Ch.6968. The Imperial Princess (12)

# 68. The Imperial Princess (12)

-Bang!!-

The bullet, which was more than just a signal for battle, grazed my cheek.

I wiped the red liquid flowing down my cheek with my hand and immediately approached the person who had inflicted that wound on me.

“That’s brutal.”

“Finally hit you.”

Eve smiled as she pointed her gun at me and hurriedly pulled the trigger.

-Bang!-

The bullet aimed precisely at my face, but I dodged it by twisting my neck.

“Now I won’t get hit.”

I easily avoided the bullet and tried to swing my sword at Eve, but Reina and Raicle blocked my path.

“Aren’t you using skills?”

“Well… I have my own thoughts on that.”

The approximately 300 people on that battlefield seized the opportunity and rushed at me simultaneously.

However, I slipped into the crowd, and they all looked around trying to find me.

“Where did he go?”

“He’s right next to you!”

I summoned only [Sword of the Distant Abyss] in dagger form and used my dramatically increased agility to cut through the crowd.

-Slash! Slash!-

And in the process, I eliminated quite a few people.

But then, Briton’s shield flew toward me at an astonishing speed.

-Whoosh! Bang!-

The shield struck my face hard as it passed by, and at that moment, unexpected pain came over me.

It felt like I had smashed my head into a utility pole.

“Ugh… that fucking hurts…”

Although I was hit by a shield, my defense was so terribly low that even this kind of attack was incredibly painful.

I was holding my head, dazed from the pain, when Rachel pointed at me and said:

“Catch him quickly!”

Those who heard Rachel’s words rushed toward me as if entranced by something.

I could just activate [Mortal’s End] and fight, but that was a somewhat risky method.

So I chose to run away for a moment.

‘More importantly… this really hurts like hell…’

I quickly fled into a densely vegetated forest, and they followed me in.

Once inside the forest, I immediately climbed up a large tree, while they were searching for me diligently below.

“Where did he go?”

“He definitely went this way earlier.”

The sight of them searching for me with their weapons was a bit frightening.

I transformed [Sword of the Distant Abyss] into a greatsword form and jumped down to where they were.

-Thud!-

As I jumped down, I stepped on someone, and perhaps because my strength was now overwhelmingly high, they teleported away before I could even identify who it was.

Feeling a slight sense of guilt, I pointed the greatsword at them.

“He’s here! Over here!”

“Hurry up!”

Everyone was rushing over at the news that I had been found.

With no other choice, I activated [Mortal’s End].

-Woong!-

The formidable pressure emanating from me engulfed them, but contrary to my expectations, they appeared quite composed.

At least they weren’t cowering and running away like those kids earlier.

I spoke to those who stood before me, overcoming the pressure:

“This should be fun.”

“It’s not fun at all.”

“I meant it would be fun for me.”

If it had been me just a week ago, I would have simply avoided this situation altogether.

But for some reason, looking at this sword, I didn’t want to run away.

It gave me hope even in this desperate situation of 300 against 1.

I raised the massive sword.

‘It’s definitely light…’

I swung the sword, which was much lighter than expected, toward them.

The sound of the sword cutting through the air and slicing through them came vividly to my ears.

I dealt with them while feeling that brutal yet refreshing sound.

-Swish!-

Clearly, because the sword was so large, two or three people were eliminated with each swing, and it was easy to block their attacks as well.

I deflected Eve’s bullets with my unique reflexes, Rachel’s magic with the abyss, and the physical attacks from Chris or Raicle with the solid sword.

They couldn’t help but marvel at my strange acrobatics.

“How is this even possible?…”

“It’s not just possible in theory, it’s happening right now.”

I threw the greatsword with all my might toward Briton, who was speaking, and simultaneously ran at full speed.

-Clang!-

Briton seemed flustered and forgot about [Invincible Rampart], blocking the flying sword with his shield, which couldn’t fully withstand the impact due to the stat difference.

I grabbed the sword that had damaged Briton’s shield.

Then I struck down hard on the shield that was now completely cracked.

-Crack!-

This time he used [Invincible Rampart], but perhaps because the shield was already cracked, its defense was far too low.

Not only the wall created by the skill, but also the shield that originally just had a crack, shattered into pieces.

‘Did I hit it too hard?…’

I had inadvertently destroyed a party member’s main weapon.

