Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Desperate Deal
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The number of players soaring into the sky totaled 109 in all.
It was the combined count of the Royal Guard, Named Players, and Rankers.
With Kang Hyun-soo's summons joining them, the total reached 126.
'Winning this seems tough.'
Kang Hyun-soo had never participated in the Demon Dragon Karas raid before his regression.
The Terra Kingdom had selected elite soldiers to send reinforcements, but...
'My level was too low to be included.'
As such, all the information Kang Hyun-soo knew about Demon Dragon Karas and his dragonkin monster army came from hearsay.
'The Rokto Empire and its vassal states barely managed to suppress him after pooling all their strength.'
Kang Hyun-soo had already reduced their numbers by nearly half in advance.
Even so, it was impossible to eliminate Demon Dragon Karas with just the power of the Mulan Kingdom.
'Still, we can buy as much time as possible.'
Then, reinforcements from the Rokto Empire and its vassal states would arrive once they assessed the situation.
'We just have to hold out.'
Considering Demon Dragon Karas's extremely cautious nature?
It seemed entirely feasible.
Rumble!
The Earth King's body was engulfed in dingy gray clouds.
The other players and summons charged at Demon Dragon Karas with full power from the start.
-Arrogant humans.
At that moment, Demon Dragon Karas opened his mouth.
-Do you pathetic worms really think you can take me on?
No sooner had Demon Dragon Karas finished speaking...
Crackle! Roar! Whoosh!
Dozens of ranged attack skills activated simultaneously,
flying toward the players and summons.
Boom! Boom!
The players and summons blocked or dodged Demon Dragon Karas's attacks as they closed in.
But the distance didn't narrow easily.
'As expected of a Demon Dragon.'
The attack skills' power rivaled that of ranged damage dealers—even the Named Players.
And that wasn't the end of it.
"Hah!"
One Ranker who barely broke through the ranged attacks thrust his spear forward.
Clang!
It was blocked by the pitch-black aura coating his scales, failing to land a proper hit.
The Ranker focused his mana for another strike, but...
Crack!
He was seized by Demon Dragon Karas's front paw and met his end.
'Ranged dealer, melee dealer, and tank all in one, huh.'
He undoubtedly had healing skills too.
A monster on a different level from ordinary ones.
A living catastrophe.
That was Demon Dragon Karas.
The players' numbers dwindled rapidly.
Five of Kang Hyun-soo's summons vanished in an instant.
'At this rate, we'll collapse in no time.'
The problem was that with Named Players and Rankers swarming the Demon Dragon, the forces defending the great city of Baran were struggling.
In particular, an enormous number of soldiers were being depleted in real time to block the dragonkin monsters pouring in through the shattered gates from Demon Dragon Karas's breath attack.
'Both sides are in chaos.'
The issue was that a breach on either front would spell disaster.
'A bit earlier than predicted, but no choice.'
Kang Hyun-soo targeted the area in the rear swarming solely with dragonkin monsters.
'Battalion Summon.'
He summoned a force composed entirely of dragonkin monsters.
Shhh!
Boom!
Led by Drakans and Dragonians, around 1,900 top-tier dragonkin like Drakes and Basilisks, along with high-tier ones, materialized.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The summons unleashed breaths, sweeping away the surrounding mid-, low-, and bottom-tier dragonkin.
Roar!
A Drake clamped its massive jaws on mid- and low-tier dragonkin, battering them with its tail.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The Basilisk spat petrification breaths repeatedly, turning mid- and low-tier dragonkin into stone.
Screech!
At this turn of events, the dragonkin monsters under Demon Dragon Karas's command didn't sit idle.
Mid- and low-tier ones swarmed like bees, and some high-tier ones that had been focused forward shifted direction, charging at Kang Hyun-soo's summons.
Kang Hyun-soo's summons had properly drawn their aggro.
But to human eyes...
"Those guys, why are they fighting each other?"
"Yeah."
"But those ones look a bit different in quality?"
"Probably special specimens. Still just dragonkin monsters."
It looked like nothing more than the dragonkin monsters fighting among themselves.
But Demon Dragon Karas saw it differently.
'Those things.'
They were definitely the dragonkin monsters that had attacked him.
'Not living beings. Not undead either. Just pure mana constructs.'
Demon Dragon Karas instantly pierced the true nature of Kang Hyun-soo's summons.
He had no idea how it was done, but...
Those things.
'Had reborn my minions with mana.'
He was intensely curious what skill allowed such a feat.
And covetous of it.
With that skill?
'He could replenish my depleted minions.'
And that was just the start.
He could kill strong humans and turn them into his minions.
'Come to think of it.'
Among the humans attacking him, there was one made of pure mana, just like those.
-It's you.
If he captured and analyzed that one?
He might figure out how it was possible.
Demon Dragon Karas charged at the Earth King, the summon with the strongest mana.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Earth King fled desperately while counterattacking with all its might.
Then Demon Dragon Karas targeted the other summons.
With the situation unfolding like this...
The battle unexpectedly became easier.
Because Duke Kalmus, Mulan's Guardian Star and the strongest player, could now move freely.
'I don't know the Dark Knight's true identity, but he's a huge help.'
Duke Kalmus had been continuously monitoring the battlefield even amid his attacks on Demon Dragon Karas.
Thus, he witnessed the sudden dragonkin infighting in real time.
'It has to be the Dark Knight's doing.'
