Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: The Dragon Heart Core
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Blitz raked his claws through the air, unleashing five streaks of aura that sliced into the Devil's Tiers, but even after slashing multiple times in rapid succession, he barely managed to destroy one.
Blitz didn't let up, continuously evading the incoming ones by kicking off the air to change direction or leaping high into the sky.
Sonorim poured out blue flames with her magic to burst the approaching orbs, but sweat was beading on her forehead—it was clear the situation wasn't easy. Even for a master-level mage, mana was finite, and if she kept unleashing it like this, it was obvious she wouldn't last long.
I charged in recklessly on my end, slamming fists infused with life force into the Devil's Tiers. When they exploded, I leaped back to mitigate the shock, but the problem was that I was taking serious damage too. No matter how much I jumped back, I couldn't outpace the explosions, so the impacts weren't minor. If I kept eating blasts like this, there was no way I could hold out for long.
Unlike the three of us struggling, Hunter Jeong Min-gi was unleashing One Slash after One Slash, bursting at least one, sometimes three or four, with each strike.
If a chain explosion had happened, it could've reduced their numbers in one go, but the Devil's Tiers passed right through each other's blasts as if they didn't exist, continuing their assault on us.
We exchanged glances and instantly put distance between ourselves and Franklin.
"What? Already done? That knight over there was at least a bit fun. Want to come to the Empire? I'll give you treatment worthy of your skill."
"The Empire doesn't seem like a place for me."
"Fine, then die here."
Before we could even catch our breath, the Devil's Tiers came flying again.
Boom boom boom!
Over a hundred easily exploded in succession before they could even get close to us.
The massive blast kicked up a huge cloud of dust.
"What... the hell?"
For the first time, bewilderment crossed Franklin's face.
Turning around, I saw Na Young far off in the distance, pointing her staff our way. Her curse, spread over a wide area, was Corruption. The surfaces of the Devil's Tiers crumbled like they were shattering, and watching them detonate in a chain reaction melted away some of the hopelessness I'd been feeling.
"Your girlfriend... no guild?"
"Not the time for that, is it?"
"We'll talk after this is over."
Hunter Jeong Min-gi fired off another One Slash. Thanks to Na Young's attack, the Devil's Tiers were meaningfully thinning out. With the gaps widening, Franklin positioned even more between himself and Hunter Jeong Min-gi.
"I don't know why the witch is hostile to me, but I can't let her rampage any further."
Franklin swept his hand, and dozens of Devil's Tiers flew from all directions toward Na Young.
"No!"
Hunter Jeong Min-gi, Sonorim, and Blitz all rushed in, shooting down more than half of the Devil's Tiers heading for her, but still over a dozen were barreling toward Na Young. She tried to apply Corruption to intercept them, but they were faster than bullets and small to boot, making it hard to land the curse.
I burned my life force to close in at top speed and detonated one. There was no time to dodge the explosion. I tanked it with my whole body and pushed through.
Thanks to that, I regenerated my battered form while continuing to burst them one by one.
With the three of them desperately holding Franklin back without regard for their own bodies, no further attacks came Na Young's way. No, seeing the smile that wouldn't leave his lips, it looked like he was still enjoying himself.
Na Young spotted the high-speed incoming Devil's Tiers, halted her counterattack, and fled backward, but they were too fast for her to evade.
Now three left.
The distance was barely a few hundred meters. At this speed, it'd be over in the blink of an eye.
Two.
Boom! I'd rushed too hard and took the blast head-on, my body shoved backward.
I kicked off the ground and charged again. Na Young was already within the blast radius of the last remaining Devil's Tier.
She deployed a purple barrier, but the Devil's Tier tore through it like thin paper. By the time I got close, it was already stuck to her neck.
"Witch, kill those guys if you don't want to die."
Franklin watched us with ecstatic glee, clearly savoring the situation. This bastard could've probably wiped us all out from the start if he'd fought seriously, but the way he'd used the Blue Dragon Guild members and what he was doing to Na Young now proved he was twisted to the core.
"Oppa... sorry."
She'd come to help, and thanks to her destroying a ton of Devil's Tiers, we'd gained a sliver of a chance.
Hunter Jeong Min-gi, Sonorim, and Blitz all stopped attacking and stared at the Devil's Tier attached to Na Young's neck.
"Three."
"Two."
Crunch.
"What?"
I'd bitten into the Devil's Tier right down to a layer of Na Young's neck skin and swallowed it. Her blood vessels were unharmed, but blood streamed down her pale neck.
And it detached from Na Young.
"Oppa!"
"Never tried bursting one in my stomach before. This'll be fun."
He raised his hand, and I concentrated all my life force and aura into my gut, bracing to defend as best I could.
Blitz rushed over, scooped up Na Young, and bolted.
"First one down."
Franklin snapped his fingers.
An explosion roared from my solar plexus.
"Oh ho, protecting your insides and leaving just one spot open? Smarter than I thought."
Franklin spoke as he eyed my mangled but still-standing form. Just as he'd said, I'd wrapped my internals in aura and deliberately left only the front exposed. It punched a hole in my gut but kept my body from being shredded. The remaining life force slowly mended the hole in my stomach.
I stood on my own two legs, but I had no idea how much longer I could last. I'd taken multiple direct hits while rushing to Na Young, and the internal explosion had nearly drained my life force.
