𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟔𝟎
“It’s done! The thoughts are starting to disappear!”
“Get ready! I’ll charge in!”
“And scatter! I saw the arrows earlier, and they’re not normal!”
Oh, he even saw the arrows in the midst of all that?
On the other hand, it would have been strange not to notice, considering the unusual explosions that occurred every time an arrow landed.
Anyway, the guild members started charging in as the thoughts disappeared, and the Apostle must have noticed this as well, as he changed his target and shot arrows towards the guild members.
Kwaaaang!!━
“I told you to scatter!”
“Damn it, they keep coming!”
‘Hmm.’
Glancing over, it seemed like 10 to 20 guild members were being swept away every time an arrow exploded.
The problem was that those arrows were flying in endlessly. While they might be able to withstand one or two, it seemed impossible to endure more than that, as I could easily see guild members collapsing.
‘Even if I leave it like this, not many will die……’
Yes, not many would die.
Maybe 200 to 300 at most?
However, I didn’t like the idea of just standing by and taking it, so I thought about going ahead and dealing with the Apostle who was shooting the arrows, but the guild members’ response was also quite impressive.
“Knock them down!”
“Wind Explosion!”
They countered the incoming arrows with wind-based magic, knocking them down.
Strangely, the arrows that fell like that didn’t explode, making it an almost perfect countermeasure. Seeing that, I stopped worrying and looked at Beluin, who was leisurely waiting ahead, and the four Apostles standing behind him.
I was able to confirm this because all the thoughts had disappeared.
‘By the way, should I be the one to handle Beluin?’
Their position made it difficult to ignore them and attack the Apostles.
They were blatantly hiding behind Beluin.
Looking at that, I had a feeling that Beluin would immediately turn around and attack me if I just ran towards the Apostles, so I couldn’t help but ponder for a moment.
‘But the Apostles serving Beluin are hiding too openly.’
Was that allowed?
In any case, it was certain that I would clash with Beluin, so I switched my target from the Apostles to Beluin and rushed in to grab his ankle.
━It’s been a while.
‘A while?’
━I’ll repay you for everything you’ve done so far.
Repay me? For killing his specter?
Before I could even think about it, Beluin took a step forward and in an instant, he was right in front of me.
‘Huh?’
At first glance, it might have looked similar to my Phantom Shift skill, but the movement was so natural that it felt like a completely different skill.
━Let’s see your skills first.
At the same time, the Sword of Ruin flew towards me.
The Sword of Ruin, classified as a greatsword, flew as if to split me in half, but it wasn’t at a speed I couldn’t react to, so I raised the Roar of the Thunder Dragon and blocked his attack.
Kaang!━
“Ugh.”
At the same time, I realized that his Strength was higher than mine, so I stepped back as soon as I blocked the attack, and Beluin leisurely closed the distance again and continued his assault.
‘He’s not going to give me any breathing room, is he?’
First of all, it was clear that his basic stats were superior to mine.
Moreover, with the Sword of Ruin in his hand, I felt that the chances of me winning in a head-on confrontation were slim, so I decided to use Phantom Shift to distract him, just like I had done before.
“Blink.”
Pat!━
After dodging the incoming Sword of Ruin once again with Phantom Shift, I turned around and headed towards where Beluin was.
[Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness, uses Black Moonlight.]
Suddenly, Beluin swung his sword precisely in my direction, and a crescent-shaped black sword wave shot towards me, following the trajectory.
‘Damn it.’
The attack came as soon as I turned around, so there was no time to dodge.
I could only barely raise my shield.
Although my shield didn’t have a damage reduction effect, I believed that Steadfast Defense would apply since I hadn’t moved from my spot yet.
Kwaaaang!!━
[You have taken damage! -29,454.]
However, I was knocked back, taking damage that I wasn’t even sure if Steadfast Defense had been applied. Realizing that he closed the distance in an instant, I threw myself back once more.
But there was no need for that, as Beluin had already turned his attention towards the guild members who had arrived.
