Chapter 258
Chapter 258
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 258
Chapter Title: Demon's 9th Floor (5)
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No matter how much I thought about it, this really did feel like a scam.
That was Yuri's conclusion.
‘Ah, why does the difficulty keep ramping up!’
Her complaints overflowed, but she couldn’t openly protest.
The reason was that Coco had been facing her bare-handed up until now.
‘It’s not like I can complain about her using a weapon now, when she’s the one who fights with weapons normally.’
Just the fact that the pressure had shifted so dramatically in an instant told Yuri that those three-section staves were Coco’s main weapons.
Which also meant Coco had been going easy on her until now.
How could she get mad at someone who’d been holding back and yell, “Why aren’t you holding back anymore?”
Yuri backed away a good distance and stood there blankly, at which point Coco wiggled her finger again.
“You’re not coming in?”
“Um… Do I have to?”
Honestly, she didn’t want to.
She had a sad premonition that diving in this time would hurt… no, hurt a lot.
Yuri’s speech, which had mixed in some casual tone, turned polite in an instant, and Coco smirked.
“Consider it an honor. You’re the first opponent in years to make me draw these.”
“You don’t have to…”
“It’s been a while since I’ve gotten this serious, too.”
“…So, do you really have to?”
Getting recognition from a strong opponent was undoubtedly a good thing.
The problem was that it didn’t have to be right now.
“Haiii…”
Seeing Yuri let out a long sigh, a glint flashed in Coco’s half-closed eyes.
‘Yuri Holland.’
Up until now, her feelings toward Yuri had been mere curiosity.
What Johan the old man had taught this kid.
What secrets this kid might have.
She’d poked at Yuri to uncover those things.
But surprisingly, this young kid had started gnawing away at her instead.
Not content with that, he’d used her as nourishment to grow absurdly in this short time.
To the point where, for a moment, she’d felt genuinely threatened.
‘It almost ended there.’
If she hadn’t chosen to burn through that cigar in one go just moments ago, this fight surely would have been over.
In that instant, Coco had felt it clearly.
What kind of being Yuri Holland was.
‘That’s… a monster.’
A being born with talent so irrational it shouldn’t exist in this world.
Just like…
‘The Sword Lord.’
A monster she thought this world couldn’t hold two of was crouching right there in the cradle.
Making another monster’s nest his own home.
‘Wait… nest?’
At that moment, Coco burst into inward laughter.
‘Ahaha, Yuri Holland, you… you’re a cuckoo chick!’
A creature that takes over someone else’s nest, eats the food provided by others, and grows fat.
Yuri was none other than the cuckoo chick Johan Redner had laid in the cradle.
Of course, that wasn’t particularly important to Coco.
What mattered to her now was that her heart was pounding.
‘It’s been so long since I felt this.’
Life in the cradle wasn’t imprisonment, but it might as well have been confinement.
The monotonously repetitive days had left Coco listless.
Into that routine came a little monster that gnawed at her.
In the process, it snapped a few of the chains sealing her desires.
The result?
Thump thump.
It had awakened the desires dormant in her monotonous days.
‘I can’t end this fun so soon!’
Coco Romani.
One of the five vice-commanders of the Black Sword Corps.
The longest-serving member of the current Black Sword Corps aside from Commander Gordon.
Third in the official Black Sword Corps rankings…
‘Let’s have even more fun!’
…The woman even the battle-mad Black Swords called a “fighting dog” and avoided.
That very fighting dog— a savage beast even Commander Gordon struggled to control— had awakened from a long slumber and was drooling at the sight of her prey.
Naturally, that prey was Yuri.
The one saving grace for Yuri was that the collar Gordon had put on Coco was still firmly in place.
In other words, Coco’s eyes hadn’t gone completely feral yet.
Slurp.
She licked her lips lightly and opened her mouth.
“When are you coming?”
“I’m still thinking about it?”
“Where’d all that bravado from when you were yapping earlier go?”
“Bravado? Who, me? Nah, a coward like me? No way.”
Coco grinned at Yuri, who was just flapping his gums and sizing things up, and made a proposal.
“Aww, I was charmed by that bravado earlier and was gonna give you a gift.”
“…A gift?”
“If you keep me entertained for the remaining 50 days… I’ll give you something nice personally.”
Yuri responded with a sullen face.
“Is it really a good gift?”
“Shall we try trusting each other?”
“I’ve been backstabbed too many times to start trusting now.”
“Fine, forget it then.”
At those words, Yuri quickly backpedaled.
“I didn’t say no?”
Whether he liked it or not, he couldn’t stall forever.
He’d have to clash with Coco again eventually.
And if she was offering a gift willingly, no reason to refuse.
No, for Yuri, it was actually a good thing.
“Well, then, hoping it’s a good gift…”
Motivated now, he took a step toward Coco.
With it, blue lightning began to rise slowly from his entire body.
In the meantime, Coco lit her cigar.
Sizzle.
And as if that were the signal.
Crackle!
A thick bolt of lightning shot upward, swallowing Yuri whole.
Seeing it, Coco’s smile deepened.
‘Trying to devour me?’
At first, she’d thought such a Yuri was cheeky.
But not anymore.
How cute was this guy?
‘I’ll give you as much as you want!’
Stuff yourself full and grow big…
‘Entertain me!’
More than before!
More than ever!
Coco, grinning widely, charged at Yuri.
A moment later.
Smack!
A clear, crisp popping sound exploded loudly.
Soon after, a pain-filled scream echoed enough to shake the 9th floor.
“Gwaaaah!”
* * *
Hundred-Day Tower Quest, Day 65.
“Ow…”
A figure swollen like it’d been stung by bees, with a huge lump on its forehead, slathered white ointment all over its face.
