𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟔𝟏
‘Damn it.’
Without even a moment to think, I swung the Roar of the Thunder Dragon to block Beluin’s sword first.
Clang!━
[The durability of the weapon ‘Roar of the Thunder Dragon’ is at 10%.]
‘This is crazy!’
Is this what they mean by “out of the frying pan, into the fire”?
Thinking about it, I’ve only blocked Beluin’s sword with the Roar of the Thunder Dragon twice.
It’s quite absurd that its durability has been reduced by 90% with just two blocks, but considering the damage, it’s not that strange either.
“Item Storage.”
Anyway, I can’t just let the Roar of the Thunder Dragon break.
It won’t disappear even if it breaks, but the repair cost will be more than 10 times higher, so I quickly tried to switch to the Infinity Sword from the item window. Seeing Beluin swing his sword once more, I had no choice but to block it with the Roar of the Thunder Dragon.
Clang!━
[The weapon ‘Roar of the Thunder Dragon’ has lost all durability and is broken.]
[The broken weapon is automatically moved to Item Storage.]
Thanks to that, the Roar of the Thunder Dragon broke, but I was able to immediately pull out the Infinity Sword from the item window I had opened beforehand, allowing me to prepare for Beluin’s next attack.
Fortunately, if it’s the Infinity Sword, I should be able to block Beluin’s attacks several times.
However, before Beluin’s attack could continue, the Tree of Death rushed in from behind.
Kwaaaang!!━
[Summon Skill Damage! 8,487.]
[Summon Skill Damage……]
The damage from each explosion was lower than mine, but with more than 10 explosions, it added up to a significant amount.
‘Huh?’
And perhaps due to the impact of the explosion, I realized the feeling that had been binding my ankles had disappeared. I immediately stepped back, and Beluin, annoyed by the Tree of Death’s suicide attack followed by the Withered Root piercing his body, seemed to have changed his target to Ust.
━Insolent.
[Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness, uses Black Moonlight.]
Here, Beluin probably used the skill with the intention of eliminating Ust, but Ust, being a raid boss, wouldn’t fall to such an attack.
‘By the way, it seems like he uses that Black Moonlight or whatever as a basic skill.’
In a way, this might be the chance to attack while his attention is diverted to Ust.
But because of the unknown phenomenon that had grabbed my ankles earlier, I had no choice but to be cautious about approaching him. Even with the Infinity Sword, I wasn’t confident in withstanding Beluin’s attacks more than twice.
Moreover, even a graze deals abnormal damage.
Although I hate to admit it, he’s not someone I can fight head-on.
‘But I can’t just leave it to Ust either.’
The Karzen Kingdom soldiers had already been wiped out long ago.
Ust was able to endure because he’s a raid boss, but it’s a natural consequence that the soldiers, who are just regular summoned creatures, couldn’t withstand Beluin’s attacks.
In fact, it would be strange if the soldiers could withstand the 30,000 damage I was taking without any problems.
‘But what is Aizen doing?’
Currently, I was the only one close to Beluin.
The Yonggammusang Guild had initially deployed a large number of guild members to use the Corpse Explosion skill, but I hardly saw any Emperor Guild members, so I checked to see what was going on and noticed that something was causing a commotion over there.
‘……Why the commotion?’
Since I was handling Beluin, there shouldn’t be any commotion on their side.
However, looking at the gathered guild members, they were moving in two groups. Upon closer inspection, I witnessed the Emperor Guild members fighting against something.
‘Apostles?’
Weren’t the Apostles just watching from behind Beluin?
I turned my head, and as expected, the four Apostles were staring blankly.
They seemed completely uninterested in the battle itself.
Or perhaps Beluin had ordered them not to interfere, but either way, since the Apostles were here, I was puzzled about who the Emperor Guild was currently fighting. Then, something came to mind.
‘Ah.’
Were they the ones originally in the Karzen Kingdom?
It was early, but since Beluin had arrived here, it wouldn’t be strange for the Apostles who were in the Karzen Kingdom to join him.
It’s been a while since Beluin appeared.
In the end, the most worrisome situation, the joining of the Apostles, had already occurred before even fighting Beluin, making the war situation extremely unfavorable.
The only way to resolve this situation at once would be……
‘For me to defeat Beluin.’
If I defeat Beluin, everything will be resolved.
Also, looking at the messages, Ust’s damage was continuously increasing, roughly in the hundreds of thousands.
This was the result of Beluin’s fighting style, which involved charging forward while enduring all sorts of attacks, unlike the Second Apostle I fought before.
‘Or, should I just try to kill the Apostles?’
Even if they are raid boss-designated Apostles, I’m confident.
I could use Absolute Recovery and attack like crazy.
That way, I was confident I could eliminate at least one of them, but the question was whether it would work on Beluin.
‘Phew, let’s check their health first.’
Using Intuition, I could roughly gauge their remaining health.
I figured it wouldn’t be too late to decide after checking that, so I concentrated as hard as I could, activated the second Intuition, and tried to see how many times I could bring Beluin down with Thunder Strike.
Zing━
‘……Phew.’
Lately, I’ve been getting strange headaches.
Originally, using the second Intuition caused a slight headache, but it felt like the intensity was gradually increasing.
However, it wasn’t unbearable, and the headache subsided naturally after a certain amount of time had passed since activation, so I ignored it and roughly checked how much health Beluin had left.
‘Hmm.’
Uh…… roughly 200 hits?
Based on the damage I dealt with Thunder Strike earlier, it seems Beluin’s health is probably around 10 million.
It’s a small amount if you consider it small, and a large amount if you consider it large, but it’s certain that he has more health than any other boss I’ve faced so far.
