Chapter 326
Chapter 326
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 326
Chapter Title: Treasure Hunt (5)
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I kicked off the ground in the direction I’d heard Riak’s cry.
Water droplets clinging to my body scattered.
With no time to get properly dressed, I sprinted off wearing only the shorts I’d worn into the hot spring, a towel wrapped around my waist.
In the distance, I could see Riak and Poppy confronting a group of figures.
“Who the hell are they?”
Perhaps because her cozy time with Oh-jin had been interrupted.
Ha-eun glared ferociously at the group facing Riak.
“Wait a second.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Come over here. Isabella and Vega, you too.”
Before jumping in, Oh-jin hid behind a nearby rock and observed the group confronting Riak.
*Demonics?*
Unlike typical demonics, a group with dark red horns and swarthy skin had their weapons aimed at Riak and Poppy.
It seemed a fierce battle had already taken place, as one demonic lay on the ground, its neck torn open.
“Why are beastkin all the way out here…?”
“And how is it controlling a demonic beast?”
The group of demonics facing Riak frowned, unable to comprehend the situation.
“Be careful. That wolf bastard is no ordinary foe.”
The gray-haired demonic, who appeared to be the leader, calmly raised his spear.
*Rumble.*
A dark red energy, like dripping lava, flowed from the dark red horns on his forehead and gathered at the tip of his spear.
An intense heat swept through the area.
*"Hsssss."*
Despite emitting a heat that threatened to consume his surroundings, the gray-haired demonic stared at Riak with ice-cold eyes.
“My name is Jakal. A servant of the great Cheonma and a knight who serves Lord Deimos.”
The demonic, who had introduced himself as Jakal, tilted his head and gestured toward Riak with his chin.
A gesture that seemed to say, *I've introduced myself, now it's your turn.*
Riak scoffed, looking at Jakal as if he were pathetic.
“Do we need to know names to fight?”
“…Stating one’s name is a knight’s courtesy.”
“I’m a warrior, not a knight, kid.”
*Crack!*
Riak’s body transformed into that of a werewolf.
“I don’t care who you are or who you serve.”
Only one thing mattered.
“Are you my enemy?”
The silver wolf’s eyes locked onto Jakal.
Feeling a ferocious killing intent spread down his spine, Jakal tightened his grip on the spear.
“As a knight of Lord Deimos, I cannot let one who trespasses on his territory without permission go unpunished.”
“Is that so?”
The corners of Riak’s mouth twisted into a savage grin.
“That’s all I need to hear.”
*BOOM!*
The silver wolf kicked off the ground violently.
A streak of silver light shot across the black rocks.
The muscles all over his body swelled as if they would burst.
“Grrrr!”
In the blink of an eye, Riak closed the dozens of meters between them.
Penetrating into the spear’s range, he clenched a fist like a chunk of iron.
A fist blazing with blue lightning.
With a deafening roar like an exploding bomb, his fist swung toward Jakal.
“You beast.”
Unfazed, Jakal calmly turned his spear to block the punch.
The fist slammed into the spear’s shaft.
Though it was only a clash with a fist, the impact felt as heavy as being struck by a siege weapon.
A low groan escaped Jakal’s lips.
The lightning that flowed through the spear shaft momentarily paralyzed his hand, but he quickly dispersed his mana to undo the paralysis.
“Hup!”
The lava-dripping spear lunged forward like an awl.
In contrast to the violent heat that scorched everything around it, the movement was extremely refined.
A clean spear strike, worthy of a textbook, aimed for Riak.
Riak’s claws grew long and parried the spearhead.
*CLANG! KANG! K-K-K-K-KANG!*
Spear and claws clashed.
Riak tried to break into the spear’s range, while Jakal slid backward, trying to maintain distance.
“Do you know the ideal distance for a spear?”
In the midst of their fierce battle, Jakal spoke softly.
“Five steps. That is the ideal distance for one who wields a spear.”
The distance between him and Riak was currently about five meters.
Jakal took one step forward, closing the distance.
“At one step, you watch the feet.”
He took another step while observing Riak’s movements.
“At two steps, you watch the eyes.”
And then.
*Swish!*
From a distance of three steps, the spearhead shot forward.
The lava spearhead aimed for the space between Riak’s eyes.
“Kugh!”
The spearhead grazed his cheek.
The lava splattering from the passing spearhead burned his flesh.
A hideous burn mark was seared onto one side of Riak’s face.
Even through the pain of his flesh burning, Riak bared his white teeth and grinned.
“Do you fight with your mouth instead of your spear?”
*Ideal distance, watching feet, watching eyes… who runs their mouth so much in the middle of a fight?*
“Don’t speak.”
*BOOM!*
The ground trembled as the silver wolf charged.
Jakal reflexively raised his spear to defend his front.
“Don’t listen.”
Riak leaped high in the middle of his charge.
He flipped his body in mid-air like an acrobat.
*Crackle!*
Using Lightning Step, Riak sharply changed direction in the air and got behind Jakal.
“Don’t think.”
“Kugh…!”
With his back suddenly exposed, Jakal hurriedly turned.
“Fighting is instinct, kid.”
*KRRRRRUUUMBLE!*
A heavy fist shot out, tearing through the air.
Unable to get into a proper stance while turning, Jakal’s spear shaft was struck by Riak’s fist.
“Keuk!”
Jakal was sent flying from the impact.
His body skipped across the ground like a stone on water before crashing into a nearby rock wall.
Dozens of tons of granite collapsed and came crashing down.
“Lord Jakal!”
The demonics who had been watching the fight finally moved.
“Grrrwl!”
