Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Under World (5)
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Ruuuumble!!
The entire cavern made of flesh trembled.
A terrible scream, like an ancient curse, echoed through the space.
‘What the hell.’
Oh-jin stared, mouth agape, at the giant of flesh as it twisted its body as if having a seizure.
‘Why is this bastard moving?’
Tremble, tremble.
His legs shook.
A blaring alarm went off in his head.
‘No, right? It’s just moving for a second, right? It’s gonna stop again, right?’
He watched the giant of flesh with desperate hope.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
It was moving just fucking fine.
Sealed, my ass.
It was rampaging with the energy of someone who’d downed a truckload of doping drugs.
‘Hey, you said it was sealed!’
You son of a bitch, you said you could’ve stopped it if you knew beforehand!!
‘How were you supposed to stop thaaaaat!!!’
A silent scream echoed in his mind.
No matter how he thought about it, Lee Shin-hyeok stopping that monster made no sense.
—A bluff.
Right, Lee Shin-hyeok spouting off about how he could’ve stopped it if he knew beforehand was just bullshit, like someone saying, ‘If I could go back to high school, I’d ace the college entrance exams.’
‘You useless bastard!!’
How are you still useless even after you’re dead?
“Karrrrr……”
The giant of flesh, twisting as if seizing, turned its gaze this way.
‘Should I run?’
Just bolt?
‘No.’
How can I bolt in this situation?
[Regressor…?]
She’s looking at me with such suspicious eyes.
[What in the world is happening?]
“It’s fine.”
It’s not fine.
“Well, I was expecting a variable of this magnitude.”
I couldn’t have fucking imagined it.
“Just you wait, Vega.”
Save me.
“It’ll be over—soon.”
My life, that is.
[Hmph! As expected, you foresaw all of this! This goddess had faith in you!]
Vega crossed her arms with a snap and nodded repeatedly.
The bright smile that lit up her face was breathtakingly beautiful.
Fuck.
“Hoo.”
He calmly controlled his breathing and gripped his spear.
If he couldn’t run, he had to fight.
Cooling his overheated mind, he calmly observed the giant.
‘It’s small.’
The giant of flesh he’d seen through Lee Shin-hyeok’s memories was over twenty meters tall.
An overwhelming size, as if a small building were moving on its own.
—In comparison, the giant now was barely ten meters tall.
It was much smaller than what he’d seen in Lee Shin-hyeok’s memories.
‘Still fucking huge, though.’
Saying it was much smaller was one thing, but at ten meters tall, it was large enough to make a tactical tank feel like a Mario Kart.
‘And it has four arms, not eight.’
In other words.
It was weaker than when it had caused the collapse of all of Seoul Station.
‘Wait, then…?’
Oh-jin shifted his gaze to the black Sacred Stone embedded in the giant’s forehead.
—It was definitely smaller.
The black Sacred Stone, once the size of a basketball, was now only about the size of three fists.
‘A little disappointing, but.’
In fact, in this situation, it was something to welcome with open arms.
The smaller the Sacred Stone, the weaker the giant’s power compared to what was in Lee Shin-hyeok’s memories.
‘Of course, it’s still a total monster.’
But there was still a chance.
“Sseup.”
Deep and low.
He took a breath.
Lowering his stance, he raised his spear.
“KaRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”
An ear-splitting shriek.
The giant of flesh planted its four arms on the ground.
Like a sprinter, it raised its rear and bent its knees.
‘Here it comes.’
Kooong!!!
With a terrifying tremor, the giant charged.
“Sh—it!”
Fast!
Unbelievably fast!
-Kraaaash!!!
“Keoheok!!”
He hastily raised his spear to block the attack, but the terrifying impact sent him flying backward like a pebble.
“Keuk!”
Screeeech!
Tumbling across the floor, he dug his fingers into the dark red flesh covering the cavern.
It was disgusting, but.
Thanks to this flesh, the impact was lessened.
“Hoo!”
He hurriedly created distance and aimed the wire shooter on his right arm.
‘Tying its body directly won’t work.’
The difference in strength was just too great; the moment he tied up the beast, he’d be dragged along instead.
‘In that case.’
Twang! Twang!
He fired two wires toward the wall.
After embedding the wire anchors into the wall, he jumped and poured mana into the shooter.
Whirrrrr!
With a sharp metallic sound, his body shot into the air.
“Heup!!”
Flying behind the giant, he brought his spear down.
Flesh was pierced, and blood splattered.
‘Lightning Pierce!’
Bzzzzzzzt!!!
A festival of blue lightning.
The foul stench of burning flesh stung his nostrils.
