𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟓
Purification Lamp is essentially a buff skill similar to the ones found in other games.
It removes all negative effects from the target, raises their morale, and even improves their condition.
Its range is also extremely wide, which means it is particularly useful in group battles.
Following Cheong So-ha into the barrier, I looked at Hae Ga-ram, who was wearing a look of surprise, and spoke softly.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine. But it seems like you succeeded in the end.”
Hae Ga-ram sighed with relief, as if she had aged ten years, and brushed her chest.
I didn’t show it, but judging from her condition, it seemed like she had a hard time fighting Jin-myeong.
“I’m sorry to have asked you to do something so difficult. Thanks to you, a path has opened up.”
“. . . Don’t mention it. I also received help, so don’t worry about it.”
Hae Ga-ram thought back to the incident in Yangcheolgung and turned her head away, looking somewhat embarrassed.
Watching us, Jin-myeong, who had been frozen in place, finally opened his mouth.
“. . . How did you escape from the suggestion?”
“It seems you don’t plan on hiding it from me anymore.”
Cheong So-ha let out a bitter laugh mixed with self-deprecation.
However, Jin-myeong was so shocked that he didn’t even care about Cheong So-ha’s reaction.
“You should have already entered the assimilation phase. . . . . . . It’s unbelievable.”
Indeed, from his point of view, it must have been absurd.
The suggestion planted in Cheong So-ha was no longer at that level and was becoming something natural to her.
In fact, it was so close to being complete brainwashing or mind control.
「𝙄𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩, 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩.」
The Blue-White Soul Mirror was a great help in breaking it.
「𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚-𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧’𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.」
That’s why Cheong So-ha was able to confront her ego, which had been deeply buried in the suggestion, without anyone’s interference.
Without that trait of the Blue-White Soul Mirror, breaking the suggestion would have been much more difficult.
“. . . Is it you again? Are you really going to keep interfering with me until the end?”
Jin-myeong turned his gaze away from Cheong So-ha and glared at me with vicious eyes.
Until a moment ago, he had been left in a separate space from Cheong So-ha, so it was natural for him to assume that I was the cause.
To that, I told him what I had been keeping inside me without hesitation.
“I’m not the one interfering with you, you’re the one interfering with me.”
“How dare you, you impudent. . . . . . !”
To Jin-myeong, I was the mastermind who dared to use his suggestion and turn Cheong So-ha, whom he had worked on for so long, back to her old self.
On the other hand, to me, he was a parasite that interfered at a precarious time and caused division among the allies.
There was no room for compromise between us. It was something that wouldn’t end until one of us disappeared.
“. . . You are making me regret it.”
In an instant, Jin-myeong’s expression changed.
It was a situation that couldn’t be reversed anyway. He acknowledged that there was no turning back and decided to give it his all.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Jin-myeong’s appearance changed into a somewhat grotesque human form, and at the same time, his already large height grew by two feet.
At the same time, a large amount of demonic energy began to flow out.
It seemed like he intended to unleash his full power as a half-human, half-demon.
“At the very least, I will make sure that you never leave this place alive.”
It was a truly murderous threat, but I, who fully understood Jin-myeong’s behavior, could see right through him.
「𝙃𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜.」
Anyway, now that Cheong So-ha had regained her senses, the exorcists of the Cheong family outside would also turn against Jin-myeong.
The Jin-myeong I know would never overlook that part. He was a person who had survived until now by avoiding danger as much as possible and taking perfect advantage.
He’s probably already thinking hard about the next plan to get his hands on the Cheong family.
“That’s funny, you couldn’t even handle me on your own, what are you going to do?”
Ping!
Ping!
Screech!
Hae Ga-ram, who had been nursing her wounds, coldly chanted a spell and fired off a series of incantations.
However, Jin-myeong simply flipped his hand and overturned the ground, blocking all of the attacks.
“I told you that, and you still don’t know your place. I’ve broken the necks of countless enemies like you with my own hands.”
Rumble!
Crash!
As Jin-myeong stomped his foot, the ground split open with a roar, trying to throw off our balance.
He was using his trait as a yokai to cast a powerful nature-type spell.
“. . . You have to be careful. You should think of him as an even more difficult opponent than before.”
“Tch. It won’t be easy.”
Jin-myeong’s innate nature is that of a being that has strayed from the righteous path.
Accordingly, he has learned numerous shamanic arts, and among them, he mainly uses the method of increasing the power of incantations through restraint.
“Forbidden spell, Earth Dragon Formation!”
Whoosh!
Bang!
Crash!
As the incantation was completed, giant snakes made of earth coiled around us, creating a barrier.
It is a type of high-level barrier technique that prevents you from leaving until you find the correct sequence to break out.
It was strong enough to withstand any force, and it was also possible to launch one-sided attacks in the process, so it was a unique shamanic art that Jin-myeong often used.
“. . . What is this?”
“There’s no time to waste. Let’s break it.”
