71 – Kairon

As soon as the fight began, she used Aether.

Flame Aether.

Hellfire, burning everything, engulfed him.

Whoosh.

“This is going to be quite difficult!”

He blocked the flames with solidified blood, turned to the side, and launched a ranged attack.

He’s not a melee fighter.

And this is a restricted area.

As long as she gets close, she has the advantage.

“Northern Demon Swordsmanship.”

Eleventh Form.

Transcendent Wind (True).”

Flame.

Flames engulfed him, a much more powerful Flame Wind than before, crushing everything as it advanced.

“Bloody Warrior.”

In response, he created a construct out of blood.

A golem.

A giant golem made of blood flew towards Ha-yeon.

She gripped her sword and stacked a skill.

[Skill, ‘Piercing Thunderclap (S)’ has been activated.]

She transformed her sword into a Thunderclap Sword and changed the attribute of her Aether to Thunderclap.

Ultra-high voltage current flowed through the sword, and she fired the lightning as a single point, piercing him.

Bang!

The sound of lightning tearing through the air was heard, and the golem collapsed.

“He’s strong indeed, I can see why Baek lost.”

He was materializing something behind his back.

And with it, he uttered certain words.

“[Stop]”

The Word Spirit forcibly stopped her real body.

In response, she activated a skill.

“Copy.”

[Acquiring Kairon (Blood)’s skills.]

+++

1. Race – Blood King (S+) – Cannot Copy

2. Divine Magic – Black (S)

3. Shadow (S-)

4. Word Spirit (S)

+++

Word Spirit.

That must be Word Spirit.

So, she’ll take Word Spirit too.

[Copying Kairon’s skill, ‘Word Spirit (S)’.]

[This is a high-grade skill, mana consumption is accelerated.]

[Copy skill duration – 1 hour]

“[Move]”

She used the Word Spirit to command her body to move in the opposite direction of him, and her body moved again.

And she threw herself forward.

‘This consumes a lot of mana.’

Dominating the world with just a word.

It sounds like an incredible power, but the amount of mana it consumes is immense.

A skill that will lead to her demise if used recklessly.

“Dragonification.”

As she drew up her mana, wings and horns instantly appeared.

In an intangible form, not materialized.

[Dragonification – Descent]

Instead of becoming a Dragonkin, she descends the power.

Receiving the power as it is, reducing mana consumption.

It was a skill she had evolved and unlocked not long ago.

And with that, she swung her sword.

Northern Demon Swordsmanship Second Form.

“Ice Dragon’s Fang.”

She slashed down with her sword.

Then, the wave of blood that had been flowing down, coiling to engulf Ha-yeon, stopped, and electricity flowed through it.

“[Freeze]”

The blood froze at his words.

She struck it hard with non-attribute Aether, shattering it into pieces.

And a heavy fist was created from that blood.

As Kairon waved his hand, the fist of blood flew towards Ha-yeon at an incredible speed.

“[Sharpen]”

She watched the attack with unwavering eyes and spoke in a calm tone.

The Thunderclap Sword became sharper.

It showed off its terrifying edge.

Northern Demon Swordsmanship Seventh Form.

“Unfalling Moon Sword.”

From top to bottom.

Yellow Thunderclap split the air as if lightning struck.

Tearing through the air, burning dust, and splitting blood.

Whoosh.

And she changed the attribute.

[Aether Conversion, ‘Hongyeom’s Aether’]

The Thunderclap Sword had already transformed into the red sword of the ancient Constellation, and the sword continuously fired flames.

Northern Demon Swordsmanship Eighth Form.

“Gale Wind.”

From the First Form to the Sixth Form is Ice.

The Seventh Form is intermediate, and from the Eighth Form onwards, the early forms are reversed with flames.

The heat of the flames evaporated the blood and flew towards Kairon.

And he opened his mouth.

“[Scatter]”

The flames scattered meaninglessly with that one word.

But he must have consumed quite a bit of mana this time, as he frowned and attempted his next attack.

As she wondered about his brief hand gesture.

“…Ugh!”

Something jumped out of the shadow next to her and slashed Ha-yeon’s calf.

It’s not the Abyss’s Holy Body.

That’s the ‘Shadow’ she saw when she used the Copy skill earlier.

The wound was quickly regenerated with Super Regeneration, but it consumed a lot of mana, as it wasn’t an ordinary wound.

That’s why Ha-yeon hadn’t given it much thought.

She used her best power as of now.

She deactivated Dragonification and turned off Sacred Haze.

And she drew up mana on the back of her hand.

[Which Divine Beast would you like to summon?]

