Ch.163Last Word 2

“Am I dead…?”

A massive hand the size of a school playground.

Black blood oozes between its fingers.

Anyone could see it was a situation where everyone would be crushed to death.

I was more surprised by the fact that Park Shin-ae had died so easily than by the enemy commander’s extraordinary ability.

“Haa… haa.”

The enemy commander’s labored breathing.

I turned my head to look at her.

She had exerted such tremendous force that the veins on her temples were bulging.

As she removed her hand, the flesh giant that had appeared in the Sky Island began to ripple.

“Using it after so long… hurts like hell…”

She was human after all.

As the enemy commander collapsed, the giant that had been perched on the Sky Island began to disintegrate.

The giant’s form disappeared into the massive billowing clouds.

Only its arm remained, pressing down on Park Shin-ae and her followers.

We just stared blankly at the scene.

The sight of black blood soaking into the green meadow…

However, the scene didn’t last long.

The massive palm of the flesh giant soon began to twitch.

I swallowed hard at the sight.

Eventually, the mass of flesh slowly lifted.

Underneath were angels with blood streaming down their faces.

They had barely managed to support the palm while protecting Park Shin-ae.

But unlike them, the goddess’s face was full of composure.

As if she had known she wouldn’t die.

Park Shin-ae slowly walked out from under the palm.

Then she gazed intently at the remaining angels who had protected her.

Soon she extended her right arm.

Then unbelievable things began to happen.

As an intense radiance emanated from Park Shin-ae’s hand, the angels’ bodies began to ripple.

They wobbled like jelly before spilling onto the ground.

Then the white light that remained in their bodies.

That light was reabsorbed by Park Shin-ae.

Was she using Angelic Hand by splitting it into multiple pieces?

Even though it’s my ability, I never dreamed it had such a function.

“I almost really died.”

She turned to us with a smirk.

“Death is something I never want to experience again.”

Park Shin-ae rubbed both her arms.

At this sight, the enemy commander furrowed her brow.

“You’re really like a bug.”

“What did you say?”

She who had thought of herself as a goddess until now tilted her head at the enemy commander’s words.

“That’s what you are. A cockroach that cracks open its egg and tries to survive when caught by humans.”

At those words, Shin-ae’s lips twitched subtly.

But the enemy commander’s mockery didn’t end there.

“Bugs will eat their own kind to survive. That’s exactly what you are.”

“Indeed… how vulgar your speech is, befitting a mere thug.”

Shin-ae maintained her smile as if trying to keep her composure.

Then she began to point her right arm at the enemy commander.

“Your ability seems to be one-time use, doesn’t it?”

White light rippled from her outstretched palm.

Eventually, it condensed into a single sphere of light.

“Let me show you who’s the bug and who’s the god.”

The sphere rushed toward the enemy commander at a terrifying speed.

“Um… Enemy Commander, watch out!”

Perhaps due to its light-like speed.

The sphere flew right up to her face before my voice could reach her.

But…

She wasn’t the only one with something to rely on.

Anna blocked the enemy commander’s front at a speed faster than the sphere.

She raised her dagger and deflected Park Shin-ae’s sphere.

Then she immediately charged at Shin-ae with turbid eyes, intent on killing her.

However, the councilor didn’t dodge.

She simply blocked the ranker’s dagger with one arm.

A body that had become as strong as 06 and 12.

After deflecting Anna’s dagger, she extended her palm again and fired another sphere.

Anna easily avoided the light mass by twisting her flexible body.

“Having an ability is useless if you don’t know how to use it properly.”

The white-haired ranker expressionlessly grabbed her wrist.

Then she demonstratively broke it with ease.

Subduing her with a joint lock since her body was sturdy.

For her, a hunter killer, humans who relied solely on their abilities were as easy to catch as bugs.

“Ugh…!”

The councilor’s groan, heard for the first time in her life.

She staggered backward.

But behind her wasn’t safe either.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Jisoo’s flame-infused greatsword.

That heavy blade struck Park Shin-ae’s back with a satisfying blow.

Thanks to her physical enhancement, she wasn’t cut, but the councilor staggered from the overwhelming pain.

The two women’s blades simultaneously targeted Shin-ae’s neck and torso.

She covered her face with a panicked expression.

Soon, the two powerful blades struck.

As a result, even her sturdy arms were left with shallow bloodstains.

“A… a wound?”

She had clearly been using her ability to protect her body.

She was extremely flustered by the pain and wounds.

While looking around to identify the cause,

she met my eyes as I had my hands placed on the ground.

“You… you bitch…”

The island I created using my ability.

And the body she enhanced using my ability.

What counteracts that is also my ability.

The light flowing through my palms had buffed Jisoo noona and Anna’s swords.

Park Shin-ae, unaware of this fact, was flustered by this unexpected variable.

Her face, which had been pretending to be benevolent like a goddess, contorted like a monster’s.

I spoke to her calmly.

“I don’t know how to use my ability 100% like you do.”

Intense light radiated from my palms.

“But I don’t misuse it like you do.”

Then an even more subtle radiance extended from Anna and Jisoo’s swords.

Park Shin-ae backed away, seemingly afraid of that light.

She looked around frantically while catching her breath.

