Chapter 144
Chapter 144
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 144
>Chapter Title: Defying the Underworld
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>That wasn't all.
- Hm! Not bad, but you're still a decade too early!
- Good job, good job, Charlie!
Graaah-
Charlie's fluid swordsmanship, which allowed not a single approach, and the undeads' tanking drew everyone's eyes.
"Charlie's fighting like a beast... Is that aggro hold for real?"
"That's why he was cursing me out so much in the tutorial. I was just clicking my tongue."
"But how's Charlie even here?"
"...What's that cotton ball?"
And then, amid them, a small something came into view.
Pew pew-
A tiny creature like a ball of cotton was hopping from head to head of the two parties, diligently firing spider threads.
-Liza!
- Hm! Excellent!
-Liza Liza!
Thanks to it, even in the muddy brawl where they were outnumbered, they firmly held the aggro.
"Spider...?"
"It's kinda cute too... Are there guardians like that?"
"Then is Charlie a guardian too?"
"Probably? Hey, then what's with that necromancer?"
There wasn't a single unsurprising thing from one to ten, but the most astonishing of all was Kaiser, facing the king of the Lawless alone.
To be precise, both Kaiser and the boss were incredible.
"No, but the Lawless leader's fighting really well too. How's that a dark sorcerer?"
"Even if it's a battle mage concept, a mage stronger than top-tier melee classes? That make sense?"
"The specs aren't even for this level boss to begin with. It wasn't made to be hunted."
"...Then what's Kaiser doing fighting alone?"
"Yeah...?"
At the question one user raised, they all fell silent.
Then soon, they grew rowdy with a new topic.
"Arthur needed four people... How's this happening? Specs completely off the charts?"
"That's true too, but the control's insane. No matter what, the Lawless should be stronger, but soloing? Come on."
"The video wasn't edited... Proving it again like this."
"Solo raid class... Is this a god?"
Just how was Kaiser handling that absurd boss alone?
As they chattered about it and were about to conclude Kaiser was a god.
[...Death's... energy...]
The Lawless leader, who had pulled back and stopped, pulled something out and raised his hand high.
It was the pattern everyone knew.
[Hidden field boss, Lawless leader '???' emits the energy of the underworld.]
[A vicious chill envelops the surroundings. Evade.]
[You have been touched by the underworld's energy. Your skin is contaminated, taking damage per second proportional to distance.]
[Your feet begin to freeze from the vicious chill.]
"Uwaaak!"
"Damn it, fuck!"
As the ground suddenly froze and the air grew cold, startled users hurriedly pulled back.
So shocked were they that those in front even fell on their asses.
The reason they were so dumbfounded wasn't just the sudden pattern activation.
"Whoa, scared me."
"No, why's it activating already?"
"What? Did they already clear 20%? Solo in under 10 minutes?"
The pattern that shouldn't activate yet had triggered.
That was when.
"Huh? What's that."
"No way?"
Before they could even be surprised, an even more absurd sight unfolded.
* * *
[Hidden field boss, Lawless leader '???' emits the energy of the underworld.]
[Your feet begin to freeze from the vicious chill.]
[Hero trait blocks abnormal status.]
[Ignores abnormal status 'Freezing'.]
Ignoring the messages before his eyes, Do-hyun swung his sword.
Shiiik-
A sword slashing sharply through the air.
The Lawless leader, who had assumed he'd freeze, hurriedly retreated to dodge.
He'd thought the guy had decent skill, but he hadn't expected a mere denizen of the living world to withstand the underworld's chill.
But seeing Do-hyun completely unaffected by the status, he understood.
[...That... guy... uses... the same... trick...]
He'd had a similar experience in a past fight with a human holy knight.
A guy who'd pushed him pretty hard.
Clearly one of the rare special talents among humans.
And this one had it too.
But,
[...It changes... nothing...]
That was it.
Having some special talent changed nothing.
[Partially summons the energy of the underworld.]
[Transforms the surrounding land into the underworld.]
The chill was merely a part of the underworld.
There, it was like the air or wind here.
The true terror of the underworld was that its land, stripped of vitality and corrupted over eons, inflicted excruciating pain the moment one stepped on it.
A land of death that rejected the living.
[...Curious... how long... you'll... endure...]
The guy's self-destruction was inevitable.
It was just a matter of how long he flailed.
All he had to do was watch leisurely.
Ta-at! Slash-
Stab!
They say humans before death draw out their spirit.
Like that previous guy, the attacks grew fiercer, increasing his wounds, but it was just the final spasm.
No real danger.
Whoosh- slash- crack!
Stab!
Yes, that was natural.
Crack-! Crunch.
That was natural...
Flick, stab, slash-
[...?]
Feeling the damage he took increase with each exchange, the Lawless leader tilted his head.
Something was off.
[...Why... are you... still... fine...]
Over 10 minutes had passed.
A frail human should have died long ago, and even decent ones should be writhing in agony by now.
Yet that human was perfectly fine.
His skin color unchanged, no sign of pain or self-destruction.
If anything, his movements grew cleaner and sharper, like fire had been lit under him.
"...What? Why isn't Kaiser freezing?"
"Not even slowed, is there hero trait immunity like that in this bracket besides?"
