Chapter 354: Crown of Hegemony (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 354: Crown of Hegemony (2)
While Jinhyuk and Hound confronted each other.
Wooooong!
BOOM!
A wave of crimson blood swept over the area.
A massive sand dune collapsed in a single blow, scattering droplets of blood in all directions.
"Tch!"
Black Rock clicked his tongue.
Until just moments ago, the battle had been going in their favor.
However, with the intervention of a new variable, the situation began to take a strange turn.
Alice von Ataraxia... The former head of the family who was ousted by the other heads.
An absolute powerhouse whom no one could touch during her prime.
If she had come in her prime, the entire Old Guard, including the Captain, would have had to bury their bones here.
Even if the Old Guard were hounds that hunted the heroes of the Tower, they couldn't hunt a ranker on the level of a main god.
But.
That was only a hypothetical scenario.
What stood before them now was nothing but a mere fragment of her former self.
Rumble!
Once again, the crimson blood surged.
At the same time, Uasis's arrows pierced through the air.
Boom!
Crash!
It was an incredibly tricky attack.
Of course, there was no need to respond to every single one of them.
As long as they dragged out the time, victory would tilt in their favor anyway.
As if to prove those words.
"That's enough!"
A sharp shout rang out.
[Unique Sacred Chant 'Slayer of Pheterops' is activated!]
[Breath of the Crawling Darkness has been used!]
A new Unique Sacred Chant was activated from Seli's side, who was facing Cheon Yu-seong.
As the sacred relic received from Nyarlathotep merged, hazy shadows began to rise all at once along the ground.
"Grrr..."
"Kieeeek!"
The shadows soon took shape.
They were red-eyed demonic beasts with eight legs.
It was troublesome enough that every single one of them possessed unusual magic power, but the real problem was their numbers.
Even at a rough estimate, there were over a hundred of them.
No matter how hard Goguma and the spirit beasts fought, they couldn't handle this many.
"T-this is a bit too many, isn't it?"
"Yeah. You're right. We need to run."
"Still, wouldn't it be better to die to these guys than to be killed by Master for disobeying orders?"
"Everyone, shut up. I have a headache."
The spirit beasts hesitated and stepped back.
"Moooogiiii!"
At least Goguma, being an ancient species, didn't lose his momentum, but the demonic beasts, whose emotions had been excised, were not intimidated by the ancient species' Fear either.
A touch-and-go situation.
It was the demonic beasts that broke the balance.
Using their long legs to close the distance in an instant, the beasts began to attack everything in sight indiscriminately.
Rumble!
Gnome erected a wall of earth like a shield.
Undine and Sylphid cast magic made of water and wind, making the protective wall even sturdier.
"Kieeeek!"
"Groooar!"
The beasts slammed their bodies against the wall and began to climb.
Blades of water and wind slashed at their claws, but that wasn't enough to stop them.
Reaching the top of the wall, the beasts prepared to leap down.
But it was then.
"How dare you lowly creatures bare your fangs and attack in my presence?"
Alice's harpoons rained down like a torrential downpour.
Thud!
Thwack, thwack!
Hundreds of harpoons riddled the beasts' bodies with holes.
"Kek!"
"Yip!"
Even the beasts, who had easily withstood Undine and Sylphid's magic, could not endure such a devastating bombardment.
In an instant, dozens of beasts fell from the wall and rolled on the ground.
Just like that.
Right when everyone was locked in fierce combat.
...Now!
Boom!
Jinhyuk kicked off the ground and began to run.
Toward where the Crown of Hegemony lay.
"Foolish!"
Hound immediately gave chase.
Since his weaponless opponent had lost his mind and turned his back...
The battle was as good as decided.
All that was left was to wait for that idiot to reach for the crown and stab him in the back.
Hound calmly maintained his distance.
A barrier...
Even while chasing Jinhyuk, Hound did not let his guard down.
His gaze swept over the surrounding sand.
Around 6-star.
It was definitely a barrier designed to suppress power.
He must have had his companions, who arrived here first, set up the catalysts.
I don't know what he's planning, but to think he can weaken my magic power with a barrier like this.
It was utterly laughable.
In fact, it was almost pitiful that he thought this was his final trump card.
Tap!
Hound accelerated a bit more.
Because he saw Jinhyuk's hand reaching for the crown.
Seizing that opening.
Whoosh!
The greatsword aimed precisely for the spine.
He intended to end his life in a single blow.
However.
An unusual energy suddenly surged from Jinhyuk's body, which had only been rushing forward.
Did he pull out another weapon?
Even if he did, it didn't matter.
After all, there was a set limit to his opponent's magic power.
Even if he pulled out a more powerful sacred relic instead of the dagger from earlier, it wouldn't change the outcome.
But then,
A chilling sensation washed over him.
"W-what...?!"
Goosebumps broke out all over Hound's body.
It was a terrifying amount of magic power.
So immense that he couldn't even begin to fathom its limits.
⁕ ⁕ ⁕
'Self-Sacrifice (Sacrifice).'
A special effect that increases attack power by 100 times when the Fang is intentionally destroyed.
I didn't expect to use it to copy an ability... but it can still play its part perfectly as a trump card.