“Die! Rock Cleave!”
“Vital Point Stab!”
“……”
Should I call them brave?
They couldn’t have seen me being knocked back, as they were recklessly approaching and attacking Beluin.
Of course, there was no way Beluin would fall for such attacks.
Beluin swung the Sword of Ruin faster than the guild members who charged at him.
Chaak!━
The difference in speed was overwhelming.
As a result, the two guild members who charged at Beluin first were cut down in a single blow, but dozens of guild members followed, fiercely closing in to fill the gap.
‘What the hell is Heuksin thinking?’
Judging from their attack pattern, it wasn’t the Emperor Guild.
That meant it was the Yonggammusang Guild, and I naturally thought of Heuksin, assuming they were acting on some kind of order from him.
‘Or is he sacrificing guild members to give me an opportunity to attack?’
The reason was unclear, but Beluin, who was slaughtering the guild members, was in a perfect position to be ambushed.
‘Oh well, I don’t know.’
Whatever Heuksin’s intentions were, I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
He must have taken damage from the attacks launched from the rear, and if he took damage, it meant he could be killed.
Then, it was right to attack, even for the sake of contribution points.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
With the thought of at least trying to attack, I kicked the ground with all my might and easily collided with Beluin, who was still cutting down guild members.
Kwaaaang!!━
[Skill Damage! 24,480.]
‘Huh?’
As if I had collided with a giant rock with my bare body, my body was pushed back.
I knew from our first exchange that Beluin’s Strength was higher than mine, but to think he wouldn’t even budge after being hit with Giant’s Sprint meant that he possessed even greater strength than I had imagined.
“……!?”
At that moment, Beluin swung the Sword of Ruin towards me, who had been pushed back.
I wanted to dodge the attack that was extending towards me with a speed that made the greatsword seem weightless, but I couldn’t completely avoid it due to the length of the greatsword, and my shoulder was grazed.
[The power residing in the Sword of Ruin ‘Meron’ claims your life.]
[You have taken damage! -30,471.]
‘Huh? What?’
Since it was a graze, shouldn’t it have shown reduced damage?
But looking at the damage again, the number indicated that I had been hit directly.
‘Or is it because of the Sword of Ruin’s effect?’
I wasn’t sure if it was due to Beluin’s ability or the Sword of Ruin, but it seemed like even a graze would result in full damage.
And if that was true……
‘It might be difficult to catch him.’
Even now, the Yonggammusang Guild members were throwing themselves at him and continuing their attacks, but I didn’t think it had even shaved off 10% of Beluin’s HP.
Wouldn’t it be fortunate if they had managed to reduce it by even 5%?
Anyway, with more than half of my HP gone, I retreated and took out the Unending Healing Potion and drank it.
[HP and MP are restored by 13,491……]
“Hey, Rudin! Fall back!”
“……?”
Suddenly, I heard Heuksin’s voice from afar.
Turning my head to check, Heuksin was waving his hand, gesturing for me to retreat, and upon seeing that, I stepped back and saw his face, smiling confidently.
“Then let’s begin. Corpse Explosion!”
Corpse Explosion?
Kwakwakwang!!━
Just as I was wondering if it was the skill I was thinking of, consecutive explosions erupted where Beluin was.
Did he actually use Corpse Explosion on the guild members?
The method was absurd, but it seemed to have dealt a significant amount of damage, as Beluin’s posture was slightly distorted.
‘Wow……’
So that’s why the Yonggammusang Guild members were charging in earlier.
Well, regardless of the method, it seems like they did deal some damage.
And Heuksin didn’t seem to intend to end it with just that attack, as he summoned dozens of skeletons and sent them charging towards Beluin. Beluin, upon seeing the skeletons, swung the Sword of Ruin and cut them down before they could even approach, but even that seemed to be part of Heuksin’s plan.
“Corpse Explosion!”
Kwakwakwang!!━
Consecutive explosions erupted where the skeletons fell.
It seemed like he had managed to land a second effective blow, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to defeat Beluin.
