Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: A Dragon's Tantrum, An Undead's Debut
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The elf BJ Rose cried out, her voice brimming with excitement.
[Round 1! Meokbo is the winner!]
“All the tasty food is mine!”
As Meokbo wagged his tail in delight, the audience responded with a deafening roar of cheers.
[Now, for Round 2, we have the Ranker mage from Team Acumen, Pyoreuseu… Oh, wait! Pyoreuseu has just forfeited! It seems seeing Gulak’s crushing defeat made him realize he had no chance of winning! Ah! Meokbo! He advances to Round 3 with a bye!]
Pyoreuseu, a 6th-Circle Expert, had forfeited the moment he saw Gulak, who was at a similar level to him, get defeated.
From the previous match, he must have surmised that Meokbo’s level was higher than his own and concluded that he wouldn’t be able to penetrate the dragon’s defenses.
Thanks to him, Meokbo was so ecstatic he even started headbanging.
“Sweet, a free win!”
Meanwhile, Acumen was fuming, even pointing an accusing finger at Pyoreuseu.
“Pyoreuseu! You forfeited?! What is this disgraceful act?!”
“Lord Acumen. It’s obvious I would have only been embarrassed if I fought him. You know the nature of dragons, don’t you? They never lose to beings of a lower level.”
“Still, you should have challenged him and at least drained some of his stamina! How can I face Brother Pames after this!”
“But that doesn’t mean I should throw my reputation into the gutter for your sake, does it? And please, stop ordering me around. As of today, I have decided to leave Kan.”
It seemed Pyoreuseu had already lost faith in the mercenary corporation, Kan, as he tendered his resignation to Acumen.
At the Ranker’s declaration of departure, a flustered Acumen shouted.
“Pyoreuseu! You’re quitting?! How could you do this to me? How long have we worked together?”
“You’re right. That’s why Gulak and I participated in the Grand Duel today. It was more out of loyalty to you, Lord Acumen, than a desire to protect the corporation. But business is business. As much as we like you, it’s difficult to remain in a crumbling company while taking a pay cut.”
“…Pyoreuseu. Don’t do this. Please, reconsider. The company is already in a tough spot. What am I supposed to do if a Ranker like you leaves as well?”
“Lord Acumen, this mercenary corporation is already going under. So please, don’t exhaust yourself over it. No, you’d be better off just handing it over to Alma. This company is on the verge of being delisted. What good would it do Alma to take something like this?”
“This is the family business my father entrusted to me! How could I possibly give it up?!”
Pyoreuseu turned his back on the red-faced Acumen and left without a second thought.
Left alone, Acumen kicked a bench with all his might and spat out a curse.
He glared at Lee Si-woo with bloodshot eyes.
It felt as though this whole mess had started because of that bastard.
* * *
[Round 3 is the grand duelist from Team Pames! High Ranker Pirmi versus the grand duelist from Team Alma! The mighty, brawny dragon, Meokbo!]
Perhaps it was because his status had risen a notch after breezing through the first two rounds.
Rose praised Meokbo, calling him a brawny dragon.
Swelling with pride at Rose’s compliment, Meokbo put on airs.
“You hear that? This isn’t fat, it’s muscle. So just give up. I am the strongest. You can’t beat me.”
High Ranker mage Pirmi, dressed in the purple robes of a 7th-Circle mage, spoke in a somber voice.
“A dragon’s scales and bones have no useless parts. They make for excellent artifacts. And the heart… hmm, it’s quite a delicacy. It seems I’ll get to taste it again after a long time.”
Pirmi radiated an unnerving aura, like a final boss from a movie, and Meokbo swallowed hard.
“…I don’t taste good.”
“We’ll see about that once I’ve had a bite.”
“No, you’ll know without even trying. I taste bad.”
“No. You’ll be delicious. I’ve eaten a dragon before, you see.”
Hearing that he had eaten a dragon before, Meokbo, whose knees were weak with fear, said.
“Hey! You wait right there for a second.”
Meokbo waddled over to the bench where Lee Si-woo was sitting.
“Did you hear him? He said he’s going to eat me. What do I do? I’m totally freaking out. And look at him. He’s got this insane aura. He’s obviously super strong.”
Lee Si-woo sighed and said.
“Pig. So what are you trying to say?”
“Well~ since I’ve already won twice, I’ve done my part, right? So I think it’s okay to retreat at this point, don’t you?”
“Shut up and go fight. Before I switch your entire diet to vegetarian.”
“Tch… You cheapskate.”
“Go on, get to work. Pig.”
Dejected, Meokbo returned to Pirmi, dragging his droopy tail behind him.
Then, as if he’d had a brilliant idea, Meokbo’s face lit up.
“How about we play rock-paper-scissors, and the loser forfeits?! What do you think? I’m a genius, right?”
Deciding that dealing with this foolish dragon any longer was a waste of time, Pirmi took out a black staff from his inventory ring.
