Saved a Heroine From the Brink of Death

67. Cynthia vs. Joo Se-rin

#67. Cynthia vs. Joo Se-rin

Joo Se-rin was born with talent that was considered one of the best in Jeoknyeongju. In terms of talent alone, she even surpassed her older sister, who was designated as the next head of the family.

But it lacked venom.

She tried hard, but there was nothing more to it. Joo Hyun-oh always felt sorry for Joo Se-rin in that way.

He wanted to fill in Joo Se-rin’s shortcomings, but Joo Se-rin did not change.

Even after entering the academy and facing defeat for the first time.

‘I thought it wouldn’t change, but I didn’t know it would change like this.’

Joo Se-rin lost to Lee Soo-hyuk.

And I tried to surpass him. But still, there was no venom.

‘I didn’t say anything, but thank you.’

Joo Se-rin became resentful because of Cynthia.

Poison is also a power that can kill oneself. However, if one overcomes it, it becomes a power that is stronger than anything else.

Poison can also be medicine depending on how it is used.

Joo Se-rin harbored venom and overcame it.

I struggled to somehow complete the upper level ritual and endured the horribly painful process of the ritual.

Stage 3 of red consciousness, assimilation.

Joo Se-rin was the first in her family to undergo this ritual at the age of 18.

It was possible because I had talent and the will to back it up.

I feel sorry for Cynthia, but… the outcome of this match has already been decided. Regardless of what she has gained as a disciple of Cheonmu Bong.

“Rise, flames!”

As soon as the sparring began, Zhu Selin immediately went on the attack. As she moved her mouth, words became synonymous, and magic flowed through her blood vessels.

Whoosh whoosh- whoosh-

A red flame robe made of blazing red flames covered Ju Se-rin’s entire body.

“This time… it won’t be like before.”

Her spark was born from the enemy spirit.

And now, Joo Se-rin has become one with the Red Spirit and has completely absorbed the red flame into her body.

Stage 3 of the Red Consciousness, Assimilation.

A ritual otherwise known as spiritization.

“You talk too much. Are you trying to take the initiative with words?”

Joo Se-rin’s brow furrowed at Cynthia’s words.

She swung her sword straight at Cynthia.

Hwarururuk! Her flames moved with the stroke of her sword.

The red flame gradually turned red, and soon turned a blood-red color.

Stage 2 of the Red Consciousness, Change.

Changing the shape of the red.

Before she knew it, the red flame that Joo Se-rin had been wielding had turned a deep blood red and was flying towards Cynthia.

Morphological changes of redness, hematitis.

Cynthia was engulfed in blood-stained red flames.

***

“…crazy.”

I was confused as I watched Joo Se-rin attack. When I turned my head to the side, Joo Hyeon-oh had a smile on his face.

Yeah… So you were hiding something like this.

‘It’s much stronger than the original… Could it be because of what happened to Sia back then?’

Looking at it from the observer’s perspective, the difference in stats between Ju Se-rin and Cynthia wasn’t that big. It’s probably because I supported Cynthia and Ju Se-rin grew stronger by learning numerous elixirs and visions under the support of the stock price. Anyway, the only thing left is the change in ability… This is something that the observer can’t know. That’s why I have to guess the ability by looking at it with my eyes.

And Ju Se-rin’s skills, as estimated by her eyes… were far superior to Lee Soo-hyuk’s at the moment.

“I thought you were hiding something… Was it something like this?”

“What do you mean by hiding it? It’s just that you haven’t revealed it.”

“At 18, I reached the third stage of red consciousness… I guess it’s a blessing for the stock price.”

“You could say that. But do you know what? It was thanks to Shin Sogaju that Serin was able to become like that.”

“…Is that so?”

So that’s what it was like.

Yeah… if not, there would be no reason for Joo Se-rin to become that strong.

‘… If Joo Se-rin has become this strong, then Cynthia’s chances of winning are very low.’

I looked at the two inside the training hall and thought.

Ju Se-rin’s blood flames covered Cynthia. As soon as she started, Cynthia activated the ‘Symbol of the Scales of the Pantheon’ and received a blessing. When examining it with the observer’s trait, it was found that she did not have the ‘Blessing of Balance’ that allowed her to use the Heavenly Staff.

‘The blessing I received through Libra was also a blessing of love… This is ridiculous. Just looking at the name, it looks like it’s a non-combat type. Do I have a chance of winning?’

What Cynthia received through the symbol of the Pantheon was the blessing of love. Naturally, it was a trait that seemed to have nothing to do with combat.

… Is this really Jo Jin?

It was at that moment that I thought that.

Paang! With a sound that pierced the air, Joo Se-rin’s blood was scattered.

