Chapter 212
Chapter 212
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 212
Chapter Title: ACT.41 Angra Mainyu (2)
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KABOOOM!
I leaped explosively, stepping on the rocks floating in mid-air to approach Angra Mainyu.
Angra Mainyu negates all things.
These rocks were a phenomenon born from the negation of gravity, and they were essential structures for conquering the disaster.
‘Angra Mainyu exposes its cores in sequence.’
The other cores don't exist in the real world, so they can't be destroyed beforehand.
So, half-baked tricks won't work.
The only way is to never miss the moment to attack and land a solid blow.
That was the only way to defeat Angra Mainyu.
‘Easier said than done.’
A smirk escaped my lips unconsciously.
The beings Angra Mainyu commands are immortal; how could it not possess that power itself?
‘If even 1 HP of a core remains, it will immediately recover all its health.’
Angra Mainyu is a beast you can't defeat unless you never miss a chance and deal enough damage to push it to the next phase with every opportunity.
[Using the skill, ‘Extreme Eye’.]
The core could be outside its body, or inside.
If it was inside, the problem was finding it within that mountain-sized mass. If it was outside, I had to figure out where it existed in its invisible state.
By any means necessary.
‘There it is.’
Above Angra Mainyu's left side. In front of its wing.
I located the invisible core, visible only as a slight distortion of light, and swung my sword.
KABOOOM!
The core shattered into pieces.
The black fragments sank into the mud, and Angra Mainyu twisted its body.
[Uwoooooooh!!!]
The disaster raged.
As if screaming, ‘How dare a mere creation.’
It probably didn't expect that its momentarily sluggish movement, caused by the interruption of the Song of the Dead, would lead to the destruction of its core.
In a way, it was a blessing in disguise.
Because of the Miko created by the Chinese side, the Song of the Dead couldn't be stopped, which strengthened the disaster. But I was able to use that to my advantage and easily destroy one of its cores.
‘It was a strategy I used in the past.’
A method I abandoned because the sheer numbers and offensive of the undead caused too much damage.
The fact that Bonghwang and Shaolin had no choice but to stay and help worked out for the better.
Shaaaa...
With the Song of the Dead silenced, the undead that had gathered beyond the aggro of the Cradle of the Dead turned to ash and vanished.
With that, one troublesome obstacle was gone.
“The mud stopped... did it?”
“No! It's moving again!”
The two who were contemplating approaching the disaster by stepping on the floating rocks like me grimaced.
The mud, which had been moving slowly before stopping, began to move even faster.
Trudge. Trudge.
Angra Mainyu's movement speed increased.
Accordingly, the amount of mud falling from its body also increased.
Swoosh...
Black smoke began to seep out from the accumulated mud.
The true nature of the mud was revealing itself.
[You are affected by ‘Smoke of Negation’.]
[While within a certain range of the ‘Disaster of Defiance’, your health will be rapidly drained.]
To attack, you naturally have to get close.
But just getting close is enough to have your health drained.
It meant being absorbed by the disaster.
‘A swift battle, and one core in one blow.’
If you couldn't achieve both, the disaster's health wouldn't decrease at all, while only the players fighting it would lose health...
[The effect of ‘Smoke of Negation’ is nullified by the effect of ‘Resolve of a Great Hero’.]
“...What?”
The black smoke swirling around my body vanished with a *pop*.
Resolve of a Great Hero?
It was a trait I had no memory of obtaining.
No, was it even a trait in the first place?
‘I'll check later.’
If some unknown effect of mine was activating, it could only be one thing.
Disaster Eater.
I couldn't find out the details even if I tried, so I'd look for the cause later.
All I had to do was actively use the fact that this effect existed.
[Uwoooo... !]
KABOOM! KABANG!
Dozens of giant arms made of mud shot up and began to attack indiscriminately.
The smoke rising from the mud alone drained health; what would happen if your body came into direct contact with the mud itself?
“Break them if you can, and dodge if you can't! Even if you dodge the attack, watch out for the splashing mud!”
“If I destroy the one coming at me from above, won't I get covered in mud!?”
“It's fine! They completely vanish when destroyed!”
“Easy for you to say...!”
Seon Woo-jin gritted his teeth and swung his sword.
KABANG!
“Ugh!?”
However, he couldn't overcome its attack power and was pushed back instead.
That idiot.
I told him to just dodge if he couldn't break it.
Tsssss.
Because he had blocked the attack instead of destroying it, splattered mud stuck to Seon Woo-jin's clothes.
Seon Woo-jin's face contorted from the smoke seeping out of the mud.
“Damn it!”
He hastily tore off his outer clothes and threw them away.
It seemed he narrowly avoided the smoke's effect, but Seon Woo-jin's face was already pale.
It was because he'd witnessed the power of the smoke up close.
If his judgment had been even a little slower, his health would have been drained in an instant.
“Hah!”
KABANG!
On the other hand, Shi skillfully dealt with Angra Mainyu's attacks, destroying the arms one by one without difficulty.
She was said to have seized the position of Bonghwang's Guild Master through sheer force, so Shi was effectively the number one player in China.
And her experience as a progressor was blended in as well.
“By the way! Where are the Sa-in-cham-sa-geom and Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom!? This thing is much easier to beat with those!”
“They're gone.”
“What?”
“The Sa-in-cham-sa-geom broke while I was using it, and that Roberto guy destroyed the Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom.”
Her face showed a flash of realization.
There's no way she hadn't heard from Team L that the Sa-jin-cham-sa-geom was destroyed.
It seemed the words had slipped out because she never imagined she'd be facing the Disaster of Defiance herself.
“Then what happened to the Sa-in-cham-sa-geom for it to break!”
