episode_0240

“…Lucretia?” “I-I can’t anymore, h-h-huff…”

Lucretia, who had been gasping on the bed for a while, soon collapsed after only a few hours.

It was hard to describe her appearance, having lost consciousness and drenched in cloudy white fluid, as if she had reached her limit. It made me feel an unbearable urge… but no matter what, I wasn’t such a pervert as to wake someone who had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Perhaps?

“Hmm.” Although I said that, it was also true that I had expended a considerable amount of energy. My compatibility with Lucretia was quite high, and outside the window, the morning sun was about to rise again.

After cooling my sweat-soaked body with a suitable amount of cold energy, I slowly put on my clothes.

I could gradually sense the giants’ corpses again. Are they going to revive again?

Whether they did or not, they were the type of guys who would happily turn into ash if I scorched them with ice lightning again, so I went outside without much thought.

“Oh…” Soon, I couldn’t help but let out a genuine exclamation, tinged with a little tension. The being that appeared before my eyes was certainly not an ‘ordinary’ giant.

[Gurgle, cough, gurgle, g-g-gurgle…]

From the start, it wasn’t in a normal state. Its collective concept of having no upper body was completely discarded, as it now had a suddenly formed torso. However, it didn’t have proper facial features, and its arms numbered three, which was neither two nor four, a truly ambiguous number—

“…It looks really disgusting.”

What kind of twisted idea could create such a horrible creature? It was a moment that made me want to see the face of the otherworld’s master, whom I hadn’t been particularly interested in, and had naturally believed Yang Chan-ho and Master-nim would handle.

Could that bastard also look similar to this one?

Slam! “Whoa.” I was just thinking that. A fist, descended without warning, pulverized the spot where I had been standing moments ago.

I hoped not, but could it really be that they resembled each other as I thought? And this giant, having read my thoughts, was angry that its master had been insulted.

Probably not, but unnecessary delusions of grandeur were surprisingly plausible. So, to quickly clear my mind and focus on the situation.

Crack! Summoning lightning from my fingertips, I subtly glanced behind me.

The inside of that abandoned house, where we had just mated like animals, was silent.

“…Lucretia is…” As expected, it seemed I couldn’t count on our Saintess’s help. Well, if I knocked her out and then expected help, what kind of person would that make me?

I had no choice but to take it down alone or wait for Haru’s support magic.

Bang! Thud! I was dodging the giant’s continuous fist slams, which created pseudo-earthquakes on the ground, while charging my lightning.

Unable to wait any longer, I became exasperated and snapped my head upwards towards the sky.

“Excuse me? I feel like I’ve been waiting for quite a while, why is there no news yet? Senior-nim?”

Naturally, it was a shout directed at Haru, who claimed to be my reincarnated senior. The fact that the passage itself was maintained meant she must be awake.

Surely she could hear me, and just as I was about to raise my voice again.

“…Hmph.” A familiar clear voice faintly drifted from beyond the passage. And then, Haru muttered quietly in a sulky tone.

“Why don’t you try doing well on your own? After you neglected me and enjoyed yourself so much with another woman…”

“…W-what?” “Don’t suddenly come asking for my help now, you idiot.”

And then, a heavy silence fell. As if there would be no more conversation.

Thwack! “Ugh…!?”

No, no. To be precise, the sound of a fist as thick as a pot lid fiercely striking me certainly resounded, but I wasn’t hoping to hear that.

Crackle, crackle! I frowned deeply and unleashed the lightning energy I had prepared forward.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!!! With a fierce thunderclap, a golden flash of light extended from my fingertips. The flash, truly fired at the speed of light, pierced straight through the giant, but—

“Oh, for crying out loud…” I couldn’t help but instinctively sigh. This attack hadn’t finished it. It survived?

[Screech!] It only became even more vicious. Although half of its torso had been blown away, the giant scraped together its flesh and reattached it to its body at a speed comparable to my hyper-regeneration.

Just like the mass of insects in its eye sockets. It really was a disgusting method of regeneration.

“Whew!” I took a deep breath and then generated magic power again. Although I hadn’t foreseen or intended this situation, I was almost at full strength now. This was because I had diligently absorbed vital energy through none other than our Saintess-nim.

“It seems you’ve become quite anxious…” I looked straight up into the giant’s eyes and twisted my lips. I was openly scoffing at it.

“Isn’t this almost the first time you’ve created such a special individual in this past week?” […] “Tell me honestly. I won’t make fun of you.”

