Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: Infiltration, Gangbuk-gu Papal Court Fierce Battle (10)
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19.
“Why…… would you…… join hands with…… the World Executor……?”
World Executor……?
What the hell is a World Executor? What is he talking about?
“That’s right. You…… hehehehahaha…… you’ve…… been deceived……! You’ve been tricked…… into helping…… such a being……!”
“……Shut up.”
Why was this happening?
Blood started rushing wildly through my head.
“Ahh…… how…… how…… could you be so pitiful! You’re just like…… the old me……! Ha…… hahaha…… ahahaha!”
“I said shut up.”
“You never once…… suspected…… that you…… yourself were being deceived…… right……? Ha, ahehehehehahaha──!”
“──Shut that mouth!”
In that instant, I viciously twisted the blade embedded in his body.
It was bizarre. Truly bizarre.
To the point where even I was taken aback, I couldn’t contain my rage.
“And now…… even your…… faith…… has finally…… been tainted…… with…… madness…… ha…… ha…….”
His laughter cut off abruptly.
Song Chan-un reverently lifted his gaze to the sky.
“With this…… I have fulfilled…… the mission given to me by the Lord…….”
Song Chan-un’s body slowly tilted, naturally leaning against my shoulder.
“……Now take my soul into Your hands, Father…….”
I yanked the sword free and stepped back.
Song Chan-un crumpled to the floor like a corpse with eyes still open.
The moment he died, the illusory world completely dispersed. I was back on the blizzard-swept terrace.
Damn it…… what the hell……?
Even to the end, there was no fear of death in Song Chan-un’s eyes.
Just an ecstatic madness that sent chills down my spine……
「Incredible! Human, incredible! Amazing! Amazing! His creations are all going berserk right now!」
Black chattered excitedly.
But at that moment, I was thinking of something utterly despairing.
- Why did you join hands with the one leading the world’s destruction?
- [The Nameless Demigod] is our enemy. The Holy Apostles protected us from it.
This is insane.
Something shattered inside my head in that instant.
Collaborating with the [Nameless Demigod]?
I didn’t want to believe it. I knew it had to be a lie.
Yet the reality surfacing in my mind.
Raised far too many complicated doubts.
It’s a lie.
No way.
- And now…… even your…… faith…… has finally…… been tainted…… with…… madness…… ha…… ha…….
He was just messing with me.
The reason I was shaking like this right now…… no, no, that’s not it.
But right then.
Dizziness like the world was collapsing hit me, and in my despair, I stared into the blade of the Dawn Sword.
Did you…… really deceive me……? No…… right……?
The moment that faith wavered.
The Dawn Sword’s radiance dimmed, and something that had been filling my soul…… snapped off.
“Impressive.”
It was right then.
A voice colder than the freezing cold echoed.
Why was it that something warm suddenly trailed down my cheek?
Cold sweat……?
And my heart pounded wildly, thumping with chest pains.
What the hell…… is this?
An overwhelming pressure that made my entire body crumble in terror just from its presence……?
I barely managed to move.
I barely turned my head back…… to look at the source of that presence.
In the blizzard stood a young man.
White messy hair.
Left eye covered by silver-white goggles.
Strange attire blending heavy plate armor and priestly robes.
Was he even standing?
He blended so naturally, like the blizzard itself had taken human form.
He was that bizarre of an existence.
Above all, his eyes unsettled me.
“You……?”
Like…… the eyes of a god looking down on lowly beings.
“Why are you here?”
“……?”
“That’s what I should be asking.”
He silently gazed down at Song Chan-un’s corpse, then suddenly opened his right palm toward me.
《White Crystal Ice Veil》.
It was instinct.
My consciousness, sensing certain death, moved my body on its own.
I kicked off the ground.
I rolled desperately to the left.
And that…… saved me.
The spot where I’d been standing.
In an instant, thousands of ice crystals formed there, dancing a deadly waltz of slicing and shredding.
My breathing grew ragged on its own.
If I’d been…… there…… I would’ve died…… in that one strike?
This bastard…… no way……?
I snapped my gaze up to stare straight at him.
And it came to me.
Despairing information laden with stats.
[Lv: 351].
This means…… this guy is……
“Sword God…… Choi Sin-yul?”
That’s the Sword God?
Without even a single sword in hand?
“Indeed, impressive.”
A contemptuous voice.
His speech was odd. Archaic and antiquated to a bizarre degree.
“To know my name fully.”
As Choi Sin-yul elegantly closed his right palm, the ice crystals hissed── and scattered into the air.
“If you’d failed to dodge that, I would’ve been disappointed.”
Then Choi Sin-yul glared at me.
In that instant, killing intent…… killing intent like a blade tip pressed to my heart surged over me.
This guy…… is no joke.
It’s definitely him. The one who overwhelmed Arishel’rab…… that pressure from when [The Master of the Broken Dawn] unleashed full power……
“Seize the momentum.”
Those were the best words I could muster right before the Sword God truly began the fight.
“Go. Escape, Black.”
「………?」
As Black tilted its head, Choi Sin-yul stepped forward.
“Won’t you let it go?”
“Join up with the others!”
“If you won’t let it go.”
「Why? Why?」
What……?
Doesn’t Black sense how dangerous this guy is? No time to think.
“I’ll handle──”
“──Tell them to escape from Gangbuk-gu, right here! Hurry──!”
“──it myself.”
“Go! Go! Tell them it’s an order from the Guild Master!”
Choi Sin-yul advanced slowly.
He opened his left palm, and the air froze in his grasp…… forming a crystal sword.
“What meaning does that have?”
What the hell…… is this guy?
Approaching so slowly…… yet the pressure felt like a full-speed charge?