And through the pierced space, Cynthia’s arrow was visible.

“… You pierced the blood vessel?”

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Joo Hyun-oh also looked at Cynthia with a puzzled expression. It seemed that he thought that Cynthia would retire with just one hit of Blood Flame.

In a way, it was a natural thought. Blood flames were flames that were not affected by grafting. To put it simply, even if you tried to bounce them off, you couldn’t.

‘It didn’t bounce off… It went straight through, just as I saw. How on earth did that…?’

I was also confused. I thought that I could block the blood flame with my magic or advance by bumping into it with my body… but I didn’t expect that I could break through the blood flame like this.

‘What on earth did you teach Cynthia?’

I thought that the cause of this was Cheonmu Bong.

***

Cynthia’s arrow, which pierced through the bloodline, flew towards Ju Se-rin.

“You, how did you get blood infection….”

“Why did you think you were the only one who grew up? If so, I’m disappointed.”

“Hey… Cynthia, you…!”

Joo Se-rin ground her teeth and grew her blood flames even bigger. If it gets blocked once, just shoot twice. If that doesn’t work, shoot three or four times. Repeat as many times as you can…!

“Push forward, Blood Flame!”

The spirit inside Joo Se-rin’s body heard her words and moved her blood flames.

‘… I was a little surprised, but it didn’t end here!’

Bloodstain was just the beginning. It was surprising that Cynthia had destroyed Bloodstain in this way, but I didn’t think that even this would be unstoppable.

Joo Se-rin flew away, leaving the control of the blood flames completely to the enemy. Covering her body with flames, she swung her sword at Cynthia.

Chae-ae-aeng! An incomprehensible noise struck Joo Se-rin’s ears. Cynthia is an archer. She swung her sword at an archer, and she heard the sound of swords clashing?

As the flames died down, Cynthia’s figure was revealed.

“Huh… This isn’t so bad. It’s fun.”

“You… blocked the sword with a bow?”

“Why? Is there a law that says you can only shoot arrows with a bow?”

Cynthia blocked Ju Se-rin’s sword with her bow.

Her bow was a wooden bow, but it was made by combining the World Tree and special materials that were stronger than iron. A tremendous weapon that could be called a divine weapon. That was the divine tree bow that Cynthia was currently holding.

The Bow of the Divine Tree is currently assimilated into Cynthia’s soul and grows with her. Therefore, its ability is inferior to the peerless sword that Ju Se-rin holds, but its strength and hardness are ridiculously high. It can be said to have indestructible properties.

Cynthia took advantage of that.

‘It’s a weapon, but… its power is so ridiculously strong…!’

Joo Se-rin felt her sword clash with Cynthia’s and her arm began to shake slightly.

The sword and the bow clashed, and only she used the technique… but she was pushed back. This was all possible because Cynthia swung the bow with brute force and brute force.

Even though he had no skills at all, he pushed forward by destroying his own skills with just force.

‘Let’s calm down… This is actually an opportunity. If we get this close, we can properly hit your body with the blood flame.’

Joo Se-rin, who had cooled her head, immediately woke up the enemy spirit and took control of it.

“… Wrap your blood flames around the opponent’s body!”

As the sword and bow clashed, the blood flames attached to the sword instantly enveloped Cynthia’s body. However, Cynthia’s facial expression was gentle.

‘Even though he has blood poisoning, it has no effect at all…? Is this really Kwon Seong-shin? How did these ignorant authors create a body like this?’

Ju Se-rin’s blood flame burned Cynthia’s clothes, but did not harm her body.

“Ah… You’re wearing clothes! They’re my favorite clothes…!”

Cynthia frowned and released her magic power to wipe away the blood stains. Fortunately, her clothes weren’t burned enough to reveal her underwear. She wouldn’t be able to wear them again, though.

“You dare burn my clothes…?”

“Ignorant b*tch…!”

“Ignorant? Huh? What are you talking about? Even though I look like this, I got full marks on this written test…!”

Even with Illien’s help, it was still a perfect score. Cynthia protested again, refuting Joo Se-rin’s claim of being ignorant.

At this, Joo Se-rin immediately stepped back and took a defensive stance.

And Cynthia smiled at Joo Se-rin’s movements.

“…!”

Ju Se-rin realized something was wrong when she saw Cynthia’s smile. But it was already too late.

“You are truly ignorant. No, should I say stupid?”

Cynthia didn’t let go of her protest. She threw away the arrow and raised her bow to close the distance toward Ju Se-rin.

And then he grabbed the bow and swung it. Ta-aang! With a satisfying sound of impact, Joo Se-rin flew away.

“Well… but the impact is good.”

Cynthia grabbed her bow and beat Joo Se-rin to a pulp.