Lantern (6)
[All Evil Shall Be Exterminated!]
Myeolak — Exterminate All Evil!
The Blood King panicked.
A greatsword branded with the hanja characters for Myeolak of the Four Signs Sword.
Even without making contact, the moment it swung, he felt the illusion of his body being cleaved in two.
It was an alien pain he'd never experienced before.
So clean and perfect was the slash that he plunged into a hallucination of his body splitting apart before he could even register the agony.
80% of HP deleted.
A grievous wound in a single blow.
He realized why Hyun-soo had dared to charge at him.
He'd been saving it while breaching the castle gates.
The means by which he'd slain Demon Gremory.
Yet the Blood King sneered.
"Krahak!"
This was his ultimate killing move.
His arrogance stemmed solely from faith in this power alone.
A greenhorn who thought himself kingly material but knew nothing of variables.
Squish, squish—
The Blood King does not die wherever there is blood.
Blood flowed like a river around him.
With this blood, the Blood King could recover to 100% HP.
And moreover.
HP falls below 24%.
Hyun-soo was exhausted from the journey here and battling the knights.
His potions were on cooldown too.
Seeing the blood heading his way, he intended to recover immediately and gift Hyun-soo despair.
"Behold, this is my…!"
The Blood King couldn't finish his words.
"Your what?"
The Blood King does not die wherever there is blood.
But that had been disrupted.
Myeolak correctly deleted 80% of his HP.
Yet for someone like the Blood King who commanded blood, it could differ.
Thus, Hyun-soo had conceived this idea.
If the Four Signs Sword and Babylon merged, their combined form should offer advantages.
'Could it shave off 100% HP?'
That would shatter balance.
'Then maybe an extra 10%?'
Possible, of course.
But with his astronomical understanding of artifact effects, he predicted otherwise.
'Perhaps….'
Evil struck by Myeolak cannot regenerate or use potions for 20 seconds!
He might not be able to regenerate at all.
The Blood King's face twisted.
This man had turned his strength into a weakness.
The one in the brown coat, gripping a greatsword with a thin blade—it felt like he was being choked by him.
"Flames."
Whoosh—!
A small ignition enveloped him, blazing hot.
Blood King's HP falls below 20%.
HP falls below 24%.
Now they stood on equal footing.
Hyun-soo reminded himself once more.
The Blood King does not die wherever there is blood.
The 20 seconds granted to him.
Thud—!
He kicked off the ground and charged.
Hundreds of blood spikes stabbed toward the flustered Blood King from all sides.
Flash—!
Psychic force burst forth simultaneously.
He raised his left hand, sending every blood-red spike skyward.
Boom—!
In that instant, a massive blood orb exploded on direct hit.
"Got…."
Ignoring it, he accelerated onward, drenched in blood.
Splatter—!
17 seconds remaining.
16 seconds remaining.
He traded blows with the panicking Blood King.
Each direct hit triggered blood explosions, draining Hyun-soo's HP faster.
Yet, just as he'd learned from the Sword King.
'Observing warriors like Lukio, Bahala, and Kabel.'
He'd worked to make their techniques his own.
Moving in a flash like Kabel, slashing like a ghost.
Slash, stab—!
12 seconds remaining.
"Blood King's Sky."
Boom—!
His counterattack sent him soaring into the air.
But Hyun-soo's sword already brimmed with the immense aura of Myeolak of the Four Signs Sword.
"Sword Rampage."
Kaboom—!
Whatever it was, it slashed down relentlessly.
[Blood King's Shield]
Crack—!
A shield of 740% defense forged from blood—one that blocked even defense-ignoring attacks—protected him from over sixty blades.
Crack, crack, crack—!
9 seconds.
"Kuh!"
The Blood King staggered, nicked by a few.
In that moment, he realized.
Most of his powers were on cooldown.
He'd believed in victory and rejoiced prematurely.
Stab—!
Ultimately, a sword summoned by the Blood King pierced Hyun-soo from behind.
"Kuk!"
7 seconds.
But Hyun-soo gritted his teeth.
Amid plummeting HP, he saw his own blood trickling down his brown coat.
HP falls below 10%…
You possess Asnium.
He wouldn't lose.
He wouldn't hand Lukio back over.
He'd use the Blood King as a stepping stone.
'Atlas is in danger.'
To protect Atlas, to forge it into an independent nation.
His brown coat, staining red with blood.
Splatter—!
As he swung wide, blood droplets splashed onto the Blood King's face.
Splatter—!
"…Kuh, cowardly!"
2 seconds.
Blood King's HP falls below 4%.
His vision obscured, the Blood King faltered.
But in two seconds, full recovery awaited.
A soccer-ball-sized blood orb already coalesced above his head to regenerate him.
No anomalies.
Victory was his, ultimately.
The moment he wiped blood from his eyes, convinced.
Crunch—!
He met Hyun-soo's chilling expression.
"…."
Hyun-soo gripped his sword with both hands, face alight with genuine fury.
Hyun-soo knew this was a game.
But this man had devoured tens of millions who trusted him to become a mighty king.
He'd even consumed knights who lived to protect him, seeking greater power.
A cur who felt no remorse, vowing after killing him to seize Lukio by the hair once more.
[Master Craftsman's Pride]
A situation where defeat was inevitable.
The unyielding pride of a master craftsman momentarily froze the Blood King in place.