“You. Them. You’ll all be dead soon anyway.”
In that instant, he extended his right hand toward where Black was fleeing……
No time to gauge his momentum.
I had to go on the offensive and draw out full power to stop him.
[Exclusive skill, 《Abyss Emanation》 activated!]
In that moment.
Dull pain settled heavily over my body, and the abyss spread through my veins.
[Warning: ?????, 《Abyss Erosion》 is corroding your body]
- Legendary equipment, ‘Eroded Armor of the Ancient Guardian’ nullifies 33% of ?????, 《Abyss Erosion》.
- ?????, ‘Stigmata of the Ice Dragon King’ nullifies 45% of ?????, 《Abyss Erosion》.
I felt my senses and physical abilities amplify to their limits.
In this state…… I can do this.
《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》. As I dove behind him, I swung the twin blades with all my might.
Chaaaang───!
Area time-slow, body time-acceleration…… a perfect ambush.
────Chaaaang!
A ferocious shredding sound.
Sparks flew wildly.
This…… blocked so easily……?
Choi Sin-yul slightly turned his body back, leisurely parrying my strike with his sword.
“…………?!”
I immediately unleashed the pinnacle of 《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》, the ultra-high-speed barrage.
But. But.
Choi Sin-yul casually blocked the flurry of twin blades. Using only his left hand.
“Subordinate gear……?”
Swinging his sword so slowly…… why? Why? Why is there no opening at all?
“So weak you have to rely on such parlor tricks?”
“Anyone would think…… you don’t use subordinate gear yourself!”
“Correct. Do you think I’d stoop to using the power of the subordinates that halfwit commands?”
He doesn’t use subordinate gear?
His expression was utterly impassive, as if telling the truth.
“That is the difference between the god you and I serve.”
I kept swinging my sword.
From divine light to divinity. The endless blooming dawn sword dance.
Again.
Again.
Again once more.
Again. Again. Again. Again.
What…… the hell is this?
A despairing realization hit. Not once had his sword wavered.
Even with the eyepatch.
Even diving left…… it meant nothing.
“Pathetic fool.”
At some point, offense and defense had switched.
“What gave you the confidence to come all this way?”
I couldn’t trust his sword at all.
No, so slow……?
How did it feel like it was whipping in from all directions at once?
Blocking even one strike was a miracle.
He used one hand, I used both…… yet each sword strike was despairingly heavy, impossible to deflect.
In that instant, I used 《Dawnlight Yeomyeong Sword》 to create distance.
Change strategy.
If his speed outclasses mine…… I’ll go for power.
In that moment.
Pow, my super-amplified leg strength launched me into the air. A deep footprint cratered the terrace floor.
In midair, I swept the blade up my palm, unleashing divinity fully.
Come on. Dodge if you can.
I’ll follow to wherever you dodge with divine light.
“Arrogant fool…….”
But the Sword God didn’t dodge.
He just stood there, looking up at me.
What confidence.
Fine then. I’ll load the falling momentum and smash him with a divine explosion.
“Pierce────────!”
Here I go.
“───────Divinity!”
I roared.
Twisting my trajectory midair…… I brought the crimson blade down over Choi Sin-yul’s head.
“Immature.”
The moment Choi Sin-yul said that.
The air above his head froze…… and countless crystal swords unfolded like a circular shield.
Ha…… a clash of unique skills? Just what I wanted.
Kaaaang────
The moment the divine blade struck the shield.
─────Charrarang!
The human divinity condensed in the blade exploded, unleashing a deafening roar.
[Unique skill, 《Second Liberation: Divine Dawn Sword》 unavailable for use]
- Uses available: 0 / 9
Whooo…… a massive backlash made my heavy coat flap wildly.
Shiiiik…… the crystal shield melted, steam billowing into the air.
What…… the…… hell……?
But that was it.
When the divine explosion ended…… Choi Sin-yul stood rigidly at attention.
The crystal shield remained intact.
My full-power, one-shot-kill strike.
The force that shattered boulders, pierced subordinate Arishel’rab’s dragon scales, and split the Exalted One Barpah’tika’s fragment…… couldn’t break that?
“All bark, child’s play.”
Right then.
He stepped forward once, drew a single crystal sword from the shield, and struck my Dawn Sword.
“……Kuhk!”
A sharp pain flared in that instant.
What…… at the edge of my vision, blood spurted from my wrist.
This is insane……?
Just a graze of an opening, and he severed my wrist?
“A…… aaaaaaah!”
The pain hit half a beat late.
Damn, damn, damn.
I can’t grip the Dawn Sword with both hands anymore.
“Anything else to show?”
The moment Choi Sin-yul raised an eyebrow.
I retreated ten steps based on pure instinct.
“If not, let’s end it.”
Choi Sin-yul sighed, dissolving the crystal sword, then drew a circle in the air with his left hand.
What’s…… that?
Along that circle, a dozen or so crystal swords rose menacingly.
The moment he clenched his fist.
Sword control……?
The crystal swords gleamed with brilliant white light, transforming into radiant projectiles.
Chachachachachachachachang!
They launched in unison…… twisting trajectories wildly in the air as they flew at me.
Fast.
Incredibly fast.
Kaaang── kaaaang──!
I barely swung the Dawn Sword to knock two away in succession……
What……?
Why…… is the sword so heavy?
It was strange.
In that instant, I realized.
The Dawn Sword…… what’s this?
The Dawn Sword wasn’t emitting any radiance. I was just holding a rusted, dulled blade.
Was that why the 《Divine Dawn Sword》’s power was weakened earlier……?
Kaaaang───!
As I deflected the third sword.
No……? The Dawn Sword let out a feeble ring and vanished.
“What…… did you……?”