Ending Maker Chapter 82
Ending Maker Chapter 82
Chapter 27 - The Kaplan Effect #3
'It's not Kaplan's fault.'
Kaplan's ability (?) was to attract rare monsters like rares and nameds, not to create them.
In other words, it drew in the rare and named monsters that were already scattered throughout the field from the start—it didn't strengthen ordinary monsters into rares or nameds.
'It was there from the beginning.'
The named Najarus had existed beneath Endymion from the start, and that was why this had happened.
'So it's not Kaplan's fault!'
But, but still.
"It's coming!"
Cordelia shouted like a thunderclap, and Yuder focused on the battle before him.
From behind him, he heard Kaplan shrieking something in startled terror.
"Named Najarus."
"Karakula. Kara and Kula."
"A rare with two in one body."
"As a named, it can split and has special abilities!"
That was as far as they got.
Karakula fully revealed itself from the darkness.
Atop the lower body of a gigantic monstrous serpent were attached the naked upper bodies of a man and a woman, both of them utterly fiendish in appearance, as befitted monsters of Hell.
"Kaha—!"
The male monster holding a spear and shield—Kula—opened its mouth wide and spewed fire.
As Yuder and Cordelia split to either side to avoid the flames that shot out in a straight line, the woman holding a staff—Kara—chanted a spell as if she had been waiting for exactly that.
"Metamorphosis!"
Fwah—!
In an instant, a tremendous light swallowed up all the darkness of the underground.
Yuder and Cordelia, who knew Karakula's patterns, closed their eyes just before the light burst and avoided losing their sight, but either way, they had no choice but to momentarily lose track of Karakula.
So Yuder strained his ears.
He tried to grasp Karakula's movements through sound.
"Aack! My eyes! My eyes!"
But it wasn't easy. Because behind him, Kaplan was screaming and rolling around on the floor.
Boom!
A thunderous sound erupted.
It was in front.
At the same time, he felt killing intent. The qi sense that had been sharply honed since opening the third gate of the Nine Heavens Nine Gates filled the gap left by his hearing and sight.
His eyes were closed, but through the darkness, Karakula—more precisely, the silhouette of Kara, one of the two Karakulas that had split—seemed to be drawn before him.
SWISH—!
A sharp attack pierced the empty air.
As if they had coordinated it in advance, Yuder evaded the attack with the minimum possible movement at exactly the right moment, then opened his eyes and clenched his teeth. The situation he had anticipated was unfolding before him.
'Cordelia!'
What stood before his eyes was Cordelia.
More precisely, it was Cordelia as transformed into by Kara.
Transformation—the special ability of the named Najarus.
And it wasn't just a transformation that merely copied an outward appearance.
These creatures, who could peer into their opponent's memories and mind through the power of the horns sprouting from their foreheads, could manifest an ideal form that was more real than the real thing.
'What they transform into is basically a lover or comrade on the scene.'
In the game, honestly, it wasn't that impressive an ability, but in reality, it was clearly different.
"Yuder."
It was Cordelia's voice.
Moreover, the Cordelia before his eyes had wet hair.
It seemed she had manifested the appearance from when they had bathed under the moonlight to lure the Fall Fairies.
"Ugh."
The image of Cordelia that Yuder himself thought was most beautiful.
It felt as if his innermost thoughts had been exposed, and a wave of embarrassment surged over him.
"Yuder, let's play. Okay?"
Speaking in a manner just like Cordelia's, Kara clung to Yuder.
The approach left him completely open, but Yuder hesitated just before throwing his punch.
'Damn it!'
He knew in his head that she wasn't Cordelia.
But it was still Cordelia’s face and voice. Just the thought of hitting her made him instinctively recoil, and he hesitated at the decisive moment.
Naturally, his striking point shifted or his attack speed slowed, and Kara exploited that opening.
"Are you going to hit Cordelia?"
Kara, who had created magical blades that wove through the air, tilted her head as she spoke, and Yuder clenched his teeth again.
He dodged the magical blades surging in to butcher him with the Twenty-Four Gale Steps and charged.
'Whirlwind!'
The seven whirlwinds surrounding Yuder suddenly blasted forward, violently shoving aside the magical blades. For a moment, they opened a path between Yuder and Kara.
'Gale!'
Yuder charged. He closed the distance in an instant and tried to drive a Holy Cross thrust into Kara's abdomen.
But it was too much.
Once again, he hesitated just before the attack.
"I don't like pain!"
Kara’s shout in Cordelia’s voice threw off his attack, and that brief opening was enough for her.
The monster of Hell dodged Yuder's fist, then breathed directly onto Yuder at close range.
"So good."
Along with the sweet words, poison seeped into Yuder's body.
