Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Monstrous Foe
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Why on earth is this happening?
The red-robed figure couldn't make sense of the current situation at all.
Dodging the monster's attacks with movements as light as a butterfly's, his mind was still tangled up over this inexplicable beast.
And perhaps because of that...
With a grotesquely horrifying screech, the monster's arm grazed past him.
"This is driving me crazy...!"
The red-robed figure landed and glared at the monster. In the meantime, Inschtain's rapier had shot like an arrow into the monster's arm, but...
"What kind of freakish arm is that?!"
Inschtain was the one who got flung back by the monster's arm instead.
"Are you all brainless? Why not try using some magic or something?!"
Inschtain panicked at the near-miss of his precious rapier nearly bending.
No way! Do you know how much this cost?
"Magic? We're all martial artists, not mages like you."
Andrew replied with his usual sly tone, even in this mess.
No point in getting worked up anyway; it wouldn't change a thing.
But contrary to his intent, Inschtain yelled with a face full of irritation.
"Argh! It's that Pador guy! No wonder things felt off—he's screwing me over like this?!"
At that, the red-robed figure, who had been silent until now, shot Inschtain a glare.
"Don't worry about that crap—focus on what's in front of you!"
"Wha—what?! Do you know who I am?!"
"Then do you know who I am?!"
"Fine, take off that shady cloak and say it to my face. Who the hell are you?!"
"I'm...!"
The red-robed figure started to speak but clamped his mouth shut. The monster's arm was closing in.
"Urk...!"
The red-robed figure leaped into the air on the wind from the swing. Was he done for?
But fortunately, he managed a precarious landing. Even then, desperate not to reveal his identity, he clutched the hood of his robe tightly.
Inschtain sneered at the sight.
"See? Gotta be some underworld scum. Shady bastard."
"Shut up!"
The red-robed figure snapped back in a somewhat snappish tone, and Inschtain clicked his tongue.
"Now I get it. That's why you wear that creepy robe—with a personality like yours."
"Um, you two?"
Andrew pointed at the monster with his spear.
"This doesn't seem like the time for that?"
At his words, the two turned to the monster. Its massive beak parted wide... and before it, a black, tangled mass of energy coalesced like a ball of threads.
Magic unique to demonic beasts.
The monster solidified the mass of magic and hurled it at them.
"Damn it...!"
The three instinctively deployed their defensive techniques, but...
"Gahk...!"
Inschtain couldn't withstand even a single orb and dropped to one knee. Andrew seemed to brace by stabbing his spear shaft into the ground, but his body was shoved back hard.
"Haa... haa."
The red-robed figure's face was pale as a sheet, blood trickling from it.
"How undignified...!"
Inschtain forced himself back to his feet.
The moment he gripped his rapier again...
Crackle...!
"...The entrance?"
Just like the crimson entrance that had appeared when they first arrived here, a red portal bloomed on the wall.
Who could it be?
The one who emerged strolled in leisurely with hands clasped behind his back.
"Hm... looks like I arrived just in time."
It was Deyan Pador.
That weakling who got lucky and made it this far!
Inschtain twisted his face in fury.
"Damn it, talk about bad luck! That brute might've actually been useful in a fight!"
Deyan was useless.
Just look at that body.
Pale skin, slender hands—did that look like someone who'd ever trained?
He wasn't combat potential; he was a weakling who needed protecting.
Inschtain called out to Deyan in a voice mixed with worry and annoyance.
"Hey, you...! If you don't wanna die, just stay put in the corner!"
"Hm...?"
"We can't protect you!"
Is this the consideration the weak receive?
Kind of novel.
He'd never been treated this way in the martial world.
If that counted as a favor, then sure.
Arguably, it did.
No choice but to comply, then.
Deyan nodded.
"Alright, I'll stay out of the way."
"At least you're not a total idiot—good!"
With no time to spare, the three resumed their combat stances.
Deyan watched the standoff between the monster and the trio, arms crossed in silence.
They say spectating a fight is the most fun part.
And what caught Deyan's eye, of course, was the monster.
"Hm..."
A bizarre, otherworldly beast he'd never laid eyes on before.
If it had appeared in the martial world, it'd be called a spirit beast, and martial artists would've swarmed to hunt it.
Truly grotesque.
No wonder they can't win with something like that.
To Deyan, this was a fight they couldn't win even in a hundred lifetimes.
No—if the monster got serious, the trio was done for right then.
To the monster, this was just playtime.
The trio? Mere toys to torment.
That's what he sensed from it.
What a twisted sense of fun...
For now, as Inschtain said, Deyan decided to quietly observe the monster.
"Raaah...!"
The trio charged at the monster all at once.
The best choice.
No escape? Then fight.
Though charging in headlong like that wasn't ideal...
And sure enough.
"Guhk...!"
"That hurts too much..."
"Haa... haa."
All three were battered by the monster's attacks, pushed to the brink of collapse.
In the meantime, Deyan scanned the monster's body. His eyes peeled it back layer by layer, dissecting it.
The trio had served as perfect test subjects to figure it out.
Bravo.
Deyan even picked out a suitable rock and sat down to watch comfortably.
But the standoff didn't last... The three were flung against the wall.
Thud...!
"Urgh!"
Inschtain spewed up a mouthful of blood.
