Turning the Giant
He kicked off the ground.
The wings that burst from his back beat once, and Yoon Sang-hyuk’s body shot up into the sky. Having wings did not mean he had to control them directly. He only had to send his will into them, and they would carry him higher or lower, or let him turn in midair.
He had already used the Sky Wings often in Eternal World, so his flight came as naturally as breathing.
In an instant, he closed the distance to Tartaros. Once again, he marveled at the fortress’s monstrous scale. The shell Tartaros bore on its back was a full kilometer wide. From the ground to the top of its head, it stood roughly 300 meters tall.
Without the Sky Wings, approaching it at all would have been impossible. He could see those deceptively gentle eyes. But Yoon Sang-hyuk was the only player who knew how they changed when the beast was attacked.
He looked over the path Tartaros had already crossed. It was nothing but ruin. It would take England a very long time to recover from the damage Tartaros had left behind.
“One shot first.”
He stored Dragon Emperor Admarion’s Recognition in his inventory, brought both hands together before his chest, and traced a circle with his fingers.
Gooooo-
The dragon embossed on his breastplate opened its jaws wide and spat out a torrent of red energy.
Dragon Emperor’s Fury.
A streak of crimson light struck Tartaros’s raised head head-on. Tartaros’s pupils fixed on Yoon Sang-hyuk. Its mild-looking eyes were dyed black.
Tartaros bared its hostility at the thing that had hurt it.
Its head slowly turned toward Yoon Sang-hyuk. When it had moved before, it had shown no reaction at all, and even when it did shift, it had done so at a languid pace.
But not now. Its mouth opened as it faced Yoon Sang-hyuk directly.
Kwa-ru-ru-ru-ru-
Black chaos beam, as dark as those newly blackened eyes, shot toward him. It was like a dragon unleashing its breath. Anticipating the attack, Yoon Sang-hyuk soared upward. If he let his altitude drop and allowed that chaos beam to strike the ground, England would be left with a sinkhole whose depth could not be measured.
The beam Tartaros had unleashed chased after him. When Yoon Sang-hyuk flew left, the head followed. In the meantime, Tartaros’s massive body twisted by the smallest degree. But it was only the slightest adjustment, nothing more.
Then the chaos beam, which had seemed as though it would never stop, finally faded. As if nothing had happened, Tartaros turned its head forward again.
And then it resumed moving, as though it had never vented its fury at him at all.
Yoon Sang-hyuk moved in again. Tartaros’s eyes had softened once more. Unless it took damage substantial enough to count as a real blow, it would keep moving.
He would have to keep striking, avoid its attacks, and force it to change direction little by little. If England wanted to turn Tartaros toward the desired route, they would need to repeat the same process dozens of times at minimum.
Yoon Sang-hyuk drew his sword.
If he kept using Dragon Emperor’s Fury, he could alter Tartaros’s course without much danger, but as an ultimate skill, it could only be used once a day.
He flew close to Tartaros’s head, then shot straight upward. After climbing to a considerable height, he dropped back down. A red aura blade flickered along the sword in his hand.
“Hah!”
With a sharp shout, he brought the aura blade down on Tartaros’s head. The head split slightly. A glint of surprise touched Yoon Sang-hyuk’s eyes. In Eternal World, he had been able to stagger Tartaros, but he had never managed to wound it.
He had grown stronger since facing Tartaros in Eternal World.
“Hk!”
Yoon Sang-hyuk jerked in alarm and shot upward. Tartaros’s neck stretched out like a rubber band and slammed toward him. He barely dodged the beast’s head. Tartaros attacked by freely twisting the direction of that enormous head.
Yoon Sang-hyuk flew left to evade it. Again, Tartaros’s body made a minute adjustment in direction.
And from that point on, the full-scale battle between Yoon Sang-hyuk and Tartaros began.
* * *
“Is that even possible?”
Prime Minister Hugh Grant muttered as he watched Yoon Sang-hyuk fighting Tartaros through a telescope.
“I think I understand why players keep calling him the Masked Lord.”
The more the prime minister’s admiration grew, the more Michael Buren’s expression twisted.
“Prime Minister. Tartaros’s movement direction has shifted by 12 degrees.”
At his aide’s report, Hugh Grant lowered the telescope and nodded.
“Michael.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
“I wish the players of our England could become that strong too.”
“It is not something that can be done so easily. And the players under England are still fighting grotesque monsters in dangerous hunting grounds for the safety of our citizens.”
“I know that. I’m only saying it because I’m envious. I’m envious that Korea has such an extraordinary player. That doesn’t mean I don’t take pride in you and the Holy Knights. You know what I mean, don’t you?”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
Had he himself wanted to solve the calamity that had fallen upon England by borrowing someone else’s hands?
