episode_0179

Kwaang!!

The ground, which had been still, explodes.

From within the ground, which exploded as if a meteorite had fallen from the sky, emerged three silhouettes.

“Cough, cough!….”

“Are you crazy? Suddenly rampaging like that without a plan!….”

“Isn’t it enough that we’re out?”

A woman with striking black hair and a pure white Hanbok, Baek-Ryeon.

A woman with green hair and a sharp expression, Seol-Lin.

A woman with white hair and yellow eyes, Pyeongcheon Daeseong.

These three, like Leon, somehow survived in the buried land and were able to emerge above ground by following the path Pyeongcheon Daeseong made with her immense strength.

Of course, there was a near-death experience for Baek-Ryeon and Seol-Lin in the process, but Pyeongcheon Daeseong, seemingly unconcerned, looked around.

“It’s parched.”

“Hoo…. It really is…. Is it related to the collapse of the dwarves’ underground city?”

“Perhaps?….”

To Baek-Ryeon’s question, Pyeongcheon Daeseong shrugged her shoulders and, without giving a detailed answer, looked at the World Tree emitting ominous energy in the distance.

Seol-Lin brushed the dirt off her clothes and then turned her gaze to the World Tree, following Pyeongcheon Daeseong’s gaze.

“That’s… the World Tree?”

“Is that the tree we saw when we entered the Western Continent? But…. The feeling is very different from then.”

“Corrupted.”

Pyeongcheon Daeseong answered briefly.

“Corrupted?”

“It seems…. The fragment of the Demon was moving faster.”

“Does that mean this situation is the work of a ?”

Pyeongcheon Daeseong nodded at Baek-Ryeon’s question.

Then Seol-Lin looked around and sighed deeply, saying.

“Leon isn’t around. Lucy can hide in the shadows, so she’ll be fine, and Leviyah seemed to be protected by Leon….”

“We should join up with Young Master first.”

“My husband is probably over there.”

The direction Pyeongcheon Daeseong pointed was towards the corrupted World Tree.

Baek-Ryeon looked at the World Tree and nodded.

“Well, we were going to head to the World Tree from the start. Going there seems like a good idea.”

“…Hey, Pyeongcheon Daeseong.”

“?”

Seol-Lin glared at Pyeongcheon Daeseong and said.

“I’ll tell you one thing.”

“?”

“We met Leon first. Leon is not your husband. Understand?”

Pyeongcheon Daeseong tilted her head at Seol-Lin’s words, then nodded.

“I can even allow concubines. My husband seems to cherish you.”

“No, I mean!! The concubine isn’t us, it’s you!!!”

At that moment when Seol-Lin burst into anger, two streams of roots shot up from the ground.

The eyes of the three people, Baek-Ryeon, Seol-Lin, and Pyeongcheon Daeseong, watching the roots that trembled like living creatures and attacked them, flashed.

“Tiger Hunt.”

Syeokeok!

In just one move.

The sword, drawn naturally from its scabbard, cut off the roots with a single swing.

However, Baek-Ryeon, noticing that the severed parts of the roots were regenerating, shouted.

“These things are regenerating!”

At that moment, the tips of Seol-Lin’s fingers flashed.

Seol-Lin’s specialty, invisible hidden weapons, struck the roots directly.

And at that moment, the roots withered instantly.

Kwajik! Puh-uhng!

“Hmph….”

However, Pyeongcheon Daeseong completely silenced the roots by tearing them to shreds so they couldn’t even regenerate.

“She’s certainly strong.”

“…Hmph.”

“…!”

Pyeongcheon Daeseong, who had easily dealt with the sudden attack and was standing there blankly, suddenly turned her head.

“Pyeongcheon Daeseong?”

“…My husband’s power.”

“You mean Young Master?!”

“…You should head to the World Tree first.”

Leaving those words behind, Pyeongcheon Daeseong disappeared with a bang!

* * *

Kang!!

“Abel!!”

“Leoooooon!!!”

King! Kang! Chaechaechaechaeng!!

Woong! Woong!! Woooooooooooong!!!

Sword clashes against sword.

Pure white sword against pure white sword.

The swords, which diverged from the same origin, resonated each time their blades clashed.

“Tch, Machina!!”

[I, I’m sorry! This resonance is an instinctive thing that I can’t control….]

Each time the resonance occurs, my insides are turned upside down.

In game terms, it feels like taking true damage proportional to your health, ignoring defense, every time the resonance happens.

I forcibly twisted my sword to push Abel away and retreated.

“Y, Young Hero!….”

“Fall back, Leviyah. That guy’s seriously gone crazy.”

“I remember that person. Yes, I saw him in Goldroad. That insolent woman who rejected me even though I dared to embrace her!! Ha, in the end, she rejected this body and clung to that guy? I can satisfy her more than that guy can!!”

“Hey, hey, I don’t think you even know what you’re saying right now?”

Surely the should subordinate the target to the ….

To say such vulgar things so casually. No, even before that, why is a hero getting marked and causing trouble?

