Blood Rock Valley (2)
'Tentacles.'
Grrrrind!
From among the fallen failures Russell had defeated, dark red tentacles shot up like hidden traps.
"Whoa!"
Russell hesitated for a moment, caught off guard.
"Unsaved ones! Die!"
"To reincarnation! To paradise!"
"To Nirvana!"
Unlike the hesitating Russell, the failures simply charged at their enemy in unison.
"Do these things have no fear?"
Russell simply pressed forward, feeling nothing but the steel-like sensation at the tips of his fists.
Bam! Bam!
The impact was like cannon fire.
With every single punch, the tentacles that had just sprouted from the ground were shattered, and the failures exploded into pieces.
"…Damn."
But that was all.
No matter how many times he swung his fists.
Even though he had awakened by obtaining the power of the Bulgasari.
He couldn't help but feel his stamina gradually draining against the endless wave of enemies.
This was especially true for Russell.
The concept of pacing himself or managing his stamina simply did not exist to him.
He just punched whatever he wanted and kept moving forward.
"Huuup!"
Only now, after swinging his fists for so long, did Russell take a deep breath, as if finally feeling a bit winded.
"Ha!"
Exhaling, he threw another punch.
Barbarians.
This ancient race could barely learn any skills, and the requirements for them to equip items were incredibly strict.
In exchange, their raw stats were high enough to transcend imagination.
Far beyond what any ordinary player could ever hope to measure.
"What on earth is that mortal…?"
"How can he not be tired after killing so many of us!"
It was so absurd that even the failures, who believed they would reincarnate upon death, grimaced in sheer exhaustion.
Even after the tentacles appeared alongside the failures, the barbarian's relentless onslaught remained unchanged, leaving them utterly sick of him.
"Steeeeel!"
Russell clasped his hands together into a double fist and leaped high into the air.
It was a simple jump, yet it carried him high enough to reach Lee Jin-hyuk, who was currently engaged in aerial combat.
"What?"
"Puuuunch!"
Russell's body, suspended in midair, plummeted straight down like a meteor.
Boom!
The destructive power was unbelievable for such a childishly named attack.
As if a meteorite had struck, the surrounding cliffs of Blood Rock Valley crumbled, and a massive crater formed at the center.
The wine glass in Chardis's hand rattled violently from the shockwave.
"It's not mana, demonic energy, or holy power?"
*Clink.*
The glass shattered.
"What is this?"
Skills with that level of power were rare, but they did exist if one looked hard enough.
But no matter how she looked at it, that was just a simple punch.
If she had to describe it, it was literally just jumping high and slamming a fist into the ground.
"This is insane."
And yet, all the tentacles and traps she had prepared throughout Blood Rock Valley were being utterly destroyed by it?
It made no sense.
A player's mana was not infinite.
Whether it was the rising star Lee Jin-hyuk flying in the sky, or Chardis herself.
Eventually, if they ran out of holy power or mana, they wouldn't be able to cast any skills.
But that crazy muscular man was different.
He was sweeping everything away like a monster using nothing but raw physical punches.
To Chardis, who constantly studied the precise manipulation of mana and how to use it most efficiently and effectively, it felt deeply unfair.
"If I had a body like that, I wouldn't have bothered learning magic or curses either…"
Chardis let out a sigh.
'He's definitely not a High Ranker. I can breathe a sigh of relief on that front, but…'
She calmly assessed the situation.
'I can't afford to let my guard down completely.'
Chardis knew who her opponent was.
Lee Jin-hyuk.
He was currently one of the most famous players in the Tower.
'To think he would be the one to show up.'
A celebrity of the Tower and a talent coveted by everyone.
Of all people, she hadn't expected him to come.
But she had expected him to be this strong even less.
After all, he was a player who hadn't even passed the 10th-floor trial yet, meaning he didn't even have an epithet.
Yet, not only had he located all the witches who had hidden themselves using the power of the Banished Constellation, but he was also slaughtering them.
Every time his sword swung, white flames blanketed the sky, and every time he executed his signature thrust, the heavens seemed to tear open.
She couldn't even use her tentacles to bind him and activate her Witch of Binding powers.
After all, she couldn't just manifest tentacles out of thin air.
*Sigh.*
Chardis sighed.
