Arte's Aspiration (10)
Ghost Step was a single skill, unlike the Sword King's Swordsmanship with its three stances.
Hyun-soo was curious.
Could this one Ghost Step, which could only be unleashed once, truly surpass the advantages of those three stances?
How many attacks per second could the true Heavenly Spear truly unleash?
Grout's HP is at 61%.
Temporarily, Hyun-soo's body fell under the system's control.
Two true ghosts walked.
Toward the demon in front of them.
Ben vanished first, leaving an afterimage.
Moving at a speed Grout couldn't react to, Ben stabbed his side.
Puuk-!
-43,031 HP
In the midst of intense pain, Grout grew calm.
'Last time, I blocked 10 out of his 12 strikes.'
Grout's reflexes transcended common sense to that degree.
After Ben brushed past, he tried to block Hyun-soo's sword aiming for his back.
But Hyun-soo was one step faster.
Sugaaak-
"……!?"
This speed far surpassed the Ghost Step Hyun-soo had unleashed before.
And Grout, who had taken only minor damage when allowing that previous Ghost Step.
But now, the damage inflicted transcended that moment by leaps and bounds.
-37,963 HP
Though less than Heavenly Spear's damage, it was more than enough to threaten Grout.
Moreover, the drawback of continuous attack skills—which apply multiple hits in a single strike—was the lack of critical hits.
But Hyun-soo was different.
54,003 damage inflicted!
-54,003 HP
Because he had the passive Essence of Swordsmanship, which compensated for the inability to trigger criticals.
Grout grew desperate.
"Kuhahahaha!"
He judged he couldn't block the attacks from two ghosts.
Thus, he focused on absorbing all the nearby blood orbs to recover.
Sugak
Puuk-
Kwajak
Kwak-!
Soon, Grout's eyes widened in shock.
His HP was dropping faster than the sword barrage.
Grout's HP falls below 43%.
Grout's HP falls below 41%.
Grout's HP recovers to 52%.
Grout's HP falls below 49%……
Grout's HP falls below 47%……
'Insane……'
Hyun-soo was in awe. Until now, he'd desperately stumbled through Ghost Step.
In contrast, the elder who brushed past each time exuded leisure.
Now he understood.
Ghost Step was a power that in no way fell short of the three-stanced Sword King's Swordsmanship.
Properly unleashed, it far transcended any force.
In an instant, they surpassed 26 strikes.
At this point, overload began to strain their bodies.
But the two ghosts didn't stop.
Grout's HP falls below 4%.
They dramatically drew out strength from bodies that no longer obeyed.
To slay the fiend and rescue Arte.
Kwajak
Sugak
Grout's HP falls below 2%.
"Uwaaaah!"
"Uoooooh!"
They squeezed every last bit from calves on the verge of bursting and arms swollen taut with muscle.
The final blow.
Ben's spear pierced the fiend's abdomen, and Hyun-soo's sword cleaved down on its shoulder.
"Haa haa."
"Heuk heuk."
Panting roughly alongside Ben, Hyun-soo marveled.
A whopping 33 strikes.
That was the number Ben unleashed in a single second.
Grout's HP reaches 0%.
Hyun-soo anticipated it.
The notification that Demon Grout had been slain.
Then.
Hyun-soo and Ben's faces twisted.
Grout, with its abdomen impaled by the spear and shoulder smashed, showed no sign of vanishing.
"No way……."
Hyun-soo's face paled.
Demon Grout's trait was infinite regeneration mediated by blood.
Some named monsters possessed multiple traits.
Grout revives without dying.
HP recovers to 80%.
Immortal Demon cannot be used again.
Use of Immortal Demon disables Blood Demon.
Due to this trait of Grout's, it had lost its infinite regeneration.
'Dangerous……'
Hyun-soo knew.
Barad and Ben's HP had fallen below 40%, and the Gwangmyeong guild members were in the same state.
Moreover, the initial concern they'd had.
Grout recovered solidly, but as the first, second, and third battles dragged on, they grew exhausted and weakened.
'Do we have any means left to slay a fully recovered Grout with our current strength……?'
No.
NPCs also had skill cooldowns.
Extreme mana consumption rendered them unusable until recovery.
Ben and Hyun-soo hurriedly sheathed their weapons.
"……To push me this far—commendable."
Grout was honestly shocked.
In hundreds of years, Immortal Demon had never activated.
Before they could dodge, Grout detonated the surrounding blood.
Kwaaaaaang-
HP sharply reduced!
Ben and Hyun-soo's HP plummeted as they were hurled away.
Ben in particular seemed gravely wounded.
At that end, Hyun-soo's mind whirled.
'Turn this blood-based fiend's power against it.'
What method could do that?
Soon, Hyun-soo recalled a certain artifact.
It was all too familiar to the public.
***
"Kuhk!"
"Ugh……."
Nel's face paled.
Ben and Hyun-soo, slammed into the ground, appeared to have taken critical hits.
Hyun-soo's HP falls below 50%.
Ben's HP falls below 16%.
Ben's condition looked especially dire.
Bellia poured her last strength into offering the Saintess's Prayer to Ben.
Ben's HP recovers to 30%.
"It's over now. I've exhausted all holy power."
Then she saw Hyun-soo's guild chat.
Confirming it, Nel issued a command via guild chat.
⊳ From now on, we're not hunting the demon—we're devoting everything to protecting Barad, Ben, and Bella. Unlike us, their lives are finite. Remember that. In an emergency, throw yourselves in to save them.