“Ann.”

[Divine Beast, ‘Ann’ is attempting to descend into the Other Dimension.]

White energy, and something absorbing the heat heated by Aether along with it.

Kairon was also flustered by this and tried to stop it.

“[Scatter]”

But as if it was laughable, the gathering heat and energy accelerated even more, and a certain form appeared.

A giant white fox.

Red stripes and heat emanating from them.

Divine Beast Ann.

She descended.

[Divine Beast, ‘Ann’ has descended into the Other Dimension.]

[A high-dimensional being has been summoned in the form of a familiar, temporary restrictions will be applied.]

[The rank is lowered.]

[The summoning time is adjusted to 5 minutes.]

As expected, Ann’s rank was adjusted due to being too unbalanced, but she thought that was enough.

-What an unpleasant place, a Word Spirit-using Vampire Lord… It’s been a long time.

Ann said, looking at Kairon.

He hesitated slightly at that, but used Word Spirit.

“[Be destroyed]”

-Word Spirit used in the form of a skill, not power achieved through one’s own karma, is only half-baked.

Ann stomped her front paw, and the flames created from it burned the mana that was pouring out in the form of Word Spirit.

The power to extinguish an S-rank skill with just one front paw.

This is a Divine Beast.

Even with the rank lowered.

“Ann, we need to finish this quickly.”

A time limit of 5 minutes.

She has to deal with it within that time.

Ann seemed to know that too, as she spread out her nine abundant tails.

Hojosa.

A monster closest to God.

In other words, a Divine Beast.

She performed flame sorcery.

-Hyakki Yagyō, Flame Fan.

An opaque wolf made of mana was created next to her.

And flames were overlaid on top of it.

And with that, the ghosts charged.

“[Disappear]”

Kairon used Word Spirit along with blood, his previous relaxed expression gone, sweating profusely.

Then, the foxes disappeared in an instant.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“[Disappear], [Disappear], [Disappear], Disappe… Keuk!”

He groaned, having reached his limit after continuously using Word Spirit, and stopped the summoning.

That was 4 minutes.

1 minute… It’s cutting it close.

Ninth Form.

“Flame Dragon’s Fang.”

Another high heat passed over the flames that were guarding the foxes.

Ha-yeon, anticipating that Ann wouldn’t be able to do anything properly before the time ran out, rushed in.

Clang!

He created a barrier with his remaining mana, but that was no problem for Ha-yeon.

She cut through the barrier made of blood and struck him, but it scattered as it was a clone.

And the moment she was about to find out where he was, she felt a lump of mana being drained from somewhere.

The place where that continuously pouring mana was heading was Ann, who was watching the situation from behind.

[Divine Beast, ‘Ann’ has begun to activate Secret Art, [Yasakani no Magatama].]

One of the three sacred treasures of Mikusano Kamudakara, a Japanese divine artifact.

Ann, a nine-tailed fox skilled in various sorceries, a Hojosa, also known as a White-Faced Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox.

She scattered blue jade and red ruby around her.

The jade, reflecting the light of the flames, sparkled in her eyes.

-Come forth.

Short words.

The will to end it within the 30 seconds left.

The enormous amount of mana was woven between the jade and ruby formed in a circular shape, increasing its power.

And while doing so, the attributes were also converted, mixing the attributes of Spirit, Flame, and Water.

Ha-yeon, seeing that, also used Sacred Haze to quickly evade to the side, and Kairon also tried to avoid it.

[Activating Secret Art, [Yasakani no Magatama]!]

It was already over.

A giant beam of mana was emitted from the center of the circular shape.

Blue and red.

And the white energy that connects the two.

The powerful Secret Art of the Divine Beast struck Kairon.

“……”

There were no screams.

There was no bloodshed, and there was no other way to prove it, but Ha-yeon realized.

Kairon was dead.

But it was at that moment.

“Cough!”

A lump of blood came out of her mouth.

Ann was surprised and tried to approach her, but she was reverse summoned due to exceeding the time limit.

“Ha… ha…”

She barely stood up, leaning on the wall. She couldn’t let it end with her fainting again this time.

“He’s persistent until the end.”

Before [Yasakani no Magatama] was activated.

When Ha-yeon and Kairon collided, he must have done something.

There was no time and her mana was running out, so he couldn’t make it last or make it strong, but he could have done something to make her feel like this.

What a truly pathetic guy.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Because she doesn’t want to stay here any longer.

She said that and passed through the scene of devastation caused by the battle, heading towards the door that was just in front of her.

“Oof….”

She didn’t have any strength in her hands, so she opened it with her body.

Well, why not?