—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Few people would choose to fight to the death when faced with an insurmountable foe.
Most would lament their inevitable defeat and flee.
Unwavering resolve and unyielding spirit were things of comics and novels.
Such determination wasn’t easily mustered with a modern sensibility, especially in reality.
Even seasoned veterans still feared death, and even hermits, who were detached from worldly concerns, would tremble involuntarily when a blade was held to their throats.
Humans were cowards.
That was how they evolved and developed.
Those who lacked fear were already dead. Unless they were insane, everyone feared death.
Such fear and dread weren’t inherently bad. They were essential emotions for survival.
Judgment and composure were equally crucial.
If you succumbed to panic and froze in fear, death would draw one step closer.
“We have to run…!”
Lee Sun-jae, the leader of the Serious Raiders, quickly made his decision after blocking the Dullahan’s sword.
His choice would determine the team’s fate. Even a slight delay in judgment could lead to their annihilation.
Lee Sun-jae thought ‘That’s a monster we can’t possibly defeat.’ He knew the Dullahan’s true form was Koo Kyo-han, but having transformed to this extent, there was no way to restore him.
Koo Kyo-han, the Porter, was dead.
All that was left was to escape and get as far away from the monster as possible. Lee Sun-jae abandoned all lingering attachments and shouted.
“Run!!!”
He blocked the Dullahan’s greatsword three more times with his magic sword to buy time for his teammates to escape the building.
The Dullahan swung its sword relentlessly, unconcerned by the confined space.
It sliced through the walls and ceilings that obstructed its path while relentlessly aiming for Lee Sun-jae’s head.
Cracks appeared on the building from the Dullahan’s attacks, and it began to shake ominously.
A small crack also appeared on Lee Sun-jae’s magic sword. The attack was that powerful.
“Levitate!”
Meanwhile, Yoon Ji-ho used telekinesis to lift the unconscious Kim Ki-sung into the air and ran down the stairs.
Cha Ji-tae, who had gone down to the first floor and was beating nearby zombies to death with his staff, looked up at the second floor, where Lee Sun-jae and the former Koo Kyo-han were fighting, with tear-filled eyes.
-Crash!!!
The window shattered as Lee Sun-jae jumped down.
“Run! Run!!!”
The Dullahan watched them flee from the second-floor balcony.
It waved its hand in the air and summoned something.
-Neigh!!!
A skeletal horse clad in black armor.
The iconic summon of the Headless Knight appeared, and the Dullahan lightly mounted the horse, smashed through the second-floor wall with a single blow, and jumped down.
The building shook violently and collapsed with a loud crash.
“That bastard is damn fast!!!”
“Damn it. Damn it, damn it!!!”
Lee Sun-jae quickly caught Kim Ki-sung as he floated down. The levitation spell consumed a lot of magic and couldn’t be maintained indefinitely.
Only after Kim Ki-sung was safely on Lee Sun-jae’s back did Yoon Ji-ho release the levitation spell. He then focused on hindering the Dullahan’s pursuit, creating obstacles and flipping the ground with his magic.
Even while running, Cha Ji-tae concentrated and finally managed to wake up the unconscious Kim Ki-sung.
“Ugh… Fuck… My head…”
“Hey!! Get off his back and run!!!”
“Huh…? Th-this!! That bastard!!!”
The Dullahan, which had been pursuing them at a moderate pace, let out a hollow, almost mocking chuckle as it saw Kim Ki-sung wake up. Then, it threw the head it was holding.
Bang!!!!
The Dullahan’s head slammed into a car parked in the direction the Serious Raiders were fleeing, not only pushing the car back but also practically exploding it.
The loud noise attracted nearby zombies.
“Fuck…!!!”
The head returned to the Dullahan’s hand. It seemed to be retrievable.
Which meant it would be thrown again.
“Shield!!!”
Bang!!!
Crackle!!!
Yoon Ji-ho’s protective spell that was deployed at the perfect moment shattered after barely two seconds.
The Dullahan’s head easily broke through the barrier and flew towards the group again.
“Fuck!!!!”
Kim Ki-sung, who had just awakened, roared and intercepted the head.
If he hadn’t, Cha Ji-tae, who was standing there dumbfounded, would have been crushed to death.
Crack!!!
Instead, Kim Ki-sung’s arm was broken, and the head embedded itself into his abdomen.
“Kuh…!! Kraaaaaa!!!!”
Blood gushed from Kim Ki-sung’s mouth.
If he hadn’t been a Blood Warrior with extremely high regeneration, it would have been a fatal blow.
“Heal!!! Heal!!!!”
Cha Ji-tae screamed while casting healing spells repeatedly.
Thanks to his efforts, Kim Ki-sung was able to wipe the blood from his mouth and stand up. Meanwhile, Lee Sun-jae and Yoon Ji-ho were holding off the Dullahan.
“Uaaah!!! Ca-can’t you teleport us!!!?”
“Damn it!! I don’t have enough magic for anything but a short-range teleport!!! Even if I do, it’ll catch up soon… and I can’t concentrate right now!!!”
“Fuck!!”
The Dullahan, having caught up while the group was momentarily delayed, swung its greatsword as if enjoying a game, toying with them like insects while slicing through Yoon Ji-ho’s magic and pushing Lee Sun-jae down.
Crack!!! Slash!!!
