Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Defeating Gedeia
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#84
“Huff—huh—!”
His breath rose all the way to his throat.
“Damn.”
A single trickle of red liquid slid down his cheek.
‘This thing is ridiculously strong.’
Woojin glared at the demonic beast before him.
A demonic beast in the form of a mountain goat standing on two legs.
Its height reached the ceiling of the training hall, and its bulk made Goo Dong-hwan look like a child.
Its menace wasn’t limited to its appearance.
Speed, strength, demonic energy.
Every aspect was overwhelmingly powerful, not to be taken lightly.
But Woojin had anticipated this level of strength.
He had carefully selected and summoned it, judging that it would be a tough but manageable opponent.
“Though no one mentioned it had ‘Bloodline’.”
Jayrobin’s monster compendium had no description of the Gedeia in front of him using ‘mana arts.’
And of all things, it happened to possess the same ‘Bloodline’ as the one Burtel had wielded.
Dozens of strands of black, demon-tainted blood writhed in the air like tentacles.
“If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have beaten it down like this.”
This was the moment Jayrobin’s lessons proved their worth.
Woojin painfully realized how much danger a lack of information could bring.
“Whew—”
He steadied his breathing.
His lungs had swelled to the bursting point from dodging the beast’s attacks, but he had to control it.
Fortunately, his evolved body stabilized quickly.
‘Now what?’
Gedeia wasn’t attacking. It was eyeing Woojin with a serious gaze.
It had realized its opponent was no weakling.
But Woojin couldn’t charge in recklessly either.
The beast possessed ‘Bloodline,’ which made it stronger the more wounds it took.
‘The best option is to kill it in one blow.’
Easier said than done.
This was already the fourth monster he had summoned.
In the previous three fights, Woojin had leveled up a whopping nine times.
He was now level 32.
“Some decent skills…”
Woojin avoided using skills that reeked of the ‘Demon King.’
He couldn’t use them with others around.
So he had been focusing on sword-related skills that he could use in front of people, raising their proficiency.
“If it gets really dangerous, I’ll have no choice but to use them.”
But until then, he wanted to hold off as much as possible.
‘Most of the new ones are AoE skills anyway, so they wouldn’t be that effective.’
His mana was still plentiful.
His body was a bit fatigued, but it didn’t hinder his movement much.
Woojin raised ‘Rune Dea’ toward the beast and quickly scanned his skills.
But in the end, the usable ones were set.
The skills he had used in front of others so far.
‘Overwhelm,’ ‘Rampage,’ ‘Acceleration,’ ‘Black Flame,’ and aura.
The problem was that even using all these, he hadn’t been able to defeat Gedeia.
“Tch.”
Woojin clicked his tongue.
“In the end, this is the only way?”
There was one thing he hadn’t tried yet.
The method he had used to defeat Baek Siwoo in their spar.
A combination of skills.
‘Black Flame is essential.’
It could cauterize wounds and minimize bleeding.
‘Next, ‘Acceleration.’’
He had to slash at a speed Gedeia couldn’t react to.
‘And…’
‘Rampage.’
This time, instead of ‘Overwhelm’ from his fight with Baek Siwoo, he chose ‘Rampage.’
Black flames wrapped around ‘Rune Dea.’
Combined with aura, the ‘Black Flame’ blazed fiercely in an ominous display.
Using ‘Acceleration’ made his body feel endlessly light.
Finally, he activated ‘Rampage.’
His mana began to boil.
The controlled mana rampaged like a wild horse with its reins snapped.
Crunch—crunch—!
Was a tsunami rising?
A ferocious storm of mana swept through his entire body.
His tough flesh screamed under the pressure it could barely withstand.
‘It’s fine.’
It hurt, but he could endure this much.
The explosively increased mana flowed down ‘Rune Dea.’
Sensing the danger, Gedeia let out a roar and charged.
Kekekekek—!
A repulsive bellow that turned the stomach just to hear.
Woojin grimaced and twisted his waist.
His muscles loosened to their limit in an instant as ‘Rune Dea’ cleaved through space.
A black line was drawn.
With a rending sound, Gedeia’s body split top to bottom.
Blood gushed out.
‘Bloodline’ activated.
The waterfall of blood pouring down formed into a massive spear aimed at Woojin.
Roarrr—!
That was when it happened.
A beat later, black aura ignited from the wound.
The ‘Bloodline’ blood couldn’t withstand the heat and began to vaporize.
Kweeeee—!
Gedeia’s scream was pathetic, as if it couldn’t believe it.
But Woojin’s sword showed no mercy.
Slash—!
The goat’s head flew off and rolled across the floor.
That was the end.
[You have leveled up.]
Flash—!
All his minor wounds and fatigue vanished.
“Phew, somehow got it done.”
He gained three more levels, reaching 35.
Gedeia had been that powerful a demonic beast.
Perhaps on par with Rosie Ruby.
‘No, maybe not quite?’
Woojin compared them briefly and nodded.
“Still, Rosie Ruby’s stronger.”
The Cadman was powerful, but there was a clear gap he couldn’t bridge with Rosie Ruby.
