Chapter 368
Chapter 368
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 368
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
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Thud...
Thud...
Shin Yu appeared from who-knows-where, sword already drawn from the very start.
Both his arms were perfectly intact.
Hoo...
Kang Seol took a deep breath.
In life, trials were like speed bumps. Moments to check if you weren't going too fast—or too slow to even clear them.
In that sense, Shin Yu's trial was a crucial process to verify if Kang Seol was truly advancing properly.
Sssss...
Shin Yu's aura shifted.
'...It's coming. Get ready.'
The slash he'd seen before was incoming.
The horrific slash that even Darkflesh had experienced once.
Swish...
Fwooooosh-!
With a roar like the air itself exploding, Shin Yu froze mid-swing.
The slash had already been unleashed.
Which meant...
'...It's there.'
Darkflesh stood with his sword raised horizontally, trembling faintly.
'It's holding!'
Shin Yu glanced at Darkflesh—who had blocked the slash—with curious eyes, then swung his sword again.
Whirr...
Claaaang-!
The Shin brothers had left their marks all over Darkflesh's body, but the summon was truly adept at taking hits.
Kang Seol clenched his fist.
[Darkflesh uses Fox Rain.]
[Consecutive defenses convert 20% of mitigated damage into unavoidable damage.]
Siii...
Darkflesh attempted his first attack.
It was the first form of the Heavy Rain Sword that Shin Hyun had taught him.
That vicious thrust.
Baaang-!
Shin Yu feigned surprise at seeing Shin Hyun's swordsmanship emerge from Darkflesh, deflecting the blade repeatedly.
'...As expected.'
Baaang!
Baaaaang!
Darkflesh's sword whistled through the air, shaking Shin Yu.
The terror of Fox Rain was that focusing on defense against the thrust's power could leave you soaked like a drizzle turning into a downpour.
Siii...
Baaang-!
Whoooosh...
Baaang!
One block, one dodge.
Shin Yu knew his brother Shin Hyun's sword intimately. This was the textbook way to handle Fox Rain.
'...Trouble.'
The swordsmanship Darkflesh handled best was Shin Hyun's Fox Rain.
A body that could grow to wolf-like proportions, paired with explosive breathing.
And now, that attack was being perfectly countered.
Kang Seol recalled Shin Hyun's words.
- Hmm... You can learn up to the second form easily enough. But executing it? First form will be your limit.
- Huh? Why...?
- Better if you figure it out yourself later. Knowing won't help you prepare.
It took three months for Kang Seol to grasp the meaning.
'Darkflesh is already too strong in single abilities.'
Not the strength of the ultimate technique itself.
Karen's linkage from incomplete to complete combustion had felled the previous Asura Yoo Hyun in one blow—immensely powerful.
Naturally, the current Darkflesh would burn to ash without a trace if hit by her strike.
'In short... strength befitting its level.'
Kang Seol's own level remained nebulous.
Karuna had likely absorbed Karen's enlightenment from shattering her supreme wall, thanks to their linked souls.
In other words, Karen, Jamad, and Karuna had all gained enlightenment and passed through the tunnel radiating light.
Through his experiences with Karen and Jamad, Kang Seol had firmly recognized the existence of that boundary wall—and that he hadn't yet set foot on its threshold.
If comparing himself as a summoner, he was adrift somewhere between Transcendence and Immortality.
It didn't make sense for an ultimate technique from such a position to outpower those of Jamad or Karen.
'We've hit the limit.'
"Limit" meant, rephrased, this was the best he could muster now.
It wasn't lacking to call this his all.
As Kang Seol gravely assessed the battlefield, an unexpected turn occurred in the fight.
Rumble...
The ground suddenly shook.
'What the—?!'
Clap-!
Pop-!
Startled, Kang Seol clapped to pull Darkflesh back.
He'd reflexively assumed it was Shin Yu's doing.
But...
Shin Yu looked puzzled too.
'...Not him?'
The vibration rocked the earth once more, but no further anomalies appeared.
In the end, the two clashed again.
Baaaat-!
Realizing Fox Rain wasn't working, Kang Seol signaled Darkflesh.
Darkflesh drew the sword sheathed in his primordial hide.
Whooooom...
"......!"
Shin Yu abandoned his defensive stance at Darkflesh's follow-up motion, trying to leap back instead.
[Darkflesh uses Geohap: Strong Rend.]
[Quickly draws the sword from its sheath to deal massive damage to a single target.]
[Unavoidable attack.]
[Deals 50% fixed damage to giant foes.]
Following Shin Hyun's Fox Rain with Shin Rip's [Geohap: Strong Rend].
Judging it too late to escape the domain, Shin Yu blocked with his sword.
