Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Colosseum Carnage
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BOOOOMMMM!!!!
A ferocious explosion rocked the entire Colosseum.
The Colosseum was massive enough to comfortably seat dozens of players, but the number of alchemy bombs Shin-hyeok had unleashed was no joke either.
An overwhelming quantity that could blanket the gigantic arena and still have plenty left over.
The shockwave from them detonating all at once was so intense that it stripped away half the buffs clinging to the players' bodies—they could barely hold their ground.
And the real problem was that the alchemy bombs' power wasn't limited to the explosions alone.
WHOOOOOSH!
"Gwaaaahhh!"
"Flame resistance! Flame resistance!"
"Damn it! Splash some water, you magic blanket bastards!"
"Did this guy's brain get filled with muscle too? You wanna die?"
"Kwaaaah! I like my steak well-done, but I don't wanna be the steak!"
The compressed flames embedded in the alchemy bombs erupted, spewing out a raging inferno.
The players caught in it had no choice but to scream from the blistering heat.
By the time mages and warriors alike were roasting to a golden crisp...
Shin-hyeok, who had been watching everyone shower praise on the toasty spring breeze, finally made his move.
"True Black Demonic Fire."
WHOOOOOSH!
He yanked out the magic spear he'd stabbed into the ground and activated the skill: True Black Demonic Fire.
It sucked in the massive flames blanketing the entire Colosseum.
The moment the inferno—enough to engulf the whole arena—was absorbed into the True Black Demonic Fire, swelling its size...
CRUNCH!
Shin-hyeok compressed it outright.
When the pitch-black blaze compressed into a glossy black crystal...
"Throw Enhancement, Enhancement, Slaughter."
The Three Divine Arts of Destruction.
The powers of Throw Enhancement, Enhancement, and Slaughter infused the magic spear.
That was preparation complete.
CRRRUNCH!
He twisted and contorted every muscle in his body, reorganizing his entire physique for one single spear throw.
And when it reached its peak...
Shin-hyeok became a single spear.
Once the spear was ready, all that was left was to release it and pierce the target.
"Thunder Horse Step, Lightning Flash."
BOOOOMMMM!
Shin-hyeok—the spear named after him—shot forward like a bolt of lightning on Thunder Horse Step, skewering everything in its path.
"Kuhk!"
"Kuhak!"
"Wh-what attack power..."
"This is supposed to be weakened? Bullshit..."
"Insane..."
As the despondent voices of players turned into skewered kebabs on the magic spear echoed hollowly...
"Charge!"
"He's pushed inside—overwhelm him at once, and we're golden!"
The remaining players abandoned their skewered comrades without a hint of hesitation and lunged at Shin-hyeok.
A sharp coordinated assault targeting Shin-hyeok, who couldn't move freely with the spear impaling them.
But—
"Predation."
CRRRUNCH!
Like biting off a chunk of chicken skewer, Shin-hyeok devoured the five players on his magic spear in one go, freeing it.
The players charging madly at him slammed on the brakes, but bodies already in motion couldn't stop completely.
"Wind Demon."
CRAAASSSHHH!
The wildly swung magic spear traced a circle, harvesting the lives of players in its radius.
Snagged by the shaft, they shattered. Caught by the blade, they split in two.
"Damn it, fall back!"
"Fall back—ranged like mages and archers, bombard him!"
"Warriors! Advance and buy time!"
"Goddamn it! Just prep the attacks!"
"We can't hold long!"
In the end, the players gave up capturing Shin-hyeok and split into vanguard and rearguard for a massive bombardment.
They knew his monstrous attack power meant the vanguard wouldn't last.
Still, they spat on their hands, gripped their weapons with curses, and resolved to hold him even a little.
"Raaaahhh!"
"Heavy Strike!"
"Strike with light!"
"Smash!"
"Shield Bash!"
"Whoa! You know Shield Bash? That's tough as hell!"
"Shut up and raise your shield!"
A fierce determination to block Shin-hyeok somehow, protect the rearguard, and turn the tide.
