𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟕𝟓
“What? You’re stronger than I heard.”
Edin, looking flustered, spoke to Jerak beside him, but Jerak just silently summoned a Skeleton Knight.
Of course, I knew the reason.
‘Army of Darkness.’
It’s one of the effects attached to the legendary staff, Daylis.
A somewhat vague but useful ability where all stats increase by 5 each time a Death Summon entity is added.
Actually, when I first saw that ability, it reminded me of Turu’s Staff, the first Rare item I acquired.
Turu’s Staff increased all stats by 2 every time an enemy was killed.
In a way, it was a superior version of that, and it seemed like Jerak was using that ability to boost his own stats.
‘Should I attack now?’
I had confidence since I had already raised two skills to the Transcendence stage, but the situation wasn’t favorable.
I wasn’t even sure if I could win in a 1:1 fight with him, and with hostile players rushing in from all directions, I thought it would be best to retreat as planned, so I said quietly,
“Phantom Skill Designation.”
[Please state the skill you wish to designate.]
“Volcus’ Thunder Strike.”
[Designated.]
“Blink.”
As soon as the skill designation was complete, I used Phantom Shift to move to a space without players, and then a phantom appeared where I had been and used Thunder Strike towards the approaching players.
Crackle!━
“Kyaaaak!”
As expected, Thunder Strike also looked different from before.
Originally, Thunder Strike, true to its name, showed the effect of sparking with a pale yellow color, but now, every time the attack hit, a large electric shock spread out as if exploding.
In other words, electrical damage was added.
In addition, the electrical damage was an area-of-effect attack, so it swept away the swarming players all at once.
“Jayer’s Guardian Shield, Shield of Light.”
Using the gap created by the phantom’s performance, however brief, I used my support skills, excluding Battle Awakening, and immediately ran at full speed while using the next skill.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Kwaaaang!!━
I blow them away with Giant’s Sprint and simultaneously replenish my depleted stamina.
This was possible because although my health wasn’t recovering due to the effect of Jerak’s Death Zone, my stamina was.
Instead, I couldn’t use Battle Awakening, which consumes health.
Anyway, I didn’t intend to end it with just one Giant’s Sprint, so I used Phantom Shift again and started to clean up the remaining players.
‘But there are surprisingly few players.’
At first, I thought there were a considerable number because I only saw the densely packed appearance along with the poison smoke, but now that I was dealing with them like this, I realized there weren’t that many.
Were there only 300-400 at most?
Moreover, about 100 had died due to the phantom’s initial Giant’s Sprint and Phantom Explosion, and now I was sweeping them away with Thunder Strike, so naturally, the remaining number was decreasing.
‘Could this be a trap?’
I felt like I could finish them all off in a few minutes if this continued, but realizing that there were few players from the beginning, I even started to think that this might be a trap.
Thud!━
At that moment, I saw Jerak, who was on the second floor, instantly kick off the ground and fly towards me.
A speed clearly different from before.
I don’t know how many skeletons he summoned, but I felt that his speed was comparable to mine.
‘Is that guy crazy?’
He’s coming down here himself instead of just shooting magic from the second floor?
Although his speed was unexpected, if he came down here on his own feet like that, I felt like I could settle things right away without having to run away.
“Blink.”
However, I leave one phantom behind since I don’t know the extent of his increased stats.
So, I left one phantom where I was and moved to a slightly distant location, and Jerak swung his staff at the phantom as soon as he found it, but it was nearly impossible to kill my phantom in one shot with a magician’s attack power.
Crackle!━
As expected, the phantom, upon being attacked, didn’t disappear and immediately attempted to counterattack with Thunder Strike, but Jerak showed himself easily dodging it.
‘He dodged that?’
Considering the increased attack speed from Thunder Strike, I thought his agility might be higher than I expected.
Furthermore, Jerak didn’t say anything and, after seeing the Thunder Strike, seemed to realize that it was a phantom, immediately widening the distance and searching for the location I had moved to.
‘I’ll attack first.’
At the same time, feeling that this was my chance, I kicked off the ground with the intention of attacking before Jerak found me.
One way or another, everything ends if I just catch him.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Jerak, who discovered me as soon as I started running after using the skill.
However, Jerak also seemed to have been prepared for this situation.
“Black Curtain.”
Kwaaaang!!━
‘What?’
As soon as he found me, black spheres emerged around Jerak like a protective shield after he used some skill, and I, colliding with that shield, was pushed back slightly.
‘What kind of skill is that?’
Actually, there were many skills that could block Giant’s Sprint.
Giant’s Sprint could be blocked simply by erecting a wall.
So, right now, it was better to attack at least once more than to think about this and that.
“Dynamics.”
Kwaaaang!━
[Skill Damage! 4,893.]
“Thunder Strike!”
After restraining him with Earth’s Dynamics, I swing my shield.
I thought it was an attack that was bound to hit, but contrary to my expectations, Jerak threw his body backward and dodged my shield, and seeing that, I instantly thought of the Stun Resistance item.
But even if stun didn’t activate, it didn’t mean I had lost all means of attack.
“Phantom Explosion.”
I continued the next attack with a nearby phantom.
Kwaaaang!!━
At my command, the phantom immediately reacted, light emanating from its body before exploding in a grand fashion, and Jerak, as expected, protected himself using the shield skill I saw earlier, but that’s exactly what I was aiming for.
“Giant’s Sprin……”
I launch Giant’s Sprint, taking advantage of the gap when the shield disappears.
Considering the agility boost from Giant’s Sprint, it was an attack that was bound to succeed, but I gritted my teeth and canceled it due to the information entering my mind, and in the meantime, Jerak showed himself regrouping.