“I’ll persuade Parliament so we can provide full support to the players. Michael, please do your utmost to help England’s players grow stronger.”
“Once the Tartaros problem is resolved and the Holy Knights begin their assault on Korea’s Steel Mountains, that will happen.”
“Yes. It should. I hate that I’m so helpless now that disaster has come to our country.”
“You are doing everything you can, Prime Minister. If it weren’t for you, the Masked Lord would never have come to England.”
“As if that were because of me alone. It was only because we were lucky enough to have a mana stone mine appear on English soil. We gave up half of that mine, yes, but I’m glad it meant we could protect England.”
* * *
The wings of light that had risen behind his back vanished, and Yoon Sang-hyuk’s body plunged toward the ground. He used the Sky Wings again. Tartaros’s head swept past below him in a blur.
If he had been even a little late using the Sky Wings, he would have ended up taking a tour of Tartaros’s gaping mouth.
He shot high into the air again and widened the distance between them. After a while, Tartaros’s head turned. He let out a short breath at those gentle-looking eyes, then steadied his own breathing.
This was the third time he had used Sky Wings. That meant two hours had passed since the battle began. Tartaros’s body had strayed far from its original route.
It looked as though he could rotate its body all the way to the direction he wanted before the Sky Wings he had just used faded away.
Tension stained Yoon Sang-hyuk’s gaze.
He remembered the moment of crisis he had faced while fighting Tartaros in Eternal World.
Phantom Release.
It was the most dangerous of Tartaros’s skills. It hurled phantoms out from the fortress on its back to attack, and when he had faced it the first time, he had nearly died because he knew nothing about Phantom Release.
Yoon Sang-hyuk dove downward and brought his sword down on Tartaros’s head with an aura blade. He had already cut it dozens of times, so the wounds had spread considerably. If he could only split the skull hidden beneath the skin, Tartaros might still be brought down.
But he had no intention of making such a reckless attempt. He had slashed with all his might dozens of times and still failed to cut through the skin completely, so how long would it take to cleave something even harder than that skull?
Tartaros’s head came at him. He changed direction and dodged, only for chaos beam to fly in immediately after. The attack pattern was becoming more varied. That only made it more dangerous. It meant Tartaros’s rage was building toward its peak.
Just as he was about to rotate it once more, take a brief rest, and launch another attack, the moment came.
Kururururururu-
Tartaros shook its body violently.
“Damn it.”
A chilling ululation rang out from the fortress on its back. Then phantoms in the shape of black smoke poured forth.
Phantom Release.
Tartaros’s skill, the one that had driven Yoon Sang-hyuk to the brink of death, had activated.
He immediately pulled back. The phantoms that had left the fortress chased him at terrifying speed. He stored Dragon Emperor Admarion’s Recognition in his inventory and drew another sword from subspace.
Holy Sword Idea.
It was a unique-rank sword obtainable by completing every quest of the cult that served the main god, Idea. In terms of raw attack power, it fell far short of Dragon Emperor Admarion’s Recognition, but against dark-type monsters like the phantoms pursuing him now, it was devastatingly effective.
Yoon Sang-hyuk twisted through the air. Each time he did, the phantoms split the empty sky with their claws.
“Kyaaah!”
The soul cry screeched from the phantoms’ throats and shook his mind. Just how high was their level, to be able to damage his mental state like this?
Shrrk-
The Holy Sword Idea cleaved through one of the phantoms as it swept past. With a shriek that sounded as though it were being torn apart, the phantom vanished. Yoon Sang-hyuk tried to cut another one, only to swallow a ragged breath and fling himself upward. Chaos beam, fired by Tartaros, pierced through the space he had just occupied.
“Kkh-!”
One phantom passed straight through Yoon Sang-hyuk’s body. Agony exploded through him, and his mind went white. Losing control, his body plummeted toward the ground.
Just before he hit, he barely recovered his senses and shot upward. The chaos beam that had been trailing his fall struck the ground instead.
Tartaros twisted its body. The movement was larger than anything it had shown so far. While evading the phantoms, Yoon Sang-hyuk glanced at the ground. He could see a flag planted in the distance. The flag and Tartaros’s direction matched.
At last, he had succeeded in turning Tartaros’s body to the direction designated by the English government.
Yoon Sang-hyuk pulled his body straight back. The phantoms chased after him at tremendous speed. Once he put enough distance between himself and Tartaros, they could no longer continue the pursuit and disappeared.
“Haa-.”
If chaos beam had struck him directly while he was reeling from the phantom’s blow, he would have died.
Exhaling a long breath, Yoon Sang-hyuk watched Tartaros continue moving with those now-placid eyes and muttered, “See you in a bit.”