-Whoosh!
A swinging arm.
He pulled the wire to change direction mid-air.
The giant’s arm cut through empty air.
“GuRUKaaaAAAA!!”
A shriek that shook his eardrums.
Beyond the arm that had missed, other arms swung ferociously.
The shockwave of compressed air rustled his clothes.
‘Danger—’
Twang!!!
He fired a wire toward the floor and poured in all his mana.
Whoosh!
His body dropped to the floor in an instant.
The giant’s arm grazed his hair, a hair’s breadth away.
-Kwang!
“Keuk!”
The impact of hitting the floor forced a groan out of him.
[M-My child!!!]
Vega’s urgent voice rang out.
“I’m fine!”
He wasn’t fine.
But.
‘Even if I’m not fine, I have to make it fine!’
An electrifying thrill ran down his spine.
Thump, thump.
The sensation of dancing on a sharply honed blade.
His heart pounded as if it would burst.
“KaRaaaaaaa!!”
“Hoo, hoo!”
Kwang! Kwang!!
The giant slammed its four arms down like hammers.
Using the wire shooter, he performed three-dimensional maneuvers to dodge the giant’s attacks.
And then.
-Thwack!
“Yes!!”
He landed squarely on the giant’s arm.
‘Run!’
Tatadadadak!!
He sprinted up the giant’s arm.
His target was the forehead.
—The spot where the black Sacred Stone was embedded.
-Bzt!! Bzzzzzzzt!!!
Blue lightning blazed.
The hand gripping the spear trembled slightly.
“Hyaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!"
Thwack!
Letting out a roar, he kicked off.
Whoosh. His body soared in an arc.
Raising the spear high above his head,
“Die, you bastard!!!”
He brought it down with all his might!
[The skill 《Lightning Strike Lv1》 has risen to 《Lightning Strike Lv2》.]
Bzzzzzzzzzt!
A blindingly intense bolt of lightning struck the giant between the eyes.
Sparks flew as its flesh was charred black.
But.
“KARaCccccc!!!”
“Keuk!”
The giant let out a shriek and violently shook its head.
Oh-jin, who had been on its head, was thrown to the ground.
He urgently reached out to fire his wire, but.
-Snatch!
“Dammit!”
Before he could shoot the wire, he was caught in the giant’s grip.
“Krururururu!!”
Its ferocious eyes turned toward him.
-K-k-k-k-k-k!!
“Aaaaaaaargh!!!”
The giant’s hand tightened, and a terrifying pressure crushed his body.
A pressure like being caught in a hydraulic press.
He felt a pain so intense it was like his organs were about to burst out of his mouth.
A life-or-death crisis.
[My child!!!!]
Vega’s desperate cry rang out.
He considered dropping the act and asking for her help, but.
‘Not yet.’
A crisis of this level.
He could escape on his own.
‘Lightning Pierce!!!’
Bzzzzzt!!
He shrouded his entire body in lightning and detonated it.
Flinch.
The giant’s grip, which had been holding him tight, loosened slightly.
It wasn’t enough to escape, but—
“Eat this, you bastard!”
He pulled two flares from his belt and threw them at the giant’s eyes.
Flash!
An intense light exploded right in front of the giant’s eyes.
“KuRaaaa!!!”
The giant clutched its eyes and writhed.
Thud!
His body, held in the giant’s grip, was thrown to the floor.
“Keoheok!”
With the heavy impact, red blood trickled from his mouth.
‘Dammit!!’
The pain was making it hard to think.
‘I need time.’
He needed time to catch his breath and gather his thoughts.
-Shwoooooosh!!
While the giant clutched its eyes and thrashed, he took out a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground.
White smoke billowed out explosively, covering the entire cavern.
‘Heukcheon.’
Using the properties of Heukcheon to hide his presence, he concealed himself in the smoke.
“GuruaaAAAAaa!!”
The giant’s furious shriek could be heard, but thankfully, his position wasn’t revealed.
‘In this opening.’
He took out a potion, drank it, and steadied his breathing.
His head, which had been heated by the battle, quickly cooled.
‘Not enough firepower.’
He’d somehow managed to land a few effective hits.
But his absolute firepower was far too lacking.
The fact that it was still rampaging after he’d stabbed it between the eyes and unleashed Lightning Pierce meant that no matter what bullshit he pulled, he couldn’t defeat the giant with his current firepower.
‘I need a single blow more powerful than Lightning Pierce.’
Oh-jin gripped his spear, his eyes dark and somber.
Currently, the most firepower he could muster was to stab a vital point and use Lightning Pierce.
