Chapter 222: I’ll Have to Work Hard
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 222: I’ll Have to Work Hard
“This is bad...!”
Roland, who had positioned himself slightly further from Horus’s nest than Yoo Eon, was struck with horror.
One simply does not fight a Horus when it has eggs. A Horus with something to protect is far more powerful than usual; even the most legendary explorers of the past would usually choose to flee rather than attempt a subjugation.
Yet, unable to withstand Yoo Eon’s stubbornness, the raid had begun. Yoo Eon had even handed over his own Teleportation Artifact, telling Roland to escape alone if things got dangerous.
How was he supposed to stop a man like that?
Rumble—!
But the situation was deteriorating rapidly.
‘The surrounding air has become unstable.’
Just as the silhouette of the Horus taking flight from its nest appeared as small as a speck of dust, the wind—which had been blowing quite fast and strong—suddenly died down. Then, the wind direction abruptly shifted, surging toward the Horus.
He should have realized it then, but the thought was so absurd that he had denied the possibility. To think that an Irregular had appeared in a 50th-floor boss entity.
“Aven—!! Come to me! It’s an emergency escape—!!!”
Roland screamed toward Yoo Eon through the howling winds, but his voice couldn't reach him.
Screeeeeeeech—!!!!!!!!
Because faster than Roland’s cry, the Horus had already reached Yoo Eon.
* * *
Within a hemispherical radius of about 5km centered on the Horus, the air gathered toward the creature in response to its mana. The internal atmospheric pressure spiked to three to eight times the normal level, depending on the distance from the center.
Flight is essentially the act of repeatedly striking the air with wings to gain lift.
The thinner the air, the less lift gained per stroke; conversely, the higher the air pressure, the greater the lift.
The mass of high-pressure gas currently surrounding the Horus’s body was a staggering eight times the standard atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, that powerful compressed air was swirling in a vortex, propelling the Horus’s wings forward.
Boom—!!!!!!!
The massive front talons of the Horus, each nearly 50cm long, lunged straight for Yoo Eon’s heart. Their durability rivaled any rare metal, and the impact of those sharpened stakes colliding at sonic speed was devastating.
Skreeee—!
“Look at this bastard...!”
In that split second, Yoo Eon—having perceived the Horus’s movements through Queen Arachne’s Future Sight—raised his shield to effectively block the strike.
Thump!
Deflecting the talon strike with a near-miraculous display of Hersha’s shield techniques, Yoo Eon spun his body and lashed out at the Horus’s head with his massive tail.
‘The resistance is incredible...!’
Due to the abnormal air pressure, flapping his wings felt foreign. The Horus was already adept at aerial combat in high-pressure environments, but this was Yoo Eon’s first time.
Even his tail swipe failed to deliver its usual impact due to the dense air, its trajectory veering off as it grazed the target.
“You punk... fight fair and square.”
As Amelia’s golden mana core embedded in Yoo Eon’s chest began to vibrate, the heavily compressed air lost its strength and began to dissipate.
High pressure is far more convenient for keeping a massive body airborne. However, as Amelia’s mana surged into the atmosphere and began to shred the magic the Horus had woven, the compressed air unraveled, and the pressure began to return to normal.
Screeeech—!!!!!
The storm supporting the Horus’s wings was dispelled. However, the Horus was still a high-floor boss entity. The air pressure remained higher than usual, proving that Amelia’s mana core hadn't completely neutralized the Horus’s magic.
“Phew, now it feels a bit more familiar.”
Yoo Eon shrouded himself in an aura shaped like blue flames, while the Horus circled him rapidly, gauging the timing for its next strike.
Thanks to Amelia’s magic interference, the Horus’s speed no longer broke the sound barrier as it had before. However, the creature still held the advantage in flight speed.
It was too much for Yoo Eon to chase the Horus through wing-flapping alone; he had to wait for it to come to him.
‘Doesn’t it get dizzy flying like that?’
As the Horus performed acrobatic maneuvers, twisting its body in every direction, it spotted an opening and lunged its talons toward Yoo Eon.
Crack...
Yoo Eon quickly stored his shield and drew out the body of the Megido Serpent from his left fingertips, its massive maw gaping toward the Horus.
K-boom—!!!
But this was the creature known as the Overlord of the Skies. Instantly twisting its flight path, the Horus approached while shredding the Megido Serpent’s scales.
“Haha...! I knew you’d do that...!”
Falling right into Yoo Eon’s trap, the Horus’s legs were instantly paralyzed.
Summoning the Megido Serpent and opening its maw had been a bluff. Yoo Eon hadn't expected the Horus to simply avoid the serpent’s body, which lacked a proper defense system, and fly straight into him.
He had predicted that the Horus would naturally use its talons to tear through the Megido Serpent’s body as it advanced. He had placed Queen Arachne’s potent paralyzing webs between the muscle fibers; the moment the creature attacked, the paralyzing agent seeped rapidly into the thin skin of its front legs.
Crash!!
The Horus instantly lost its primary means of attack. Realizing the creature was still drawing in air to keep its massive bulk afloat, Yoo Eon began to pressure it by releasing Poison Mushroom’s hallucinogenic gas into the air.
Furthermore, he utilized the mana core of the Umbra Valkyrie he had recently consumed, modifying the gas so that anyone touching it would feel a searing pain.