Yuder hurriedly recited the Nine Heavens Nine Gates incantation and activated the energy throughout his body.
Yuder’s energy, pure and clear enough to be called the finest under heaven without exaggeration, did not merely drive out the poison—it purified it outright.
"Hah!"
With a shout, Yuder launched another attack, and Kara hastily retreated to dodge Yuder's assault.
With Yuder's attacks having lost their usual sharpness, he could do nothing to Kara.
'This can't go on.'
She was a tougher opponent than he had thought.
Even though it was only an outward appearance, he kept reacting.
'What about Cordelia?'
Even Yuder himself, who excelled at close combat, was struggling this much. Naturally, he couldn't help but worry about Cordelia.
Despite being in the middle of battle, Yuder briefly diverted his gaze to the side, and he could see. No—he ended up seeing.
"So good!"
It was the real Cordelia, not Kara.
She laughed gleefully as she relentlessly drove Kula back.
"Get hit more! Get hit more!"
A storm of magic raged.
More than ten magic orbs pummeled Kula, and Cordelia clenched her fist. As if that wasn't enough, she charged at Kula and shouted.
"Die! Yuder!"
"Hey!"
The real Yuder shouted, but Cordelia paid no mind.
It looked exactly like Yuder, but it wasn't Yuder. How wonderful was that?
'I don't have to hold back!'
She would hit with full power.
She could hit with the genuine intent to kill.
"This is for Hong Yu-hui!"
Strength!
Strength!
Smite!
Smite!
Thanks to the spell echo, the strength enhancement and smite spells activated in succession.
Cordelia's fist struck Kula's abdomen with terrifying precision, and the intense impact made Kula even vomit blood.
"This is for Yellow Storm!"
Cordelia's spinning kick exploded.
And it wasn't just any spinning kick—it was an attack that brought her heel down on Kula's neck like a guillotine.
And this time, too, Smite had been applied.
Thud!
Kula's head slammed into the floor. But Cordelia didn't stop.
"This is for Cordelia...!"
She stomped on Kula's back, though whether it was just his imagination or actually the case, it seemed a little weaker than the previous two attacks.
"Die! Die! Die!"
Either way, Cordelia repeated her lethal attacks without a shred of hesitation, and Kula groaned in agony.
"Hey! That's too much!"
It was just then that Yuder shouted.
"Huh?!"
A magic orb fired by Cordelia came flying at terrifying speed. He rolled on the floor and barely dodged the attack, and Cordelia said with a nonchalant face.
"Oh, I thought you were a mob."
Since he looked exactly like the Kula she was currently stomping on, after all.
Cordelia focused on attacking Kula again, Yuder trembled with fury, and Kara, who had been staring blankly at this whole spectacle without realizing it, spoke with Cordelia's face.
"Uh... she's your fiancée, right?"
Without affirming or denying it, Yuder rose indignantly and lunged at Kara.
But Kara did not engage Yuder. Because Kula's condition was too severe.
"Reunion!"
As Kara shouted loudly, a tremendous light burst forth again, and Yuder hastily closed his eyes to prevent losing his sight.
"Aack! My eyes! My eyes!"
Listening to Kaplan's screams, Yuder expanded his qi sense. He felt Cordelia approaching him.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm not okay."
"What? Did you get hit? When they split, they get weaker, you know."
"No, it's not that I got hit."
Because of a certain someone, his heart was.
But Yuder swallowed the words he wanted to say and looked forward again.
The named Najarus, Karakula.
But it was quite different from before. Unlike Kara, who was unharmed, Kula was covered in blood from head to toe.
"Wow, you barely even touched it. You really suck at fighting."
Yuder began trembling again at Cordelia's words, but soon calmed his mind. No—he loaded his fist with his blazing fury.
"I'll take Kula."
Because, detestably enough, they were still in their transformed states.
It was a strange thing to say, but if it was himself, Yuder could hit without hesitation. But Cordelia objected.
"Huh? You're telling me to hit Cordelia? That's a bit difficult..."
"...Then let's both just hit Yuder."
"Yeah, yeah, that sounds good."
Cordelia grinned brightly and used the spell echo to instantly create more than ten magic orbs, while Yuder kicked off the ground.
"Gale!"
It was truly a charge of fury.
The Najarus, a monster of Hell, was by no means an easy opponent, but Yuder and Cordelia had leveled up considerably from defeating powerful enemies at a rapid pace.
Moreover, the combination of the Heavenly Martial Body and the Nine Heavens Nine Gates was truly like cheating.
WHOOSH!
The true essence of the Twenty-Four Gale Steps lay in the Whirlwind and the Gale.
