escaping disappeared entirely.

“…Han-seong.”

With a hardened face, Yoo Na spoke to Han-seong. He gulped and turned his gaze to her.

“Tell Chae-rin to prepare her magic. Target the weaker side of the encirclement and use magic… then take everyone and run.”

“…Are you planning to die?”

Han-seong looked at Yoo Na with an expression of disbelief. She opened her mouth with a faint smile.

“We still have things to do for Tiria.”

“But…”

“Please.”

Yoo Na said firmly. At her words, Han-seong bit his lip roughly.

“Understood.”

He nodded with a grim expression.

“So, you’re that Choi Yoo-na. I’ve heard some rumors about you.”

Han Cheol-ho ignored everyone else and fixed his gaze on Choi Yoo-na. He looked at the red twin swords in her hands and spoke.

“Those are the Scarlet Twin Swords, an A-rank rare item.”

He looked at her with eyes burning with greed.

Han Cheol-ho had a compulsive personality when it came to collecting things. Even items he deemed worthless, if they caught his interest, he would collect without hesitation. To him, the Scarlet Twin Swords, an A-rank rare item, were a highly coveted prize.

“Could you stop eyeing my child with such disgusting eyes?”

Yoo Na said venomously, gripping the twin swords tightly.

Hot flames began to blaze around her body.

Blaze Aura. It was a special skill of the hidden class, Blaze Warrior, that she possessed.

“Chae-rin.”

While Yoo Na was preparing for battle, Han-seong, with a somber expression, approached Chae-rin. In a calm voice, he explained the plan to her.

Chae-rin’s eyes widened as she listened to him.

“W-what are you talking about, oppa…?”

She looked at Han-seong with disbelief. He shook his head slowly, his face set in stone.

“I’m sorry. There’s no other way in this situation.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! How can you expect me to leave Yoo Na unnie and run away!”

She screamed, grabbing his clothes roughly, unable to accept it. Tears began to fall from her eyes.

Han-seong grasped her shoulders with a pained expression. He opened his mouth to say something.

“Kill all the men and capture the women!”

But before Han-seong could speak, Hong Seung-gal’s shout echoed. At his command, the members of the Light Shield Guild charged forward, their eyes glinting with lust.

“Ugh…!”

Yoo Na let out a short groan as she watched the charging Light Shield Guild members. She stomped the ground harshly and intercepted the oncoming guild members.

“Han-seong…!”

She called out to Han-seong in a desperate voice. He grabbed Chae-rin’s shoulders with an urgent expression.

“Chae-rin, please!”

With a desperate look, he called her name. The only thing that could break through the current situation was Chae-rin’s explosive magic.

Chae-rin shook her head, her face pale.

“I, I…

“Please. You know that if things stay like this, everyone will die…”

Han-seong spoke desperately. Hearing his words, Chae-rin clenched her mouth shut and looked down. She opened her mouth, her voice trembling.

“Why, why do we always have to go through this…? We haven’t done anything wrong.”

Han-seong couldn’t respond to her words. He bit his lip and clenched his fist roughly.

“…Prepare your magic.”

He spoke in a strained voice. Chae-rin nodded slowly, tears streaming down her face.

Han-seong turned his head towards Yeong-sik.

“Everyone, hide behind Yoo Na and run when I give the signal. Yoo Na and I will try to hold them off as much as possible.”

He said, then used healing magic on Yoo Na, who was fending off the Light Shield Guild members alone. The small wounds forming on her body disappeared, and her movements became even quicker.

Swoosh!

“Ahhhh!”

“Damn it! This bitch!”

The Light Shield Guild members, who had maintained their encirclement with about ten of them charging, shouted urgently.

Amazingly, Yoo Na, facing more than ten guild members, didn’t retreat an inch and instead overwhelmed them.

“Indeed, you’re stronger than the rumors.”

Han Cheol-ho, who had been watching her leisurely, nodded with a satisfied smile.

However, despite his words, there wasn’t a hint of worry on his face.

It was natural. The guild members he had brought along were all key figures in the guild. Though it looked like Choi Yoo-na was overpowering them now, he knew better than anyone that she couldn’t defeat the guild’s elite members alone.

‘She’s an impressive woman.’

Han Cheol-ho watched Yoo Na, who was fiercely fighting against his guild members, with shining eyes.

Unlike Hong Seung-gal, who had a great desire for women, Han Cheol-ho usually didn’t covet them. But seeing Yoo Na, enveloped in flames and wielding twin swords, stirred something within him.

“Hehe. Do you fancy her, brother?”

Reading his eyes, Hong Seung-gal approached and bowed. Han Cheol-ho frowned slightly at Hong Seung-gal’s obsequious behavior, but he soon spoke in a low voice.

“Yes, I do.”

“Hehehe. Then just wait a bit. Tonight, you’ll be able to enjoy her thoroughly.”

Hong Seung-gal spoke with a sinister smile. Han Cheol-ho clicked his tongue briefly but didn’t say anything else. The truth was, he did have a desire for her.

“Ten of you guys are struggling so much! Hurry up and catch her!”

Hong Seung-gal shouted unnecessarily at the guild members fighting with Yu-na.

They glared at Hong Seung-gal with disapproving looks, but they couldn’t openly defy him. After all, he was a high-ranking executive in the branch manager’s position.

“Hurry..”

Yu-na, who was fighting against the Light Shield Guild members, turned her head with an anxious expression. No matter how high her level was, even over level 90, it wasn’t easy to hold off this many opponents alone.

She hoped that Chae-rin’s magic would be completed quickly so that the others could escape from this place.

‘I don’t care what happens to me.’

It wasn’t hard to imagine the miserable future that awaited her if she lost this fight and got captured by them. Despite knowing all this, Yu-na maintained a serene smile on her lips.

‘Please fulfill my sister’s wish.’

Muttering to herself, she thrust her dual swords into the body of a Light Shield Guild member who was blocking her path. With a horrifying scream, the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

“I’m… alright.”

She murmured as if hypnotizing herself.

In reality, there was no way she could be alright. She was human, capable of feeling pain and despair. The thought of the horrific future that awaited her made her want to turn around and flee by herself.

But even so, she couldn’t retreat. She had a goal she wanted to achieve, even if it meant falling into the abyss of despair.

‘If I’d known this would happen, I should have experienced it at least once.’

She smiled bitterly, realizing that the purity she had protected all this time would be futilely and horribly trampled upon.

It was then.

“Blade.”

Click.

Yeong-sik’s low voice reached her ears.