Chapter 232
Chapter 232
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 232
Chapter Title: ACT.45 Retaking the Han River (4)
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[What the…?!]
Dodging Leviathan's attack, Behemoth's Fang struck its body.
If it hadn't used this pattern and paid attention to my attack, it wouldn't have been hit so easily.
"This is what you get for trying to take the easy way out."
[…Are you one to talk?]
*Crack!*
The protection shattered.
The transparent something covering Leviathan's body vanished without a trace, and as if they'd been waiting, the twins' combined attack bombarded it.
"Take this, you monster!"
*Fwoosh!*
Flames gathered in his hand.
Min-woo was the one swinging, but the one maintaining the flames was none other than Jo Min-ah.
They had each taken a role to form a single attack.
*BOOM!!*
[Kyaaaaaaah?!]
Leviathan thrashed its body violently.
It swam out of the cave toward the surface, clearly flustered as if it had never imagined taking damage.
The cave began to collapse in the aftermath.
It's destroying its own home. Damn thing.
"Whoa!? H-Hyung! What do we do about this!?"
"I'll make a path!"
As Jo Min-ah did something, the water current suddenly changed.
'This is?'
I could immediately feel the change in the surrounding water temperature.
Warm water rises, and cold water sinks.
She used that principle to artificially create a current that would carry us to the surface.
Not bad.
I was quietly impressed.
"Just follow this current!"
"Hyung, did you see that! How was my attack?"
"You did great."
When I smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, Jo Min-woo grinned.
Just as the protection grants immense damage resistance, the moment it disappears comes with the risk of becoming quite vulnerable.
Normally, Leviathan wouldn't have taken this much damage, but it got hit hard for that very reason.
'It's probably more flustered by the pain it hasn't felt in so long than by the actual injury.'
Even if it's vulnerable, it's still a beast covered head to toe in Dragon Scale.
If it took damage that easily, it wouldn't have been ranked S+.
'Behemoth's Fang is…'
Still intact.
Much of its durability was consumed destroying the protection, so I can only swing it a few more times, but it's not like I'll use it for much else besides fighting Leviathan anyway.
A strategy made possible because they are designed to kill each other.
Normally, I'd have to pay a hefty price for using the devil's shop, but since that wasn't the case now, I got off easy.
[Seriously, Kim Se-hyeon. Please. I'm the one who has to patch up all these holes. Do you have any idea how much I've already had to cover for this and that this month alone? Dammit, hell. My wallet's going to be empty again!!]
Except for Besial, who was working on something as if he was about to cry.
The downside is that I can't use it too often, as it could threaten Besial's very existence.
I wonder if this will be solved when Besial becomes a higher-ranking devil.
"Oppa! I can see the surface!"
"Don't go up right away. Wait a bit. I'll check."
The surface was already a chaotic mess.
The sea, presumably somewhere off the west coast.
In the middle of a storm so violent that no ship could possibly navigate it, I found an empty fishing boat—perhaps washed away from a nearby island—and climbed aboard.
[It's shaking like crazy. Are you going to fight on this thing?]
"Humans can't stand on water. And they can't fly."
[You could if you received divine power.]
I ignored Besial's subtle jab and pulled the twins up by their arms.
They hadn't even been underwater for that long, but they both took deep breaths as if they hadn't seen land in years.
"Hah! The air is so much bett— Ugh."
"Gah!? If you're going to puke, go do it over there!!"
"No, wait… Ugh. I know it's a storm, but this is shaking way too much…"
"It's not just a storm. Look closely."
At my words, Jo Min-woo, his face pale, shifted his gaze.
Then, forgetting even his nausea, his jaw dropped.
"A-a dragon…?"
"Looks like one, doesn't it?"
*Rumble!*
As soon as I finished speaking, a bolt of lightning struck the water nearby.
A storm with thunder and lightning. A tornado visible in the distance. Dark clouds covering the sky so completely that no sunlight could get through.
And right beneath it all, a dragon straight out of a fairy tale.
This was the beginning of Phase 2 of the Leviathan raid.
"We have to fight that thing…?"
Jo Min-woo muttered, unable to close his mouth.
"We have to."
I readjusted my grip on Behemoth's Fang and aimed it at Leviathan's eyes, which were glaring at me.
"If we don't, everyone in Seoul will end up in a watery grave."
[How dare you… How dare you…!]
Leviathan's whiskers trembled violently.
As if driven by its emotions, the storm grew even fiercer.
[Be swallowed whole!!]
*RUMBLE!*
A massive wave crashed down.
A tsunami so enormous that it would wipe any coastal town off the map if it hit, and for a moment, I was dumbstruck.
"Hold on tight!"
"What about you, Hyung!?"
"Oppa, you should grab on too before it's too late— Kyaa!"
Jo Min-ah reached out, but as the boat tilted sharply, she used both arms to hold onto the wall.
Easy for her to say, but no matter how well you hold on, you're done for if that thing sweeps over you.
Dammit. The rain is making it hard to see.
I immediately drew upon my mana.
[Unique Skill, 'Shattering Moon,' is being used.]
Just before the wave crashed over the boat, I blasted away its center, splitting it like a waterfall.
*WHOOSH!!*
A thunderous sound, like passing between two waterfalls, battered my eardrums.
That stopped us from being swept away, but there was no way it would end with just one wave.
"Oppa!!"
*BOOM!!*
A mass of blue flames collided with a lightning bolt, causing an explosion.
Lightning isn't something you can react to after seeing it.
After all, lightning is still 'light'.
'She acted knowing the lightning would strike?'
Slightly surprised, I glanced back at Jo Min-ah.
'Did she sense the lightning was about to strike with 'Detection'?'
I'd never heard that Detection could do that.