Right after the dragonkin started fighting each other, the Demon Dragon addressed and focused on what seemed to be the Dark Knight's leader.
What clearer proof could there be?
'If we win this battle, I must recruit him.'
A skill that incites monsters to fight each other.
A skill that sees the future.
Possession of multiple Named Players and Ranker players.
If he brought the Dark Knight into the Mulan Kingdom?
The kingdom's national power would skyrocket several times over in an instant.
'But first, we have to win this battle.'
He needed to create a variable.
If the fight continued like this?
They would die off one by one at the Demon Dragon's hands.
If those blocking the Demon Dragon collapsed?
Nothing could stop the Demon Dragon and his dragonkin monster army's advance.
'Then, starting with great city Baran, the entire Mulan Kingdom would turn into a living hell.'
Duke Kalmus had no intention of letting that happen.
Even if it cost his life.
'Desperate Deal.'
Duke Kalmus activated the EX-Rank skill Desperate Deal, which he had never used since acquiring it.
At that instant.
Crack! Crack!
His muscles swelled across his entire body.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
An explosive burst of mana erupted, on a whole different level from before.
-What is this?
Demon Dragon Karas, focused on capturing the Earth King, startled by the overwhelming mana, turned his gaze to Duke Kalmus.
In that moment.
Slash!
Duke Kalmus's sharp claws dug into Demon Dragon Karas's tough pitch-black scales like tofu.
-Kyaargh!
Demon Dragon Karas writhed in pain from his first wound since the battle began.
But that was just the beginning.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Duke Kalmus, enveloped in blue aura, unleashed a barrage on Demon Dragon Karas.
-You filthy half-beast!
Demon Dragon Karas bellowed in rage and counterattacked.
Duke Kalmus, wrapped in blue aura, and Demon Dragon Karas, cloaked in pitch-black aura, exchanged furious blows.
"Duke Kalmus has created an opening! All-out assault!"
At that moment, Count Bukaku's command for total assault rang out.
Named Players and Rankers, who hadn't even been able to approach Demon Dragon Karas before, now poured on the attacks.
Thanks to Duke Kalmus's exploits, the tide turned in an instant.
-You insolent fools!
Demon Dragon Karas lashed out furiously, but...
Reversing the momentum was difficult.
In truth, in such a situation, the top-tier Drakans and Dragonians should have supported Demon Dragon Karas.
But they couldn't.
They had already died by Kang Hyun-soo's hand and become summons.
The surviving five Drakans and Dragonians were tied up by Kang Hyun-soo's summons and couldn't break free.
-Grk!
Demon Dragon Karas ultimately chose to flee.
The problem was...
Boom boom boom boom boom!
Even as he spewed breath and wildly unleashed attack skills and aura...
He couldn't shake off the players clinging to him like flies.
'If not for that guy.'
Duke Kalmus.
The strongest fly, sure.
But a fly was still a fly.
Not something that could truly endanger him.
Yet suddenly, he'd grown overwhelmingly stronger.
'I shouldn't have acted rashly.'
Regretting his intervention, Demon Dragon Karas desperately resisted to escape, but...
No opening appeared.
'No choice.'
If he couldn't shake off the flies?
He'd make the flies fall off on their own.
-Charge straight ahead.
Demon Dragon Karas ordered his dragonkin monsters to charge.
At that instant, the dragonkin monsters battling Kang Hyun-soo's summons all surged toward great city Baran.
Regardless of bites from Kang Hyun-soo's summons or their breaths.
As the dragonkin monsters flooded toward great city Baran like a tidal wave...
The soldiers barely holding the broken gates collapsed in an instant.
* * *
'I hoped he'd survive.'
Kang Hyun-soo gazed at Duke Kalmus, enveloped in blue aura and fiercely attacking Demon Dragon Karas, with a regretful expression.
Before his regression, the reason the Mulan Kingdom held out without falling before foreign reinforcements arrived was singular.
'Thanks to Duke Kalmus.'
It had been possible because Duke Kalmus stood against Demon Dragon Karas.
And the reason Duke Kalmus could do so was one EX-Rank skill.
'Desperate Deal.'
The ultimate buff skill that explosively boosted all stats and even raised the rank of possessed skills.
However, Desperate Deal had a fatal flaw.
Without that flaw?
He would have unconditionally copied it with Replica and used it.
'The skill name holds the answer.'
Desperate.
A skill that meant certain death upon activation.
Desperate Deal consumed the user's life force to boost stats and skill ranks for three days.
And once the three days passed...
'You die.'
Before his regression, Duke Kalmus had activated Desperate Deal to block Demon Dragon Karas.
And at this very moment, he activated Desperate Deal without hesitation to block Demon Dragon Karas once more.
'I couldn't save him.'
He had warned the Mulan Kingdom.
Guarded the dimensional gate and slaughtered half the dragonkin monsters.
Mobilized all his summons to halt the dragonkin monster army's advance.
Yet despite all that...
'I still couldn't stop the dragonkin monster army without Duke Kalmus's sacrifice.'
He thought he'd grown a lot.
But...
'Still a long way to go.'
Not even a Demon King—just a baron-level noble among demons—and he was struggling against a Demon Dragon.
'Plenty of time.'
It had only been two years so far.
Until the Demon King crossed the dimensional gate, nearly 30 years remained.
'First, plug that hole.'
Kang Hyun-soo leaped down toward the dragonkin horde surging through the collapsed gates.
Thud!