Chapter 282
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 282
Chapter Title: This is the Worst.
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[Haaap!]
While Rimon was smashing the giants to pieces.
The bald executive let out a ferocious roar as he swung his massive greatsword.
Kwarung!
His attack, transformed by his Unique Skill 『Thunder Beast Transformation』 into a half-human, half-beast monster made entirely of lightning, was lightning itself.
Lightning-fast speed.
Devastating electric shock.
And even physical slashing.
It was a strike with no visible flaws in any aspect.
Puheung!
But that attack missed spectacularly.
A stone Rimon had kicked pierced right through the man's head, knocking his greatsword off course.
And at the same moment, a deceptively delicate fist flew in.
Perfectly timed with Rimon's spinning top-like rotation, the bald man's head exploded into pieces without even a scream as Maia's fist struck true.
The remaining two executives moved to fill the gap.
The long-haired woman's 『Medusa's Head』 sent her writhing, snake-like hair extensions slithering toward Rimon and Maia to ensnare and bite them.
『Paper Folding Curse』
The scrawny one tore apart a paper doll he'd folded, activating 『Paper Folding Curse』. An invisible, formless energy enveloped the two of them.
But the result was the same.
Just a swing of Rimon's hand shredded the intangible force.
Likewise, Maia simply grabbed hold of 『Medusa's Head』 and yanked, slamming the woman face-first into the ground.
Puk! Puk-puk-puk-puk!
Thanks to the overwhelming physical prowess from her Constellation Descent, the woman somehow survived even Maia's monstrous strength hurling her around.
She kept getting ragdolled like a frog with its tongue caught, bouncing away repeatedly—until a piercing screech rent the sky, heralding her rescue.
Piiing!
A sound-splitting whoosh echoed as Diego lunged with a kick at Rimon and Maia.
【Beelzebub】
Absorbed billions of insects
Having absorbed billions of insects via 【Beelzebub】, his charge was so fast and destructive that even Rimon would struggle to block it.
So, he dodged.
Like reeds bending in the wind.
Rimon scooped up Maia's waist with one hand and leaned back to evade the attack.
Like flower petals shedding morning dew.
Maia arched her back and used her Absorbing Star Metal Claw to yank the ragdolled woman right into Diego's path.
Pueok!
"......!"
And collision.
Unable to control his own blistering speed, Diego crushed his subordinate with his own kick, his face twisting in rage.
This wasn't anything new.
Ever since the fight began.
It had been a nonstop repeat of the same scenario.
No matter how ferocious or swift their attacks, Rimon and Maia evaded and blocked them with effortless grace.
Meanwhile, they took devastating damage from every counterattack.
The result was this scene before them.
The giants reduced to mostly meat chunks.
And now, only the bald man—barely regenerating his shattered body—and the scrawny one, battered to hell, remained.
'Those monster-like bastards...!'
Diego ground his teeth, glaring at Rimon and Maia.
They outnumbered them.
Their bodies were tougher.
Superior in strength, speed, senses—everything.
Yet they had been backed into a corner.
If it had been anyone else as opponents—even facing two Monarchs at once—they wouldn't have ended up like this.
Diego's preparations had been that solid.
But there were two reasons it had come to this.
Rimon and Maia's fighting styles were exquisitely refined, and their synergy was terrifyingly flawless.
Pubeobeobeobeok!
Rimon's punches looked like wild flailing.
But precisely because they were unpredictable, they pierced vital points with astonishing sharpness.
Like a spear that impaled anything in its path.
Peung! Kwaang! Udeuk!
Maia's punches followed rigid, formalized patterns.
But precisely because they were seamless, they countered any incoming foe without a fraction of error.
Like a shield that blocked anything.
Even individually, it was hard to believe humans could pull that off.
What was truly terrifying was their synergy.
A slight tug on Maia's waist from Rimon, and she nestled deeper into his arms, smashing a giant lunging from behind.
A subtle clench of Maia's fist, and Rimon spun her around perfectly into prime position for her fist technique.
No words were needed.
As swordsman and fist master at the pinnacle of their arts.
And as former mortal enemies who knew each other inside out.
Those tiny cues were more than enough.
In that sense, the scene wasn't so much a battle as a single performance.
A dance on a blood-soaked stage.
With fallen corpses as the audience.
Less fighting like a dance.
And more dancing like a fight.
A flawless, beautiful, flashy, and gorgeous martial duet for just the two of them.
'How?'
Which was exactly why Diego couldn't comprehend it.
'How has the Green Dragon Princess already recovered? The Ambrosia poison should still be in her system!'
But Diego didn't know.
That the one most baffled by it all was Maia herself.
Pueok!
Maia channeled her psionics, unleashing Storm Iron Fist Style.
Her body, weakened by poison and internal injuries, screamed in agony from just one technique.
...Or it should have.
Instead, she felt heat.
The more she fought.
The more she used her psionics.
A strange sensation filled her body, like some influx of heat warming her cooled blood.
As both a doctor and researcher, Maia couldn't understand it.
Why this was happening.
What this heat even was.
But she didn't care.
Her body was still so frail she could barely move—without the arm around her waist, she'd collapse on the spot.
But that arm was rock-solid.
The flowing heat invigorating.
And above all, the martial dance with Rimon was pure bliss.