Jinhyuk opened his subspace inventory.
The last item he had purchased from Rick.
'Green Frog Chocolate'
Option: Transfers the ability attached to an item.
However, the completeness of the transferred ability varies depending on the weapon's characteristics.
Crunch.
As he bit into the chocolate, a hot energy surged through his veins and spread throughout his entire body.
Normally, even if one consumed the Green Frog Chocolate, the efficiency of the ability transfer wasn't very high.
Unless a blacksmith of Orun's caliber worked on it day and night for about a week.
Because anchoring a foreign ability to another item was by no means an easy task.
However,
There was one case where a 'perfect transfer' was possible even without Orun's help.
When the items originated from the exact same root.
In other words.
When the weapon was made from the mythical beast Pentagris, the transfer could unleash its full power.
Wooooong!
A long bow appeared in Jinhyuk's hand.
The 'Molar', another symbol of Pentagris.
The arrow made with the 'Blessing of the Stars' and the effect transferred by the Green Frog Chocolate stacked.
"The reason I set up a barrier to weaken magic power wasn't to keep you in check."
Rather, it was to suppress the absurd destructive power generated by Self-Sacrifice.
With this, he could unleash his full power without worrying about Teresa or Cheon Yu-seong getting caught in the crossfire.
"Take this."
The bowstring held at Jinhyuk's fingertips trembled.
A white light condensed into a single point.
The blazing white flame even devoured the surrounding air.
It was a strike unleashed at point-blank range, gathering all of his magic power.
There was no way to dodge it.
Crackle.
A single beam of light drew a long line.
Immediately after, a deafening roar echoed.
And then.
BOOOOOOM!
A storm beyond imagination swept through.
"Aaaaargh!"
A long scream erupted from Hound's mouth.
⁕ ⁕ ⁕
Sssssss...!
A long trail of smoke rose along the path the arrow had traversed.
The crater created by the scorched sand seemed bottomless.
As if proving how powerful the strike had been, the thunderous roar still left their ears ringing.
"Pant, pant, pant..."
Jinhyuk gasped for breath.
A whopping 100 times the power.
The aftermath of activating the Fang's special ability hit him all at once.
It felt as if his entire body was about to be torn to shreds.
Even though he had protected his body in layers with the 'Blessing of the Stars' and the barrier, every single cell was screaming in pain.
Naturally.
The opponent who took this attack shouldn't be able to survive.
...Or so he had been sure.
Damn it.
"Your Unique Sacred Chant... is completely off the charts too, I see. How are you still breathing after taking that head-on?"
Jinhyuk smacked his lips bitterly.
"Ugh..."
From the center of the crater, Hound slowly crawled up.
One of his arms was gone, and his entire body was in tatters.
Though his body was completely wrecked, he wasn't dead.
He really had a disgustingly tough body.
Since he had taken a direct hit from a force capable of instantly killing even mythical beasts.
"You... damn... bastard..."
Hound staggered forward.
"Don't push yourself. You'll really die. In your current state, even a kindergartener could beat you up."
No, seriously.
Even Undine beating him with a drop of dew might knock him out.
"Don't... make me laugh. You look like... you don't even have the strength to lift a finger... after that last attack. Do you really think... this is over?"
Even at this very moment, Hound's wounds were rapidly healing.
Just ten more minutes.
If he had just that much time, he could return to his original condition.
But rather than waiting ten minutes...
Distorted with rage, Hound picked up something lying in the sand.
The Crown of Hegemony.
The crown, which had been blown away by the previous attack, had landed right near Hound.
"With... this, killing a wretch like you... will be child's play. Presenting the crown to that person... can wait until after."
The crown was the ultimate sacred relic, effective even against the entities of the 50th floor.
Whoever wore it could approach the realm of an absolute being.
"Your... mistake was... foolishly letting me... lay my hands on this."
Hound placed the crown on his head with a sneer.
And at that exact moment.
Kikikikik!
A bizarre discordance, unlike anything he had ever heard before, grated on his nerves.
"Argh... Aaaaaargh!"
A horrific scream erupted from Hound's mouth.
Instead of granting him immense power, the sacred relic was trying to burn his body.
"Aaaargh... Argh!"
Hound screamed repeatedly in sheer disbelief.
He tried to pull the crown off somehow, but it was as if it had fused to his head, refusing to budge.
"W-why... What on earth is... this..."
Why, you ask?
"Because if someone unworthy of being its master wears the Crown of Hegemony, it turns into a poison rather than a sacred relic."
Jinhyuk shrugged nonchalantly.
"Maybe if you were in perfect condition, it would be different. But in your current near-death state, the crown has no choice but to reject you as its master."
Did you really think there would be no restrictions on using a top-tier artifact?
"Could it be... injuring me... and intentionally leaving the crown in front of me... was all for this?"
"I set up several traps to make you lose your cool. Since you were tasked with retrieving it, I figured you'd only have a partial understanding of the crown's traits."
The probability of Nyarlathotep telling you everything about the crown was close to zero.
There was no way he would tell his subordinates about something that could potentially harm him.
And faithfully executing Nyarlathotep's orders without harboring a single doubt...
"That is the reason you lost this fight."