Even.
“Whoa?! Hey!! Liu Xiao-Wo!!”
Thump——!!
A gigantic beast resembling the previous ones surged up from underground and completely engulfed the area where Liu Xiao-Wo was.
It happened so quickly that I couldn’t help, and she wasn’t able to react in time either, so she got gobbled up just like that.
The monsters even leisurely vanished into the ground.
“W-what on earth is happening here?!”
It felt like the world had stopped, with all living beings frozen in their movements.
It wasn’t due to an external force; it was just that the unbelievable sight had petrified everyone.
“The mark…? It’s still inside the monster’s body. Unfortunately, Jo Gi-man is still alive.”
As expected, being swallowed by a monster didn’t mean death for everybody.
But that didn’t mean he could escape from that fish.
“Twins… a beast in the shape of twins… who summoned that? Could it be Inessa again?”
There was no way such an irregular occurrence could happen naturally at this timing.
“While it might not compare to Necrosquall, the bizarre ability that has rendered Jo Gi-man and Liu Xiao-Wo unable to react is more concerning.”
It was a monster whose presence was completely unnoticeable.
I only figured it out after the cracks appeared.
While Liu Xiao-Wo and Jo Gi-man were tied up being fish food, another crack opened above Necrosquall, summoning thousands of blades.
“Oh…”
It was a capability I had seen before.
“Isn’t that the magic I saw when I first met Inessa?”
The ability she had used to try to kill Yeon-su.
Powpowpowpowpow——!!
The enormous magical blades penetrated Necrosquall’s head, revealing themselves on the other side.
“This is on a whole different level than the previous attack on Yeon-su…”
Each blade was dozens of meters long, and the condensed magic power was unimaginable.
It was an overwhelming destructive force that could rank among the most powerful attacks I had seen throughout my past and present.
“An unprecedented seer alongside an unparalleled sorcerer.”
In a way, maybe Inessa is the true monster, even more so than Jo Gi-man?
—Kiiiiiiiiiing!!
Necrosquall, slashed by thousands of blades, screamed in pain.
Jo Gi-man was in such a weakened state that he declared he would finish it off, leaving him drained of health the moment it was attacked.
“W-what the—?!”
“Ugh…”
“What do we do? Attack? Or what?”
It was the perfect opportunity to land the finishing blow on a legendary giant beast.
Even though it’d be reasonable to try for a steal, the strongest warriors in China couldn’t bring themselves to make a decision.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiii─────!!
With its last ounce of strength, the howl from the beast made all the hunters in the vicinity cover their ears and drop to the ground.
I managed to hold it together, so I focused on understanding the situation.
“Is it really going to die?”
Puhwaaaah──!!
Necrosquall was collapsing.
“It’s going to be taken down for sure…”
This was a fight I couldn’t interfere with even if I wanted to.
From the far-open dimensional crack, I could feel the energetic gaze of Inessa glaring at me.
It was a presence on an entirely different level from her usual goofy demeanor.
Chill—
Her eyes no longer held that playful glint I was familiar with.
“She has already given up her humanity. What a monstrous girl…”
It was something beyond humanity that I had never seen before.
That once-mighty Great Beast, Necrosquall, was still trying to struggle until the end.
[Flame Shot]
Pew——!
“Sniper Patrick…!”
I poured every last bit of magic power I had left into him to raise my contribution, and Patrick’s bullet flew at the same time.
Kwahhhaaaaaaam───!!
A Flame Shot packed with thousands of magical energies.
It was certainly more than enough to hit Necrosquall, whose magical barrier had disappeared.
“…”
The Flame Shot seemed impressive enough that Inessa gave me a sidelong glance.
“I clearly told you to stay out of it…”
Inessa muttered.
“So this is how you control it!”
Before heading off to Baek-un Mountain, Inessa had earnestly asked me.
“Please just stay still for a bit?”
When I first heard her say that, I thought it was nonsense, but I soon understood.
The future I intervened in was not clear to Inessa; if I showed off too much, her prophecy would lose its effect.
“There wasn’t even a chance to intervene, but still! Another Flame Shot!!”