At that level, it's practically sensing a bit of the future.
I twisted my lips into a smirk.
'Perhaps.'
Than the 'Witch of Blue Flames' from the original story that I knew.
This Jo Min-ah might just become a much stronger existence.
"You're not the only one who can control storms, you know."
I sneered at the Leviathan that was grinding its teeth and looking down at us.
I took out the Key to the Four-Image Barrier from my inventory.
I didn't think I'd have to use it again so soon.
"Come forth, King of all Goblins and Ghouls!"
Instead of inserting the key into space and turning it, I threw it straight up.
The key, which had shot up vertically without being affected by the fierce storm, was enveloped in light.
Then, a moment later.
Through a massive gate adorned with traditional patterns, Cheon-ryang appeared, properly dressed in royal attire, unlike when he was in the Inner World.
As soon as he appeared, Cheon-ryang burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha! I came at once at my little brother's call! Did you miss me that much, little brother?"
"A-a dokkaebi!?"
"Oho, so those little ones are the children you spoke of. Then I can call them my little siblings as well! But what in the world is with this storm?"
Cheon-ryang looked around, then spotted the Leviathan and stroked his chin.
"Why is that sea serpent monster so angry? Is this storm its doing?"
"It's lost its reason due to another power. It seems to be attacking everything in sight."
"Losing its reason so carelessly? What an achievement. A real achievement. Among us dokkaebi, if you black out from drinking, you'll be teased for three generations. Yep."
Cheon-ryang stroked his beard in satisfaction.
…I hope I never have to have a drinking contest with dokkaebi again.
I did it last time out of necessity, but I'll pass on a repeat performance.
"Anyway, since it's a request from my little brother, I guess I'll stretch my legs a bit for the first time in a while!"
*Ruuuumble…*
Enough power to make the atmosphere vibrate began to gather around Cheon-ryang.
That was the true power of Cheon-ryang, the king of the dokkaebi.
The power of a king, unleashed when facing a non-human entity, free from the restriction of being unable to harm humans.
"Stand back!"
The dokkaebi club struck the air with all its might.
*BOOM.* The atmosphere vibrated as if a sonic wave had been generated.
Centered on Cheon-ryang, the dark clouds and storm slowly receded, and sunlight began to peek through.
[How dare these cowards, who fled to another world and tremble in fear of their own extinction…!]
Leviathan, not to be outdone, flashed its eyes and showed off its power.
The dark clouds seemed to retreat but held their ground, and the heavy rain could not advance beyond a certain point.
As if that spot were the boundary of the world.
The clear sky and the downpour were divided by a perfectly straight line, showing just how intense their power struggle was.
"Still, it doesn't look like he can overpower Leviathan… Huh, Hyung!?"
I leaped from the boat, which had become perfectly still in the calm, and used Army of Darkness.
*Swoosh.*
Soldiers materializing from thin air supported me as if they had been waiting.
Like stairs, I stepped on one, then the next, and the next.
'Leviathan's and Cheon-ryang's powers are evenly matched.'
The weather wasn't going to tip in either direction.
Still, having it split half-and-half was enough for me to achieve my goal.
'The corrupted horn.'
Leviathan stores its power in the three horns on its head.
The reason it's lost its mind and is rampaging like this is because one of those horns has been corrupted by the power of the Disaster of Rebellion.
Normally, I could just purify the corruption from the horn, but that's impossible since the Saintess isn't on our side.
So, there's only one method left.
"Go, little brother!"
*Whoosh!*
I let myself be carried by the wind that Cheon-ryang had just stirred up.
In an instant, I was right in front of Leviathan's nose.
Having lost its reason means its field of vision is narrow.
Leviathan, fully focused on its power struggle with Cheon-ryang, didn't notice my approach at all until it was too late, and tried to twist its body away.
[Forgive my rudeness.]
Alpha, the last one summoned, threw me with all his might.
I reached my destination far faster than Leviathan could dodge.
Judging it was too late to dodge, Leviathan switched tactics and began emitting electricity from its entire body, but.
"Too late."
I swung Behemoth's Fang.
One of the horns, wreathed in black smoke, was sliced off like tofu, and Leviathan screamed.
[Keok…!]
*Splash!*
Its massive body crashed into the sea.
I couldn't fly either, so I fell as well, but a giant wooden plank appeared at just the right time, floating in the air.
I chuckled and looked back at Cheon-ryang.
"I don't think you're supposed to be carelessly creating things with that dokkaebi club."
"I'm the king, whose permission would I need? Khahaha. Should I get rid of it if you don't like it?"
"No, that's fine."
"Why start something you can't finish? Anyway, aren't you going to finish that thing off? With one horn gone, it must have lost a lot of power. You could win if you keep fighting."
"I wasn't exactly fighting to kill it."
Leviathan probably won't want to fight anymore either.
*Thud.*
The severed horn happened to fall right towards me, so I snatched it.
Something like black smoke, exuding the nauseating energy of the Disaster of Rebellion.
It slithered towards my hand, so I blocked it by conjuring Black Flame.
"…I guess I'll store it like this for now."
[Why are you keeping that? Got a use for it?]
"I might."
Just as Behemoth's Fang is used to fight Leviathan, Leviathan's horn is used to fight Behemoth.
Both of them are beings that don't necessarily need to be killed, so it's uncertain if I'll even have to fight it.
'Right, it was you! You must have done something to Behemoth!'
I mulled over what Leviathan had said.
In the original story, you always ended up fighting Leviathan like this, but there was never a fight against Behemoth.
But The Order and Salvatio.
The actions of these two groups naturally led to the worst-case scenario where I might have to fight Behemoth as well.
"Hyung! Hyung! Behind you! It's coming back up!!"