Bloodline is Everything - Chapter 171

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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【Bloodline is a Thug Chapter 171】

171. Time (1)

Takamine Ryoko stared silently at the CCTV screens.
The situation was spiraling toward catastrophe. Kwon Mi had been defeated, and the Black Sharp Squad members were in no position to provide reinforcements.
“We have to save Kwon Han-ul at least….”
The problem was that Kwon Han-ul couldn’t leave the stone coffin.
The Bone Rebirth procedure involved using specialized compounds to forcibly destroy the body, maintaining life through the stone coffin, and then reconstructing it piece by piece.
Currently, because Kwon Han-ul had ingested specially formulated compounds, his bones, muscles, and organs had melted and merged into a chaotic mass.
If the coffin were opened, Kwon Han-ul inside would die as well. Right now, he was completely bound to this operating room.
“One hour and twenty minutes remaining….”
Takamine Ryoko gazed with concern at the Heukcheon hunters holding their ground against Odin.
For now, all she could do was hope they would endure.

* * *

“It’s been such a long time. Almost twenty years, hasn’t it?”
Odin opened his mouth as he looked at Joo Ha-yeon.
“Do you know how happy I was when I met you back then? A spatial affinity that had never appeared before! I was so thrilled I almost bounced off the ground. I was certain that you would make my power even stronger.”
Odin’s voice reminiscing about those memories was quite affectionate. Of course, Joo Ha-yeon felt only revulsion.
“But who would have thought that Heukcheon would attack and steal you away from me… You have no idea how much I cried back then.”
Odin let out a deep sigh.
“That’s why I hate Heukcheon. They show up at every important moment of my life and interfere. Those bastards have no idea how much suffering they cause. They’re arrogant, presumptuous, and infuriating.”
“Be silent.”
Unable to endure any longer, Joo Ha-yeon spoke.
“I cannot tolerate human scum like you insulting Heukcheon.”
“Scum? From your perspective, I suppose that makes sense. After all, I’m the one who killed your father.”
A sound like breath catching came from her. Joo Ha-yeon spoke through gritted teeth.
“My mother.”
“Ah, was it? Well, it doesn’t really matter, so let’s move on.”
Odin spoke as if indifferent. Without realizing it, Joo Ha-yeon clenched her fists.
“Anyway, meeting me wasn’t a bad thing for you either, was it? After all, you learned magic from me.”
Odin shrugged his shoulders.
“Using the magic you learned from me, you thrived in Heukcheon, and now you come and insult me? That’s shameless, isn’t it? Even a dog knows gratitude….”
Unable to hold back, Joo Ha-yeon manifested her magic. The unleashed magic severed the space where Odin stood.
But in that instant, a curse barrier created by Odin blocked Joo Ha-yeon’s magic.
“Don’t talk to me about gratitude when you were trying to absorb my power.”
Joo Ha-yeon understood this all too well.
Odin’s ascension to the position of representative delegate in Pandemonium was not merely a matter of exceptional talent.
The power of curse magic is determined by the strength of the caster’s soul. The method Odin chose to cultivate this soul strength was remarkably simple.
He killed others and absorbed their souls.
Since absorbing a mage’s soul was far more effective than absorbing an ordinary person’s, Odin would bring talented individuals to him, teach them magic, and when the time came, kill them and absorb their souls.
Joo Ha-yeon herself had been kidnapped by Odin for this very purpose, forced to learn magic against her will.