"That's not the issue, he seems to be taking zero DoT..."
"No, wasn't Kaiser's trait Weapon Master?"
"...What the hell's happening now."
It wasn't his imagination.
The users could see Kaiser fighting perfectly fine too.
The underworld energy looked like a prop for a play, utterly unaffected.
"Status effects aside, what's that? It's been over 10 minutes, why's he fine?"
"No... Does this make sense?"
"The Lawless king's panicking, right? Not just me?"
"Fr, you can feel the urgency in his movements?"
A situation beyond common sense.
Staring at each other blankly, blinking, they turned back to Kaiser.
Saaah-
The ground blanketed in vicious chill.
In this extreme land where mere contact slowed you and dealt DoT.
Kaiser was fighting the Lawless perfectly fine.
Ding-
A single message floated before Kaiser's eyes.
[Poison King's constitution activates.]
[You have taken sustained damage from the same attack for a certain time.]
[Saturation effect activates, treating damage as poison.]
[Immunity effect grants immunity to poison below Hero rank.]
The Poison King's constitution from the Dark King.
The reason Do-hyun was free of this horrific underworld energy.
'It'd help, I figured, but... beyond expectations.'
From the moment he'd heard the guy's traits from the lord, he'd thought with this, he could handle it.
No, only he could.
Now, he was immune to most poisons and DoTs.
Thrilling, but regrettably, the underworld energy wasn't just 'most' poison.
[The underworld energy's rank is too high to fully block.]
[You take 70% reduced poison damage.]
The incomplete Poison King's constitution couldn't fully block its power.
[HP below 40%.]
His HP had already halved.
From over 60% to 40% in just over 10 minutes.
He could last longer, but a prolonged fight still favored the enemy.
Graaaah!
-Ugh... Master.
-Liza Liza...
-Hm...! Worry not, my lord. This humble sword can endure yet!
To make matters worse, his minions' conditions weren't good.
Unlike him resisting the poison, they had no way to endure the underworld energy.
At best, 10 more minutes.
Then he'd have to face the Lawless alone.
-I'll... reduce their numbers... as much as possible, my lord.
Knowing this, Charlie activated his sword of light.
To kill as many Lawless as possible before the limit.
Pew pew-! Pew!
Eliza redoubled her spider thread firing.
[Guardian Jihad Black summons undead.]
[Adds 1 Lycanthrope undead.]
[Uses Legion Control to designate Lycanthrope undead to existing legion.]
Graa-
Jihad, deciding not to hold back, summoned his reserved undead.
He'd gained one more from leveling, but saved it for mana control.
'10 minutes.'
He had to take it down in that time.
Otherwise, chances grew slim.
Thus, raising the tempo wasn't easy even for Do-hyun.
"...But doesn't Kaiser look in danger?"
"He's holding even, but... Lawless attacks seem more lethal?"
"Noticed he hasn't taken a big hit once. One graze and he's gone."
"Gives me chills. Like watching acrobatics."
The enemy's physical prowess surpassed his, and occasional magic nearly landed critical hits more than once or twice.
One solid hit would lead straight to defeat.
"You think that'll do it? This underworld energy or whatever's no big deal."
[.......]
Do-hyun bluffed based on his unchanged skin, to prevent the enemy from stalling.
Was it worth the desperate push raising tempo?
[...Whatever... trick... you're using... it ends... here...]
The guy stopped abruptly and reached out.
Black energy spewing with ferocious momentum.
[Hidden field boss, Lawless leader '???'s HP has reached 50%.]
[Phase 2 activates.]
The precursor to what he'd seen in the video.
[...Feel... death's... melody...]
With a chilling voice like nails on chalkboard, a message appeared before all.
[Underworld Requiem activates.]
[Contact with Requiem causes instant death.]
"...?"
"What?"
As they questioned the sudden message.
Kwaaaang! Boom!
"E, evade!"
"Uwaaak!"
Pillar of darkness bursting from the ground everywhere in chain explosions, they freaked out.
Lawless wouldn't attack unless provoked first, but AoE was exception.
Like DoT from underworld energy, contact meant instant death for anyone.
Graaah-
-Hiiiak!
-Come here, quickly!
Indeed, the darkness-shrouded undead were dying off, and Charlie was frantically fleeing with the spider(?) and robe crew.
Users, not wanting that fate, hurriedly retreated.
"...How is it?"
"Kaiser's status? Did Kaiser die?"
"L, look there!"
Securing safe distance, they saw.
Kaiser, breaking through the AoE to the boss's back, continuing the assault.
Staring dumbfounded at the sight, they gasped.
They realized.
"Wait, so the boss is under 50% now?"
"My god..."
"Arthur's record broken...!"
In just over 20 minutes since challenge start, Arthur's record shattered.
"...So this is the first clear now?"
"Insane..."
"My choice to skip quest and watch live was right!"
"Kaiser, he's a god! Kaiser, he's a god! Kaiser he's a go..."
"Everyone quiet! Gotta focus."
From now on, everything was uncharted territory.
They were witnessing the first moments.
Gulp.
Feeling hearts pounding, palms sweating, they focused on the battle ahead.
With unwavering eyes, as if missing nothing.