Poppy quickly blocked the demonics’ path.
“Out of the way!”
“How dare a mere demonic beast stand in the way of the Golden Knights!”
Unlike the free-spirited and individualistic demonics seen before, these who called themselves the ‘Golden Knights’ pressured Poppy with sophisticated combined attacks, like systematically trained knights.
Poppy swung her front paws fiercely at the demonics, but she was no match for their coordinated assault on her own.
The demonics instantly pushed Poppy back and surrounded Riak.
“Kugh…”
Jakal, who had been slammed into the rock wall by Riak’s attack, groaned as he pushed himself up.
Though his body was covered in wounds, he had apparently avoided any fatal injuries, as his eyes burned with intense fighting spirit as he glared at Riak.
“Indeed… for a beast, your skills are impressive.”
Jakal wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and gripped his spear.
His spear, which had clashed with Riak’s fist, was bent into an L-shape, but it quickly returned to its original form when he infused it with mana.
“However, no matter how strong an individual is, they are useless before an organized army.”
The demonics surrounding Riak aimed their weapons.
A perfect encirclement, with no opening to escape.
Riak looked at the demonics surrounding him and scoffed.
“Didn’t you say something about a knight’s courtesy earlier?”
*It seems he can't handle me alone, so he's immediately resorting to using his subordinates.*
“Acknowledging one’s enemy and doing one’s utmost is also a knight’s courtesy.”
Jakal let out a faint sneer and aimed his spear at Riak.
He wasn’t foolish enough to insist on a one-on-one fight and give up the powerful advantage of numbers.
“Is that so?”
Riak raised the corner of his mouth and turned his head.
He looked at a large rock and clenched his fist.
“In that case, I suppose I’ll learn a thing or two about that courtesy myself.”
“…What?”
Just as he frowned, unable to understand what Riak meant.
“Now, kid!!”
*RUUUUMBLE!*
Riak stomped his foot violently and let out a roar.
The ground around them cracked, and the demonics surrounding him momentarily lost their balance.
Just as bewilderment appeared on the demonics’ faces.
*KRA-KA-KA-KOW!*
A bolt of lightning shot up from behind the rock and struck down at the demonics.
“Kugh!”
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
Oh-jin, having broken through their ranks, swung his spear wildly.
“You mutt, trying to act all cool!”
Following Oh-jin, Ha-eun climbed onto the rock where they had been hiding and unleashed a baptism of fire.
“A-a human?”
“Why is a human here…!”
“D-damn it! Could they be the Nogwi’s underlings?”
“Kugh! You demonic humans!”
Upon seeing Oh-jin’s party, the demonics began to freak out.
They stared at Oh-jin’s group with eyes full of fear, as if they were looking at zombies straight out of a horror movie.
“Huh? Why are these guys reacting like this?”
Ha-eun tilted her head at the demonics’ intense reaction.
The demonics looked as if they were afraid of the entire human race itself.
“…I know, right? Something’s a little strange.”
Demonic beings trembling in fear at the sight of humans.
Isabella frowned at the hard-to-imagine sight.
“We’ll think about their reaction later.”
Oh-jin spun his spear and struck the head of a demonic trying to attack him from behind with the shaft.
“First, let’s take care of these guys.”
“Got it!”
“Yes, Mr. Oh-jin.”
As Ha-eun and Isabella joined the battle in earnest, the tide turned in an instant.
Deimos’s knights were stronger than the low-level demonics they had faced in the Dragonian Kingdom, but their numbers, a mere ten or so, were far from enough to handle Oh-jin’s entire party.
“Uh, ugh!”
“M-monstrous humans!”
On top of that, not only were they outmatched in terms of relative strength, but they were also terrified.
Unable to even put up a decent resistance, Deimos’s knights began to fall one by one.
In a battle that could only be described as overwhelming, there was just one flaw.
*Their outfits are a bit…*
Even though they were wearing sportswear underneath, seeing Ha-eun and Isabella fighting with nothing but towels wrapped around them made his face flush.
*I mean, it’s not like they’re paid avatars or anything.*
Just as his head was starting to spin from the sight of their exposed skin with every movement.
“Ah, Oh-jin! That bastard’s running!”
In the distance, he saw Jakal turn his back and flee.
“I’ll go after him. You finish up here.”
“Oh, okay! Got it!”
Deciding it was better to get away from Ha-eun and Isabella, Oh-jin quickly pursued Jakal.
*He’s fast.*
He had felt it while watching the fight with Riak, but that demonic named Jakal definitely had the skills of an executive.
The distance between Oh-jin and Jakal gradually widened.
Just as Jakal had gotten so far away that he was barely visible to the naked eye.
“Exceed.”
*Crackle!*
Blue lightning erupted explosively, and Oh-jin’s pace quickened even more.
He chased after Jakal like a bolt of lightning.
And then.
*Squelch!*
“Keuk! Kugh!”
From behind a large rock, Jakal’s pained voice could be heard.
“S-so it was… you, Nogwi… after all.”
A strained voice.
Jakal glared at someone with eyes full of hatred and collapsed to his knees.
“Nogwi…?”
Oh-jin looked at the old man standing before the kneeling Jakal.
“Hmm?”
The old man, holding a worn iron sword in one hand, tilted his head as he looked at Oh-jin.
Soon, a bright smile, like a flower in full bloom, spread across his wrinkled lips.
“Wow! A good person, a good person!”
The being that Deimos’s knights called ‘Nogwi’ and trembled in fear of.
Baek Mu-gang, the Star of Heavenly Fists, was waving vigorously at Oh-jin.