Descent of the Sun King
Descent of the Sun King.
The skill that had made Han Min-joon an S-rank Awakener. The skill that had made him a national hero.
Even so, Han Min-joon using that skill could not defeat the World Rank 1 Awakener.
Never thought I'd get to see this with my own eyes.
It was a skill with such strict activation conditions that it was rarely ever witnessed.
Guildmaster Han Min-joon was blazing with brilliant golden light.
"Hah."
He swung his sword in that state, and a golden trajectory trailed through the air.
After swinging a few more times, Han Min-joon spoke in a low voice.
"Judge's Strike."
With his words, the golden trajectories drawn in the air all shot toward Envy at once.
"Kghk!"
Envy, her feet bound by Shadow Pressure, had no choice but to take the attack head-on.
Struck, she was flung backward into the wall.
"Whew…."
"Thank you for your hard work."
The moment his attack ended, Guildmaster Han Min-joon immediately released his skill.
The activation conditions were strict, but the skill was also known to carry a severe penalty.
But releasing the skill right now is….
Far too foolish a move.
At that moment, a horrific demonic energy washed over me.
Ordinary demonic energy inspired disgust — but the energy I was feeling now was something else entirely.
"Damn it."
This was the worst-case scenario I had been praying wouldn't happen.
"What is this demonic energy…?"
"How can something like this exist…!"
The source of the energy was the spot where Envy had been flung.
In other words, the origin of this demonic energy was Envy herself.
"Both of you, get out of there!"
I shouted in a hurry, but it was too late.
It had already begun.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion.
Through the roar, what I could see were Guildmaster Han Min-joon and Team Leader Woo Sang-shik, slammed against the wall and unconscious.
"Damn it."
Curses spilled out of me on their own.
The situation I had wanted to avoid more than anything.
Envy had liberated her Sin.
"How boring."
Where Guildmaster Han Min-joon and Team Leader Woo Sang-shik had stood only moments ago, Envy now stood.
Or rather, what had once been Envy stood there.
Both of them are already unconscious.
Which meant there was only one course of action available to me here.
Meet it head-on.
Running or ambushing — neither would work against the thing before my eyes.
Because what stood there was Envy, and yet not Envy.
"Oh? Drawing a weapon, are we?"
Envy smiled with apparent interest as she watched me grip my weapon.
What was moving Envy's body right now was not a Demon — it was an Archdemon.
Envy's Archdemon, Leviathan.
Leviathan was the one ruling Envy's body at this moment.
Sin Liberation was the act of summoning the Archdemon of one's contracted Sin into one's own body.
It was a gamble that could cost you your body forever.
I changed the attribute of every drop of mana in my body to Demon-Slaying.
"Hah."
I would give it everything I had.
Standing here with my feet pinned was out of the question.
Given time, the main body would rise from below, and then we'd all be dead.
Half-measures are useless here.
If I didn't commit fully right now, I would die.
The pressure pressing against my skin was no joke.
The me of this moment would, without question, die.
"Sovereign of the Battlefield."
Sovereign of the Battlefield
Stat increase of +10% per allied combatant.
All stats increased by 1,280%.
A tenfold boost to my stats.
My stats were now pushing close to 3,500.
Even so, I didn't believe I could beat the Envy before me — Leviathan.
But it's the only thing I can do.
Leviathan had been waiting for me to attack first this whole time.
Not the behavior you'd expect from an Archdemon.
Archdemon-like, all right.
With that thought, I moved.
Limit Break.
My lower dantian boiled over, and power beyond my limits surged through me.
But even this wasn't enough.
Shrinking Earth Step
Embedded within Jeon Woo-chi's Boots.
The Shrinking Earth Step skill built into Jeon Woo-chi's shoes.
I had tested its power several times already.
Using it, I closed the distance to Leviathan in an instant.
Sovereign of the Battlefield lasts five minutes.
Determined to end it within that window, I unleashed the strongest footwork I currently possessed.
Myriad Transformation Footwork.
One Step: Heaven Breaker.
Heaven Breaker — the finest technique I could use right now.
The moment my foot fell, the space around me began to shatter.
"Oh…."
Whether to call it awe or disbelief, Envy reacted to my Heaven Breaker with evident fascination.
Deal with it immediately.
If Leviathan had a weakness right now, it was the body.
The body Leviathan was using was a human one.
She had become a Demon, yes, but compared to an Archdemon's true form, it was nothing.
Jeon Woo-chi himself acknowledged this technique.
This footwork had been recognized even by Jeon Woo-chi.
There was no way such footwork couldn't handle a single Demon's body.
Whoosh.
At my gesture, the shattered fragments of space all hurled themselves at Leviathan.
The attacks aimed at Leviathan struck true.
But the most important thing was missing.
No bite… no, no weight to the steps.
The attacks landed, but they were nowhere near fatal — barely a graze.
And this was the strongest technique I could currently use.
"This is actually kind of fun."
Her clothes hung in tatters, and blood ran down her entire body.
