Chapter 262: Fair and Square
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 262: Fair and Square
In truth, explorers who reach the Palladium Grade possess physical durability that transcends humanity when they utilize their full power.
Even if they are hurled by immense force and slammed into a wall at dozens of kilometers per hour, they might feel a slight ache, but broken bones or even common bruises are rare.
Of course, this isn't simply because a large amount of mana has accumulated in their bodies, but because they consume a vast amount of that mana specifically to protect themselves.
The amount of mana required to shield one's body from damage is staggering. It is an instinctive behavioral mechanism to prioritize one's own safety over killing the opponent.
Furthermore, living creatures are fundamentally wired not to ram themselves into solid rock at full speed. Doing so causes physical damage and triggers a loss of mana.
Occasionally, there are monsters in the forest that smash through trees with their bodies to chase prey quickly. However, placing a large, hard stone mountain in one's flight path consumes hundreds, if not thousands, of times more mana than bursting through a soft tree trunk a few dozen centimeters thick with a reinforced body.
While Adelaide Margarita, an Orichalcum-grade explorer, was hopping like a rabbit across the peaks of stone mountains hundreds of meters apart, our Yoo Eon was boring a straight tunnel through the base of those very mountains at the speed of sound.
—Rumble...
"What is that sound?"
—Whistle...
Up here, on this terrain composed of basalt riddled with wind holes, the fierce gusts inevitably produced a cacophony that sounded like flutes.
To Adelaide, who was leaping hundreds of meters at a time toward the south with the superhuman leg strength of an Orichalcum-grade explorer, it was a distracting noise.
"Wait, this sound is..."
Still, rank does not lie. Even with countless noises mixing within a one-kilometer radius, her marvelous hearing captured a single sound five kilometers away that demanded attention.
—Craaaaash!!
"Underground...? What on earth is..."
Before she could finish her sentence, a massive stone mountain forming a ridge five kilometers away split in half. It collapsed, spewing thick black dust and mist.
"What in the—"
Yoo Eon, moving slightly faster than Mach 3, arrived before Adelaide exactly 4.27 seconds after he was caught in her sight amidst the pulverizing landslide.
For someone of the Orichalcum Grade, that brief window of time was enough to drink a cup of tea, wash their face, and leisurely prepare for battle.
However, the human brain works tirelessly to distinguish between the sensible and the nonsensical. It was difficult for her to fathom that the opponent of her sparring match was the one flying toward her by collapsing a stone mountain hundreds of meters thick with a hardness of 7.
—BOOM!!
A left wing, shrouded in the aura of a Grand Swordmaster, struck Adelaide faster than sound. Showing a high-angle turn of nearly 140 degrees, it began to pursue her as she was sent flying into the distance.
"Gah...!!"
A massive amount of force pierced through the thick mana armor she had layered to maintain her physical form. The air in her lungs was forced out in an instant; Adelaide’s vision flickered as her breathing became ragged.
I dropped my sword...!
But that wasn't a major problem. One of her skills, 'Ownership Imprint,' allowed her to pull items she had lost back into her grasp.
The sword that had been flung away immediately returned to Adelaide's hand. Circulating mana through her body to steady her breath and clear her vision, Adelaide tilted her chin toward the sky.
"What—"
Before she could finish, hundreds of mana disintegration rays poured from the heavens. Considering that every single one was a high-output attack with monstrous power, even an Orichalcum-grade explorer like her couldn't withstand them for long.
Using the skill 'Mirror Cast,' she deflected the projectile light beams aimed at her. She quickly assessed the surrounding terrain and skillfully moved into concealment.
The trajectories varied slightly, but since they were pouring from above, she assumed Yoo Eon was in the sky. She carved a small hole in the solid stone mountain to hide her body, intending to analyze the situation—but then.
—Bang! Boom!!
The mountain began to vibrate with a tremendous roar. Cracks began to spiderweb across the rock wall of her hiding spot as if an earthquake had struck. Realizing she couldn't stay there, Adelaide concentrated her mana into a single point and thrust her hand toward the sky.
—Flash!!
Half of the stone mountain, which was made of basalt and had no mining value, collapsed instantly as if rigged with explosives. The attack Adelaide unleashed soared like a pillar of light, splitting the mountain in two. As she rose through the searing heat and surveyed her surroundings—
What in the world is this...!
The sky was black with Evil Eyes. But they were slightly different from the ones she knew. These were special entities—more hideous, more ominous, and possessing far more powerful mana.
The moment Adelaide was exposed to the air, the largest Evil Eye high in the sky, composed of hundreds of compound eyes, spotted her.
The relatively small, likely standard-sized Evil Eyes that had been wandering and poking around the area suddenly surged into the sky in unison. They began to charge toward Adelaide, casting paralysis magic as they came.
—Boom!!!
There were two types of Evil Eyes modified and strengthened by Yoo Eon's mana and skills. One was modified to fire high-power beams from a distance. The other was designed to extremely enhance its paralysis attack, get close, and detonate explosives embedded within its body.