Kaaaaaaaabooooom-!
The aftermath buzzed like struck metal.
Kang Seol scanned the battlefield through the rising dust.
'Tch...'
Darkflesh, exhausted, had his sword plunged into the ground from the strike, while Shin Yu—who took the hit—had cracks spiderwebbing his body.
'...Not enough.'
But that was it.
Geohap was a sword art that drained immense power—even Shin Rip couldn't chain it.
In a prolonged fight, Shin Yu's overwhelming fundamentals would toy with and dismantle Darkflesh.
'This is it—win or lose.'
Claaaap-!
Screeeeech...
Darkflesh's body screamed in response to Kang Seol's command.
But that was fine—even if it shattered.
'Burn it all, Darkflesh.'
The time spent in the labyrinth flashed by like a panorama.
This strike was Kang Seol's utmost best.
Craaaack...
Darkflesh's sword arced upward in a diagonal rising slash.
[Darkflesh uses Geohap: Shower.]
[Uses Geohap three times in succession.]
[Can be used via Geohap's linkage ability.]
[Unavoidable attack.]
[Deals 55% fixed damage to giant foes.]
[Geohap cooldown increases by 300%, and stats drop 20% during cooldown.]
An attack only Darkflesh—with lungs to stay conscious mid-motion and monstrous strength—could perform.
An application of Shin Hyun and Shin Rip's swords, pieced together from scant study. Incomplete, imperfect.
Fwooooosh-!
The moment the second slash flew, Shin Yu's sword mirrored it with an identical sensation.
'...Ah.'
The unfinished sword Kang Seol devised had already been perfected by someone.
Fwoooooooosh-!
Darkflesh's body flew back.
Sliced in two again, still gripping his sword.
'...Shin Yu.'
Defeat once more.
But...
Drip...
"......"
Drip drip...
Shin Yu's body began crumbling too.
'...I see!'
Shin Yu's body was one he'd forcibly seized from a wolf. Naturally, it was inferior to Darkflesh's.
His swordsmanship was perfect, but his vessel was doomed to shatter.
Drip drip...
From the collapsing darkness, something pitch-black burst forth.
【Eek! You scared me!】
The entity that startled Pitiful with a hop was the black hand.
The ghost hand—Shin Yu's true form.
Shin Yu scuttled his hand like a spider, writing on the ground.
- You're amazing!
"...What?"
- Amazing! Incredible!
Shin Yu's praise didn't sit well with Kang Seol. He'd still lost to Shin Yu, and the body's destruction wasn't Shin Yu's fault.
- So, what's next?
"...Guess I'll try again."
- The swordsman's unyielding spirit! I love it! Great mindset!
Pitiful glanced subtly at Kang Seol.
Probably holding back what he wanted to say.
'This guy's a chatterbox. That's what you wanna blurt out, right?'
Kang Seol already knew Shin Yu was talkative, so he sighed and turned to leave.
But...
- Leaving? Right now?
"......"
- I need a chat buddy...
Shin Yu added the ellipses slowly.
Kang Seol had no answers waiting back home anyway, so he plopped down on a nearby rock to keep Shin Yu company.
- You sure it's okay to chat with me?
Kang Seol sighed.
"Haa... That fight made me think I might be stuck in this labyrinth forever. So yeah, fine."
If he ended up stuck, getting used to chat duty wouldn't hurt.
Of course, half-joking.
- Where you from? I'm curious about you.
Kang Seol pondered Shin Yu's question.
Could this tiny hand grasp Earth?
"Well..."
Kang Seol explained Earth and Transmigrators without giving up.
He was a Transmigrator from Earth, and Pandea had already accepted them all.
- What? For real? Strangers showed up?
The hand drummed excitedly on the ground, hooked on the tale.
Kang Seol found the reaction fun and kept going.
He was a summoner—explaining everything from one to ten.
Shin Yu stubbornly refused summaries, making him sweat.
- That Jamad guy! Impressive! Karen too! No, all of you are!
Kang Seol fancied he saw a chatty young swordsman prattling before his eyes.
'...Shin Yu.'
Conversation was strange—sometimes things bubbled up unexpectedly.
"Impressive bunch. I can't even touch their heels."
Like right now.
Pause...
Shin Yu scribbled quickly.
- You really think that?
"Yeah? Ah..."
Shin Yu snapped his fingers.
- Got it! It's the wall!
"...Wall?"
What nonsense was this?
- Big bro Kang said it. Facing the wall makes him feel weird.
'Feel weird?'
Kang Seol thought, then replied.
"I have to prove it. That I..."
- You've already proven it.
"...What?"
- You got me a new house in a year. You're done proving it.