‘So, you’re saying I have to land Thunder Strike at least 100 times on a guy who deals 30,000 damage with a graze?’
It might be possible if he were a normal boss, but against Beluin, it seemed difficult.
To land Thunder Strike over 100 times on a guy who grabs my ankles and beats me as soon as I get close?
Besides, checking the damage I’ve dealt so far, it didn’t seem to be even 1 million.
“Rudin, the second attack is ready, so fall back!”
The second attack, huh……
‘Did that b*stard Heuksin not even check the health?’
Anyway, as Heuksin said, I stepped back and watched. It seemed like he had been diligently summoning skeletons, as a significantly larger number than before were charging towards Beluin.
And Beluin, who was dealing with Ust, also saw the scene and immediately distanced himself from Ust. He then gripped his sword and activated a skill.
[Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness, uses Sword of Destruction.]
‘Ah, we’re screwed.’
Kwa Kwa Kwa Kwang!!━
As expected, a black wave spread out in a fan shape, shattering all the approaching skeletons.
It seems he had been summoning skeletons non-stop, but it was all for naught.
━Let’s end the entertainment here.
“……Entertainment?”
━Clean them up. Except for this one.
I knew that the ‘this one’ he was referring to was me.
And as soon as he finished speaking, the four Apostles who were watching from behind immediately rushed towards where Heuksin was. Before I could even try to stop them, Beluin approached me without a sound.
‘Is he not even concerned about Ust anymore?’
Even for Beluin, it seemed like it would take some time to kill Ust.
Perhaps he decided that it would be faster to eliminate me, the summoner.
Well, unlike Ust, I could probably be taken down with three or four sword strikes.
Clang!━
Of course, I wasn’t going to go down easily, so I swung the Infinity Sword to block his attack.
Despite blocking it, I lost my balance due to the difference in strength between me and Beluin, but it was much better than taking damage.
‘But what happened to that b*stard Heuksin?’
I couldn’t check even if I wanted to while facing Beluin.
However, since the magic attacks that had been constantly flying towards Beluin had stopped, I could roughly guess what was happening.
He must be busy dealing with the Apostles.
Still, with Heuksin’s skills, along with the Yonggammusang Guild, they shouldn’t be easily pushed back.
No, they might even win against the four Apostles.
So, I’ll leave the Apostles to Heuksin, and I’ll……
‘Just have to deal with him, right?’
Using the second Intuition to accurately grasp the location of Beluin’s incoming attacks, I decided to go beyond just stalling for time and properly confront him.
* * *
Clang!━
━Your skills have improved.
After exchanging several blows using Intuition actively, Beluin paused his attack and spoke with a puzzled tone.
However, regardless of Beluin’s doubts, my condition wasn’t good either.
My health and stamina only recovered when I landed a hit with the shield skill, but since that was difficult now, I wasn’t recovering at all.
‘Wow, this is really too much.’
Normally, I would block with the sword and then attack with the shield, but with Beluin’s sword, blocking it pushed my entire body back, making it difficult to attack with the shield.
All I could do was defend to avoid getting hit.
Even so, I felt it was enough for now.
‘Because Ust is handling the offense.’
Also, I could tell from Intuition that roughly 20% of his health was gone.
The problem was that Ust’s duration would likely end before Beluin died, causing him to disappear first.
━Then how about this?
[Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness, uses Mark of Death.]
“Huh?”
For a moment, I thought I saw it wrong, but seeing the dark red mark engraved on my chest, my face involuntarily contorted.
[Mark of Death has been engraved.]
[You will receive 3 times the damage from all attacks by Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness.]
‘This is crazy.’
The Apostles I’ve faced so far needed to pay a price, like consuming health, to use their Authority, but Beluin was using it simply like a skill, without any cost.
Furthermore, the Authority he just used was the most troublesome Mark of Death.
Thanks to this, I was now in a state where even a graze from Beluin’s attack was equivalent to death.
‘This makes Absolute Recovery useless.’
Absolute Recovery is a recovery skill, so it’s useless if I die instantly.
‘Should I run away?’
Even if the situation is unfavorable, I’m at an overwhelming disadvantage.
He needs to be hit hundreds of times to die, but I die with just one graze?
But before I could even contemplate, Beluin moved first.
━Vanish.
[Beluin, the God of Deep Darkness, uses Darkness-Stained Light.]
Kwa Kwa Kwa Kwak!!━
At the same time, a black aura emerged from Beluin’s body and spread out in all directions in an instant.
Furthermore, I could see the ground behind the spreading blackness also being stained black. Before I could even think about what it was, I felt an intangible shockwave sweep over my body.
Kwaaaang!!━
[Skill Damage! 74,532.]
‘Wow.’
It was an attack that spread in all directions, so there was no way to avoid it.
Would it have been possible to use Phantom Shift to move forward?
But feeling that there was nowhere to escape with Intuition, I relied on the increased health from Guardian Shield and endured, but it seemed that was too much.
[You have died.]
‘……Should I have really defended the defense line and activated the barrier?’
Either way, since I died, Ust naturally disappeared as well.
Fortunately, upon seeing this, Beluin turned around and slowly headed towards where the guild members were, and as expected, I was able to revive.
[The demonic power within you awakens due to death.]
[Your race temporarily changes to Demon.]
‘The Mark of Death also disappeared, though.’
Fighting Beluin in this state would have a predictable outcome.
Because I rarely died until now, the Demonification skill level hardly increased, making me much weaker than in my human state.
Therefore, I contacted Aizen and decided to retreat.
Leave a Reply