Shin-hyeok's response was simple.
"Invisible Hand."
CRRRUNCH!
The Invisible Hand gripped Admiral Yi's bow tight and drew the string.
"...Huh?"
"Ti-time out."
"Draw?"
"Invalid! Invalid! This match is invalid! Invalid!"
The vanguard sensed something wrong and blurted out in confusion.
BOOOOMMMM!
The released great arrow pulverized the player holding the tower shield at the front.
A tower shield lived up to its massive size with unmatched defense compared to others.
And the player wielding it specialized in defense, boasting overwhelmingly higher defense stats than most.
"H-he's dead?"
"No way, this is ridiculous..."
"I gotta get outta here! Wait, I can't? Kwaaaah, Gordon! Gorrrrdon!"
"Everyone's lost it. Guess I will too. Heh, Fireball!!"
Seeing such a sturdy player one-shot shook even the mentally tough vanguard.
But vanguards were born for battle—mid-meal, mid-sleep, always ready.
Even knowing they couldn't tank like proper shields and would die in one hit, they blocked Shin-hyeok.
"Nice. Keep that spirit."
Hoping it carried into the Integrated League where death wasn't free, Shin-hyeok smashed them freely.
Trampling, trampling, trampling again.
Testing how long they could endure, he ravaged them mercilessly.
Each swing or thrust of the magic spear felled vanguard members.
But they spread out in formation, careful not to get grouped up by his attacks.
Thanks to that, Shin-hyeok couldn't skewer or shatter multiples in one hit like early on.
Especially—
"I won't go down easy like last time."
"...Elise."
Elise Veronia.
The Blood Berserker lived up to her name—she was tricky.
There was no order in her movements.
Pure instinct.
Entrusting everything to it, her frenzied blood raged.
Relying on her berserk blood, she dodged, parried, and repelled Shin-hyeok's attacks with animalistic senses.
Alone, she handled the work of over ten players.
A machine moving solely to block Shin-hyeok, her blood-red armor and longsword pulsing with vitality.
Added to that, other vanguard players sacrificing their bodies to delay him even a second.
Finally, the rearguard's bombardment was ready.
"Fireball!"
"Fire Arrow—Triple Shot!"
"Rain down! Arrow Rain!"
"Style spirits, descend upon this place!"
"Charge, my undead!"
"Bind them, Curse of Weakness!"
"Spirits! Show your power!"
Magic, arrows, style spirits, necromancy, curses, spirit summoning.
Diverse players unleashed diverse abilities, all pouring toward Shin-hyeok.
As Integrated Gold League participants, each one's skill was Platinum-level—at least Platinum 4 or 3, not bottom-tier 5.
Their skills weren't ordinary: C-grade minimum, up to B+.
Nearly twenty players unleashing them at once.
'This'll do it.'
'Got him for sure.'
'Minimum heavy damage.'
'Then swarm with Elise at the center—we can take him!'
Their confidence was natural—even a Diamond grandpa couldn't tank this.
RUMMMMBLE!
Shin-hyeok's spot was engulfed in the barrage.
Even the sturdy Colosseum floor cracked, kicking up thick dust clouds that obscured vision.
So dense even players struggled to peer through.
Still, they didn't let guard down, encircling the dust cloud.
"Phew, got him?"
"Ahh, after this league, I'll confess to my crush."
"Heh, isn't our daughter adorable? Gotta get top results for her."
"Tch! Spread the heaven-earth net! Don't let him escape!"
"You lunatics! Even a funeral wouldn't be this jinxed!"
A bit of chaos, but tension held firm.
And when the thick dust finally cleared...
TATATA-TATANG!
"Wh-what?!"
"Crazy, block first!"
"Wa-wait. Don't tell me...!"
The players couldn't hide their shock at the ferocious attacks bursting from the dust.
Diverse and powerful.
They knew Shin-hyeok handled multiple abilities, but these felt off.
One player realized and yelled in horror.
