Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Fall of the Deep Sea King
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An enormous barrage of sword strikes poured down on Tristan all at once.
Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship, 4th Form: Flash, unleashed slashes at the opponent with tremendous speed.
But he had launched it in the activated state of Zero Point Break.
Slashes fired nearly infinitely during that one second, which felt like an instant.
It wasn't an exaggeration to call it Infinite Chain Strikes.
And woven into each and every one of those blows was Shin Yu-hyun's murderous intent—his teeth gritted, determined to cut Tristan down no matter what.
Thud.
Within the frozen time, Tristan—struck by nearly infinite slashes—dropped to his knees.
Tristan's condition was a total mess.
His blue scales, once shielded by powerful crimson demonic energy, had been stripped away to expose raw flesh, and his entire body was drenched in blue blood.
"Keheuk!"
Shin Yu-hyun vomited a gush of backflowing blood and sank to the ground.
His unique skill, Limit Mana Overdrive, was a double-edged sword.
It granted the user overwhelming power, but the backlash was just as immense.
Moreover, the recoil from its Second Mode, Zero Point Break, was beyond imagination.
But when he absolutely had to eliminate the enemy, he couldn't hesitate to use it, side effects be damned.
'Without Limit Overdrive, taking him down would have been a real struggle.'
After his regression, Shin Yu-hyun had defeated Unique Bosses thanks to Limit Overdrive.
Without his Chakra stats or Limit Overdrive, he would have been in serious trouble.
But the backlash was so severe that Shin Yu-hyun couldn't even twitch a finger.
His Chakra was completely drained as well.
Nothing felt worth doing anymore.
"Phase 2?"
Shin Yu-hyun wore a look of utter disbelief at the message floating before his eyes.
Not many Boss Magic Beasts were capable of Phase 2 mode.
Yet here was Tristan, a Named Unique Magic Beast following in Izar's footsteps, with a Phase 2 as well.
'Do all Named Unique Bosses go up to Phase 2?'
No matter how much of the future he'd experienced, Shin Yu-hyun didn't know everything.
Unique Magic Beasts had an extremely low probability of encounter to begin with.
If anything, his current streak of running into them frequently was the weird part.
In a flash, his blue scales regenerated. Tristan opened his eyes, having recovered a portion of his life force and mana.
"Too bad, human. The Deep Sea King does not die. Though... he can return from death once."
Deep Sea King Tristan bared his teeth in a sneer at Shin Yu-hyun.
Moments ago, Shin Yu-hyun's full-power Infinite Chain Strikes had killed him outright.
But thanks to his Phase 2 Deep Sea King effect, he'd come back from the dead.
"Looks like you've hit your limit."
Tristan bared his teeth again.
Shin Yu-hyun had indeed burned through everything, leaving it all white ash.
No stamina or mana left.
"Who knows. Is that really true?"
But Shin Yu-hyun chuckled at Tristan's taunt.
In that instant—
Flash!
A brilliant golden light poured from Shin Yu-hyun's body.
"Rise up, Master!"
Dia had cast Saintess's Prayer—the complete recovery skill—on Shin Yu-hyun.
Bathed in the warm golden light, he felt cozy and at ease.
His stamina and mana fully restored in moments, Shin Yu-hyun rose to his feet.
"Don't worry. I could fight all day like this."
"You rotten scum."
Tristan scowled.
He could sense it instinctively.
The tide had turned against him.
Phase 2 Deep Sea King's effect let him dodge death once and recover just enough HP and mana to stay alive.
The death-evasion alone was insanely broken.
But right now? That was all it amounted to.
Shin Yu-hyun was back at full strength.
No horde of Tritons could stop him now.
And he still had an ace up his sleeve.
"Chiron."
Buzzzzz!
Wings thrummed through the air.
Sometime during the fight, the Hekaton Beetle Chiron had appeared above Shin Yu-hyun's head.
Up to now, Chiron had been mowing down Magic Beasts after taking out the 3-star mid-boss Triton Champion.
Without him, the Skeleton Soldiers would have been far worse off, and Shin Yu-hyun never would have bought the time to face Tristan.
"Where do you come from? Why target us?"
Before his final assault, Shin Yu-hyun posed the question.
Tristan curled his lip in response.
"We hail from Chaos. All is for Chaos."
No specifics from Tristan.
Just vague nonsense.
But Shin Yu-hyun had figured he wouldn't get a straight answer anyway.
