At that moment, just when the final showdown between Team 1’s hunters and Escalon was about to unfold.
Hunters from Team 3 were busily making their way to the location of the Devouring Creeper’s main body.
“It definitely feels like something’s gone wrong. News like this shouldn’t be so delayed.”
A signal arrived simultaneously to Ma Gwang-jin, Yoo Min-jeong, and Maeng Seong-yong.
It was a brief message that Team 2’s operation had been successful.
However, there was no follow-up signal from Team 1, which should have come right after Team 2’s success.
This meant that the battle was still in progress.
Still, it was serious that there was no time even to send a signal regarding how the battles were unfolding.
It meant that the guide assigned for the job was unable to do anything as well.
“Thank goodness the fourth signal hasn’t gone off yet…”
“Shouldn’t we go ahead first?”
“Ugh, you’re really persistent.”
Ma Gwang-jin was still trying to persuade Yoo Min-jeong.
They should go up together, even if it was just the two of them.
But Yoo Min-jeong was worried about those who would be left behind.
Everyone was exhausted, and even the A-rank hunters who should have been taking care of them looked pressed for time.
In a situation where the Creeper Guard and Escalon could pounce at any moment, she had even more to consider.
She felt she had already done all she could anyway.
She thought, would it make a difference if they went up when the hunters from Team 1 had not yet sorted things out?
And there was someone carefully watching them from the front lines.
“I think it would be better to go quickly…”
Il-wol had just detected a massive swarm moving on the fringes of his senses.
It was the Creeper Guard led by Escalon.
Yet, they were clearly aware that there was prey here, yet they were detouring downward.
“Why are they avoiding us…?”
Perhaps they wanted to create an encirclement from behind.
“Even if we’re encircled, it might be better to rest for now.”
The summoned creatures were not worried, but the hunters were a problem.
As their levels increased, they found physical issues to be minimal, but their mental energy had been severely depleted, and they were struggling just to march.
Minutes passed as they started moving, and then they confirmed the ominous signal rising in the distance overhead.
A small number of hunters led by Ma Gwang-jin and a being that was not human headed toward it at full speed.
—
“Ughhh, please, oh god!!”
Hunters, with the lifelong battle against the horrifying monsters called Escalon right before them, were praying to the gods without realizing it.
At such a crucial moment that might be their last, relying on another being for their fate was a shameful thing to do, but they acted with such desperate feeling.
“The barrier is lifted──!!”
“Kill them! If you want to see the sunrise tomorrow, then die; pour everything out!!”
With the Barrier Mage’s declaration of barrier release, the hunters who were getting ready and the six Escalon simultaneously unleashed their magic powers.
A deadly clash that didn’t think of the future, a fight for their lives─!
──────────
The colossal forces collided head-on.
“UAAAAAHHH──!!!”
The first to unleash their power was Kang Yeon-su.
She had long lost her human form and transformed into a human-type divine beast with crimson glowing eyes and a giant horn emerging from her forehead.
Her all-or-nothing strike collided directly with the fist of the first Escalon.
Giiing───
Surprisingly, that strike ended in a draw with no retreat whatsoever.
Kwaaaang──!!
The impact created a backlash of magic power, and the massive barrier that had been tightly binding them shattered.
Jjeoong───!!
KwaKwaKwaKwaa───!!!
The ground buckled down significantly, creating a tremendous shockwave.
And then, half a beat after Kang Yeon-su’s blow, a man charged at Escalon.
Hyeon Il-hwan revealed himself from behind her and smoothly swung the retrieved sword.
[Ilseom (One Slash) ─ Cheon-gwa-sal (Thousand Deaths)]
In each of the thousand sword strikes he swung, the path he had walked with the sword was contained, a swordsmanship so profound that even the first Escalon, born of all possibilities, could not take lightly.
There was no way to be more perfect in swinging a sword, and Hyeon Il-hwan had confidence in it.
Sergggrg──
Even the satisfying sensation in his hands was certain.
‘… I got it···!!’
But he was unable to see something charging toward the path of his sword strike.
Soon after, the entire world turned white, and everything was transformed into a white space, as if heaven turned to earth and earth turned to heaven, shaking the world upside down.
[Reflux]
In just a few seconds, how many exchanges took place, and how many potentials disappeared?
The shock soon subsided, but it caused countless dimensional rifts to tear open across the Korean Peninsula.
The man named Dnarr, who had summoned another great beast hundreds of kilometers away, smirked upon sensing the rifts opening up.
Fwooooooosh────
As the storm-like collision that felt like it would last forever passed.
“Hah─ hah─”
Raspy breaths spread like haze everywhere.
There were survivors even amidst that horrifying explosion of magical power.
As the roughly shaken breaths began to settle along with the dust that had obscured their vision.
“Cough- Hah- Hoo!”
“Wh- what on earth happened…?”
“Guide… Guide!! Sense-type hunters, what are you doing! Report the situation─!!”
Someone’s enraged scream echoed loudly.
