Chapter 170: Ancient Species (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 170: Ancient Species (1)
Their escape route was completely cut off.
"It's over..."
"D-Damn it."
"It's hopeless. We're completely doomed!"
Anxious groans escaped the lips of the onlookers.
He had dodged the attacks with godlike movements so far, but this was the end of the line.
No matter how high-flying a ranker might be, no one could survive a simultaneous pincer attack from both front and back.
As if to prove that point, the black sphere and the man-eating plant lunged at Jinhyuk at the same time.
Thorns that defied human perception surged toward Jinhyuk's heart, while dozens of vines slammed down to crush his entire body into pulp.
Right then, the trump card Jinhyuk had prepared while dodging and weaving was activated.
[Lv9 'Fire Element' has been activated!]
[Unique Ability 'Blessing of the Stars' has been activated!]
As the energy of the stars infused the embers he had left on the streetlamps, a massive wall of fire erupted.
Rumble!
Boom!
The surroundings instantly turned into a sea of fire, as if dozens of tons of gunpowder had exploded.
Thick, dark smoke inevitably blanketed the area, completely obscuring everyone's vision.
On top of that, the Blessing of the Stars disrupted their 'vibration detection,' making it the perfect setup for a surprise attack.
Now...!
Seizing that exact moment, Jinhyuk moved.
The reason the Despairs don't attack each other is because they recognize their unique biological signals.
Despite possessing overwhelming power, this was why they never harmed one another.
But...
Conversely, if I can locate the source of that biological signal, I can turn their own system against them.
Even through the thick smoke, Jinhyuk lunged precisely toward the plant.
Thanks to the Blessing of the Stars disrupting its vibration detection, he was able to slip inside without any interference.
"Kieeeeh?"
Through the flailing vines, a soft inner skin was revealed.
At a glance, it looked like any other part of the green inner skin.
But the corners of Jinhyuk's mouth curled upward.
As expected, it's hidden inside the seventh node again.
The key was to find the spot where the flow of mana was subtly different, rather than just relying on what was visible.
And given the habits of the Second Despair, that spot was always located deepest within.
It probably instinctively wants to hide its fatal weakness. Something like that.
Jinhyuk quickly ripped away a section of the outer skin.
Instantly,
"Keeeeek!"
The plant began to thrash violently.
Having the organ that controlled its biological signals destroyed had thrown it into a sudden panic.
Dozens of vines whipped around, destroying everything in their path.
Crash!
A building took a direct hit and was instantly half-demolished.
Even seeing it again, its destructive power was mind-bogglingly absurd.
But Jinhyuk's real target was... the sphere, which would react to the plant's indiscriminate attacks.
The moment one of the wildly thrashing vines slammed into the surface of the sphere, it twitched.
The surface of the sphere distorted.
[The Third Despair, 'Sphere of the Abyss', uses its unique ability 'Thorns of Erosion'!]
An indescribable mana erupted from the sphere.
Shhhk!
A clean piercing sound struck their eardrums first.
Immediately after, green fluid sprayed from the plant's body, which had been riddled with holes.
In an instant, dozens of thorns extending from the sphere had shredded the plant's entire body.
"Ki... i... iii..."
Its massive size had turned into a fatal disadvantage at this very moment.
After all, the larger the target, the easier it was to hit.
Thud!
The colossal plant collapsed on the spot.
[The Second Despair has been eliminated.]
* * *
That makes two...
Jinhyuk nodded slightly, satisfied.
It was the classic strategy of fighting fire with fire.
The best way to deal with a Despair was to use another Despair.
Of course, the most ideal scenario would have been for the plant to take out the sphere, but considering the difference in their power levels, that was wishful thinking.
But as expected, my level didn't go up.
While indirect involvement was sometimes recognized for experience points, Despair-class monsters were an exception.
Unless he dealt the blow directly, he couldn't expect to gain any experience or items.
It's definitely a shame I can't reap all the rewards.
However, if he could just defeat the final sphere, he would obtain the best reward he had ever received.
[If you defeat all Three Calamities, you will obtain a top-rank reward related to the target's unique ability.]
Because the scope of the word "related" was so vague, it was hard to guess exactly what the reward would be.
But one thing was certain: it would be a reward fitting for accomplishing a near-impossible feat.
In the past, it had given him an over-rank fusion material. He was already excited to see what it would bestow this time.
But right at that moment—
"...?!"
Jinhyuk instinctively swung his Fang.
Clang!
A black thorn collided head-on with his blade.
He barely managed to deflect its trajectory, but the heavy impact vibrated all the way to his bones, making him frown despite himself.
Damn it.
Does that thing know exactly where I am even through all this smoke?
It had aimed perfectly for his vital spot to be a mere coincidence.
He knew it possessed a sensory ability superior to vibration detection, but...
To think even the Blessing of the Stars couldn't fool it.
Just what kind of sensory organs does this bastard have?
Jinhyuk quickly readjusted his stance.
It was coming again.
And with terrifying, spine-chilling precision.
Clash!
Boom!
Red sparks flew amidst the smoke along with deafening explosions.
A spear of speed that defied human perception, and a dagger responding solely through experience and pure reflexes.
A clash so fast that the naked eye couldn't even hope to follow unfolded.
Every single exchange was a deadly, lethal strike, yet neither side could gain the upper hand.
Then, the attacks stopped as if they had never happened.
At the same time, a rigid voice echoed from the sphere.
[...An annoying human.]
Through the now completely cleared smoke, the surface of the sphere could be seen distorting.
So that stone-faced killing machine finally speaks.
Well, it made sense for it to be annoyed by now.
For any ordinary player, surviving even its very first attack would have been impossible.