In his past life, humanity had questioned intelligent Unique Magic Beasts too.
Attempts to capture them or pry info mid-battle.
Past, present, future—it was always the same.
And they always spoke of Chaos.
"Can't tell me what Chaos is?"
"Think you could even grasp it? Or handle it? Grrr!"
Tristan laughed like it was the funniest thing.
Always the same routine.
Ask about Chaos, get nothing useful.
Still, humanity threw everything at researching intelligent Unique Magic Beasts for answers.
And the fallout?
'Sparked that massive Dungeon Stampede disaster.'
Unpublicized info, but he'd heard it from Maria.
Certain Unique Magic Beasts could trigger Stampede events.
Nearly everything Shin Yu-hyun knew came from the Hunter Association or Europe's witch Maria.
"No talk? Then no reason to let you live."
Shin Yu-hyun fixed Tristan with a cold glare.
Magic Beasts were humanity's enemies.
This life, the last one—didn't matter.
The death toll they racked up was insane.
"Prey like you dares?!"
Tristan glared back, crimson demonic energy flaring in his hands.
Screee!
Then Chiron charged, his spear-like horn thrust forward at Tristan.
Boom!
Tristan's hands—ablaze with vivid crimson demonic energy—clashed against Chiron's horn.
Incredibly, Tristan blocked the charge with his bare hands.
He was dragged back dozens of meters, plowing furrows in the sand, but he held.
Locked in a test of strength, Tristan and Chiron strained.
Then—
Kiiiiing!
Kwrrrrrg!
Chiron's horn began to spin.
"Kraaaagh!"
Tristan screamed.
His palms burned like fire from the whirling horn.
Yet he refused to release it.
"You think I'll die here?!"
Tristan's eyes blazed with crimson, ghostly fury.
In that moment—
"Phase 3?!"
Shin Yu-hyun—who'd assumed Phase 2 was the cap—stared in shock.
No way it went to 3.
As Tristan's HP hit critical lows, Phase 3 must've kicked in.
Meaning he was tapped out too.
Berserker mode trashed reason for pure survival instinct.
A desperate final blaze, burning life force for godlike physical prowess.
"Kraaaaa!"
Tristan roared, clamping his full arms around the spinning horn to hurl Chiron aside.
Unbelievably, Chiron's massive frame twitched upward.
But—
"Chiron. Super Vibration Wave."
Phase 3 or not, no chance.
Zzzzzz!
At Shin Yu-hyun's order, a super vibration wave erupted from Chiron's horn, slamming into Tristan.
Even shielded by crimson demonic energy and blue scales, Tristan couldn't withstand it.
The waves relentlessly shredded his insides.
Kwaaaaang!
A final shockwave hurled Tristan back.
Several meters airborne.
Grrrrr!
Yet he didn't drop.
He'd tanked the super vibration wave.
Red eyes mad, he raised his head.
Krarararak!
Tristan unleashed an eerie screech, his body warping.
Crackling sounds as his frame swelled larger.
Last-ditch frenzy.
Shin Yu-hyun just shook his head.
"Pointless struggling."
He scanned the surroundings.
The side battles had wrapped while he'd dueled Tristan.
Dozens of system messages announcing the wipe of the 3-star Triton horde flickered across Shin Yu-hyun's vision.
All that remained: over 100 Skeleton Soldiers.
Using split attention, he'd kept summoning more from the Triton corpses as offerings.
"Go."
Clatter clatter.
Skeleton Soldiers surged toward Tristan at his command.
Kraaa!
As 100+ charged in, Tristan bellowed and swung wildly.
A few Skeletons flew apart from the hits, but even more piled on.
The moment they swarmed him completely—
Snap.
Shin Yu-hyun flicked his fingers, chanting a spell.
"Bone Explosion."
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
A massive explosion rocked the sands of Incheon beach.
Bone Explosion detonated dozens of Skeleton Soldiers, finally bringing down the 4-star Named Unique Boss Tristan.
Afterward, he used Dark Soul Eater to harvest Soul Points and offered up Triton corpses to replenish his 3-star Skeleton Soldiers.
Total Skeleton Soldiers now: 100.
Ka-mang-i's Shadow Storage skill could handle that many with room to spare.
The battle had boosted Shadow Storage's proficiency big-time, nearing C-rank.
Ka-mang-i had scampered around, gobbling mana stones dropped by the 3-star Tritons.
C-rank soon.