As a martial artist before a doctor, she surrendered to the intoxication, embracing the heat as she threw herself into the fray.
But all things must end.
Even Rimon and Maia's seemingly eternal duet was nearing its close.
No stage exists without an audience.
And without enemies, the fight couldn't continue.
"Kuhk!"
Hundreds of giant corpses.
Four executives turned to bloody pulp.
Only one and a half still intact.
Diego, barely holding out against the two with the power from 【Beelzebub】, sank into deeper despair.
'A miscalculation.'
He'd shown himself confidently, certain of victory.
To think he'd prepared this much force and still ended up cornered.
Unbelievable.
Especially since securing the Green Dragon Princess had been his will above all others.
'The Great Star's Foresight can't be wrong, so why...?'
Was this part of the foresight?
Or was the foresight flawed?
'No, impossible! The Star's Foresight is absolute!'
Diego clenched his teeth, banishing the blasphemous thought.
And pulled an item from his pocket.
"I didn't want to use this..."
At that moment.
Rimon and Maia, who hadn't paused once in massacring the giants, froze for the first time.
"Cough, cough-cough!"
"Master?"
Her face suddenly paling.
Fierce coughing fits erupting.
Maia, who had seemed to gain strength the more she fought, rapidly deteriorated, leaving Rimon stunned briefly.
Diego retreated behind the remaining giants.
More precisely, Rimon's eyes widened at the blood-red glowing tetrahedral artificial gem in his hand.
He sensed the foul energy within, finally realizing why Maia was seizing.
"You bastard! I wondered how you made something like Ambrosia... so you dipped into black magic too!"
"A sacrifice for the greater good."
"Sacrifice my ass!"
Rimon gnashed his teeth.
All magic had a cost, but black magic's was particularly vile.
Turning humans into drugs by grinding them up, addicting others to make monsters—even hardened black mages would recoil at such depravity.
But Diego was unfazed.
He'd merely extracted more power from the bloodstone replica Labyrinth had procured from London.
Udeuk!
At that instant.
The transformation began.
Diego's already burly frame from 【Beelzebub】 swelled even further.
Ambrosia had granted high-level players archduke-level abilities.
This vile power, concentrated thousands or millions of times over, further enhanced Diego's already superhuman body.
Of course, this was Diego's last resort.
It consumed a bloodstone made from tens of thousands of living sacrifices.
And promised black magic's aftereffects: madness, ruin, or death.
A suicidal act.
But Diego, resolved, unleashed the power fully and charged at Rimon.
"Today, one of us dies here—you or me!"
"Fuck!"
Kwaang!
His assault was all-in, laced with madness.
Rimon barely dodged, cursing under his breath.
Truth be told, Diego with 【Beelzebub】's transcendent physicality was no pushover even for him.
Fast.
Strong.
Tough.
Just those traits made him a nightmare.
And Rimon knew that better than anyone, having crushed foes with superhuman physique his whole career.
Now Diego's surpassed even Rimon's.
Plus combat instincts and abilities absorbed from insects—pure combat power rivaled Bellos as an avatar...
No, in some ways, trickier.
If Lee Cheongi or Karl faced him, instant death wouldn't be surprising.
And now he'd supercharged that sturdy body with black magic.
Even for Rimon, swordless and one-handed, it was overwhelming.
"Hngh, haa, ugh!"
"Pull yourself together, Master!"
But what truly rattled Rimon wasn't Diego's attacks.
It was Maia writhing in his arms.
She'd endured any pain with stoic calm.
But the agony distorting her usually cold face.
The screams leaking from her pale blue lips.
They showed how dire her condition was.
The black magic Ambrosia.
Its curse-like poison reacted to Diego's black magic, rampaging her psionics.
'Damn it, this is the worst!'
Using black magic poison on the Seven Dragon Society's princess, no less.
A depravity even mad black mages avoided.
Amid surging ominous dread, Rimon deflected Diego's pile bunker with his forearm and shouted desperately.
"Stop this now!"
"Huhu, what a fool. Think I'll stop because you say so?"
"The fool's you! Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Removing obstacles to our brigade."
"Not like that, you idiot! If this continues...!"
Pueok!
Rimon couldn't finish.
Diego unleashed a barrage at blinding speed.
Then a scorpion tail erupted from his back, finally stabbing into Rimon's shoulder.
Alone, he'd have dodged.
But protecting Maia in his arms left him exposed.
"Die, enemy of the brigade!"
Rimon wounded.
Seizing the opening.
Diego thrust his hand forward.
Puuk!
Rimon's body flew back.
Fingers sliced through bone and flesh into his chest, piercing his iron heart.
"Ha, ugh, hngh."
Maia was suffering.
Not just from the tearing pain wracking her body or her rampaging psionics.
The dragon's pureblood essence within her.
The world's noblest blood raged wildly against the filthy aura from the Ambrosia.
Still, she tried to endure.
Calming the boiling essence.
Clamping down on her instincts.
With superhuman willpower honed from a lifetime of self-restraint, she fought to avert the 'worst-case scenario.'
But her efforts reached their limit.
Her iron will held.
But her already weakened body couldn't withstand the poison, psionic rampage, and essence frenzy.
And so, as the flower ornament in her hair crumbled.
Maia's reason shattered.
The essence overtook her.
Millennia-old instincts awakened.
—Her pupils split vertically.