"That lizard's done, the dog's run off, the orc's out of mana—now it's just you."
Dozens of Franklin's Devil's Tiers flew at Hunter Jeong Min-gi. He'd burst more than half at a glance, but he'd started with so many that he still had plenty to spare.
Hunter Jeong Min-gi gripped his sword with both hands, straightened it, and closed his eyes.
"Full Moon."
Light bloomed from the sword tip, forming a bright moon-like orb around him.
Boom boom boom boom!!
Dozens of Devil's Tiers collided with the Full Moon and detonated, shrouding the area in dirt and dust.
As the dust settled, Hunter Jeong Min-gi's Full Moon was riddled with holes. He hadn't blocked them all—his armor was tattered in places, stained with blood.
"Not bad."
He mocked us, but I couldn't see a way to counter. He still had way too much in reserve, and we hadn't so much as grazed him.
"Now, if I kill all you so-called hunters from your country, you won't be able to hold the gates here anymore. Wonder why Helen couldn't handle something this simple..."
He clicked his tongue.
He was right. We'd already lost hundreds of hunters today—any more, and we wouldn't be able to hold Korea's gates, leading to break after break.
I couldn't just take this lying down. I was absorbing life force from the ground, but it was far too little compared to what I needed.
Franklin hadn't appeared in my previous life. Even the events from that timeline were a struggle to prevent—why were guys like this popping up nonstop? It felt like some god was blocking me from returning to the past and changing the future.
No solutions in sight, despair sank my head.
"Chairman!"
I turned my head weakly to see Jae-in calling me from afar.
"Catch!"
A high-speed drone flew toward me.
I caught the drone hurtling toward me like it might crash. At its center glowed a bright red core.
"This is?"
"I made it with a new catalyst! It should be stable!"
She'd kept researching with the magic engineering knowledge from Sonorim and apparently achieved some results.
I absorbed life force from the core in my hand. It dwarfed anything pulled from the earth or even monsters, flooding my body in an instant.
I couldn't keep fighting while holding it. I released the chest plate of my armor, pressed the core near my heart, then covered it again with the plate. It looked like my heart was glowing red from inside the armor.
"What... is that? That overflowing life force—don't tell me it's a Dragon Heart?"
I didn't know what a Dragon Heart was, but now I had a way to counterattack.
I erupted the life force I'd sucked from the core throughout my body. It wasn't as refined as Hunter Jeong Min-gi's, but if quality wouldn't cut it, I'd overwhelm with quantity.
Red aura churned wildly around me. I felt like some super saiyan from a shonen manga.
Then I burned life force freely across my entire body to boost my physical abilities.
My eyes met Blitz's as he returned after dropping Na Young to the rear. I nodded in thanks and turned my gaze to Franklin.
Sensing something, he hurled Devil's Tiers at me. I punched one coming straight at me aside—it exploded, but my body only budged slightly; it wasn't enough to pierce my ridiculously thick aura.
I eyed the countless incoming Devil's Tiers. They were so dense that even at my speed, I couldn't dodge them all, but I plotted the optimal path with the least impact and closed in rapidly.
He panicked for the first time, his eyes changing as he finally moved from his spot.
As he retreated, he gathered the widely spread Devil's Tiers. The ones that had been a meter apart now clustered tightly at ten-centimeter intervals.
No way to get through like that—my advance halted.
"Th-that's right! You can't break through something like this!"
"Doing it all alone wouldn't be fun."
"As a human from our world, you can't leave me out."
Hunter Jeong Min-gi unleashed One Slash, Blitz slashed with claw aura, Sonorim poured blue flames. I blasted life force freely too, detonating the clustered Devil's Tiers.
Little by little, the ones on his perimeter burst.
"You vermin—play with you a bit and you get all cocky."
Seeing his Devil's Tiers dwindle, a frantic Franklin recalled them, plastering them all over his body.
"Sonorim, what's that?"
"No idea... never heard of it."
"All the lucky ones who've seen this are dead."
Black Devil's Tiers enveloped his body without gap, soon transforming him into something demonic. His short stature stretched with elongated legs to about my height, while his torso and limbs thickened.
He stepped forward and appeared before me in an instant.
I dodged back upon seeing him, but it was too late.
Boom!
His fist crashed into my double-arm guard. The power sent my body flying like a cannonball, smashing into the ground.
Franklin took Hunter Jeong Min-gi and Sonorim's attacks straight to the body, but it merely scratched his skin before instantly regenerating.
"Makes me wanna curse... is that like the geode armor? Keeps healing?"
"Looks that way. But if so, it has the same weakness. Infinite energy doesn't exist."
"So if we keep hitting it, it'll end? How long?"
"Who knows..."
"What a shitty draw."
Hunter Jeong Min-gi sighed.
As I tried to crawl out of the ground, his form blurred again.
Pfft!
I couldn't track him visually, so I spewed poison mist around me.
"Gaaahhh!"
Franklin, closing in, hit the mist and began clawing at his peeling skin.
"Did the geode attack work?"
"Poi... son? No way something like that affects him..."
"This savage dares spit on me!"
It wasn't the poison. He was enraged at getting hit with the blood from my mouth. Whatever the case, he was full of openings.