Chapter 86
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Two People's One-Man Show
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"Good job, everyone."
A voice emerged from the Fierce Dog Mask.
The vampires around him flashed cruel grins.
In stark contrast, the faces of the refugees and Jeong Hyeondo hardened.
If those guys were allies, the situation had just gotten a whole lot worse.
A few of the vampires approached "X."
"We didn't work that hard. It was all thanks to you leading us, Omer-nim. We profited big time, vampires and holy knights alike."
"Damn right. Check this out, bro! I even got myself a baronetcy!"
The murderer proudly thrust out the back of his hand, showing off the tattoo of his new noble rank.
"I see. Impressive."
"X" lightly clapped as he accepted their thanks.
Clap clap clap.
"Now, bro, let's take 'em down together!"
"If you wish, we'll step aside for you."
X shook his head.
"No need for that."
"You sure? Sorry about this."
"No need to apologize. Just..."
X made a casual gesture with his hand.
"Kneel."
The "Ring of the Oath-Binding Princess" glowed red.
['X' issues a command to Benoit and 29 other vampires!]
['X' unleashes ducal-level majesty! The 30 vampires resist!]
[A battle for blood dominance begins!]
[Benoit Pere, dominance 92% lost! Defeated!]
[Sato Eita, dominance 98% lost! Defeated!]
[Saheb Tukar, dominance 86%...]
Thirty defeat notices popped up before they even had a chance to resist.
These fresh fledglings, turned less than a day ago, stood no chance against a dominance battle.
The thirty vampires dropped to their knees, faces stricken with panic.
"What the hell! No way!"
"Damn it! We got played!"
"What are you gonna do with us!"
The murderers spat curses and maledictions.
X gave them a low command.
"Bow your heads."
Crunch!
The master's order.
The thirty minions slammed their foreheads into the ground in unison.
"Damn it! I can't resist!"
"We're total slaves now!? No one here got a decent avatar?"
"What happens now!? How long do we have to obey this guy!"
Chaos reigned.
In the midst of it, one quick-witted murderer forced a grin and shouted.
"Omer-nim! I'll follow your lead! Make me, Benoit, your subordinate! I've always wanted a leader like you!"
The others' faces twisted in regret at his swift bootlicking.
They soon spat on the ground and yelled back, refusing to be outdone.
"I honestly thought I should step up and follow you first!"
"Hey! At least put some spit on that lie before you tell it!"
"Omer-nim! I even gathered items to offer you! Just free me, and I'll hand them over right now!"
"Omer-nim! From the moment I first saw you..."
The shameless clamor continued.
Unable to even look up at their master, they stared at the ground and desperately worked their mouths. The sight was utterly comical.
"X," masked as the Fierce Dog, stood silently before Benoit, the first to grovel.
"Ahh~ Too late!"
"Omer-nim! The first to step up is always the sycophant!"
Groans of being one step behind rippled through the murderers.
It was humiliating in front of the watching refugees, but with their future as slaves on the line, they had to prove their loyalty with their lives.
A little embarrassment now was nothing.
Feeling chosen, Benoit cried out fervently.
"Omer-nim! I am eternally grateful! I shall never forget this loyalty..."
But before Benoit could finish.
X's steel boot came down on the back of his head.
Benoit broke out in cold sweat and called X's name.
"O-Omer-nim?"
Crunch-crunch—
"Kyaaack!"
"Uwaaak!"
Benoit's head shattered like tofu.
A vampire and a refugee woman screamed as bits of flesh splattered onto their cheeks.
Step.
X's steel boot rose onto the head of the next prone vampire.
"Wait, this is a joke, right..."
Crunch—
Sato's slightly smaller skull shattered more cleanly than the last.
"Wh-what?"
"What the hell are you..."
People voiced their confusion, unable to process the sudden turn.
"Do me last! Don't put it on my head! No—"
Crunch-crunch—
The third vampire's head scattered.
"Uwaaaaaah—!"
"Kahat! Kahahat! Hey, hey! Stop for a sec! This ain't right!"
By the third one, everyone got the picture.
The twenty-seven remaining vampires, foreheads to the ground, wailed.
"Don't do it! Don't do iiiit!"
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
"Stop! We'll do anything! We can do anything!"
Squelch.
