Sacrificial Creatures
Then how about support from a distance?
While she lowered the sword she had been holding, Gabriel asked as she pulled out the Archangel’s bow.
“Don’t do that either. Don’t support with magic either. I’ll deal with all of them alone.”
At the same time he spoke to Gabriel, Ji-ho also told Silvia, Kim Da-gyeom, Griffith, Jason, and the others who were preparing magic.
The Dragon Lord and the other Archangels showed no intention of intervening.
“As expected, Gabriel’s favorite guy. Quite manly, huh?”
Raphael smiled warmly and nodded as he praised Ji-ho for declaring he would face eleven enemies alone.
His companions and the Saint pulled back, leaving a safe distance so they wouldn’t get caught in the fight.
Those born mere days ago, destined to become sacrifices—tragic existences in the forms of teenagers and girls in their late teens—drew their swords and charged at Ji-ho.
Ora blades embedded in their swords began to compress and intensify. Having absorbed life energy from ten thousand people to become stronger, their ora blades emanated a powerful aura of vitality.
“Similar to the Life-Draining Method in martial arts novels… but no addiction, I guess.”
Recalling the Life-Draining Method from the martial arts novels he had read on Earth, Ji-ho assumed a fighting stance. The eleven blessed by the Saint each possessed a power that transcended the Grand Sword Master realm.
It was an absolutely terrifying blessing. It was a shame, too—if they had received it, they might have been able to fell the Demon King with ease.
Suppressing his regret, Ji-ho focused on the battle. The first wave was the immense spiritual energy erupting from the ora blades of the eleven swordsmen, slamming toward him like a storm.
Without a moment of hesitation, Ji-ho swung his sword lightly and pulled up the energy circulating in his body to meet the gale-like pressure and overwhelming force.
As the ancient hero wielding the Archangel’s sword, a mere light swing was enough to generate a gale that could bisect even orihalcum like a head of cabbage.
The gale confronting the storm-like spiritual energy was more than strong enough.
KWAKWAKWAK—!
The battle had shifted from a clash of momentum to one of pure spiritual energy. The eleven blessed by the Saint were unleashing an overwhelming torrent of power.
Genius swordsmen who had sacrificed most of their life force and absorbed the life of one hundred thousand people was only natural.
Yet Ji-ho was not weak enough to be pushed back by that much energy. Even though strengthened by the Saint’s blessing, he began to push the eleven teenagers and girls back toward their own side.
The boys and girls did not panic. They reached out with their left hands toward Ji-ho.
“MAXIMIZE RAY OF LIGHT.”
A nine-circle Ray of Light, maximized by an even stronger nine-circle spell, erupted from their left hands and flew straight toward him.
“They were using magic like that? Simple and crude. Just tattoo the magic circle on their bodies and chant the activation words. Inefficient as hell, but it works.”
Now it made sense. Those who wielded magic had simply inked the magic circle onto their skin and triggered it with words. It looked similar to using magic tools, but the tattoo was on the body itself and they used their own spiritual energy as the catalyst instead of external mana.
Eleven nine-circle spells of ten-circle mastery level power slammed toward Ji-ho. He blocked them with the power of the ring on his left hand.
“Andvari’s Ring!”
At the moment he mentally called the name of the sacred ring, Andvari’s power responded to his command and erupted in radiant light.
The nine-circle spells vanished without a trace.
The ability of Andvari’s Ring—one of the sacred treasures—to neutralize different types of energy was exactly that. Now that the user was Ji-ho, a powerful mage, the magic was completely nullified. If it had been true Demon King-level magic, the ring would have merely weakened it.
The ring’s power to neutralize even ora blade waves of other attack types was simply too useful to mention.
Especially since its neutralizing force grew stronger the stronger the user was. Ji-ho was the perfect user.
When the magic failed to work, the eleven teenagers and girls switched to close combat.
They charged in a wave, swinging their ora-compressed swords with desperate force. Ji-ho calmly deflected their attacks and countered.
KWUNG— KWUNG— KWUNG—
Under the beautiful, quiet moonlight, Ji-ho blocked every sword strike from the eleven teenagers and girls while simultaneously launching counterattacks, driving the enemies back.
His companions and the Saint watched the exchange with glaring eyes at each other.
But they had been strengthened by the Saint’s blessing. If Ji-ho defeated the Saint, the blessings would vanish—meaning they would have interfered with his fight in vain.
