Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: ACT. 38 Those Who Uphold All Evil (3)
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Aži Dahãka.
An evil dragon with three heads, three mouths, and six eyes.
Known as an incarnation of evil that could use all forms of magic and relentlessly spew breath attacks, it didn't appear all that powerful in EOA.
That's not to say this thing was weak, not by any means.
[Krrraaaaaa!!]
“Ugh!?”
Jun Bo-ra's body was pushed back by Dahāka's roar.
I wasn't pushed back, but my fingertips tingled.
It was a 'Fear' effect common to large monsters, but Dahāka's was special.
[The effect of 'Resolution of a Great Hero' nullifies the harmful effects of 'Fear Imprint'.]
That was the important part.
Fear Imprint.
The moment you heard Dahāka's fear-inducing roar, you'd get a debuff that permanently reduced all stats by a fixed value of 20, but only when facing Dahāka.
To put it simply, it was enough to drastically reduce a typical S-rank player's combat power to that of a B or A-rank.
This was also why Aži Dahãka itself appeared with significantly nerfed combat power.
“My stats...!”
“Stay calm. It's manageable.”
“Easy for you to say!”
What an advantage it was to have 'Resolution of a Great Hero', obtained from defeating the Disaster of Solitude, which made me immune to all penalties.
The important thing was, if until now it had simply been enemies from outside forces attacking...
...now, even the bastards who were originally on Earth were starting to run rampant.
[You... you do not fear me.]
Dahāka's six eyes stared at me.
Its ominous eyes, radiating a malice so potent that a normal person would be paralyzed with fear just by looking at them, scanned me with interest.
[Hoh. A remarkably strong human. And to think you still have potential left.]
Goooo...
Was it because it was gradually acclimating to the physical world?
A nauseatingly unbearable malice stung my nose like a foul stench.
Jun Bo-ra, whose stats were already lowered, looked like she was struggling to endure it, her face turning pale yellow.
[That is why it is a pity. For that potential will be buried here!]
Kwoooosh!!
Suddenly, a black breath attack shot out from Dahāka's mouth.
Not from the head that had been speaking, but from another one that had been still.
True to its title as an incarnation of evil, I knew it was the type to commit cowardly acts without hesitation, so I could react instantly.
‘It has three heads.’
Kwoooaaaa!
The head on the opposite side aimed at me and fired a second breath.
Three heads meant it could fire three consecutive breaths if each shot individually.
And if they took turns, it could be even more.
Fwoosh!
I swung the Black Moon Divine Sword, wreathed in Black Flame.
Where the Black Flame and the breath collided, there was a harsh grinding sound as they cancelled each other out and vanished.
Dahāka's breath had the effect of 'negating the target'.
That could be interpreted in various ways.
Negating the fact that the target is alive, or negating the abilities the target possesses.
That's why I had to block the second one with my sword, so I could counter and land a blow on the third.
[You blocked it well, but this is the end!]
The central head, the one that did most of the talking, opened its puffed-up mouth.
Kwoooooaaaaa!
Something more powerful than the previous two breaths filled my vision.
I threw the metal fragment I had been holding in my left hand toward the breath.
Flash!
And the moment the metal touched the breath, a brilliant white light exploded, erasing the breath from existence.
[What!?]
“I wonder if you've heard of the Sa-in-geom. Ah, probably not, right? You're a mythological being from a land far from here.”
The fact that it negates its target meant the breath itself was a mass of impurity, enough to corrupt the target.
With the Sa-in-geom, which held absolute judgment over all things impure, even Dahāka's powerful-looking breath could be easily blocked.
‘That's why the Sa-in-geom and Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom are essential when facing the Disaster of Heaven's Defiance.’
But now, both were destroyed.
So, as a last resort, I'd been holding onto a fragment of the Sa-in-geom to use as a one-time item.
Shhhk!!
[Kuaaak!?]
I slashed the two eyes of the main head and landed on the opposite side.
