Episode 693
Chapter 177. Yona, Yona, Yona… (Part 2)
The group pressed onward, following the traces of spiritual energy.
“If it weren’t for you… we might have been chasing shadows, unable to tell the real Yona from the fakes. Hah. Now, I’m not even sure the one we first found in this forest was the real Yona.”
Two kinds of spiritual energy.
They still couldn’t be certain which belonged to the true Yona. No matter how many they encountered, as long as they didn’t attack all at once, they were confident they could handle them.
Even if they did launch a coordinated attack, once they could perfectly distinguish the real from the fake, it wouldn’t be a problem.
‘If multiple fakes have entered the forest, it’s probably either to capture Yona or to eliminate her.’
That meant Jin’s mission wasn’t just to secure Yona, but also to protect her.
Owl was blaming himself for this very reason.
Throughout the operation, Muming had never even considered the possibility of fake Yonas.
“It’s only natural that the presence of fakes in the forest was hard to predict. After all, Yona was only found in Akin.”
Jin saw through his thoughts and spoke.
“After meeting you in the Second Star of Hailan, I clearly heard that fake Yonas are created from the traces of chaos Yona leaves behind, yet this mistake still happened. I have no excuse to face her.”
“Owl, don’t overthink it. There are two types of spiritual energy, and none of their owners have left the forest yet. We just need to deal with it from here.”
At minimum three, at most five or more.
That was roughly how many traces of Yona’s chaotic energy Muming had missed.
Jin assumed the worst—that there were over ten fakes in the forest.
Still, with their current strength, he felt confident they could handle it.
“We need to speed things up. I have a gut feeling the fakes are targeting your sister. Hmm… let’s start with a simple approach. You two should cover your ears.”
Inhale…!
Jin took a deep breath.
“Yona, sister—!”
He shouted with all his might, and the force of his voice snapped and uprooted several trees ahead.
The entire forest echoed as if an earthquake had struck.
If ordinary warriors like Hedo and Owl had been standing nearby, their eardrums would have burst and they’d have passed out.
“Impressive lungs. If your sister is in this forest, she’d definitely have heard that.”
“Thank you, Sir Hedo. Owl, if you were somewhere ahead in the forest and heard my voice, how would you respond? If you needed to confirm my location—whether to attempt an assassination or to scout.”
Owl immediately understood.
“You want to track the Yonas’ movement paths. Follow me.”
Instead of cautiously tracking the spiritual energy as before, the group sprinted full speed behind Owl.
True to his title as the Nameless King, Owl moved with such speed weaving through the trees that it nearly matched Jin and Hedo’s straight-line running pace.
Most notably, Owl made almost no sound as he moved. It was as if the wind itself was running.
“Indeed, the Nameless King. Your sister, Salsin, must be even more formidable than I am.”
“Probably. I’ve heard she surpassed you long ago when it comes to assassination. I’ve never even heard her footsteps.”
As they ran, Owl suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
This time, he was the first to sense a certain energy the others couldn’t detect.
“It’s killing intent.”
At his words, Jin and Hedo also faintly sensed the hostile aura.
Real or fake, one of them had clearly drawn closer during their recent movement.
Jin scanned the nearby spiritual energy again.
“There’s a much stronger presence than before. Still two types, so both the real sister and the fakes must have responded to my voice.”
Bang!
No sooner had he finished speaking than a red signal flare shot up from the far side of the forest. Yona had appeared on one side of the encirclement.
Jin fired a flare in response—a yellow one, signaling an unusual situation.
At the same time, golden energy shot into the sky—that was Veil taking flight. He sped toward the red flare’s location, then quickly returned to Jin, his face full of irritation.
“Veil, did you see Yona near where that red flare went up?”
[No. She launched a surprise attack and vanished. I tried searching the area, but why the sudden call?]
“A surprise attack? Any casualties?”
[Kel got hurt, but it was just a minor cut.]
“That’s a relief. There are fake Yonas mixed in the forest.”
[What? More than one?]
“Inform the others. Whether real or fake, subdue any Yona you see and bring them to me. Remember, do not kill or maim them. Capture them alive and unharmed. If you can’t handle it alone, keep tracking them, fire signal flares, and make sure no one in the encirclement gets hurt.”
