Chapter 86
Chapter 86
One of the Four Great Gods, the Yellow God of love and life, who symbolized the power of water. That life force, that spiritual flame, manifested through the Black Flame Dragon. A wild, powerful flame, incomparable to any before it, erupted and devoured Raum's blue fire. Dangerous. Sensing this, Raum pushed Durendal away with her right arm and simultaneously moved her wings. To Raum, her wings were the very symbol of 'flight'. Thus, she could perform maneuvers impossible for ordinary flying creatures
Raum rapidly disengaged from Kang-seok. Her movement was like time rewinding, returning her to the moment before she charged. The Divine Bird, Raum. The one who traversed space with her flight. Kang-seok remembered Kim Ha-neul's death. Though it had been a short time, he understood how Raum fought. And so, he would not allow her to escape. →↘↓↙←→ + HS Rest in Peace: Black Bullet He shot upward. The jet-black bullet outpaced Raum's retreat. A high-speed maneuver. Therefore, Raum could not evade the black bullet that soared up from directly in front of her
She was overtaken, despite having moved first. Unavoidable. The moment she made that judgment, Raum swung both arms wildly. Red trails erupted from her hands. They clashed with the jet-black bullet. It was not cut. It could not be cut. Instead of crossing in mid-air, the red trails were blocked by a single streak of black. They were not merely blocked, but sent flying back in the direction they came from. The Black Sword, Durendal. One of the Thirty-Seven Star Swords. A sword personally forged by the White God, one of the Four Great Gods and called the King of Gods
It was born to rival the divine sword Stormcaller, which contained the power of all Four Great Gods, and in the end, its hardness alone was able to match it—a peerless, famous blade. That sword, too, had regained its true form. Kang-seok had thought Durendal, like Laevateinn and Almace, was part of the Demonic Beast Barbatos's collection, but he was wrong. Durendal was the sword of a nameless hero. The weapon of the man who defeated the Demonic Beast Barbatos. The divine sword, which had slumbered and hidden its power since its master's death, had once again bared its fangs
The red trails were severed. More than half of the red claws that had sprouted from Raum's fingertips shattered. The tip of Durendal tore into Raum's chest. Raum twisted her body. Letting out a pained scream, she used Durendal's blade against itself to escape from Kang-seok. She tore her own body open to pull free from Durendal. Raum plummeted. Kang-seok shot to the sixth-floor ceiling. As she fell, Raum conjured her blue flames. The flames cauterized and regenerated her wound, and new claws grew in place of the broken ones
Landing on the ground, Raum quickly raised her head. Kang-seok, who should have been on the ceiling, was gone. *CRASH!* He struck down. Plummeting in a high-speed descent, Kang-seok unleashed an incredibly simple strike on Raum, from top to bottom. Raum reflexively raised both hands to block the blow, her arms trembling. The claws she had crossed to meet Durendal's blade cracked once more. Speed alone could not defeat Raum. She had faced even the god-like speed of Overdrive. So, he changed his method
He would focus more on the power behind each strike. The black flames of the Black Flame Dragon spread explosively along Durendal's blade. A thick bolt of lightning erupted from Vivian's magic gauntlet, which had absorbed a great deal of the Yellow God's life force. Kang-seok roared. He unleashed a heavy barrage of attacks. *CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!* Raum blocked them. Having blocked even the accelerated attacks of Overdrive, she didn't miss a single one of Kang-seok's strikes. But it was different from before
Each blow was difficult to block. Despite possessing monstrous strength capable of crushing a human head in one hand, she couldn't withstand the weight of the black flames. *CRASH!* A savage strike followed the three-hit combo. Raum staggered from the attack, which fell like a great swing from the upper left to the lower right. The black flames greedily devoured the blue, and Raum was sent flying backward. Raum spread her wings. The moment she was pushed back, she tried to right her posture. Her eyes never left Kang-seok's movements