Lee Sun-jae’s knee buckled, his magic sword snapped in two, and the Dullahan’s greatsword pierced his shoulder.
Cha Ji-tae could heal the shoulder wound, but it would take at least three days for the magic sword to reforge itself.
A Magic Swordsman losing his magic sword meant that his combat ability was practically reduced to zero.
“Haa… Haa… Haaaaaaa…”
The Dullahan’s raspy breathing echoed in the Serious Raiders’ ears.
It mocked Lee Sun-jae, who was kneeling and bleeding while glaring at it. It mocked Cha Ji-tae, who was staring at it blankly, and Yoon Ji-ho, who was agonizing over his lack of magic.
Kim Ki-sung, who rejoined the fight, quickly pushed Lee Sun-jae out of the Dullahan’s range and used his blood explosion technique to face the Dullahan alone.
He bought them a little more time.
“D-damn it…”
Yoon Ji-ho clutched his dizzy head while gathering his remaining magic to prepare for a teleport.
They had to get as far away from this insane monster as possible.
‘If this spell misfires, we’re all dead… Damn it…’
Using teleport in his current state of poor concentration was a gamble.
But he had to bet his life on the small chance of survival. There was no other way to overcome this crisis.
Then it happened.
He felt a massive presence behind him.
“Huh…? Th-that bastard!! Why is that monster here!?”
At the man’s startled cry, Yoon Ji-ho turned his head and saw three Players approaching them from behind.
‘What… the hell are those…?’
Yoon Ji-ho almost collapsed and burst into tears on the spot.
His Mana Eye allowed him to see through a target slightly.
It was a skill that allowed him to see the flow of magic and partially grasp the essence of an object.
And right now, his skill, ‘Sage’s Mana Eye,’ was screaming at him.
Run from that monster now.
‘Crazy… An insane amount of magic power… And two horrifying monsters behind him… Those women are also formidable, but… that… that is a true monster.’
Yoon Ji-ho saw them.
Jang Jo-joon, Lee Eun-ji, and Kang Ha-young.
‘Honestly, we could handle those two women. But that man…’
Jang Jo-joon’s appearance, as seen through his Mana Eye, was truly horrifying.
Not only did he possess explosive magic power, but behind him were a giant spider monster with piercing eyes who was glaring at him and a cockroach so grotesque and repulsive, it made his head spin.
Yoon Ji-ho was completely overwhelmed by the murderous gaze of the spider monster, the Abyssal Weaver Kishiria.
He was defeated before the fight even began.
He even had the illusion that Kishiria was speaking to him.
As if saying ‘How dare you, a mere insect, observe me?’
The Abyssal Weaver Kishiria glared at Yoon Ji-ho from the depths of the Labyrinth Palace, situated at the edge of the abyss.
‘Wh-what is that monster in the abyss…?’
A monster that dwarfed the Dullahan in comparison.
Who was this man who carried such a monster, a monster that made the Dullahan, which had just pushed them to the brink of annihilation, seem insignificant?
Moreover, due to the Ring of Memory Alteration Jang Jo-joon was wearing, he appeared to Yoon Ji-ho as a fragmented, distorted figure, like shards of broken glass.
Shock and terror.
The only thought in Yoon Ji-ho’s mind was to escape.
The Dullahan wasn’t the problem now.
If he was caught by that monster, he would surely die a gruesome death.
As the embodiment of death loomed before him, the overwhelming urge to escape heightened his concentration to the extreme.
His subconscious, driven by the primal instinct to survive, instantly completed the spatial teleportation spell. Yoon Ji-ho teleported himself, Lee Sun-jae with his shattered shoulder, Cha Ji-tae who was healing him, and Kim Ki-sung who was dodging the Dullahan’s attacks.
“Hey! Catch them!!”
Jo-joon, sensing the teleport, shouted, and Eun-ji quickly created three Shadow Daggers and threw them at Yoon Ji-ho, the spellcaster.
The Shadow Daggers were caught in the teleport and were pulled along…
Whoosh!
They successfully teleported a short distance.
“Kuh…!!!”
Yoon Ji-ho collapsed to the ground while trembling, unable to pull out the daggers embedded in his abdomen, shoulder, and thigh.
Eun-ji had coated the daggers with paralyzing poison using her venomous fangs in that split second.
“N-no!!!”
Although they had narrowly escaped the Dullahan and Jo-joon’s group, they hadn’t gotten far.
Just two blocks away. A distance that could be easily covered.
“Fuck fuck fuck!!!”
Kim Ki-sung, who had felt a chill run down his spine after sensing Kang Ha-young’s presence, another Vampire, during the teleportation, quickly picked up the collapsed Yoon Ji-ho and ran.
He instinctively knew that if they stayed here, that monstrous woman and the even more monstrous man would catch up to them.
Lee Sun-jae, whose shoulder injury hadn’t fully healed yet and was still bleeding profusely, making him pale, and Cha Ji-tae, on the verge of collapse from magic depletion, followed Kim Ki-sung.
Thus, they survived another day.
In the ruined world, you never knew when, where, or why you might die.
They learned a very, very, very valuable lesson today: never pick up random objects.
The price was losing their precious comrade, Koo Kyo-han.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
T/N – Oh wow, they escaped. How lucky. So it’s the Dullahan vs the MC’s party next.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
0 Comments