The Late Game Healer Is Way Too Strong – Chapter 185

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟖𝟓: 𝐊𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 2

It all started with something trivial.

“How amusing~.”

When Kaise was young, it was his daily routine to crouch down beside an anthill and observe the ants’ movements all day long.

Whenever he got bored of just watching, he would catch other insects and place them next to the anthill.

“They eat a lot~.”

Watching the ants wiggle their antennae and carry the prey back to their nest, it almost seemed like they were expressing gratitude to him.

Whenever he felt bored, he would bring the carcasses of insects or small animals and place them in front of the anthill.

There was an inexplicable sense of satisfaction in watching the ants swarm around the food he had brought, dismantling it.

Then one day.

“Why aren’t they eating~?”

The ants gave the ankles of the animal Kaise had brought a little taste, then started avoiding it altogether.

Kaise’s mood quickly soured.

He decided to punish these petty creatures.

It was the price they had to pay for refusing the food granted by a god.

He brought glue and smeared it around the anthill, then took an oil-soaked tissue, stuffed it into the anthill, and set it ablaze.

Crackle, crackle, crackle.

The sound of popping popcorn.

The aroma of roasting protein wafted through the air.

The ants writhed and died, and Kaise felt an unusual pleasure.

This incident triggered the awakening of his ability.

A fire mage.

Kaise loved the smell and screams that came from burning organic matter.

He even used his signature flames when he first educated Laban.

The sight of a man as massive as an ogre screaming shrilly and crawling on all fours was a spectacle that could never be witnessed again.

“I wonder~ what kind of expression you’ll make to entertain me?”

It was a given that the hunter Min Siwoo was powerful.

But at the moment, his strength was not merely halved; it would be fair to say that about 90% of it had been stripped away.

He couldn’t use his signature magic, his healing was blocked, leaving him helpless against the numerous wounds on his body, and being near the demonic realm made it difficult to use mana.

Moreover, since Laban and Arumu had already drained a significant portion of his stamina, Siwoo’s body must be utterly exhausted.

Kaise was reminded of the ants he used to observe on sunny days.

To him, Min Siwoo was no more than a mere ant.

How should he torment him to make him curl up and die like the ants, in utter disarray?

Kaise’s palms gathered ominous mana and demonic energy.

Having made a direct contract with Solaso, a subordinate of the second realm demon king, he possessed exceptionally potent demonic energy compared to other Fourth Hierarchy members.

Furthermore, having absorbed the demonic energy of Arumu and Laban, who had enhanced their mana with drugs, his demonic energy would be multiplied several times over.

“With about 20%~ of my full strength, you won’t die. But you’ll suffer enough to wish you were dead, so you’d better prepare yourself mentally.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a crimson magic circle etched itself before him, and scorching flames shot towards Siwoo.

The massive blaze was large enough to swallow a person whole, and then some.

Whoosh!

“Ahaha~ Too, too wonderful. To see you burn so beautifully like this. Look at this, Mr. Laban, Ms. Arumu! This is a masterpiece born from your fingertips!”

Kaise gazed at Siwoo’s burning figure with an enraptured expression.

The scent of life and death mingles from a person engulfed in flames, writhing in agony.

“What are you doing~ Hunter Min Siwoo! You’re not someone who should die from just this much! Quickly brush off my flames and come back out, and then endure my flames again!”

He shouted, his eyes filled with the crimson blaze.

Whether from the heat or excitement, Kaise’s face was flushed red.

“This sight~ even the late Lord Balok or Lord Orobas should have witnessed it! Truly too marvelous. . .”

Kaise’s expression contorted slightly, and his words trailed off.

Siwoo should have been thrashing about, his flesh seared crimson.

But after brushing off the flames, Siwoo emerged unscathed, without a single scorch mark.

“Why the look? I brushed it off, as you said.”

“. . .Hm. I didn’t expect you to be this unfazed, though. What kind of trick did you pull?”

“Maybe your flames were just too weak.”

“Haha~ Hahaha. You really are an amusing one! I’ll look forward to you entertaining me more like this!”

Kaise’s small pupils were brimming with murderous intent.

For someone to dare comment on the level of flames against a fire mage like himself.

“This time~ I’ll roast you bit by bit. Let’s go with about 50% of my full strength.”

“If you’re going to use magic, it’s only fair if I undo some of the curses, no?”

“Hahaha~ You do joke well. Sadly, if you did that, you might end up dead. Since this is a one-sided torment, all you need to do is scream and wail.”

The demonic energy and magic power surging from Kaise’s body converged forward, forming another magic circle.

Dozens of fireballs instantly took aim at Siwoo and flew towards him.

The surrounding temperature rose to scorching levels.

Siwoo wielded Balmung, batting away and cutting through the incoming fireballs.

But there were too many of them, and they were too fast, so most of the attacks struck Siwoo’s body.

Fwoosh!!

The terribly searing heat enveloped the area and seared Siwoo’s body.

Immense plumes of smoke billowed, and dust kicked up from the ground.

“Yes~ That’s it! Thrash about! Roll on the ground and beg for your life! Hihihi~ Wonderful, so wonderful!”

