Berserk (2)
“Ugh.”
His head swam.
Flames were devouring everything around him, and his body was occasionally lashing out on its own, as if it had a will of its own.
I have to keep my mind together.
Something flew toward him.
The Winged Lion’s wings split apart, and it was slammed into the ground in an instant.
One, then two.
The beings all around him crumbled to ash and scattered.
Blood, mucus, shrieks.
The sound of bones shattering.
They were monsters he absolutely had to deal with, but this was not the sight Kim Jun had wanted to see.
It was, of course, a last resort.
“Grrrraaaah!”
Beast and human cries mingled as they spilled from his throat.
Yet the center of his consciousness was still fighting back.
Hold out. Until they get here.
He had already gone beyond his limit. If he went any further, there would be no way back.
On that precarious slope inside himself, Kim Jun gritted his teeth and refused to let go of the thread of his sanity.
But his body did not stop.
His hand lashed out.
Black flames poured forth.
Enemies exploded, burned, vanished.
Within that inferno, Kim Jun was enduring it all so that he wouldn’t kill.
No—so that he wouldn’t kill too much.
*
“Holy crap, we’re screwed!”
The words burst from Lee Seoyeon’s mouth before she could stop them.
The thing she had feared most had become reality.
When Kim Jun had undergone the Dragon Heart transplant, Lee Seoyeon had refined the flow of mana and felt the pulse of that red heart with him.
Inside it, there had been a vast presence she couldn’t put into words.
More precisely… a slumbering rampage.
Something she had sensed would eventually explode.
So it really did happen…
And now the power of a demon was layered on top of it.
It was no longer something within the realm of what they could handle.
Thud—
Park Minsu’s massive back filled her view.
“Boss! What the hell happened to you?!”
Bang!
Driving his shield into the ground, Park Minsu lunged forward.
“Try blocking this!”
“Earth World Stand!”
Earth mana condensed into his shield.
The ground beneath their feet buckled upward, and the shield’s front face rose like a fortress wall.
“It’s my attack you’ll be blocking!”
Right behind him, Ryu Jia’s staff flared with light.
“Ice Serpent! Frost Spear! Hyper Glacier!”
Three magic circles overlapped in the air.
Blue cold whirlpooled through them, and a barrage of ice began pouring down around the rampaging Kim Jun.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-!
Ice serpents coiled around his body, spears of frost pierced down, and huge chunks of glacier crashed from the sky.
BOOOOOM—!!
Sky and ground alike were buried beneath shards of ice.
But from the center of it all—
Swish.
Before the dust had even settled, it walked out.
Kim Jun.
There was still no reason in his eyes.
But those red irises were fixed squarely on the four of them.
“…Eep.”
Ryu Jia bit her lip as she stumbled back.
“That didn’t work?”
Then Kim Jun lowered his body and shot forward.
Flash!
Flames snapped like a shadow, and Park Minsu’s shield split with a scream.
“Ghk…!”
“Heal! Shield!”
Lee Seoyeon focused her mana.
Light spread and wrapped around Park Minsu, and just before the black flames could spread any farther, a curtain of light held them back.
But the fire did not stop.
Kim Jun moved again without a word, and at his fingertips, the next attack was already gathering.
Boom!
Thud!
The earth burst upward, and fragments sprayed in every direction.
“At this rate…”
No one managed to finish the sentence.
It was too overwhelming, too hopeless.
Even if their guild leader was that strong, how could four S-class hunters throw themselves at him and not leave a single scratch?
Just as despair was closing in under that impossible power, something caught Han Suin’s eye.
Near the entrance to the twelfth floor.
Behind the broken angel statue, in the gap beside the cracked first pillar.
Something floating in midair.
A sword so formless that even its silhouette was blurred.
…!
Han Suin’s body moved on instinct.
“Where are you going?!”
“Suin unni! Where are you going?”
Park Minsu and Ryu Jia shouted in alarm, but Lee Seoyeon alone followed her gaze and instantly understood that Han Suin had noticed something.
Han Suin was not the kind of person who moved without reason.
“Wall of Sanctuary.”
Lee Seoyeon immediately deployed a barrier, blocking Kim Jun’s flames so they wouldn’t harm her.
Using that opening, Han Suin darted behind the pillar.
Vmmmm—
This is…
Grab—
[Item Discovered]: Melchizedek's Formless Sword
[Grade]: ???
[Type]: Sword
[Effect]: It cannot cut anything in the material world, but it can cut things in the soul world.
[Soul-Level Effect]: Affects only spiritual beings, fallen selves, and the impurity of one’s essence.
[Special Effect]: Purifies fallen souls and returns them to their original form.
- Details: If the target is in a state of ‘corruption, rampage, berserk, or curse,’ it pierces the core soul, purifies the self, and restores the target to its original state.
[Binding]:
- This sword was originally bound to the hybrid core of ‘Kim Jun’ and ‘Asmodeus.’
- However, by Kim Jun’s prior designation, use of this form sword has been granted to ‘Han Suin.’
- If the target willingly permits it, the purification will not fail by force.
Han Suin held the sword and drew a quiet breath.
…So this is what he had planned?
