Acting
The Doom Knight was stronger than any opponent I had ever faced.
"Shit."
"Seo-jun!"
Han Seo-ah's cry rang out from the rear as bolts of light rained down on the Doom Knight's torso. Of course, her magic did nothing. The light bolts shattered uselessly the instant they struck its black armor.
Hiiiiiiing—!
The skeletal warhorse beside it reared, front hooves high, and loosed a grotesque scream. The Doom Knight vaulted into the saddle, raised its greatsword, and charged straight at me. I tightened my two-handed grip on my sword and kicked off the ground.
Kwaaaang—!
The moment our blades met, a jolt shot up my arms, but I clenched my teeth and held. Frontal won't work. Going head-on had its limits. In every respect the thing made a Dullahan look like a joke. Speed, raw power, and the warhorse's charge force combined into destructive might that left my physical stats in the dust.
Especially that flow connected to its body…
The current of mana only my eyes could see was the real problem. Streams of power rose from the throne the Doom Knight had sat upon, plugged into its back, and fed it the dungeon's ominous mana without end. As long as those conduits held, the monster was a perpetual engine—no matter how many times I cut it, it would never run dry.
Looks like a weakness no matter how you slice it.
The catch was that every time I tried to strike those conduits, that damned skeletal warhorse interfered with uncanny timing.
"Baek Do-yoon, Choi Jae-hyuk, Park Hyun-woo! If you don't want to die, grab that horse bastard's legs—even one of them!"
"Us…?"
"W-wait a second! We don't have the firepower to go head-to-head with that thing! One graze and our bones are dust!"
"If you want to walk out of here alive, pin it somehow. Three seconds—that's all I need!"
My razor-edged bark left them no choice. They moved.
"Fuck, if I die here I'm cursing you to hell, you bastard!"
"Over here, you bag of bones!"
Choi Jae-hyuk and Baek Do-yoon charged like men already dead, jamming their shields against the warhorse's forelegs as if hanging on for dear life. Park Hyun-woo covered them from behind with his bow.
Kwaang!
A dull impact, then the sickening crack of arms being wrenched out of joint—yet the two of them clung on with pure spite. As if to back them up, Han Seo-ah thrust her staff forward and poured a powerful binding spell beneath the warhorse's hooves. Chains whipped up and lashed around its legs, freezing its mobility for a heartbeat.
Hiiiiiiing—!
The warhorse lost its balance and thrashed wildly. That was the instant.
Now.
I kicked off the floor and rocketed into the air. The Doom Knight swung its greatsword, but I twisted mid-flight, slipped past it, and brought my blade around in a vicious arc.
"Sever!"
Hwarrrrk!
Black flames cloaking the black-iron sword carved a massive half-moon through the air. The throne split with a catastrophic roar; the magic circle etched into the floor shattered like glass.
Beneath the ruined seat, a yellow membrane leading back to reality shimmered into view.
"Lee Seo-jun, behind you!"
Han Seo-ah's scream stabbed my eardrums. Destroying the throne wasn't the end—only the mana feed had been cut. Enraged by the loss of its seat, the Doom Knight dragged its heavy greatsword across the floor, pulverizing marble as it charged me.
"Everyone get out!"
My shout froze the party mid-support.
"We can't just leave you alone!"
"Seo-jun-ssi! It's too dangerous by yourself!"
Han Seo-ah and Park Yu-jin reacted the hardest, of course. Gasping as if wringing the last drops of mana from their cores, they planted themselves between me and the Doom Knight.
"I said get out—now!"
I saw the arc of the greatsword coming.
"Kk…"
Kwadeuk—!
The mana-laced edge carved deep into my shoulder. Crimson sprayed across the floor; I hit the ground and rolled, face twisted in pain.
"Seo-jun!! No!!"
Han Seo-ah's scream tore through the hall. She took a step as if to run to me, but I coughed blood and roared,
"Baek Do-yoon—drag them out right fucking now—!"
The shout snapped him awake. He seized Han Seo-ah's arm and hauled her back. Choi Jae-hyuk shoved Park Yu-jin and Kim Ha-eun toward the gate and forced his own feet to move.
Knew you'd do exactly that, Baek Do-yoon.
But the Doom Knight was no pushover. It had no intention of watching its prey escape—and neither did I. I made no real effort to block its path.
The greatsword split the air.
Kwaaaang—!
A blade of pure force screamed past the gate. Choi Jae-hyuk, who hadn't yet thrown himself through the portal, and Park Hyun-woo, still carrying a wounded comrade, were caught in the blast.
"Keheuk!"
Choi Jae-hyuk's chest—shield nowhere near ready—split diagonally; blood fountained. Park Hyun-woo tumbled across the floor with the man on his back, both of them reduced to broken heaps.
"Oppa!"
"Hyun-woo hyung!"
In the middle of the slaughterhouse the Doom Knight still radiated killing frost, raising its greatsword again. I intercepted the monstrous cut with my own body and bellowed,
"Get out already!"
Kwaaaang!
I took the shockwave across my back and watched Baek Do-yoon grit his teeth and shove the women into the portal. Yellow light swallowed the weeping faces of the two girls who reached for me one last time—then vanished.
Pat—!
The portal sealed. Absolute silence dropped over the chamber. The agony on my face vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold, empty mask.
"Huu…"
I wiped the blood from my mouth with a rough swipe and stood. The audience that had been screaming my name was gone.
I tilted my head and looked at the Doom Knight. Blue flames roared from its empty neck in pure fury at losing its prey; it reset its grip on the greatsword and faced me.
"Curtain's down, bone-bag."
