Chapter 208: Witch Heluram's Legacy (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 208: Witch Heluram's Legacy (4)
Lightning from the Heart of Light erupted, swirling around the pale blade. The landscape, once dyed a fiery red, was instantly submerged in a brilliant blue light, forcing the monster to recoil.
It was a light so radiant it was blinding.
Soon, that light coalesced into a massive awl and surged toward the monster’s throat. The fierce energy seemed to vacuum up the ashes of the thorn trees scattered in every direction.
Even as the awl of Judgment reached its very nose, the monster could only stare with wide eyes. Yet, for some reason, Jin was struck by a premonition.
‘This won’t end in a single strike.’
This was a technique that had devoured five Great White Wolf Tribe shock troop captains in an instant. Even so, he felt he wouldn't be able to kill this monster. In moments like these, his intuition had never been wrong.
Kyahaaaak!
Just before the awl could pierce its throat, the monster arched its back like a taut bow and lashed out with its front paw.
Five claws, sharp as swords, gleamed. They were coated in a power unique to the monster—neither aura nor mana.
Crackle!
Lightning and blue sparks flew as the awl collided with the paw. To Jin's surprise, the monster’s desperate swipe managed to deflect the awl’s trajectory. Jin swung his sword again.
The awl, now veering diagonally, followed the arc of Sigmund and lunged at the monster’s flank. Once again, the monster swatted the awl away with its claws.
Though it wasn't a direct clash of bodies, the feat alone was a testament to the creature's monstrous strength.
‘Sir Vanessa didn’t call this a test for nothing.’
It wasn't just the strength. The fact that it had reacted so precisely to an attack moving at near-lightning speed—twice—was shocking.
However, the monster was terrified of the awl. It instinctively sensed the agony that would follow the moment the light touched its body, which was why it was screaming incessantly.
Zap, clang! Crackle—!
After five such deflections, an opening finally appeared near the monster’s hind leg on the sixth attempt. Jin immediately guided the awl toward the gap and threw himself forward to strike from the front.
Pluto Sword Basic Form: Oppression. The lightning spreading from Sigmund pulled at the monster. Unable to dodge the awl targeting its hind leg, the creature could only barely swat away the blade lunging for its head.
[Kyack!]
The tip of the monster’s claw struck the flat of the blade. Without losing his balance, Jin parried the blow and attacked again. At the same time, the awl that had struck the hind leg erupted in a storm of lightning.
An agonizing cry rang out. The moment that unpleasant noise—like dozens of infants wailing at once—pierced his ears, Jin brought down a bolt of lightning toward the monster’s face.
The lightning bolt and the awl of Judgment struck simultaneously. It was a level of power that would leave even a 9-star warrior devastated if hit without a proper defense.
The Basic Form: Lightning struck the monster’s face dead center, while the awl tore through its hind leg, shredding and searing it to pieces.
[Kiaaaaak! Kaaak!]
The monster let out a scream so pained it felt as if the listener shared its agony. In the next moment, Jin was faced with an unbelievable sight.
‘Regeneration…?’
The monster’s wounds were regenerating.
The shattered bone fragments from its hind leg dissolved into motes of light that seeped back into the wound. Its face, torn apart by the lightning, healed at a visible, rapid pace.
It was a well-known fact that some high-ranking monsters possessed regenerative abilities, so that in itself wasn't particularly surprising.
‘But this is too fast.’
That was the problem. The regenerative abilities of the high-ranking monsters Jin knew were never this fast. This cat-like monster was, quite literally, regenerating its wounds instantly.
This was no time to stand by in a daze. He had maintained the 3rd Sword, Judgment, for too long, and his aura was now poorly distributed.
He hadn't accounted for this level of regeneration. Jin’s plan had been to inflict a fatal wound even if it meant overextending himself, then manage his pace afterward.
Who could have predicted such a creature? The former Black Knights who first encountered this monster must have felt the same sense of utter absurdity.
[Kiiiiak…!]
Having recovered in an instant, the monster’s glowing eyes locked onto Jin. Mana, now saturated with a thick, murderous intent, began to gather in those eyes again.
This time, it wasn't the Eyes of Azure Fire. The mana in its eyes fired as a beam. Jin dodged it with a quick burst of footwork, but he swallowed hard when he saw where the beam had landed.
A pitch-black crater had formed. The surrounding ground was so shattered and upturned it looked like the ruins of a collapsed citadel.
Naturally, no matter how strong Jin was, he would not emerge unscathed from a direct hit.
‘I just have to not get hit, but still…’
The beam wasn't so fast that it was impossible to dodge or block.
However, being forced to constantly guard against a specific attack drastically increased the fatigue of battle, especially in a war of attrition against a monster with near-instant regeneration.
‘It can’t regenerate indefinitely. If I destroy the organ that serves as the source of its regeneration, or inflict injuries until it can no longer recover, I win.’
Of course, that was easier said than done. A single clean hit on Jin would be fatal, whereas the monster could regenerate from several fatal wounds as long as it could endure the pain.
He had to fight more efficiently. He needed a sword that allowed for delicate control, not the overwhelming destructive power of the Pluto Sword.
