Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Death Throes
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In the midst of the taut tension hanging in the air, Choi Ki-cheol was the first to break the silence.
"Cheon Hyuk-jin. I'll ask you one last time. Don't you have any intention of stopping now?"
"……."
"You know it too. You're still an S-rank. The punishment won't be that severe. Stopping here would be the wise choice."
It sounded like a perfectly reasonable proposal, but to Cheon Hyuk-jin, it was more humiliating than any insult.
The reality of everything he'd built crumbling down. The situation where he had to beg for his life from those he'd looked down on as beneath him.
All of it tore his twisted pride to shreds.
Cheon Hyuk-jin could never accept it.
"Shut your mouth!"
He gritted his teeth and shouted.
"Who the hell are you to offer me mercy? I have power! I'm fundamentally different from those pathetic worms crawling around down there!"
Twisted rage and denial of his crumbling reality. Bloodshot veins burst in his eyes.
"You expect me to kneel to trash like that? Don't make me laugh!"
Whoosh—!
Golden haze exploded from Cheon Hyuk-jin's body. The power of the Sun Branch was drawn to its limits. Overwhelming energy shook the atmosphere and spread in all directions.
Choi Ki-cheol moved first.
Fwosh!
A sharp sword sliced through the air in a straight line toward Cheon Hyuk-jin's neck.
"……!"
Cheon Hyuk-jin, who had swung his massive greatsword to parry, could only pull back on pure instinctual sense.
'That blade…!'
His eyes obsessively tracked Choi Ki-cheol's sword. He could see the dark red liquid flowing along its surface.
It felt ominous. Even with the Sun Branch's power boosting his regeneration, he instinctively knew getting cut by that would end him.
In that moment, Cheon Hyuk-jin's combat style was set. Block all approaches thoroughly, keep distance, and wait for a decisive opening.
"…Ha!"
But they couldn't possibly not know that.
"Where do you think you're going!"
As Choi Ki-cheol pressed the front, Kim Hye-seong closed the gap in an instant and targeted Cheon Hyuk-jin's flank.
Cheon Hyuk-jin's movements shrank drastically. He was too busy dodging the dark red blades flying from all directions to even attack.
And Lee Seol slipped into the gap created by his defensive stance. She perfectly read the two swordsmen's movements and precisely struck the openings they created.
"Explode."
With a low whisper, the space in front of Cheon Hyuk-jin contracted to a single point and then detonated.
Boom—!
His posture had crumbled dodging the sword. He took the blast head-on and vomited blood.
"Cough…! Y-You damn bastards!"
But beyond cursing, there was nothing he could do. Choi Ki-cheol and Kim Hye-seong's pressure was relentless. He couldn't even target Lee Seol first.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more desperate things became for Cheon Hyuk-jin.
Wounds healed quickly thanks to the Sun Branch's power, but the accumulating shock and depleting mana were unavoidable. His breathing grew steadily rougher.
Kaboom!
His body was tossed around by the nonstop barrage of magic.
'This won't do.'
Cheon Hyuk-jin's eyes shook with anxiety.
No matter how much he struggled, the situation didn't improve. Choi Ki-cheol and Kim Hye-seong herded him like prey, and Lee Seol's spells grew ever more precise and lethal.
The shadow of defeat loomed before him.
'Me… Am I going to fall here?'
He couldn't believe it. He couldn't lose everything like this.
"Time to end this!"
Judging they'd seized the advantage, Kim Hye-seong dove in more aggressively. His disruptor-coated sword thrust straight for Cheon Hyuk-jin's heart.
The moment Cheon Hyuk-jin twisted to dodge the blade.
Clank—!
Chains of mana conjured by Lee Seol wrapped around one of his arms.
"…….!"
At this rate, he couldn't evade the sword coming head-on. That dark red blade would pierce his body.
A do-or-die moment.
Madness filled Cheon Hyuk-jin's eyes. He couldn't end like this.
He drew his final hidden dagger.
The largest, most potent fragment of the Sun Branch. Clutching the brilliantly glowing golden piece, he began to laugh maniacally.
"Kuh… Kuhahahaha!"
The eerie laughter echoed through the top floor.
"Fine! Let's see you try! You think I'm going down alone?!"