Still, she didn't rashly execute her subordinates this time.
She knew it was simply because the intruders were unexpectedly strong, not because her subordinates were incompetent or making mistakes.
"Well, this is still within the realm of expectations…"
Chardis gave her orders.
'It's impossible with just these troops. I could stop them myself, but… Mother's vessel might get caught in the crossfire.'
If it were up to her, she would step forward right now and slaughter them.
But in the off chance.
What if the 'vessel' sustained damage during the battle?
What if that damage created an unexpected variable or crisis?
That would be disastrous.
Their plan to utilize and conquer the Gate of the Underworld located here would be completely ruined.
"Block them. With your lives."
With the tentacles and failures of Blood Rock Valley moving according to her residual power and will, along with the forces of the Potala Palace and the Blood Sect, they should easily be able to buy enough time against just two intruders.
"In the meantime, we will prepare to move."
She figured this was actually for the best.
Since they had already sacrificed most of the divine beasts here anyway.
"Where are we going?"
"We,"
Chardis said, turning her back.
"are heading to the Underworld."
'The situation is favorable.'
Though he pretended otherwise, Lee Jin-hyuk was clearly watching Chardis with his Truth-Seeking Eye.
She was quite far away, but that didn't matter.
He was confident that not even a High Ranker could detect the gaze of this unique-grade eye.
'To think Chardis would show up in person.'
The moment he saw her, his first thought was that this wouldn't be as easy as he'd hoped.
Chardis.
The Witch of Binding, the eldest daughter who had remained by Majuron's side until the very end in his past life.
As the firstborn, she possessed an abundance of power bestowed by Majuron and the energy of the Banished Constellation.
Of course, she had the talent to back it up.
Her primary ability was the tentacles currently sprouting all over the place.
She was a player who excelled particularly at hunkering down in one spot and defending it.
'Although she's only considered a high-tier ranker because her ability to climb the Tower alone is somewhat lacking…'
'If she fights in an environment that favors her like this, her potential is easily on par with a High Ranker.'
He couldn't hear their conversation, so it was impossible to grasp the situation perfectly.
Even so, one fact was crystal clear.
'That girl.'
*Slide.*
'She's up to something.'
Retreating while they were causing such a massive ruckus meant two things.
First, she believed her remaining forces were enough to hold the two of them off.
Second, she had something far more important to attend to than worrying about mere intruders.
'Even before my regression, Chardis always prioritized Majuron's orders above all else.'
The difference now is that Majuron is focusing on creating a vessel rather than conquest.
'If she used those tentacles to conquer the Tower in my past life, she must be using them to create the vessel now.'
Naturally, to be the 'eldest daughter' of a High Ranker like Majuron, one had to possess formidable capabilities.
"Well, now."
Hovering in the air, Lee Jin-hyuk looked around and smirked.
To retreat even after witnessing Russell's power.
She must be in quite a hurry, yet confident in her defenses.
Having reached this conclusion, Jin-hyuk's eyes gleamed.
"Russell! It looks like we're being underestimated!"
"Underestimated?"
Russell grinned.
"We can't have that!"
Boom!
Russell's fist slammed into the ground once more.
Instantly, tentacles and failures were blown away in all directions.
Creak!
Around Jin-hyuk's armor, a divine beast taking the form of a white tiger's muscles and bones and a dragon's scales materialized.
Now that the witches in the sky had been dealt with, there was nothing left to threaten Jin-hyuk.
"Russell, break through!"
"On it!"
Crash!
Jin-hyuk blocked the incoming attacks while Russell laid waste to the surroundings with his signature steel fists.
The geographical advantage of Blood Rock Valley being a narrow canyon worked in their favor.
There was only one path to break through.
And the number of enemy forces that could concentrate in the space was limited.
"My word…"
"Look at those monsters."
Watching this, the witches clicked their tongues.
"Should we send in the failures?"
"We already did."
"I mean the ones who have at least dipped their toes into 'Nirvana'."
"Ah!"
"Isn't this exactly why we used those suckers from the Potala Palace?"
*Hehehehe.*
Despite many of their number already dead, the witches serving Chardis were giggling.
Although Jin-hyuk possessed unexpected strength, that was only against the low-to-mid-tier witches.
