Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: 57. Zakum (7)
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192
57. Zakum (7)
18.
Zakum.
There wasn't much information about it in the Maple World.
The reason was simple.
Adventurers who went to hunt Zakum met their deaths without exception.
And not just any deaths, but ones so total that survivors were practically nonexistent.
Naturally, the adventurers came to a conclusion.
“Zakum has something special. Something that lets it kill every single adventurer without fail.”
El Pam knew exactly what they thought that something was.
‘Zakum starts to fall if you think it’s the end.’
‘And that fall is impossible to block.’
He knew just how impossible it was.
‘Attacking it mid-fall is no easy feat either. Especially since Zakum uses teleportation.’
That was why.
The instant Zakum lost all its arms, El Pam drew that spell without a second’s hesitation.
“Astrafe.”
Zeus’s thunderbolt spear!
But this wasn’t just any Zeus’s thunderbolt spear.
Element Amplification!
El Pam was still wearing the gloves infused with that passive skill.
Which meant its power was at least fifty percent greater than the last time he’d used it.
An absurd notion.
And an insanely dangerous one.
Zeus’s thunderbolt spear was a spell that forcibly wrung every last drop of mana from a mage’s body.
The user was bound to suffer mana shock the moment it activated.
Pair it with Element Amplification, which ramped up mana consumption?
The incoming mana shock would be double—no, even worse.
Under normal circumstances, instant death wouldn’t be surprising.
But El Pam didn’t care.
‘I won’t die.’
He’d been through it before.
The time he’d nearly died from mana shock after pushing far beyond his limits.
‘I’ll just collapse.’
Sure, he knew the aftermath wouldn’t be pretty, but El Pam paid it no mind.
He had his party.
And so, the moment the thunderbolt spear took shape, El Pam hurled it.
Kwarrrung!
The thunderclap roared, and El Pam blacked out.
19.
Kwarrrung!
That thunderclap hammered into the eardrums and minds of Viola and every surviving member of the Abandoned Mine expedition.
Everyone whipped their heads around.
And that was when they saw it.
“That...?”
The colossal Zakum hovering in the sky.
Kwagwang!
A single bolt of lightning spearing straight through it.
The sight was so miraculous that everyone stood dumbfounded.
‘What in the world...?’
It was beyond comprehension, enough to short-circuit the minds of these battle-hardened adventurers, knights, Resistance fighters, and hunters.
Even Viola was no exception.
She stared, transfixed by the scene.
For a long while.
She only snapped out of it when the Zakum that had floated skyward crashed to the ground.
Kugugugung!
A massive quake swallowed everyone whole. The Abandoned Mine adventurers, still dazed, toppled over in the tremors.
“Argh!”
Some screamed as they fell. Others plunged fatally into pools of lava.
Chaos erupted everywhere, plunging the survivors into deeper turmoil.
Viola was just as lost.
That was why.
‘I have to check.’
She bolted at full speed toward the spot where Zakum had landed.
It was far from wise.
As leader of the Abandoned Mine expedition, she couldn’t afford to throw her life away in any situation.
Problems arose? Send someone else.
That was her role!
And whatever was happening there was no ordinary matter.
An extremely perilous one!
For all anyone knew, that lightning and thunder could be Zakum’s doing.
If so, Viola’s actions amounted to suicide, plain and simple.
Especially given her fated role.
Yet in her current state of panic, no such rational thoughts entered her head. She reached the site faster than anyone.
“Th-this...?”
Zakum lay there, all arms severed, its torso cleaved clean in half and sprawled across the ground.
Zakum’s corpse.
The realization left Viola dumbfounded once more.
‘Wh-who could have...?’
Who could succeed where the Abandoned Mine expedition had failed—where they’d now abandoned all hope?
But her pondering didn’t last.
It couldn’t.
She saw it.
Kugung!
‘Ah!’
Zakum.
The monster stirring back to life.
20.
Kwarrrung. The thunder’s roar let everyone in El Pam’s party know exactly what it was.
“Boss!”
El Pam’s Zeus’s thunderbolt spear had seared itself into their memories, unforgettable even if they tried.
So they charged toward him without a moment’s hesitation.
They knew all too well the state he’d be in after unleashing it.
They soon arrived at his location—and saw.
“Damn it!”
El Pam sprawled on the ground.
Dibo rushed over first to check on him.
His heart was still beating, thankfully.
That was all.
The heartbeat was feeble, liable to stop at any moment. His breathing was so faint it was barely there.
His body could manage nothing else.
‘He’s alive.’
Dibo let out a sigh of relief all the same.
Because she was there.
“Step aside.”
The greatest Bishop alive, who could save anyone clinging to life!