It was not simply a footwork technique as fast as the wind. The golden whirlwind rose up, not only blocking enemy attacks but also controlling the opponent's movements.
"Die!"
Kula spewed fire, and Kara launched magical blades.
But none of it could harm Yuder. The whirlwind pushed aside the magical blades, and the gale twisted the trajectory of the flames.
The magic orbs Cordelia fired made it impossible for Karakula to focus on attacking any further.
'Don't drag this out.'
As Cordelia had said, Kara and Kula weakened when they split.
But right now, they were weak even in their combined state. Because Kula's injuries were extreme.
The reason they had merged, and the reason they were pouring out ranged attacks instead of engaging in close combat, was all to buy time for Kula to recover.
So he wouldn't give them time.
'What I pour out is the strongest blow.'
Black Dragon Emerges.
No.
A simple Black Dragon Emerges wasn't enough.
"Yuder!"
Cordelia shouted, and Yuder read the wind.
Lightly dodging Kara's magical blade flying at his head with just a tilt of his head, he stepped on the empty air, on the wind.
Sliding forward as if gliding, he leaped toward Karakula and formed a golden vortex in his left hand.
WHOOSH!
The wind pulled at Kula.
Kara tried to strike Yuder, but Cordelia reacted immediately.
"O Evil Eye of Paralysis!"
The power that the White Snake of Frost Anvil had possessed.
As a blue gleam flared fiercely from Cordelia's eyes, not only Kara but even Kula's movements were momentarily sealed.
"Now!"
Yuder drew back his fist.
He concentrated holy fighting spirit into his fist.
The opponent was a monster of Hell.
So the techniques of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, which possessed the holy attribute, were no different from poison to them.
But a Holy Cross thrust wasn't enough.
Its power was too weak.
So he would add more power.
He would apply the Nine Heavens Nine Gates incantation to strengthen the Holy Cross thrust!
Nine Heavens Nine Gates, Modified.
Black Dragon Cross Strike!
The golden holy fighting spirit was dyed pitch black. From his extended fist, a massive jet-black cross erupted and crushed down upon Kara and Kula.
CRUNCH!
The ground shattered. The giant serpent's lower body was crushed in an instant.
And then, the finale.
There was still one blow left.
Using the recoil from the jet-black cross's release, Yuder spun in the air and came crashing down like lightning, unleashing a single kick.
His heel, laden with the black dragon's energy, smashed Kula's head to pieces.
Boom!
The transformation was undone. The moment Kula died, Kara, whose body was connected to his, also met her end, and as the monster of Hell died, the surrounding air momentarily trembled, just as it had when Demonic Humans died.
"Phew."
Letting out a long breath, Yuder looked down at Karakula as it gradually turned to ash.
Rings of pure white light rose in succession around Yuder's chest.
And then Cordelia's voice reached him.
"Whoa, that new technique is insane. Did you just make it?"
She came trotting over and asked with her eyes sparkling.
The real Cordelia.
The real one, not the fake.
"Hah."
"Huh? Why are you sighing? You took it down so well."
She tilted her head back and forth as she asked, and that sight was adorable again.
"...It's severe."
"Huh? What is? Did you get poisoned or something? Want me to cast Recovery?"
"No, nothing."
"What do you mean, nothing? If you have something to say, say it. Are you sulking because I said you suck at fighting?"
At Cordelia's question, Yuder pressed his lips shut for a moment, then scratched the back of his head and spoke.
"No, it's just."
"Just what."
"It's too..."
"Ah! I got it! You're sulking because I hit you without any hesitation, right? Right? Isn't that right?"
"Ahem, ahem."
At Yuder's fake cough, Cordelia giggled, then shrugged her shoulders and said.
"But it was so obvious, you know."
"Obvious?"
"That it was fake. It's like, how should I put it. I could instinctively tell, 'This isn't Yuder!' The smell was different too."
"Smell?"
"Yeah, it smelled different from you."
At Cordelia's explanation, Yuder furrowed his brow.
Instinctive intuition and smell.
It was truly a very Cordelia-like thing to say.
"Indeed, are you an actual beast?"
"Wanna die?"
As Cordelia growled, Yuder let out a fake cough. Either way, hearing her explanation had put his mind somewhat at ease.
"Anyway, you really couldn't even touch it. How adorable. You couldn't do anything because it was my face?"
"I'm a gentleman, after all."
"Bullshit."
Cordelia spat out the curse, but her face was beaming. Either way, she seemed pleased with Yuder's behavior.
"Anyway, we caught it."
"We did. I think we've really gotten stronger."
When he thought about it, it was only natural. Every enemy they had defeated on the way here had been much higher-level than Yuder or Cordelia.
