Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Ophanim's Assault
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Everyone lost their words at the hideous appearance and enormous size of the Ophanim that burst through the Gate, staring up at the sky.
The Ophanim slowly descended to the ground, its numerous rings—each at least ten meters in diameter—rotating aimlessly.
"Oppa, you said that thing has dragon-level combat ability, right?"
"Yeah. Not the weakened dragon we fought, but one at full power."
When it reached the midpoint between the Gate and the ground, light shone from its countless eyes, firing beams in all directions.
The world turned blindingly white, as if a massive sun had descended to earth.
"Kyaa!"
"Na-young?!"
"The Corruption... it's broken."
The light swept away Na-young's purple curse, just as it illuminates darkness.
The Corruption had made it easier to block the swarm of angels, but the moment it was nullified, angels from the 6th hierarchy and below all charged in.
As we scrambled to fend off the attacking angels, the Ophanim's multiple rings aligned, opening a hole in the center.
Then, from the middle of those rings, a beam of gathered light shot out. Its power was incomparable to the blasts from hundreds of Principatuses.
I stepped forward, crossed my arms in my giant form, and took the beam head-on.
The armor that could withstand lava in solar-like heat began to burn and wear away. It wasn't just the heat. The impact cracked the armor, shattering it, and the skin beneath started to scorch.
"Oppa!!"
Na-young cast a mana shield over me, but—
Crack!
It couldn't withstand the power or the elemental mismatch for even a moment before shattering.
While I was pinned down blocking the beam, the angels unleashed concentrated fire on our comrades behind me.
'Na-young, protect the others instead of me!'
I asked Na-young, who could read my mind.
I wanted to charge out and smash the Ophanim, but if I left the front unguarded, everyone's burden would increase.
Finally, the beam stopped. My sizzling, boiling skin recovered in an instant.
After some deliberation, a good idea came to mind.
Using the same technique as drawing a sword from the back of my hand, I formed a spear in my palm.
I grabbed the tip of the one-cubit spear protruding from my right palm with my left hand and pulled it out straight.
The spear was long and pointed, simple in shape. But since I was giantized, its size matched accordingly.
Since this spear was made from my body, it was perfect for channeling my aura. I poured in aura to its limit, and the black spear glowed red.
I leaned back, planted my feet, exploded every muscle to its limit, and hurled the spear.
Kwaaaaa!!!
The spear flew at supersonic speed, shoving the air aside as it passed.
From the moment I prepared to throw, angels had densely packed in front of the Ophanim. The aura-packed spear pierced through them effortlessly.
But even with all that aura and force, after piercing over a hundred angels, the spear lost momentum and shattered, falling to the ground.
Even if it had hit, it was uncertain if it could take it down in one blow, and with all that interference midway, there was no way it would reach.
The Ophanim's rings began aligning again. Another beam was coming soon.
I glanced back. They were holding, but fatigue and injuries were accumulating. If I kept blocking beams and got tied down, the rear would collapse first.
Ice Breath wouldn't reach. Poison Mist was the same. Scattering small aura shots would get blocked before hitting, and throws weren't working.
As I racked my brain, I simply changed my approach. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—fight beam with beam.
I extracted all the life force from the scattered angel corpses. Red grains of life force floated up from everywhere and flowed into my body.
Living targets resist, making absorption harder with distance, but dead flesh remnants yield their life force easily.
Corpse life force is naturally far less than when alive. But with this many corpses, the total amount was substantial.
With my beastkin body reborn and its vastly increased life force capacity, I gathered until the limit.
Then, just before the Ophanim's rings fully aligned—
I converted the gathered life force to aura, thrust both hands forward, and unleashed it.
The amount of energy pouring from my hands was comparable to when Helen once used the Gate to spew massive power.
My body cracked and tore from releasing life force beyond my output limit. Helen had died splitting apart back then, but luckily, I had Regeneration. It healed even as it tore.
Around the thick red aura beam flew red sparks like electricity, and angels hit by the small sparks exploded and died.
Just before my aura beam struck, the Ophanim's rings aligned, and its light beam shot at mine.
With a deafening roar, the two energies collided. The beams split and scattered, incinerating countless angels.
But its energy was far denser and more refined than mine, gradually pushing me back. Gaph wasn't exaggerating about it matching a dragon.
"Oppa, focus."
Na-young floated up with Float magic, placed both hands beside my head from behind.
Na-young's mana control far surpassed mine. She linked with my mind, teaching me her control techniques to compress the aura.