"P-pleaseeeek—"
Crunch.
But his footsteps never halted.
The gruesome sight of heads bursting one by one filled their eyes, yet their foreheads and hands stayed glued to the floor.
Screams of denial and madness shook the stone floor of the fortress.
"Yes! Do it!"
"Kill 'em! Kill those damn bastards more!"
The refugees, previously massacred by the vampires, cheered excitedly.
But the mercenaries among them knew better.
Did killing vampires make X one of us?
No way.
Things weren't that straightforward.
"Gonghyuk. What do you think? Slip out in the chaos?"
Jeong Hyeondo whispered to Gonghyuk.
"If you're confident you can escape that guy crushing heads unscathed, go for it."
"So what then!"
Jeong Hyeondo snapped irritably at the negative response.
Gonghyuk calmly stared at his other self.
"Protecting Sesque-nim from thirty is harder than from one."
"You don't mean...?"
"I'm not confident in a 1:1."
Out-of-left-field remark.
Jeong Hyeondo's eyes filled with question marks.
"Not confident?"
"Not confident in winning."
Squelch.
The thirtieth head burst.
The arena fell silent at the sight of the emotionless monster.
"He's not killing them for nothing. The chance will come."
Ju Gonghyuk said inwardly as he called the GM.
'GM, current time. That guy's position.'
[41 minutes until dawn. Position: 21m underground.]
'Time to get started.'
Ju Gonghyuk manipulated his clone X as he prepared the act.
In the slaughterhouse, X quietly raised his arm.
Blood from all directions swirled around him like a vortex.
[Absorbing the essence of the slain vampires.]
[Amazing feat accomplished! 'Executed All Mercenary Vampires'!]
[Reward: ‘Holy Sword Lumen Dokt (A+)’ granted.]
[Gathered the unholy armaments and contract tokens of the demon contractors.]
[10th-floor demon in charge, Lilianne, is summoned.]
"Tada~ Your cute little she-devil! Lilianne has arrived!"
Lilianne, in a bunny girl outfit with see-through stockings exposing her soft pink thighs, circled around X.
"Wow, I gave those guys devilishly plump rewards, and you killed them off so gleefully~ No mercy even for fellow contractors~"
'X' yanked the airborne Lilianne's horn.
"Kyak!"
"Don't know how long you've been prancing around like that. Behave demurely if you don't want your horn ripped out."
"S-sorry... I'll g-give you your reward."
"No need."
"Huh?"
He tossed an item in front of the wide-eyed Lilianne.
'Worn-Out Right Wing (S-)'
"Third wing piece. Attach it."
'X's demon contract item, the 'Fallen Lucifer's Wings' series.
It was the third fragment.
As Lilianne carefully took the item.
"Now."
A burst of white radiance exploded behind Ju Gonghyuk.
[Angel's Wing mana output 388%! Rapid deployment, rapid burst!]
[Internal Sephirot stage 4 'Netzach's Gate' unlocked!]
[SS-grade item, Demon-Sealing Hammer Hontar equipped!]
Ju Gonghyuk's explosive ambush.
The lion-headed hammer struck X's side at light speed.
Boom!
X's body slammed into the wall, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Impressive!"
Jeong Hyeondo exclaimed despite himself.
X had summoned the demon and let his guard down completely.
He was even in the middle of upgrading an item.
A perfect ambush, striking before X could recover and grow stronger.
Of course, it was all a scripted act between Ju Gonghyuk and X.
"Summon Ra-Djehuty. Activate Omniscience Magic Tome."
[Magic transformation – Black Feather Flying Daggers (A)]
Sharp feathers poured out from the dust cloud.
Ju Gonghyuk dodged them, revealing X in the dust.
Behind him stood the majestic form of Ra-Djehuty.
Ju Gonghyuk countered by summoning his own avatar, the Heavenly Great Sage.
[Ra-Djehuty (SS) secondary ability 'Omniscience Magic Tome' activated.]
[Magic efficiency increased by 227%!]
[Necromancer forbidden art 'Black Ink Scroll – Purgatory Lord's Black Chant (S+)' activated.]
[Heavenly Great Sage (SS) tertiary ability '15,000-Jin Compliant Rod' activated.]
['Demon-Sealing Hammer Hontar (SS)' mass increased 337-fold!]