And because of that, because her entire focus was on Kang-seok, she missed it. “Uwoooooooh!” *CRACK!* The warhammer swung by Christian slammed into Raum's side. Though he swung it with only his right hand, the blow, into which he'd thrown his entire body, was truly heavy. The lightning that erupted from the head of the warhammer suppressed Raum's blue flames, which had just begun to flare up again. It didn't end there. Boulders the size of human heads flew toward Raum, who had been knocked back by the hammer
The players, who had picked up fragments of the tower's outer wall destroyed by Gigantes's descent, began throwing them all at once. There were dozens of them. The number of players throwing fragments, including Seong Yu-jin, was just over ten, but they didn't stop. Thrown in succession, the boulders instantly filled Raum's vision. Raum couldn't hide her pain. Still recovering from the damage left by Christian's strike, she hastily swung her right hand. She slashed through the fragments flying toward her and spread her wings again
First, retreat. Create distance, somehow find a moment to catch her breath and recover her strength— “Uraaaaaaah!” Choi Yu-ra's roar cut off Raum's thoughts. Beyond her vision, which had been filled with fragments, Gigantes's right hand burst through, scattering them, and seized Raum's upper body. Without losing momentum, it charged forward and slammed Raum into the floor. Gigantes was half-destroyed from breaking through the outer wall. Its left arm was torn off, and the additional weaponry she had spent Kron on was unusable
But its right arm was still intact. Gigantes could still run. “Dieee!” Choi Yu-ra screamed from within the half-shattered cockpit. She adjusted her grip on Raum's legs, which she still held, and slammed her into the floor on the opposite side. Gigantes's right arm screamed under the strain, but she didn't stop. *SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!* The floor shattered. Raum's blue blood splattered everywhere. Raum's alluring female form became, quite literally, a tattered mess. But Raum did not die. Gritting her teeth, she drew a red arc and sliced off Gigantes's arm
She barely escaped from Choi Yu-ra and planted her two feet on the ground. She staggered. She couldn't breathe properly. Her vision distorted from the repeated impacts. Raum was beautiful. The reason she, a demonic beast, held the title of 'Divine Bird' was because of her undeniable beauty. Her exhausted and injured form was enough to evoke pity. Every small, staggering movement held a charm that could sway a person's heart. But the players were not fooled by her appearance. For that, they had seen too many die at Raum's hands
“Don't approach. Pin her down.” Park Chang-ho commanded. The elites of the Seven Sword Knights carried out Park Chang-ho's order flawlessly. The marksmen laid down ranged fire to buy time. The mages unleashed every binding spell they had. Ranged attacks, not being direct hits, couldn't inflict any real damage because of the blue flames. Park Chang-ho knew this from experience. But he didn't stop giving the order. His intention from the start was to buy time. The blue flames flared up, twice as large as before
It was just like with Oriax and Vapula. A final flare of life. Her very last struggle. And so, it was a sign that the end was truly near! Park Chang-ho quickly ordered them to cease fire. He clenched his fists, flushed with excitement, and watched. Raum, shattering various binding spells and igniting her blue flames, and the man of black fire charging toward her. “Dark Destiny Lord!” He shouted without realizing it. And other players echoed his cry. There was no longer any hint of mockery. The shout was filled with sincere admiration and awe
He swung Durendal. Raum blocked it. The Yellow God's blessing was temporary, and the Black Flame Dragon could no longer overwhelm Raum. But Kang-seok didn't care. He spun and kicked Raum. He planted a blow wreathed in black flames into the abdomen of Raum, who had been expecting only a sword strike. A clean hit. The start of a combo. He planted the foot he had used to kick Raum on the ground. He slammed his left fist into Raum's face and used the momentum to leap. Twisting his body in a wide arc, he brought the same foot down on Raum's shoulder