However, if all the dead guild members had exploded and dealt damage, wouldn’t it have inflicted at least 100,000 damage?
━Interesting.
Woong woong━
Meanwhile, black particles started to gather on Beluin’s sword, although I didn’t know what kind of attack it was.
Anyone could see that he was preparing an attack, but most were relieved since they were far away.
[Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness, uses Sword of Destruction.]
‘Sword of Destruction?’
Along with the message, Beluin swung the Sword of Ruin horizontally, and simultaneously, a black wave spread out like a fan, sweeping away the guild members in the distance.
Kwakwakwakwang!!━
Of course, the guild members didn’t just stand still.
They prepared their defenses, either by using protective skills or erecting earth walls, but Beluin’s attack shattered everything, turning at least 100 guild members gray.
The power to wipe out over 100 guild members in a single blow.
Seeing that, I felt my motivation for the raid waning, but I couldn’t back down.
“Title Change, Summon.”
[Summoning Ust, Swallowing the Bitter Cold.]
I’ll do everything I can.
Switching to the Soul Contract title, a summoning type, I summoned Ust and even the Karzen Kingdom soldiers, and Ust and about 10 soldiers appeared in front of me.
And then, I switched back to my original title……
“……Title Change. Knight of Light.”
[Changing title to ‘Knight of Light’. Remaining changes: 1.]
I was going to switch back to my original title, Hero of the Present World, but I remembered a better title, so I switched to the one I obtained after passing the Trial of Light.
The downside was that my maximum HP decreased by about 8,000.
However, in exchange, my damage doubled, so it seemed like I had to fight by focusing on continuous attacks.
‘If I had switched from the beginning…… No, would it have been meaningless?’
Even if I had fought with the Knight of Light title from the beginning, the number of times I had hit him so far was only once.
If I had dealt at least a few hundred thousand damage, it would have been a different story, but since that wasn’t the case, I didn’t think there was any need to regret it. I decided to use Ust and the Karzen Kingdom soldiers to divert Beluin’s attention first.
“All units, attack!”
At my command, the Karzen Kingdom soldiers all charged towards Beluin, and Ust also started attacking by summoning Withered Roots.
“Blink.”
However, knowing that my summoned creatures wouldn’t be able to defeat Beluin, I quickly used Phantom Shift to aim for his openings.
━Pathetic.
[Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness, uses Black Moonlight.]
Even so, Beluin instantly pinpointed my location after I used Phantom Shift.
As proof, the same black sword wave flew towards me as soon as I moved, but I had anticipated this and dodged it by using Phantom Shift again.
“Blink.”
After using Phantom Shift four more times in succession, three illusions, excluding the one that disappeared after being hit by the first skill, charged towards Beluin. Seeing that they had somehow managed to get close, I decided to try the attack I had prepared.
“Phantom Explosion.”
Kwaaaang!!━
The illusions that charged at Beluin exploded before they could even attack.
In a way, it was a similar sight to Heuksin’s Corpse Explosion.
However, the attack itself seemed to be successful, as it dealt more damage than I had expected.
[Skill Damage! 57,820.]
[Skill Damage……]
‘Oh.’
Looking at the damage, it seemed like the Knight of Light effect was also applied to Phantom Explosion.
Thanks to that, I dealt a considerable amount of damage, but I wasn’t satisfied with that, so I decided to inflict as much damage as possible before he could recover.
“Blink, Thunder Strike!”
Kwaaaang!━
[Skill Damage! 47,466.]
‘The damage definitely increased.’
The surprise attack was also successful, as I managed to land the Thunder Strike attack without much difficulty, but Beluin, who was hit by the attack, didn’t even flinch.
Should I retreat here?
Thunder Strike was a four-hit attack.
But I had a bad feeling, so I quickly tried to retreat, but before I could, I felt an intangible force grabbing my ankle.
━You’re caught.
‘Caught?’
But there was no message.
Before I could even think about it, Beluin’s sword attack followed.
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