Became the Imperial-Certified Mad Dog

The Young Crow Spreads Its Wings For The First Time

“Damn it!”

I ran belatedly because that crazy woman was about to do something, but when I hit the tree earlier, my ribs must have cracked because breathing was so painful that I couldn’t move fast.

But since the opponent was stronger and faster than me, and knew the structure of this mansion well, hesitating would mean the end.

In the end, I had to force myself to muster strength while dragging my aching body.

‘By the way, that was unexpected.’

While running bit by bit with all my might, I looked at the fist that had just slashed Dorothy’s stomach.

“Who knew it would feel so good to hit her.”

Although it was an attack thrown with all my might, the difference in our strength was already clear, and honestly, I didn’t expect it to work since I was in a hurry.

But when Dorothy actually took the hit, not only did it work, but it even left a bruise on her stomach, inflicting a major injury that instantly reversed the condition difference she had created until then.

‘What exactly is going on?’

How could someone with such strong power receive a critical injury from that kind of attack? Since muscle strength comes from a sturdy body, it’s almost impossible to have strong muscles with a weak body.

Is there some mysterious training method I don’t know about, or is there a separate way to generate power regardless of physical condition?

‘If I could just learn that, I might be able to overcome physical differences too.’

Power that transcends physical conditions. Now that I think about it, there’s something that comes to mind.

‘I always wondered how grandfather could swing his sword with those skinny arms…’

While he might have been different in his youth, in his later years, grandfather had no muscle to speak of like any other elderly person, yet he always ran around energetically and could break trees with pure strength – I just vaguely thought grandfather’s body was special.

But thinking about it now, maybe grandfather was using the same method as Dorothy to generate power.

* * *

“Haa, haa… right, if it won’t work for me, I’ll just have to destroy everything except myself.”

Meanwhile, Dorothy, who had fled from her fight with Gul to kill Peri, was not in good condition, just as Gul had predicted.

“Cough!?”

She managed to make it to the roof of the main building, but just the slight relaxation of tension made her collapse to the ground, vomiting blood.

‘How can you have such strength without aura…?!’

As Gul had predicted, Dorothy had only temporarily increased her physical abilities using a special power called aura, and without it, Dorothy’s actual physical abilities were far inferior to Gul’s.

The strength and speed that surpassed Gul were also just temporary enhancements from activating aura at necessary moments, so when she couldn’t react to Gul’s surprise attack, she couldn’t activate her aura, and as a result, took Gul’s punch with her bare body and suffered major injuries.

“Kuheck…!”

Although there are ways to accelerate self-healing in aura manipulation, Dorothy’s injuries showed no signs of healing and instead her body only became more dizzy.

‘Are you sure she doesn’t have aura!?’

While Gul had been amazed by Dorothy’s physical abilities that ignored body size, the reality was the opposite – from Dorothy’s perspective, Gul was the monster for making combat possible while ignoring the awakening of aura, which was considered impossible to overcome in simple physical combat.

“Huhu… well that’s fine, it makes me want it even more, I’ll make it mine no matter what.”

Dorothy, who had been muttering that she was unfit for being a useless young lady with no abilities or talents except for having good parents, somehow managed to compose herself and located Peri’s room.

Whether it’s Peri or Karma, killing just one of them would be her victory. If she kills either one of them, Serpe would hold Gul responsible, and Gul, whose parents are held hostage, wouldn’t be able to escape that questioning.

After finding out the whereabouts of those parents from there and approaching Gul, he would have no choice but to bow his head to her.

“It’s really foolish, being so attached to parents.”

Like Peri, Dorothy had no good memories of her own parents, so she couldn’t understand Gul who invaded Serpe and volunteered to be their slave because his parents were captured.

“Whatever.”

It didn’t matter if she couldn’t understand – knowing that Gul was desperate for his parents’ safety was enough to use it.

Just as Dorothy caught her breath and was about to break into Peri’s room.

“What are you trying to do?”

A man with a black robe and mask, whose voice suggested considerable age, blocked her.

“Why are you here? This was assigned to me.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, girl. Even if they’ve been somewhat fond of you lately, you’re still just a greenhorn, barely avoiding being labeled a failure. Did you really think you were free?”

“Were you watching me? Perverted old man.”

Clicking her tongue, Dorothy didn’t hide her disgust towards the elderly man with the stern voice, but the old man didn’t mind at all.

“Originally, I had no intention of interfering since this was nominally your assignment, but I simply couldn’t overlook this. What are you trying to do now? Have you forgotten the orders not to touch Serpe’s boss and his family?”

“Who cares? As long as the boss is alive, that’s all that matters. What’s the big deal about killing some 10-year-old daughter? Just tell the heir to buy a suitable woman and breed. If they breed about 20, there might be one useful one among them.”

Dorothy was cruelly and sarcastically criticizing the existence of children and heirs. Her words contained not just simple mockery but unfathomable hatred, and the old man, knowing the root of that hatred, made no response.

“Anyway, don’t cross the line. If you fall out of favor with the higher-ups, you’ll return to being the clan’s failure.”

“I’ll decide my own path, don’t interfere now.”

Despite the old man’s warning, Dorothy showed no signs of backing down. After giving him a disgusted glance, she stuck her dagger into the roof, grabbed the chain, and was about to jump down to break the window of Peri’s room when-

“Safe! That was fucking close!”

“Kyaak!?”