He canceled out the blue flames with his black ones. He unleashed pure physical blows upon Raum's body. Fourth hit, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth! Raum couldn't keep her balance against the storm of attacks. Her blue flames were still fierce, but that was all. Kang-seok slashed Raum. Durendal licked across the upper body of Raum, whose guard had been broken. Retrieving his sword, Kang-seok unleashed his final, tenth attack: a thrust. Durendal pierced through the center of Raum's chest. The gruesome sensation of tearing flesh and breaking bone was clearly transmitted through the sword's tip
Raum raised her hand. And Kang-seok didn't wait. The technique that had all but finished Oriax. Knight of Knights, exploding from within! Moreover, this time was different. Durendal, having unlocked its true power, had evolved Knight of Knights. A giant, jet-black sword pierced through Raum. Sent flying by the manifested sword, Raum crashed into the wall, and a light sigil that appeared in succession struck her. Normally, it would have ended here. But not this time. Kang-seok raised Durendal high
→↗↑↖← + S Knight of Knights - Incandescent Sword of Glory A pure white light surged from Durendal. Like the Aura Blade Edward Price had shown, the lightning-infused white light stretched out long and wide, forming a giant sword of light. Ten meters, perhaps even more. A blade that looked as if it could cleave the world in two. Raum, collapsed on the floor, squeezed out her final strength and drew a red arc. Kang-seok ignored it all and brought the sword of light down. *KRRRRRRRRRRACK!* It pulverized
It destroyed. The sword of light, having shattered every red arc, struck Raum. It split the wall and floor, and for a moment, enveloped the world in brilliant light. “Hah... hah....” Kang-seok staggered as well. He retrieved Durendal, panting for breath. A pure white sphere of light floated up from Raum's bisected corpse. It was different from Andras or Oriax. What he felt from the sphere of light was extreme confusion. The voice, which had been difficult to understand at first, grew calmer toward the end
The last thing Kang-seok felt was a smile. With that, a mix of various emotions, the sphere of light vanished. [Quest Clear] [Quest: Defeat the Demonic Beast Raum.] [Quest MVP: Adamas - Choi Kang-seok (M)] [Quest VP: Adamas - Choi Yu-ra (F), Go Min-gu (M) / Unaffiliated - Christian (M) / Seven Sword Knights - Park Chang-ho (M), Kang Su-ji (F), Hoshino Asuka (F)] [First World Quest Cleared] The letters of light continued endlessly, but only for a moment. Iris cleared them all away. [You've worked hard
If I could, I'd give you a big hug right now, Mr. Choi Kang-seok.] At her voice, full of laughter, Kang-seok blinked. And he soon understood why Iris had said that. “Kang-seok!” “Waaah!” Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra rushed Kang-seok at almost the same time. Seong Yu-jin's face was covered in tear tracks, and Choi Yu-ra was crying right now. Seong Yu-jin buried her head in Kang-seok's chest without a word. Choi Yu-ra just kept crying. As Kang-seok fell to the floor, unable to bear their combined weight, Iris whispered to him
[Congratulations. You've cleared the first World Quest. I'll save the details for later. Enjoy the moment.] It was the kind of voice that sounded like it would have come with a wink at the end. Letting out an involuntary chuckle, Kang-seok wrapped his arms tightly around Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra. In their warmth, he felt the reality of being alive. He had won. It was a victory. He had defeated the Demonic Beast Raum and completed the first World Quest. The Black Sword, Durendal. The Hero's Necklace
The vision he saw when enveloped in golden light. Raum's final words. He pushed away the jumble of thoughts that surfaced in his mind. Kang-seok once again tightened his arms around Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra. It was warm. * * * The wind blew. Southwest of Raum's Tower, a place far from the Holy Kingdom of Shangri-La. Long, white hair fluttered in the wind. The woman, the last pure-blood Elder left in the world—one who had lived for a thousand years—saw the letters of light floating in the air. [First World Quest - Raum's Tower Cleared] [Quest MVP: Adamas - Choi Kang-seok (M)] The woman closed her eyes, then opened them, erasing the letters of light
She fixed her gaze on a distant place. The wind blew westward.