“System. If you speak so dryly, how will Yeon-hee accept it? Can’t you say it a bit more gently?”
– …….
The suddenly sluggish mana flow in the area, could it be the system’s response to my request?
“Uh…? What, what is this?”
It seems a message popped up for Yeon-hee as well.
With each shift of her gaze, her smile faded more and more, and by the end, she looked like she was about to cry.
“We… do we have to fight? Why is Il-wol trying to… get away from me? I was trying to set you free too… I’m not trying to bind you…”
“………”
Yeon-hee had a strangely wronged expression, but she couldn’t finish what she wanted to say.
It must be confusing. What does it matter, king’s paths and all that?
Accepting the reality that she has to fight against me can’t be easy.
Why would she fight against her own subordinate?
It’s like telling me to fight with ‘the traces,’ it’s just absurd when I think about it again.
“Tap, Tap?”
For some reason, ‘Ainz’ was called out and looked up at me, happily clicking his jaws together.
‘You stay inside for now.’
“Tap?!”
After returning Ainz to the dark space, I calmed my mind.
“Ah… let’s get it together. Wait, in the end, it turned out just as my Master said.”
When I first asked about a solution to the distance limit with Yeon-hee, my Master mentioned the reversal of relationships. If I could call her forth, there might be a change.
But if I defeated my Master in a power struggle, there wouldn’t be a clearer reversal of relationships than that.
‘What would Yeon-hee gain if she wins?’
If Yeon-hee wins, she could keep me by her side as she always has. Moreover, it seems a hidden quest has popped up, so there must be special rewards I don’t even know about. Like giving me a special summoning scroll that summoned the ‘Castle’?
‘Is the desire to keep losing arising from the nature of a subordinated relationship? I keep thinking about what Yeon-hee would gain if I lose.’
But if I lose, it would definitely cause a major setback in my future plans. Just looking at the situation in China is enough for that. I can’t just waltz into that crazy country alongside Yeon-hee.
I resolutely made my decision again, and Yeon-hee began to gather her thoughts as she watched me tightly grip the great sword.
“Seriously… you’re saying let’s do this. You’re so calm without even a hint of surprise. Il-wol knew this would happen already?”
“Tap.”
“Even though I understand in my head why this is happening… I still can’t just allow it. You didn’t even tell me, did you? You… really were bad.”
‘Yeah. Rather, get angry. That would be much better.’
Both of us needed to clash with all our might.
That’s the only way we can neatly wrap things up and move forward.
Soon, the conditions of the duel floated clearly in my mind.
If one of us loses their life in some way, that person loses.
A time limit of one hour shared between the two of us.
Conditions where magic recovery rate is enhanced by 300%…
And they kindly explained how I wouldn’t actually die even if I lost my life, which really doesn’t give any consolation at all.
After reading through the explanation, Yeon-hee let out a sigh of relief and nodded her head.
“When it comes to fighting here, I’m the senior.”
“Tap…”
A strange emotion called joy started to bloom little by little on her face.
Yeon-hee is a rather combative hunter who used to traverse dungeons without a break before she met me.
She must have started to enjoy this situation as well.
“Huh? [Inconsistent Rage]? What’s this…”
“Tap…?!”
A phrase that shouldn’t come out of Yeon-hee emerged.
‘Why is that popping up all of a sudden?’
[Inconsistent Rage]
– Your attack power increases in proportion to the difference in rank between you and your enemy.
Is the host of this quest wanting a fair match?
It seems like it gave Yeon-hee an attack power boost.
‘Why would they give me the achievement I obtained? Are they mocking me?’
“Il-wol, you better get ready. All summoned creatures’ attack power is boosted by 2.2 times. Of course, you’re excluded!”
“Tap, Tap…”
‘Was my combat power that much greater for Yeon-hee’s achievement to trigger? No way! I thought I was just slightly ahead.’
I couldn’t believe that fact, but my rank had somehow risen to that level.
“Heh…”
Yeon-hee gave me a meaningful smile and slowly walked forward.
It was clear that she gained confidence from the effect of Inconsistent Rage.
Kuhh—!
‘Castle…’
[Grurrr…]
Flap—
‘Sword Dragon.’
Whoosh—!
‘Katopas breathing stone.’
Boom!!
“Uwoooooohhh!!”
“Churururrrahhh!!”
“Auwwwwwww!!”
Even the Alpha-rank summoned creatures… Huh? That jerk Rakan.
Furthermore, the merged werewolf had transformed into a human form.
‘Did the effects of the full moon apply as well… this just got troublesome.’
“Il-wol, long time no see.”
It felt quite strange to hear Rakan address me like that; this was only the second time I’d seen him in human form aside from our first meeting.
“Tap, Tap, Tap.”
“Such a beautiful night, perfect for breaking things… isn’t that right?”
‘What does day or night matter in a place like this? You crazy guy.’
As soon as Rakan finished his words, the Alpha-ranked summoned creatures charged at me from three directions.
‘They’re pretty fast!’
Rakan’s movements were completely different from usual.
“Ogogog… spy…”
Yeon-hee’s summoning was approaching completion, and the head of the sword dragon soaring in the air was already bobbing up and down.
‘No, are they really coming at me all at once!!’
These ruthless beings seemed to have completely disregarded the orders they followed until now.
[Void Slash Flame Cut]
Swoosh—
But despite my panic, my body was already moving quickly across the battlefield.
“Grr?!”
My first target was the merged Lizardman 1.
The completion of my space slash had reached considerable levels even to my eyes.
– You have defeated the Alpha-Rank Lizardman 1!
The reinforced scales of the lizardman couldn’t block my attack.
They couldn’t even react to my speed.
‘This is sufficient.’
