Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: The Girl Ultimately Despairs, Great Library Investigation Operation (4)
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7.
“Do Ye-jin! Over here!”
Get it together, Do Ye-jin.
It was truly miraculous. Thanks to the flames, the sand couldn’t advance any further.
“Over here, hurry!”
She wasn’t in her right mind at all.
She could barely even breathe…… but somehow managed to pull her body together and run backward.
“I’ll kill you, I’ll fucking kill you, you bastard!”
Things were dire on this side too.
Cha Seung-hyeon was rampaging in a half-mad state, and Shin Tae-yeop was holding down both his arms.
“Not now. We can’t! Do Ye-jin. Did you grab the catalyst?”
Shin Tae-yeop was relatively calm. Do Ye-jin nodded.
“We’re getting out of here. Cha Seung-hyeon!”
Cha Seung-hyeon, eyes rolled back, still thrashing wildly. Shin Tae-yeop released him and sharply slapped his cheek.
“You with it now?”
“With it…… with it……? Fuck, my head’s clearer than ever. Right now, Byeong-gyu…… Byeong-gyu……”
Tears mixed into Cha Seung-hyeon’s voice. Shin Tae-yeop pressed his forehead against the other’s and spoke.
“If we fight here, we all die. You wanna turn Byeong-gyu’s death into a dog’s death?”
“No! I gotta smash that bastard and get revenge!”
“Yeah! But not now. It’s too disadvantageous here.”
Yoon Geon-woo, who had been holding off the librarians on the front line, rushed back in a panic.
“There’s no end to them. They’re swarming like crazy.”
“You hear that? Ye-jin, you get out of here first. Max out your Body Hardening.”
What? That means right now……
“Rookie. Don’t misunderstand. The three of us are gonna pin that thing down and escape. I’m not saying we’re sacrificing ourselves.”
“Then just pin it down together!”
“No time, so listen, you punk!”
It was the first time Shin Tae-yeop had sworn at her.
“What we need right now is veterans. Veterans who don’t need anyone watching their backs!”
Sssrrrrk.
At that moment, the flame wall faded away, and the floor began turning to sand at a terrifying speed.
“Shit!”
Shin Tae-yeop immediately swung his hand with an incantation.
“Go! Do Ye-jin!”
Shin Tae-yeop was right.
She wasn’t a veteran.
Staying together would just make her dead weight. Do Ye-jin bit her lip and started running.
“If we die…… brother or whatever, you’re done. I won’t let you off. I’ll curse you forever!”
Then, Yoon Geon-woo chuckled.
“Die? Who’s dying?”
Yoon Geon-woo swung his spear with a whoosh, and smoke began rising from his body.
Body Hardening at 100%.
Amplifying internal mana without preheating.
It granted immense instantaneous muscle reinforcement, but the side effects were enormous.
“No one to protect means I can focus purely on the hunt.”
Shin Tae-yeop set down his backpack on the floor.
“Goal is to hold it off before the entire Great Library turns to sand.”
Cha Seung-hyeon stepped up beside him. Already, chakrams were orbiting on either side of his head.
“Easiest thing would be killing that thing, right?”
“If you can.”
“I can.”
Maybe it was what he wanted to do. No one among them was calm about Hong Byeong-gyu’s death.
Above all, the 1st Hunting Squad was the elite unit second only to the Subjugation Team.
“3 seconds.”
Shin Tae-yeop clenched and unclenched his fist, and a magic circle appeared above his palm, spinning slowly.
“I’ll bind it.”
At the same time, the beads of his rosary spread out in a wedge formation in the air.
“It’s coming.”
The moment the flame wall vanished again.
The colossal nightmare figure roared and charged toward them in an instant, the floor crumbling to sand with a crunching sound.
“Haaaaaaaah!”
As Shin Tae-yeop’s incantation burst forth.
Flame chains shot out from the wedge-formed rosary beads.
The highest-tier binding spell.