“I used it a bit roughly.”
To be honest, I didn't have much of an excuse for that.
What could I do? I'd gone through even rougher incidents than in the original story, so the sword's durability had worn out too quickly.
I glanced behind me.
Alpha and the rest of the Army of Darkness were holding back the remaining undead, so I didn't need to worry about the rear.
‘At this rate, I won't have to worry about them.’
Several arms flew at me at once.
After checking the arms' trajectories, I moved my body, destroying the arms that flew in my path of evasion.
KABOOM!
‘Tsk.’
When I dodged an attack, several rocks would be destroyed and sent flying.
The rocks were my footholds.
They were my path for both attacking and evading.
Losing them meant both would become much harder.
If possible, I should try to destroy them all instead of dodging.
‘I'm not drawing as much aggro as I thought.’
At this point, Angra Mainyu should be slowing down to deal with me, but it was moving as if I wasn't even there.
A hurried movement, as if it had left something behind there.
Before I knew it, there wasn't much distance left to the coast.
‘I have to stop it from making landfall, no matter what.’
I have no choice. I'll have to push myself a little.
I caught my breath and raised my mana.
“If you're going to keep ignoring me, I'll make you pay attention.”
Taaat!
I kicked off the rock I was on and rushed forward.
As Angra Mainyu neared the shoreline, the rocks that had originally only been in front of it were now surrounding the disaster on all sides.
In other words.
Chwaaak!
It meant I could move in any direction and shower it with attacks.
Chwajwajwak!
I kept increasing my speed.
The arms couldn't keep up with me, uselessly cutting through empty air. My speed at blasting away the mud was faster than its recovery speed.
Even if it was a fake body made of mud, it wasn't immune to damage.
It consumes energy every time it regenerates.
Forcing it to consume energy would inevitably slow it down, and it was only natural for it to try and eliminate me, the cause, as a top priority.
“Kim Se-hyeon! Aren't you overdoing it!? Moving like that will drain your stamina too quickly!”
Shi shouted while destroying the intermittently flying arms.
“Nagging already?”
“What do you mean... Uh, I'm just a candidate, what are you thinking!?”
“It's fine. Someone reliable is on the way.”
Swiiish!
Through my widely spread mana, I could feel someone rapidly approaching.
A movement that seemed to cross space with a swoosh.
It was the unique movement style of a Flash Step.
“You're holding up well.”
Hwang Chan-jin.
I wonder if that guy has some kind of main character syndrome.
Seeing how he just pops up at the most opportune moments.
I cut down a few more arms before landing on the shore.
“Your Flash Step has gotten rusty.”
“The Flash Step you get from defeating Ignis is A-rank. Don't expect teleport-level performance. I rushed here because I thought you might be in trouble.”
“Blocking isn't particularly difficult. Oh, right, I already destroyed one core.”
“Are you planning to sneakily hog all the contribution points again?”
Hwang Chan-jin shook his head.
Shi, who didn't know who Hwang Chan-jin was, seemed to be watching him closely, but she must have sensed that he was also a progressor.
“By the way, why is Seon Woo-jin here, and who's that woman?”
“Seon Woo-jin... well, it's complicated. The woman is Liang Shi. She's the current master of the Bonghwang Guild and a member of Salvatio.”
“...I don't quite understand the situation of you fighting a disaster alongside someone like that.”
“I'll tell you after this is over.”
Hwang Chan-jin nodded.
Then, he drew a short sword with a blade that looked to be about 60cm long.
It had a simple but firm image.
A hilt that revealed it was made of bamboo.
He somehow managed to get that in time.
“Manpasikjeok.”
The real Manpasikjeok wasn't in the form of a sword, but the one that appeared in EOA was a sword.
Its effect from the original legend was slightly adapted.
“O Sea Dragon. O Heavenly God. A crisis has befallen this land, and here stands a descendant in need of your power.”
As Hwang Chan-jin chanted the incantation, the Manpasikjeok trembled and was enveloped in a brilliant light.
Sensing something unusual, Angra Mainyu shrieked and began to attack with even more arms.
“Block it!”
I had even Alpha, who was holding back the undead, join in to desperately fend off the arms.
It didn't matter if the undead were temporarily unchecked.
As long as the power of the Manpasikjeok was unleashed, the undead would no longer be a concern.
“What I desire is the Sea Dragon's blessing to defeat all foes.”
The light erupting from the sword shot up into the sky, forming a shape.
A giant dragon.
The form of an Eastern dragon, with antlers like tree branches and long, flowing whiskers.
“Please grant us the strength to overcome this foreign power.”
Paaaat!
As he chanted the final phrase, the dragon materialized, revealing its magnificent presence.
“Wh-what is that...?”
Shi forgot to attack, staring blankly up at the dragon.
It seems this is her first time seeing the Manpasikjeok.
After all, it was designed to be difficult for anyone who wasn't Korean to know about or obtain.
Foreign progressors likely didn't even know that something like the Manpasikjeok existed.
[Was it you who called me, descendant.]
“Yes.”
The Sea Dragon looked at Hwang Chan-jin, then turned its gaze toward Angra Mainyu.
Then, its face quickly filled with rage.
[How dare an impure being attempt to defile this land!!]
The moment the Sea Dragon roared, a dazzling brilliance covered the sky and the earth.
[The ‘Sea Dragon of Munmu’ spreads its power across the entire Korean peninsula!]
[A powerful buff is granted to all players of Korean descent.]
[The power of all impure beings is weakened.]
The Sea Dragon cannot directly attack anything.
All it can do is provide indirect help like this.
But, that was enough.
Because the Sea Dragon's power could even weaken the might of the Disaster of Defiance.