As befitting the name “Goblin tribe’s top-grade external injury recovery salve,” the swelling and lump subsided in just minutes.
The restored original face was the Yuri we all knew.
“Hss…”
He applied ointment even to the inside of his busted lip, then stripped down to his underwear.
Revealed was a muscular body.
But the countless red-and-purple bruises covering it from head to toe made viewers gasp in shock.
Yuri himself, though, casually applied the ointment and flopped down flat.
“Ugh, my poor bones.”
Fifteen days had passed since the day he thought he could escape this damn tower.
And as the price for awakening the fighting dog’s desires, Yuri had to end every day looking like this.
If he couldn’t buy recovery salves from the portable shop that visited the tower.
And if not for the Strength Crystal he’d eaten earlier.
Yuri wouldn’t have lasted a day; he’d have been bedridden for weeks.
He grimaced at the lingering pain.
‘She really beats the crap out of me without mercy.’
Bare-handed Coco was strong, but with the three-section staves, she was on another level entirely.
No matter how he waited for an opening, none appeared.
Staring at the magic stone-embedded ceiling, Yuri muttered in a deflated voice.
“This is bad…”
His ace in the hole, Apex Domain, hadn’t landed.
Coco came at him with faint madness in her eyes, like some berserk switch had flipped.
And now, only 35 days left.
He had to find a way to land a solid hit on Coco within that time, no matter what.
On top of that, something even more grim had happened to Yuri recently.
Rustle.
Yuri sat up slightly.
He assumed a meditative posture and closed his eyes.
Soon, a faint golden light emanated from his body, tracing geometric lines.
It was Radiant Blood.
Sss.
How long had he kept his eyes closed?
The moment Yuri, observing his internals in the Radiant Blood state, snapped his eyes open.
A grim voice leaked from him.
“…No dice, as expected.”
The effects of Radiant Blood Yuri had enjoyed up to now were mainly three.
Temporarily recovering spent mental power, stamina, and mana.
Among them, mana recovery wasn’t huge, but in emergencies, it was a hidden dagger worth its weight.
But recently, even unfolding Radiant Blood didn’t recover mana anymore.
‘Why the hell?’
At first, he thought it was backlash from overusing Radiant Blood since entering the tower.
He’d gone a few days without using it, hoping it was temporary, but the result was the same.
No mana recovery effect.
‘Maybe if I wait a bit longer, it’ll normalize?’
He could afford to wait and see, but unfortunately, Yuri had no such luxury right now.
‘It sucks, but… if a card’s no good, time to discard it.’
It had been useful in fights with Coco so far, but useless now— no point clinging.
He needed to find winning combinations with the cards he could still play.
“Whew…”
Yuri let out a long breath.
He half-lidded his eyes and began infinitely replaying his fights with Coco.
Those downcast golden eyes of his.
They held a far deeper light than before entering the tower.
* * *
Hundred-Day Tower Quest, Day 69.
Clink!
The sound of chains grinding.
Whoosh.
The sound of the three-section staves crushing air made Yuri’s neck hairs stand on end.
He leaned back in an instant.
Coco’s left hand whipped past Yuri’s now ‘ㄱ’-shaped face.
The three-section staves spun like a discus in her palm.
Whish!
Yuri, escaping the crisis, immediately slashed diagonally upward at Coco.
But.
Clang!
Coco’s three-section staves, appearing out of nowhere, smacked his sword aside.
Using the rebound, Yuri twisted his blade to target Coco’s upper body.
But the ghostly staves spun, forming a circular shield to block the sword.
Finishing their task, the staves whirled smoothly up her right arm, over her shoulder and neck, into her left hand.
Watching the whole sequence, Yuri stuck out his tongue.
‘Three-section staves, damn… so freaking tricky!’
Coco’s three-section staves were the epitome of unpredictability.
Sometimes swung as two short clubs.
Sometimes as one medium staff.
Suddenly extending to chain length.
Spinning, flying straight, wrapping weapons.
Truly bizarre, unpredictable movements.
Yuri was barely keeping up with them.
Not entirely, of course.
Thud.
The staves struck his left thigh.
“Urk!”
Yuri… no, very frequently got hit like this by the three-section staves.
Of course, even then, he’d predicted the hits and dispersed the impact as much as possible.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been just a groan— bones would’ve snapped.
Watching such a Yuri, Coco inwardly marveled.
‘This kid, what the hell is he?’
Of course, Coco wasn’t going all-out right now.
If she were, the fight with Yuri wouldn’t even be possible.
Even so, her three-section staves weren’t something a mere official Rank 6 could block.
To even react like Yuri did, you’d need at least Rank 7 with a Domain.
And that was the truly mind-blowing, nose-blood-inducing part.
‘This kid hasn’t opened a Domain yet, right?’
A guy without a Domain moving like he had one?
What kind of monster bullshit was this?
‘What’s the principle behind it?’
Day 50.
From the moment Yuri first showed it until now, Coco had observed him closely.
But she couldn’t grasp the secret behind those godlike movements.
Not even a simple clue.
She’d tentatively called it a “fake Domain” since it didn’t seem like a real one.
‘But it’s not something you just call a fake Domain.’
Fake yet not fake.
It might be a new realm altogether.
‘A new Domain free from nullification…’
Nullification.
The term for the annihilation from clashing sensory Domains.
An inevitable phenomenon when two or more Domains overlap.
Thus, in fights between Rank 7+ officials, victory depended on whose denser Domain nullified the opponent’s faster.
That was the basic common sense for current high-rankers.
But…
‘What if Yuri unlocks a real sensory Domain in this state?’
Yuri was currently moving as if he had a Domain via that fake one.
What if he opened a real Domain on top of that?
And could nullify opponents’ Domains with it?
‘…Ah?!’
Imagining that future, Coco got chills.