Chapter 354: Ozdok (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 354: Ozdok (1)
“Oh, it’s reacting already?”
Mary’s eyes crinkled with interest.
Jin, for his part, had been half-skeptical. Leaving aside the fact that the monster known as Ozdok had weakened from its prime, he had wondered if it could have even survived for a thousand years beneath the Black Sea.
Rumble…
The vibrations grew rapidly more intense. Deep, deep underground, the sensation of a massive creature writhing like an ascending dragon traveled vividly through the earth.
“Ooh, it feels like I’ve hooked a whale.”
Mary licked her lips in anticipation.
“I don’t know how much it’s weakened, but you two better stay on your toes.”
Murakan shot Mary a disdainful look. He figured she was only this confident because she hadn’t experienced Ozdok in its heyday.
Flash!
Soon, a limb that appeared to be Ozdok’s arm tore through the earth and shot upward.
It looked like a pillar forged from metal. With no visible joints, flexible movement should have been impossible, yet the arm moved with the fluid grace of molten iron.
A body that possessed both the rigid texture of steel and the flowing properties of water. The moment Jin saw it, his intuition screamed that cutting it wouldn't be easy.
Ozdok’s arm slithered about, searching for the gold on the ground, while Mary simply stood by and watched.
Jin, however, drew his sword before Ozdok could fully reveal itself. Crackle! The pale blade cleared its scabbard, trailing sparks of blue Lightning Energy.
In that same instant, a flash of light erupted from Jin’s position. A moment later, he slashed through Ozdok’s arm—which, despite being less than halfway emerged, was already larger than him.
‘It didn’t cut.’
His intuition had been correct.
It felt like slicing through water. The moment the blade made contact, there was only a soft, unsettling sensation; he didn’t feel the characteristic resistance of cleaving through bone and flesh.
“Hey, kid! What do you think you’re doing?!” Mary barked.
She had planned to wait for Ozdok to eat the gold as a courtesy, just to ensure a more exciting fight.
“You almost spoiled the hunt. It doesn’t look like you did much damage, though. Phew.”
“This isn’t the time for that, Sister.”
“Your big sister was so excited she couldn’t sleep last night. I know it’s already weakened, but I wanted to fight it after it recovered a little…”
“That’s not what I meant. Aren’t you competing with me right now?”
At those words, Mary’s eyes sharpened.
“I’m saying there’s no time for leisure. You’d better do something before I finish it off.”
“Ha, you petty brat.”
“You’re one to talk. You’re the one who wore Silver Light Armor and turned the field into a minefield with Top-Grade Mana Bombs.”
“You sure know how to hold a grudge.”
Clink!
The segments of Viper, Mary’s chain sword, separated. Dozens of blades were instantly dyed in brilliant Aura as she thrust the weapon forward.
Sharp shockwaves erupted in all directions. The gold bars Shuri had spat out were sliced like tofu, and Ozdok’s arm was shredded into unrecognizable fragments.
But it wasn’t truly cut.
Ozdok’s arm had merely lost its shape for a moment under the flurry of strikes. As soon as Mary stilled Viper, it reformed in an instant.
It then resumed its sluggish search for the gold on the ground. A few bars had apparently fallen into the pit it emerged from, knocked aside by Mary’s shockwaves.
Chomp! Chomp!
The sound of Ozdok greedily consuming the fallen gold echoed out. The unpleasant resonance was thick with its dark, wicked energy.
Those two gold bars were like sparks landing in an ocean of oil.
[Grrr, wooooorgh…!]
Ozdok’s roar triggered another earthquake. The vibrations were several times stronger than before, making it feel as if the very ground would flip over.
Kuaaaa!
Ozdok began to ascend to the surface. Large and small explosions erupted across the ground from the sheer energy it emitted. Jin and Mary braced themselves, batting away debris.
Meanwhile, Murakan had already moved a good distance away, perched comfortably atop Shuri.
‘Picon was right. It’s incomparably weaker than it was back then. Even so, it’ll be a close call for the kid and that girl on their own.’
He decided to watch for a bit before helping out.
Even with a body weakened by a thousand-year seal, Ozdok had not entirely lost the majesty of an Inner Core monster.
Its massive shadow dyed the earth in darkness.
‘What a bizarre-looking thing.’
‘Here it comes. I can feel the thrill—this thing is going to be incredibly strong.’
Jin and Mary looked up at Ozdok.
If a hairless, angular ape the size of a fortress existed, it would look exactly like this. The golden energy radiating from the center of its chest was prominent; that was Ozdok’s Inner Core.
[Grwoook. Kurrrr.]
Even after stepping onto the surface, Ozdok merely made strange noises for a while, appearing completely uninterested in Jin and Mary. In fact, it didn’t even seem to realize they had attacked it. It was preoccupied, its large, red cyclopean eye rolling as it focused on finding more gold.
“This is a bit of a blow to my pride.”
Though she said that, Mary’s eyes were sparkling as she stared at Ozdok.
