Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: A Big Target is Good
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Boom!! Kwang! Boom—!!
"Whoa."
The massive tentacles of flesh slicing through the air thrashed wildly, sending concrete debris from nearby buildings flying my way.
I dodged attacks that would shred ordinary flesh on a mere graze and slowly closed in on the beast.
A monster cleanly bisected through its central body—not by bullets, but by a sword.
Just like before, it let out a scream that tore at my eardrums while writhing in agony.
"KieeeEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"...Fuck my eardrums."
Well, with two massive holes punched through its body, what creature wouldn't be in pain?
Still, this thing was an evolved mash-up of living corpses, right?
'Why's it such a drama queen? It's gonna heal right up anyway.'
Even as I approached, I could see the gaping hole in its center slowly knitting closed.
What bullshit regeneration.
I rolled my aching wrist as I neared the crimson blob of meat too vast to take in at a glance.
'Skills really are limited to a few times a day.'
The Second Form: ■■Pierce I'd just used.
True to its description of "cleanly piercing," the power was exactly what I'd hoped for—but sword styles like Carton Pen came with serious drawbacks until I unlocked the next "Sword God" skill.
For starters, it pushed every muscle in my body to the brink of rupture.
Even now, my whole frame screamed in protest beyond mere soreness.
Sure, it let me punch straight through hundreds of meters ahead, but outside emergencies where I needed to finish things quick, I couldn't use it lightly.
'Heh... who am I kidding, sword arts?'
Swordsmanship had leveled up to Advanced before magic, piquing my interest.
I had exactly 14,050 points right now.
'Advanced Swordsmanship' cost 2,700p, Advanced Magic 4,000p.
'And 《Sword God》 at 15,000p... 《Sage》 at 20,000p.'
The exponentially rising costs per tier made perfect sense after that strike I'd just unleashed.
Swordsmanship being cheaper? Easy to grasp, looking at my wrecked body.
It taxed both mana and flesh, clear demerits.
I felt my halved mana slowly refilling and channeled it anew.
'Magic's a snap, honestly.'
No fancy tricks like swordplay.
Just weave mana into a preset formula alongside the right imagery, done.
Sure, there were improv tweaks—fiddling with formulas on the fly or adjusting mana output—but honestly, fewer variations than sword arts.
Still, solid power and versatility.
"Guess I'm built for ranged."
Swordsmanship was fine, too.
But my style? Sniping unilaterally from afar was way more fun.
Like this.
Vrrr—
Whoosh!
A spell circle unfolded ahead.
Along with a crimson ring of runes, spears of flame were born.
Twenty of them.
I'd force-fed extra mana into each, making them bigger than usual.
A whopping 30% of my mana dumped into them, all aimed at the giant target before me.
"KieeeEEEEEEK!!!!!!!"
Rumble! Thud!
The beast had already healed its wounds completely, absorbed more zombies nearby to grow even larger, and now charged straight at me.
Killing intent locked on—a chill ran down my spine.
Evolved specimen, for sure.
Seemed to have some brains, too.
"Fire Lance."
No more holding back.
I unleashed every flaming spear forward.
They rocketed out at bullet speeds, slamming into the beast on impact.
And the moment they hit, every embedded Fire Lance detonated inside it.
KABOOOOOM—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"What?!"
But covered head to toe in tentacles, maybe?
They pierced, sure—but over half exploded on the surface, dealing less damage than I'd hoped.
Worse, the blasts hurled severed tentacle chunks my way, forcing me to leap skyward.
Whoosh—
KABOOM—!!
Below me, an invisible blur of tentacle mass smashed into cars behind, the crash echoing loud.
By the sound alone, a direct hit unbroken bones or not would've injured me.
Truck-sized chunks? Mass like that was no joke.
'It really has intelligence!'
I'd assumed pure instinct-beast and let my guard down.
Should've clocked it from the clear murderous vibe.
Time to get serious.
"Tch... this complicates things."