"Damn it! These are our attacks!"
"Reflection? Screw that, mine's rainbow reflection!"
"Quit screwing around and brace! If he's reflecting ours, that monster Choi Shin-hyeok...!"
Their own attacks bouncing back as magic.
Which meant one thing.
"Thunder Horse Step."
CRRRACKLE!
Shin-hyeok had taken them unscathed.
As if to prove it, he scattered the remaining dust with black lightning coiling around him, rampaging across the battlefield.
"Why are our attacks bouncing back?!"
"He's not even defending—why aren't they landing?!"
"Damn, defense penetrated but no damage! He's too pristine!"
All attacks blocked, reflected, ignored.
Adding invincible defense to Shin-hyeok's one-hit-kill power was a foregone conclusion.
'Working great.'
The reason? His new Legendary gear: Auto-Defense Device.
Innate Skill: Auto-Defense blocks all incoming attacks.
Innate Skill: Auto-Counter reflects some attacks.
Innate Skill: Walking Fortress grants insane defense.
This perfect trio was beyond words.
'Not even Armor of Absorption's Shock Absorption triggers.'
Even if they pierced that, Armor of Absorption's Shock Absorption awaited.
It had tanked Tarkhan's hits effortlessly—these players wouldn't breach this wall of mourning.
But nothing was all good.
'Mm, mana drain is insane.'
High-grade gear skills were mana hogs, but these were extreme.
Even with penalties nerfing Colosseum buffs, mana plummeted after minutes.
'Like my old stock account.'
Pre-regression.
Before Late Bloomer bloomed, broke and trading stocks to scrape cash—watching it crash like that.
Confirming his mana tanking, Shin-hyeok canceled the skills.
More hits landed now, shocks piling up, but with most cleared, no real danger.
After mopping up the rest...
"Déjà vu?"
"...Ahaha, yeah."
Elise let out a hollow laugh as the Integrated Silver League finale overlapped.
Last time too: last one standing, bloodbath with Shin-hyeok, defeat.
But she smiled instead.
"This time's different, though? Blood Frenzy Burst, Blood Frenzy Enhancement, Blood Frenzy Amplification."
SPLOOOOSH!
Unlocking three latent abilities in her Blood Frenzy trait.
Normally only one or two at this point—Shin-hyeok watched her surprised briefly.
Not for long.
"Left hand or right?"
"Pardon?"
"Which do you prefer, left or right hand?"
"Uh... right?"
Like asking country mouse or city mouse, her blood haze made Elise blankly answer.
"Then I present the Heaven-Exterminating Extreme Lightning Pike to you."
"...Wait!"
Somehow, Shin-hyeok's holy sword in hand sucked massive mana, converting to holy power, becoming a heaven-shattering lightning pike.
The gleaming white holy sword ready.
He tossed it lightly.
"Heaven-Exterminating Extreme Lightning Pike—Holy."
BOOOOMMMM!
Holy light purified the wicked like Elise's red blood frenzy, consumed by the Heaven-Exterminating Extreme Lightning Pike—Holy.
"Purification successful."
"This... isn't... purification..."
Lord, succeeded in purifying wicked blood today.
Elise gasped, rejecting it, but—
"Elise. In Korea, we say: even hell is a blast."
"...?"
"So physical purification counts too?"
"No, what... are you..."
His absurd follow-up left her speechless.
But she was at her limit anyway.
Shin-hyeok silently mourned Elise (not dead) as her eyes closed unwillingly.
"Rest in peace. Alright, mourning done. Time to eat."
No eulogy or chant.
Three seconds flat, he smacked his lips and Predation'd Elise and all the corpse-players in the Colosseum before canceling it.
Death-free league, so no stat gains from dozens Predation'd, but HP and mana mostly recovered—Shin-hyeok grinned.
"Buffet awaits back at Demon King's Castle. Heh, Predation at double-barrel? Double the joy."
Plenty more players to Predation later, so with light steps, he returned to his suite at Demon King's Castle.