That mantis was a servant of the Demon King, after all.
‘If we fought now, I’d win…’
He had even beheaded Baek Siwoo with one swing.
There was no reason Woojin couldn’t do the same.
He was over ten levels higher than back then.
“Even so, they recommended fleeing below level 50…”
Woojin had no choice but to admit he’d been a bit greedy.
At level 32, he thought he could take down something like Gedeia easily.
But it had been arrogance.
He won in the end, but honestly, it had been a strain.
“Almost got in real trouble.”
Woojin let out a sigh of relief as he looked around.
A black space.
At its center, the ‘Otherworldly Demon King Chronicle.’
Nothing had changed.
“Alright, let’s take another look.”
This was his fourth visit today.
Thanks to that, Woojin had memorized quite a few of the patterns on the cover of the ‘Otherworldly Demon King Chronicle.’
It was far more complex and larger than the ones he’d seen before.
‘I need to decipher this quickly.’
Only then could he check the book’s contents.
Thinking he’d have to visit Barsik soon to ask for help interpreting the patterns, he tore his eyes from the book.
At the same time, he exited the black space and returned to reality.
“Hmm…”
It was a mess.
Garuades, Porun, Agator, Gedeia.
The corpses of these four beasts filled the training hall.
The metallic stench of blood assaulted him, unnoticed during the fights.
“Will they clean this up?”
The academy had countless servants.
They handled all the dirty work for the heroes’ convenience.
But he couldn’t leave corpse disposal to them.
Woojin wasn’t that heartless.
Monster corpses were useless trash anyway, so burning them would be fine.
“Guess I’ll have to handle it myself.”
‘Black Flame’ rose up.
“Burn up quick.”
“Ugh, I’m beat.”
Back in his dorm, Woojin groaned.
Today alone, he had hunted four monsters.
Each one powerful enough to be considered a calamity.
Even though leveling up had restored him fully, he couldn’t avoid being exhausted.
He wanted to just collapse into bed and close his eyes, but there was still work to do.
“Gotta wash up at least.”
His body was covered in bloodstains.
The heroes he passed on the way back had recoiled in shock.
After rushing to the bathroom, washing up, and coming out, Woojin sat on the bed and drew ‘Rune Dea.’
Shing—
The pure white blade was crusted with dried black blood.
He took a white cloth from the drawer.
Soaked it in oil and wiped the blade.
As the blood cleaned off, the pristine white blade gleamed.
“Not a single nick.”
It wasn’t quite at the level of a legendary sword’s cry, but it was definitely a fine blade.
Gazing at the purifying white that cleansed even his mind, a sudden question arose.
“Didn’t they say it was a sword used by a hero?”
If Woojin’s memory was right, it was the sword of a hero slain by the Demon King’s servant.
Remembering Agna speaking casually with a smile made him feel uneasy for no reason.
“Heroes die too, huh.”
Thinking about it, it was obvious.
They had held out so far, but their opponents wielded world-destroying power.
No matter how strong and fast-growing the heroes were, they couldn’t emerge unscathed.
It was war, after all.
In fact, many heroes had lost their lives.
‘And in this war too…’
There would be casualties.
No, there definitely would be.
They had celebrated with a party over summoning a hundred heroes, but that didn’t mean the doomed would survive.
If just a few like Rosie Ruby attacked, the lower-ranked heroes wouldn’t stand a chance.
Among them, some might not withstand Garuades’ killing intent head-on.
What if they faced unfamiliar ‘mana arts’ for the first time?
Or got surrounded by hundreds or thousands of monsters?
Even heroes couldn’t avoid death in such situations.
Woojin’s expression grew serious.
‘I don’t care about others, but I hope the people around me don’t get hurt.’
That’s why they were training together.
The academy was surely devising countless ways to boost the heroes’ growth and survival rates.
But it still felt insufficient.
The way to get strongest in the shortest time.
“…Cash shop is the best.”
Thinking of wallet warriors who powered up on payday, nothing was faster or easier than paying to win.
Woojin chuckled.
But this wasn’t a game—it was reality.
‘Pay to Win’ didn’t apply.
Unless there was a shop like in those fusion fantasy novels.
‘But this world doesn’t have that.’
It was a shame.
With a system in place, a shop window would’ve been nice.
Lost in idle thoughts, Woojin tilted his head.
“…Is it impossible?”
He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out the ‘summoning stone.’
Thinking about it, this was practically a growth aid item.
The only difference was that he hadn’t bought it with money—the effect was the same.
‘What if I could get more of these?’
Follow the academy’s curriculum, and use items like ‘summoning stones’ in spare time.
That would enable much faster growth than now.
Plus real combat experience.
‘Summoning stone.’
Woojin stared at it before flopping onto the bed.
‘I should visit the Sky Tower soon.’
To check if there were more such items and how to obtain them.
‘I’m reluctant to run into the Sword Sage, but…’
For his and his comrades’ growth, he could endure that much.
Sleepiness came over him.
Feeling his consciousness fade, Woojin smiled.
‘Another intense day.’
It had been a satisfying one.