The flame chains shackled the ant-ghost’s legs and body, momentarily halting its charge.
「HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
A scream filled with agony.
The stench of burning flesh wafted through the air, and then the hunter’s mark appeared above its head.
Shin Tae-yeop thought.
As expected…… it was a Subordinate.
But how? Why now? It had never appeared in any of the previous investigation operations……
“I’m going first.”
While Shin Tae-yeop was thinking.
Yoon Geon-woo kicked off the ground with amplified leg strength.
A dreamlike pale purple sword aura rising from the spear tip.
Unique skill, 《Dancer of Raysan》.
It imbued the body with the madness of a dancer, unleashing a frenzied sword dance.
“Ahahahahahahaha!”
Pabababababak.
Ultra-high-speed連撃 that the eyes couldn’t follow.
Yoon Geon-woo moved like a woman dancing, slashing wildly at Yujurem’s body.
“Die!”
The chakrams flew to the areas where flesh was torn by the spear blade, mercilessly gouging them.
Watching from the corner of her eye as she ran, Do Ye-jin thought.
They’re really incredible……
If rating personal skill, Shin Tae-yeop’s was by far the best.
Stopping the floor from turning to sand.
Sealing Yujurem’s movements.
Blocking the librarians’ intrusion.
He was handling all three at once.
They’re going to win, right?
Just before descending the spiral staircase.
Do Ye-jin glimpsed the battle one last time and thought so.
It took less than 10 seconds for that thought to be proven wrong.
It was when she had fully descended the spiral staircase.
At that exact moment.
The central reading room began pouring down entirely as sand.
A thought flashed through her mind.
Humans can’t fight without footing.
She saw it.
Yoon Geon-woo, swept up in the sand and falling.
And then, caught in Yujurem’s jaw upon landing in the lobby first. Torn to shreds into a bloody mess before he could even struggle.
“Ah…… aaah…….”
While Do Ye-jin murmured that.
Yujurem seized Cha Seung-hyeon with its leg (made of countless human torsos), brought him to its gaping maw…… and swallowed him whole.
No.
No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
“Tae-yeop oppa!”
Do Ye-jin cried out while sobbing.
She ran out desperately, crying out.
Shin Tae-yeop was caught on Yujurem’s opposite leg.
“Don’t do iiiiiiiit!”
Am I……
Having a nightmare right now?
No…… this is reality. I just had a brief happy dream.
The death cries of precious bonds swirled in her mind.
Frostbite, frostbite, always-smiling Hong Byeong-gyu.
Yoon Geon-woo’s kind smile as he taught her combat.
Bickering playfully with Cha Seung-hyeon.
The savory aroma of kimchi jjigae they ate together.
She had vowed not to cry.
Vowed never to despair again.
But as the thread of those dearly precious bonds snapped, the vow from her childhood crumbled.
The girl’s mask shattered.
At that moment.
Finally. Ultimately.
From the depths of the girl’s soul, Despair (絶望) awakened.
[Unique skill, 《Subordinatization》 activation conditions met.]
[Activating unique skill, 《Subordinatization》!]
「PAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
8.
A ferocious dragon head.
Eyes gleaming with blue ferocity.
A humanoid body and tail covered in ash-gray dragon scales harder than steel.
Rampaging Despair, Arishel’rab.
Borrowing Do Ye-jin’s body.
It was the moment the worst nightmare, Arishel’rab, descended into the present world.
My head…… hurts like it’s splitting.
Vision, hearing, smell. The flood of information from transcendent senses was beyond imagination.
Even in the Great Library’s darkness, everything was crystal clear.
The nightmare Subordinate, Yujurem, too.
Her mind spun dizzily for a moment, and murderous impulse boiled up in the form of words.
Kill…… let’s kill it…….
No forgiveness, no mercy…… Despair…… give it the same despair…….
Then she saw it again.
Hong Byeong-gyu’s lower half.
Yoon Geon-woo’s bloody lump.