“Still, a debt of gratitude remains a debt of gratitude, doesn’t it?”
Odin didn’t so much as blink at the murderous intent radiating from Joo Ha-yeon.
“The fact that you succeeded is thanks to what you learned from me. You can’t deny that. If it weren’t for me, you’d just be living a boring, tedious life as an ordinary person.”
Joo Ha-yeon’s face twisted further and further. A thick wave of killing intent crashed down.
“Cough.”
At that moment, Kwon Mi, held in Odin’s grasp, coughed up blood. It was dark, blackened blood—as if her organs were rotting from within.
“Getting heavy.”
Odin tossed Kwon Mi aside. At that sight, Kwon Hu-don’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Such filial piety. Of course you’d be angry—that’s only natural.”
Odin nodded repeatedly.
“But why haven’t you attacked yet? Don’t tell me you’re just pretending to be angry because you’re afraid of me? Nah, that can’t be it. A member of the Heukcheon Bloodline wouldn’t stoop to such pathetic nonsense.”
In that instant, Kwon Hu-don’s rage reached its peak.
He tore free from Mei Hong and Gael Garsian, who had been holding his arms, and charged forward.
During that brief moment of his rush toward Odin, an enormous quantity of black scales enveloped Kwon Hu-don’s body. He became a giant of iron armor and brought his fist crashing down upon Odin.
“What a dutiful son. What a dutiful son indeed.”
But before the fist could connect, Odin’s curse moved.
Clusters of curse materialized into dozens of blades, slicing through Kwon Hu-don’s body in multiple places.
The supposedly impenetrable black scales were shredded like paper. The curse blades did not stop there—they pierced through Kwon Hu-don’s now-exposed flesh.
“Huh?”
Odin made a puzzled sound. Just before the blades could impale him, Kwon Hu-don vanished.
Looking slightly further away, I saw Kwon Hu-don lying prone beside Joo Ha-yeon.
Just before the blades could pierce him, Joo Ha-yeon had used spatial teleportation magic to move him away.
“Kwon Hu-don.”
Spatial magic is powerful, but its efficiency is poor. The amount of mana Joo Ha-yeon expended to relocate Kwon Hu-don alone was considerable.
“I understand your anger. But that man is not an opponent you can defeat with rage alone.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you held me in such high regard.”
“Be silent.”
Joo Ha-yeon spoke in a voice thick with fury.
“The three of you—fall back.”
Joo Ha-yeon spoke in a cold voice. Under normal circumstances, I would have reasoned with them, but now there was no time for such luxury.
“Secretary Kim.”
“I’m listening.”
“It seems we must both stake our lives on this.”
“I was already thinking the same thing.”
Secretary Kim opened a subspace and pulled out a sharp awl.
It was no ordinary awl. It was something he had been saving for a day like this.
“Ugh.”
Secretary Kim drove the awl into the center of his chest. The awl transformed into liquid and seeped into his body.
My body, ravaged by the curse, recovered to its original state. No—it overflowed with even greater vitality.
But Secretary Kim couldn’t simply rejoice. He knew all too well what price this recovery would demand.
“I’m ready.”
“So am I.”
Joo Ha-yeon manifested her magic. A spell circle materialized in the air, and space itself warped.
The distorted space stretched out long like a staff. Joo Ha-yeon swung it lightly through the air.
“Oh, you’re really willing to stake your lives on this.”
Odin regarded the two of them with interest.
“But you both know there’s no chance of winning, right?”
The two didn’t bother responding.
Instead, they immediately engaged in combat.