Cheon Hyuk-jin twisted his chained arm, heedless of the joint snapping.
Crack!
With a gruesome sound, his arm bent unnaturally. Kim Hye-seong's sword hadn't even reached him yet—his action was faster.
Without hesitation, he plunged the glowing golden Sun Branch fragment straight into his own heart.
Squelch!
The chilling sound of the branch piercing his heart rang out.
And then—
Kaaaa—boom!!
I was crouched in one corner of the workshop, staring intently at the large monitor. The top-floor battle streamed live via drone. The flow, which had clearly been in our favor, shifted in an instant.
"What the hell? Why stab yourself with that?!"
Cheon Hyuk-jin had jammed the Sun Branch into his own heart.
Golden radiance poured from his entire body. Golden veins spread from his heart like blood vessels, making his skin pulse grotesquely as if it might tear.
The biggest change was in his speed. It was on a whole different level now.
- Kaboom!
The disruptor-coated blade couldn't even touch him. The three were scrambling just to block the explosive strikes from the rampaging Cheon Hyuk-jin.
The overwhelming 3-to-1 advantage was gone. Against his frenzy, the three poured everything they had into suppressing him.
I focused on Cheon Hyuk-jin's movements.
"…Covering all the physical strain with regeneration? He'll hit critical and die the moment it gives out, though?"
Cheon Hyuk-jin was damaging himself with his over-the-limit movements. Torn muscles and shattered bones flashed intermittently. But overwhelming regeneration patched it instantly, forcing him to hold on.
"So they're just stalling for now. If they let him rampage, he might break through the barrier and wreak havoc below—not just on the hunters."
"……."
Everything has an end. The moment the vessel can't hold is inevitable. The guild leaders seemed to know that too.
But could they hold out until then?
On the screen next to me, Yuna was sprinting down a dark underground passage, breathing raggedly.
"Please… hurry!"
I bit my lip anxiously.
"What? Cheon Hyuk-jin…."
Choi Yuna and the ACD agents were descending underground. Resistance from ambushing hunters in the passages was fierce, but they swiftly subdued them without hesitation and pressed on.
The news from Seha. Cheon Hyuk-jin had stabbed the Sun Branch into his heart and was rampaging. The S-ranks were holding him off.
No wonder the power surges from far above felt so ominous.
"We need to pick up the pace."
The deeper underground they went, the thicker and more potent the energy became, suffocating from all sides. The air felt sticky.
At the end of their full sprint, they finally reached the lowest underground level.
It was a massive cavern. A ceiling so high it was dizzying. Hard to believe such a space existed beneath a building.
And in its center.
"……!"
A gigantic golden tree had taken root deep in the earth.
Everyone held their breath.
"That's… the Sun Branch main body…."
The tree pulsed rhythmically like a heart, radiating immense power. Dazzling golden light illuminated the underground space. The area around it was so warped by rippling energy that space itself seemed distorted.
One look told them it wasn't normal.
"Halt!"
As expected, hunters guarding it stood before them. Golden haze rose from their bodies far denser than any they'd faced before.
But none were S-rank. That was enough.
Choi Yuna pulled another vial of buff potion essence from her pocket.
"Now?"
"…Feels like it'll be the last one."
Overdose.
There'd be hellish backlash after, but now wasn't the time to worry. With the S-ranks holding out, they couldn't afford delays here.
She downed the potion, and pain like her veins bursting wracked her body. At the same time, power beyond compare flooded her.
"Let's go."
The battle's outcome was decided in a flash. Before their transcendent strength, the Sun Branch-corrupted White Tiger hunters fell helplessly.
"Argh!"
The last remaining hunter collapsed under Yuna's sword.
Now, only that massive tree remained.
Choi Yuna approached it, breathing heavily. Sever that, and the entire fight would end.
"……!"
But.
Ruuuumble…!
The Sun Branch main body's immense power repelled her approach. It was like a massive force field enveloped it. Forcing closer brought excruciating pain like her skin burning away.
"Ngh…!"
Choi Yuna groaned in agony and fell back. The other hunters fared no better.
"Damn it!"
Time was short. Only one person could resolve this now.
"Hey, Park Seha! You're watching, right!"