With her help, the thickness of my crudely unleashed aura beam gradually shrank, gathering the scattering sparks. As it concentrated, the power intensified, holding off the Ophanim's beam.
The Ophanim, running low on energy, had surrounding angels shoot light into it to replenish. I countered by absorbing life force from dead angels to recharge.
"More.... more...."
My initial aura beam was about a meter thick, but with Na-young's aid, it compressed to around 30 centimeters—an area reduced to a tenth—while power multiplied dozens of times.
The Ophanim's beam fractured against my compressed aura beam, scattering outward.
I gathered all remaining aura, shoved my hands forward like a clap, and poured it out.
My aura sliced through the Ophanim's rings.
I stopped the aura emission. Exhaustion hit from the all-out release, but I was recovering life force in real time.
With its rings severed, the Ophanim crumbled like rusted iron weathered by time and fell to the ground.
"Now five minutes left."
"We can block it now!"
Hongryong and Akiko cheered at the Ophanim's fall.
Our clash with the Ophanim had drastically reduced angel numbers, and with it gone, there was no reason we couldn't hold.
For some reason, no more angels descended from the Gate...
It was odd. Angels stopped descending, and the remaining ones halted their attacks on us.
All the angels bowed reverently toward the Gate. Our gazes followed skyward.
The being beyond the massive Gate was so enormous that even through the 100-meter Gate, only part of its body was visible.
It rolled its gigantic eyeball—over 20 meters in diameter—watching the scene below. The eye was so huge that we could hear the sound of it moving from here.
Countless smaller eyeballs clustered beside the large one.
Behind them, densely packed wings were partially visible, their scale unimaginable. The main body was obscured by feathers and eyes, unknown.
Gaph hadn't described Metatron's appearance, but I knew. That was Metatron.
"It... can't come down, right?"
Sang-hun pointed upward.
"Probably."
Since it was from a demon, I wasn't entirely sure. I'd never felt this overwhelmed against any foe. Could we even block it if it came down?
I felt more grateful than ever that Earth was protecting us.
As we all stared speechless, Metatron flapped several massive wings, wedging their tips into the Gate's edges.
Pzzt-crackle!!
The wings burned away, but it showed no pain, its pupils steadily gazing down at us.
"Hyung.... It really can't come down, right?"
Sang-hun's face crumpled like he was about to cry.
"Even if it does, it can't use its full power."
Indeed, its wings were burning against the Gate's barrier. I didn't know how much that affected the main body, but descending with them charred would surely limit its strength.
Then, an angel approached before Metatron's eyeball.
It wore silver armor and wielded a sword made of shimmering light.
It approached the Gate's front and raised the sword high.
"Wait..."
I couldn't just watch. I gathered life force, converted to aura, and fired.
It was compressed aura, thanks to Na-young's one-on-one coaching.
The aura pierced the Gate and shot toward the angel raising its light sword.
The angel arrogantly looked down at my attack. Then slowly lowered its sword, casually blocking my aura emission—like indulging a child's play.
"Urk...!"
I fired for a while until life force depleted, then stopped.
I couldn't fire again until recovery. Worse, it had no effect.
The angel raised its sword again and slashed the Gate's barrier. Weakened from blocking Metatron, the barrier couldn't withstand the sword.
Before the severed barrier could heal, the angel slipped through the gap.
As if its purpose fulfilled, Metatron withdrew its wings. Half had burned away.
"Forcing Father to expend power and summoning me, a Throne Angel. I must acknowledge your strength."
"Throne Angel?"
"I grant you lowly ones the honor of knowing my name. Call this body Cherubim."
"...Second-order angel."
"Tch... That's what the demons called us. Attaching mere numbers without dignity."
Surprisingly chatty and casual, we watched Cherubim warily without relaxing.
"Why so frightened? You fought well until now. Given up already?"
"Never."
I stepped forward.
"Oh ho, fearless. But that stiff neck displeases me. Kneel."
Cherubim pressed down with invisible force.
Everyone flattened to the ground like struck by a giant hammer. Except me.
It was similar to the attack Eres or Gaph used. I braced my knees and endured.
"Oh ho.... Withstanding this? No wonder the lesser ones couldn't stop you. Try blocking this too."
Kwang!
The spread force concentrated and slammed into me. Unable to hold, my body flattened.
"Kahk...."
My bones snapped, armor fell away.
I could block nuclear-bomb-level physical force, but this was different from heat or impact.
Cherubim leisurely flew toward me, pinned flat on the ground.