Amidst our unintentional joint attack, the Great Beast eventually exhausted its strength.
Choooowwwww──
Inessa again cast a spell to create gigantic scissors.
“What the heck is that?”
Inessa lightly sliced Necrosquall’s head with those scissors.
Then from within, she pulled out a luminous orb the size of my torso and, like a crazed person, unleashed light madness.
“Kyaahahahahaha!! This is it!! The perfect material to enhance the Evolutionary Gem!! The essence of the grievances of the dead-! Huhahaha!!”
“Was that orb the goal…?!”
To use the strongest warriors from Korea and China for that! She was horrifying in another sense.
Naturally, my appraisal of her shot up into the sky.
I was the crazy one to think that I could take her down once she grew a bit more.
She needed to be ranked right below Jo Gi-man.
“This is tough.”
Inessa’s laugh, filled with excitement, rang out mockingly across the hunters.
While Necrosquall hadn’t died yet, its life force was all but exhausted.
“…”
Still, no one attacked her or Necrosquall.
Pew——
Kwahm!!
It was because the other hunters were too aware of Sniper Patrick’s presence.
There wouldn’t be any awakened ones with a problem in their heads willing to try something against a sorcerer and a sharpshooter with that level of power.
Inessa nodded in satisfaction, put the orb into her pocket space, and began to close the crack leisurely.
Her ability to manipulate dimensional pathways was always fascinating. I wondered if it was thanks to ‘Jacks’ that she could do that?
But then.
Crack——!
Rattling!!
“Kyaaaaaah!! Ouch!! It hurts!! It hurts!!”
A fist of lightning precisely hit Inessa’s face as the dimensional crack began to close.
A man covered in purple liquid had shot the [Thunder Strike], brightening the area.
‘?! When did he come out?!’
He had grabbed Inessa’s sticky body, shaking it furiously and shouted.
“This bitch!! Was it you who caused all this?!”
“Ugh! How…?! How did you get out?!”
Jo Gi-man, now with one wing sticking out, seemed to be advancing the merging process.
“Strange. The energy of the Seven-Headed Dragon is weak. Did he use the power of the Seven-Headed Dragon to get away from the Great Fish Monster?”
He grabbed Inessa by her hair and roughly pulled her out into the open space.
“Damn you, you’re not an omnipotent deity. How dare you deceive me with a few fragments of the future?! Can’t you see my form after morphing? Huh?”
“Kyaaaaaah!! No! Don’t!! Let go!!”
Inessa, having shed her girl-like shell, appeared in a truly horrifying state.
It looked as if rotten flesh was hastily lumped together, or a new type of monster resembling brown slime with arms and legs.
Yet, there was a strange feeling of viewing a well-crafted living being in that.
“What the hell is that?”
“A monster is talking?”
But it seemed that others, including the transcendent beings, could only feel disgust.
As the brown mass grotesquely twisted and screamed with its gaping mouth, there was no chance one would think of saving it.
“Pattriiiiiick!!”
As Inessa screamed, claw-shaped projectiles flew towards him.
Pew——
No way to dodge the god’s sniper when sense kicked in.
“Hmph!”
Jo Gi-man took a hefty shock, his head tilting back as he was hit by the bullet.
‘… Crazy monster bastard.’
Still, his partially merged skin showed no blood even after Patrick’s bullet hit him hard.
The deep impact on his face quickly healed, far surpassing a troll’s regeneration.
“Did you think I would be hurt again? You smelly bitch!!”
‘Again…? True.’
Jo Gi-man grinned triumphantly.
Come to think of it, this situation might have occurred in a previous loop as well. It wasn’t surprising that he was prepared.
“Cough… cough- cough- heh heh, heh heh…”
Inessa laughed, even as her body was torn and ripped by Jo Gi-man’s [Thunder Strike].
“You fool. You fell for that?”
“…… What? What are you saying, you stinking girl—”
Fwoooosh——!!
‘Ah……’
A golden aura shimmered from the dagger piercing Jo Gi-man’s belly.
