[Flame Cut]
[Knife Throw]
The body of the Devouring Creeper was so massive that just randomly attacking it allowed me to quickly stack the Flame Marks.
I invested about half of the 10 seconds given to me in piling up the marks.
Soon, 25 Flame Marks quickly swirled around the creature’s torso, signaling that the conditions were satisfied.
[Flame Explosion]
At that moment, five explosions followed, and, unsurprisingly, a massive rift opened in the sky, revealing an enormous being that couldn’t be fully captured by the eye.
– The skill [Flame Explosion] knocked on the door five times. The Fragments of a Great Being awaken again from a deep slumber, unleashing their wrath!
– [Annihilation] has been activated!
‘Sorry…’
It seemed it got pretty mad from being awoken repeatedly.
In any case, this world was halted once again because of the being that I summoned.
Thunk──!
I still couldn’t discern exactly what the Fragments of a Great Being looked like, but I clearly witnessed it descending straight to the ground and devouring the All-Mighty Devouring Creeper’s body in one bite.
‘Wow… how the heck can that be?’
It devoured a massive beast that was well over a hundred meters long in one bite?
It was an incomprehensible act, but it seemed impossible didn’t exist for that Great Being’s fragments.
‘At least there’s a root left…’
A part of the root, leftover from its consumption, peeked out of the ground.
The root stretched on indefinitely, making it hard to gauge how far it actually went.
‘Let’s grab this, at least.’
The root of the massive beast that disappeared into the Void.
And then came the messages.
– A tiny fragment of a Great Being, which cannot be documented in the [Akasha Record], has temporarily descended into this world!
– The unstable state of the world regains a bit of stability!
‘Some? Last time it recovered completely… Is our world so broken that even fragments can’t restore it fully…?’
– The Fragment of a Great Being locks eyes with a Seeker walking the path of the [King of the Undead].
‘Huh…? Why are you looking at me like that…?’
That gigantic being, as if it could envelop the entire world, gazed intensely at me.
And though I felt like I hadn’t done anything wrong, I couldn’t help but bow my head like a sinner.
[……]
After staring down at me for a while, the gigantic being eventually vanished.
– The Great Being’s Fragment that devoured the Great Beast ‘Devouring Creeper’ has left a small reward.
‘Oh… as expected! I was right!’
It seems the formula of sacrificing a massive beast for a reward is indeed confirmed.
Last time I got Jo Gi-man’s Skill, I wonder what reward I’ll get this time?
‘Oooh… what’s this…?’
At that moment, while checking the reward left by the Fragment.
───
The world, which had been frozen, began to operate again, and not just the Hunters, but even the monsters regained their senses, leading to a tremendous commotion.
“”──??””
Especially Escalon number 15 and 20 showed expressions of confusion at the sudden disappearance of the first Escalon.
They halted the hundreds of Creeper Guard units that were rushing at them and concentrated on understanding the situation.
And the Hunters.
“What… what the hell just happened?”
Ma Gwang-jin, who had been charging toward the first Escalon while holding Yoo Min-jeong, displayed a reaction full of disbelief at the situation.
“That Grim Reaper… was he one to use self-sacrifice spells? But did he really kill that monstrous Escalon with just that?! Is that even possible?”
‘Just that…? It was a self-destruction with a whopping fifteen lives…’
I wanted to correct Ma Gwang-jin’s thoughts, even while the [Immortality] was being nullified.
“I… Haha… it was real. That skeleton guy was real…”
And Yoo Min-jeong was shocked for a different reason.
“Hunter Yoo Min-jeong. Was that possibility you mentioned, that guy? How did he even know he had such powers? Was there a connection with Lee Yeon-hee before?”
“Uncle, please stop talking and think. I’m trying to figure this out too.”
‘So, Yoo Min-jeong believed and came to me? Good instincts.’
Without her bindings and the witch’s help, defeating the Escalon might have been challenging.