Damn, it's poison...!
The modified Evil Eyes exploded with a deafening roar, scattering toxic gas and flammable liquid, setting the area ablaze and contaminating the air.
If she hadn't blocked the paralysis attacks with her skills, her mana would have been depleted in an instant by the suicide attacks of those creatures exploding right in front of her.
Even amidst this, Yoo Eon himself was nowhere to be seen. Adelaide bit her lip and furrowed her brow.
To use such a pathetic way of fighting...!
She had vastly underestimated Yoo Eon. Since becoming the combat proxy for the Guild Headquarters, most of Adelaide Margarita's opponents had been human. Usually, when dealing with an Orichalcum-grade explorer, even villains preferred to talk first.
Unlike Adelaide, for whom encounter and negotiation came before the start of battle, Yoo Eon—whose primary prey were monsters—was the incarnation of inhumanity, a man for whom even vocal cords were of secondary importance in combat.
"Haa...!"
Drawing up her mana, Adelaide soared toward the sky. Bright orange wings, like flickering flames, materialized behind her back.
The sword in her hand was imbued with a brilliant radiance that exuded an overwhelming pressure, and the mana armor surrounding her body maintained an elegant form, adding a touch of beauty to her power.
She looked like an executioner descended from the heavens to punish the wicked. With a single horizontal swing of her sword, a wave of aura capable of tearing through space erupted, bursting the Evil Eyes that blanketed the sky.
As Adelaide surged upward, fully entering her combat state, something other than an Evil Eye lunged into her personal space.
—Shreeeeek!!
A monster with the head and wings of a hawk and the body of a lion, covered in dark fur. A Synthetic Horus charged at Adelaide at the speed of sound, leading with aura-shrouded claws, while its mouth spewed venomous spiderwebs designed to paralyze the nervous system.
"Did you think something like that would work on me—!!"
Adelaide thrust her sword in response. A streak of flash erupted from the glowing blade, but the Horus blinked its eight eyes as if it knew the future, dodging the attack with fluid grace. It found the optimal path and swung its claws at Adelaide.
—Thud!!!
A downward strike. Her full-body mana armor effectively blocked the damage, preventing physical injury, but the sheer momentum remained, slamming Adelaide into the ground.
—Sss...
She had been driven three meters deep into the solid rock. After quickly reorienting herself and rising to the surface, the air was thick with dust from the shattered stone. Taking advantage of the obscured vision, a devastating wave of aura surged toward her.
—Clang!! Boom!!!!
Adelaide barely parried the blow. As the dust settled from the impact of aura meeting aura, the opponent who had launched the strike became visible.
"Come at me, Aven!"
But it wasn't Yoo Eon. It was a knight made of meat, constructed from ultra-high-compression troll muscle, housing the replicated mana core of the Knight Lord Hersha. Hundreds of eyeballs embedded all over its body shifted and moved, scanning Adelaide as if stripping her bare.
"What is this monstrosity...?!"
The meat knight, holding a greatsword with both hands at chest level, charged at Adelaide. It was so heavy that the rocky ground was crushed wherever its feet touched.
The moment Adelaide, her brow deeply furrowed, took a stance to counter the meat knight—
—Rumble...!!
She felt the ground shake, and simultaneously, a pitch-black dragon erupted from the spot where she stood. From within the powerful maw of a Megido Serpent designed to burrow and crawl, thousands of aura-shrouded teeth pressed in from both sides, tearing and piercing through her mana armor.
"Urgh...!!"
—Flash!!
She instantly incinerated a portion of her mana, converting it into ultra-high-heat radiance. Immense heat erupted from her body. As the Megido Serpent's maw melted away and Adelaide was freed from the pressure—
—Boom!!
The Horus flew in again, slamming her back into the ground. But the meat knight's bluff would no longer work.
Adelaide performed an emergency escape into the sky, carving out the ground in a crescent shape.
And as she escaped the danger zone, hundreds of subsonic guided missiles flew in from three kilometers away, homing in on her.
When she neutralized one attack, another followed. When she anticipated the next move and prepared a countermeasure, an unexpected assault surged in.
Every single one of those attacks possessed a catastrophic power capable of killing an average Cobalt-grade explorer in a single hit. And no matter how many she cut down, these immortal monsters healed themselves and attacked again. Even with the overflowing mana of an Orichalcum-grade explorer, it was a difficult situation to sustain for long.
"Dammit...!! Aven—!!! Come out!! Fight me fair and square—!!!"
Stop.
At her shout, the dozen or so Stratum Lord-class synthetic monsters surrounding her ceased their movements.
"Is the extent of your talent merely commanding summons...!!! How utterly pathetic—!!"
Adelaide's voice rang out clearly. Her shout echoed across the entire stone mountain region, half of which had already been pulverized.
Of course, a moment later, the coordinated attack of the synthetic monsters resumed.
"Ah!! Seriously—!!!"