Kaise clapped his hands joyfully, a bright smile on his face.

At that moment,

a massive blaze erupted spectacularly around Siwoo.

‘𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵~ 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦’𝘴 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵, 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.’

Kaise peered through the smoke, his narrow eyes filled with doubt.

There, surrounded by golden flames, was Siwoo, glaring back at him.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳~ 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.’

Kaise couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

The duration of a curse is not infinite.

The stronger the curse’s effects, the more stringent the conditions for activation and duration.

Therefore, the curse placed on Siwoo also had a limited duration.

It was long enough to weaken the target, but not so long that its effects would last for hours.

And the same was true for the troll’s blood.

“Have you~ already recovered to the point of being able to use magic?”

“Hardly. If that were the case, you’d already be dead and sprawled on the ground.”

Siwoo did not relent the intensity of his flames as he strode toward Kaise.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

The moment Kaise’s flames first flew towards him.

【𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐩 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥, 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬.】

Pre patted Siwoo’s back with his one wing, which was only as big as a thumbnail.

“How about telling me something lucky?”

【𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜. 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨.】

Siwoo glared at Pre, his eyes filled with disbelief.

‘𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸.’

He grumbled to himself and concentrated on his empty dantian.

Unable to use magic, it had already been a long time since he had exhausted all his mana.

In order to use ether, a purer energy than magic power, he had to empty all the magic power in his dantian.

That was exactly why he had pushed magic power into Balmung and clashed swords with Laban.

Siwoo approached the core, which was deeper than the dantian, and drew a handful of ether.

Instead of the warm feeling from regular mana, a chill that penetrated right to his marrow spread throughout him.

The ether rushed through his mana veins and into every corner of his blood vessels.

The excruciating pain of muscle fibers tearing and cells burning came to his body.

He would have welcomed the sensation if it had been before. But now, he couldn’t do it at all.

Siwoo concentrated the heat of his body in one place.

The legendary item, the Pyrite, received from the Nameless king who slept in the underground catacombs.

Normally, it was not an item that he would have paid much attention to because he could use magic freely, but he liked how its abilities matched his distaste for the demons, and kept it with him.

Immediately after hearing the words of the pyromancer, Siwoo came up with this whole plan in his head.

When he saw Kaise and the strength of his power and energy at a glance, it became clear what kind of being he was.

At least, he was among the strongest of the 4th Hierarchy that Siwoo had faced.

For all of this, Siwoo knew instinctively that an ordinary fire would not overwhelm and out match Kaise’s own.

“Phew.”

Siwoo decided to use the purer ether to awaken the Pyrite, rather than using ordinary magic power.

The Pyrite, a national treasure of the ancient kingdom, was infused with high-purity magic power, ether.

Items that use magic power as their power source have their abilities proportional to the quality and quantity of magic power infused.

The Pyrite, imbued with Siwoo’s ether, received the purest energy and was able to exert its power to the fullest.

The flames grew in size in an instant.

The momentum of the Pyrite’s flames blazed against the flames that Kaise had sent.

Kaise looked surprised as his own attack was easily repelled.

Soon, a second attack was unleashed on Siwoo.

This time, the power was more than doubled, and the number increased to dozens.

Siwoo deflected the flames that he could deflect with Balmung, and blocked the rest with the momentum of the Pyrite.

No, rather than blocking it, the flames of the Pyrite neutralized the flames of his opponent.

“Have you~ already recovered to the point of being able to use magic?”

Kaise stared at Siwoo with a grim expression.

He couldn’t understand how his opponent, who should have been a charred corpse by now, was still standing there unscathed.

“You~ are truly a person who is not to my liking in every way. You are not in pain, nor are you charred by the flames. It’s rare that my plans go so awry.”

Kaise did not hide his anger.

Siwoo felt like he was facing the real Kaise for the first time, without any pretense.

“But~ it’s true that you can’t heal, and your magic is bound. Because you’re bleeding so much and you can’t even stop the bleeding.”

“Perhaps my cuts are just minor in comparison and unworthy of concern.”

Siwoo replied, enduring the pain as if his nerves were being severed one by one.

He didn’t have much time left.

Even if he hadn’t been in bad shape, the fact that he had borrowed the momentum of the ether had put his body in a state of overload.

“Ha-ha~ I have no idea what tricks you have up your sleeve, but even at my own wit’s end, I have never met one who could survive my heartfelt flames. Allow me to offer you death with a little extra on the side.”

Kaise began to concentrate all the demonic energy and magic power in his body in one place.

The momentum of an immense heat pressed down on the surroundings and overturned the ground.

“Die~~ Hahahahahaha!”

The combined forces of the pyromancer, using ‘Oath of Mana’ to call even on others’ powers for his assistance, came forth and crashed toward Siwoo.

Clack!

The physical pain was reaching its limit.

Siwoo spat out a mouthful of blood and bit his lip.

He poured all the ether he had drawn into the Pyrite.

Fwo━━━osh!

A bright blue pillar of fire shot up into the sky, devouring Kaise’s flames and turning the area into a sea of fire.

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