Ralph approached, assessed El Pam’s condition, then began basic treatment. Dibo asked,
“How’s the boss? He gonna be okay?”
“His body’s fine.”
“His body?”
“I can heal the body. As many times as it takes. The mind, though—that’s another story.”
Ralph’s words turned everyone’s faces grim, Dibo included.
“A mana shock this severe means the mental damage is beyond words.”
“So...?”
“Even if I fix the body, his mind might not come back. Put simply, he could end up a vegetable. Or worse.”
Mana shock terrified for good reason: lives saved, but minds shattered far too often.
“And he was wearing these gloves. The impact’s worse than we can imagine.”
El Pam had pushed even harder this time!
Ralph stated with certainty,
“Unless he’s danced on death’s door over a hundred times, he won’t be opening his eyes anytime soon.”
That was when it happened.
“Ungh...”
A groan slipped from El Pam’s lips.
His eyes cracked open, ever so slightly.
That was it.
El Pam couldn’t even speak. All he could manage were faint signals with his gaze.
But it was enough.
Proof that El Pam was still in there.
“Boss! You’re back with us!”
Dibo whooped in awe, then shot Ralph a look.
“See? Told you—no point listening to a money-hungry creep like you!”
Ralph offered no retort.
He merely cracked his eyes open a fraction.
He had no bandwidth for words anyway.
Kugung!
“Huh?”
The fallen Zakum was making noise.
Kung!
A declaration: it lived.
Shock painted everyone’s faces.
‘That thing’s still alive?’
El Pam’s strike was devastating enough on its own. Then the fall from midair.
It should’ve been pulverized.
Yet here it was, surviving.
A monster beyond belief!
‘And this is the weakened version?’
This Zakum was far feebler than the one lurking deep in the Abandoned Mine for over a millennium.
Which meant the true Zakum’s power was even more unfathomable!
No time to fret over that distant threat, though.
The surviving Zakum demanded attention.
“I’ll play bait!”
Dibo volunteered first.
“Get the boss out of here!”
No debate.
Dibo tore off toward Zakum at full tilt.
“The polearm hero Dibo has arrived!”
He announced himself with maximum flair.
Kicking up a storm.
‘Buy as much time as I can! Whatever it takes!’
Bracing for death.
Not a hint of doubt the whole way.
Then—
“Hey, you.”
A voice rang out. Dibo turned—and spotted her immediately.
A woman hefting a massive polearm, Zakum’s helm on her head, her white hair gleaming like silver in the wind.
Aran!
One of the Six Heroes, matching Dibo’s pace stride for stride.
Any adventurer—especially a polearm wielder—would break out in chills.
Not Dibo.
Not now. No awe-struck shivers for him.
“Aran, I’m on edge, so save the teasing for later. Cool?”
He had bigger priorities.
Priorities topping chitchat with the polearm legend.
Aran smirked at his demeanor.
“Interesting.”
Then—
[What’s so interesting about this punk!]
A diminutive golden youth popped from Aran’s polearm, glaring daggers at Dibo.
The polearm spirit, Mahad.
Practically another facet of Aran, who’d saved the world alongside her!
The dream encounter for any adventurer.
Dibo couldn’t care less right now.
“We’re in a crunch—spit it out. Why’d you call?”
Aran answered.
“Time to settle a debt.”
“Debt?”
“Yeah. Debt. I don’t leave those hanging.”
She bellowed,
“Adrenaline Boost!”
A pillar of light erupted from her body. Flame-like radiance poured forth.
In the next instant, she rocketed toward Zakum at speeds Dibo couldn’t touch.
And she demonstrated.
“Smash Swing!”
A skill dwarfing anything Dibo had ever unleashed with the same name—in sheer power.
Her polearm carved into Zakum’s torso like it was slicing cake.
‘My god.’
Dibo blanked out for a second, staring.
He knew, having used it himself.
Just how ridiculous the display was.
“Smash Wave!”
But Aran, hero of the polearm, didn’t let up. She poured out everything.
“Final Charge!”
All that made her a hero.
“Final Toss!”
How she’d faced down hordes of monsters while sealing the Black Mage.
“Final Blow!”
The arc of her swung polearm unleashed a torrent of energy. It coalesced into a colossal bear, which smashed a gigantic paw down on Zakum.
Kwarrrung!
The blast obliterated what remained of Zakum in a shower of fragments.
No one breathed easy, though.
No one had dreamed it could rise after that plunge.
No difference now.
Tension strung tight, they watched Zakum.
‘Ah!’
There.
As the crumbling Zakum—and the tombstone it clutched—shattered, the exit materialized.
The Zakum hunt was over.