Chapter 191
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 191
Chapter Title: Night Sea Awakening
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Chunks of what had once been Morning were splattered and stuck all over the room.
The grotesque sound of human flesh scattering in every direction had drawn the cartel members from the nearby garden rushing in droves.
Marcelo's crew blocked off in front of Kang Seol, while the regular grunts blocked off behind him.
"Who the hell are you!"
"W-what the fuck! What is this guy? Marcelo! What do we do?"
Unaware of the vast gap in their levels, the grunts came across bold and brash.
Marcelo spoke up.
"Shut your mouths and stand down until I say otherwise..."
It was only natural for Marcelo to be furious at this turn of events. But even more so, Lunch and Dinner—having lost their brother—should have been the ones burning with rage.
"Morning..."
"Gone without us even getting a chance to fight back. No need to even build a coffin for this one."
Yet despite losing their brother, Lunch and Dinner kept their tones eerily calm. Then again, rage wouldn't help them one bit right now.
After letting out a brief sigh and cooling their heads, they turned to Marcelo.
"Marcelo, this is a whole different story. Weren't we just supposed to deal with ghosts?"
"I-I don't know this guy either."
Marcelo was a man who'd solidified his position in the cartel through sheer brutality and audacity. Faced with this unforeseen situation, even he stammered in self-defense. Truth be told, he was the one on the verge of losing it.
"Who are you? What grudge do you have to come all the way here and pull this shit?"
One of the executives standing nearby spoke up.
"Looks like he's an ally of the ghost. The conversation earlier, and the way things are playing out—it all points that way."
"I hate unpredictable bullshit like this..."
Having pieced together the rough situation, Marcelo addressed Kang Seol.
"At least give us your name, friend. What's it gonna be?"
"I'm picky about who I call a friend."
"You wreck the place like this and now you won't even give your name... Fine. Conversation's always toughest at the start anyway. Tell us what you want."
"What I want?"
"You came here for a reason, didn't you? Ah, yeah—that makes sense. We'll hand over what the ghost wanted."
Han Yeo-myeong snorted derisively.
"That item's something you should've paid up front as compensation. Now you wanna hand it over?"
"Of course I know. It's a bit late, so we'll show some extra sincerity to make up for it. How's that sound?"
Han Yeo-myeong didn't respond.
After all, only one person here held the final say.
"I don't need your money."
"Then what do you want?"
"All of you... get out of Azelfog. Do that, and I won't take your lives."
"Crazy... He's completely insane."
Retreating from Azelfog would be as good as admitting the cartel had buckled under outside pressure.
For an organization raised on fear, becoming a laughingstock meant they could no longer hold together.
And Azelfog was practically the cartel's front line—a city under constant watch from the goats.
Pulling out of such a key stronghold would get them executed by the cartel itself, not Kang Seol.
The enemy knew that full well, which was why they were making such demands.
Judging conversation futile, Marcelo turned to Lunch and Dinner.
"I'll double the pay. Throw in compensation for your fallen brother too."
"...You want us to fight that thing?"
"No choice. If we back down here, the goats will rip us all apart. Is that what you want?"
"The return's too low. The risk alone feels like it'll snap my neck."
"You won't be disappointed. I stake my neck on it."
"Hm..."
Lunch's pupils wavered as he approached one of Marcelo's underlings.
"Hey, you."
"What? The hell you want?"
"Take the punishment for me."
"What the—"
[Lunch uses Blame Shift]
[Target takes the punishment instead]
A grotesque sight unfolded as Lunch grabbed the underling's arm.
Crunch...
The arm twisted a full 180 degrees, as if to demonstrate exactly what that meant.
"Wha? Wh-what... Aaaaagh!"
"Marcelo's got other work for me, see."
"Y-you'll... die..."
"You think you can kill me?"
"......"
Soon, Lunch and Dinner stood side by side.
Kang Seol watched them, thinking.
'The stat gap with Karuna must be pretty wide.'
In general, there was a certain stat disparity between transferees and monsters of the same level.
Monsters were typically meant to be taken down by groups of transferees, after all.
Thanks to rest periods, level gaps between transferees couldn't be overwhelming.
In other words, they were all around the same level.
Which meant almost no transferee could surpass the stats of Karuna, a legend-grade being.
Unless they grew through abnormal means, like Kang Seol.
'And then there's the linked souls...'
On top of that, Karuna's stats could double thanks to the Twin Knights' Linked Souls. Plus all the summon buffs Kang Seol piled on.
Even if all three triplets rushed him at once, he'd have cut them down.
Kang Seol's score had just barely crossed 11 million points, but mistaking that for his full power would be a mistake.
He could deliver performance far beyond his score. Enough to overwhelm another 11-million-point transferee, probably.
Sensing their level didn't measure up to Karuna, Kang Seol saw no need to lead with him. Annoying hassle—just handle it himself and clear them out quick.
But Ur objected.
- Beyond the wall is imminent. Do not step forward.
Karuna had just acquired the black wave.
Yet he hadn't broken through the wall?
Kang Seol felt puzzled, but the outcome was set anyway. He'd follow Ur's advice.
Lunch and Dinner said to Marcelo.
"Subduing him is impossible."
"Doesn't matter."
Swish...
Lunch pulled something from his pocket and said.
"Know what this is?"
Kang Seol glanced at the item Lunch had drawn and replied.
