The Weapon Genius: Anything I Hold Can Kill-Chapter 117: Ashes in Bloom

The light faded.

Jin’s boots hit cracked pavement, the city rising up around them like a wounded beast. The air was thick with smoke and ash, buildings looming half-shattered, their windows like broken teeth.

Seo stepped beside him, adjusting the gloves on her hands, unbothered by the shift in temperature. Her gaze swept the skyline, sharp, deliberate.

"That felt different," Jin muttered, eyes still adjusting from the brightness of the portal. "Last time, it felt like falling. This time..."

"More focused," she said, already moving. "The ability changes depending on the intent as he implied. The further we need to go, or the more control he has, the harder it pulls. That one was meant to drop us close, with precision."

Jin gave a short nod, then squinted at the nearest building—vines curling up the side like veins under skin.

"No time to stand around. Let’s move."

They started toward the deeper edge of the district. The distant thuds of Gugwe-mok’s footsteps echoed like a heartbeat through the concrete. Even if it wasn’t close, the vines were. Still alive. Still spreading.

Something shifted in the alley beside them.

A sharp rustle.

And then a whip of green burst out from the shadows.

Jin stepped forward without thinking, katana drawn and gleaming.

But before he could strike—

Seo raised one hand.

"New Order," she said quietly, and the words cut through the night like glass.

"For the next three hours... any plant or plant-adjacent life within thirty meters of me will wither and die."

The vines didn’t stop right away.

They surged forward, snapping like claws, stretching, reaching—

And then the closest one shuddered.

Folded inward.

Blackened.

The next followed. And the next. In seconds, the entire cluster of vines was curling in on itself, collapsing into dried-out husks, breaking apart like dead leaves.

Jin lowered his blade, eyebrows raised.

"...Okay," he said. "I’m not gonna lie, I’m still not used to that."

Seo didn’t look at him. "Get used to it."

He glanced at her. "Why not just... use that on a wider range? You could probably hit the entire city. Wipe out every tree in one go."

She didn’t answer immediately. Then:

"I could," she said. "Maybe. But my skill doesn’t work like that. Even now, I’m only just scratching the surface of what it can do. Large-scale uses burn through my stamina fast. And most importantly—"

She finally turned her eyes toward him.

"—I’ve fought boss-class monsters before. Some of them evolve. Stage one is never the end. If I burn out early, and this thing has more waiting for us..."

Jin finished for her. "We lose."

She nodded.

He exhaled, looking down at the shriveled remains of the vines. "The Ye Ling did that," he said quietly. "It evolved. Took out most of the shopping mall. We barely got out after it evolved."

Seo was already moving again. "Then let’s not give this one the same chance."

They crossed an intersection half-buried in rubble. Streetlamps flickered. Somewhere distant, metal groaned under strain. The city felt like it was holding its breath.

Jin glanced at the trees ahead, small ones planted in sidewalk beds, their bark gnarled and branches thin. Not the monster’s main body. Probably. But if they were even remotely connected...

Seo walked past the nearest one.

It wilted before her foot landed.

Jin watched as the bark cracked and the leaves collapsed, brow furrowing.

"Every tree in the city..." he muttered.

"We won’t need to check every one," Seo replied without turning. "Just the ones it would hide inside."

Jin looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"If I were a creature trying to hide my real body," she said, scanning the layout of the block ahead, "I’d choose somewhere central. Somewhere surrounded by things that I could mask my presence with. That narrows it down."

"You think it’s downtown."

"I think it’s not in the obvious spots. But it’s near enough to control its vines across the city. And it’s smart. Every adaptation it’s made has been reactive. It’s watching."

Jin nodded, then paused. "The scout?"

Seo glanced at her earpiece. "Already on the move. He’s scouting rooftops and big patches of growth. If anything seems off, he’ll ping us."

Jin’s grip tightened around the katana. "Let’s hope it’s enough."

They turned down another block. More trees. More destruction.

Each time Seo passed close enough, the greenery wilted in a perfect ring around her, leaving behind nothing but dust and silence.

It should’ve been comforting.

Watching the vines die. Watching the branches curl. Watching the roots wither and dry beneath their feet.

But it wasn’t.

Because Jin kept waiting for something to change.

They moved through narrow alleys and fractured intersections, passing long-dead storefronts and half-sunken sedans. The further they went, the fewer trees they saw. Just the occasional sidewalk bed or cracked planter box, green barely holding on.

Seo didn’t speak much. Just kept walking, precise and silent, her eyes flicking from rooftop to streetlight to shadow. She knew how to navigate warzones. This wasn’t any different.

A few birds broke from a nearby roof and scattered into the night. Jin looked up, following them for a moment, then caught movement ahead.

Vines.

Still green. Still pulsing faintly.

He shifted his stance, blade angled low.

But Seo didn’t break stride. She walked directly toward them.

The vines recoiled before her like they’d been struck.

Crackled. Shrunk. Died.

Jin stared at the blackened husks. "Still impressive."

Seo finally looked at him, but only for a second. "That’s the second time you’ve said that."

"Well," he said, half-grinning. "You keep earning it."

She didn’t smile, but her tone softened slightly. "We’re still not close to finding its real body."

Jin’s grin faded. "You can feel that too, huh." freēwēbnovel.com

"Yeah."

They rounded a corner and found another narrow street ahead, lined with a few thin trees, most already wilted from neglect. Streetlights buzzed faintly, casting long yellow shadows on the cracked pavement.

"We’ll start narrowing down quadrants," Seo said, her voice sharper now. "We’ll need eyes on rooftops, underground access points, old subway tunnels, any place something could hide a core. Something deep."

Jin nodded. "And if we don’t find it fast?"

She glanced toward the skyline, where a distant tremor rolled through the buildings, low and heavy.

"Then this city won’t last much longer."