186. Counterstrike (2)
186. Counterstrike (2)
"Huff—!"
Jin Yu-ha let out a short breath and kicked off the ground with full force.
BANG!
With a sound like a gunshot, Jin Yu-ha's body shot forward in a straight line.
WHOOSH—
But the boss wasn't the type to just watch and wait.
WHOOOOSH—!!!
The flying tentacles aimed at Jin Yu-ha, their mouths gaping wide.
Inside those open mouths, rows of razor-sharp teeth were packed tight.
Getting bitten by those would definitely not end well.
However, Jin Yu-ha twisted his body midair without a hint of panic, dodging the tentacles as he flew.
Simultaneously with the twist of his body, the blue blade of Moonlight swung.
Slice—
"Kieeeeeeeek!!!!"
The severed tentacle thrashed with a horrifying screech, spraying black blood across the earth.
Meanwhile, Ichika, clinging to Jin Yu-ha, swallowed a groan against the fierce wind resistance that made it hard to even open her eyes.
But she forced her eyes wide open, biting down hard on her lip.
From now on, everything depended on her.
'......The speed is too fast.'
At the current flying speed, if she tried to create a foothold after seeing where to place it, she'd be too late.
This was the domain of prediction and instinct.
Ichika's mind began racing.
'I'm not quite sure. For now, maybe about 400 meters ahead.'
Ichika called her spirits to the spot where she roughly predicted Jin Yu-ha would come to a stop.
Since she hadn't fully grasped the distance yet, she summoned ten spirits to create a wide foothold.
Soon, the speed began to slow slightly.
Ichika's brow twitched faintly.
'A little further forward.'
But Jin Yu-ha didn't even glance at his feet.
He simply prepared to plant his foot forcefully, as if a foothold naturally had to be there.
'Move forward!'
Fortunately, her command wasn't too late.
The clustered ghosts threw themselves forward and successfully materialized beneath Jin Yu-ha's foot.
THUMP!
The summoned ghosts scattering into reverse-summons with a single step from Jin Yu-ha.
Trickle—
Red blood streamed from Ichika's nose.
A summoner who commands specific summons is connected to them through Mana.
And when a summon takes damage and is reverse-summoned, that Mana connection is forcibly severed.
That was what had struck her mind!
Of course, under normal conditions, the severing of a Mana connection would have been nothing more than a trivial shock,
but in her current poor physical state, even this was quite a significant risk.
Nevertheless, Ichika ignored the signals her body was sending and continued summoning ghosts.
BANG—!
BANG—!
BANG—!
As the cycle of creating a foothold under Jin Yu-ha's feet and having it erased repeated, she finally began to get a sense of the distance.
She succeeded in reducing the foothold from the initial ten spirits down to just three.
And every time that booming sound echoed.
Slice—
Slice—
Slice—
Jin Yu-ha's sword cut off Suzuki Satoru's tentacles.
After continuing to propel themselves upward against gravity like that, Jin Yu-ha and Ichika finally
came face-to-face with the creature flapping its giant wings in midair.
A creature with no remaining tentacles, now reduced to a round, bulbous mass.
"Ichika."
"......Mm."
"For a moment, can you maintain the ghosts for a few seconds? And please hold on to my back."
"Got it."
Ichika nodded, forcibly swallowing the blood that was surging up inside her.
Standing atop the ghosts, Jin Yu-ha sharpened the blade of his consciousness and adjusted his grip on the hilt.
CRACKLE!
Then, Jin Yu-ha's Mana shrouding Moonlight cried out, as if it harbored a furious lightning storm.
He immediately sheathed the sword again.
Clench.
His left hand gripped the scabbard, his right hand held the hilt.
Veins bulged visibly on the back of his clenching hand.
Hoooh—
A deep exhale, steadying the breath.
Hummmmmm—
Slowly, blue Mana vaporized and bloomed from his entire body.
Soon, it blazed up fiercely, as if the flames would even swallow up Ichika hanging onto his back.
'The atmosphere changed......'
A sharpness, as if it would mercilessly cut down anything blocking its path.
Ichika looked at Jin Yu-ha's back, his concentration sharply focused, and gulped.
Scrape.
His body bent down, power gathering in his foot pulled all the way back.
The fully tensed muscles in his thigh throbbed, as if pulsating with extremely condensed power.
A bead of sweat flowing from his forehead traced his jaw and dripped down.
Drip.
At the same moment.
Quick Draw.
An instant.
Jin Yu-ha's body shot forward at a speed transcending perception.
Jin Yu-ha, who had clearly been holding his sword in front of Suzuki Satoru, was now standing behind the creature, having already drawn his blade.
Then, a deep, black solid line was inscribed across the massive body.
Suzuki Satoru, seemingly still unable to grasp the situation, rolled his eyes left and right, searching for Jin Yu-ha and Ichika.
"......I... Ichi...ka......"