Kim Jun had prepared a return mechanism for his own rampage, one that only one person could use to pierce him.
Before he fell into berserk, Kim Jun had made a cold, rational judgment.
Who would be the first person to reach the twelfth floor?
And who could possibly catch up to him once he went berserk?
There was only one answer.
Han Suin.
Her eyes flashed.
She tightened her grip around the formless sword, a blade with no edge.
I’ll do it.
She sprang to her feet.
And for the first time, she shouted out loud.
“Draw his attention!”
Han Suin’s cry.
That alone was enough.
Even Park Minsu and Ryu Jia, usually so full of teasing and mischief, made their decision at once at the sound of Han Suin’s voice—one they had never heard before.
And Lee Seoyeon, who had already made her own judgment long ago, did the same.
At Han Suin’s shout, the three of them immediately released all their mana.
“Arcadia’s Sanctuary!”
“Hero’s Finale!”
“Holy Harmony Burst!”
“Max Re-Gen Veil!”
“Luminous Incarni!”
A storm of light erupted.
Healing and enhancement, purification and release.
Every support spell detonated all at once, draping the battlefield in a radiant brilliance.
“Uwaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!”
Park Minsu roared as he hoisted his shattered shield.
“Hyper Stun Charge!!!”
“Titan Wall Formation!!!”
“Magnetic Fortress!!!”
“Earthshaker Bastion!!!”
The earth trembled violently.
Condensed gravity warped the ground, and colossal stone walls sealed off the front.
The barriers rising from the earth blocked Kim Jun’s path as though they were a causeway trapped and ringed by enemies.
Then Ryu Jia raised both arms.
Crackle—
Crackle-!
Fire and frost flickered together at her fingertips.
Her eyes turned an unnatural violet, and seven magic circles overlapped in the air.
“Cryonic Obliterator!”
“Glacial Blade Conjure!”
“Inferno Trinity!”
“Comet Saturation!”
“Frost Edge Barrage!”
“Meteor Expansion!”
“Frozen Prison Collapse!”
Cold and flame burst at the same time.
From the sky, meteors blazing like comets crashed down, while from the ground, blades of ice thrust upward to seal off both air and earth.
All their mana was spent in a single instant.
Amid the explosive firepower and the whirling storm of light, Kim Jun could not move.
Swish—
And behind him, a shadow began to writhe and spread.
At Kim Jun’s back.
At the point that turned away from his heart.
Critical Silhouette.
Thwack—!
*
…Quiet.
What should have reached him first was the roar of flames and the screams of angels.
But what struck his ears instead was only the sound of wind slipping through a window.
Kim Jun slowly opened his eyes.
The ceiling of an old wooden inn, a frayed blanket, and a familiar scent tickling the tip of his nose.
“An inn?”
His body felt heavy. Even moving a fingertip sent waves of stabbing pain through him.
It worked.
Every joint in his body ached as though seared by fire, and it felt as if black heat still lingered deep in his lungs.
As if his mana circuits themselves had been burned raw.
At this rate… I won’t be moving for at least a week.
Berserk. A skill that amplified power through pure rage without consuming mana.
Even before his regression, it had been a technique he used only a handful of times, only at moments when he thought this was truly the end.
The power is overwhelming, but the cost is far too high. And I’ve already used it now.
He never wanted to use that skill again. It ate away at both mind and body.
Should I start considering coordinated raids from now on?
Kim Yoonseok’s existence, an unknown debuff… variables were appearing, subtle differences from before the regression.
He would have to approach things more carefully.
Then—
“Are. You. A. W. A. K. E.?”
Lee Seoyeon leaned in beside his bed with a ferocious smile, appearing without a sound.
Her eyes weren’t smiling at all. Only her mouth was.
The kind of person whose expression was far more terrifying than her words.
Kim Jun reflexively dragged the blanket up to his neck.
“Looks like you’re awake, huh?”
“…Ha, haha…”
“Are you going to do that kind of thing again in the future?”
“…”
“Answer me.”
“…I won’t.”
“Good. If you say that and do it again, then—”
Flash—
Lee Seoyeon flicked a bit of mana from her fingertips.
The light-charged mana hissed as it brushed past Kim Jun’s cheek.
“I. Won’t. Heal. You.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kim Jun nodded quickly.
He meant it.
“Boss, you’re alive!”
Just then the door burst open, and Park Minsu strode in with heavy steps.
“Still, I’ve never seen the boss just collapse like that before. You’ve got some humanity in you after all—humanity!”
“…I almost died.”
“But you didn’t die, did you? Then it’s fine! That was a pretty fun experience, honestly!”
Ryu Jia followed behind him with her arms crossed.
She stuck out her lower lip and glared as she spoke.
“What were you thinking, pulling something like that? Huh? If I hadn’t been there, everybody would’ve died. Without this overwhelming great mage, whew.”
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
“Ugh, why do you keep doing that? Now I can’t even say anything back. Tsk.”
Despite her grumbling, Ryu Jia’s expression had already softened.
…
And there, leaning quietly against the doorframe, was Han Suin.
She said nothing, but her eyes made it clear enough.
She was glad he was safe.
Kim Jun met that silent gaze and then, very slightly, bowed his head.
21