“They say it’s checkmate when this happens in this world? How about it, Jo Gi-man?”
“You, you bastard…!!”
The being that emerged from Jo Gi-man, creating a massive hole in his abdomen, was someone I had seen once in ‘Nando’.
“Dnarr Panijial?! Why the hell is that bastard here?!”
I hadn’t noticed because he had popped out from the space Inessa had been hiding in, and Jo Gi-man was caught off guard as well.
“Kill him! Kill him!!”
The mass known as Inessa yelled desperately.
She cried for immediate death; demanded to be torn to pieces and burned.
Dnarr had a somewhat regretful look on his face, but surprisingly, he obediently followed Inessa’s orders.
Shhhhhkkk───!!
With his heart pierced, Jo Gi-man couldn’t resist at all as he was sliced into thousands of pieces by Dnarr’s swordsmanship.
This all happened before Jo Gi-man could fully harness the power of the Seven-Headed Dragon, so there was no way he could respond.
Fruuush───!!
Burnt to ashes!!
Dnarr swiftly incinerated even the pieces of Jo Gi-man.
The fact that process took less than a second wasn’t even a point of surprise.
‘… No, Jo Gi-man didn’t die!’
My senses still clearly detected the ‘Flame Mark’.
However, it vanished into another dimension at the moment just before Dnarr claimed a kill, and what was actually killed by Dnarr was something resembling Jo Gi-man’s energy.
‘It’s amazing that there was an ability to evade death in such a critical moment…’
But even I and my companions had the ridiculous ability known as [Areina’s Noble Shield], so it wasn’t that shocking; what Inessa had done was unexpected.
‘Is that… another clone of Jo Gi-man? It’s different from the clone that turned into the twin-headed dragon last time. How many clones does he have?’
The smoke generated from being torn and burned shot into the sky and began to remold.
The slowly forming figure drew a mouth that seemed to mock Inessa and Dnarr.
“Tsk… as expected.”
“I told you! There’s no way to kill that bastard in a normal way!”
Dnarr frowned while pointing at the cloud.
“I know too! Anyway, the plan succeeded, so stop shouting!”
“Hmph! Well, her foresight is commendable. I won’t say anything further now that the contract has been fulfilled.”
Dnarr smiled as if the stale burden had been lifted.
A clash of black and golden auras swirled around him.
Then, the gaze of Goddess Irmana, who had been quietly lurking until now, was subtly felt.
It was likely a reaction to the divine being looking after Dnarr.
‘… I never expected to see Inessa and Dnarr teaming up. When did they even start working together?’
“Is that cloud… okay?”
“Dead for sure. But let it be, or there could be trouble.”
“Hmph, even a mere clone possesses such powers. Surely… to deal with that Evil God, we need to elevate our ranks. But thanks to your foresight, I could achieve a commendable feat. I look forward to the future.”
“I have no intention of working with a twisted traitor like you again.”
“Hahaha, take care of yourself. You don’t look so good.”
‘What is going on?’
Jo Gi-man’s clone was slowly plotting some change in the cloud.
Could the main body come back riding on that cloud? Would there even be time to idly chat?
No matter how much Inessa saw into the future, it seemed like she couldn’t see Jo Gi-man merging.
Even worse.
– The achievement [Seer’s Step] is activated!
As [Foresight] activated, a video popped into my head.
Among the many forks in the future.
The clone of Jo Gi-man, gradually taking on form from the cloud, devoured the remains of ‘Necrosquall’ and gained new life.
A monster born with the potential to grow into an Evil God from nothing.
‘… Are you kidding me?!’
[Teleportation]
I leaped through space to the spot where the cloud was.
“Huh?!”
“You, who are you?!”
The two staring at me in astonishment.
But regardless of that, I had my own work to do.
– Retrieving the fragments left by the Incarnation of the Seven-Headed Dragon!
– Retrieving the fragments left by the Incarnation of the Seven-Headed Dragon!
The Jo Gi-man clone, having become a cloud, began to be sucked into my pocket space in an instant.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!!”
The scream of the clone was distinctly heard.
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