When they suddenly vanished from before his eyes, Suzuki Satoru tried to turn his body to find them.
However.
Whirl.
Exactly half of the body.
Only the top half turned around.
"I... I... Chiii... kaaa...... E... Eh—!?"
Pwahhhhhhh—!!!!
As if a dam had burst, black blood exploded out from his body.
"......We took him down."
Watching the spectacle, Ichika said that.
At that, Jin Yu-ha's expression hardened stiffly.
It wasn't because of some silly reason like Ichika's words being a cliché trigger for a revival spell.
Though, granted, it was an accurate statement for this situation.
'......The final cutscene still remains.'
Even in the game, it was possible to drain all of this creature's HP just like now.
But the creature hadn't died a clean death in the end.
"Ichikaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It had screamed at the last moment and launched a final attack.
The black blood spewing from his body began to coalesce in midair.
The black blood transformed into the shape of a gigantic spear.
'......Right, it's doing its last-ditch struggle after all.'
Hmm, but originally, Ichika's spirit was supposed to sacrifice itself here and block that spear.
What happens now that Ichika is alive?
Thinking that thought, I turned my head to look at Ichika.
"......Ichika?"
"......"
I called out to her, but,
Hiss— Hiss—
the only reply that came was the sound of ragged breathing.
There was no answer.
The repercussions of overtaxing her already poor physical condition seemed to be hitting her now.
And that meant.
The foothold that had supported my feet was also about to vanish.
'Ah.'
My body began to fall from the sky.
Could I even survive a fall from this height down to the ground?
'With a hunter's body, maybe it's possible......?'
But my current physical state was far from normal.
I'd just soloed an enemy originally meant for a party of six. There was no way I had any strength left.
And that black spear up there, aiming at me.
A direct hit from that thing means instant death.
Not just for me, but for Ichika too.
"This...... I might actually die here?"
Even though I somehow managed to drag the fight all the way here.
I never dreamed the story would suddenly twist in such a bizarre direction, landing me in this absurd situation.
The situation was so ridiculous, a hollow laugh escaped me.
WHOOOOSH—
The speed of my body falling downward gradually accelerated.
And that black spear targeting me had also reached its final completion stage.
It was at that moment.
Baaaaang—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sound of a massive sonic boom suddenly erupted from below.
Grab!
I felt a hand firmly grip my waist.
I opened my eyes wide and turned my head.
There, with her red hair billowing, Kang Do-hee was flashing a grin, a cool smile on her face.
"Yellow Dog, am I terribly late?"
At that, I let out a scoff and answered.
"Yeah, way too late."
"Ex—treme Slow!!!"
Another voice cut in between Kang Do-hee and my words.
This time it was Im Ga-eul's.
Hummm—
The Mana shot up from below slowed the speed of our falling bodies.
Feeling my body suddenly float up, I couldn't help but laugh again.
"......This, this is just Slow. Not Extreme Slow. That silly noona."
Good grief.
Was the memory of that Black Magic Stone incident just too intense for her?
"Jin Yu-ha—!!!!"
WHOOSH—
THUNK!
Whoosh—
Then, a volley of Sofia's light arrows flew in.
The health I'd lost while fighting the creature solo came flooding back.
And Sofia's heal also landed on Ichika, who was clinging to my back.
"Hmm, I'm so damn happy and glad to see you all again, but,"
While being held by Kang Do-hee, I pointed my finger upward.
"So, how were you planning to block that thing?"
The Black Spear, now beginning its descent from above our heads.
Blocking something like that would require a proportional amount of defense.
That attack felt like something we couldn't stop even if we pooled all our strength together.
At that, Kang Do-hee shrugged.
"Why would we block that?"
"Huh?"
"The one who'll block that is someone else."
Claaaaang—!!!
Right as Kang Do-hee's words ended.
A sharp, metallic screech tore into our ears.
And then, the giant Black Spear, which had been falling toward me, suddenly shifted its trajectory,
turning toward a single woman holding a shield below.
The most unique skill in all of Velvetsra, capable of redirecting even a giant Black Spear.
It was Lee Yu-ri's Taunt.
However, my complexion stiffened rigidly.
"......I don't think Gukbap can block that alone."
"Don't worry. Is she not the one you yourself appointed as vice-captain?"
As she said that, Kang Do-hee paused, "Hmm," and chose her words.
"Well, I was a little upset at first about why you made someone else vice-captain instead of me......"
Her voice had gotten slightly quieter. She seemed embarrassed to be confessing her true feelings.
"But now I acknowledge it. That person is a worthy vice-captain for our Utopia."
And then I saw it.
The horde of monsters swarming endlessly around Lee Yu-ri.
'......No way, she dragged the monsters over to use as a shield!?'
Ha.
Seriously.
'A method like this for clearing Jukai Forest is probably a first even in Velvetsra's history.'
Watching the falling Black Spear grind through the monsters, I broke into a bright smile.