* * *

Odin knew exactly what the staff Joo Ha-yeon had created was.
Though he hadn’t mastered spatial magic due to his incompatible aptitude, he had perused magical texts on the subject several times.
Causeus’s impossible weapon—a thing that should not exist.
Simply put, it was magic that materialized physical force.
The staff could freely change its form, and despite being a staff, it was capable of every form of attack—slashing, striking, and more.
Joo Ha-yeon used spatial leap magic to close the distance in an instant, bringing the staff down toward Odin’s crown.
Odin chose to evade rather than block. He manifested magic and drifted through the air, retreating backward.
Joo Ha-yeon’s staff grazed past Odin’s nose and struck the ground. In that instant, the entire floor was pulverized.
“Wow.”
Odin whistled in admiration.
At the moment of impact, she had applied magic to multiply the weight thousands of times over.
No matter how solid the curse barrier Odin had constructed was, that attack was dangerous.
“Wise choice. Engaging me in close combat.”
If one were to list the advantages of magic, two come to mind.
Long range and diverse effects.
With Joo Ha-yeon’s spatial magic alone, she could sever space entirely or crush everything within an area to obliterate a person.
But Joo Ha-yeon had abandoned those advantages and chosen close combat instead.
Spatial magic is fast and effective.
However, it has the weakness of lacking raw power. Unless the gap in ability is significant, it may have some effect, but it cannot inflict fatal wounds on someone of Odin’s caliber.
Just as he had effortlessly blocked the spatial severance Joo Ha-yeon had manifested moments ago.
“You seem to have time to spare?”
Suddenly, Joo Ha-yeon drove the staff into the ground. But instead of embedding itself, the staff vanished.
“Huh?”
Odin quickly turned his head to the side. A spear that had erupted from behind pierced through the space where his head had been.
Joo Ha-yeon withdrew the staff and swung it through the air.
In that instant, half of the staff vanished. Simultaneously, dozens of staffs materialized around Odin.
“Space distortion?”
Odin marveled again. She was manifesting such high-difficulty magic without the slightest strain.
Of course, this feat was only possible because it wasn’t just any weapon—it was 【Causeus’ Impossible Weapon】. That staff was optimized for spatial magic.
But remarkable was remarkable nonetheless.
“You’ve grown considerably.”
A mass of curses erupted from beneath Odin’s feet, coiling around his body and transforming into armor.
The tips of the staffs scraped across the armor in multiple places. But ultimately, they failed to pierce it.
“Though if it ends here, I’d be quite disappointed….”
That was when something peculiar entered Odin’s field of vision.
The landscape visible behind Joo Ha-yeon was shimmering like heat haze.
“…A barrier?”
The barrier that had been shimmering like heat haze suddenly vanished. The previous scenery disappeared, and something entirely new came into view.
Secretary Kim.
The man had his hand extended toward the ceiling. Above it, rings were visible.
But their number was excessive.
Hundreds upon hundreds of rings were densely clustered together.
Odin understood why Joo Ha-yeon had used the barrier. She had bought time for Secretary Kim to prepare his skill.
“Joo Ha-yeon! Get back!”
Secretary Kim shouted as he swung his arm down. Joo Ha-yeon unhesitatingly used spatial leap to dodge beside Secretary Kim.
Hundreds of rings shot toward Odin all at once. The rings hurtled toward him.
One ring struck the curse armor. The ring tore through the armor and embedded itself.
“What?”
Though his body remained unharmed, the fact that the curse armor had been torn was shocking.
The protective gear Odin created using curses was as hard as the hide of an SS-rank monster.
That was when it happened.
The ring embedded in the armor exploded. Odin was sent flying backward by the massive impact.
Looking down, half of the curse armor had been blown away. His clothes and skin were charred black.
“I underestimated you!”
There was no time to be flustered. Hundreds of rings came crashing down on Odin in succession.
Odin roared and unleashed his magical power. Masses of curses poured out from the shadows in thick waves.
The curse masses formed a barrier, blocking the rings. But there were far too many rings for a single curse barrier to contain.
The rings tore through and detonated the curse barrier. Odin created curse barriers in rapid succession to block the rings.
It was a race—would the rings be exhausted first, or would his curse reserves run dry?
…That’s what he thought. Until he sensed a presence behind him.
“…Ha-yeon?”
Joo Ha-yeon, whom he thought had dodged toward Secretary Kim, was now standing directly behind Odin.
“How did you manage to use spatial leap in these conditions?”
In places where mana flows violently, spatial leap becomes nearly impossible to execute. The spell cannot be maintained under such circumstances.
“I never imagined you’d grown this strong.”
Odin felt his chest swell with emotion. Who could have predicted that the girl he’d lost twenty years ago would become this formidable?
“Joo Ha-yeon, you truly….”
Suddenly, Odin noticed something amiss. Joo Ha-yeon hadn’t spoken a single word.
“…You.”
An overwhelming surge of mana erupted from Joo Ha-yeon’s body. She had remained silent while controlling her mana to manifest a large-scale spell.
Joo Ha-yeon brought both hands together before her chest, one positioned above the other.
Between the empty space created by her hands, something began to swirl.
Following the vortex, the surrounding space began to distort. The landscape warped unnaturally, as though reflected in a shattered mirror.
“…Impossible.”
A spell she’d never witnessed before. One that didn’t even appear in spatial magic grimoires.
Yet Odin could discern the nature of this magic to some degree.
“…By compressing space itself?”
Before Odin could finish speaking, Joo Ha-yeon released the compressed space.
Focused on blocking the ring, he’d left his back unguarded.
The spell Joo Ha-yeon had prepared detonated against his defenseless back.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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