"...A pocket watch?"
"Right. The Fair Pocket Watch. Aren't you curious how we got our hands on it?"
"Nah, not really? You're pretty chatty, though."
"Fine, straight to the point then. The condition to activate this pocket watch is making the opponent aware of its power."
Conditional activation.
Items with absurd powers often worked that way. Like Pranen's snoring and teeth-grinding, for example.
"We've triggered this watch before and hunted a transferee over 8 million points."
"...Yeah?"
"In 3 seconds."
Whether 8 million or 10 million points, Kang Seol couldn't care less.
But Lunch's cocky tone and the unbelievable tale of killing a stronger foe in 3 seconds piqued his interest.
Lunch continued.
"In 10 seconds..."
Dinner picked up.
"...you age 5 years."
"...What?"
"Let's begin."
Click!
[Cursed Item: Fair Pocket Watch activates]
[Lunch's all stats increase by 100%]
[Dinner's all stats increase by 100%]
[Lose 1 year of lifespan every 2 seconds]
Screeech!
A sound like grinding metal echoed as the two moved.
Kang Seol readied his Night Raven response at any moment, observing the fight.
Lunch wielded a sword, Dinner a spiked gauntlet.
Clang!
The first sudden strike was always the hardest to block, yet Karuna handled Lunch's attack with ease.
Whoosh...
Dinner's follow-up was nullified by Karuna's kick.
Crunch...
The noise tricked the ear into thinking the gauntlet was crumpling. It was a fight that screamed, "This is what full power looks like."
Burning lifespan for power—chilling stuff.
Shlick...
Sensing something off, Karuna unleashed a black wave.
The sticky aura crept up, trying to coil around Lunch's sword.
Slash!
A powerful horizontal slash from mid-air!
Scraaaape!
The force behind the blade was worlds apart from when it faced Han Yeo-myeong. Still, Karuna blocked it effortlessly.
Murderous intent gleamed in Karuna's eyes.
Thud!
His entire body was a weapon.
Krunch!
Dinner's left hand clashed hard against Karuna's left.
Dinner's left hand was mangled.
Karuna should've taken the same damage.
For fairness.
Of course, everything Kang Seol owned was anything but fair.
The brothers panicked at the unexpected sight of the impact being absorbed. But panic was one thing— the fight had to go on.
[Dinner activates Aftershock]
[Recover 90% of temporary damage lost]
[Take equivalent damage after delay]
Aftershock was a technique they rarely used, but with the super clock already in play, there was no holding back.
'Fucking... monster bastard!'
Dinner cursed inwardly while facing Karuna.
Even with the super clock, they could barely hold even. He'd slipped in shrewdly, taking damage to land what he thought was a fatal blow—yet the monster's ironclad defense changed nothing.
'Can't get hasty...'
At least they could fight this monster on somewhat equal terms thanks to the clock. Worrying about its penalty now would doom them against the beast.
Grind!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Lunch was in dire straits too.
He'd even taken minor damage from the fight with Han Yeo-myeong, so he wasn't at peak condition.
'What a mess! Shouldn't have lost Morning!'
With all three brothers unleashing their combo technique alongside Morning, they could've laid this monster out cold on the floor.
Regret gnawed deep.
They had to pour everything they had.
Slash!
He drew a dagger from his pocket and hurled it. Karuna didn't bother blocking.
Karuna absorbed weak attacks without blocking and repelled strong ones head-on.
If the Lunch-Dinner duo survived this—delivering performance beyond their capabilities—it'd be a huge boon for them.
Just look at the faces around them.
Mouths agape, expressions like they'd witnessed lightning strike.
Few in the room could even comprehend their movements.
Facing those looks stirred a strange feeling in the brothers' hearts.
Clang!
Krunch!
"Urk..."
This desperate challenge against a superior foe.
The electric thrill right before crossing the finish line at full sprint.
More exhilarating than when Morning died—this fight was firing them up.
And they weren't the only ones heating up in the battle.
Karuna was gaining much from this clash too.
Normally, after absorbing the Black Knight, he should've ascended to a higher realm.
But he hadn't.
Perhaps because he couldn't accept the Black Knight's rage.
Taking it in felt like it'd warp him somehow. In the worst case, he'd be consumed by fury and meet the same end as the Black Knight.
So he'd suppressed that rage and those emotions.
But forcibly holding them down didn't make them fade.
It only built up more backlash, ready to explode. If that state dragged on, it might've been dangerous for him.
And now, this fight dragged that deep-buried rage to the surface.
He wanted to spew it all out.
Purge it all and clear his mind.
As the frenzied battle wound down, he made that decision.
Swish!
Shink—
Karuna sheathed his breath into the scabbard.
Thoom...
Craaaack!
As he stamped his foot, a bizarre shockwave rippled out, generating faint gravitational pull.
Rumble rumble rumble...
The twin brothers floated before him, hair turned fully white, eyebrows snowy. They'd squeezed every last drop of power.
But it fell short.
Passing from middle age into old age, they felt ecstasy at the overwhelming might radiating from Karuna.
This power that felt like it would burst their hearts!
"So... cool."
Shing—
What emerged from Karuna's scabbard wasn't a sword—it was blackness itself.
The black devoured everyone's vision, stealing all light.
BOOOOOOM!
A pitch-black crescent wave obliterated the mansion root and stem, surging forward.