Most warriors would be paralyzed with fear at the thought of facing an opponent immune to physical attacks. But that didn't apply to Mary. Nor did it apply to Jin.
‘It doesn't seem like regeneration. Is its body like a ghost’s?’
While Jin pondered, Mary had already charged.
Ozdok was extending a long, dark tongue toward the gold scattered on the ground.
“I’ll cut you until you vanish, Ozdok.”
Swish!
Slicing at that tongue—or rather, appearing to slice it—was just the beginning.
Mary’s beloved sword, Viper, unleashed a storm of Aura that scattered like diffused light. She moved so fast that even Jin struggled to follow her, her blade leaving a trail of overlapping afterimages. With every flash of light that struck, Ozdok’s massive body blurred.
For the first few seconds, Ozdok continued to ignore her.
However, when the gold bars it was trying to swallow were ground into powder by her energy, its red eye finally snapped toward her.
A dull thud rang out the instant Ozdok shifted its gaze.
It was the distinct sound of a trained warrior’s fist—or a blunt weapon—striking flesh.
“Guh!”
Mary was sent flying, gritting her teeth. She had been struck in the flank by Ozdok’s tail.
Fortunately, she had managed to raise a defense just before impact, avoiding a fatal wound. But the mental shock was far greater than the physical pain.
‘I was almost taken out in one hit…?’
A single strike.
And it hadn’t even been a proper attack, just a casual flick, like swatting a fly. She had nearly been rendered combat-ineffective. If her defense had been a moment later, it wouldn't have ended with just a couple of broken ribs.
Watching this, Jin couldn't help but be shocked as well.
‘With that massive body, it can move at a speed Mary can’t even react to?’
The hair on his neck stood on end.
“Murakan! Are you sure this thing is weakened?!” Jin shouted.
Murakan raised both arms and made an ‘O’ shape with them. “If it gets too tough, this Great Black Dragon will help, so go ahead and suffer a bit more. Kuhaha!”
Mary stood up again, her eyes glowing. Her whole body ached, and a storm of embarrassment and rage surged within her.
Instead of venting it, she grew cold.
In the world of warriors, everyone knew Mary was a battle-crazed lunatic. It was also well known that she loved nothing more than a reckless, uncalculated brawl. Because of this, most people thought Mary was simply hot-headed and simple-minded.
However, those who knew Mary well would say she was most terrifying when her eyes turned cold, just as they were now.
‘It was like this when I fought the kid, when I killed those Wraith Squad bastards, and it’s the same now. Ever since the kid came back, it’s been one fun fight after another. Now, how should I handle this thing?’
Chomp, chomp! The gold on the ground was disappearing into Ozdok’s stomach.
The siblings' surprise attacks hadn't been entirely useless. Though they hadn't wounded the creature, their attacks had destroyed more than half the gold bars they’d brought as bait. Since gold was Ozdok’s source of power, it would have recovered twice as much vitality by now if they had let it eat everything.
“Kid.”
“Yes, Sister.”
“To deal physical damage, I think we have to aim for the moment it solidifies its body to attack.”
“I was thinking the same thing. It seems to maintain an incorporeal state normally. It would have been nice if that damn dragon over there had given us some advice.”
Murakan was lying on Shuri’s back, grinning as he watched them. He was even munching on some Litra cookies he’d brought along.
“Still, its entire body can’t be incorporeal all the time. If it were, it wouldn’t be able to chew and swallow gold like that.”
“So there’s a weakness?”
“Yes. And there might be another way to force its body to become vulnerable to physical strikes.”
Whoosh, crackle!
Jin sheathed his sword and used Simultaneous Casting, manifesting fire-attribute mana in one hand and ice-attribute mana in the other.
“I’ll look for a way to land an effective hit with magic and my Authority. In the meantime, find its weakness, Sister.”
“Got it.”
Ptui!
Mary spat out a mouthful of blood and closed the distance with Ozdok again.
By now, Ozdok was also conscious of them. It had nearly lost its mind to the scent of gold after being awakened, but its intelligence was slowly returning.
[Guwaaaa!]
Her chain sword once more traced sharp, radiant trajectories through the air. Ozdok didn't dodge this time either, simply swatting Mary away again.
Mary showed no signs of exhaustion, getting back up every time she was slammed to the ground and relentlessly thrusting her sword at Ozdok. In just under a minute, she was sent flying more than ten times.
This was no longer about pride. She had accepted that Ozdok was stronger than her.
‘It seems to be immune to magic as well.’
Fire, ice, wind, earth, lightning—Jin had tried every attribute of magic, but not a single one landed a proper hit.
One might have considered it an impregnable fortress.
That is, if Jin hadn’t noticed one other phenomenon.
‘It can’t be immune to physical and magical attacks at the same time…!’
He had almost missed it. Because Mary was being so thoroughly overwhelmed, he hadn't had a chance to attack at the same moment she did.
He had found a breakthrough.
‘Now all that’s left is… to land a magic attack perfectly in sync with Sister’s timing?’
It was easier said than done. It was going to be an incredibly difficult task.