Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Shadow King's Guillotine
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Balbarus lowered his gaze mournfully.
It meant he couldn't offer any help, neither as a system function nor as a comrade.
"Your business with him is done."
While Rahou was looking away for a moment, a thick shadow blanketed the plaza.
"Shadow King's Guillotine."
[Physical impact increased by over 30 times.]
[Heavenly Knight-grade 'Incurable Curse' applied.]
['Shadow King's Guillotine' 622 instances manifested.]
Crunch-crack!
Guillotine blades rained down from the sky, slicing into Rahou's body.
The head he'd been carrying around with him tumbled to the ground.
In Rahou's fallen head's eyes, a massive lump of metal came into view.
[Hontar's special skill 'Shield Breaker (Unique S)' activated!]
[Damage to barriers increased by 660%!]
Boom!
"I'll claim double the rewards I missed by taking you down."
The head crushed under the hammer roared from where it was embedded in the ground.
"You think I'll die that easily?!"
"Sorry, but I've already got the killing intent flowing. Yuli, first time taking down a Heavenly Knight, right?"
"Yes. Father."
"Looking at their gear and skills, they seem unbeatable, but let's go with grit first. Hit 'em hard in the back of the head while they're off guard like this..."
"Yes."
Crack-smash-crunch-smack—
"Grraaaaaaghh!"
The headless jawless head floated into the air, spewing a flash of light.
[Special function 'Devourer of the Sun' manifested]
- For 600 seconds, no heat can invade the body of the demon 'Rahou'.
- Spatial change [Solar Eclipse] manifested...
Gonghyeok stepped in front of Yuli.
"I'll handle most of it, so be careful. As you can see, it's not easy."
"Understood, Father."
- Don't push yourself too hard in front of the kid? Normally...
Nathaniel's scolding was drowned out by the thunderous roar and beams of light.
Behind his back, Yuli Granat felt a strange sense of camaraderie, as if they'd fought together for ages.
......
......
......
Everything around them turned to ash, save for the fountain protected by the administrator.
Gonghyeok turned around brightly.
"How's that, Azazel? We got one here too."
His arm was burned away from the elbow down.
He cheerfully shook the charred stump like leftover firewood.
Second Heavenly Knight down, after Guard Sand.
The GM updated the achievements window.
[You've uncovered the hidden secret of the Four Heavenly Kings' Hydrich.]
[Reward: 2 Black Coins granted.]
[20th Floor Achievement: 'Heavenly Knight Rahou Defeated']
[Achievement 100% complete. Rewards: 'Leviathan's Blade (SS)' and 20 Yellow Coins granted.]
Heavenly Knights were normally opponents you could only face around floors 50-60.
The rewards scaled to the difficulty of taking one down this early.
Gonghyeok handed the water-attribute spear, Leviathan's Blade, to Yuli and said,
"What are you waiting for, Azazel? Create the quest."
"Hmm."
She mumbled, averting her gaze.
"I wasn't expecting much since you kept doing weird stuff, but... not bad."
- Oh? Azazel's embarrassed right now?
Nathaniel chuckled at her as she sulkily created the quest.
Ju Gonghyeok reached out and stroked her red hair.
"I told you this big bro would handle it."
"Big bro? A human weaned off milk just 20 years ago..."
"Then granny, just trust your little bro. Human tribe's carrying the team by the collar right now."
Nathaniel, perched on his shoulder, sighed.
- Carrying by the collar? More like grabbing the collar and snapping necks.
Nathaniel's head was snatched by Gonghyeok and stuffed straight into his armor.
[Angel-side Quest: '20th Floor Hidden Boss Elimination']
[100% completion. Reward: Angel Azazel appoints you as her 'Apostle'.]
- As the angel's proxy, an 'Authority' will be granted based on achievements.
- Your equipped 'Rusty and Broken Angel Armor (S-)' will be automatically repaired.
- New armor: 'Armor of Heavenly Might (S+)' can be equipped with two Authorities.
Rust flaked off the armor as platinum light swirled around it.
Just as the demon side provided various items and authorities to their contractors, this was a perk for the rare few humans contracted to angels.
Azazel conjured a spear and floated it up.
"Choose what you want."
Ju Gonghyeok selected two functions from the list.
'Authority of Transformation (SS)' and 'Authority of Element Imbuement (SS)'.
'Authority of Transformation (SS)' was a divine transformation ability that ignored nearly all detection traits like True Sight and intuition, while 'Authority of Element Imbuement (SS)' allowed imbuing weapons or objects with attributes.
['Armor of Heavenly Might (S+)' granted two Authorities.]
[Item grade upgraded to SS.]
"Faster than I expected."
"You got lucky having that armor, so I allowed it."
Angels appointing humans as apostles was rare—maybe one hand's worth at most.
Two or three, tops.
