Chapter 85
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Hell Count Patametos (3)
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“Grrrrraaaah!”
The Hell Count Patametos screamed, both his legs severed clean off.
Blood gushed from the stumps, but it didn’t spill wastefully onto the floor. Instead, drawn by the special effect [Rapid Vampirism], it surged straight toward the great scythe like it was being sucked in.
“Huff… Hah…”
Patametos heaved ragged breaths, grinding his teeth.
As he stared at the unknown figure calmly approaching him, Patametos admitted the truth to himself.
In this state, he had no chance of winning against this guy. Not even close.
“Kraaaagh!”
The black aura floating around Patametos like a cloud flowed back into his body.
A sinister power began to gather at the thick, pointed horns sprouting from his head.
“……?!”
Kang Sa-hu, who had been closing in with victory in sight, froze in surprise and looked at him. Patametos glared back with eyes blazing with fury.
"I no longer care whether I show this disgrace to Him or not."
“Him…?”
Kang Sa-hu muttered in confusion.
At that moment, the energy leaking from the horns spread through Patametos’s body, unleashing a powerful shockwave.
[Krakaahak!]
“Tch!”
This was different from before. The voice didn’t travel through the air to his eardrums—it stabbed directly into his mind. Kang Sa-hu grimaced.
Sensing ominous changes, he pulled back, summoning the great scythe that had been greedily devouring Patametos’s blood.
Using skill: Psychokinesis.
Shriiing!
The scythe resisted slightly, as if reluctant, but Psychokinesis steadily drew it back to his hand.
Rumble…!
Crack! Craaack!
Kang Sa-hu furrowed his brow at the sight of Patametos rapidly expanding in size, soon filling the entire underground space they were in.
If I stay here, I’m done for.
In the worst case, he’d be buried under rubble. Even if not, fighting something that massive in such tight quarters was overwhelmingly disadvantageous.
Kang Sa-hu made a snap decision and bolted toward the elevator he’d ridden down on.
Using skill: Psychokinesis.
He first reverted the apes—shattered or burned immobile by Patametos’s attacks—back into soul cores, then used Psychokinesis to retrieve every last one. With the great scythe in hand, he slashed down at the elevator.
Vrrrm—!
He’d done it half in doubt, but luckily, the elevator reacted to the scythe just like on the way down and began to move.
It shot upward at the same breakneck speed.
[Kyahahaak—!]
As the elevator ascended, the walls of the shaft crumbled, revealing glimpses of the now-gigantic Patametos.
Patametos spotted Kang Sa-hu fleeing via elevator and accelerated his growth, smashing through floors to crush it.
Staying put meant not just rubble, but being smashed flat with the elevator—so Kang Sa-hu chanted a spell faster than ever.
[Kyaaaaak—!]
Patametos caught up to the elevator’s speed and thrust out a hand bigger than Kang Sa-hu himself.
Just then, the prepared spell completed and fired instantly at Patametos.
Kang Sa-hu extended his hand toward the oncoming one. A deeper green glow flared in his right eye.
As he slowly curled his fingers, Patametos’s massive form went wide-eyed and screamed.
[Krakaahak—!]
“Nngh—!”
As the spell took hold, bones creaking like they’d shatter filled the air with Patametos’s screams. But Kang Sa-hu strained too, forcing his unyielding hand to bend as veins bulged in his arm.
Unlike folding a sponge when he’d crushed the King Forest Lizard, this felt like trying to crush a lump of iron with his grip.
Craaack!
“Urgh!”
Muscles he’d thought limitless since awakening screamed and began tearing under the strain.
Capillaries burst from the pressure, instantly bruising his entire right forearm crimson.
“Kah…!”
His arm muscles too wrecked to even clench a fist, Kang Sa-hu let out a small cry and supported it with his left hand.
“Hoo… Hoo… Hoo.”
Sweat pouring down, he caught his breath, grimaced through the pain, closed his eyes, and began chanting another spell.
But before it finished, the elevator reached the upper floor and halted.
Immediately, Patametos’s enlarged fist smashed into it, flinging Kang Sa-hu out and canceling the cast.
“Cough…!”
Interrupted mid-chant, the collapsing spell backlashed with Rebound, making him cough up blood.
“Cough… Hack!”
The whole mansion—not just the basement—was collapsing, so he needed to escape fast. But blood filled his throat, some nearly entering his windpipe, disrupting his breathing.
“Gasp…!”
As respiratory distress left him immobile, a sudden scorching heat melted through the crumbling mansion, racing toward him.
-Woof! Woof!
Ten Hell Hounds barreled toward him, flames spewing from their bodies.
But to Kang Sa-hu, it brought not joy, but fresh despair.
“No…! I’m on fire too…!”
He urgently sent a mental command, but the Hell Hounds didn’t stop, charging right at him.
As he stared in horror—
Whoosh—!
Just before the heat could scorch him directly, the flames on the Hell Hounds extinguished in an instant.