Damn it, do you know how expensive this silk is...?!
To him, the stained clothes hurt more than the vomit.
An unstoppable monster flickered in Inschtain's vision.
"How the hell are we supposed to beat something like that..."
Andrew, meanwhile, was a total wreck but somehow hanging on, gasping for breath.
His eyes fell on Deyan, who was still unscathed.
A lifesaver, really.
The guy who fed him back then. Can't let that benefactor die here, right?
Andrew drew a deep breath and called out to Deyan.
"Deyan..."
"...?"
"Time to pay back that meal debt—right here, right now."
Resolve steeled.
Andrew hurled his spear with all his might.
In that instant, the spear became a streak of light, grazing past the monster.
And then... a fierce gust of wind followed belatedly in its wake.
Deyan's eyes gleamed at the sight.
The pinnacle of speed.
Spear artists pursuing swiftness like his old faction were here too?
Deyan suddenly recalled his spear faction comrade, the Swift Dragon Yi Geon-ah.
—I'll pierce the sun!
Those lunatics doing that insane stuff were here too, huh.
Boom boom boom!
"Kieeeek!"
The monster shrieked in agony as half its body was blasted open.
A wound that looked impossible to heal.
Because he'd used his family's secret technique?
Andrew collapsed on the spot, unconscious from exhaustion.
With Andrew and Inschtain down, the lone red-robed figure thought:
Is this the end?
Really?
But was that spear, unable to pierce even the cavern ceiling, truly that feeble?
The monster's veins writhed like living things, regenerating its body once more.
The red-robed figure let out a despairing voice.
"That monster..."
Before the red-robed figure could recover, the monster's beak parted again.
Boom boom boom boom!
Orbs rained down once more; he deployed a barrier of sword energy. Yet the orbs shattered it and pressed in.
Overwhelmed by the sheer force, the red-robed figure instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, but...
"Fascinating. Sword aura, is it?"
Instead of pain came a single voice.
This was... the man who helped him during the second trial.
The red-robed figure opened his eyes to see Deyan's back.
A small frame, but why?
Deyan looked bigger than anyone.
Even as the monster roared right in front of him, Deyan turned to check on the red-robed figure.
The monster seized the opening and lunged.
The red-robed figure started to shout at the motion.
"Danger—!"
"Danger from what?"
Deyan was already standing a good distance away.
The red-robed figure had lost track of his movement in that instant. He'd only caught a glimpse of a long shadow shifting.
The monster entered Deyan's view.
"Hm..."
The monster tilted its head, as if puzzled by Deyan.
Still got some leisure left, huh?
Wonder how long that'd last.
Deyan approached the monster slowly, hands behind his back.
"What are you staring at, beast?"
The red-robed figure was going mad with frustration at Deyan.
What the hell is he doing?
Time was of the essence, yet this guy was utterly relaxed, like he was out for a stroll.
And strangely, it suited him.
That's how it felt to the boy.
The monster sized up Deyan and extended an arm.
It stretched like a tree branch exploding into growth.
Yet Deyan just stood there, staring at the arm.
Out of fear?
No way.
What was most important in battle?
Your own strength?
Sure, that was a prerequisite, but battle wasn't solo.
The opponent right in front.
The enemy you must kill is always an unknown. So how do you solve it?
Simple: gather intel.
Breathing patterns, techniques used, internal energy reserves, habits.
You could learn all that from a quick scan.
Especially against a powerhouse like this monster.
During the earlier scuffle with the participants, he'd already analyzed it fully.
So the monster's attacks held no terror.
Deyan merely took one step back from the crushing assault.
One step was all it took.
And right before the halted arm, Deyan smiled without so much as blinking.
Bits of intel accumulate, finally defining enemy and self.
Battle is finding your strengths they lack, their weaknesses you can exploit.
And moreover...
"Where does a mere beast get off toying with a human?"
Deyan's eyes locked straight onto the monster.
The monster seemed to stiffen for a moment... then, as if enraged?
It threw its head back and howled.
"Kieeeek!"
Like shaking off fear.
The monster flailed its arms like a spiderweb endlessly expanding.
Deyan danced through them like an acrobat mid-performance, footwork so fluid he nearly floated.
He used rocks to limit arm movements, or bounced off the monster's limbs as footholds.
Graceful, seamless motion.
The red-robed figure murmured as he struggled to track Deyan with his eyes.
"How..."
Is that even possible?
They'd been utterly helpless against it.
What was that boy's true nature?
Deyan Pador?
He didn't care about the name.
Something more fundamental.
That alien movement, that unknowable aura.
He'd seen countless warriors, but none like this.
What dwelled within that man?
"Hoo..."
The red-robed figure even felt like Deyan was reading the monster's mind.
But was it not enough for the monster?
Wounds began appearing on Deyan's body, one by one.
And then...
Thud...!
For the first time, the monster's attack landed squarely on Deyan, who'd evaded so well until now.
"No...!"
The red-robed figure gasped from amid the crumbling rocks. The monster let out a bizarre cry, as if mocking him.
But...
Thud...!
As the pile of debris cleared, a shadow emerged.
"Sing a beast's lullaby or something. Might make it hurt less."
Deyan reappeared, a flying dagger like a wolf's fang clutched in his hand.