Yet not a single wound among them was fatal.
"You're starting to piss me off."
BOOM!
"Kghk!"
With Leviathan's words, demonic energy shot toward me, and I was flung into the wall.
The impact was considerable, but I barely held onto consciousness.
Three minutes left on the stat boost.
Time in combat was both slow and fast.
And right now, it was on the fast side.
"What are you looking away for?"
Just then, a water-attribute attack came flying at me.
I moved as much as I could and closed in on Leviathan again.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The abandoned building shook with each of Leviathan's attacks.
However well it was protected by demonic energy, holding up at all was impressive.
"Don't you DARE look away from me!"
Suddenly, Leviathan's tone changed.
What are you even angry about?
I wanted to talk back right then and there, but I couldn't.
I slowly closed the distance.
I could have closed it in one burst, but doing so would only leave me open to that attack.
"Hahahaha."
After rage came laughter — maniacal, unhinged — as she hurled attacks at me.
I dodged as much as I could, spotted an opening, and pivoted toward Leviathan.
Basic Footwork.
Speed.
In Limit Break state I could have used Swiftness, but I needed to conserve mana.
"Walking right into my hands."
Demonic energy was condensing in Leviathan's palm as she spoke.
Damn it!
That opening I'd just seen had been a fake — bait dangled to lure me in.
Retreating now is too late.
If I pulled back clumsily, that attack would hit me one hundred percent.
So instead of retreating, I plunged straight into Leviathan's embrace.
"Oh?"
Leviathan reacted with visible surprise at my response.
Myriad Transformation Footwork.
One Step—
The moment I was about to take that step, a new message appeared before my eyes.
All energy of the earth has been absorbed.
The Ring of the Earth has fully awakened.
The power of the earth is now available for use.
The message declared that the Ring of the Earth on my hand had fully awakened.
And with it, my plummeting stamina shot back up in an instant.
The Ring of the Earth steps forward to help its master.
You little rascal.
Reading the message, I nearly let a chuckle slip out despite myself.
And the usage instructions for the power of the earth carved themselves into my mind.
In this state….
It was only possible because of Limit Break.
I slowly took a step forward.
Myriad Transformation Footwork.
Limit Break.
One Step: Horizon Splitter.
BOOM!
The moment my foot fell, cracks began to spider across the abandoned building.
And then it collapsed entirely.
"What did you DO?!"
"What did I do? You're screwed, that's what."
Even as I fell, I packed my dagger at my hip full of Demon-Slaying energy and hurled it at Leviathan.
CRUNCH!
The dagger shattered the demonic barrier and struck the crown of Envy's head.
THWACK!
With a deeply satisfying sound, Envy plummeted downward at an even greater speed.
Buried under building rubble from this height, there's no way she survives.
With no demonic barrier left, death was certain.
The building had been abandoned, but it was toweringly tall — there was no way she'd live.
First, I need to get out of here….
Escaping on my own was somehow possible.
The problem was Guildmaster Han Min-joon and Team Leader Woo Sang-shik, falling just ahead of me.
What do I do….
I was no hero; walking through the air to save those two was effectively impossible.
As I wrestled with the problem, a message appeared that was perfect for exactly this situation.
Shrinking Earth Step cooldown has ended.
I immediately used Shrinking Earth Step to reach the two of them, tucked one under each arm, and activated the escape items I'd been carrying.
"Envy has fallen."
Five Demons sat around a round table, as if imitating the Knights of the Round Table, in a darkened room.
"Envy is dead?"
Ranked seventh among them, perhaps, but still the master of a lineage — one of their own.
"Don't lie to us."
"Right, even that weakling was still a lineage master."
Two of them dismissed it as a joke.
"Who was it?"
One took it seriously.
"Yaaawn."
One couldn't have cared less.
Pride absent again today, I see….
The only one taking this situation seriously was Greed.
So these are the masters of my own lineage…?
A sigh escaped Greed unbidden.
Weak or not, a lineage master had died.
Yet the other lineage masters failed entirely to grasp the gravity of the situation.
"I have conveyed the facts. That is all I can do."
With those words, Greed rose from his seat and left the room at once.
The moment he stepped out, the scenery shifted, transforming into something like an executive office.
"Honestly, a pack of lunatics…."
Greed immediately called his subordinates and dispatched them to gather intelligence.
Han Min-joon, was it?
If so, there was a possibility.
Because he possessed that skill.
And the other two — Woo Sang-shik and Han Jin, was it?
Woo Sang-shik was a name he'd heard before.
One of Bang Hak-shik's subordinates, was he?
But the name Han Jin — he had never heard it in his life.
Even searching for information, there wasn't a single publicly available record of the man.
"Grace, look into Han Jin for me."
"Of course."
The moment Greed gave the order, she appeared as if from nowhere, accepted it, and vanished just as quickly.
Best if there are no variables.
With that thought, Greed opened the window and looked down.
Below sprawled the downtown of Los Angeles, glittering with countless lights.