Whoosh. A stone flew at tremendous speed, and Dorothy reflexively stopped to avoid being hit. Gul didn’t miss this opportunity and threw another knife toward the roof with his other hand.

Bang!

As Gul’s Gurka shattered the roof, Dorothy’s dagger that had been stuck there came loose, and Dorothy, who had been relying on the chain, fell helplessly.

“A Gurka, what an unusual weapon this child uses.”

The old man, who had been leisurely observing Gul’s fighting from the roof, was impressed by Gul’s physical abilities, generating such strength without awakening aura at such a young age.

“Who does this rotten woman think she’s messing with!?”

Regardless, Gul, whose eyes had gone wild at Dorothy targeting Peri, whose life was connected to his parents’ lives, charged at Dorothy like a madman, and Dorothy, injured from both the stomach hit and the fall from the building, couldn’t show the same composure as before against Gul’s fierce attacks.

Swish. Gul wildly swung his Gurka with both hands, and Dorothy barely blocked with her chain and dagger, but small cuts started appearing on her cheeks, legs, and arms.

“Ugh…!”

Dorothy grimaced, but that expression wasn’t because she was being pushed back or from the pain of her injuries.

“Why, why! Why does everyone protect that girl so much! What’s so special about her!”

The cause was inferiority complex. She hated Peri so much for being loved by everyone despite having no talent and making no effort, and she was frustrated that even at the end, Gul was stopping her for Peri’s sake.

“Ah, that’s enough now.”

Dorothy, whose inferiority complex and hatred had crossed a line, finally gave up – her desire to possess Gul.

Thunk-

When Dorothy gave up blocking Gul’s attack, one Gurka was embedded in Dorothy’s shoulder.

“!?”

‘It won’t come out…’

But it was actually Gul who was surprised. The blade that should have torn through her collarbone was stopped merely by muscle, and like an axe deeply embedded in wood, it wouldn’t budge even with all his strength.

“Ah, what a shame, I wanted to have you, I wanted to be a princess protected by a knight too. I could have treated you so well.”

Despite having a blade stuck in her shoulder, Dorothy didn’t flinch and instead looked at the surprised Gul with regret.

And immediately after, before Gul could swing the Gurka in his other hand, she thrust her dagger, piercing his chest.

Dorothy’s blade, which accurately targeted based on her understanding of human anatomy, crossed between his ribs and precisely pierced his lung.

“Urk…!”

Thunk. With his lung pierced, Gul couldn’t even scream as the air escaped, and his hands lost strength, dropping the Gurka he was about to use to slash Dorothy’s neck as he fell to his knees.

Blood was gushing from his pierced chest, and Dorothy stroked his cheek with regret as he struggled to breathe.

“If you had followed me, this wouldn’t have happened… Come to think of it, you asked earlier? Who I was targeting? It was you, Gul.”

Dorothy didn’t hide her regret as she said that this was destined to happen unless he followed her.

Squelch. As Dorothy pulled out the knife, blood gushed more violently from Gul’s chest, and he collapsed.

“If you like that girl so much, I’ll at least send you to the same place. Live well with that useless girl you love so much and your parents in that place where I’m not.”

The moment Dorothy turned her head to finish off Peri, Gul’s eyes, which had been losing their light, sharpened again.

Slash.

Immediately after, Gul, who should have died from his pierced lung, kicked off the ground and slashed Dorothy’s back diagonally.

“Huh?”

* * *

‘Ah.’

In a crisis situation where life was draining away like sand in a pierced hourglass.

‘This, this power.’

Paradoxically, Gul’s senses were sharper than ever before.

Dorothy, thinking she had completely dealt with Gul, spoke various words, but at that time, Gul couldn’t hear a single word she said.

What Gul was hearing, seeing, and feeling was only the blade that had penetrated his body – more precisely, the unfamiliar yet somehow familiar energy, aura, that was coating that blade.

As Dorothy had guessed, Gul had not yet awakened his aura.

Aura awakening varies greatly between individuals, but commonly occurs by recognizing and manipulating the life energy flowing through the body with senses honed to the extreme.

And now, Gul had fulfilled that condition by having another’s aura directly enter his lungs.

He had skipped the process and instantly gained the ability to sense aura by directly taking it into his body at the cost of his life – an awareness that normally could only be achieved after learning the concept of aura and receiving specialized training.

However, if he had been merely a genius with sensitive talent, even if he had luckily become aware of aura, that would have been the end of it.

‘If that woman weaker than me has it, I must have it too…’

But Gul wasn’t just a talented but fragile boy. Although he had lacked the trigger to awaken it, the training he had been doing since he could walk had already prepared his body to generate aura.

‘Like Dorothy, I too…!’

Woong. Then, he could feel power he had never felt before flowing throughout his body like blood through veins.

Thunk. The moment Dorothy pulled out the knife from his lung, thinking Gul was completely dead, Gul wrapped aura around his torn lung like a bandage, just as Dorothy had wrapped aura around her shoulder to block the blade.

‘It works, I stopped it!’

The bleeding stopped before crossing the point of no return. And having survived by a hair’s breadth, Gul immediately rushed at his foolish enemy who had turned her back on him – who could in a way be called his teacher – and gave his thanks.

Slash.

“Huh…?”

“Haa, haa… thanks, you bitch…”

And after giving his final words of gratitude, Gul finally reached his limit and lost consciousness.