But there were no more faithful servants to help the goddess.

She had absorbed and killed them all.

Only then did Park Shin-ae realize.

The important thing wasn’t the Angelic Hand she possessed.

What really mattered was what she had accomplished with that ability.

Siho may have used that ability for bartending.

But because of it, he gained these precious people.

“This is the end.”

Anna’s blade rushed toward Park Shin-ae.

The goddess’s face was no longer composed like before.

Now she knew she could really die.

She stumbled backward hastily before falling down.

Then she blankly looked up at the shadows of the two rankers looming over her.

“Haha…. This is absurd…. I clearly have much more Angelic Hand in my body…”

She demonstratively healed her arm with her ability.

But that was all.

Park Shin-ae was just a woman with Angelic Hand like Siho.

Standing before her were rankers who had terrorized the entire country.

Soon Anna’s dagger blocked out the sun.

And it plunged toward the councilor’s neck.

“—”

The savage sound of a neck being severed.

With that sound, Park Shin-ae could no longer offer any resistance.

She just clutched her split neck, choking.

Black blood spurted into the air.

Anna wiped the blood that had splattered on her face with the back of her hand.

As if cleaning off filthy waste.

“No. I can’t end like this…”

Park Shin-ae, collapsed on the ground.

She began to crawl away like a bug.

The three rankers and I looked down at her indifferently.

Anna walked toward her to finish the job.

But…

She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Because something strange was happening to Park Shin-ae’s body.

Her slender, beautiful body began to twist grotesquely.

Something bulged beneath her clinging white dress.

“What, is she trying to self-destruct?”

The enemy commander asked with a grimace.

However, soon all of us, including her,

realized that Park Shin-ae’s bizarre behavior wasn’t self-destruction.

Strange leather and flesh began to emerge through her skin, something we had never seen before.

Was it because of my ability in her body?

She wished to become something that could defeat us, and the most powerful monster from my memories.

She transformed into a wyvern.

Massive wings.

Tough leather.

Much larger than the Blue Wyvern I had killed with my comrades in the past.

Like a Level 3 monster species, an Elder Wyvern.

Broad wings that blocked out the sun.

When those wings flapped, all the grass in the meadow swayed precariously.

“—!”

Faster wing beats.

The monster rose into the air as if trying to escape to the sky.

I looked at the three rankers with a surprised expression.

Their eyes met mine, asking:

‘What do you want to do?’

At that question, I clutched my pounding heart for a moment.

After organizing my thoughts,

I declared confidently:

“We have to catch her. If we let her escape like this, she’ll plot something similar again.”

Anna nodded calmly at those words.

The enemy commander also rose to her feet, breathing heavily.

Finally, Jisoo noona raised her sword.

The four of us moved in unison like a party that had been together for years.

Like a party leader, I called out to the enemy commander first:

“Enemy Commander, please!”

She concentrated all her mental energy according to my words.

Then the palm lying on the ground began to twitch again.

“Jisoo, you go first!”

At the enemy commander’s call, Jisoo ran to the palm.

As soon as her feet touched the hand,

the mass of flesh hurled Jisoo forcefully into the air.

As if they had practiced countless times together.

A greatsword wrapped in flames.

She drew that sword and spun in mid-air.

Her brilliant sword strike penetrated the wyvern’s thick body.

“—!”

The monster’s loud scream shook the entire land.

She swung her massive tail to knock Jisoo away.

Such a blow would be fatal even to someone who had become a ranker.

But.

Anna, who had leaped up together with her.

She embraced Jisoo and took the blow with her entire body.

“Ugh…”

Debris from the Sky Island rained down.

Along with the debris, the two rankers fell to the ground.

I hurried over to them.

And at the moment I reached out my hand to heal them,

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

I’m sure I had healed party members at times like this before.

And they had dismissed me for my inadequate healing amount.

“Noona, Anna…! Are you okay?”

Anna with dark bruises on her back.

And Jisoo with internal injuries causing blood to come from her mouth.

I used Angelic Hand on them with all my sincerity.

Thanks to this, their wounds began to heal instantly.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. You don’t need to do this much for me…”

I told them out of concern.

I felt so sorry seeing them straining themselves because of me.

But…

“You idiot.”

Jisoo spoke to me just like in those days of the past.

“Have you forgotten again?”

Jisoo staggered to her feet.

Then she raised her sword along with Anna.

“This is all of our fight.”

Anna, who had been severely injured while being chased by the Association.

“So just watch.”

Jisoo, who had been inside the laboratory tube.

“What we, whom you saved, can accomplish.”

They spoke to me, the one who had saved them.

With a poignant smile.

Jisoo gripped her sword firmly with both hands.

Soon, flames erupted and engulfed her entire body.

The two women used the falling debris as steps and leaped powerfully.

But there were too few debris pieces to climb all the way to the wyvern.

So Anna grabbed Jisoo by the nape of her neck.

And threw her with all her might toward the fleeing wyvern.

Propelled by that momentum, Jisoo reached right in front of Park Shin-ae who had become a wyvern.

And she raised her sword toward the startled monster.

Then she swung with all her might, enough to split the sky.

“—!”

Noona’s flames cut through the massive monster.

Soon, bright light poured through the split gap.