Not stopping there, I immediately dodged to the side as if ricocheting.
Kwoong!!
Just as I expected, the ground sank unnaturally.
This opponent could use ‘magic’.
Even with two eyes gone, it still had four left, so its vision was intact.
[How can a human wound me... !]
Kwajik!
The moment Dahāka was about to strike with its hands clad in dark red energy, Alpha appeared from thin air, dropped onto another head, and took out both its eyes.
[Kuaaaaak!?]
[Insolent fool. Show respect to your Lord.]
[A being without even a physical form...! I will devour you! I will chew up and obliterate your very soul!!]
Having lost the sight in two of its heads in an instant, it seemed to be filled with rage, letting out a monstrous scream as it began to cast a spell.
The surrounding ground turned viscous and began to melt.
It wasn't just the ground.
All the terrain within the spell's range began to lose its form.
The temple ceiling melted, revealing the scenery outside.
The sky that came into view was covered in pitch black, though it wasn't night and there wasn't a single cloud.
“Even if it's been a while since it was summoned, to get baited this easily...”
The ground I was on was also about to disappear, so I kicked off and lunged toward Dahāka.
The ground beneath Dahāka's feet looked safe, but it was a trap.
The moment you reached it, you'd be hit by a 'Soul Bind' spell Dahāka had laid, leaving you helpless as you were absorbed. Game over.
I have to defeat Dahāka without touching any ground.
[Die!!]
Dahāka's mouth gaped open.
From the open mouth, an incredibly ominous magic circle began to glow.
A technique that created and launched a total of three 'swords'.
It unconditionally destroyed anything it touched, a pattern that ranked among the top three most dangerous in Dahāka's arsenal.
‘However.’
This, too, was going according to the strategy.
Pababak!
Suddenly, numerous piles of rock appeared between me and Dahāka.
A short distance away, Jun Bo-ra wiped away her sweat and grinned.
[What... !?]
Dahāka, about to launch the swords, flinched and hesitated.
Originally, for this pattern, the three heads would watch the target from all angles, three-dimensionally, to launch an attack that was absolutely unavoidable.
You'd be destroyed the instant one even grazed you, and since it tracked my movements from the front, above, and the side, launching the swords with off-beat timing, it was naturally difficult to dodge.
That's why I had taken out the other two heads' vision beforehand.
Its vision was fixed to one direction, and even that was obscured by the piles of rock, so it couldn't recklessly use an attack with only three chances.
[There!]
Kwaang!
I deliberately made a sound and moved immediately, and the first sword destroyed the rock I had just been using as a foothold.
Seeing it turn to dust the moment of impact, rather than shattering into pieces, sent a slight shiver down my spine.
‘Two left.’
I closed the distance, leaping between the piles of rock.
Now that it knew I was a threat, it wouldn't want me in its attack range.
Sure enough, Dahāka grew impatient and wasted its second sword on an innocent rock.
Got it.
I raised the corners of my mouth slightly, stepped on the last rock, and leaped with all my might.
[Foolish creature, you walk willingly to your death!]
Dahāka seized the opportunity and launched its third sword.
Attacking while leaping is something only an amateur would do.
Being airborne is when you're most vulnerable to attack.
So Dahāka's judgment wasn't strange at all.
But in the end, it was the wrong call.
[Activating skill, [Void Step].]
Thwump!
I stepped on empty air and leaped once more.
The gray sword passed beneath my feet, and as if crossing paths, I passed over it and arrived right above Dahāka's head.
At that moment, Dahāka's eyes glinted ominously.
[Die, insignificant thing!!]
‘What?’
A fourth sword was launched straight at me.
Dammit. Did this bastard also come out with a buffed pattern compared to the original game?
There's no way to dodge.
My attack will be nullified, but I can always create another opportunity.
“Kim Se-hyeon!”
Jun Bo-ra shouted my name.