Summoning blue lightning spearheads into both hands and gripping them, I aimed at the creature as if to provoke it.

“Hey, that guy you call the master of the otherworld. Is he in a lot of danger right now?” [——] “Indeed, with two monsters like that going together, how much could the otherworld’s leader possibly endure?”

With a cold sneer, I sharply pulled my arm back. Immediately after, without delay, I launched the ice lightning spear.

[Screech!] Around that time, my provocation seemed to have worked perfectly, as the fused entity of all the giant corpses also let out a roar and charged towards me.

*****

[…] […] Thump! Thump!

“Huh, um?” Cheon Soyul, who had been fighting the giants for a long time, gradually reducing their numbers. She flinched at the sight of the giants suddenly collapsing.

“…What is it, suddenly? Why? What’s going on?”

It wasn’t just that their bodies fell. Energy scattered as if from a marionette whose strings had been cut. I’m not sure how to describe it, but the completely black energy was clearly dispersing in all directions, to the extent it could be seen with the naked eye…

Cheon Soyul kept her guard up while tracking the direction where the energies were heading. Could it be that the battle beyond the sky had intensified, causing them to recall their power? If so, it might be better to at least bind those energies here.

“Phew, good. I’ll try to…” It was at that moment, with such a thought, that Cheon Soyul was about to make her entire body’s magic power surge.

“…wait, oh, um. Hmm?” Just as she was about to manifest a pair of lightning bolts near her shoulder blades, Cheon Soyul realized she had misjudged the direction. She had no doubt that the giants’ life force would return to the rift in the sky.

But it wasn’t. It wasn’t that way. Rather, it was—

‘….West?’ Clearly to the west, based on the Yeongnam region. Cheon Soyul’s expression hardened.

Could they possibly be trying to move to the metropolitan area? Those things that had only been active near the coast, as if following a rule?

“…No.” This time, deep seriousness and gravity settled on her face.

Cheon Soyul, having condensed the lightning, stretched her hand towards the sky. Boom! The immense amount of lightning energy she unleashed undoubtedly pierced through the giants’ aura, but—

“Ah…” It was far from enough. Her power was insufficient to eradicate those vast black energies with just one or two lightning strikes.

“…” Crack, crackle! Nevertheless, without giving up, just as Cheon Soyul was about to create lightning wings once more.

“O-Onni!” The voice of an excited girl was heard. Cheon Soyul’s body, which had been about to fly into the sky, swayed once as she turned to look behind her.

“…Yeonhwa?” Why had she suddenly come here? Cheon Soyul’s and Yeonhwa’s assigned areas were distinctly different, so it was an unexpected appearance, but—

Indeed, with all the giants having fallen, there was no need for her to stay at her post.

Cheon Soyul looked up at the sky again and said to Hong Yeonhwa in a firm voice. “You wait here. I think I need to go over there for a bit—”

“A-Actually, wait! Onni, I don’t know where you’re suddenly going, but…?!” However, Hong Yeonhwa was serious too. She quickly approached, grabbing Cheon Soyul’s wrist in a hurry, her eyes trembling.

Cheon Soyul, flustered, looked back at her, and Hong Yeonhwa immediately pushed something forward.

“This is…?” Its identity was obvious. None other than a smartphone.

There was no reason not to recognize it, so Cheon Soyul was dumbfounded, but soon she couldn’t help but gape at the scene displayed on the bright screen.

[Bang… Thud-bang…] Distant roars accompanied the violent rotation of a helicopter’s rotors. The architectural style was so unfamiliar, it was hard to tell which country was depicted beyond the screen.

However… even within that screen, the most striking thing was a colossal body the size of a building. Cheon Soyul was genuinely terrified, her eyelashes trembling.

“W-what is that…?”

No, could it merely be compared to the size of a building? Rather, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to describe it as an entire… vast mountain range? Cheon Soyul, feeling an instinctive sense of overwhelming power, swallowed dryly even though it was a scene on a screen.

“No, really…! Onni! Not that way, but down there!” “H-huh?” Hong Yeonhwa shouted exasperatedly, rousing her. Cheon Soyul flinched inadvertently and quickly looked in the direction Hong Yeonhwa was pointing.

“…Ah.” Soon, she couldn’t help but curl the corners of her lips into a slight smile again without realizing it. Because in front of the giant, which was the size of a mountain range, blue lightning was flickering.