Chapter 368: Gray Forest (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 368: Gray Forest (1)
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Boom!
"Kieeeek!"
"Keeek!"
As a faintly glowing sword and shield moved in a dizzying blur, the severed limbs of insects scattered in all directions.
The chaotic battle had already raged on for nearly thirty minutes.
Yet, there was no sign of the endlessly swarming insects slowing down.
"Argh! Damn it, the left! Watch the left!"
"It's over! We're all dead!"
They were being pushed further and further into a corner.
Holding their ground with their backs against the trees had reached its limit.
The other players, their stamina and mana completely depleted, struggled to even maintain their formation.
Now, the only hope remaining was Teresa.
[Teresa activates Lv. 13 'Song of Battle'!]
[Teresa activates Lv. 14 'Last Holy Sign'!]
Attack power, defense, and even recovery.
Her last remaining handful of mana was optimized and set into motion.
With 'Last Holy Sign' active, she was fully primed to immerse herself in battle until her very last breath.
With this, all preparations were complete.
Whoosh...
A white cross descended from the heavens.
From within its light,
"Here I go,"
Teresa began her final struggle.
Clang!
She deflected a pincer flying in from her flank with her shield.
Thrust!
Instantly targeting a soft spot in its carapace, she drove her sword deep inside.
"Kieeeek!"
"Keeek!"
A single mistake would lead straight to death.
To hold out even a second longer, everything had to be flawless.
In the blink of an eye, Teresa cut down over ten stag beetles.
Then, she threw herself toward the path where the larger insects were pouring in.
Step!
Swiftly. Lightly.
Her gold-tinted sword sliced through a massive tree trunk.
Crash!
House-sized logs collapsed, blocking the path.
"Ohhh! She blocked the most troublesome path! Now they can only come from two directions!"
"As expected of Teresa! We can do this! We can actually make it!"
"The Saint of Amsterdam is with us!"
The players erupted in cheers.
Thanks to Teresa fighting far better than anyone could have hoped, they were gradually carving out an escape route from behind. If they could just reach the valley about a kilometer away, the insects wouldn't be able to attack them so easily.
Amidst this hellish situation, a glimmer of hope was beginning to appear.
But right then,
"Kroooooar!"
A monstrous roar echoed, loud enough to tear the Gray Forest apart.
* * *
Thud!
Trees collapsed to the left and right.
"I-It's a giant species!"
Something was coming.
And it was incredibly fast.
A moment later, what emerged from the forest was a catastrophe that stripped away all remaining hope.
"No way..."
Teresa let her sword slip from her hand.
The enemy before her was simply too absurd.
It stood nearly eight meters tall.
A mutated monstrosity with twelve pincers and three heads.
But even more horrifying than its appearance was the mana radiating from its body.
Sizzle!
The surrounding grass and trees withered and blackened from its toxic miasma.
It was a poison so lethal that even its fellow insects steered clear of it.
[The Venomous Heat Insect King, 'Crayveratis', has activated the special field skill 'Domain Declaration'!]
The king of the insects that ruled the Gray Forest.
And the green barrier conjured by its roar swallowed the entire area.
"Cough... wheeze... cough."
"I-I can't breathe..."
"We have to... get out of here... right now."
The players clutched their throats, coughing violently.
The moment they inhaled, a searing heat seeped deep into their lungs.
"To cast such a massive area-of-effect spell... without any fluctuation in its mana wavelength..."
It was impossible to even fathom how massive its base mana pool was.
"Was the reason the Church slowed down its pursuit because of this monster?"
Teresa swallowed hard.
Right then,
"Kieeeek!"
Crayveratis swung its pincers.
It was blindingly fast, completely defying its massive bulk.
In an instant, a pincer slipped past the flank and slammed into a tanker.
Crunch!
"Arghhh!"
His shield and armor crumpled entirely, spraying a fountain of blood.
"I-It's too fast!"
"Damn it! I'll draw its attention, so scatter! Run for your lives!"
A mage-class player double-casted a fire spell and a light-attribute spell.
Bang!
Along with a blinding flash, their vision was dyed pure white.
However,
thinking they had created an opening was a grave mistake.
An insect's senses were not limited to sight.
Touch, smell, and hearing—
everything about it was perfectly optimized for the hunt.
"I will... devour you... humans."
Thick saliva dripped from its gaping maws.
"Haha... This is just... telling us to... die..."
Resignation beyond despair.
The heavy shadow of death loomed over their faces.
And that was the end.
Rip! Tear! Splat!
Shredded chunks of flesh scattered in all directions.
"Richard!"
"Damn it! If we can't block, run, or distract it, what the hell are we supposed to do?!"
"Damn...! If only we were in peak condition..."
If only they were.
If only every member of the raid team could have played their part to the fullest.
They wouldn't have collapsed so helplessly.
But hopes built on "what-ifs" were nothing more than wishful thinking. Reality was cold and unforgiving.
"Kieeeek!"
"Aaaargh!"
A short-haired woman trying to slip away into a blind spot was caught.
"Kyaaaah!"
She was an A-rank assassin-class player with short-range teleportation.
Despite her signature speed and stealth, she couldn't escape the dragnet.
"No, don't eat me! Don't eat..."