“……?!”
Kang Sa-hu blinked in shock, but the Hell Hounds barked frantically at the collapsing house.
Snapping to, he hurriedly mounted one.
The moment he did, it kicked off the ground and bolted outside.
Screeeeech—!
Like a fighter jet, it tore through the air so fast that falling debris couldn’t touch it, blown away by the slipstream.
Reaching the outside in seconds, Kang Sa-hu endured the pain in his hands and feet and scanned his surroundings.
-Woof! Woof woof!
-Groooowl—!
Chaos reigned beyond the mansion.
Gargoyles swooped from the sky, attacking the Hell Hounds.
The Hounds dodged while seeking counterattack openings and warily eyed the suddenly enlarged Patametos.
And Patametos, now as huge as the grand mansion itself, silently regarded the gargoyles and Hell Hounds with an inscrutable expression.
As well as another boss monster—twice the size of the others from the upper floors that had emerged as the mansion crumbled, with different-colored skin.
[…….]
Surveying the scene, Patametos locked eyes with Kang Sa-hu, his gaze emotionless.
Feeling chills race down his spine, Kang Sa-hu intensified the glow in his eyes.
Amid the distant roars of gargoyles and howls of Hell Hounds, tension so thick it drowned out his pain, Kang Sa-hu stared silently at Patametos for a long moment before finally speaking.
“Who the hell are you?”
Every hair on his body standing on end, he barely got the words out.
Patametos merely stared back.
"Impressive. How did you break through here?"
“……?”
How did I break through?
Hadn’t they just been talking and fighting in the basement? Didn’t he know?
Or…
“Memories aren’t shared, huh?”
Kang Sa-hu ventured, as if he had a guess. Patametos’s face changed for the first time.
"You’ve figured it out that far. Quick on the uptake."
Patametos glanced around once more, then turned back to Kang Sa-hu with faint bewilderment in his eyes.
"You came alone?"
Alone?
Only then did Kang Sa-hu start piecing together the situation.
“You are Hell Count Patametos, right?”
Patametos opened his mouth to answer, but no words came.
Instead, a sharp cracking sound echoed from within his massive body, as if struck by some immense force. His face twisted in agony.
"At least there’s hope."
Clutching his heart, Patametos gave a faint smile.
Unsettling cracks emanated from where he gripped, yet his face held an unprecedented calm solemnity as he gazed down at Kang Sa-hu.
"Finish it here. Don’t leave—search deeper."
“…What?”
The words came out of nowhere, but right after, another loud crack rang out. Blood began spurting from Patametos’s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
Even as blood cascaded like waterfalls from his colossal frame, he smiled on, utterly unconcerned, and raised one hand to the sky.
"Survive."
With that, the alien presence from Patametos vanished in an instant.
And then—
[Krawaaaa—!]
The calm conversational tone flipped to beastly madness as Patametos slammed his raised hand down.
Boooom!
Rumblle…!
In that brief instant, Kang Sa-hu grasped the meaning.
Patametos was planting his vast dark mana into the ground.
And Kang Sa-hu already knew from their underground deathmatch what that dark mana would do: explode.
Seizing the situation, he converted all but one Hell Hound into soul cores.
Kaboom!
Without waiting to see the ground erupt in a massive arc, he ordered the remaining Hell Hound to flee to the farthest edge of the gate and spurred it on.
Kraaaka-boom!!
The instant the Hell Hound peeled out at top speed, the enormous explosion detonated.
Kabooom— Rumble rumble!
-Kyeng!
“Ngh—!”
The ground burst beneath the fleeing Hell Hound, launching it. Kang Sa-hu converted the last one to a soul core and unleashed Blink with everything he had.
Sparing no mana, he chained Blinks—five in a single second.
Faster than any Hell Hound, perhaps, he escaped the blast and dove under a rock at the gate’s edge.
Rumble rumble—!
Even after he hid, the swelling explosion contracted briefly—
Flash!!
Then a colossal blast swept the mansion’s vicinity.
Trees, roots firmly anchored, rocketed skyward. The earth’s crust flipped.
The shock rippled to Kang Sa-hu at the outskirts. Hugging the ground, curled tight to minimize vibration damage, he was still hurled airborne by the upending earth.
“……!”
Not even directly hit—just the shockwave through the ground lofted him high.
Time seemed to slow; everything entered his vision.
Patametos, cracks spiderwebbing his body like shattered glass from the slamming palm.
Gargoyles and the boss monster flung skyward, limbs torn like broken toys.
And finally…
“……?!”
The brief—but eternally long—suspension ended. His body plummeted limply.
Bracing for impact, Kang Sa-hu’s mind replayed the fleeting scene in confusion.
Fifty glass tubes, each holding mysterious liquid-trapped creatures of unfamiliar form.
For some reason, he’d locked eyes with those creatures.
Hitting the ground, a massive jolt to his head, Kang Sa-hu blacked out.