“There’s no need to move; I’ve got ways to attack.”
The Grim Reaper, engulfed in flames, was writhing in pain.
It seemed the resistance stats were considerable, as the raging flames simmered down after a moment.
But even in that brief instant, his eyebrows and hair caught fire, emitting a foul stench, and the neatly styled hair slicked back with pomade turned into a wild, tangled mess.
Of course, it did cause some minor damage to his health.
“Aaaah! Aaaah! What the hell!!”
The Grim Reaper let out a roar filled with deep frustration, suddenly adopting a terrifying expression and unleashing Light Madness.
“Wow—! Hahaha! How dare you! How dare you! I will definitely tear you apart!!”
However, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where I was, so he couldn’t act immediately.
“Nice talk, but in the end, he’s trying to find Mari.”
Fwoosh—
As the Grim Reaper tried to turn away with some bravado, a Wall of Flames formed a circle around him, delivering a clear message.
“Don’t go anywhere; we need to end this!”
“…?! Yeah! I just have to rip this place apart.”
He seemed to grasp my intentions easily and turned back to face me.
And before I knew it, another soul had been summoned above his head.
‘Well, I’ve managed to bind him… but stopping him from summoning souls is tough.’
Goooo—
At first, he muttered something resembling a spell, but by the second time, it was gone, and the casting speed became frighteningly fast.
It’s not easy to understand the concept of summoning souls, but his S-rank talent hasn’t gone anywhere.
‘How many souls can he summon? The soul from when I first used my vibration ability is still around, so that’s a bit annoying… I guess it’s lucky he can only use one skill?’
This time, a delicate female body without a head was summoned.
The headless woman bobbed above his head like a balloon.
‘I never heard he only picks women to kill, but what a coincidence it is. The second one also looks like a sorcerer… Is she a support type too?’
[Sand Sphere]
‘Sand?!’
To my surprise, attack-type magic began to rain down in my vicinity.
Swish— Bang!
Spears made of sand stabbed successively into the area where I was, quickly turning into sand again and floating back up, transforming into sharp spikes repeatedly.
Even though it’s the most basic magic of the sphere type, these sand attacks were sharp, containing the essence of a legendary sword. It was clear that the souls he controlled were formidable in their past lives.
‘Danger, danger.’
The relentless attacks raining down from the sky made it harder to dodge.
In fact, the accuracy with which he was pinpointing my location was climbing so significantly that I could feel sweat forming on my back.
Swish—
“Ugh! Stop it!”
The greatest strength of the sand attribute is that once it manifests through magic, it can continue and maintain with minimal magical power until it hits the enemy.
‘Changing form repeatedly is getting annoying! It looks bad if I provoke a fight and run away on the outside.’
Since I’m the one who created the Wall of Flames, escaping the battlefield isn’t hard, but leaving the implicitly set arena would disperse his focus onto my minions, which I wasn’t planning on doing.
After all, one-on-one dueling requires momentum. I can’t lose!
Whoooosh—
The sand magic blew fiercely, and the aura generated by the Grim Reaper continuously slashed through the air. It didn’t take long to realize I would run out of space to maneuver.
‘Just dodging is overwhelming!’
In the end, I started getting swept away by the sandstorm in the air, and before I knew it, foreign matter started getting stuck between the plates of my armor, making my movements stiff and cornering me little by little.
Of course, the Grim Reaper was also affected by the range of the Dreadful Land of Chaos, and his movements were slowing down too.
But it would require more time.
The inside of the Wall of Flames was filled with sandstorms.
Hiding was becoming difficult.
“Phew… so this is how far my stealth can go.”
– Trait [Radiant Defensive Stance] has been activated.
– Trait [Statue’s Power] has been activated.
But since I had multiple damage mitigation devices, enduring the passing attacks was not a large burden.
“I found you!”
The moment the Grim Reaper extended the search through the sand and vibration to pinpoint me, he began to unleash his true power.
Whoosh—
A massive scythe swung down toward my head with alarming speed.
It was a swifter strike than any I had faced recently, among the top tier for speed.
[Warrior’s Roar]
[Blood Frenzy]
– Strength increases slightly!
– The Berserker’s tattoo significantly enhances physical ability!
Thinking became a luxury.
I had to push through and track his movements, triggering the powers as I did.
The tattoos etched onto my skin explosively boosted my physical abilities.
[Chain of Flame]
[Distorted Green Bind]
Clang—
“Is this a binding with fire and nature attributes?!”
It was an existence that could wield powers with opposite properties at the same time.
Even the Grim Reaper would be flustered.
I put a buff on myself and a bind on him, barely managing to avoid his initial attack.
[Rage Roar]
– A rough roar filled with rage instills fear in the opponent.
– It drives equal or weaker enemies into a state of uncontrollable chaos.
With the activation of [Rage Roar], the soul body he was controlling jumped in surprise and stopped his skill activation.
‘As expected, it’s effective on spirits too!’
“Haaaaaaaa!!”
Without giving him a moment, I unleashed burst after burst of offensive magic.
[Flame Thrower]
[Fire Arrow]
[Pyro Stone Strike]
[Scythelin]
[Thunderhorn]
Crackle— Boom!! Fwoosh!! Crackle!
“Ugh! This is just…!”
He deflected what he could and absorbed some of it with his body, slowly approaching me.
But my attacks didn’t stop there.
[Root Chain]
[Toxic Scale]
My offensive didn’t just halt at magic.
Extending bone thorns from my body as I unleashed dozens of bony roots from all directions while a gigantic tail struck from the side, I sought to exploit his vulnerabilities.
Clang—!
“Hah! Grim Reaper!”
