Chapter 209
Chapter 209
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: Seoyeon's Rampage
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Seoyeon vanished from her spot.
I learned later that she'd leaped straight up into the air to come at us.
Neris swung her spear shaft wide to intercept the falling Seoyeon.
"Hah!"
Well done, Neris!
Where had Seoyeon gone? I tried to track her trajectory with my eyes.
She didn't seem to have been knocked away...
"Th-the spear... "
Karen pointed at Seoyeon in disbelief.
Seoyeon was standing atop the spear shaft Neris had swung.
"What...!"
Neris shook her spear frantically, as if swatting at a bug.
Seoyeon lightly spun once in midair before crouching on the black horse's neck and slashing horizontally with her scythe.
Neris is in danger...!
The one who reacted faster than anyone was Esty.
Esty used Space Leap to wedge herself between Neris and Seoyeon, stomping down on the scythe to pin it and aiming her bow at Seoyeon's forehead.
"You're fast."
Seoyeon muttered.
"But coming into my range... I'm thrilled."
"Esty...!"
Even you shouldn't get that close...!
Before I could finish speaking, the two leaped up from their spots.
The black horse reared up with a roar. Neris controlled its head with the reins and gripped her spear straight.
My eyes were fixed on the two rising into the air.
Esty fired a rapid volley without even steadying her stance, peppering Seoyeon.
Seoyeon naturally deflected the arrows with her scythe, but the impacts sent her flying back.
Neris yanked the reins. She charged at Seoyeon, who was just about to land.
It was a charge powerful enough to shatter the wall of a building warded with protective magic.
Even Seoyeon couldn't face that head-on with her bare body.
Seoyeon dropped low and slid diagonally under the charging black horse's belly, slicing open its stomach with her scythe.
"Ahaha!"
The black horse spilled its guts and collapsed, while Neris tumbled forward, unable to overcome her momentum.
"Urgh...!!"
Neris hastily rolled into a proper landing, but Seoyeon didn't even glance her way.
Then Neris shouted.
"Watch out!
She's after Decal!"
"Ahahaha!"
Seoyeon started running.
Esty's suppressive fire. A countless rain of arrows too fast to count or follow chased after Seoyeon.
Rather than slowing, Seoyeon exploded forward with monstrous leg strength, shaking off the arrows and closing in on Esty in one burst.
"...Kgh!"
Esty raised her bow to block the scythe attack.
She, who had casually blocked Neris's strikes with one hand without her spirits' help.
Now, even using the wind spirit, she was barely on the defensive.
That scythe swing had been that devastating.
When had she grown that strong? It was baffling.
Even if she'd come to this world as a hero or a goddess's agent like me, her movements were on another level compared to when she'd first arrived—had she ground up hordes of monsters and drunk them down?
"I can't let you harm Decal...!"
"Ahaha. You thought these flimsy arrows could block my love for Hyunwoo oppa? How cute."
Esty drew an arrow with one hand.
In that instant, the tense balance of power shattered, and the scythe regained its momentum.
Seoyeon steadied herself and swung the scythe again.
In that split second.
Esty twisted her body to dodge the scythe while firing an arrow in counterattack.
The arrow, shot mid-close-quarters combat, pierced Seoyeon's thigh and chest before she could evade.
No—it looked like it pierced.
Esty's arrows drilled wind holes through monsters' tough flesh.
No human could take such an arrow to the body and stay fine.
It should have been impossible.
Yet Seoyeon moved as if unscathed, arrows embedded in her.
She even swung her scythe again to attack Esty.
"Ngh...!"
Just before the scythe could split Esty's head.
Esty escaped with Space Leap but lost her balance and fell.
The situation was that dire.
She still didn't look back at Esty.
Seoyeon had no interest in killing the enemy before her.
She twisted and yanked out the arrows in her thigh and chest with her hands, then charged straight at me.
"Oppa!"
"Decal, fall back.
She's targeting you...!"
Stia and Karen stepped in front of me, drawing their swords.
Ugh, no.
I couldn't let those two die...!
Seoyeon swung her scythe before even getting close. I'd seen it so many times by now that it was barely familiar.
I poured all my spirits' power into erecting a barrier.
"Gah...!"
Karen and Stia screamed as they were blown away.
Even with the barrier blocking it, the shockwave alone did this. How had Esty blocked it with her bow...!
"Lightning Square!"
Diana's magic attack...!
Seoyeon grabbed the lightning with her hand and snuffed it out without looking.
"W-with her hand...!"
That wasn't all.
Seoyeon flicked the magic back at Diana.
"Kyaa...!!"
Diana was overwhelmed in an instant and fell backward.
This is bad.
I couldn't keep up with the situation. Had ten seconds passed already? It felt like standing dazed before a storm growing out of control.
Totally different from back then.
"Hyunwoo oppa. I'm so happy to see you after so long..."
"Kgh...! Apocalypse of Fire...!"
Seoyeon danced around my spell and closed in.
"Happy. Happy. Happy."
Ugh, urgh...!
Was my magic just child's play?
We were both goddess agents. How could the gap be this wide...?
She had the potential to be a hero but lived lazily.
But even if she'd trained diligently, could she have caught up?
Impossible.
Seoyeon's strength was a realm beyond effort or diligence.
If I had to describe it: madness. Park Seoyeon had gone so insane my powers wouldn't touch her.
She was far beyond imaginable limits.
Terror nailed me in place; I couldn't move.
"Stop."
Noah...!!
Noah had been tending to the three fallen ones.
Checking if their heads were injured, if their tongues had lolled back as they fainted.
Yet she issued her ultimatum calmly, as if she knew exactly how close Seoyeon had gotten.
The sheer pressure from one word.