Thanks to that, Yuder and Cordelia had been able to grow stronger at an unprecedented pace.
"But Yuder, are we going to keep going with Kaplan from now on?"
Cordelia looked at Kaplan, who was unconscious beneath a pillar some distance away, and spoke quietly. Yuder nodded.
"We should. As you know, Kaplan's ability isn't about creating named monsters. It draws in ones that already exist. Even if we'd come without Kaplan, we probably would have fought the named Najarus."
"Hmm... if you say so, then that's how it is."
"...Lately, it seems like you're not thinking at all?"
"Because I have Yuder Wiki."
Cordelia puffed out her chest and declared this proudly, then turned toward Karakula, which had been reduced entirely to ash except for its horn—the only thing that could count as a drop item—and continued.
"So we keep going together?"
"We should. If we're going to run into rare mobs anyway, using Kaplan's detection ability is much more beneficial."
"That's a relief."
"Huh?"
"No, I just thought Kaplan would be really miserable if we left him behind."
"Maybe bringing him along is even more miserable."
First Lacto, and now a Najarus had appeared.
There was no telling how many more demons or monsters were hidden beneath Endymion.
"Well... let's think about that as we go. We have to save Lena too. And Kaplan came all the way to the Wild Lands, so he must have made his own resolve."
"Yeah."
Yuder nodded and picked up the Najarus horn that Karakula had dropped.
Depending on how it was processed, it was an excellent item that could allow one to peer into another person's memories.
'The hard work was worth it.'
The experience was decent too.
Yuder grinned and said to Cordelia.
"Let's wake Kaplan up and move. There might be things coming after hearing the sounds of the fight."
"Yessir!"
Cordelia, who even added a military-style salute, trotted over to where Kaplan was, and Yuder, watching her back, gazed beyond the darkness from which Karakula had emerged.
Lacto and the named Najarus, Karakula.
Why were they situated here?
Who had summoned them?
'Lena.'
The hero of Hero Legend 1 who met her death in Endymion.
Yuder turned back toward Cordelia. He stepped forward to help her as she grunted and tugged at Kaplan.
* * *
At the same time, in different places.
While Yuder and Cordelia were moving with the unconscious Kaplan, Gale and Adelia were heading toward the village of the Gentle Snow Breeze tribe.
But the two of them were in a slightly different position than usual.
"Ahem, are you not uncomfortable?"
"I'm fine. What about you, Lord Gale?"
"I'm fine as well."
Because the stag that Red Gale had provided was only one.
Gale, seated in front, stared straight ahead with a rigidly stiff posture, and Adelia, her face buried against Gale's back, pursed her lips and thought.
'This can't be helped.'
The Wild Lands were unspeakably cold. They had no choice but to rely on each other's body heat.
Moreover, wouldn't it be a disaster if she fell off the stag?
'Right, that's it. It's a perfectly rational and valid reason.'
Having convinced herself, Adelia pursed her lips again and hugged Gale's waist a little more tightly.
And in yet another place.
Below the border.
Within the territory of the Saelun Kingdom.
It was also where a man stood who still had no idea that Yuder and Cordelia, much less Gale and Adelia, had already crossed the border.
"For men's stamina, there's nothing like this. One bottle of this and, well, it's just..."
As the merchant continued his passionate explanation, even wriggling his body, Count Chase narrowed his eyes.
What lay before him was a special potion made from processed giant eel, said to be caught only in the north of the Saelun Kingdom.
"This is a secret, but my brother-in-law took this and, well, twins..."
"Hm."
As Count Chase's eyes narrowed further, the merchant, who had been chattering away excitedly, clamped his mouth shut.
He had gotten carried away by his sales pitch, but the merchant suddenly found Count Chase’s presence intimidating.
A tall, well-built frame that made it impossible to even imagine he was a mage.
Fearsome eyes and a serious expression that seemed capable of killing one or two people with a glare alone.
"...Give me."
"Pardon?"
"Give me two."
"Two?"
"Two."
Not one, but two.
Because one might not be enough.
"Thank you! I'll wrap them up right away!"
"Hm."
Count Chase nodded to the merchant, who had begun wrapping, and fell into thought for a moment.
He was worried about the whereabouts of Yuder and Cordelia, as well as Gale and Adelia, but something else occupied his thoughts at the moment.
'I'll need to buy a new bag.'
Because the bag he had brought had somehow become completely full.
Count Chase nodded slowly and turned his gaze to the other items on the display shelf.
After all, he couldn't put just two measly potion bottles into a newly bought bag.
"What's that?"
"Ah, regarding this item..."
The merchant's explanation continued, and on Count Chase's face as he listened attentively with a serious expression, a small but satisfied smile appeared.