𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟏𝟖
‘That light is……’
It was a sight I had never seen from Aizen before.
The softly shining golden light enveloped Aizen’s entire body, and though I didn’t know what effect it had, Aizen began to attack the Apostle fiercely, as if unleashing a final attack.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!━
‘Huh? But wasn’t he supposed to be exhausted?’
Aizen’s Extinction Sword has a penalty of becoming exhausted immediately after use.
Naturally, in a state of exhaustion, he shouldn’t be able to use any skills, but the current Aizen was slashing at the Apostle while using various skills.
And perhaps it was just my imagination, but the golden light that enveloped his entire body seemed to deepen with each attack Aizen made.
“What are you all doing?! Everyone, help the Guild Master!”
“Quickly cast healing magic!”
“Attack! We’ll support with area-of-effect magic!”
The Apostle, unable to ignore Aizen who was relentlessly attacking, showed a proper response, and in the meantime, the guild members who had escaped the Apostle’s grasp used various skills to support Aizen.
Kwaaaang!!- Kwa-kwang!━
‘……This is a spectacle.’
Finally, with the self-destruct attack used by the Tree of Death and the various magic spells cast by the guild members, a massive explosion occurred where the Apostle and Aizen were.
Honestly, I wished it had ended with that explosion.
However, knowing roughly the Apostle’s health, I inwardly thought it would be difficult and pondered what to do next.
‘Fighting alongside him seems difficult.’
Seeing Aizen swinging his sword in a frenzy, as if possessed by something, I felt that fighting alongside him would only hinder him.
Pa-bat!━
While I was contemplating for a brief moment, a golden sword was created again from Aizen’s sword as he attacked the Apostle.
It was the Extinction Sword.
It was surprising that he used the Extinction Sword again, but since he was already fighting the Apostle using various skills, using the Extinction Sword might not be that surprising.
Chwa-ak!━
Anyway, as before, after Aizen swung the Extinction Sword several times to attack the Apostle, the soft golden light emanating from his body could be seen slowly gathering towards the Holy Sword of Protection.
At a glance, one might mistake it for the Extinction Sword.
━Keuk, your fighting spirit is admirable, but with just this much……
“Light of Genesis!”
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!━
At that moment, Aizen forcefully swung down the sword that had gathered the golden light.
The swung sword not only cut the Apostle vertically but also, upon touching the ground, a golden pillar erupted with a tremendous explosion, burning the Apostle.
A holy light that even pushed back the explosion caused by Ust and the guild members.
‘Is it over?’
I couldn’t help but think it was over, as it was an incredibly powerful attack, but unfortunately, no message appeared.
“Keuk.”
‘Huh?’
At the same time, Aizen collapsed, his knees buckling as if all his strength had drained, and conversely, the Apostle was seen standing, albeit barely. I quickly used Phantom Shift to move next to Aizen.
‘Why did he collapse if he couldn’t even kill it?’
Was it because of the skill he used at the end?
For now, since he hadn’t turned gray, it seemed he wasn’t dead.
Then, believing that the guild members would heal him, I placed the collapsed Aizen behind me and ran towards the Apostle who was slowly starting to move.
‘But why did he collapse?’
Was it because of the last skill he used?
For now, it seemed he wasn’t dead since he hadn’t turned gray.
So, believing that a guild member would heal him, I placed Aizen in the back and ran towards the Apostle who was slowly moving.
I intended to hold out at least until Aizen got up, but……
“Vice Master-nim! They say the remaining HP is less than half!”
‘Half?’
Those words forced me to modify my actions slightly.
Aizen had initially said the Apostle’s health was 2 million, so now it meant less than 1 million remained.
Considering they had shaved off 500,000 in that short amount of time with Aizen’s attack, Ust, and the guild members’ support, it wasn’t entirely impossible to win.
━You seem to have a death wish.
[Beluin’s First Apostle uses Mark of Death.]
‘This b*stard!’
