Ch.100Revenge Plays Are Dangerous (9)

The technique that Ivan helplessly fell victim to was the effect of Gardon, the Reaper of the Netherworld, which I had drawn from the Book of Death.

‘A weapon that strikes directly at the soul, not the body.’

So naturally, no amount of magical defense could have any effect.

Ivan seemed to realize this as he looked at his own body, which despite being wounded, didn’t shed a single drop of blood.

“Kugh, to think you had such an absurd weapon…”

“What are you talking about? I could have handled someone like you easily even barehanded.”

That was a lie, of course, but what did it matter when I was going to win anyway?

Swoosh.

Ping!

Whirr!

Thud.

With a flick of my finger, Gardon rose acrobatically as if it were a living creature and settled in my hand.

Actually, it wasn’t entirely untrue. I had possessed this place with the soul of Jack Callista, my original undead.

‘If I hadn’t put in that much effort, even Gardon couldn’t have inflicted such damage on him.’

In a way, it was similar to the Dragon Breath I had used twice before.

That too was a technique that involved possessing my body with the soul of a light dragon.

It was quite taxing for me right now, but given who I was facing, I had no choice.

“Shall we begin now?”

“W-wait!”

Ivan kept looking around nervously, seemingly trying to find a way out.

But there was no reason to wait. The undead holding off the other two hunters were struggling, and if I dragged this out, Ivan might regain his vigor with his superhuman recovery abilities.

Without hesitation, I kicked Ivan’s chin as he tried to get up.

Crack!

“Kuhak!”

Then came the merciless beating. Ivan, shuddering in pain and humiliation, drew upon his magical power to reduce the impact.

However.

BOOM!

“Kuugh?!”

Even my basic specs were quite formidable now.

Eventually, after repeated lynching, Ivan’s defensive posture completely collapsed, and he sprawled out on the dirt.

SMACK!

“ARGH!”

“I told you before. If you don’t back down, I’ll beat you to a pulp.”

“You… crazy…!”

CRACK!

“Kuk!”

By the time I had reduced Ivan to a complete wreck without letting him use his full power, the two hunters who had been targeting me appeared before me again.

“…Ivan has been defeated. Indeed, were you hiding your rank in Korea?”

“Whatever your purpose is, I don’t think we can leave you alone anymore.”

A quick glance showed that Blood Wolf and Yellow Iron Snake were on the verge of dissipation. Faster than I expected.

‘How annoying.’

I didn’t know much about that fierce-looking guy, but Beatrice was particularly irritating. She was the one who had helped the other side after dealing with her opponent first.

As I said before, she was clearly one of the top-tier S-rank hunters.

“Shall we attack together? She may look cute, but she’s clearly not on the inside.”

“…Tch. This is an emergency, so I have no choice. I’ll take the vanguard.”

Honestly, I wasn’t confident about facing these two in a coordinated attack. I would likely be subdued in a short time with high probability.

But it didn’t matter. I had no intention of continuing to fight these troublesome S-ranks head-on anyway.

‘…I wonder if Chae Hwa-in has already encountered the targets.’

From now on, my role was simply to buy time, nothing more, nothing less.

So I struck the ground with Kurdalia in my hand, deciding to play my final trump card that I had been saving.

Boom.

“Come forth.”

Then, a powerful vibration began to spread from beneath the feet of the hunters who were fighting the undead legion.

Rumble.

CRASH!

The ground split and collapsed, and from there, the form of something massive gradually emerged.

A giant monster with thick bones exposed sporadically throughout its body, the rest covered with decayed flesh and scales soaked in death energy.

The Bone Hydra finally revealed itself before the raid party.

[KIEEEE─!]

“A-amazing. To think you had something like this too…”

“…Dangerous. As expected, we need to kill this one immediately without hesitation.”

Beatrice and Sanada also seemed surprised by its imposing presence, adopting a more serious attitude as they prepared for battle.

I glanced at the two of them, then jumped down from the sand dune that was over 5 meters high.

My destination was the center of the battlefield where the raid party’s hunters and the undead were fighting in a chaotic melee.

“Book of Death.”

Whoosh!

Rustle!

“Extraction.”

Whoom.

“Materialization.”

Hiss!

Having recited all the incantations during the brief moment of jumping from the cliff, I poured out almost all my reserved power to summon the final soldier to aid the Bone Hydra.

Crackle.

BOOM!

“Penelope.”

[KYAAK─!]

It was Penelope, the apex predator of the Black Forest, an Arachnian that I had summoned once before.

The hunters of the raid party all grimaced when they saw Penelope, who had burst out of her cocoon and grown to an enormous size.

And I, mounted on her house-sized back, began chanting various enhancement spells through Kurdalian while looking down at the raid party’s hunters.