The reason why became clear the moment I saw a rock suddenly appear beneath my feet.
Taat!
Using the rock Jun Bo-ra had teleported as a foothold, I leaped again.
With the fourth sword also neutralized, and at a distance where I could reach Dahāka by stretching out my hand...
I unleashed the power I had been accumulating all at once.
[No... !?]
“Take this for a start.”
[Annihilating Darkness]
Chwaak!
I moved as if crossing space, slashed, and sheathed my sword.
A sword strike erupted from the path the blade had traced, tearing Dahāka's scales to shreds.
Dahāka trembled violently, letting out a silent scream.
[How, how can a human so easily wound my body...]
“Because this sword is harder than your scales.”
I let out a small laugh and casually flicked my sword clean.
I didn't go all the way to another world, where I might not have returned, just to get Black Steel for nothing.
If it wasn't at least this good, it wouldn't have been worth it.
Chiiik...
The blood flowing from its wounds melted the ground beneath Dahāka's feet.
Even the Black Moon Divine Sword would have been corroded if it wasn't wreathed in Black Flame.
[If it has come to this, I shall blow this entire area away... !]
Dahāka roared and raised both its arms.
A significant amount of mana gathered around Dahāka, and a massive, crimson magic circle was drawn in the sky above.
“Isn't, isn't that dangerous!? No matter how I look at it, that's no joke!”
“It's probably at least a 2nd or 3rd-class spell.”
Even someone ignorant of magic would feel something was amiss seeing a magic circle larger than a stadium floating in the sky.
True to its lore of being able to use all arts and magic, it was hard to predict exactly what spell Dahāka was casting just by looking at the magic circle.
The types of magic were just too varied.
However, for two reasons, I didn't need to know what spell it was.
First, something of that scale would be so wide-ranged and powerful that evasion would be meaningless.
And second.
“It's fine. Dahāka can't use magic anymore, anyway.”
That spell was going to fizzle out.
Psssh.
The mana that had gathered with enough force to shake the ground simply dispersed, like air leaking from a balloon.
Naturally, the magic circle blurred and then vanished.
Dahāka's pupils trembled as if in an earthquake.
[My, my magic!?]
“It's been so long since you manifested, you must have forgotten the principle behind how you use magic.”
It wasn't for nothing that Alpha had relentlessly attacked only one of the heads.
The two heads on the sides govern magic.
One from my strike, and the other from Alpha's persistent attacks.
With those heads having lost their function, Dahāka was now effectively unable to use magic.
Kwaaaang!!
Shattering Moon followed Annihilating Darkness.
Unable to withstand the massive damage taken in succession, Dahāka collapsed forward.
[To think I... could not overcome a single human...]
Finally, Dahāka turned its anger elsewhere.
[You imbecile...! Why is my power so meager!?]
“I-I'm sorry! Those were all the sacrifices we could use right now!”
[Then why is it that you still remain!]
The high priest could only tremble, unable to answer.
It would be hard not to tremble after being rebuked for why he alone had preserved his own life.
In the first place, the sacrifices were far too few.
There was no way Dahāka could have been summoned with its proper strength.
“You must have felt good summoning it.”
“......!”
“Unfortunately for you, I was the one who led you to summon it.”
The 'Heart of Malice' you can get from defeating Aži Dahãka.
I need that to face the Disaster of Heaven's Defiance according to plan.
Funnily enough, if you prevent Aži Dahãka's summoning to make things easier, it actually makes conquering the Disaster of Heaven's Defiance harder.
Because this game absolutely does not tolerate taking the easy route.
Chwaak!
I cut down the high priest, who seemed to have lost half his focus in despair.
His teetering body fell into the hole created by the melted ground, a chasm of unfathomable depth.
Even if he revived as an undead, he wouldn't be able to climb this height.
I approached the gasping Dahāka.
[Guh... you... My master will not forgive you... !]
“I left you alive on purpose, and you're still this noisy.”