A black, skull-shaped evil spirit perched on the end of the staff let out a ferocious shriek.
Seeing the black staff, Lee Si-woo’s eyes twitched. He opened the All-Things Market app and searched for the artifact.
「Staff of the Evil Spirit」
Type: Magic Treasure
Grade: 4 (IV)
Form: Staff
Option: Doubles magic attack power.
Special Option: Evil Spirit (Rapidly drains the mana of living creatures.)
Best Review: This item is a godsend in mage duels. Just summon the evil spirit and stall for time, and your opponent’s mana will hit rock bottom on its own. Then just gobble up the exhausted enemy, and you're done!
‘A Grade 4 Magic Treasure? And it has a special option that drains the target’s mana? That’s impressive. This… Meokbo might have a hard time winning.’
Of course, if Meokbo took the fight seriously, the outcome would be uncertain, but the problem was that Meokbo was a terrible whiner.
When Lee Si-woo turned off his smartphone and looked up, the battle had already begun.
[5th-Circle Dark Magic: Black Fang]
As fangs born of dark energy rushed toward him, Meokbo shouted.
“Wind, rise!”
A barrier of wind, summoned by Meokbo’s 6-star Talent, ‘Dragon Tongue,’ erected itself in front of him.
No sooner had the fangs disintegrated against the wind barrier than Meokbo shouted again.
“Earth! Bind that villain!”
The ground beneath Pirmi’s feet writhed, and hands of soil shot up, trying to bind his legs.
Ting!
The earthen hands, blocked by Pirmi’s mana shield, crumbled away.
Pirmi extended his Staff of the Evil Spirit toward Meokbo and shouted.
“Go. Devour the enemy’s mana.”
KYAAAAH—!
A horde of evil spirits shrieked and charged at Meokbo.
Startled, Meokbo swung his tail wildly, but physical attacks were useless against the spirits; they passed right through his tail and seeped into his body.
“Aargh! What is this! It feels weird!”
Pirmi extended his staff and cast the spell he had prepared.
[6th-Circle Dark Magic: Blindness]
As the spell, which temporarily blinded the target, took effect, Meokbo, suddenly sightless, screamed that he was dying.
“Eek! I can’t see! My, my eyes ran away! Find my eyes!”
As Meokbo panicked, revealing an opening, Pirmi gripped his staff with both hands, focusing all his mind and mana.
He intended to neutralize Meokbo in a single blow with a powerful 7th-Circle spell.
Just then, terrified by the darkness and thoroughly enraged, Meokbo opened his maw wide.
Seeing Meokbo emit a tremendous wave of mana from his entire body and concentrate it in his mouth, Pirmi was startled and quickly pulled a Blink artifact from his inventory ring.
“B-Blink!”
A blue laser erupted from Meokbo’s mouth, sweeping through the spot where Pirmi had been standing.
The metal cage, sensing the unusual mana fluctuation, sparked and erected a protective barrier around the arena.
KRA-KOOM!
As the dragon’s ultimate attack, Dragon Breath, struck the barrier, the metal cage shook violently as if it would shatter at any moment.
But the spectators only enjoyed the momentary thrill, remaining unfazed. They knew that the barrier of the capital’s largest arena could withstand even attacks from level 800 beings.
Swoosh.
After the breath subsided and the smoke cleared, Meokbo stood on the ruined arena floor, his tail held high as he growled.
“Did I get him?”
The moment Meokbo’s words ended, Pirmi, who had used Blink to escape to the rear, suddenly reappeared and extended his staff.
[6th-Circle Dark Magic: Pain]
“Eeek? GWAAAAAH!”
Engulfed by the dark energy that shot from the staff’s tip, Meokbo began to roll around the arena, squealing like a stuck pig.
His reaction was so dramatic that even Pirmi, who had cast the spell, was dumbfounded.
The Pain spell, true to its 6th-Circle nature, inflicted considerable agony, but as a sensory magic invented to disrupt a target's spellcasting, it only caused pain equivalent to a fractured arm bone. It was not severe enough to warrant such a theatrical display.
It was just that Meokbo was a terrible whiner with almost no tolerance for pain.
“Aaaargh! I’m dying! I surrender! Su-rren-der!”
A hush fell over the arena at Meokbo’s declaration of surrender.
It was so absurd that the audience, Pirmi, everyone, was silent.
Everyone except Lee Si-woo, who was scratching his head with an I-knew-it expression.
“Somehow, I knew it would come to this.”
[Oh! Meokbo! He has surrendered! Unbelievable! Even I can see that, no! Even my mother could see that’s an overreaction! My goodness, surrendering after getting hit with a single debuff spell! How can this be! Disappointing! Utterly disappointing!]
Wriggling like a worm, Meokbo came before Lee Si-woo and whined.
“I don’t like being hurt!”