The same went for the 9th floor.
'No matter how strong he is, he's still a newbie who hasn't even cleared the 10th floor.'
'There's no way we'd lose to him.'
'I heard Jang Man-hong was defeated on the 9th floor, but they said a Constellation intervened.'
'Right. He only beat Jang Man-hong by borrowing a Constellation's power.'
'And those other low-class witches probably just flew around like idiots before getting killed.'
As mid-to-high-tier witches, they were confident they wouldn't suffer the same fate.
Thus, as if playing a game.
They watched from a distance, unleashing their prepared traps one by one.
"Now, next up is the Potala Palace—!"
*Grin.*
"The old monks! No, the blood monks!"
At the shout of one witch, figures began to spring out from the crevices of the cliffs.
"Paradise!"
"Rebirth!"
These old monks were different from the failures that had appeared so far.
In fact, they could no longer even be called 'old monks'.
Every single one of them had a straight posture and a youthful face.
"Die! Die!"
"Hahaha! Let's go together!"
Their eyes were bloodshot as if their capillaries had burst, and a blood-red mandala hovered behind their backs like a halo.
They even had long, sturdy fangs perfectly adapted for sucking blood.
They looked so grotesque that they could no longer be considered human.
Kryaaaa!
"What are these things now?"
Caring nothing for their appearance, Russell threw a punch.
Clang!
"They blocked it?"
Unlike before, Russell's punch had been blocked for the first time.
The old monks—no, the blood monks—were confronting Russell with fists enveloped in dark red demonic energy.
"Hehehe. Paradise is not a place one goes alone, mortal."
"Together! We mix our blood!"
"And become family."
"Mortal! Mortal! Mortal! Come with us! To paradise!"
A single monk couldn't block him.
But two, three, four.
Before long, dozens of them gathered, neutralizing Russell's attacks.
By absorbing the blood spilled by the failures earlier to boost their physical abilities, they were fully capable of matching Russell.
……!
Jin-hyuk was also secretly surprised by this sight.
The existence of these blood monks, who hadn't been present before his regression, was surprising enough, but he hadn't expected them to block Russell's attacks, no matter how many there were.
"What's wrong? Getting tired?"
Though surprised, Jin-hyuk didn't show it, teasing Russell with a smirk.
"What?"
His pride clearly wounded, Russell clenched his fists again in disbelief.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Hmm?"
"Mighty! The strongest, the last barbarian!"
Grind!
Bam!
As Russell unleashed his true strength, the gathered blood monks were blown away all at once.
"Uwoooooh!"
It seemed he had been holding back to conserve his stamina.
Now, throwing away any attempt at pacing himself, he began to swing his fists like a madman once more.
"I knew that would happen."
"Let's deploy"
"the next plan."
The high-tier witches nodded to the mid-tier witches, having anticipated this.
'Ugh…'
'I don't want to go…'
They didn't want to go, knowing it would be extremely dangerous.
But what choice did they have? Considering that disobeying orders meant instant death, going down there was still the safer option.
"Now."
"Let's begin."
Rumble!
The moment Jin-hyuk and Russell pressed forward and reached the center of Blood Rock Valley.
Whoosh!
Tentacles incomparably larger than any before erupted from the ground, wrapping around the divine beast.
Like chains binding a massive beast, the tentacles sealed Jin-hyuk's very power.
"Ugh!"
Soon, they wrapped not only around the divine beast, but also around the bodies of Jin-hyuk and Russell.
No matter how hard the two struggled to break free, these tentacles did not snap as easily as the previous ones.
"Hahaha!"
"It's impossible to escape! Impossible!"
The tentacles here were vastly different from the others.
They were a trap prepared specifically for potential intruders.
They were made of a special material that Chardis had painstakingly crafted.
They were unlike organic matter that could be sliced through like tofu.
It was a secret weapon inscribed with magic circles that granted both flexibility and extreme hardness.
"Wait, this."
Jin-hyuk looked at Russell.
"You can get rid of this easily."
"There are too many of them!"
Feeling his arms and legs getting tangled, Russell shouted urgently.
"What's the way?!"
"Eat it!"
"…Huh?"
"I said, eat it!"
Indeed.
What made up these tentacles was, fundamentally, steel.