𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟑𝟖
Kwaang!━
Suddenly, the ground to my left and right, based on my position, surged upward and then came crashing down as if to swallow me whole.
It was a sight as if a giant monster’s mouth was swallowing me.
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift!”
Pat!━
I dodged the attack with Phantom Shift and simultaneously moved as far forward as possible, then pulled out a card from the Item Storage.
Originally, I hadn’t planned to fight like this, 1:1, but the situation had changed.
But frankly, if that guy had similar skills to the First Apostle, my chances of winning weren’t that high.
“Summon.”
[Summoning Ust, Swallowing the Bitter Cold.]
“Title Change. Hero of the Present World.”
Thinking that there was no need to fight with full power, I summoned Ust and then changed back to my original title. Meanwhile, the Fifth Apostle waved his hand again.
Pababat!━
A sharp wind, pale green and crescent-shaped.
He unleashed dozens of these winds in all directions, not giving me even a moment to dodge.
‘But is he a magician type?’
Seeing him raise the earth at first and now use Wind Blade, I thought he must be a magician type. I first blocked the incoming Wind Blades.
Kwang!!━
[Damage received! 1,855.]
[Damage received……]
As expected, this much damage.
I believed the damage wouldn’t be much since he unleashed dozens of magic attacks, and blocked them with my shield. As expected, I could see the damage wasn’t much.
Of course, it was still a significant amount of damage for an ordinary player.
However, with Jayer’s Guardian Shield, my current health exceeded 70,000, so it was a negligible amount.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Besides, I had to return the favor, didn’t I?
I used Giant’s Sprint to repay the Fifth Apostle for his magic attack. With my agility momentarily boosted to 4,600, the Apostle’s movements felt like slow motion.
Kwaaang!!━
Conversely, my running feet moved as if reversing the slow-motion vision, and ultimately, I reached the Apostle.
[Skill Damage! 23,034.]
━Keuk!
Moreover, the Fifth Apostle was thrown back as soon as he was hit by Giant’s Sprint.
I thought he was a magician type, but his physical strength also seemed to be lacking, as his strength seemed lower than mine.
Kuwawak!!━
Following my attack, Ust’s Dark Ray swept over the Fifth Apostle. Seeing this, I thought, unlike my initial thoughts, maybe I could catch him relatively easily.
‘If it’s just this much, I think I can catch him.’
But I soon shook my head.
It wasn’t doubt, but certainty.
The certainty that the final boss of the Main Scenario wouldn’t be caught so easily.
How could I, who had fought the First Apostle directly, be mistaken about that?
There was a high probability that he was hiding something.
Or maybe we were just probing each other.
Thinking so, I waited without moving rashly, and the Apostle, who had been thrown back by Giant’s Sprint, got up as if nothing had happened and spoke, seemingly impressed.
━Not bad skills.
“Ah, is that a compliment?”
━Think what you will. Personally, I’d like to see more of the skills that brought down the First Apostle, but……
Kuku-kung!━
‘What’s that again?’
Some kind of statues sprung up around the Fifth Apostle as he trailed off.
They were statues of dragon heads, and after summoning about eight of them, the Fifth Apostle uttered his last words as if delivering a death sentence.
━Lord Beluin said to finish this quickly.
Kwaang!!━
At that moment, the dragon head statues spewed beams of various colors.
Fortunately, it was at a level I could see and dodge, so I quickly lowered myself to evade. I looked at the statues with a dumbfounded expression, but it wasn’t a one-time attack; the statues began to shoot beams again.
‘Weren’t skills like Flame Ray A-rank skills?’
Such skills were being used by those statues.
“Battle Awakening.”
[Health decreases by 12%.]
[Strength and Agility increase by 12% for 36 seconds.]
Having no choice, I used Battle Awakening, and the incoming beams became clearer.
I was able to dodge the beams without much difficulty by watching their trajectory, and for a moment, I contemplated whether I should destroy the statues. Just then, Ust’s thick branches forcefully stretched towards the statues.
It was Spiral Thrust, obtained after absorbing the Kraken.
Kwang!━
‘Oh…… Huh?’
Ust’s Spiral Thrust seemed to destroy the statues, but when it retracted its branches, the statues naturally began to restore themselves.
“……”
Can’t those statues be destroyed?
With that question in mind, I bided my time, dodging the beam attacks and giving Ust a chance to attack. Soon, Ust created Trees of Death and sent them all charging towards the statues.
Kwakwang!- Kwakwakwang!!━
The nearly 40 Trees of Death all charged towards the statues, causing a massive explosion. However, after witnessing the result, I let out an exclamation of admiration, not of surprise.
‘Wow, I’ve never seen such a cheat.’
The massive explosion created by the Trees of Death shattered some of the statues without a trace, but the statues began to restore themselves as if nothing had happened.
In short, they couldn’t be destroyed.
This meant I had to endure the statues’ attacks while targeting the Fifth Apostle. I was pondering what to do in this situation where the difficulty had suddenly increased when I noticed the Apostle chanting some kind of spell.
‘But didn’t that guy use magic with just hand gestures?’
Seeing him chanting a spell made me feel uneasy, so I decided to just blow him away again without further ado.
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
Pat━
Normally, Phantom Shift should have taken me right in front of the Apostle.
However, for some reason, Phantom Shift didn’t teleport me to the designated location but only to the outskirts where the statues were. The reason was explained by the message that appeared before me.
[Cannot enter due to the barrier of the eight statues.]
‘Seriously?’
Meanwhile, another message popped up.
[Beluin’s Fifth Apostle uses Inferno.]
Inferno?