Crunch! Munch!
Chomp, chomp.
It took less than ten seconds for it to devour a human whole.
And at this rate, everyone would end up in its stomach.
'I have to buy time for everyone to escape. Even if it kills me.'
Teresa channeled her divine power while resisting the toxic miasma.
Thrum!
"Ugh!"
Her mana backflowed.
Detoxing herself while trying to protect the others overloaded her entire body.
The pain surpassed her limits, threatening to shut down her consciousness and senses at any moment.
Even so.
'I can't give up here. I absolutely can't.'
Teresa barely managed to hold onto her fading consciousness.
-Why don't you just hand over control to me? We'd stand a much better chance.
"N-No... I won't rely on you."
-Hmm. Our little Softie is quite stubborn, aren't we? But it's not like that blockhead is going to look your way anyway. Just leave it to me and rest. That's the only way for both of us.
The sweet, demonic temptation whispered in her ear.
If she embraced 'Corruption', she might be able to escape this crisis.
But.
Teresa refused to listen to her other persona.
'...He would hate it.'
The person who constantly occupied her thoughts.
The one who had been by her side ever since they first met in the ruins of the tower.
She didn't want to show him her personality slowly being consumed and warped by darkness.
If she abused 'Corruption' whenever things got tough, she would eventually lose her sense of self entirely.
Teresa angled her shield.
And as the pincer flew toward her—
Clang!
She deflected the impact to the side.
Simultaneously,
Step!
she shifted her center of gravity forward and began to sprint.
Countless pincers lunged at her, but Teresa responded calmly.
Screeech!
Using the flat of her blade, she redirected their trajectories and disrupted their rhythm, throwing off her opponent's timing.
Like that,
'I've got it.'
Teresa slipped past its outer defenses, getting right under its carapace.
Now, all she had to do was tear its insides apart with a sword infused with divine power.
...Or so she thought. It was a massive delusion.
Whoosh!
Something whipped past Teresa's face.
"...!?"
To be honest, dodging that last attack was pure luck, not skill.
'I couldn't... even see it.'
She couldn't even comprehend how it had attacked.
She could only stare at the furiously whipping tail and realize that it was using it as a weapon.
"Kieeeek!"
Like a whip-sword,
attacks with completely unpredictable trajectories rained down on her.
This time, she couldn't dodge.
Boom!
"Ahhh!"
With a devastating impact, Teresa's body was launched high into the air.
After flying several meters, she finally came to a halt after crashing into a massive log.
Throb! Throb!
Teresa stumbled to her feet amidst the debris.
'My arm... is broken.'
It was a miracle she had managed to block it at all.
The problem was that it wasn't a clean fracture; her bones had been shattered into dust.
No matter how much the 'Blessing of the Stars' aided her recovery, she needed time.
Of course,
Thud!
"Kieeeek!"
her opponent had no intention of giving her that time.
...It was over.
The faces of everyone watching were painted with despair.
Teresa also grit her teeth in resignation as she watched the giant insect approach.
Even activating 'Corruption' would be useless now.
The toxic miasma had already seeped through her lungs and reached her heart.
Whoosh!
The pincer lunged forward.
A massive shadow loomed over her face.
"Ah..."
A faint, sorrowful groan escaped Teresa's lips.
But at that very moment,
Crash!
the pincer that had been tearing everything apart was blocked by something.
"Trying to save people even in a situation like this... that's so like you, Teresa."
Standing in front of Teresa was Jinhyuk, holding a dagger.
"Jinhyuk...?"
"I'll take it from here. You can rest easy now."
* * *
The master of the Gray Forest and the king of insects.
Those were the titles that described Crayveratis.
Even among the factions of the 20th floor—said to be the most fiercely contested—it was the one who proudly ruled over a vast territory.
Anything that trespassed into the king's domain was mere prey.
And yet,
'...What is this? This insignificant speck?'
The black-haired human standing before it showed none of the behaviors a prey should exhibit.
Dying while trembling in fear,
fleeing,
or even putting up a clumsy resistance.
But it didn't matter.
It would simply grant this arrogant bastard a death befitting his insolence.
Thud!
A massive pincer swept horizontally.
Just as it had always done, to shred its prey into tiny pieces.
And at that moment,
[Unique Ability...]
The surroundings were dyed black.
[...'Grave of Swords' blooms.]
Everything was dyed pitch black.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
What followed was a black crescent moon that blanketed the forest sky.
It was as black as obsidian.
That was the insect king's impression upon seeing the crescent moon.
"Kieeeek!"
A long, agonizing shriek erupted.
Crayveratis's severed pincer spun through the air.
"For a mere bug, you sure spent too much time moon-gazing. No wonder you lost a leg."
"Kieeeek... How dare you! Do you have any idea who I am?!"
"You're just a king-sized bug ruling over a tiny forest. What else would you be?"
"A... king-sized bug?!"
"Yeah. Honestly, I don't see much of a difference between you and a cockroach. Except maybe you're a bit too big to squash under my shoe?"
Jinhyuk sneered.
"I will tear you... to shreds!"
Different types of mana began to condense within its three maws.
Rumble!
Poison and fire. Lightning and wind.
A breath attack combining a whopping four attributes manifested all at once.