Already (2)
Already (2)
The thick, crimson flames and acrid smoke that had risen up gradually cleared away.
Even though I had burst through the center of the fierce fireball that seemed ready to swallow the whole forest, not a single smudge remained on my body.
I was in a perfectly intact state, not even the ends of my hair were singed.
I readjusted my grip on the Orichalcum dagger and stared blankly at the system window quietly floating in a corner of my vision.
Though it was nothing new, the cheat-like stats listed there left me doubting my own eyes.
[Skill 'Grace of the Sun' is active.]
*Grace of the Sun activates while the sun is up.
*Grace of the Sun
HP Regeneration Rate: +100%
Aura Regeneration Rate: +100%
Fire Resistance: +100%
Stamina: +10%
Strength: +10%
Agility: +10%
"Wow...."
A hollow breath escaped my lips.
Moreover, the place where I fought the old beastman on the 22nd Floor was in a pitch-black forest where even the sunlight barely reached.
This was the first time I'd been in a battle with the sun shining brightly in the sky like this, so I hadn't even realized this passive skill was active.
Fire Resistance 100%.
No matter how massive and terrifying the heat of a fireball, with a resistance stat granting perfect immunity, it felt nothing more to me than a pleasant blast from a heater.
And that wasn't all.
The Aura in my danjeon that I had completely depleted while sparring with Tigris earlier was refilling at an insane rate thanks to the 100% regeneration buff; I could feel it in real time.
Golden energy poured down like a waterfall through my dried-up blood vessels, washing away the fatigue from my whole body.
I smiled slightly at the sensation of full Aura and turned my head forward.
At the end of my gaze stood the red-haired woman Imi, whom I had just mercilessly shredded with the Orichalcum dagger.
Deep, horrific wounds gaped on her shoulders, abdomen, and thighs where my sharp slashes had cut, deep enough to see bone.
For an ordinary beastkin, this would normally be the state where they'd be bleeding out on the ground, begging for their life.
But Imi's reaction completely defied my expectations.
She glanced down at the deep wounds carved into her body, then, instead of showing pain, smiled broadly as if she were dying of amusement, her lips tearing open wide.
"Ah~! I remember. You're the human who did away with old man Ilmi, aren't you?"
At the word 'old man Ilmi' that slipped from her mouth, my brow furrowed slightly.
As expected, she was in league with that grotesque old beastman.
As Imi chattered in a bright voice, crimson flames began to blaze over her torn wounds with a hwareureuk sound.
I watched that bizarre sight clearly with my own eyes.
The flames covering her wounds didn't burn her flesh; rather, like living sutures, they swiftly wove her torn skin and muscles together, rapidly healing them.
Her red eyes flashing at me, she continued.
"That old man was so cautious he was hard to beat under normal circumstances. You're strong, aren't you?"
By the time she finished speaking those words, tossed out like a casual compliment, the horrific wounds that had covered her entire body had completely healed without a trace.
Seeing the smooth skin where new flesh had grown, I inwardly clicked my tongue.
"Haa...."
A deep sigh escaped me involuntarily.
An enemy that even has regeneration abilities.
Against a bastard with such monstrous recovery, a hundred shallow scratches are useless. I needed a decisive, overwhelming strike that would finish her off in one blow.
"Yeah... there's never an easy enemy."
I muttered lowly, lightly spinning the Orichalcum Dagger of Purification and Crushing in my right hand to reverse my grip.
I drew the golden Aura that had welled up to overflowing from my danjeon up along the dagger's blade as if it would burst.
The dazzling energy wrapping my whole body and the crimson flames flaring from Imi's hands clashed fiercely in the air, starting to heat up the surrounding space.
I finished my battle preparations, with the cowering Tigris and Romanike behind my back.
"Ku-hahahat!"
As Imi's bizarre laughter tore through the air, the crimson flames enveloping her whole body flared explosively.
The flames coiling around her from the tips of her red hair to her feet like snakes were accelerating her muscle expansion and contraction to the extreme, as if forcibly boosting an engine's output.