Under a pact with the demons, angels had created exclusive cities as raiding hubs on the 5th floor. In exchange for demons tolerating it, angels were restricted from making contractors or proxies with humans.
It was a loss if they died early without going far, and they drew focused fire, so apostles were often only named past floor 40 or 60.
Azazel looked at him with a hint of concern.
"No recovery or regeneration? You'll need it for the fights ahead."
"Nah, I'm good. Transformation will come in handy. And Balbarus."
At the call, Balbarus turned his head.
Gonghyeok tossed 20 Yellow Coins in front of him.
"Trade."
"...What do you want."
"Left arm for now, I guess."
Ash trickled from his elbow stump.
"You're in charge of the Machine God Clan. Gimme something from there."
"The Machine God Clan still can't connect to the human world yet..."
Click—
He pulled the Gauss Pistol and the Corroder Kochzion from his inventory.
"Plenty of your stuff's already out there, so spare me the nagging."
"..."
[Demon Archduke Balbarus creates the reward.]
[Machine God Clan Type 2 combat prosthetic 'Reconquista Type 4 Left Arm' added to rewards.]
A matte black metal prosthetic gripped in his hand.
He brought it straight to his elbow, and with mechanical whirrs, it sliced away the contaminated muscle, connecting to nerves and bone.
Nathaniel freaked out at the ruthless procedure.
- Holy shit, isn't that your actual arm that just came off? Think before you attach it!
"Yeah. Ditching the old arm for a new one."
- You crazy... Listen up. Prosthetics have performance limits, and if it breaks in battle, repairs are a pain! A biological arm could heal most wounds instantly with recovery skills...
"Already attached."
['Reconquista Type 4 Left Arm' attachment complete.]
- Stats partially compensated.
- Trait 'Smart Prosthetic (B+)' added, Trait 'Modular Prosthetic (B)' added.
- Flaw 'Semi-Permanent Left Arm Damage (-B)' added.
- Full adaptation: 4 minutes 30 seconds remaining.
Gonghyeok examined his new arm and said,
"Alright. Next up, the avatar as promised."
One of the deals struck in the blackout was claiming an avatar from the Machine God Clan sector under Balbarus's management.
Balbarus frowned as he checked Gonghyeok's info.
"Strange. No avatar slot, yet you're demanding an avatar."
"Adding one now. GM."
He fed two Black Coins into the GM's mouth.
[Avatar space expanded: 5/5 → 5/6]
[Simultaneous avatar summons expanded: 2 → 3]
With his avatar slot expanded, he cracked his neck.
"Good. Heavenly Knight smashed, and for the promise on future massacres, the avatar I'll claim is..."
Balbarus sighed at Azazel's slightly stiffening face.
"Sigh, in front of an angel."
"It's fine, Azazel. Not talking about people."
"Spit it out already."
"Ancient God of the Machine God Clan."
Balbarus visibly flinched.
"Autonomous Destruction Machine God, Vulcanus."
Gonghyeok took Yuli's hand and met her eyes.
"We've got a lot more to kill ahead, so I need it. Right?"
Yuli said nothing.
The answer to his question was already in Gonghyeok's smile.
Balbarus grew serious at the named avatar.
"Human, did you know we'd summon you here? It's like you planned it, naming a god outright."
"Plan? Yeah, I planned it. Arm just blew off, so had to slot in a prosthetic."
"..."
"Oh, you get it. I'm a planning genius. Five seconds of thought, and boom—perfect plan."
Having wandered Babel for centuries and casually sniped demon lords, he had more resources for planning than any human.
Ignoring the barrage of mockery, Balbarus dipped his hand into the fountain.
The fountain's blood overflowed onto the ground, and a massive hole tore open in the pooling blood.
From within rose a mass of scrap wrapped in iron chains.
It was the form of an avatar bound in the dungeons he'd seen so far.
[Autonomous Destruction Machine God Vulcanus (SS+) appears.]
"Hey. Buddy."
Gonghyeok lightly shook his new prosthetic.
But the scrap heap showed no reaction.
Gonghyeok scratched his head at the ancient god, its form like rebar crumpled by hand, weighing dozens of tons.
"GM. Link up with code and relay a message."
= Understood.
He wanted to kick it, but an avatar's appearance was just an illusory shell without substance.
A mechanical line extended from the GM's hat, connecting to Vulcanus's massive frame.
"Scrap heap. Time to wake up."
As the words transmitted through the code, a lumpy mass atop the scrap heap twitched.
= Unauthorized intrusion detected. Target identified—destroy.
"Yeah."
= Target: Unidentified carbon-based organic lifeform.
"Yeah."
= Target is not Machine God Clan.
"Yeah."
= Organic lifeforms not subject to destruction.
The lump sank back into the body as if done with him.
- Kinda wanna smack it one.