Boom—! Boom! Boom!
‘Did he just blow everything up in one go?!’
The Grim Reaper started spinning rapidly, firing sharp energy waves in every direction.
The sharp attacks encroaching on me effectively blocked all the variables I had released.
‘Was this inspired by Jo Gi-man’s skill?!’
Since I had seen it several times, I recognized it.
The attack he just unleashed was a modification of Jo Gi-man’s skill in his own way.
‘Why is he going through such bizarre methods with such a crazy talent?!’
“Hehehehe!! Die! Die! Just die!”
The atmosphere shifted with his counterattack.
The Grim Reaper may have sustained minor damage from the skills I cast, but he narrowly found a way into his attack, forcing me to stagger backward significantly.
[Grim Reaper’s Wings]
In addition, with an evasive counter that allowed him to soar into the sky and descend, it became increasingly challenging to deal with him.
Thud!
His scythe traced lines so fast it was hard to perceive.
I was barely escaping by relying on my senses, yet slowly, my armor was getting chopped away, indicating a precarious situation.
‘I’m tempted to just blow myself up, dammit!’
Scratch—! Scratch—
My defense was wearing down continuously.
Over the past few days, my stats have significantly increased in a short time, but my brain still couldn’t utilize that ability to its full potential.
Crash—!
‘Another piece of armor! Even with all the buffs, I’m getting crushed bad…!’
“Hehehe! Got it. This thing isn’t a person nor a monster, what are you even?!”
Thinking he had the upper hand, he showed the zest of someone intrigued by me.
Mockingly, he kept throwing jabs, and even that was becoming challenging for me to block.
“What else you got? Time to die, right?”
As he seized my side, the Grim Reaper activated a slash-type skill, and in that moment, I resolved to take it head-on with my great sword.
[Frost Enamel]
[Air Slash Flame Cut]
The opposing properties of fire and ice created an unknown synergy.
“Uaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Kyahaha!!”
The wills of both collided.
Whoooosh──!
Clang—!
The massive sword and scythe met precisely in the air.
“Ugh?! No…?! No way!”
The energy he unleashed was offset by the clash, and not only that, it injected a momentum into my previously lacking spirit.
‘Am I…?! Am I a little ahead in strength?!’
Despite initially lagging in speed and reacting late, once I managed to block his attack, I no longer felt like I was being pushed back.
“Yikes…! This freak of nature!!”
It quickly turned into a battle of pride.
‘Getting close means he can’t use those souls…? The effect of Rage Roar should be over, but why?’
It was puzzling, but nonetheless advantageous for me.
Both the Grim Reaper and I could summon subordinates to create variables. Sensing the opponent’s desire to finish this clash, I poured more magic into it.
However, his aura was more destructive and sharper, and I felt my strength gradually siphoning away from my fingertips to my whole body.
‘This guy…! This is dangerous!’
Crack—
‘Huh…?!’
While we were engaged in the power struggle, I heard something break from my great sword.
A chill ran down my spine, briefly shaking my focus, and the Grim Reaper seized that moment.
Thwack—!
‘Wha—?! A hammer?! But he’s got two scythes?!’
I got hit squarely on the side by an impossible attack.
Even though that shouldn’t have happened, the little black arm sprouting from his side was pounding my side with a hammer.
Crack—! Whack—!
[Special Strong Acid]
“Wha?! Dammit!”
In the end, he spat out acidic liquid, simultaneously releasing bony thorns and had no choice but to widen the distance between us. This meant I’d have to bear with his soul again, but I had no other choice.
“Ugh, damn. You really are filthy. Acid? Strong acid? You spit acid? Are you even human?!”
“Did you stick a rag in your mouth? Every little thing about you is trash. You sprouted a third arm out of nowhere; that’s unfair, right?”
“Huh? You can talk?”
Though I wasn’t the one to judge with my ability to freely release bone tails and spines, in this clash, my focus was wholly on resisting his power, making it hard for me to say anything.
“I’ve never seen anyone use bones for attacks before, and just how many skills have you used by now? What are your attributes? You seriously aren’t human, are you?”
“I’m probably closer to being a person than you, who kidnaps a decent human to turn into liquid?”
“You should be grateful for being chosen by me, you know?.”
“You crazy freak…”
I stepped back, hurriedly examining my great sword.
“Ahh… it was just the sound of the Frost Enamel chipping off. I thought the sword was broken. By the way, my side really hurts.”
The left side of my armor was thoroughly dented.
If I were a being who needed to breathe, my internal organs would be a mess, and I’d likely be on the brink of a severe injury.
But the organs that made up my body were mere shapes, so I could move without any major issues.
“Hah…”
I wasn’t feeling good about the fact that he stole my chance to execute variable attacks, but a more significant problem arose when he created distance and summoned another soul.
Now I had to contend with not only vibration and sand but also another ability.
‘Well, two things became clear.’
One was that the souls he summoned had no distinction between friend and foe when attacking.
While they stood close to me, the souls just watched, indicating that the Grim Reaper hadn’t instructed them to attack me due to the risk of hitting himself.
And the other was about the abilities the Grim Reaper possessed, as told by Hwang Tae-wook.
He could summon souls in increasing quantities over the course of the battle.
If that wasn’t the case, he could have summoned a large number of souls right from the start to target me.
‘He’s a type that gets stronger the longer he fights… this is truly troublesome.’
It wasn’t just this battle that would grow stronger over time.
With each defeat of a powerful enemy, he would continue to increase the number of souls under his control, allowing him to grow indefinitely.
‘What a tempting ability. I wonder if I’ll be given this ability after defeating the next Great Evil One?’
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