Chapter 250
Chapter 250
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 250
Chapter Title: Here to End the Fight
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The epicenter of the vibrations shaking the tower—Hell difficulty's third floor.
At the end of the passage where the luminous stone glowed constantly, acrid smoke began billowing in.
The moment the hazy smoke spread out like mist.
A black shadow with a white tail shot out like an arrow from within it.
Whish-.
The shadow, looking like a massive ball, rolled straight into the fourth-floor entrance.
Afterward, the third-floor passage was completely engulfed in smoke.
* * *
Somewhere in the Hundred-Day Tower.
Rumble-.
Feeling the shaking gradually subside, Coco smirked.
She knew exactly where this vibration had originated.
"Already on the third floor."
The vibration meant that "it"—installed at the far end of the third floor—had detonated.
It also meant that guy had reached it.
Turning around, Coco posed a question.
"How long has it been since that guy entered the tower?"
In response, one of the Black Sword Soldiers bowed his head slightly.
"Twenty-four minutes."
Breaking through to the third floor in just twenty-four minutes since entering the tower.
Far faster than anticipated.
Coco's face twisted in displeasure.
"That old man... so full of himself."
She recalled Sekyung boasting that his mechanisms—ones she had designed—could kill Yuri... no, at least hold him back indefinitely, and she clicked her tongue.
Watching her, the Black Sword Soldier voiced a doubt.
"No report has come in yet, so we can't confirm if he passed through or not, right?"
"What? You think he didn't make it?"
"Wouldn't he have? After that went off?"
Coco blew out a puff of cigarette smoke and chuckled at the soldier's certainty.
Fwoosh-.
"Think a guy at Accredited Rank 6 would go down easily? Especially if someone at that level prepared for it— even if it exploded right in his face, he could survive just fine."
"And if he wasn't prepared?"
"Well, being human, he'd die, sure. But at that level, even if he's careless, he wouldn't go down without a fight. Especially a cautious kid like him."
"So... he's through the third floor by now."
"Probably. Though I doubt he's unscathed. From the start..."
Coco took a deep drag on her cigarette.
Siiiip-.
Crackle-.
"The reason we installed that wasn't to kill him—just to injure him a bit. That's more than enough to achieve our goal."
She grinned, baring her teeth.
White smoke trickled from between them.
* * *
The pitch-black, massive ball that had entered the fourth-floor entrance.
Roll, roll-.
It rolled feebly before coming to a complete stop.
Cough, cough-.
A small coughing sound came from inside, followed by arms and legs sprouting out.
"Cough, damn..."
A groan escaped as the black ball—the curled-up Yuri—slowly stood.
Crack, crack-.
"Argh."
Stretching his upper body, Yuri thumped his lower back with his fist.
His appearance was drastically different from when he'd first entered.
He hadn't broken a sweat or lost his breath clearing the traps on the first and second floors.
Now, scorch marks marred his clothes everywhere, and soot smeared his face and neck.
"Ugh, nearly wrecked my back."
Twisting his waist side to side to check for issues, Yuri turned back to the passage he'd traversed, grinding his teeth.
Murderous intent gleamed in his eyes.
"You bastard! That freeze-you-dead geezer actually jammed a bomb into the trap!"
While refining the Demon King's castle mechanisms, Sekyung had insisted dozens of times on adding bombs.
Of course, Yuri's objection—that it'd collapse the castle—had shut that down.
Unable to fulfill his ambition back then, Sekyung had apparently vented it here, in this Hell-difficulty trap, by really packing in a bomb.
A mid-sized one, no less!
"Seriously almost died."
Even though he'd prepared thinking, "That bomb-perv geezer might pull something," the blast's power at point-blank range was terrifying.
If he hadn't drawn his holy sword at full power to cleave the flames, he'd have died outright—not to mention the passage collapsing and burying his body.
He'd survived the explosion, but the problem was Sekyung's perversion had evolved further.
After the first blast.
As if anticipating Yuri would block it, Sekyung had rigged small bombs to chain-explode in the aftermath.
Near the passage's end, and after the big explosion, Yuri had let his guard slip a tad—and reacted a beat slow to the rear blasts.
He'd urgently deployed demon style to dissipate the force, succeeding...
But...
'Ugh... my back stings.'
He'd unfolded demon style too hastily, failing to fully redirect the power, so the explosion swept him forward, sending him tumbling.
"Ugh..."
Contrary to Sekyung and Coco's expectations, Yuri emerged without major injury.
His back still burned hot as he glared fiercely, grinding his teeth.
"You geezer... just you wait till I get out. You're done."
Vowing revenge on Sekyung, Yuri ascended the stairs to the fourth floor.
But his steps were markedly more cautious and slow than before.
Stroking his chin as he eyed the approaching fourth-floor entrance, Yuri pondered.
'The third floor was that bad... what's the fourth like?'
No way they'd lined the whole passage with bombs?
'...That crazy perv geezer might've.'
Tense with that thought, Yuri entered the fourth floor.
But unlike his fears, it wasn't a long passage.
It was a spacious circular chamber of considerable size.
The entrance to the fifth floor was even visible on the far wall.
"What is this? A rest area?"
His mouth joked, but Yuri quickly scanned the surroundings.