After such a clash, hearing that loud shout was quite unexpected. Whoever it was, they were loud.
……
However, no one was there to explain what was happening.
Even drawing on the scant amount of magic power pooled in their hair felt like a luxury to them to even speak.
Instead, an even greater weight and tension followed, just like before the clash.
Kwaaarrr—
From amidst the debris of collapsed buildings, a being proudly knelt.
“Ugh…!!”
It staggered but quickly regained its balance.
As it stood, its shadow loomed large over the area, easily showing how impressive its physique was.
“……… Eleventh… Twelfth…”
The massive Ent began reciting the names of the brothers who had perished without leaving so much as a trace due to the earlier clash.
How many times had they lost brothers today alone?
“Fifth…….”
Only itself and the Fifth remained.
An unexpectedly devastating outcome.
It should never have come to this battle, but someone had intervened midway.
It felt like everything was turned upside down in a way it had never experienced before.
What was remarkable was that even the first Escalon could not figure out where that being had come from or where it currently was.
“………”
But that did not matter for now.
The sight of the brother that had fallen to the ground was nothing to be joked about.
“Cough- Hah-!”
“Fifth… why did you do it…?”
The Fifth Escalon had lost all body below the shoulders, its head remaining alone, staring up at the first Escalon with eyes full of regret.
Just moments ago, the clash between the hunter and Escalon.
In that fleeting moment.
Sensing that something had gone wrong, the Fifth Escalon abruptly abandoned its original plan and dashed toward the first Escalon.
(No, that attack… no one could block it.)
The Fifth Escalon felt that the surge of magic from the man wielding the sword was no ordinary momentum and threw itself to block it.
And now.
(Humans call this a self-sacrificial spell… I was surprised. To exhibit such a power in that brief moment.)
While spewing forth an immense amount of blood, the Fifth Escalon, for some reason, did not lose its smile.
It possessed a mix of sorrow in its eyes, yet it also wore a deeply satisfied smile.
With that split-second decision, it had saved an existence that could be called the beginning and all of its kind. How could it not be satisfying?
However, at the same time, a lump of emotion arose within.
A brief life.
There was still so much it wanted to know…
It diverted its gaze from the first Escalon, who was weeping blood for it, to the clear sky as the thick dark clouds disappeared.
Yes.
It was the onset of misfortune when that blue sky became overcast.
They had seen through the traits of their species, who were greatly affected by weather.
They had relied solely on their own strength, making too naive of a response.
But what meaning was there in having such regrets now?
(What were we born for… was it all just to kill, fill our bellies, and reproduce… what was different from the lives of the small beings we devoured… where did we even come from… First, I hope you come and visit me with this answer…)
Thud-!
The Fifth Escalon’s head fell to the ground, unable to finish its words.
Soon, its head began to crumble and disperse into leather, with only bones remaining as it started to decay.
“Ughhhhh…??!”
Looking down at her face, the first Escalon hunched down and clawed at its chest.
The being that had cared for it after its mother had just vanished.
It felt like someone was ruthlessly tearing it apart from the inside.
“I’ll kill… I will definitely tear you apart.”
But that was not possible.
It had essentially faced off against so many top-tier hunters alone today.
Not just the hunters but also it was not just them who had poured every bit of their energy into the earlier battle.
No matter how great their recovery of magic and stamina was, the capabilities of Escalon were not infinite.
It was definitely tired, and for some reason, it felt it couldn’t kill those humans who still had heaps of strength left.
As those thoughts crossed its mind, changes began to occur in its body.
Creeeak- Crump—
Its body hardened and began to form a gray shell.
“Not again?!”
“How many times is this?!”
“This time it’s totally different from the last!”
The hunters couldn’t help but yell as they witnessed Escalon preparing for another transformation.
They had seen its physical abilities drastically improve every time it did that, so they had this reaction.
The hunters despairingly observed the Escalon, which was trying to undergo its third transformation just today.
The last two transformations had been desperately defended against by other Escalon, and now that they were not around, there was no strength left to make an attack.
Kang Yeon-su and Hyeon Il-hwan were not any different.
The two of them, nicely missing one arm and one leg each, were receiving treatment from A-rank healer Gu Sang-min.
“Looks like it’s trying to break its shell again. What the hell has that bastard received, a hundred god’s blessings?”
“Hah… at this point, even I, who hunted monsters daily, am getting tired of this.”
“We should have definitely killed it… Why did we fail? The attack was perfect! How did it manage to block that?!”
“It was a self-sacrificial spell. The Escalon in female form… it might have just been an extra life alongside it all along.”
“It didn’t look like it was something prepared ahead of time… Maybe in that moment, a sudden whim to protect the first came over it.”
“That might be the case…”
“Ugh─ it would be best for both of you to just shut up.”
As Gu Sang-min shook his head at the two who continued to chatter despite his advice to be quiet.
And behind him was a grandmother with a wrinkled face, inexplicably fluttering through the air with a blanket.
In such an urgent situation, she exuded an odd atmosphere of being entirely detached.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
