#27 Ten Evils: The Butcher (6)
━This won't end at this rate.
'Yeah, tell me about it.'
Restraining and harassing Park Sang-pyeon through his ice spears, then pulling back again—this style of combat was certainly effective at draining the bastard's mana, but it couldn't land a direct hit.
Thanks to relentlessly hounding him without pause, he'd successfully rescued all the kids from inside the school bus. The problem was that Park Sang-pyeon showed no signs of tiring whatsoever.
━He is getting tired. The issue is that sword. It's continuously circulating mana. Up until now, it's been drawing on his mana to hold out, but soon it'll start sucking up his life force too.
An artifact that even used its owner's life force, huh.
'Isn't that basically a demonic sword?'
━Definitely not a normal artifact.
I gifted another massive ice spike to Park Sang-pyeon as he charged at me once more. Thanks to soaking the ground beforehand, I could now generate ice directly from the earth.
Next came the enormous ice prison.
The mana potions I'd used while facing off against him totaled three bottles.
I needed to recharge once more.
That's when it happened, as I poured the mana powder from the potion bottle into my mana bracelet.
They say a long tail gets stepped on eventually.
"What's that?"
Park Sang-pyeon's glowing eyes peered through the gaps in the ice prison. Shit, my hand nearly shook and dropped the bottle.
I'd succeeded in recharging my mana while he was restrained, but he'd seen the whole thing plain as day.
"So that's it. I thought it was weird. No matter how much we fought, your mana stayed fresh as ever."
"Haha, busted."
I forced a calm expression.
Now that he'd uncovered the secret to my war of attrition, Park Sang-pyeon had no intention of sitting idle.
He kicked off the ground and closed in tight on my body. He was going for close-quarters combat. I desperately tried to shake him off, but it wasn't easy.
He barreled forward without a care for whatever flew at his body. Scratches on his flesh? Freezing over? He didn't give a damn.
At this point, he was abandoning his own safety to finish me in one go.
There were plenty of ways to block his attacks, but right now, I had nothing handy to shove back this reckless charge.
'Call down lightning? Nah, he'll just power through. An earth wall? Damn it, I'd need to touch the dirt for that.'
That's when my body tilted. He'd missed the jutting asphalt chunk behind me, apparently.
'Shit.'
Before I knew it, Park Sang-pyeon was right up in my face.
A black shadow slipped between us.
"Kim Jae-ho!"
Kim Jae-ho clashed directly with him and his sword. Seeing the black mana trying to latch onto him, I blasted Kim Jae-ho back with wind.
"Grr!"
He glared at me as he was shoved away, but I had no time to spare. I jammed an ice spear into the sword thrusting toward him. Park Sang-pyeon's body was hurled far off by the impact.
"I told you. Don't go head-on."
Kim Jae-ho bared his teeth with a growl.
"Hit from behind."
At my words, his body vanished like a shadow dipping low. Incredible movement. I drew the dagger strapped to my thigh once more. Good—time for close combat. That was my specialty anyway.
Over there, the blood-soaked Park Sang-pyeon was rising and trudging toward me. What a tenacious bastard.
"Why doesn't it work on you?"
Muttering that, he raised his sword again. Unlike before, flames now roared up around it, nearly engulfing him entirely.
━His mana. It's definitely weakening.
He looked insanely powerful on the surface, but Ray was right. His actual mana reserves were dwindling, so he was bulking up to compensate.
Proof that the war of attrition had worked.
The problem was having to face that thing head-on.
Park Sang-pyeon kicked off the ground and hurtled straight at me. I'd planned to meet him with my dagger, but with flames that huge wreathing the blade, a dagger wouldn't cut it. I stabbed it in anyway and summoned another ice spear.
I'd made so many ice spears today that now they formed automatically without me even picturing the shape.
Boom. Kaboom.
But the quickened Park Sang-pyeon dodged them all with ease. I tried shifting the earth to snag his feet, but he moved before the ground could react.
The ice spikes shattered the moment they formed.
I couldn't let him get close.
I launched myself into the air, but that wasn't a great move either. I wasn't the only one who could kick off the ground and soar upward.
A gruesome smile twisted across Park Sang-pyeon's lips as he pursued me.
"Dieee!"
Then, black mana rippled in the space before me. Han Seohyun's skeleton, summoned mid-air, blocked my path. In an instant, the sword's crimson-black mana transferred to the skeleton's bones, scorching them away.
"Urk!"
Whether from the shock of the forced dismissal or not, Han Seohyun's scream echoed from the bushes.
No time to check if he was okay.
I couldn't waste the opening he'd bought me. Gritting my teeth, I gathered blue lightning at my fingertips. This much shouldn't be too visible from afar. I fired it straight into Park Sang-pyeon's body.