'Nothing looks dangerous? No oil smell either.'
No matter how he looked, it was just a big empty space.
What the hell were they supposed to do here?
'Really a breather spot?'
Still distrustful, Yuri advanced cautiously.
That very moment.
From the fifth-floor entrance, multiple footsteps echoed.
Thud, thud-.
Yuri halted upon seeing who emerged.
"Black Sword Soldiers?"
The figures from the fifth-floor entrance.
Three Black Sword Soldiers, not one.
Feeling their auras, Yuri instantly grasped the fourth floor's challenge and curled his lip.
'Fight these Black Sword Soldiers, huh.'
Having figured it out, he examined his opponents closely.
'Ordinary Black Sword Soldiers...'
By their auras: two stable Accredited Rank 3s and one veteran Accredited Rank 4.
Their levels struck him as oddly low.
'Just three?'
Of course, three Black Sword Soldiers were no pushovers.
But Yuri questioned sending mere regulars, when they surely knew his strength.
'One veteran's mixed in, but still—not that tough?'
His doubt stemmed from Yollam's miscalculation.
The trio was selected assuming Yuri had expended energy through the first three floors—and taken injuries.
The Black Sword Soldiers were the surprised ones.
"...He's here."
"He broke through that explosion?"
"And he looks... way too fine?"
Yuri appeared not just having cleared floors 1-3 in under an hour, but remarkably intact.
Pausing to eye each other, the soldiers sighed faintly and hardened their expressions.
"Tch."
"Plans changed."
"But we can't let him pass easily regardless."
Shing-.
Resuming their advance, they drew their weapons.
Yuri, facing them, drew his sword and slowly stepped toward the Black Sword Soldiers.
As Yuri and the soldiers closed in, their pace quickened.
At around thirty meters, as if on cue, they charged.
Tatak-!
No words were exchanged.
Without dialogue, Yuri and the soldiers understood their roles here perfectly.
The three had to band together to block Yuri Holland from advancing.
Yuri just needed to drop the obstacles and proceed.
Conflicting goals ignited battle intent, leading to fierce clashes.
Yuri vanished in an instant, as did the three soldiers.
Soon, red, blue, and white trajectories intertwined with a single golden one.
Clang-!
Kakakaka-.
The tricolored lights and gold clashed and parted at eye-blurring speeds.
Amid it, faint surprise flickered in Yuri's eyes.
'They're different.'
This wasn't his first time facing Black Sword Soldiers up close.
Greta Wigen in the hide-collecting mission.
The Demon King in the princess-rescue quest.
He'd tangled with squad-leader grades.
But those were desperate life-or-death scraps—no leisure to savor.
Fighting ordinary ones like this felt novel to Yuri.
'This... is a Black Sword Soldier.'
The power in their blades upon clash.
Bold judgments, seamless combos.
Especially the thick killing intent in each strike—leagues beyond his sloppy 50th Cohort peers.
Even as squad members.
Parrying their assaults, Yuri suddenly recalled the past.
Before joining Yollam, during the certification exam where Johan handed him the badge, his opponent had been a lowly Black Sword Soldier.
He'd needed his avatar to beat that Rank 3 back then—now, here he was, toying with three Rank 3-4s.
That realization lifted his mood.
Meanwhile, the soldiers battling him were stunned.
'We expected it... no, he's beyond expectations—stronger!'
Yuri's feats were infamous among Black Sword Soldiers.
But knowing and experiencing were worlds apart.
'Is this runt really just a second-year rider?!'
Before engaging, they'd thought themselves disadvantaged but not doomed.
Realms came fast with hard training and talent.
Experience needed time.
They figured exploiting Yuri's inexperience would expose gaps to exploit.
But what was this?
'Even if he fought in the womb... this make sense?!'
Inexperience? Gaps?
None in Yuri's moves.
He distributed stamina fluidly, of course.
No superfluous motions, even under scrutiny.
From his seamless efficiency, they sensed veteran polish.
In a seventeen-year-old boy.
What irked them more:
'Is he... toying with us?'
Yuri handled them with such ease, deliberately dragging the fight.
Like studying, gaining experience mid-battle.
To these life-hardened soldiers, it was absurd—and humiliating.
They gnashed their teeth.
'We'll see how long that leisure lasts!'
'Stacking experience? Try this on for size!'
'Survive this, and we'll acknowledge you!'
Their eyes flashed; movements shifted.
Retreating swiftly, they encircled Yuri in a "品" formation.
The moment their tricolored trajectories intertwined like a net, blanketing the area.
Boom-.
Yuri's eyes widened at the crushing pressure from all sides.
'What the—?!'
Like gears meshing perfectly, the precise tricolors blended.
Yuri realized instantly.
'Joint formation?'
An array for multiples against a lone powerhouse.
Seeing it for the first time, Yuri's eyes gleamed.
'This is a real joint formation!'
Yuri had faced groups before.
But not this—raw, crude links versus pros drilled for perfect synergy.
His heart raced at the true joint formation.
'This...'
This was it.
The thrill absent from recent spars with cohorts.
Anticipation of fresh experience.
Savoring it fully, Yuri grinned wide and shouted.
"Fuck yeah, this is exciting!"
As if mirroring its master's thrill, the golden demon sword rippled joyfully.