Seeing a chance to test his current power in real combat, Ji-ho allowed the teenagers and girls to match him with sword techniques. He fully unleashed everything he possessed.
Their sword trajectories were so fast his eyes could barely track them, and the explosions of force when blades collided shook the ground, creating absolute chaos around them.
The duel between Ji-ho and the eleven had already lasted so long that counting the exchanges was meaningless. They fought without distraction, only focused on offense and defense.
“Not bad at all. The swordsmanship is quite decent.”
Although they were hastily trained sacrifices, they lacked bizarre techniques, but their basic swordsmanship was solid.
In reality they had only trained for four hours, but Kim Jae-hyun had activated them after dozens of times the duration, forcing them to repeat the basic movements in their dreams until they were ingrained.
As geniuses at swordsmanship, they mastered the basics quickly. Thanks to that, they could wield proper sword techniques—fast and powerful enough to look like real swordsmen.
“But it’s sloppy.”
Still, basic was basic. Ji-ho, who had accumulated countless experiences, could never compare.
In fact, it was an insult to be measured against such rudimentary swordsmanship.
KWAAAANG—!
Ji-ho’s sword, which had been only parrying, now swung with full force, unleashing a massive pressure that threatened to crush the teenagers and girls’ bodies. They hastily raised their own spiritual energy and formed ora barriers, but even when hit, they could only retreat.
“Not even a bruise… They’re surprisingly tough.”
Ji-ho truly felt that the eleven teenagers and girls made excellent training partners. Yet he wondered about their strength level.
“Is it even necessary to create such mediocre strong people?”
He could not understand why Kim Jae-hyun would create opponents he himself could never beat. Ji-ho knew the same thing.
But he would think about that later.
“Now that I’ve played enough, let’s finish this.”
His killing intent flared as he finally struck to kill. First, he severed the right arm of the teenage boy closest to him.
PUHWAHAK—!
Blood sprayed as the arm was cut off, yet the boy’s face showed no pain. The sword had not left an ora mark; it had been Ji-ho’s will made into a blade.
“Die. MAXIMIZE RAY OF LIGHT.”
With the severed arm gone, the boy still focused only on killing Ji-ho rather than healing. The Saint was watching calmly, arms crossed, as if this was merely a simple injury she could heal at any time.
“More pitiful than experimental rats in a lab.”
Ji-ho dodged the ray of light and moved beside the boy, slicing his throat in one clean stroke.
PUHWAK—!
Unlike the previous cut, the ora blade left no blood spray; the boy’s head rolled across the ground.
Ten more teenagers and girls attacked, but Ji-ho moved with perfect, fluid steps that left no openings. His eyes flashed, and his sword blurred in a terrifyingly fast dance.
PUK— PUK—
Ten heads rolled and bodies collapsed. All eleven had fallen.
“You could have finished them quickly, yet you played around for so long. How childish.”
The Saint—Lucretia—stared at him with a mocking smile, silver hair fluttering in the wind.
Ji-ho answered without hesitation.
“I expected to hear ‘pervert’ from a lewd girl marinated in cum. What kind of perversion is that? You could have healed them, yet you just gave them a blessing and did nothing? You planned to kill them with my own hands from the start.”
“Perverted, you say? Such harsh words for a woman who only follows orders. But you’re right. If they were all destined to die in your hands, then yes. You don’t know, but earlier they slaughtered countless humans and angels across the land. That’s why they were called monsters. Now that they are all dead in your hands, people will probably worship you wherever you go—if you survive me here.”
Lucretia’s words made Ji-ho frown. It felt as if Kim Jae-hyun was trying to turn him into a hero she would adore, yet he was still being toyed with.
When she said she intended to kill him, he finally looked at her in confusion.
“You think you can beat me? A Saint is amazing, but I didn’t think your pure combat power would be higher than mine.”
Griffith and Jason, who had known her for a long time, agreed. Although her holy power had multiplied dozens of times, she had never learned holy magic or martial arts. Only simple, low-level power was available to her.
She was indeed a formidable opponent, but certainly not one Ji-ho would lose to.
Then what was she so confident about?
“I will show you. The new power I obtained. And, Ancient Hero Yu Ji-ho, I will kill you here if possible.”
The Saint who loved the Demon King declared she would block the hero’s party to protect him.