‘…Well, holding out for 10 minutes should be enough.’

Sensing that this battle was reaching its final stage, I fired the signal for the last showdown.

#

Inside a special space surrounded by a brilliantly shining golden barrier, one woman and three men were facing each other.

It was Michael’s group and Chae Hwa-in, isolated in a battlefield created through a special skill.

“Ha, you fell for it perfectly. Has your vision narrowed due to your thirst for revenge?”

“……”

In this space, Michael, the caster, received an increase in all stats and a powerful blessing. It was an extremely disadvantageous battlefield for Chae Hwa-in.

“Well, you were defeated by us before anyway. Are those memories starting to come back to you?”

“Don’t let your guard down, Jacob. Let’s settle this here and now.”

Looking at Michael’s group full of confidence, Chae Hwa-in let out a soft chuckle.

“…Don’t you remember?”

During the incident seven years ago, Chae Hwa-in had expended more energy than others as she led the charge to break through the dungeon.

She even began the battle having lost one arm due to Michael’s group’s surprise attack.

Therefore, even back then, if her physical condition had been normal…

“…I could have sliced you all to pieces without leaving a trace.”

Chae Hwa-in charged forward with a powerful kick against the ground, and clashed swords with Michael, who was at the forefront.

CLANG!

“Kugh!”

“…Still light. Your sword.”

CLANG!

CLANG!

CRASH!

Despite clearly having an advantage in all abilities due to the skill’s effect, Michael couldn’t keep his wits about him against the storm of consecutive attacks and kept being pushed back.

Seeing this, Forden and Jacob hurriedly moved to support Michael.

“Throw.”

“Bushak’s Bullet!”

An energy sphere mixed with wave principles and an intense magic bullet targeted Chae Hwa-in from precise angles.

However.

SLASH!

CRACK!

BOOM!

Chae Hwa-in, without even looking back, swung her sword twice and annihilated the attacks from a distance.

It was a display of skill that was almost unbelievable, and the three men’s expressions darkened rapidly.

‘Was she… this strong?’

There was clearly a difference in skill of one level. No, at least two levels.

In this situation, they had to abandon the idea of overwhelming the opponent with force. Forden, Michael, and Jacob exchanged glances and began to execute a thoroughly coordinated battle strategy.

And indeed, it was effective.

SLASH!

CRASH!

CRACK!

“……”

“Oh my, has your confidence suddenly disappeared?”

“I was momentarily taken aback, but I can still respond better than before.”

CRASH!

BOOM!

WHOOSH─!

The fierce battle continued without any restraint, and the first to take a definite hit was, unsurprisingly, Chae Hwa-in.

SLASH─!

Whirl!

Thud.

Chae Hwa-in’s left arm, completely severed by Michael’s sword strike enhanced with a skill, fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Michael spoke with a triumphant attitude.

“Didn’t I tell you? We have grown stronger over the long years. No matter who you are, you are no longer a match for us.”

However, Chae Hwa-in’s face remained indifferent as she listened to those words. Not only that, but she also seemed to wear a somewhat puzzled expression.

Looking at her, Michael’s group finally recalled a fact they had forgotten in the heat of battle.

The difference between the past Chae Hwa-in and her current self.

The fact that her body was no longer that of a living human, as it had been when they killed her.

Swoosh!

Crack!

CRUNCH!

As Chae Hwa-in raised her injured left shoulder, the arm that had fallen to the floor instantly shot up and reattached itself to the severed surface.

Then, with an eerie sound, it began to return to its original form.

The time it took for complete recovery was, in fact, just about 7 seconds.

“That’s… impossible…”

Michael’s group unconsciously stepped back in surprise at the sight.

They had already intuitively realized their future.

‘We… cannot win.’

While Michael’s group was expending energy recklessly to inflict effective damage on Chae Hwa-in, she could recover from most damage with her own power.

Given the difference in skill between them, it was a game that could never be established from the beginning.

Toward Michael’s group, who had lost their momentum, Chae Hwa-in delivered a merciless sentence.

“…I’m starting to accept it now.”

“……”

“That I’m already dead. That I no longer belong to this world.”

Therefore.

“…Was this how it’s done?”

From Chae Hwa-in’s entire body, an immeasurable amount of death energy began to pour out.

It gathered at the tip of her sword, gradually forming a massive invisible shape.

Chae Hwa-in, who had been fighting solely with her skills and undead body until now, had finally begun to handle death energy in earnest.

Whoom.

Rustle.

Having gathered a sufficient amount of power, Chae Hwa-in aimed at Michael’s group, whose faces had turned pale, and quietly lowered her arm.

“Sword of Lamentation.”

And in that moment, the world shook.