Not knowing what kind of skill it was, I prepared to dodge and looked around. Soon, I saw heat haze rising from the entire ground.
‘Don’t tell me this whole area is……’
Judging by the range, even using Phantom Shift wouldn’t allow me to escape.
The heat haze was rising up to a radius of at least 1km.
And the moment I realized that, the whole world was dyed red.
Kwaaang!!━
‘Damn it.’
Should I use Absolute Recovery?
Absolute Recovery, a skill attached to the legendary ring.
As befitting an S-rank skill, its effect was tremendous, but if I received damage that would kill me in one blow, it would be meaningless.
I would just die and be resurrected as a demon.
[Damage received! 16,844.]
[Damage received……]
“Phew.”
Fortunately, the flames that had dyed my entire vision red dealt only three instances of damage and disappeared.
I had received a total of 50,000 damage.
If I hadn’t been wearing legendary items, and if they hadn’t been enhanced to +15, the chances of surviving would have been slim.
‘Still, it’s a relief to know I can endure it.’
If there was a more powerful attack than this, I would have no choice but to die, but it seemed unlikely.
A more powerful attack than the magic he used with the barrier?
Anyway, it seemed like the first thing to do was to figure out how to break through that damn barrier.
Kwakwang!- Kwakwakwang!!━
Meanwhile, Ust, who had survived the Inferno or whatever it was, sent Dark Ray and Trees of Death again, destroying some of the statues. Seeing the broken statues, I ran with all my might, just in case.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Fortunately, thanks to some of the eight statues being destroyed, my body passed through the barrier and reached the Apostle.
Kwaaang!!━
‘Got it.’
I succeeded in blowing the Apostle out of the barrier without much difficulty, and I decided to continue attacking like this.
For now, I thought this was the right strategy since the Fifth Apostle was a magician.
The best way to deal with a magician was to keep the pressure on without giving them a break.
However.
[Beluin’s Fifth Apostle uses Descent of Darkness.]
‘Oh, damn it!’
The Fifth Apostle, who had been thrown back, immediately used his Divine Power, and a giant monster made of black smoke, with only its upper body visible, appeared behind him.
It was the Divine Power that the First Apostle had used before.
Knowing that the smoke blocked almost all attacks, I tried to use Giant’s Sprint again but gave up and started thinking about how to strategize.
━You certainly have the skills to defeat the First Apostle.
“And so?”
━I’ll use my full power.
Kuku-kung!━
Following that, eight statues appeared around the Apostle again.
Turning my head, I saw that the statues in their original positions had disappeared. It seemed he had moved the statues themselves.
‘Statues and Descent of Darkness……’
He was using every means possible to protect himself.
Looking at the Apostle, I shifted my gaze slightly to observe the Anis Kingdom players. I wondered if attacking together with them could create even a small opening, but I soon realized it was impossible.
‘Why are they being pushed back over there?’
At a glance, I could see the Anis Kingdom players being gradually pushed back, unable to stop the thoughts that were advancing with two Apostles at the forefront.
Of course, the thoughts were continuously decreasing due to the sheer number of players, but the area where the Apostles were was being pierced like an automatic door.
Pachichik!━
‘Well, I don’t have time to worry about other places either.’
Even just briefly glancing at the players, the Apostle and the dragon head statues bombarded me with attacks. I quickly pulled myself together and escaped the spot with Phantom Shift.
Kwakwakwang!━
‘First……’
I could break through that damn barrier.
The problem was the Divine Power, Descent of Darkness. It was positioned behind the Apostle’s back, so I couldn’t blow it away even with Giant’s Sprint.
One way or another, I had to finish off the Apostle within the barrier.
‘This is going to be tough.’
Just then, I saw some movement from the players.
About a few hundred of them were breaking away from the battle and running towards where Beluin’s Specter was.
‘Oh.’
It felt somewhat reckless, but it was also a good strategy.
After all, their goal was to eliminate Beluin’s Specter.
If they could just eliminate the Specter, even if Beluin descended later, his power would be weakened. So, it might be better to focus on capturing the Specter than dealing with the Apostle.
‘Should I attack the Specter too?’
Dodging the attacks of the Apostle and the statues by skillfully using Phantom Shift, I seriously contemplated.
It seemed much more feasible than facing the Apostle who had armed himself with various defenses, but I soon had to revise my thoughts after seeing the players who had run towards the Specter.
Kwaaak!
Damn it, what the hell is that!?
“……?”
Turning my head at the faint screams, I saw Beluin’s Specter wielding a sword and massacring the players.
The sword the Specter was holding also looked familiar. It was the Sword of Destruction that the Apostle had used before.
‘Is the Specter able to freely use Divine Powers?’
Come to think of it, the Divine Powers used by the Apostles were originally Beluin’s, so it wasn’t strange for the Specter to use them.
It just meant that capturing the Specter had become much more difficult.
I wondered if it would be better for all the players to just rush in and attack the Specter.
Hwaruruk!━
“Phew, seriously.”
He’s not giving me any time to think.
I grumbled, looking at the dozens of fireballs being created above, but there was nothing I could do.
Even now, the barrier was being broken thanks to Ust’s efforts, but the Divine Power was bothersome.
Should I just charge in recklessly and attack, regardless of the Divine Power or anything else?
‘No, that won’t work.’
The moment I got close to the Apostle and attacked, I would be bombarded by Descent of Darkness and the concentrated attacks of the statues.
If only the players would charge in and distract him, but it wasn’t a situation I could resolve alone by recklessly charging in.
As I was stalling for time in this frustrating situation, I saw the Anis Kingdom players slowly retreating.
I didn’t know if they had given up or not, but it seemed they had decided to retreat for now.
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