[Then I’ll chase down whoever attacked Kel first… Wait, what’s that!]
Bang! Bang!
Unfortunately, Veil had no time to react.
From that moment, signal flares began firing from all directions.
“Veil, check all those locations and report back to Jin.”
[Ugh… Got it!]
Veil took to the sky, expertly relaying real-time updates with his transcendent flying ability.
[Your sister was spotted over there. Lanke chased her off.]
[Two appeared at once on that side, but Bianca fought back and they fled immediately…]
[I just encountered one myself. After chasing, I managed to wound it. Not a fatal injury—just a slight cut on the arm, enough to tell it apart from the others.]
Veil’s real-time reports were like a command network. Without him, the entire search team would have been thrown into chaos.
Lanke and Bianca were playing their expected roles perfectly. Had Jin not brought them all together, there would have been casualties by now.
Each time Veil reported, Owl marked the Yonas’ locations on the map and considered their likely routes, while Jin focused intently on distinguishing the two types of spiritual energy.
With Hedo present, they could sometimes fully immerse themselves in the task.
Soon, Owl narrowed down the most probable routes for the Yonas, and Jin perfectly distinguished the spiritual energies.
“It’s certain, Owl. The real sister’s energy is unique, while the fakes’ energies overlap. The overlapping ones belong to the fakes. There are three such overlapping presences nearby.”
That was why Jin had concentrated on distinguishing the energies after entering the forest.
They needed to identify which energy was unique and estimate the number of fakes by the overlapping energies.
“Also, since your sister’s energy is growing stronger, the ones found by the other encirclement teams are likely all fakes, given the timing.”
In other words, the real Yona was currently closest to their group, accompanied by three fake Yonas.
“Then the possible routes narrow down to one or two, 12th Rider.”
Owl’s theory about the Yonas’ movement was straightforward.
If the fakes were driving the real Yona to kill her, or vice versa, either way, Owl was sure they would soon confront each other.
Because with each report from Veil, the Yonas near the encirclement were moving deeper into the forest, like a tightening noose around their prey.
“The fakes are probably trying to regroup in the forest’s center after being disrupted by us. But there’s something odd.”
“What’s odd?”
“The real Yona should be far more capable than the fakes. She should have cut down at least one by now, but there’s no sign of that.”
“You mean your sister is just running away?”
“Either she can’t use her full abilities, or there’s some other interference.”
“Then we should head to the forest’s center first, Nameless King.”
Even upon reaching the forest’s center, there was no sign of battle.
Instead, the group began to be attacked.
Suddenly feeling a chill behind them, they turned just as a blade flew toward them. When they tried to block, Yona vanished from sight.
After defending against the first, second, and third attacks, Jin came to a conclusion.
“…The one attacking us now is the real Yona. Her energy doesn’t overlap with the others.”
Because they could only confirm it in the split second they dodged, it took three attacks.
“Also, the other fakes are nearby. Their energies are tangled and moving together… that’s one way to tell them apart from the real sister.”
“Nearby?”
“Yes. And the killing intent we sensed earlier was from the fakes. From this attack, the real Yona doesn’t leave even the faintest trace of hostility. The residual energy she leaves behind is so subtle that no one but me can recognize it.”
Jin looked around with a troubled expression.
In other words, their assumptions had been wrong.
The fakes weren’t moving to eliminate Yona, and the real Yona wasn’t running from them.
Both the real and fake Yonas had been targeting Jin’s group all along. In fact, they had been moving together since Muming confirmed Yona’s whereabouts in Akin.
From that moment, the real and fake Yonas had been alternating their movements to deliberately make Muming perceive them as a single person. It was no wonder Owl hadn’t considered the existence of fakes.
“So it wasn’t that Yona couldn’t cut down the fakes—she was cooperating with them from the start…”
The moment Owl said that, the forest scene before them rapidly distorted.
The trap the Yonas had set was triggered.
Black curtains of darkness shot up all around them, and Jin instantly recognized the place—it was the chaotic pocket dimension.
The three of them stood back to back, drawing their swords.
Then, from within the shadows, a voice emerged—completely unexpected.
“Jin… it’s been a long time.”
Joshua Runcandel.
It was his voice.