Skreeee! Screeeeeeech—!!!!!!!!!!
The Horus thrashed wildly, unable to even steady its own body.
Grit, crackle...
Finally, Yoo Eon raised his right hand, gripping the Lich’s staff—the original of which he had swallowed—and began to summon hundreds of Evil Eyes.
If the Horus had still been performing its eye-blurring aerial acrobatics, it might have been different, but now it was barely maintaining altitude, practically falling out of the sky.
Hundreds of pupils locked onto the Horus and unleashed a barrage of paralysis attacks. Its body stiffened instantly, its wings stopped, and it began to plummet toward the ground.
“Hup...!”
Yoo Eon prepared a powerful finishing blow to end the Horus’s life. After storing the tattered body of the Megido Serpent, he thrust his sword toward the sky, concentrating all his power into an Aura Blade.
Whoosh!
Intense blue flames enveloped the blade. A catastrophic thrust plunged down from a height of 1.2km.
— — — !!!!!!
The final strike, accompanied by a deafening roar that threatened to tear eardrums, pierced the chest of the falling Horus and slammed it into the earth. The ground inverted, creating a crater as if a meteor had struck.
“Ugyagya.”
Roland, who had been watching from the sidelines with bated breath, was unable to withstand the shockwave due to his light weight and was blown far away.
Clang...
Yoo Eon pulled his sword from the chest of the Horus, which had died without even closing its eyes, and brought out the Megido Serpent’s stomach to store the corpse.
“Bastard, you had too many cheap tricks.”
* * *
“Where did he go?”
After finishing the Horus subjugation, I went looking for Father, but he was nowhere to be found. I did tell him to leave me and run if it looked dangerous. Did he really go back to the 40th floor?
“Oh.”
Actually, that wasn't it. As the ground shattered, Father had been buried alive under the mounds of sand kicked up by the impact.
Wiggle.
“You were hiding well.”
He wasn't exactly the Terminator, but his arm was barely sticking out of the sand. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him out with a shloop. Father spat out enough sand to build a castle and stared at me with a look of pure disbelief.
“Cough... Are you even human?”
“Yes, I’m human.”
The desert-sand-colored mana core that the Horus possessed was now in my hand. It seemed to be the type of mana that controlled wind. I gave Father’s sand-covered face and clothes a quick blast with an air-gun effect, and the sand was shaken right off.
“I can’t believe it. To defeat a Horus like that.”
“I worked very hard.”
A lot had happened inside Iris’s subspace. Because I hadn't been able to fully utilize what I already had, I had temporarily stopped consuming new monsters to focus on mastering my current arsenal.
I realized once again that if used in the right place at the right time, these abilities could produce miraculous results.
“Do I look a bit more reliable now?”
“You’re terrifying, you brat!”
“Haha.”
For now, I should find a decent cave and summon Iris. Just as I had summoned the original Lich on the 20th floor, I might be able to summon the original Horus by sacrificing its mana core.
“Father, are there any caves nearby?”
“There should be one over there.”
Following Father’s guidance, we entered a cave. When I summoned Iris, she appeared with a much more annoyed expression than usual.
“What is it?”
“What do you mean? I caught a Horus.”
“It’s hot.”
“Here.”
When I brought the Frost Core close to her, her expression finally softened. Does this woman get hot easily?
“What should we do? Can we summon the original Horus too?”
“That’s difficult.”
“Eh?”
“Not me. You have to do it.”
She explained that because the Lich was a lower-floor boss entity, she could summon it. But the Horus was a boss from as high as the 50th floor.
“But doesn't Iris have more mana?”
“The type of mana used is different. You have to do it.”
“Then at least tell me how.”
“You can’t do it right away. It’ll take at least a few months to learn.”
“I see.”
Still, I showed the consumed Horus’s mana core to Iris. Perhaps realizing it was a slightly more powerful individual than a typical Horus, she stared at it intently.
“Good job.”
“You actually know how to give a compliment?”
“Yes.”
“Do it more often. It sounds good.”
“It’s hot. Let’s go back to the surface.”
“Yes, yes.”
Iris went back into my stomach. It felt a bit strange, but whatever.
“Come to think of it, didn't you say there were eggs?”
“Ah, right. Should I go grab an egg?”
* * *
“It’s incredibly large.”
“Tell me about it.”
Since it was an egg laid by a Horus roughly the size of an elephant, its size was naturally massive. I didn't know if it had laid it personally, but they called it a Horus egg.
It was shaped like a normal chicken egg, but its height was about the same as Father’s. Around 130cm?
“I’ve never tried storing an egg before.”
“Hmm... Can’t you use your ability?”
“I think I could if I tried, but I’m not sure if it would stay viable.”
Could an egg be stored using my skill? Since the answer to this wasn't available on any search engines, I figured it was better to carry it manually without storing it to preserve its value.
I’d have to wait and see if a real baby Horus would actually hatch from this.
“Father, it won't break on the way, right?”
“It is quite sturdy. You’ll just have to work hard.”
“Hmm.”
I surrounded the egg with a layer of soft fat perfectly fitted to its size, then protected it with a layer of hard bone and exoskeleton.
I was too lazy to climb up to the 51st floor. I didn't forget to move slightly and plant teleport coordinates inside the cave.
“I hope a legendary king doesn't hatch out of this or something.”
I think I’ll need to buy an incubator.