Crimson concentric rings bloomed in both of my eyes. At the same moment the wound the greatsword had carved into my shoulder crackled with black flame and closed as if it had never existed.
"No more interruptions. Time for the two of us to play for real."
Kwaang—!
I kicked the floor. Marble exploded outward. The speed was on another level from the act I'd put on earlier—no afterimage, just pure violence. I slipped inside and casually batted the Doom Knight's massive blade aside with the black-iron sword.
"I picked up a little technique. It's called Blood Flower in Full Bloom."
The first clash had told me pure brawling wouldn't beat this monster. So mid-fight, in the blink of an eye, I slipped into the Infinite Library, entered the Mansang Realm, and dragged Seo Ran into training until she taught me the art.
Blood Flower in Full Bloom.
Learning it had cost me a long stretch of Mansang Realm time and every curse Seo Ran could invent. I still insisted on mastering it for one simple reason.
"Because it's cool as hell."
The image of Seo Ran unleashing it against Wang Tae-ho—blood-red petals blooming until they swallowed the entire space—had burned itself into my mind and refused to leave.
The price was a little steep, but…
Well, it had been a very enjoyable price, so I decided not to complain. Still, I was nowhere near the late Gold Core power Seo Ran could pour into the technique. And because I had to drive it with mana instead of spiritual energy, the nature of the art itself twisted into something far more vicious and unstable.
I forced the mana from my dantian into my blood vessels like a flood. Heat surged until my fingertips and toes felt ready to burst. Black energy condensed and pulsed at the tip of my left hand.
The Doom Knight sensed the threat on pure instinct and charged, greatsword high. Too late.
I raised my hand.
"Full bloom."
What bloomed from my fingertips was not the blood-red sphere Seo Ran had shown me. It was a sphere of pure void that drank every scrap of light. It condensed once, then burst open, scattering black petals in every direction.
"Definitely crude compared to Seo Ran's."
Even as I spoke, the fully bloomed black petals swept over the Doom Knight like a hurricane.
Kwakwakwakwa—!
Beauty and slaughter were the same thing. Each petal crushed the monster's body. The Doom Knight swung its greatsword in desperate resistance, but the black petals climbed the blade itself and wormed into every joint of its armor.
Kwajijik! Kkwajik!
With wet, grotesque ruptures the jet-black armor exploded outward in pieces. The warhorse that had tried to help lay shattered on the floor, never having reached its master.
[…Ki… kiiiiieeeeeek!]
When the petals dissolved into black smoke, all that remained was the Doom Knight's half-crushed armor rolling on the ground. I kicked the wreckage aside and picked up the mana stone that had fallen free.
"So this is a mutation stone?"
Only the bosses of mutated dungeons carried stones like this; the market ranked them as top-tier materials, easily ten times the price of a normal boss core. I dropped it into my inventory and scanned the chamber.
The yellow portal still glowed. With the Doom Knight dead it would close soon.
Better hurry.
Then a faint rasp reached me.
"…H-help me."
Choi Jae-hyuk was still breathing.
"Wow. Our Jae-hyuk's got some serious cockroach vitality."
"…Seo-jun… s-save me… cough…"
"Give me a hundred reasons I should. No—ten seconds. Change my mind in that time."
He must have realized I had no intention of saving him; the begging stopped. In its place came a different word.
"…You… son of a… bitch……"
"Wrong answer. That's a reason to die, not a reason to live."
I smiled coldly and crushed my boot down on his chest. The lungs already shredded by the Doom Knight's force scream spat another mouthful of blood.
"Choi Jae-hyuk. You've got a little sister, right? Choi Ji-eun, was it?"
"You… you bastard, even Ji-eun…!"
"Saw her photo. Doesn't look anything like you—actually pretty. How's a girl like that supposed to survive this ugly world once her big brother's gone?"
I pressed my lips right against his ear and whispered like the devil himself.
"Don't worry. I'll take extremely good care of her. Just like I did with your girlfriend Ha-eun—I'll fill the empty space you leave behind with my cock."
"You… piece of… shit…!"
Choi Jae-hyuk tried to grab my pant leg in pure rage. I casually kicked his hand away.
"Devil? Please. I'm going to be the devoted comrade who honors your dying wish. I'll tell Ji-eun, with tears in my eyes, that 'Jae-hyuk begged me with his last breath to look after his little sister.' How much do you think she'll cling to me after that?"
The light in Choi Jae-hyuk's eyes guttered out. I felt no urge to close those hate-filled lids for him.
"See you, Jae-hyuk. Ha-eun, Ji-eun… I'll enjoy every single one of them."
His breathing stopped for good.
I immediately started hunting for the dungeon's real rewards. Behind the shattered throne, in a hidden alcove, a golden chest radiated soft light. I flipped the lid. Inside lay the jet-black cloak the Doom Knight had worn in life and a small mountain of mana stones.
How much is all this even worth?
I opened my inventory and vacuumed every last scrap from the treasure chest. A very satisfying haul. Finally I stood before the portal and checked my appearance.
"Hmm. Maybe I healed a little too well."
I looked far too intact for a dramatic return. I drew a dagger, reopened the freshly closed shoulder wound deep enough to bleed freely, tore my remaining clothes into rags with my bare hands, and painted myself thoroughly with my own blood. An investment this size was the least I could do if I wanted to hook Han Seo-ah and the other girls completely.
Unfocused eyes, ragged breathing—anyone looking would see a tragic survivor who had barely clawed his way out of a death match.
All right. Time for a heartwarming reunion.
Wearing the perfect expression of a broken man, I threw myself into the rippling yellow portal.