Swish.
As Cheong So-ha pulled out her sword in one breath, I gently put my hand out towards her.
Of course, with her skills, she would be able to break the barrier with force, but that was exactly what Jin-myeong was hoping for.
“It’s a barrier with restraints. If you break it by force, the recoil will come back to you.”
It might be okay once, but if you use the same method several times, you will lose your strength that much faster.
There was no reason to be surprised by that shallow trick.
“Do you mean you have another idea?”
“I can open the exit.”
Why hide it now?
The Earth Dragon Formation, which was a very orthodox gimmick at a glance, had also been an element that had troubled players countless times in the game.
Jin-myeong’s signature incantation that always popped up at least once every time the phase changed. As such, I had already memorized all of the Earth Dragon Formation’s patterns perfectly in my head.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 6 𝙤’𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙙𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙣𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 1 𝙤’𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙙𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨. . . . . . 11 𝙤’𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠?」
If so, the seventh form out of the ten patterns is certain.
I retraced the flow of the incantation according to the correct order and shattered it in an instant.
Whoosh.
Crash!
As I broke out of the barrier, I saw Jin-myeong chanting the incantation for an attack spell.
He froze with a hardened expression at the barrier, which had been shattered much faster than he had expected.
“What. . . . . . !”
So he quickly tried to cancel the spell, but Hae Ga-ram wasn’t the one to miss this opening.
“Sevenfold Strike! Spirit Bullet!”
Screech!
Crash!
Jin-myeong was severely damaged by the barrage of spells that followed and fell back.
“Ugh!”
He was already at a numerical disadvantage, but then he lost the lead with an unexpected blow.
As someone who had been addicted to PVP in the past, I could vividly sense Jin-myeong’s feelings right now.
He must have been overwhelmed with a sense of utter defeat.
“. . . What did you do? How did you break the Earth Dragon Formation?”
Jin-myeong’s fighting style is similar to mine, if you look closely.
He is the type who calculates and predicts numbers and leads the battle according to his own flow.
However, because of that, once he starts to lose the flow, it becomes very difficult to reverse it.
I kept shaking Jin-myeong to not miss the opportunity I had barely caught.
“Didn’t I tell you? I know quite a bit about you.”
“. . . That’s ridiculous. Do you think I’ll be fooled by such words?”
“If you don’t believe me, you can keep checking with your own eyes. The Earth Dragon Formation has been destroyed, so I think the Wind Barrier Formation would be good next.”
As I mentioned another barrier that Jin-myeong had yet to reveal, his face turned ashen.
He now realized that my words weren’t just lies.
“This can’t be happening. H-How. . . . . . .”
As far as I know, Jin-myeong still has a few powerful tricks left.
However, in this situation, one doubt must have sprouted in his mind.
Even if he showed them, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t be exploited like this.
In the end, the moment the will to fight disappeared from Jin-myeong’s eyes, I caught it accurately and signaled Cheong So-ha.
“He’s trying to escape!”
“. . . I’m ready.”
Hae Ga-ram had been quietly chanting an incantation, using Cheong So-ha’s illusion.
However, Jin-myeong was so focused on the destruction of the barrier and my words that he didn’t notice it.
The price for that came back to him in a very deadly form.
Whoosh,
“Cheonghwajin.”
Jin-myeong, who was breaking Hae Ga-ram’s barrier to escape, realized his mistake then and hurriedly deployed a defensive incantation.
But it was too late.
Cheong So-ha’s grand spell, which was filled with sincerity, wasn’t an attack that could be blocked with such a hastily prepared defense spell.
Crash!
Crackle!
“Ugh!”
Colorful shamanic seals spread out along the ground like vines, and a blue flame-like scourge ravaged Jin-myeong’s body.
After the light that had filled the barrier subsided, all that remained was the badly wounded half-human, half-demon Jin-myeong.
Thud.
Thud.
Swish.
“With that last blow, I have repaid all the favors I owe you.”
“Cough, cough. . . . . . !”
For some reason, it didn’t seem like the battle would end with one blow, so Cheong So-ha seemed to have suffered some injuries at the last moment.
However, that was definitely not because she was being considerate of her opponent.
“So now, it’s my turn to repay the grudge.”
“Have you forgotten everything I’ve given you?!”
Jin-myeong shouted in his final outburst, but Cheong So-ha’s expression was cold.
After staring at Jin-myeong like that for a few seconds, Cheong So-ha raised her arm and opened her mouth again.
“. . . The ancestors of the noble Cheong family, and the current family that has inherited their bloodline, have been ridiculed. From now on, atone for your life.”
Rumble!
Blue flames!
Her arm swung, and Jin-myeong’s head flew into the sky.
It was the end of the demon lord who had tried to get his hands on the Cheong family for a truly long time, and the moment when the thick knot that had been tied around Cheong So-ha’s life was finally untied.
TL: Honestly, that was anticlimactic
Leave a Reply