Shin Tae-yeop struggling while held.
At that instant, Do Ye-jin…… surrendered her entire body to Despair (絶望).
Arishel’rab kicking off the ground with its hind legs and pouncing on Yujurem happened in a single moment.
The Subordinates rolled wildly, entangled.
The shockwave made the Great Library shake madly, and finally, the ground began collapsing.
「UHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
「PAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
Dust. Debris. Screams. Shouts.
Crashing through the lobby floor, the two Subordinates fell to basement level 1…… 2…… 3, tumbling repeatedly.
Back and forth. A fierce melee.
There, the one who finally seized the initiative was Arishel’rab……!
Arishel’rab mounted Yujurem’s body…… and began smashing down with its massive fist.
Boom…… boom…… boom……
The human bodies comprising Yujurem’s colossal form were pulverized into bloody lumps, emitting gruesome sounds.
“Please spare me…… please spare me…… please spare me…….”
“Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Yujurem burst into laughter as if enjoying the situation.
「AAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
Arishel’rab gaped its maw wide. For a moment, Do Ye-jin thought she had bitten off the enemy’s head.
But reality was different.
Yujurem was a Subordinate.
A combat genius who had achieved transcendence through ancient hunts.
What actually happened was Yujurem’s jaw beginning to clamp around Arishel’rab’s neck.
「Lost child…… give it to me…… your divinity (神格)……」
It hurts.
It hurts so much.
Her heart hurt more than her body.
「It was…… originally mine…… I, I myself seized it…… ehehe…… ehehihihi…… ehehehehihahahahahahahahaha……」
The agony of bones crunching.
The searing pain of flesh burning away.
Arishel’rab clawed helplessly at the air, howling.
At that moment, Do Ye-jin (the human body inside Arishel’rab’s skull) murmured in a trance.
“Die…… I’ll kill you…… I’ll kill you…….”
The overwhelming presence crushing her body. The horrific pain burning her entire form. None of it mattered.
Tear it apart and kill it.
The slaughterous obsession born of Despair was now all that moved Do Ye-jin.
[Activating unique skill, 《Echo of Despair》!]
At that instant.
「PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
Arishel’rab opened its maw and unleashed a ferocious roar.
Its power was truly immense.
The vengeful spirits comprising Yujurem’s body began exploding into bloody lumps with wet popping sounds.
The pressure…… loosened.
Now.
Right now.
Arishel’rab was like a blood-maddened beast.
It swung its foreleg wide.
To sweep away the Great Library’s pillars and topple them.
Targeting the blind spot in its vision.
A combat technique Yoon Geon-woo had taught her.
In the moment the dust cloud thickened.
Arishel’rab slammed its fist squarely into Yujurem’s face.
Destructive power enough to draw a hollow laugh.
From that powerful blow, Yujurem’s colossal body flew backward.
Pillars…… bookshelves…… outer walls……
Crashing through dozens of structures, Yujurem slammed powerlessly into the ground.
Kill it……
Cut off its breath…….
Arishel’rab charged on all fours toward it.
That was the fatal mistake.
Just before landing a critical hit on Yujurem, the ground suddenly crumbled to sand. Arishel’rab momentarily lost its balance.
……Huh?
Trapped in the sea of sand, Arishel’rab flailed helplessly, but the tide had already turned.
「Ehe…… ehehihi…… ehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe……」
Yujurem approached with a chilling laugh. Swimming through the sand right before its eyes.
「I…… now…… once more…… shall stand above the heavens……」
The next moment, yellowish fangs protruded from Yujurem’s maw.
「Reclaiming the stolen divinity…… I shall stand side by side with the stars once more……」
It plunged those fangs straight into Arishel’rab’s scruff.
「Lost child. Why do you cry…… when I shall free you from that despair……」
[Weaver of Nightmares, Yujurem]
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[Weaver of Nightmares, Yujurem]
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[Weaver of Nightmares, Yujurem]
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