“Blessing of protection….”

Paaat, a bright light emanates from behind.

My insides, which had been twisted by the Holy Sword resonance, seemed to gradually return to normal.

“Hoo…. But why is that guy running at me as if he’s not affected at all while getting hit by the resonance?”

“…I don’t think he can feel pain.”

“Pain?”

“Yes….”

Leviyah nodded and looked at Abel with sad eyes.

“There’s an ominous energy swirling all over his body…. A power similar to the power flowing out of the World Tree….”

“…I see. So that weakling suddenly got stronger because he was getting backed up by the World Tree?”

So, even if he’s a problem hero who only cares about women, a hero is still a hero, huh?

No matter how much he’s getting backed up, if his basic potential isn’t there, his skills couldn’t have improved this much.

Well. If you had to compare it, it would be like moving a large amount of water with tap water or moving it with a high-pressure hose.

“Still, if it weren’t for the resonance, I think I could finish him off quickly….”

…Ah.

I found something while searching through my inventory.

[!! Ah, no!!]

“Yes!”

I put the Holy Sword into my inventory and took out that guy who had been lying dormant in my inventory.

“Blood Demon Sword…. I got this sword from beating up the Heavenly Demon who took over the Sword Demon’s body…. This guy should be good enough to use as a substitute for the Holy Sword.”

Goooooooooooooooooo!!!

It’s not called the ‘Blood Demon Sword’ for nothing.

As soon as I tried to use the sword in earnest, the blood-colored thoughts flowing out of the sword tried to erode my mind.

But unfortunately for them, I’m immune to mental interference because I’m being backed up by the Holy Sword, so it doesn’t affect me at all.

“You can’t beat me with a mediocre sword that’s not even a Holy Sword!! Idiot!!!”

Kwang!!!

Abel, causing the ground to explode, rushes at me in an instant.

He seems to be mistaken that the source of my power is the Holy Sword.

“ ”

Earth Divide.

“!!”

Jjeoeong!!!

A slash that is drawn vertically.

If the Holy Sword itself has its own sacred power called Holy Ki, the Blood Demon Sword also has its own power called Blood Ki.

It has a red, blood-like color to the point that it feels ominous, so the slash that I pull out and thrust also has an ominous red light.

It collided with his Holy Sword, and he couldn’t withstand the slash and was knocked away.

“Keuek?!”

“Ah, it’s much better now that there’s no resonance. Then is it my turn now?”

This time, I rushed towards him first.

Due to the nature of the Blood Demon Sword, which only has one edge, I can’t use thrusts.

But what does it matter?

“ ”

Mountain Divide

Jjeoeong!!!

Earth Divide

Jjeoeoeong!!!

“Keuak!!”

“You have a lot of openings, Abel.”

Seogeok

“Kkeuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!!”

Seeing Abel, who couldn’t withstand my continuous attacks and eventually created a huge opening, I cut off his right arm.

Then he lets out a tremendous scream and grabs his severed right shoulder.

“Instead of cooperating with each other as heroes, you’re being dominated by a fragment of the Demon Lord and pointing your sword like that…. What will happen if I kill Abel in this case?”

“Well…, wouldn’t it be okay?”

“Huat?!”

Lucy, who popped out of Leviyah’s shadow, answered.

“That’s right, Abel.”

“Kkeuaaaaak!! My arm to a moron who can’t even properly protect a woman!!!”

“…Well, I don’t have anything to say if you put it that way.”

But if I may offer a little excuse, the guy you remember is a different person from me.

While I was thinking that, I frowned after discovering an anomaly.

Tsujeujeujeujeut

Clearly, tree roots began to grow from the right arm that I had cut off.

It began to awkwardly take the shape of a human arm, and at the end of it, a red sword blade, as if made of blood, rose up.

“…Did you give up on being human?”

“Shut up!!”

He rushes in again.

It no longer felt like human swordsmanship, but like an animal’s hunt.

‘He’s definitely gotten faster.’

Whether it’s because he was a beast-like guy from the start, he feels even stronger now that he’s in that state.

It’s still not to the point where I can’t win….

Swiswiik Kaang!!!

“You….”

“Kikikik!!”

The problem is that he occasionally targets Leviyah or Lucy, who are behind me.

Lucy…, well, I don’t care about her, but Leviyah is the problem.

Leviyah has no way to block that guy’s attacks. If I try to actively switch to offense, he targets Leviyah, and if I move defensively to protect Leviyah, I can’t generate the power to finish him off for sure.

As I was wondering what to do, I felt something rapidly approaching this place and raised the corners of my lips.

“?!”

And the guy who gave up on being human also turned his head, as if he felt the approaching presence.

Something white was approaching there.

At a very high speed,

Without thinking about the surrounding impact,

It rushed in, and drove a giant halberd gleaming with silver-gray into the ground.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!!

“Husband, I felt the power you were fighting with, so I came.”

“…Nice.”

A variable that will break the balance has appeared.