-Paat!
The earth screamed and was gouged out.
Imi's figure seemed to blur in my vision, then in an instant shot right up to my face.
'She's fast!'
The acceleration she produced using flames as propulsion was on a different level from the ghost-like movements of the old beastman I faced on the 22nd Floor.
Her right fist shot out in a fierce straight line toward my face.
The moment her fist tore through the air at me, time in my head slowed down like a lie.
The golden Aura gushing from my danjeon was coursing through my blood vessels, filling my entire body tautly.
The sense of top-tier swordsmanship wasn't limited to just longswords.
It had permeated even the tip of the short dagger held in reverse grip in my right hand.
The old me would have been flustered by the overwhelming speed and hurriedly stepped back or tried to block clumsily.
But now, Imi's trajectory in my eyes was full of huge, clear openings.
To throw the punch, her shoulder opened wide, revealing her ribcage.
The artery under her right armpit, completely defenseless as she put her weight into the punch, and even the grain of the muscles along the inside of her arm were visible.
I didn't even need to think with my head.
My body moved instinctively, as if I'd repeated it tens of thousands of times in practice.
Instead of stepping back to avoid the flying flame fist, I boldly dove into her embrace.
The moment after I twisted my upper body just slightly and let the heat of the fist pass by the tip of my nose.
The Orichalcum dagger traced a cool, purple arc through the air.
It was a strike that perfectly transmitted the rotational force of my torso to the tip of the dagger.
The lower part of Imi's extended right arm.
I slashed upward with the dagger, short and sharp, toward the inside of her elbow joint, a blind spot in defense.
"Kuk!"
Imi let out a short groan accompanied by a chilling sensation as if her tendons were being severed.
But I didn't stop there.
The swordsmanship correction gave me no room to end it in one attack.
Taking advantage of the recoil from striking her elbow, I snapped my wrist.
My right hand gripping the dagger climbed up Imi's extended forearm like a madly dancing viper, unleashing a flurry of stabs.
-Pook! Pook! Pook!
The sharp blade of the Orichalcum pierced through her flame-coated arm muscles, sinking in three times in rapid succession.
It tore through the soft flesh between her biceps and triceps, fundamentally cutting off the destructive power loaded in her fist.
"You little shit!"
With her right arm shredded, Imi, veins bulging with rage, swung her left leg, wrapped in flames, like a whip.
It was a sharp low kick aimed at my waist.
But I had already predicted the next attack from the lift of her shoulder.
I boldly slammed down on her shin with the back of my dagger, crushing the trajectory of the kick downward.
At the same time, I raised my left knee cloaked in golden Aura and rammed it hard into her thigh.
-Kwajik!
Imi, losing her balance and staggering, had her chin completely exposed.
My body was already compressed like a perfect spring for the next movement.
The moment I pushed off the ground with the rebound, I quickly rotated the reverse-gripped dagger handle back to a forward grip.
Aura heavily coalesced at the tip of the blade.
Like a hunter aiming for a beast's nape, I leaped in a single bound and thrust the dagger toward Imi's exposed throat.
-Kaaang!
But it was just before the tip of my blade pierced her vocal cords.
With a tremendous screech, the dagger was deflected.
Sensing a threat to her life, Imi had fiercely gathered the flames enveloping her body around her neck, forming a defensive barrier.
In that fleeting moment when the flames solidified like a physical wall, I clicked my tongue.
"Persistent, aren't you."
Using the recoil from the deflection, I spun my body in a full circle in the air, distancing myself from her and landing lightly.
Imi, breathing roughly, had red blood dripping from the wounds I'd gouged all over her body.
But an even more bizarre and excited grin glistened around her mouth than before.
Flames flared again over the wounds, and the torn muscles began to recover once more.
I flicked the blood off my dagger and fixed a low, steady gaze on her.
My head ran simulations, updating the attack route for the next strike in real time.
For the perfect strike that could finish her off once her regeneration reached its limit, I once again reversed my grip on the dagger and crouched low.