Noah was furious.
She just didn't show it.
Seoyeon halted.
"One more step, and I'll execute you.
You've slain candidates before my eyes. No objections will be heard."
"..."
Somehow, Noah had risen, a black club gripped in her hand.
"Lord Decal, rest easy.
Capturing criminals is my specialty."
Seoyeon tightened her grip on her scythe.
That was the signal. Noah moved.
The club Noah swung left a black trail and smashed toward Seoyeon's head.
Seoyeon blocked with her scythe, but this time it was perilously close. Her scythe was trembling.
"You've got a lot more toy girls now, oppa.
But it's useless. Your true love is me. Only I can protect you. Only I can love you.
This is a trial. A trial to prove my love. Oo-hoo-hoo. Ahaha!"
Seoyeon rapidly spat out the words without blinking.
"Overcome this trial, and we'll be one forever. I can do anything for you."
"Stop this!
Drop your weapon and surrender, Park Seoyeon!"
Maybe I could talk her down.
Epe had said something similar.
Fighting Park Seoyeon head-on might not be the answer. I hated the idea of anyone dying over this.
"You don't trust me, oppa?
Fine. I'll prove it first by spilling this woman's guts. That only I can protect you!"
At that moment.
A spear of light erupted from the ground and slammed into Seoyeon's stomach.
Seoyeon flew like a stone from a catapult and crashed into the auditorium wall.
That spell just now...?
"Listening to you babble. You're getting too rowdy, aren't you?"
"Herka...!"
"Since we're cooperating, I'll throw in some bodyguard service.
As long as this genius girl is with Ironwall Senior..."
"Lady Herka."
Noah cut Herka off.
"She's coming."
"......!"
Seoyeon leaped up.
She seemed to launch into the air suddenly.
It was hard to believe human leg strength could do that.
Seoyeon kicked off the empty air and plummeted toward us like a shooting star.
"My line. My power.
A power to sever the root!"
Herka threw up a barrier to protect Noah and me.
It was a dense shield like tens of thousands of basic-lesson barriers layered atop one another.
Seoyeon broke through it bodily, shattering it like glass, and brought her scythe down on Noah.
"Hup!"
Noah sucked in a breath and raised her club to block the scythe.
An immense impact hit.
No explosion—just weapons clashing—and the ground shook, making us stagger.
The floor caved in.
The spot where Noah stood cratered as if something had fallen from the sky.
Seoyeon's scythe seemed to wail. This was no fight I could join.
You needed at least Herka's level to help.
If I tried, I'd just disrupt Noah's focus.
"Execution. Commencing."
Noah smashed her club into Seoyeon's stomach.
"Urk!?"
Seoyeon took the massive hit and rolled across the floor.
Noah pursued, pummeling her one-sidedly.
Seoyeon ignored her own body entirely, swinging her scythe even as she took hits for counterattacks.
But Noah moved one step ahead, as if predicting every action, blocking the scythe and swinging her club to crush Seoyeon's skull.
Overwhelming combat technique.
Her confidence in capturing criminals was no bluff.
Monster hunts were one thing, but human-vs-human?
Noah's insight became a tremendous advantage.
A sharply honed blade that even sliced through rampaging madness.
Moving most efficiently and thinking ahead let her outfight Seoyeon...!
"Urgh, ah...!"
Seoyeon bled profusely, rolling on the floor.
She was trembling—clearly severe damage.
"It's over."
Noah declared curtly and brought her club down on Seoyeon's head.
A certain killing blow.
"Hyunwoo, oppa... u..."
...Kgh.
I clenched my fists and turned away.
Park Seoyeon was beyond saving. Better to let Noah kill her.
She wouldn't listen, and sparing her meant who knew what horrors.
I lacked the courage to risk all my women dying out of some petty sense of justice or pity.
"Urk!?"
Noah's strike missed.
More precisely, Seoyeon dodged. Her head torn open and bleeding, she clung to Noah.
A desperate spasm, only delaying the end.
Noah didn't flinch and struck her down again.
Seoyeon kept rising.
Slipping in her own blood and tumbling, yet rising endlessly.
"Park Seoyeon, stop!"
I couldn't bear watching.
"Drop your weapon and surrender!"
"Oppa... Are you worried about me?"
"......"
Noah's club snapped Seoyeon's neck.
"Guh, kgh...!"
Unable to speak, Seoyeon still had Noah's strike—a black lightning bolt—crashing down on her head.
Seoyeon collapsed.
But she still remembered my direction and tried crawling toward me.
"...Don't watch."
Herka muttered.
"Some sights aren't worth remembering."
"......"
Yeah. We'd decided to let her die.
Pretending to care for Seoyeon's life would be laughable.
I just didn't want to see it anymore.
Noah raised her club high for the finishing blow.
Then, a change came over Seoyeon's body.
Herka noticed first.
"Ironwall Senior! Fall back!"
What was happening?
Noah heeded Herka and retreated.
I wasn't as versed in magic as this world's mages, but I felt what Herka did.
Seoyeon's mana signature was swelling abnormally.
Pitch-black winds rose around her body.
"Lady Herka! What's happening?"
"That girl's abandoned her humanity... She ate the Demon King's soulstone!!"
"There was a red soulstone? Where...!"
"It was scattered on the floor. Probably meant to empower the fanatics. That's why she was face-down!"
One of Seoyeon's eyes blazed red.
A single black wing sprouted from her back amid the black storm.
"She's monsterizing!
This is no joke! She's Demon King-level already!"
"Then hit her with a finishing blow now...!"
"No! Ironwall Senior, that swollen mana will burst like a bomb.
We need to evacuate the survivors! Right now!"
Herka shouted urgently.