Just as I was about to fight in earnest, the Apostle used the Mark of Death again, which had been deactivated while I was dealing with Aizen.
It seemed he used it with the same intention as before, to make me retreat, but my pride wouldn’t allow me to retreat as he intended.
‘Alright, let’s do this.’
I immediately focused my mind and attacked the Apostle with Thunder Strike.
Kwaaaang!!━
The Apostle, perhaps not expecting my attack, or for some other reason, was hit by my attack with surprising ease. Looking again, I could see his movements were not as they were before.
‘Ah, I see.’
The Apostle had been hit by Aizen’s Extinction Sword a whopping six times.
The Extinction Sword had the effect of reducing all stats, and if it stacked, the Apostle’s noticeably slower movements were understandable.
‘Anyway, this is an opportunity, right?’
Having grasped that much through the brief exchange, I attacked the Apostle with all my might, ignoring the Mark of Death.
Kwaang!- Kwang!━
[Skill Damage! 26,829.]
[Skill Damage……]
The Apostle’s body staggered with each hit from Thunder Strike.
It seemed to be due to his Strength being lower than mine. After landing the final third strike, I saw the Apostle’s body being flung back.
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
To maintain the flow of attack, I used Phantom Shift to move in front of the Apostle and continued to harass him with Thunder Strike. The Apostle, displeased with the continuous attacks, barely managed to swing his sword.
Pat━
The Apostle’s blade disappeared as soon as he swung it.
Moreover, since I was currently marked with the Mark of Death, even such an attack could deal a critical hit.
However, sensing an attack to the back of my head as soon as the blade disappeared, I simply lowered my head to avoid the Apostle’s attack.
━What?
Kwaaaang!!━
[Skill Damage! 21,813.]
Swinging my shield, I continued to deal damage to the Apostle, who seemed momentarily flustered, not expecting me to dodge the sword swung from his blind spot so easily. However, before I could use Thunder Strike again, the Apostle made his move.
━My God, Beluin!
[Beluin’s First Apostle uses Dark Descent.]
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!━
The Apostle, having taken a considerable amount of damage from Thunder Strike, seemed to have used some kind of divine power, but I couldn’t stop my attack.
Furthermore, since my second Intuition was currently activated, I believed I could dodge most attacks. I continued my assault towards the Apostle within the swirling black smoke.
“Thunder Strike!”
Kwaaaang!!━
However, Thunder Strike was blocked by the black smoke without even reaching the Apostle. Raising my head at the absurd sight of the smoke blocking my attack, I saw the black smoke forming a gigantic, monstrous shape, like an upper body.
What kind of divine power is this?
It was the arm of the black smoke monster that blocked Thunder Strike, and judging by its length, it was easily long enough to attack from 3-4 meters away.
‘Something related to summoning…… Damn it.’
While I was briefly observing the black smoke the Apostle had called divine power, the smoke swung its hook-like hand down towards where I was.
Kwaang!━
Fortunately, I had sensed it beforehand with Intuition and was able to dodge the attack by stepping back. However, I still couldn’t think of a way to get rid of the black smoke.
‘Is there even a way to get rid of that?’
When I hit the black smoke with Thunder Strike, no damage appeared, meaning it wasn’t a living entity.
Moreover, the Apostle wouldn’t give me time to think and continued to attack.
━Space Severance.
“……Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
Realizing that I couldn’t dodge that attack, I left a phantom and moved from my spot. I saw the created phantom being cut by something and disappearing.
‘I thought I could finish this easily.’
The Apostle’s stats were currently that low.
The problem was the unknown black smoke protecting the Apostle.
Its defense was so formidable that it blocked all the attacks from Ust and the guild members.
‘I have no choice but to force my way through.’
The first thing that was certain was that I had to eliminate it before the Extinction Sword effect ended.
If that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have the speed to dodge the Apostle’s sword afterward, and there was a high possibility that I would be the one to get hit instead.