“I thought he’d do something… but I certainly didn’t expect it to be this much…”
“To think that a creature even Hyun-soo and Hyeon Il-hwan couldn’t handle… No matter how strong a self-sacrifice spell is, this is no ordinary affair. Ugh… I’ve made an incredible commitment by pledging a pact. Damn.”
“Yeah… Ah, anyway, thanks for listening to me.”
“Ahem- I felt a bit bad just running away. Well.”
Instinctively realizing that I, the Fire Sorcerer, had activated [Meteor] and [Flame Shot], she seemed to persuade Ma Gwang-jin not to withdraw and re-enter the battlefield.
A truly excellent judgment…
– Kwar-aaaaak!! Mergi-iiiii!!
“Damn it! It’s starting again! For now, let’s regroup and talk later!!”
As the Escalon army, which hesitated for a moment, began to surge forward like a tide, Ma Gwang-jin shouted loudly to regroup the formations.
Just as the final battle of this Great Beast Hunt was about to begin.
Sadly, I was disintegrating in this world.
Crumble─
– The Black Flame Sorcerer Il-wol has shattered!
– Trait [92 Lives] is…
– Trait [91 Lives] is…
– Trait [90 Lives] is…
.
.
.
Messages that had been delayed due to [Immortality] continued to appear.
With the sensation of something being pulled from deep inside me, my vision went dark, and I lost consciousness.
* * *
A short while after Il-wol’s demise.
While the Sword Dragon was unleashing its breath against the incoming Creeper Guards from the outskirts…
“Huh? Uh…? What’s that?”
Lee Yeon-hee witnessed a familiar presence resurrecting in the spot where Il-wol had vanished.
A small entity, looking terribly skeletal with only bare bones remaining.
“Oh my! It’s Il-wol’s ‘Trace’!”
Yeon-hee hurriedly wiped her tears and quickly commanded the Alpha Trio.
“Grraargh!”
The three summoned creatures demonstrated incredible jumps and landed before Il-wol’s trace, which had just stepped into the world.
“??”
Sensing the arrival of the Alpha Trio, the trace of Il-wol momentarily pondered whether it should attack them.
But it decided to stay still for now.
There was no sense of malice coming from them.
“Churororap!”
“Thud?”
A petite skeleton that was hardly a meter tall.
Lizardman 1 wondered what kind of help such a small creature could provide but followed orders nonetheless, holding its little head and returning to the castle.
“Kaahhh─! What is this! It’s like a mini, mini Il-wol?! So cute!”
The trace of Il-wol, soon to be named ‘Skull 2,’ was being dangle-held by Lizardman 1, looking at the human woman smiling back at it with a tilted head.
“Thud…?”
As it gazed at her, Skull felt a sense of nostalgia stirring within it and scratched its head for a moment, eventually nodding significantly.
It instinctively realized that this human woman was someone it had to protect due to her close relationship with the god who created it.
“Yeon-hee! Summon support-!”
“Ah─, I-I’m sorry!!”
Lee Yeon-hee began calling back the freed summoned creatures.
Two Escalons still remained.
The threat they posed was ongoing.
It seemed the creatures noticed that the first Escalon had died, and their pace in rushing forward was far from ordinary.
“Ha, Ha-yoon! Do something!”
Yeon-hee shook the shoulder of Noh Ha-yoon, who had silently crouched beside her, but for some reason, she showed no reaction at all.
“No… it’s not over yet! If you could just do that ability you had against the Sword Dragon one more time!”
Even with Yeon-hee’s earnest plea, Noh Ha-yoon remained with her eyes unfocused, staring blankly at the sky.
“Tap…”
The other human woman with blue eyes, who had been quietly observing, realized that it was her time to step in.
Flutter──!
“Eh…? Uh-oh?!”
Skull lightly jumped onto the broken right arm of the castle.
Soon, wings nearly two meters long sprouted from its shoulder blades.
“Wow—!”
Even the disheartened Noh Ha-yoon couldn’t help but clap and grin at its eye-catching appearance, despite the monster swarm battering the castle.