It was a grim order from Nel.
The situation was that dire.
Adding to Hyun-soo's words, she issued further commands while eyeing the approaching Grout.
30 seconds until summon ends.
Hey Friend, Help Me had no function to forcibly return them.
They could only go back once the summon time expired.
"Sword fool."
Barad turned at the voice calling him.
Heavenly Spear Ben wore a wry smile.
"Don't die."
"Nor thee."
And from Gwangmyeong, Bak took the lead.
"Let's go."
Grout, certain of victory, let out mad laughter.
"Kuhahahaha!!"
Barad, Heavenly Spear Ben, Bella, and the Gwangmyeong members charged together.
Kwajak
Kwak
Puuk puuk-
Fierce clashes unfolded.
Grout's face, which had smirked in anticipated triumph, darkened.
Though on the brink of death, they refused to fall.
Most astonishing were Barad and Ben's unbreakable bodies and wills.
They bore grievous wounds, teetering on the edge.
Barad's wrist barely moved, and Ben's several broken ribs made motion agonizing.
Puuuuk-
Kwajak
Even so, Ben pierced its abdomen, and Barad slashed its shoulder.
Simultaneously, Gwangmyeong's members surged.
Sugagak
Pupu puuk
Pueoeok-!
Kwajak
Grout's HP falls below 60%.
"Woooooh!"
"Huaak!"
But Grout knew. They were candles before the wind.
Precarious, as if a fierce gust would snuff them out.
Grout targeted Ben first.
Explosions erupted.
Once.
Kwaaaaaang
Twice.
Kwaaaaaang
Thrice.
Kwaaaaaang.
Four, five.
Kwang-!
"Ugh……!"
Ben's HP falls below 10%.
Ben's battered body was stained with blood everywhere.
Grout rushed in, aiming for his throat.
Ben felt dizzy.
'……I'm dead.'
This one strike would surely finish him.
Then, someone shoved Ben aside and took his place.
It was Bak.
"Kuhng……!"
Bak seized Grout's sword—which had utterly shattered his shoulder—with both hands.
Unyielding Tanker
Expend life force to hold the enemy.
Hold for 6 seconds.
"This is it—hurry!"
Steam rose from Bak's body as it glowed red-hot.
Soon, the final all-out assault struck from around him.
Kwajak-
Kwa kwa kwak-!
Puk!
And Bak was literally burning his life force.
The penalty for activating this skill was forced logout.
"You wretched insects to the end!"
Grout's HP falls below 55%.
And Bak felt himself slowly scattering to ash.
For a high ranker, forced logout-induced level down was fatal.
But.
'Ben, Barad, and Bella are too precious to Hyun-soo.'
Bak fully crumbled to ash and dispersed.
Guild member Bak has fallen in battle.
After that horrific alert, Grout truly raged.
"No more playing along."
He'd wanted to torment them one by one, slowly snuffing their breaths.
But now, he felt no need—and time was short.
Time to kill those who'd tormented him so.
6 seconds until summon ends.
All the blood they'd shed began floating ethereally in the air.
Ben, Barad, Bella, the other Gwangmyeong members.
And even Grout's own shed blood and that soaked into the ground.
About 786 fist-sized droplets hovered around them.
This was Blood Grout at its zenith.
Blood Festival
Massive explosion covers 60m radius.
Contains 800% additional attack power.
Once. This one blast would kill everyone here.
Nel's face went deathly white.
Ben and Barad desperately moved to interrupt the cast.
Attacks on Grout impossible during Blood Festival.
Ben and Barad sensed it was too late.
"Die."
The blood droplets swelled.
The prelude to explosion.
Then.
'What?'
The blood droplets didn't explode.
Nay, they slowly drifted somewhere else.
Grout sensed something amiss.
Discovered at the end of this brutal melee.
'Why are they gathered like that?'
They shouldn't cluster.
They knew death awaited if attacked together.
1 second until summon ends.
Grout realized.
They were encircling, concealing something.
Ben gave a small smile.
"This is my friend Hyun-soo's true form."
Barad said,
"Aye, the Master Craftsman's power."
Those hiding something stepped back, clearing a path.
One user hidden within was revealed.
By the essence of Emergency Forge, a single sword was completing.
That sword slowly descended into Hyun-soo's hand.
Chaaak
A blade and grip entirely of black.
Seeing it, Grout recalled a certain sword.
'A cursed sword……?'
***
Since ancient times, cursed swords were said to drink blood.
The system acknowledged their power when crafted most perfectly.
Hey Friend, Help Me summon ends.
He took in the sight of Gwangmyeong's members vanishing as light.
As he gripped the sword, all the blood orbs Grout had created migrated to the cursed sword Hyun-soo forged.
The effect imbued in this sword.
Absorbs all blood.
This enigmatic cursed sword began sucking even the blood innate to Grout.
Grout weakens.
Grout weakens.
Amusingly, as it drained blood, Grout's level weakened alongside its HP simultaneously.
Grout's HP falls below 30%.
"Cu, cursed sword……? How could a human forge a cursed sword! And what the hell is that cursed sword?!"
"Folks call this sword……."
Shwaaaaa-
Grout's eyes quivered.
The blood droplets it had unleashed. And the blood power within its own body.
"Tyrfing."
Those powers were sucked into the cursed sword, becoming its source.
Vast power rampaged from the cursed sword.
Kuhooooo-
The ground quaked, heavens and earth convulsed.
Divide and conquer.
Kill the enemy with the enemy's power.
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