“You’re truly amazing. I can’t match you in close combat.”
‘Lucky b*stard.’
Of course, I’m using Intuition right now.
The problem was that since Jerak appeared, I hadn’t been using that Intuition for combat but for only one thing, and I had stopped Giant’s Sprint just now because of that Intuition.
“So, how many minutes are left? I don’t think there’s much left.”
“What? Death Zone?”
Since the Death Zone had been active from the moment I entered the Guild Castle, I was currently taking 1,200 damage every 5 seconds.
How long has it been since we started fighting? 2 minutes? 3 minutes?
Remembering that, I secretly opened the Status Information Window to check my health.
[Health：46808 (+13000)/68608]
‘About 30,000 is gone.’
Certainly, the damage coming in every 5 seconds couldn’t be ignored, but I wasn’t too worried.
If worse came to worst, I could just enter any room in the Guild Castle.
Of course, since he came down here himself, I wanted to settle things now if possible, but as time passed, the situation became more disadvantageous for me, so I had to keep in mind the possibility of running away.
‘Should I have just finished him off with Giant’s Sprint earlier?’
No, I shouldn’t have.
If I killed him now, it was obvious he would come back the next day leading Skeleton Knights.
So, I had to crush him so he couldn’t get up again.
“It’s enough to kill you.”
“Is that so?”
Suddenly, as Jerak beckoned, I could see a hostile player nearby throwing something, and without having to look closely, I could tell it was a bomb.
Since he can’t handle me alone, he’s even using his guild members.
“Blink.”
I used Phantom Shift to avoid the thrown bomb and was able to easily escape the attack range, but the number of remaining players was significant.
In other words, it meant that my location would be exposed as soon as I dodged.
“He’s over there!”
Should I go somewhere and hide first?
Since Aizen had manipulated the access settings, I could enter anywhere in the Guild Castle, but conversely, they couldn’t.
So, if I just entered a suitable room……
‘Huh?’
As soon as my focus shifted from Jerak to my own survival, alarm bells seemed to ring in my head.
I felt like I shouldn’t enter a room like this.
I wanted to send a phantom to check, but phantoms couldn’t move according to my will.
Moreover, I was concerned that there wasn’t a single person guarding it, considering how many times I had escaped this way, so I inevitably stopped thinking about entering a room and dodged the incoming bomb again.
Kaboom!- Boom!━
‘Should I go out through the entrance?’
Thinking that and looking at the entrance, I saw several players using some skill at the entrance.
It was probably a Trap Magic.
How many layers are they stacking that?
Usually, Trap Magic was a skill that couldn’t be reused until it disappeared once it was installed, but that was a problem that could be solved if multiple people used it.
Additionally, Trap Magic had a duration, so it could disappear if I waited a little, but I was also on a time limit.
I had to break through somehow.
Or……
‘Or catch that damn b*stard.’
If I just caught Jerak, the Death Zone would disappear, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my health anymore.
That’s why I felt regretful about the missed opportunity earlier, but it was already too late.
For now, I decided to deal with this situation first.
“Summon.”
[Summoning Ust, Swallowing the Bitter Cold.]
The problem was that as soon as I summoned Ust, bombs flew in from all directions. Considering the health of the raid boss Ust, it was a trivial attack, but I, who was right behind him, wasn’t.
“Blink.”
Kaboom!!━
I dodged with Phantom Shift, and a series of explosions followed.
Seeing the phantom that disappeared instantly due to the number of bombs, I turned my head towards Jerak again, and I could see five Skeleton Knights appearing around him.
It seems he changed his strategy to corpse explosion since close combat didn’t work.
‘The damage will probably be significant.’
With the Army of Darkness effect, his attack power might even be higher than mine.
Kaboom!━
“……?”
At that moment, I heard an explosion from an unexpected place.
It was the entrance, and when I turned my head towards it, I saw Aizen, along with the Emperor Guild members, and Yua entering.
‘No, how……’
I could understand Aizen and the Emperor Guild members, but how did Yua get here?
I naturally thought that Yua wouldn’t log in since I didn’t mention attacking the Guild Castle, but seeing her here in person, I couldn’t understand what was going on.
Whoosh!━
“Uh, uh? What!?”
“They’re logging in! Quickly eliminate them!”
At the same time, guild members started appearing one by one in the center as if they were logging in, and seeing that, the hostile players hurriedly threw skills or bombs, but the guild members who had already entered immediately launched their attacks, and the number of guild members logging in safely began to increase one by one.
“Are you alright?”
“Forget alright, what happened? What about outside?”
“Reinforcements have arrived. So, we left that to them and came here to help Rudin-nim.”
“Reinforcements?”
“This person here brought them.”
The ‘this person’ Aizen pointed to was Yua.
How did Yua bring reinforcements?
As if sensing my gaze, Yua answered briefly.
“I’ll tell you later.”
Saying that, Yua turned her head and looked towards where Jerak was with a cold expression.
It was a side of Yua I had never seen before.
Thinking that she might fight Jerak if I left her like this, I approached her and said,
“Yua-nim. I’m sorry, but I’ll fight him.”
“……Can’t we fight together?”
Yua seemed to understand my intention to fight alone and suggested fighting together, but I couldn’t do that.
If that was the case, I would have finished him off with Giant’s Sprint earlier.
However, I wanted to end everything with this battle, and to do so, I had to fight alone.
“Please.”
At my words, Yua showed a moment of conflict before stepping back.
She didn’t answer, but she agreed to yield.
Of course, apart from Yua, there were guild members attacking Jerak, but it was still difficult to deal with him, who had strengthened his stats with Army of Darkness.
“Are you going to face him alone?”
“He seems to have a grudge against me.”
So, I have to be the one to face him.
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