"Yeah, I've never really had the kind of personality that people find endearing."
Usually, people either ended up bedridden from sheer frustration, or gave up talking altogether, unable to control their anger.
[Are you trying to provoke me with words, hoping I will lose my composure? Not a bad tactic. The one who holds the initiative can shape the situation to their advantage.]
The mechanical voice continued.
Seriously...
There was no fun in provoking such a stoic bastard.
There had to be at least some reaction for him to enjoy poking at it a bit more.
"So, did you finally open your mouth because you realized we'd just keep running in circles like this? Are you giving up and heading back to your musty grave?"
[Hardly. If I continue to take things easy against an annoying pest like you, this will go on forever. I am simply stating that I will deal with you in earnest from now on.]
It was then that the sphere's form began to change.
Ripples spread across its smooth surface.
It writhed and reshaped itself.
A moment later, when the turbulent ripples subsided, the round sphere had transformed into a human silhouette.
[The Third Despair, 'Nameless', manifests.]
A pitch-black body of a single, solid color.
It had no eyes, nose, or mouth, but its shape was unmistakably human.
"Hmm. It has been quite a while since I last took this form."
As Nameless lightly stretched and reached out,
Crack!
a black thorn about 1.5 meters long shot out from its palm.
"Now... shall we start light, with a single spear?"
Nameless took a javelin-throwing stance.
Instantly, the air froze.
"...!"
Giving up the advantage of rapid-fire attacks to assume a human form wasn't just for a warm-up, despite what it said.
It was gathering its power.
Knowing that minor attacks were useless, it was preparing a single, massive blow...
specifically, an overwhelming strike that could not be deflected.
The moment that realization struck, Jinhyuk's body reacted first.
Thud!
He drove his Fang into the ground.
['Mandala' partial modification.]
Crackle!
A golden-hued barrier materialized.
[First Verse: 'Severance of the Four Symbols' has been activated!]
With three additional layers of barriers added through the 'Moon's Crest', white-glowing runes appeared on the barrier.
A sturdy-looking shield now stood between Jinhyuk and Nameless.
"Oh? You sensed the danger even though I deliberately refrained from using mana. I suppose I have no choice but to call your instincts extraordinary."
Nameless let out an admiring sigh, genuinely impressed.
And in the very next instant, the black thorn, twisted like a corkscrew, was hurled.
Boom!
A sonic boom erupted as it broke the sound barrier.
What followed was a strike worthy of being called the ultimate spear.
Jinhyuk channeled his mana with everything he had.
The light glowing from the runes grew even brighter.
At that moment,
CRASH!
the thorn collided with the shield manifested by Mandala.
"Ugh!"
Jinhyuk clenched his teeth so hard they threatened to shatter.
The unimaginable impact nearly knocked him unconscious, but he desperately clung to his fading awareness.
Rumble!
The shield was practically half-destroyed.
The first barrier had shattered upon impact, and the second had already been pierced.
Yet, the spinning thorn still hadn't lost its momentum.
As the layers of barriers peeled away one by one, the thorn drew closer to Jinhyuk's face.
Just ten centimeters left.
That was the exact distance remaining before the thorn would crush his skull.
At this rate...
...it was dangerous.
But it was already too late to dodge.
Having completely breached the barrier, the thorn struck Jinhyuk square in the face.
Thwack!
Jinhyuk's head snapped violently backward.
"Guh...!"
With a breathless gasp, his body slowly collapsed backward.
* * *
"Jinhyuk...?"
Teresa stammered.
Her lips trembled at the utterly unbelievable sight.
"Y-You're joking, right? Please, get up... Please. Get up!"
She stared, hoping she had misseen, but the thorn had precisely pierced Jinhyuk's head.
No one could possibly survive such a wound.
"Do not worry too much. I will send you to join him shortly."
Nameless drew another thorn.
"You're going to kill us too...?"
"Yes. You, too, have disturbed the peace of our grave. I will slaughter you and every human in the place you belong to."
"Just for that reason...? Just because we disturbed your sleep, you're going this far?"
"Do not judge the weight of a sin by your petty standards. To us, it is a mortal sin that cannot be washed away even with blood."
"Hahaha..."
Sorrow and futility.
And beyond all that, a long-suppressed anger began to writhe.
Overwhelmed by emotion, Teresa's chest heaved violently.
At the same time,
drip.
a single tear rolled down Teresa's cheek. Strangely, the tear had a faint black tint.
Gentle ripples spread across Nameless's surface.
"...Is her divine power corrupting? An interesting ability."
It was a rare phenomenon, an anomaly.
However...
"It matters not, as long as I eliminate her before that power fully blossoms."
Nameless gripped its spear, its voice remaining completely flat.
It would simply kill Teresa, then wipe out the marked members of the Zhonghua Guild and the rest of the humans.
But...
that was not the only anomaly.
Shiver!
Nameless froze in place.
Its gaze turned toward where Jinhyuk had fallen.
There was something there.
Something that made even him—the one who maintained the order and balance of the middle floors—tremble with fear.
Right then,
[The Subspace Inventory is being opened by force.]
Sensing its master's death, something reacted.
Rumble!
The Subspace Inventory, tearing open to a width of nearly twenty meters, was the very definition of surreal.
"This is..."
For the first time, a tremor of emotion appeared in Nameless's voice.
It had no choice.
Because what was emerging from beyond that rift right now...
was an existence that could never be bound by something as trivial as the floors of the Tower.
THUD!
A footstep carrying a weight that felt as heavy as Mount Taesan.
If there was a pinnacle of mana, this had to be it.
"Groooaaar!"
The sharp roar split the clouds and shook the atmosphere.
It was despair and calamity in their truest sense.