Therefore, having judged that there were no other options, I decided to force my way through the black smoke and attack.
Thud!━
And as I ran towards the Apostle again, the black smoke monster brought its two hands together high in the sky and then slammed them down. Realizing that an attack was coming from the ground, I bent my knees and jumped up with all my might.
Kwaaaang!!━
Black waves spread out from the two hands of the black smoke that touched the ground, and I, having jumped upwards, was able to avoid the attack. However, seeing the Apostle preparing to target me next, I prepared to dodge again.
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
Pat━
Without caring what happened to the phantom left behind, I moved in front of the Apostle and used Thunder Strike to hit the Apostle. At the same time, I read the Apostle’s movements as it tried to attack me, twisted my upper body, and narrowly dodged.
‘At least the Apostle is easy to deal with.’
The problem was the black smoke.
The black smoke, having confirmed that I had moved in front of the Apostle, swung its long arm. But having already anticipated the attack, I dodged again with Phantom Shift and attacked the Apostle once more.
Kwaaaang!━
‘It can’t be helped.’
This was the only way to attack for now.
I had just seen that the black smoke’s attack speed was annoyingly fast, but there was a preparatory action it took before attacking.
Just by that alone, I could tell where it was going to attack. I believed that if I continued to use Phantom Shift repeatedly, I could also catch the Apostle.
━Keuk.
[Beluin’s First Apostle summons the Sword of Ruin ‘Meron’.]
Right, I was wondering why it wasn’t coming out.
Since the First Apostle was also a sword-wielding guy, I thought he might summon the Sword of Ruin.
And as I thought, the Apostle summoned the Sword of Ruin, but it was certainly not a good situation.
‘If I get hit by that sword, it’s probably instant death.’
The First Apostle’s attack power alone was overwhelmingly high.
On top of that, he had even summoned the Sword of Ruin, so it seemed safe to say that the moment I was cut by that sword, I would die.
However, the Apostle’s stats were currently lowered, so wouldn’t I be able to dodge it somehow?
Pat━
‘As expected.’
The worry was short-lived.
Having easily dodged the Sword of Ruin swung by the Apostle, I decided to continue like this.
Even if I died, I would be resurrected once.
Bang!- Kwabang!━
━Tricks!
Kwaaaang!━
“……?”
The Apostle’s sword and the black smoke’s arm flew towards me.
In the midst of attacks that would have killed anyone else, I calmly dodged with Phantom Shift, and strangely enough, I could feel it becoming easier to dodge.
When the Apostle and the black smoke attacked simultaneously, I dodged with Phantom Shift.
When they didn’t, I dodged by moving my upper body or moving sideways. I felt a sense of wonder.
‘This is a strange feeling.’
My body was moving beyond what I had imagined.
I dodged the Apostle’s dizzying Spatial Swordsmanship and the black smoke’s fierce attacks with ease. I went a step further and raised the Roar of the Thunder Dragon to block the Apostle’s sword while simultaneously attempting an attack. The Apostle, while being hit by my attack, didn’t stop counterattacking, but it was useless against me now.
Kwaaaang!!━
━Keo, Keok……
‘Huh? Is it over?’
The Apostle, having been hit by Thunder Strike almost 20-30 times, could no longer swing his sword and collapsed, staggering.
At the same time, I could see the summoned black smoke slowly disappearing. Witnessing this scene, I was dumbfounded and turned my eyes to the message window.
[The power of destruction descends upon Beluin’s First Apostle.]
[Beluin’s First Apostle uses Dark Awakening.]
‘He wasn’t just taking hits.’
It seemed he had used some powers and skills while being attacked by me.
I was so focused on attacking and dodging that I didn’t even notice.
Thanks to that, I was able to catch the First Apostle, but to be honest, it didn’t feel like I had caught him.
However, the result remained unchanged, and dozens of message windows began to pop up, proving that I had defeated the Apostle.
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