Shring…
Jin sheathed Sigmund and drew Bradamante. As the blade cleared the scabbard, he activated Spirit Energy Release.
Sword Release.
The radiance dwelling within Bradamante’s blade vanished into the darkness. As particles of spirit energy began to drift around Jin’s body, the monster’s eyes narrowed.
“I see you’ve seen spirit energy before. Well, I suppose you’ve lived a long time.”
[Kyaaa…]
“It looks like taking you down will be quite a chore. I hope there’s a satisfying reward at the end of this.”
Jin and the monster lunged at each other simultaneously.
Mana continued to pool in the monster’s eyes. It pressured Jin, firing beams whenever he closed the distance before immediately gathering mana again.
Its onslaught of claws, tail, and maw was relentless. Jin had thought the claws and fangs would be the most dangerous, but the tail proved far more troublesome.
Hidden behind the monster’s body, it lashed out without warning, making it difficult to read its trajectory. To Jin, it felt like a massive, pillar-like mace was slamming down from the left, right, or above out of nowhere.
Furthermore, this was Jin’s first time fighting a giant monster of this type.
Its agility and flexibility were unlike anything he had experienced when fighting dragons. It was enough to make his head spin, yet the monster gave him no time to adapt.
It was an incredibly tricky opponent.
However, his skills were more than enough to keep up. As long as he maintained his concentration, he could dodge or parry all of the monster’s attacks.
After about three minutes of this exchange, openings began to reveal themselves.
Even with its regeneration, the monster would hurriedly retreat whenever Jin lunged at a gap. Jin was beginning to sense that the creature had no more hidden cards.
Whoosh…!
The spirit energy spreading from his sword gradually dyed the space between them. Just as the monster had used the forest to its advantage, Jin began to control the flow of combat, repeatedly vanishing and reappearing within the veil of spirit energy.
Conversely, the monster could no longer use the forest. The nearby thorn trees were still burning, and if it hid deep in the woods, it knew this wicked human would surely set fire to its precious food source again.
Thus, despite its shocking regenerative power, Jin held the initiative.
‘The question is, will my stamina run out before its regeneration does?’
He had considered luring it out of the forest to finish it with his comrades. But this opponent was not so careless that he could simply turn his back and run.
This was destined to be a long fight.
*
The battle continued for over forty hours. The monster hadn't managed to land a single fatal blow on Jin, and had it not been for its regeneration, Jin would have killed it dozens of times over.
On the ground where they stood, once engulfed in flames, only ash and embers remained. All the nearby thorn trees had burned away.
However, the fire started by the Flame Orb continued to spread deeper into the forest, and the inferno now covered more than half of the thorny woods.
It was around then that a variable Jin hadn't calculated began to change the atmosphere of the battlefield.
‘It’s getting anxious.’
Was it the fear that its entire forest would be consumed by the flames?
Unlike Jin, who showed clear signs of exhaustion, the monster was still in nearly the same condition as when they had started.
Yet, as time passed, more openings appeared in its movements. While swinging its claws, it would glance toward the fire devouring the distant trees, and each time, it earned a new cut from Bradamante.
The only saving grace for the monster was that its regeneration remained as potent as ever. Contrary to Jin’s expectations, it recovered from a pierced heart or a crushed skull just as easily as it did from a scratched paw.
There was no central organ fueling its regeneration. Over the course of the fight, Jin had stabbed or cut every single part of the monster’s body.
The creature’s regenerative power was abnormal.
It was far removed from the laws of the world, like something out of a history book describing ancient dark magic.
Though Jin had yet to meet them, he knew that even the beings called the ‘Kings of the Black Sea’ did not possess such transcendent regeneration. Even the absolute regeneration through time reversal possessed by Olta’s dragons, like Quicantel, had its limits. Recovering indefinitely without any constraints was not an ability a mortal being could possess.
It was an ability one could not simply have.
Which meant it was only possible if a sufficient price had been paid.
After forty hours of combat, Jin finally reached a single conclusion.
“…That’s not regeneration.”
[Grrr…!]
“Witch Heluram, your former master, placed a curse on you. A curse of immortality, which is why you regenerate endlessly. There’s no other explanation.”
[Kahaak!]
As Jin slowly approached, the monster scratched the ground threateningly.
“You have a body that cannot die. You can’t die even if you want to, which is why you’re still fighting me after having your limbs severed, your heart burst, and your head crushed multiple times. Am I wrong?”
Jin knew almost nothing about ancient dark magic, but he was certain. The monster was undoubtedly under Heluram’s curse.
And it had likely been abandoned here.
“If this forest burns away completely, where will you go?”
The monster didn't answer, only letting out a low growl.
It seemed to be saying it had nowhere to go.
But it didn't matter. The trees would eventually grow back, and the monster would still be alive even if it had nothing to eat until then. Instead of a world of rock, trees, and solitude, it would be forced to endure a world of only solitude. For a very long time.
“If you stop attacking me,” Jin said, sheathing his sword, “I will put out the fire.”
The monster stared at him, then slowly nodded its head.