"Gaaah!"
The searing shock must have been too much; his body slammed into the ground.
"Hah, hah."
I summoned wind to slowly lower myself, sighing. Even with his body charred and battered, Park Sang-pyeon slowly rose.
"Huff, huff."
Of course, he wasn't unscathed. Half-cooked flesh, bleeding wounds—it was gruesome enough to make anyone wince. And from earlier, his body had started shriveling up taut and dry.
No wonder they called that sword a demonic blade. It was now draining even the life force sustaining his body.
He himself seemed oblivious, though.
"Die."
That's why he could spout crap like that. Then, a sword flashed behind him.
"Grah!"
Kim Jae-ho, striking from the rear, had slashed his back with his blade. By the time Park Sang-pyeon whirled around, no one was there. Kim Jae-ho had vanished again in a blink.
And I exploited the gap.
An ice spike erupted from the ground, piercing his flank.
Impaled like a frog on a magpie's beak, Park Sang-pyeon was pinned to the earth. Was this the end?
The thought had barely crossed my mind when, mocking it, he tore the ice spike from his side with his own hands.
"Hah, huff."
Blood dripped from him onto the ground.
The light in his eyes was fading bit by bit.
A little more time, and he'd self-destruct.
But that wouldn't paint a pretty picture.
I looked up at the sky.
More precisely, I thought of the countless eyes that might be watching us from beyond it.
"Jae-ho, buy me a little time."
I said that and fell back.
Kim Jae-ho naturally filled the space.
After ripping out the spike from his flank, barely any mana rose from Park Sang-pyeon's sword. In that state, he could definitely hold him off.
And...
A hound lunged from the side, clamping onto Park Sang-pyeon's thigh. Han Seohyun wiped blood from his mouth and smiled at me.
He must have been hurting from the forced recall, but damn, that kid was tough.
"Gaaah!"
I didn't stand idle either.
While buying time like this, I drew out my mana. Output at 45%. Urk, definitely overdoing it. My mana circuits burned like they might burst. The number of ice spears I summoned: twenty.
He probably had no strength left to swat those away.
The massive ice spears hurtled toward Park Sang-pyeon.
The hound at his legs, Kim Jae-ho in front, and my ice spears.
No way out.
"Hah."
Sensing death, Park Sang-pyeon glared at me and muttered a curse.
"Fucking done for."
Then boom—the ice spears crashed into him.
Crunch.
The spears pierced his body as Kim Jae-ho's sword stabbed his flank. The hound held his leg until every attack landed.
Perfect coordinated assault.
The end of Park Sang-pyeon.
Or so I thought. He ground his teeth, staring at me. An inexplicable chill swept over me.
━Th-that crazy bastard!
He plunged his own sword into his heart. And with that, mana incomparably more potent than before erupted from his body.
Everything began to burn.
No. I muttered it without thinking.
"Everyone, back off!"
I yelled, but the two didn't budge. No choice—I summoned wind to shove them away. Ice shards exploded, filling the air with white mist.
Crimson-black flames and scattering ice obscured vision.
I had to kill Park Sang-pyeon in one shot.
Even a single speck of that flame touching anything nearby would turn this into a hellfire.
The only way to dispel the mana spreading here was to overwhelm it with sheer force.
How strong was the mana this Butcher, Park Sang-pyeon, had unleashed at the cost of his final life?
"This is bad."
"Boss!"
Han Seohyun called from afar. Calling me that amid all these people—he must've guessed I was about to do something insane.
I blasted him back with wind again.
"Stay safe so you can come save me."
I whispered into the radio. He seemed to get it and stopped. Kim Jae-ho did too.
I drew up my mana. The mana stone powder in my bracelet vibrated wildly at my will. The mana dissolved within it melted out in an instant, flooding into my body.
"Kuh!"
━This much will kill you!
My mana circuits shook as if tearing apart from the excess.
Bones ground out of alignment, skin scorched hot. Even my hair curled from the extreme heat.
But I endured.
I poured mana into my circuits.
Just a single circuit. No fancy techniques. Quantity over quality—drown it.
One-stroke lightning.
Lightning gathered at my fingertips as thunderclouds roared. Static sparked even through the fog. The crimson-black miasma enveloping us began vaporizing slowly, unable to withstand the pure heat.
And when my mana dominated everything around, I snapped my fingers to complete the circuit.
What I unleashed was a simple one-stroke lightning bolt. But layered upon itself endlessly, it had become a massive electric storm.
Bolts chained into one another, racing outward in a frenzy.
The mana surging through me began detonating the area.
Flash.
A light so intense it felt like the world split in two erupted.
And with it, my consciousness began to blur.