Honestly, I'd planned to whittle it down with ranged potshots, a war of attrition.
But it wasn't acting on instinct—it had at least wild animal smarts, proper defense and counters.
Zombies would've charged blindly to their doom.
This meant ending it quick in a frontal clash.
Intelligence meant cunning moves—like fleeing to the nearby apartments to replenish corpses if I chipped away slowly.
Already huge, each mass-driven swing a threat—I couldn't let that happen.
I eyed the behemoth, gauging my remaining 20% mana.
Whoosh—
Another massive flesh chunk hurtled my way.
Now that I'd seen it once, I could track it visually.
I landed and immediately rolled aside, dodging again.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Figuring out what works and repeating it?"
Less "learning," more rote—intelligence wasn't sky-high.
Strictly wild animal tier.
I dodged a few more flying chunks, watching the road turn to ruin.
'Defense is top-tier, no doubt.'
Slug rounds and ■■Pierce were pure penetration/power plays, so aside from those, even rebar-piercing Fire Lances failing to punch through?
Dozens of Fireball-equivalents exploding inside, yet only surface charring?
Tentacles fully pierced or blasted off, but the core tanked it—defense concentrated there.
Didn't even ignite despite the blasts—incineration a no-go.
'Whittling it down? Assume failure. Gotta one-shot.'
Vroooom—!!
KABOOM!!!!
I evaded once more, shaking my head at the overwhelming size filling my vision.
'Fuck, it's too big.'
It'd stopped advancing, sticking to ranged tosses—no new corpses, no more growth.
But once ammo ran dry, it'd close in, absorb bodies, bulk up again.
And look at those hundreds of tentacles, casually.
Each thicker than me by far.
'Just buy it?'
Advanced Magic.
I'd held off, lured by the Carton Pen teaser toward Sword God, hoping for more intel.
But nothing here one-shot this thing.
Advanced Magic: 4,000p.
Affordable now.
But with Sword God just shy of 1,000p away, blowing 4,000p stung—why I'd hesitated...
'Sucks, but no choice.'
Not like I was in mortal danger.
Points could wait.
I cleaved three incoming globs in half with mana-infused longsword and opened the shop.
Bought Advanced Magic on the spot.
《Skill 'Advanced Magic' has been purchased.》
Felt like ages since I'd heard that system chime.
Hadn't even checked stats lately, skeptical about dumping points there—made it weirdly nostalgic.
I X'd the hologram and absorbed the new info flooding my mind.
"KieeeEK!!!! KYAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Meanwhile, out of projectiles, it raged at my endless dodges—lashing tentacles everywhere as it barreled toward me again.
Crushing roads and buildings alike, straight out of a kaiju flick.
But I didn't flinch at the spectacle—instead, I grinned confidently.
"Nah, thank you. Saves me from any misses."
Mana surged through my body.
I summoned the newly etched formula, channeling the perfect mental image at full throttle.
Nothing like my old spellcasting feel.
Like jumping from elementary math to high school calculus, skipping middle entirely.
Yet, weirdly... it clicked.
I manipulated mana as the skill directed, etching the formula into the world itself.
"Heaven above and earth below, I alone am supreme...?"
"Heaven above and earth below, I alone am supreme...?"
⟨ Solar Fallen ⟩
What kinda imagery was that?
But it fit the spell perfectly.
Formula complete.
Remaining mana drained fully—even the mana holding my sword aura got yanked forcibly.
'Just a wild, unbroken stallion.'
Egoistic, brutal, raw.
Nothing refined about this "magic."
Formula set, mana invested.
Now the world worked its miracle from the blueprint and fuel.
A magic circle formed.
Not in front of me like usual—but directly above the beast.
In the sky, a crimson-glowing array dwarfing the monster appeared.
Hummm—
Rough guess? Twice the beast's size.
I smirked in bitter awe.
"Solar Fallen, huh... what arrogant magic."
Then the sun fell from the heavens.