Having confirmed the baseline after cutting him down, the rest wouldn’t be too difficult.
[Lightning Step]
Zzt—
Lightning struck the spot where I just was.
‘Dire Wolves…!’
The lightning attack from the red-haired dire wolf has an extremely long ‘paralysis’ time, so I need to be careful. Even just brushing against it would be dangerous.
‘Huh?!’
At that moment, a blade aimed at my throat flew toward me.
Swish—
I dodged it lightly, but water attribute attacks suddenly? Who could it be?
“Fib- Fib!”
‘Fibryn?! No way, how did you get here?’
To unleash this level of water attribute attack in a location with no water? This was a skill from Fibryn that Yeon-hee had never shown before.
Splash— Splash—
‘Am I really seeing this?’
Yeon-hee must have summoned the entire home ground she had set up for Fibryn right in front of us.
‘So she can summon more than just her summoned creatures?! What is going on?’
“Heh heh heh… Surprised, huh? The pond that merged with Fibryn has become mine.”
‘What does that even mean…? Has her ability diversified while facing the Giant Tribe recently?’
Before I had time to be surprised, nineteen ogres were wildly charging at me, shaking their heads roughly.
Avoiding them and escaping into the sky, the breath attack from the sword dragon flew in just at the right moment, and after dodging that, ‘Chehwa’ and ‘Nefie’ and ‘Black Bird’ simultaneously lunged at me and clawed at my body.
‘They’re getting in deeper than I expected? Is this the effect of the achievement boost? Well, I can afford to allow this much.’
For the first time, I allowed an attack from Yeon-hee, and she struck a victory pose, flashing me a V sign.
‘This is surprisingly fun.’
For some reason, the initially sunk atmosphere had vanished completely.
We continued with our best moves, engaging in a denser exchange of bodies than ever before.
– You have defeated Gas!
– You have defeated Kotaru!
– You have defeated Techu!
– You have defeated King’s Ear!
The nicknames of the summoned creatures flashed past one after another, catching the eye.
But the experience of having the ones I just killed being summoned again above my head honestly sent shivers down my spine.
Facing off against Yeon-hee must truly give one a headache.
‘Even if I knock them down, they just keep coming back. The Cursed Giant Tribe is incredible!’
Getting into the embrace of the Castle wasn’t easy either.
Of course, it would be easy if I used [Blink], but in the center of the castle where Yeon-hee was hiding, new alpha-rank summoned creatures and ogres were on guard.
“Ddung?”
‘Do you really need to come out too?’
– You have defeated Ddung-i!
“Oh no! My cute Ddung-i!”
‘Don’t call that guy to the battlefield. At least in a mine, fine.’
In that moment, my attention drifted toward Ddung-i.
Boom boom boom!
‘?!’
The sword dragon’s breath came hurtling toward me in an arc.
Now they’re even pulling curve-style breath attacks.
KA-BAAM!!
‘Damn…!’
I let them hit me straight on.
‘My health has dropped a bit. I really can’t underestimate the sword dragon’s attacks.’
“Heh, how is it?”
“Tap…”
Surprisingly, Yeon-hee had many hidden moves that I hadn’t seen.
More than twenty different summoned creatures clung to me tenaciously, unleashing various skills, and they were even showing fairly organized movements, making it difficult to shake them off.
Naturally, I also summoned my minions ‘Gori’ and ‘Jim’ to face them, and occasionally summoned ‘the traces’ to create variables.
‘It’s about time to wrap this up.’
But our fun time was coming to an end here.
Before I knew it, half of the time had swiftly passed, and the summoned creatures were starting to lose their sanity.
“Grurrrrr…”
‘What are you doing growling after finally transforming into a human, Rakan?’
But it’s only natural for them to lose their cool.
After all, they had died more than ten times at my hands.
[Meteor]
“What?! Wait a minute! That’s cheating!”
‘Where’s the fairness in that?’
KABOOM!!
The meteor summoned from above engulfed the area with incredible explosive power.
Yeon-hee suffered damage close to extermination in an instant.
She hastily summoned her creatures back, but the scorching castle was straining to hold me off.
Still, despite taking the meteor hit, the ‘Castle’ stood its ground, truly showing that its defensive power is perhaps the strongest in the universe.
Of course, the upper half was completely blown to bits, but the space containing Yeon-hee remained securely protected.
Swoosh—
Yet even the castle’s defense was futile against my space slash.
With a few swings, I severed the castle’s arms completely.
“Ah… oh my…”
Yeon-hee held her bow taut, prepared to face me amidst the collapsing space.
(Il-wol, are you truly trying to harm your master?!)
On Yeon-hee’s shoulder, Ran fluttered her tiny wings vigorously, flying in to poke my face repeatedly, scolding me.
(Guup- Guup-)
I wrapped my mouth around Ran’s beak and gazed at her.
She couldn’t pull back the bowstring.
At that moment of decision, I too couldn’t bring myself to lower my hand.
“Ha… Il-wol.”
“Tap…”
“But it was fun, right?”
“Tap, Tap, Tap.”
“Heh… I think I discovered a new kind of joy.”
Yeon-hee flashed a brighter smile than ever before and then suddenly activated something.
Swish—
“Tap?!”
Something green burst forth from Yeon-hee’s heart.
‘Lime…’
It was the summoned creature, Lime, which had silently watched over her since the beginning, wrapping around Yeon-hee’s body.
Lime had quietly acted since the early days, but why did it suddenly burst out from Yeon-hee’s body now?
“Cough- G-Giant Tribe… there are times when… one may take their own life while fighting… Cough…”
I hastily embraced her.
Yeon-hee had pierced herself through.
This didn’t seem to be the first time it had happened.
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