Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Hardworking Pay-to-Win Knight
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I had figured I'd run into that guy eventually. Not some vague plan or goal, but an inevitability as long as I kept living in Ardania.
But not now.
And especially not here.
"Isn't that a Phantom Dragon?"
The rest of the party had noticed the identity of the new enemy.
"Phantom Dragon Replie..."
"Yeah. I've seen that form in textbooks."
Seongjae scrambled to his feet, channeling his mana as he asked Lea.
"Lea! Any idea which game it's from?"
The Named boss from the apocalypse project that had reduced the 34th Earth's population from over six billion to five hundred million had since been featured in novels, movies, dramas, and every kind of media imaginable.
Of course, it had been used as a game monster too.
"Phantom Dragons can be Transcendent-level in some games...!"
Unfortunately.
Revenge was one of those cases.
Whoosh.
I felt the air around us being sucked upward. Seongjae's face paled as he gathered his mana.
"The mana in the area is all..."
Lea screamed too.
"Ah! My spell broke! The mana’s being drained!"
Looking up, I saw an unidentified darkness gathering in the mouth of the Phantom Dragon hovering in the sky.
"Hide behind the Flower Carriage!"
"Use every defensive ability you have!"
The moment everyone moved frantically.
Replie exhaled, and the darkness came pouring down.
[The flower that devours darkness and bears fruit.]
Everything happened in a split second, fragmented into dozens or hundreds of instances.
A flower hundreds of meters in diameter bloomed like an illusion, capturing and swallowing the descending aura of darkness.
[Flame of Judgment]
Then white flames engulfed Replie's body.
Crack!
Rushing cold turned into an ice sword dozens of meters wide.
Clang!
It severed Replie's neck clean off.
Boom!
As the massive body crashed to the ground, a dust cloud rose like a bomb explosion.
A pathetic exit compared to its terrifying entrance.
"Ultimate magic! Five Dragons!"
"Yeah! The Five Dragons are watching! We've got a Transcendent on our side too!"
"Wow! Did we get that on camera? We did, right? Communication's down, but the cameras aren't broken... Wow, this is insane!"
Unlike the cheering crowd, I couldn't be happy.
'Convenient timing.'
The monster outbreak ravaging the greater universe hadn't involved any Transcendent-grade monsters amid the chaos.
'And yet one shows up here of all places, and it's Revenge's Replie?'
Too convenient. Way too convenient.
"F-First, we need to link up with the others! Communications?"
"Not yet! We're supposed to gather at the docks in an emergency."
"Then let's move!"
"Everyone, stop."
A figure stepped in front of the group about to move out.
Green hair cascading to her waist, a neat one-piece dress, and a staff embedded with a large green gemstone.
Boram recognized her.
"Lady Flower? Why..."
"It's not over yet."
Whoosh!
The thick dust parted as the Phantom Dragon raised its head. Its body was charred beyond recognition, its neck crudely stitched with black energy in a grotesque sight, but it was still alive and moving.
Rumble!
Dark clouds gathered in the sky.
It happened so fast that by the time I registered "Oh shit," a house-sized lightning bolt was already striking at Replie.
Clang!
But with a deafening roar, the bolt split apart.
"It... split the lightning?"
A man now stood atop Replie's head. Lea groaned as she finally saw him.
"The Dark Sword King Hyperion! Final boss of Blade & Magic! Grand Sword Master!"
And that wasn't the end.
Whoooosh...
As dark energy spread, Replie's battered body began regenerating. Lea laughed hollowly.
"Dark Messiah..."
"From a game you know?"
Lea nodded at my question.
"Dark Star, a mobile game from the Detro Galactic Federation last year. It hasn't launched on the 34th Earth yet, so I've only seen the cinematics. It was highly anticipated, but... I never thought I'd face its Season 1 boss in real life without even playing the game."
Boram looked incredulous at Lea's words.
"What, is today a final boss convention? Some collab event?"
Three Transcendent-grade enemies. An unprecedented crisis beyond common sense left everyone dazed.
And amid it all.
I was disappointed.
'Eh, what. It wasn't after me after all.'
I thought that, then paused.
'No, am I crazy? Why am I disappointed?'
Even as I reeled in confusion, the situation pressed on. Flower, blocking our path, spoke without taking her eyes off Replie and the other monsters.
"I can't protect you completely. Stay near the carriage as much as possible."
Crunch!
With those words, a massive tree erupted from beneath her feet, lifting her into the air. In an instant, she was gone.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Transcendents... Phantom Dragon and Hyperion..."
Boom! Crash!
We watched in stunned silence as the battle reshaped heaven and earth.
The problem was that the new monsters weren't just the three Transcendents.
"Roooaaar---!!"
"Let flames illuminate! Affirm the dream! Overturn the world and plunge the realm into agony!"
"The laws of the Flame-Affirming Darkness Death Knight!"
A golem formed from dozens—no, hundreds—of corpses; a priest in robes screaming in madness; a death knight clad head to toe in black armor.
Monsters from every game imaginable, in all shapes and sizes.
Their only commonality: all darkness or death-attribute.
"Form up! Back to the Flower Carriage and fight!"
"Olya and I will take the front—you protect from behind! Hye-young, watch for openings!"
With a full day of fighting together already under our belts, we smoothly handled the incoming foes.
"I'll reinforce the Flower Carriage's barrier! We have to hold!"
With those words, Boram vanished. Her clone had expended all its energy.
Hum!
The barrier thickened around the Flower Carriage like a castle wall. Our position with Olya was essentially the gate.
