I slid back words and took a breath.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon inhaled 3.4 liters of air through his nasal passage, oxygen saturating his bloodstream.]
"…Shut up," I muttered.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon verbally expressed irritation toward the System.]
My jaw clenched. My teeth ground together hard enough that I felt enamel scrape enamel.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon clenched his jaw, producing minor dental friction.]
I hated this thing.
The angel statues loomed around us like executioners frozen mid-sentence. Cracked wings. Shattered faces. Stone dust floated in the air, still settling from where I'd been thrown moments earlier. My boots sank slightly into the sand with every shift of weight.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon redistributed his body mass to regain balance.]
The Yokai stood ten meters away.
Tall. Too tall. Its limbs bent at angles that made my brain itch, like geometry itself rejected its existence. Red eyes burned beneath its shadowed face, tracking me with predatory patience. It wasn't rushing anymore.
It was adapting.
[SYSTEM] Host identified hostile entity: Unknown Yokai-Type Organism. Threat Level: EXTREME.]
The woman stood behind it, hands folded behind her back, posture relaxed. No tension. No urgency. Her eyes—sharp, cruel, curious—never left me.
She wasn't worried.
That pissed me off more than the System.
[SYSTEM] Emotional spike detected: Anger.]
"Don't label it," I hissed under my breath. "Just for once—don't—"
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon verbally requested the System cease operation.]
I swallowed the rest of the sentence.
The Yokai moved.
Not fast.
Deliberate.
Its foot pressed into the sand, muscles compressing like coiled steel.
[SYSTEM] Hostile entity initiated forward motion.]
"Here it comes," I whispered.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon whispered an observation.]
The Yokai lunged.
The ground exploded beneath it.
I dove left as a shockwave tore through the sand where I'd been standing, stone fragments slicing past my ribs. One grazed my shoulder—hot pain, wet warmth.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon executed an evasive maneuver, sustaining a superficial laceration.]
I rolled, came up on one knee, blades already in my hands.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon grabbed his weapons.]
Electricity crawled along my arms—red, violent, unstable. It crackled against my skin like it wanted out.
Not power.
Energy.
Raw, inefficient, angry energy.
"Think," I told myself. "Don't react."
[SYSTEM] Cognitive function elevated: Tactical Analysis.]
The Yokai twisted mid-air—mid-air—and slammed its heel downward.
I barely saw it.
I barely moved.
I thrust my blades into the sand and yanked myself sideways as the impact cratered the ground, angel statue behind me shattering into rubble.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon narrowly avoided lethal trauma.]
My heart hammered.
My lungs burned.
My mind raced.
Too fast. Too strong. Too durable.
But not perfect.
Nothing that moved like that could be.
Muscle contraction that powerful required energy transfer. Force. Momentum. If it was that heavy, that dense—
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon initiated biomechanical calculation.]
"There," I breathed.
The Yokai's movement wasn't fluid.
It reset between attacks.
Micro-pauses. Milliseconds. But they were there.
It planted before it struck.
It stabilized before it killed.
That meant—
[SYSTEM] Hypothesis formed: Exploit recovery frames.]
I bolted forward.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon sprinted at 9.8 meters per second.]
The Yokai reacted instantly, swinging an arm like a guillotine.
I slid under it, heat tearing past my scalp, and slashed upward at its thigh.
Metal met flesh.
Sparks flew.
My blades didn't cut.
They skidded.
[SYSTEM] Attack ineffective.]
I grimaced, teeth bared.
"Tch—!"
The Yokai kicked.
I raised my arm.
Bad idea.
The impact sent me flying, ribs screaming as I smashed into another statue, stone cracking around me like thunder.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon sustained blunt force trauma.]
I coughed blood.
It splattered the sand.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon expelled blood due to internal stress.]
"Stop saying it," I growled.
The Yokai advanced, footsteps heavy, confident.
The woman tilted her head.
"…You're still standing," she said, mildly impressed. "Interesting."
I forced myself upright, body shaking.
No demon form.
Not yet.
Think.
Electricity wasn't just power.
It was physics.
Red lightning arced between my fingers.
Unstable voltage. High output. No control.
But electricity followed rules.
Conductivity.
Resistance.
Grounding.
The Yokai's body—dense, armored, unnatural—but it was solid.
Which meant electrons could flow.
If I couldn't cut it…
I could cook it.
[SYSTEM] Strategy deviation detected.]
I slammed my blades into the sand.
Red electricity surged outward, racing through the ground like veins.
[SYSTEM] Host discharged electrical energy into terrain.]
The Yokai stomped—
And flinched.
Just barely.
Its leg twitched.
The sand beneath its foot glowed.
My eyes widened.
"Got you."
[SYSTEM] Host observed enemy response.]
Electricity traveled fastest through the path of least resistance.
Dry sand was poor.
Stone was better.
Metal was best.
And the angel statues—
Reinforced.
Veined with ancient conductive minerals.
I kicked off the ground, sprinting toward the nearest statue.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon changed trajectory.]
The Yokai roared and gave chase.
Every step it took sent tremors through the field.
I leapt, planted my foot against the statue's base, and slammed my palm into the stone.
Red lightning erupted.
The statue lit up.
Veins of crimson energy raced through its body, down into the ground—
Straight into the Yokai's leg.
The beast screamed.
A real scream.
[SYSTEM] Enemy reaction escalated: Pain response detected.]
The woman's eyes widened.
"…Electric conduction?" she murmured.
The Yokai staggered.
Just for a second.
But that was enough.
I launched myself forward, blades humming with unstable current, body screaming, heart pounding, mind razor-focused.
[SYSTEM] Jae Hoon committed to offensive action.]
I struck.
And for the first time—
My blade cut.
Red electricity surged into the Yokai's body, bypassing its armor, attacking nerves, muscles, forcing involuntary contraction.
The beast howled, collapsing to one knee.
The woman took a step forward.
Her smile was gone.
"…Now that," she said quietly, "is unexpected."
[SYSTEM] System recalculating threat assessment.]
I stood there, chest heaving, electricity flickering violently around me, blood dripping from my mouth—
And smiling.
For once…
The System was silent.
For exactly half a second.