0 seconds.
He was already at the moment of recovery.
Yet Master Craftsman's Pride and the power of Overwhelm rendered him immobile, not even a fingertip stirring.
'Just drop some blood….'
But he couldn't move.
Master Craftsman's Pride.
Overwhelm.
And.
[Break but Do Not Yield]
His gritted-teeth sword flashed with blinding speed.
Kaboom—!
-1 seconds.
The Blood King couldn't absorb blood amid the massive shock.
-2 seconds.
Slashed mercilessly, in his final moment he gritted his teeth to absorb blood.
But before that.
Shing—!
Hyun-soo's sword cleaved him diagonally.
As his mind reeled into oblivion, the Blood King spoke.
"…What did I do wrong?"
A question at death's door.
A heartfelt confession about to follow.
"Born weak, desiring power—what was wrong with that…."
Krunch—!
"…."
Hyun-soo denied him even those final words.
"A demon spawn like you, spouting words."
He'd committed sins beyond redemption.
Hyun-soo felt adrenaline surging.
That adrenaline, born from battling the Blood King, set his heart pounding.
And it built anticipation for one more thing.
The Blood King had been a king.
One leading this era.
Of course, merely the pettiest among the five throne kings.
Nay, the others might take offense at being called peers to such a king on that throne.
The first king falls.
Today's anticipation differed from the usual.
Normally, it would be how many levels he'd gain, what loot he'd score.
But now, something else beckoned.
Linked Quest: Blood King
Where the fallen Blood King lay.
A massive light began erupting there.
That light stretched across the entire Enya Kingdom.
Purification begins.
Hyun-soo, anticipating new rewards, walked toward somewhere.
Sword Sage Laisen and Heavenly Spear successor Prak recalled Hyun-soo's words.
'Do not enter the kingdom. If the 200,000 troops truly clash with Enya Kingdom forces, it could be total annihilation.'
Laisen and Prak had ordered only arrows and spells.
But the situation turned dire.
[Blood King's Command]
The Enya Kingdom army, believed to number a million, couldn't attack outside the castle.
But empowered by the Blood King, all forces demonized and swarmed the 200,000— including ordinary citizens.
"How…!"
Laisen panicked at civilians charging to bite, ignorant of combat.
Laisen held firm convictions.
He never struck civilians, even in war.
The issue was the real soldiers mixed among them.
Those soldiers, too, lost reason, swinging weapons fearlessly and indiscriminately.
"Kraaaah!"
"Kruuuh!"
"Sword Sage!"
"The enemy's momentum is fierce!"
Thousands of allies fell in moments.
Praam Kingdom reinforcements fared no better.
Enya forces, once cowed by fear and unable to charge, demonized and attacked wildly.
"Kuh!"
The 200,000 were in crisis.
Enya's army had always outclassed the 200,000.
Pushing another civilian aside, Laisen nearly ordered to cut them down—but lost his words.
"…."
Blood tears streamed from the civilians' eyes.
"Kraaaah!"
Faced with those lost to madness yet unwilling, Laisen wore a hollow expression.
Meanwhile.
Lukio, slashing through all toward the castle exterior, sensed it.
'Can't purify them all.'
Too many.
Even a fallen Enya Kingdom neared a million.
Impossible for the 200,000 and him to fell them.
Especially familiar faces—it weighed heavy.
'Nothing I can do…?'
Then.
Flash—!
Light surged from the Blood King's location.
To Aria the saintess, that skyward light was breathtakingly beautiful.
The massive beam exploded overhead with a thunderous boom.
With it, crystalline lights like snowflakes began descending over all Enya Kingdom.
The moment they touched.
Purification begins.
Those unwillingly demonized.
Those who'd rejected humanity under the Blood King, living as half-beasts.
Civilians lunging to bite soldiers.
Knights raising swords with roars to fell troops.
"…."
"…."
"…."
All halted.
In an instant. The clash of weapons ceased, silence ringing out.
You may find rest.
Human life is finite, thus fleetingly beautiful.
It pierced their hearts, revealing the torment of eternity.
And.
You may live on.
If death terrified, they could still live out their remaining days.
They spoke no words.
Apologizing silently to those they'd attacked.
Then.
Thud, thud—
Footsteps approached those pondering rest or life.
Lukio, now at the base of the walls, beheld it.
A man limping on one leg, cradling his bloodied left arm with his right, walked toward the ramparts in a soaked brown coat.
A million Enya Kingdom folk fixed eyes on him alone.
Thud, thud—
Now barely in his early twenties.
The young, boyish man stood atop the walls, surveying them.
Lukio saw it.
"…."
Gratitude, respect, cheers dawning in the eyes of Enya's million.
And the million of Enya knew.
Their king was dead.
Thus, choices lay open before them.
"Some of you, rest in peace."
To him granting gentle repose without clinging, children couldn't hide joy, crying "Waaah!"
"Others, live new lives."
Those choosing life over death gazed at him with different eyes.
No king remained for them; they needed a new home.
If living, they'd follow him.
He atop the walls spoke.
"But if you live, give it your all."
His words pierced their hearts.
In the ensuing silence.
Rooooaaar—!
Cheers heralded Grand Territory Atlas's dawn.
Those resting or living alike roared for him in this moment.
Vibrations spread through Hyun-soo's chest as he beheld them.
Those who live shall serve you.
A new era dawned.