With attacks funneled frontally by the barrier, the fight got easier.
"Seongjae! Your 7th-class spell would be perfect right now."
Seongjae specialized in wood, but one spell was different. It wasn't his—it was one he'd bound through fate.
Perfect timing: light attribute. But he shook his head.
"It's been too long since the day started! I need at least three hours of sleep..."
"What does the day's length have to do with it?"
"It's not my spell—it's bound!"
I didn't get it, but he couldn't use it. He'd always met the conditions when filming movies, apparently.
"Ah, no easy way out."
Grumbling, we kept fighting. Monster numbers were up, but no special ones like the sudden Transcendents.
'Calmly, I can clear them in an hour.'
So I thought.
But after 20 minutes, 40, an hour.
Then two hours, three.
I had to admit my judgment was wrong.
"Huff... huff... Teacher... I'm starving, I can't go on..."
"No end... We kill them all, and more show up?"
"My mana too..."
The monster waves had no end.
Luckily, they didn't form ranks or use tactics—just charged blindly, so we endured.
But endless fighting would just dehydrate us to death eventually.
'If the Five Dragons finish those three Transcendents and come help, it'd be different.'
Boom!! Crash!! Rumble!!
Unfortunately, the distant explosions showed no sign of stopping.
Slash!
Hye-young emerged from the monsters' shadows, slicing a shadow owner's legs and retreating into the barrier.
Her face was wax-pale.
"Can't... maintain the ritual anymore..."
The situation worsened. Monster count had dropped but still over a hundred.
Paltry compared to wiping out thousands, but...
'These aren't pushovers.'
Every one grotesque and powerful. Revenge terms: Hero-grade. Land Breaker for one-shots, or break defenses with clashes—swinging wildly wouldn't kill them.
The real issue came next.
'Can't use Hundred Man Slash or Heaven-Earth Sword!'
These flat AoE skills aren't controllable. Designed in Revenge to spark player conflicts.
In Ardania, same party/guild avoids it. But on Earth? Different story.
Not even Heaven-Earth Sword... A botched Hundred Man Slash would decapitate allies.
'If I had another Myth besides Sword God, I could swap and fight.'
But there were ways.
"Log in."
To Ardania.
"Whew."
Catch my breath. Landworm asked.
[Hey, how long we waiting? Gonna go up?]
"Nah, busy now. Later."
[Sitting still is busy?]
"Busy anyway."
We were at the bottom-left corner. Dig up, meet Special Boss Yamwang.
But Earth's crisis was urgent—no expanding the battlefield.
[Then just sit here?]
"Or veer north, clear a path, or hang nearby."
Brushed it off and slowly formed mudras. Rusty after so long, but no rush—finished calmly.
'Mudras now... damn, nine seconds.'
Not simplified, even slower. No issue. Lately pondering more mudras for power.
Cold Qi. Sage Gate. Single Strike. Giant Gate. Open.
Ice Slash Strike.
Completed the ritual, then circulated ki.
Crunch! Crackle!
Muscles swelled across my body.
Compressed, sleek build ballooned like a strongman or bio-endurance trainee. Surging true qi pushed my flesh to extremes beyond normal.
And then.
"Log out."
Swing.
Land Breaker.
Sliced horizontally through a charging corpse giant's arm. Pressing forward, swung—sword aura and cold poured like a waterfall, full internal energy.
Slash!
Dark-attribute monsters roaring in charge were bisected en masse. Fan-shaped area around me: all dead.
No crits needed—a massive cleave!
Not even over.
Crackle!
Shattered corpses flash-froze in the cold. Charging foes impaled on jagged ice, bleeding out.
"Log in."
Back to Ardania, collapse face-down.
"Ugh... ah!"
Shiver.
Bruises bloomed everywhere.
"Even with tougher body, this doesn't change."
With sky-high vitality now, I could tank a gunshot in sleep unscathed.
But strength outpaced vitality.
Growth direction issue—full power always leaves me wrecked.
[Consumed Mugwort Rice Cakes (High-grade)! Recovery and mana recovery +100 for 4 hours!]
Sat in chair a bit; wrecked state recovered. Already high recovery—+100 was huge.
"Yeah, getting used to one-shot style. One blow, tenth of total energy."
Rested long in Landworm cockpit, then to Earth.
"Log out."
Party stared blankly on return.
"Wh-what? That's 4th-class high-cost... no, straight 5th-class destruction magic. Sword energy for this? Efficiency sucks..."
"It's fine! Can keep this up awhile—everyone rest! Olya! Pull back, eat something, sleep!"
Olya panicked at my words.
"But no food..."
I turned forward again.
As frontliner, no one saw my mouth.
"Ardania. Heavy Gate. Open."
Whispered, opened chakra.
Now adept at pulling inventory items.
"Summon. Mugwort Rice Cakes."
Pop!
Plate of rice cakes in hand. Summoned food, not plain—her body was wound-riddled unlike mine.
But Olya ignored injuries, baffled by the cakes.
"Random rice cakes...? And a plate?"
"Eat."
Tossed back; she caught perfectly despite confusion.
Then puzzled.
"...What? Can't eat! Melts in mouth?"
"Oh, damn."
Expected failure—clicked tongue. Guess I'd sweep solo after all.
'If I could share rice cakes, it'd be easy.'
That thought hit.
(86,404,030 won)
Beep!
(86,141,220 won)
Overcharge in vision changed.
"...?"
Stunned, heard Olya's "Wah!"
"Ah! Edible now! Tasty!"