Chapter 147

〈 Episode 147 〉Tentacle War

Asha recalled something she hadn’t tried yet.

‘No, yes, the Status Window! If I can just check his skills!’

If she could figure out what the Man was up to, she might be able to break through this situation. Asha quickly checked the Man’s Status Window.

“Hmm?”

The Man tilted his head and stared at her, and Asha was taken aback.

“You’re doing something peculiar?”

‘He noticed?!’

But he didn’t seem to know exactly what she had done. She looked at his Status Window, which had appeared before her eyes.

[???]

Strength: XXX

Agility: XXX

Durability: XXX

Stamina: XXX

Mana: XXX

Skills: Magic LV.XX, Event Manipulation LV.XX, XX XX.XXX

‘Ugh, it’s not displaying properly! No, the skills are showing!’

Asha was momentarily flustered by the Status Window that wasn’t displaying properly, but she quickly checked the Man’s skills.

‘Event Manipulation?’

Asha could only see the name of the Man’s skill; she couldn’t see any stats or levels. But one thing was clear.

‘Skills are sorted by level. So, that Man is definitely still using Magic.’

Asha realized that the Man, who seemed to be using something that wasn’t Magic, was still using Magic. It was just a method she didn’t know, but he wasn’t any different. And Asha and Sejin could handle the Wizard’s natural enemy.

“Sejin, Mana Absorption!”

Sejin, whose head was still muddled with pain and couldn’t properly control her body, understood Asha’s words. She created countless Mana-devouring Tentacles.

Screech!!

Even though they weren’t touching flesh, these terrifying things devoured all the Mana around them ravenously. Asha and Sejin’s Mana was also being sucked into the Tentacles, but so was the Man’s.

“Hmm?”

Even to Asha’s eyes, which could sense Mana, the Man’s Mana, which she hadn’t been able to discern until now, began to decrease. The Tentacles, having devoured all the Mana around them, swelled up.

“It’s working! It’s effective!”

“An information-based ability, I underestimated you…”

As his Mana plummeted in an instant, the Man looked perplexed. Instead of destroying the Tentacles with incomprehensible attacks as before, he used a method Asha had become familiar with.

Crack!

As he reached out his hand, the Tentacles, sucked into the black space, were torn to shreds with a gruesome tearing sound. The Tentacles that had been devouring Mana were all destroyed, but the Man couldn’t regain the lost Mana. Asha immediately noticed the method the Man had used.

“Dimensional Magic!”

And it was Magic that Asha could use her ability with. She quickly activated her Dimensional Eye. In addition to the three-dimensional location that Asha could see, information about the location and fluctuations of space in the Mental image world began to enter Asha’s mind.

“Jump to the left!”

At Asha’s words, Sejin immediately leaped to the left without answering. At the same time, the space where she had been standing was torn apart as if something had eaten it away.

“Ugh!”

Barely dodging, Sejin frowned and summoned Tentacles again. Again, Asha predicted the Man’s attack and warned her.

“Back again! One more time!”

“You can see this with your eyes?”

“Yes, I can see it! What are you going to do about it!”

Asha could see the Man’s Mana stretching out and overturning the space in the Mental image world. In the end, only the unknown could remain as fear. Asha was no longer afraid of the Man’s attacks, which were no longer incomprehensible.

The Man’s tactics against Asha and Sejin changed. Sejin created Tentacles that absorbed Mana whenever she had the chance, never leaving him alone, and Asha warned of incoming attacks, repeatedly launching counterattacks whenever the Man showed an opening.

“Haaaah!!”

With Asha’s scream-like shout, her surroundings were engulfed in a giant pillar of fire, fiercely burning. The shockwave from the explosion swept away everything around them, but the Man was unharmed. Asha, frustrated, shouted.

“Just die already!”

“Haha… such attacks are futile.”

Asha gritted her teeth at the Man’s taunting tone. He no longer unleashed incomprehensible attacks like before, but she still hadn’t landed a single successful attack. Asha frowned and created dozens of Fireballs, detonating them in all directions, but even though he was clearly caught in the explosions, the Man walked out leisurely without a speck of soot.

‘Why? There’s something I haven’t figured out yet!’

If the Man wasn’t blocking the attacks, but Asha and the Tentacles’ attacks weren’t working, then he was clearly still using another trick. Asha charged her Tentacles forward, observing how the Man was dodging.

He dodged the Tentacles with light steps, and even though he was clearly within the Tentacles’ reach, he escaped the attacks without any resistance. It was as if the Man and the Tentacles were in different spaces.

‘Ugh, ugh…’

Asha, who had never fought while using her brain like this, frowned, feeling as if mice were gnawing in her head.

‘If it’s not Magic, there’s only one thing left. What does Event Manipulation have to do with it?’

Asha couldn’t figure it out by thinking alone, so she shouted to Sejin.

“Sejin, what do you think Event Manipulation is!”

“What?”

Sejin, startled by Asha’s sudden shout, began to ponder at Asha’s words.

‘No, Sejin is me, would she know if I asked her?’

Even in this urgent situation, Asha wondered. Of course, the Man didn’t just stand there kindly watching. As the Man’s figure rushed towards Sejin, Asha blocked his path.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

“You keep using your body as a shield, but continuing to be so reckless isn’t a good attitude.”

“Ugh!”

Before she could even dodge, blood vessels burst and were pierced through both of Asha’s arms. As her body was about to be dragged away, she quickly cut off whatever had pierced her body with a Flame Sword. Already skilled in combat to the point where she could use Spell even in pain, Asha threw the summoned Flame Sword at the Man and quickly retreated.

And Asha’s action of becoming a shield herself was not in vain. Sejin suddenly began to create countless things other than Tentacles.

“Uwaaaah!”

Asha staggered, unable to maintain her balance as the Mental image world suddenly shook. Startled, she turned around and saw that Sejin’s surroundings were already chaos itself. All sorts of things were being created around her, and dozens, hundreds of blurry somethings were spreading in all directions.

“Sejin, what are you doing!”

Sejin didn’t answer Asha’s call and didn’t stop concentrating on what she was doing. Before long, the entire space became a mess, so chaotic that you couldn’t see an inch in front of you. As countless things covered the world and jumbled it up, even the Man couldn’t approach her and retreated.

Asha suddenly looked at the Man. The sight of the place where the three of them had been being a complete mess was ridiculous, but unlike before, he had a bewildered expression on his face. Towards such a Man, a Tentacle lunged.

“Kugh!”

With a terrifying tearing sound, the body of the flying Tentacle succeeded in hitting him. The Tentacle’s attack reached him, who had never been exposed to an attack, and his shoulder was torn. Asha, surprised by the completely unexpected situation, shouted.

“It worked!”

Asha wasn’t stupid enough to stand by and watch in this situation. She rushed forward again with the Tentacles, aiming for the Man’s injured left shoulder.

Unable to ignore Asha’s fist engulfed in blazing heat, he finally created a Barrier to block it. And dozens of Tentacles poured down on the Man, who had stopped moving.

“Hit him! Destroy him!”

As if his bewildered appearance from just now was a lie, Asha shouted excitedly, and as she said, the Tentacles collided with the Barrier, creating dull sounds.

Thud! Thud!

The Man, who had been untouchable, could no longer move, and the Tentacles became siege weapons, pounding on the firmly locked door. A single Tentacle could break a large tree like a straw, and there were dozens of such Tentacles. Asha grinned as she watched the Man’s Barrier, which had been as solid as a fortress, slowly being eaten away by the Heteromorph monsters.