The reactions from the human women behind didn’t seem too bad, either, prompting Skull to scratch its head bashfully.
Then, it pulled something infused with tremendous energy from the Void.
– This is the Main Spear infused with ‘Il-wol’s’ essence. A spear imbued with the amazing energy of fifteen deeds.
It was a dazzlingly pure white spear.
“Tap…”
As Skull gazed at the message before him, he ultimately nodded vigorously.
Though it hadn’t been born long ago, it could quickly grasp the meaning of those words.
The being that created him.
To Skull, it was akin to a god, a piece of the essence of the being, or a weapon molded after it.
“Tap tap tap tap tap tap──!!”
Skull couldn’t hide the tremors of excitement coursing through its body.
Could it truly handle this?
Thud─
The Main Spear fit into Skull’s hand like an old, familiar weapon.
Looking down at the white spear, Skull thought to itself.
‘I will protect. I will kill. I will protect. I will kill.’
To slay the filthy beings threatening the human women, Skull ultimately soared into the skies.
Flap—
“Ha ha…? What is that? A winged skeleton?”
Yoo Min-jeong, completely drained, observed Skull, hiding among the broken remnants of the castle.
She had seen monsters using the Void before, but there was something distinctly different about this one. It surprisingly resembled the skeleton that wielded fire magic.
Buuuuuu—
Soaring into the sky, Skull flapped its wings a few times before diving down as if to plant itself onto the ground.
The target? The mass of Creeper Guards amassed behind the castle.
Continuing its speed, Skull thrust the spear as if to impale the earth.
Fwooom─
“Mergiih?!”
Kwah-aaaaah──!!
The white spear Skull wielded pierced through the chest of the largest Creeper Guard, igniting an enormous explosion.
Boom! Boom!
A series of immense explosions followed.
They were reminiscent of the effects of the arrows summoned by Il-wol through the [Window of Darkness].
“Tap tap tap!!”
Unsatisfied with that, Skull continued its attacks, fully displaying the terror of skeleton-type monsters with no concept of stamina.
“Wow ha ha ha! Look at that guy!!”
Ma Gwang-jin, who was struggling against the three-headed snake-like Escalon number 15 along with the summoned creature ‘Chehwa,’ burst into laughter at the sight of Skull.
With physical abilities rivaling those of an A-rank Hunter and refined spear techniques, it was truly astonishing—especially the performance of the exclusively white spear held by the bare-skinned skeleton was shockingly impressive.
Each time Skull jabbed, four to five Creeper Guards were blown apart without fail.
Meanwhile, Noh Ha-yoon, who had been watching Skull’s performance soaring through the air and the ground, began to regain her senses.
“Ugh… my head.”
She seemed to have momentarily lost consciousness, only to wake up to find monsters crawling all around her.
“What in the world? Is that a new summoned creature?”
In the distance, the winged skeleton soldier was still fighting with its spear, while Lee Yeon-hee was desperately commanding her summoned creatures, blood gushing from her nose.
Realizing that now was not the time to dawdle, she finally joined the fight, and with Yoo Min-jeong regaining some of her magic, the battlefield, which felt like it might collapse at any moment, began to regain some vitality.
And after about half a turn…
“Haah— haah— Is… is it finally over?”
“Ah! Ha-yoon! You shouldn’t say that!”
The long, arduous Great Beast Hunt had finally reached its conclusion.
Of course, there were still Escalons on the loose, but since they were dashing crazily toward Korea, they were no longer their immediate concern.
Yet, despite seeing the end, no one felt like cheering.
“Oh dear— I’m dead. I just came to earn some achievements, and look at this mess.”
Ma Gwang-jin flopped down flat on his back.
Plonk—
Seeing that, everyone else fell down as if on cue.
“Haah— haah—”
“Whoo….”
The phrase “I don’t even have the strength to lift a finger” aptly described the situation.
Yet satisfaction radiated from their faces more than anything else.
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