If that wasn’t enough.
He had no choice but to slam it with a skill even stronger than Lightning Pierce.
‘How?’
He didn’t have the luxury of grabbing Vega and asking.
Intuition and sense.
He had to rely on instinct, not reason.
‘Can I do it?’
His hesitation didn’t last long.
Hidden in the smoke, he gripped his spear.
‘If it’s me, I can do it.’
Honestly, he couldn’t feel it himself, but.
According to Vega, he possessed an incredible, almost freakish talent.
If so, he should be able to do it.
—No.
Even without Vega’s words.
Somewhere in his heart, from the unconsciousness beyond the thick, dark clouds.
It whispered that he could definitely do it.
That ‘this much is nothing’.
“Sseup.”
He took a deep breath.
“Hyaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!"
He let out a fierce shout to draw the giant’s attention.
-Thud!
He kicked off the ground and charged.
He could see the giant of flesh clenching its fists ferociously.
‘Now!’
Twang!
He fired the wire shooter at the giant’s arm.
It was a dangerous gamble that could easily result in him being dragged along, but.
‘If I can use that power!’
“KaRuaaaAA!”
Chwa-rereuk!!
As the giant raised its arm high, his body was pulled with terrifying force.
“Heup!!”
After extending the wire to its maximum length.
He used the momentum to slide between the giant’s legs.
-Shwoook!
His body passed between its legs in a blur.
The wire pulled taut, launching his body up toward the giant’s back.
“Hah.”
The perfect opportunity.
He aimed his silver spear at the giant’s exposed nape.
-Kwajik!
He brutally stabbed it with the spear.
Flesh tore, and blood poured out.
Blue lightning flared, burning the flesh.
‘—This isn’t enough.’
Something stronger. More certain.
He needed a blow powerful enough to snuff out the giant’s life in a single strike.
‘Focus.’
He had enough mana.
More than enough.
‘I’ll end it with this one blow.’
Efficiency didn’t matter.
Conservation didn’t matter.
Only a single, powerful blow.
He would pour everything into it.
‘Simply pushing mana into it isn’t enough.’
He imagined an arrow.
Starting from the arm gripping the spear, he drew back his mana to his shoulder.
‘Stronger!’
He pulled the mana taut, stretching it to its limit.
And then.
‘In one shot!!!’
Paaaaang!!!!
Like releasing the string of a fully drawn bow, he fired the tautly pulled mana.
-Kwa-jajajajak!!!!!!
The mana, drawn to its limit, shot out all at once and exploded from the tip of the spear!
-Ting!
[The skill 《Lightning Lv3》 has risen to 《Lightning Lv4》!]
[You have acquired the skill 《Lightning Bomb Lv1》!]
Lightning Bomb.
True to its name, the condensed blue lightning caused a massive explosion.
Chunks of the giant’s flesh flew, and blood poured down like a waterfall.
‘It work—!’
Just as a smile of elation was about to form on his lips.
“KuRaCcccccaaaAAA!!!!!”
The giant of flesh began to writhe as if having a seizure.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
It’s still not dead after all that?
“KAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA!!!”
“Hey, hey, hey!!!”
What the hell is this bastard doing now?!
The giant of flesh went into a crazy fit, starting to run around in all directions.
Oh-jin pulled out a knife, stabbed it into the giant’s shoulder, and desperately clung on to avoid falling off.
‘If I fall, I’m screwed!’
With the wire still attached, the moment he fell, he’d become a Kwon Oh-jin pinwheel, flying around in every direction until he was beaten to a pulp.
“Aaaaaaaaargh!!!! Stop!! Stop, you bastard!!!”
Riding on the madly shaking giant, he couldn’t get his bearings.
-Kooong!! Kooong! Thump! Thump! Thump!!
With a massive roar, the fleshy monstrosity charged somewhere.
It wasn’t charging forward, backward, or sideways.
But up.
‘No way.’
Oh-jin’s eyes widened.
Craaaack!
The dark red flesh covering the ceiling of the passage split wide open,
-Kraaaash!!!!!!
And a blue sky unfolded above his head.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“Wh-what is that!!!”
“Aaaaaargh!! A m-monster!!! A monster has appeared!!!”
People screamed and fled.
“Fuck….”
Oh-jin looked around, dumbfounded.
Lee Shin-hyeok’s memories naturally surfaced in his mind.
“Huh? Th-there...!”
“That’s a person... right?”
The middle of Seoul Station.
In the heart of the city, where hundreds, thousands of people were passing by.
The giant of flesh revealed itself.
‘What am I gonna do?’
With Oh-jin riding on its back.