[Hontar unique skill, 'White Lion's Strike (A)' activated!]
The clash of light and darkness.
Kwaaaang—!
Surrounding objects crumbled to sand.
The reactive force of angel and demon power colliding.
Like water and oil, they couldn't mix—they were natural counters.
The superiority of light versus darkness hinged on purity.
Purer light repels any darkness.
Purer darkness corrupts any light.
Natural predators to each other.
The weaker one gets devoured.
Purgatory flames entwined in the black chant tangled with the hammer's holy light.
Kwaduduk!
X's knee slammed into the ground.
Ju Gonghyuk shattered the darkness.
Victory for the light.
As the hammer descended on X's head, X barely blocked it by crossing his two weapons.
A temporary test of strength.
Gonghyuk called the GM during the lull.
'GM. That guy's position.'
[18m underground.]
'Crazy, only 3m up?'
Cursing the idiot underground, Gonghyuk whispered.
"Clone. Brace your core."
"Okay."
Bang!
Ju Gonghyuk's front kick nailed X's solar plexus dead-on.
Strengthened by power stats and skills, it was no longer a kick a human could withstand standing.
X's knees ripped from the ground as he flew back.
"He's... winning!"
"My god. I didn't know he was that strong."
X buried in the dust crater, Ju Gonghyuk standing tall.
The shapes of defeat and victory were clear.
Ju Gonghyuk turned around.
For some reason, Jeong Hyeondo's expression was stiff.
"Told you. Not confident in winning."
But before he could finish, a black shadow engulfed Ju Gonghyuk.
[Limited skill: Space-Severing Demonic Wings (A+) activated!]
[Liang Family Five Elements Ultimate: Thunderclap Sword]
X's gale-like charge and follow-up sword strike.
At the same time, his demonic wings morphed into sharp metal.
[Magic transformation – Five Severing Spears (A)]
Five spears flew toward vital points.
Kwagjijik.
The mighty hammer, Hontar, smashed them down.
The five spears snapped limply.
[Magic transformation – Piercing Hero Black Sword (A)]
[Magic transformation – Severing Axe (A)]
[Magic transformation – Crushing Iron Hammer (A)]
[Magic transformation...]
Unyielding, X's wings ballooned explosively.
A storm of weaponry assaulted Ju Gonghyuk.
Gonghyuk swung Hontar fiercely and shouted inwardly.
'GM!'
[35 minutes until dawn. Position: 9m underground.]
'Fucking idiot. Can't even time it right.'
He synced somewhat with X's prepared moves.
Now it was time for the new character to enter.
Kwaaaang!
The high-speed skill barrage ended, and the two—or one—parted with distance.
"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"
"Waaaaah! Company agent! Take that bastard out quick!"
The survivors chanted for X's execution.
Ju Gonghyuk nodded and advanced on X step by step.
He dramatically spread his wings and gathered pointless orbs of light in his hand.
'Hurry! Come on already!'
X slowly built tension, retreating while sharpening his demonic wings toward Ju Gonghyuk.
Weapons aimed, the tension peaked.
It peaked...
And they circled each other.
Two laps.
"What the? They were in the thick of it."
"Even that looks like masters reading for openings."
"Don't they seem more injured than expected? Something feels off."
Ju Gonghyuk had no retort to the murmurs.
'Damn, atmosphere's getting weird. Gotta do something.'
Timing gone awkward.
As he prepared Black Feather Flying Daggers out of desperation.
The GM message appeared.
[High-energy reaction detected 3m underground! Evade immediately!]
Psssh!
The stone floor right in front of Ju Gonghyuk melted from heat.
Arc discharges crackled from the hole.
A hunter crawled up from the molten floor.
"Finally here, huh."
Ju Gonghyuk muttered with a weary face.
The one emerging from the hole mumbled with half his face melting off.
"Ju□hyuk."
He slowly raised his gun barrel.
"We... will kill you."
The future man D finally appeared.
Sighing at the sight, Ju Gonghyuk said.
"You know? Your buddy B snagged best supporting actor on the 3rd floor."
Ju Gonghyuk raised the white lion-etched Hontar.
"You're not even in the running, asshole."
"Ah, scripting's a pain."
X crossed his left-hand magic sword and right-hand spear.
D stood awkwardly between them.