Lee Si-woo gave a wry smile as if to say he couldn’t be helped.
“Alright, you worked hard. Come in and rest.”
“…Since I lost, you’re not gonna give me cake and steak?”
“The fact that you moved at all is something. I’ll tell Harman to give them to you.”
“Really? Awesome!”
As Meokbo waddled out of the cage, Lee Si-woo let out a small laugh and turned to Morus.
“Morus. You confident?”
Morus winked and said in a sweet voice.
“Just trust me, darling. Ah, if I win, will you die for me?”
“Why would I die for you?”
“Ah! I’m craving your neck, darling. I want to cut off your neck and add it to my collection. I’d be so happy then.”
“Cut the crap and go win.”
Morus gently traced her red lips with her index finger and said.
“Winning is hard. Killing is easy, though.”
As Morus leaped into the cage, Rose introduced her.
[Round 4 begins immediately! The grand duelist from Team Alma is! The mysterious woman with the scar! Morus!]
The moment Pirmi saw Morus, the smile he wore from defeating Meokbo vanished.
For some reason, he had a feeling this woman would be no pushover.
[Then let the duel! Begin!]
Simultaneously with Rose’s declaration, Pirmi cast his spells.
A Triple Casting was unleashed; the 6th-Circle debuff dark magic spells, Pain and Blindness, washed over her, while the 5th-Circle debuff spell, Slow, hindered her movements.
“Sensory magic, huh?”
Pirmi used his Blink artifact to teleport, appearing beside her and extending his staff.
[6th-Circle Dark Magic: Dark Moon]
A thin, black full moon struck Morus’s neck.
Morus’s severed head flew into the air before falling to the ground and rolling unceremoniously.
[Ah! The match! The match is over! Pirmi has cut off Morus’s head! Good heavens! It was so fast I couldn’t even see it! How could this be! For it to be decided so quickly?! It’s anticlimactic! So anticlimactic!]
With Rose’s declaration that the match was over, a relieved Pirmi let out a sigh.
‘What, that was nothing.’
Just then, the eyes of Morus’s head, rolling on the ground, snapped open.
She smiled a bewitching smile and said.
“My, cutting off a lady’s head on your first meeting? Your manners are shit.”
“What? You’re alive?!”
As Pirmi stood dumbfounded, Morus’s headless body, which had been standing idly by, moved on its own and wrapped its arms around Pirmi’s neck.
The strange thing was, Pirmi’s mana shield didn’t activate.
Even for a surprise attack, it was an incomprehensible phenomenon, considering the mana shield was supposed to activate semi-compulsorily when danger was detected.
“Gack… My, my mana shield, why…”
Pirmi reached out to pry Morus’s arms away, but his hands passed right through them in vain.
Only then did he see that her arms were translucent, like a ghost’s, and he began to drool as he muttered.
“Ghost Form? D-don’t tell me you’re… an undead?”
Witnessing Ghost Form, a rare Talent possessed only by those who belong to death, Pirmi realized her true identity, but it was already too late to turn the tables.
“Will you surrender? Or will you die? Well, I don’t mind if you die. My collection is currently missing the head of a 7th-Circle dark mage. Such a shame.”
“I surrender… I surrender!”
At Pirmi’s declaration of surrender, Rose shouted in excitement.
[Pirmi declares his surrender! Good heavens! Morus! She was an undead! Everyone must have heard of them! The existence of the undead, a special species considered a threat even in the Infinite World! Eek! Morus’s head is bouncing! Boing, boing, boing! It’s bouncing!]
Morus’s head bounced on the ground like a rubber ball before landing back on top of the neck from which it had fallen.
Her body twisted the head around and fitted it back onto her neck, like attaching the head of a robot.
Morus stretched her stiff neck and said.
“Next corpse. Please come out.”
The audience responded to her soft voice with a thunderous roar, while Pirmi, defeated in such an unexpectedly anticlimactic way, left the arena with his head hung low.
* * *
In a certain location, Imago, one of the Five Great Lords of Black Night, who had been watching the broadcast of the Grand Duel, muttered to himself.
“An undead from the Infinite World… How strange. Not a being that a mere scoundrel from some family could easily recruit.”
Standing beside Imago, Plis, the president of Black Night, spread his white wings, characteristic of the angelic race, and said.
“Hmm, in that case, it’s possible that Alma is Crown, just as the Chairman suspected.”
“I do not understand. Before my eyes, blessed by the grace of Lord Horus, no being should be able to conceal its genetics…? Alma was clearly a demon, and of the Graves family’s bloodline. He was not human.”
“Perhaps Alma is merely a puppet, and Lee Si-woo is nearby.”
“Hmm, very well. Plis. You go. Watch for an opportunity, and when the Grand Duel is over, quietly capture Alma. I must interrogate the fool myself.”
Plis bowed respectfully and said.
“I accept your command.”