Still, I wasn’t particularly worried.

‘He’ll just buy another one…’

Briton was a diamond spoon on par with Chris or Raicle, so it wasn’t something for me to worry about.

And naturally, the survival game was more important right now.

“Goodbye.”

I swung my sword at him, now defenseless without his shield.

-Thunk! Thud!-

Raicle and Chris rushed to block me, but it was already too late.

He was teleported away immediately after being stabbed by the greatsword, and Chris’s fist, arriving belatedly, struck my face hard.

After taking that punch, I rolled across the ground and crashed into a large rock.

This burning sensation starting from my back enveloped my entire body.

‘At least I eliminated him…’

It was very close, but fortunately, I had eliminated Briton.

Of course, that didn’t mean the situation had become favorable enough to let my guard down.

‘Well, if that were all…’

Still leaning against the rock, I checked the watch on my wrist.

On the map in the watch, a tiny dot was approaching me.

I spoke to Raicle, who was approaching me just like that dot:

“Not many left, huh?”

When I checked her position, I confirmed that there were just over 300 people remaining on the set.

It seemed only the people here and Aelin’s Team 11 remained.

‘Looks like they’ve been eliminated.’

It seemed they had taken care of all the remaining people while I was struggling here.

I dodged Raicle’s murderous fist with a bright smile.

-Thud!-

His fist embedded into the rock, splitting it in half.

It was definitely powerful enough that if I accidentally took even one proper hit, I could be eliminated immediately.

-Clang! Thud!!-

My sword and his fist collided, creating a sharp noise, and I pushed Raicle with all my might to create distance between us.

Slightly pushed back, he asked me as I was panting:

“Getting tired now?”

“A little bit… see you later?”

Since it was a fight where I couldn’t kill the opponent, my vitality was gradually wearing down, and the situation was becoming somewhat dangerous.

So I deactivated [Mortal’s End] and ran at full speed toward where the dot was.

“Hey! Where are you going?!”

They hurriedly followed me as I fled, but of course, no one could catch up to me.

I got closer and closer to that dot, and eventually used [Swift] to approach as quickly as possible.

Then, in the distance, their figures began to appear.

-Whoosh!-

I rushed toward them, cutting through the wind, and they also approached me in battle formation.

I spoke to the one among them who appeared most calm:

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“You look quite exhausted.”

“If you don’t mind, could you help me out?”

“Of course.”

No sooner had she and Aelin spoken than they began bombarding those behind me with magic, and the people following me started getting eliminated at a frightening rate as they were hit by those merciless spells.

-Crackle! Whoosh!-

Eve’s and Rachel’s ranged attacks were perfectly blocked by her [Ice Magic], and Aelin used her characteristically lethal skills to attack those approaching for close combat.

“This is much better now.”

I continued the battle alongside Team 11’s members with their help.

Reina approached alone, trying to eliminate me.

“It’ll be difficult on your own, you know?”

“I know that.”

Reina charged at me despite knowing she would be defeated.

Reina’s sword grazed me several times, and my sword also grazed Reina.

“Are you not fighting properly?”

“What about you?”

Just as I was deliberately swinging my sword to merely graze her, Reina was also hiding her true abilities.

Come to think of it, I had never seen Reina’s skills.

“Sorry, but… I haven’t even awakened yet.”

“…I didn’t know that.”

Seeing Reina’s seemingly angry expression, I felt a bit sorry.

Not having awakened seemed to be a complex for her.

‘Complex?’

The word “complex” made me think.

‘Couldn’t she do it now?’

I thought that if I could make her feel those intense emotions, she could definitely awaken.

To draw out those intense emotions, I provoked Reina:

“That’s why you’re only at Raicle’s level.”

“What did you say?”

“Raicle lacks experience, but you just don’t have any potential at all.”

Hearing those words, Reina frowned even more and swung her sword violently.

-Clang clang clang!-

I perfectly blocked Reina’s sword strikes and, for the finishing blow, thrust my sword toward Reina’s face while saying:

“This is definitely boring.”

“…”

Reina, without any response, stared directly at the sword approaching her.

And just before the sword touched Reina’s face.

-Crash!-

A tremendous shock traveled through the sword into my body.

I looked at the source of that shock with a satisfied smile.