Kwaaaang-!
A fire demon that seemed to engulf the entire air around soared high.
This makes six.
“Huuh…”
I straightened my posture while grabbing at the minuscule amount of oxygen.
Normally, the second phase would be starting soon…
But for some reason, this feels even tougher than the game’s Valoran.
Moreover, it’s always uncomfortable not knowing how much stamina I have left.
Takak-
The sound of hooves announcing Valoran’s next attack shattered my thoughts.
Schwaaaak-!
Hooves falling like a guillotine. Magical orbs bursting into flames. A magic circle blooming on the ground. A great sword slicing through space.
I identified and traced the optimal path to dodge and parry.
Two steps back. The hooves fell, creating a massive crater right in front of me.
Two steps to the right. The bursting magical energy brushed my clothes as it combusted.
Three steps forward. The magic circle rushing at my feet grew distant.
I leaned down and swung my previously lowered great sword.
Kaaang-!
A tingling sensation spread through my body as the great sword, hidden behind the magical energy, rebounded.
Using the rebound of the sword, I jumped to evade the magic circle and fixed my body with blood aura to maintain momentum.
With my pose restored, I began to step forward.
While maintaining a narrow distance from the magic circle.
“Uht-!”
I leaned back. A scythe made of magical energy swept just past my head with a sound that felt like my eardrums would burst.
“Huuh-!”
I gulped breathlessly, throwing myself into the fray.
Kwaaaang-!
A pillar of fire erupted where I had just stood.
This time, it’s a failure.
[Doesn’t it feel like it’s getting faster?]
“Huuh… Yeah, it kinda does—!”
Swish-!
I stopped speaking mid-sentence, bending my legs to evade the magical spear.
In that position, I stepped on a pivot and scattered the great sword. Kaga-!, the following spears were slashed, creating a mist of magic.
Holding my breath, I swept away the mist with my blood aura and threw down two daggers I had at my waist.
Kwajik- The daggers lodged into the two magical circles rushing toward me. Kwaaaang- A massive wall of flames erupted.
I readied my stance.
Feeling the horse’s muscles contracting through my senses, I gripped Frey in reverse and swung it upward.
Jeeong-! I deflected the great sword that lunged at my neck.
Again, I readjusted my grip on Frey and brought it down.
Kwadeuk- The reins snapped as the horse’s skin split.
Before the great sword, speckling the ground with thick blood, reached the floor, I launched myself upward.
As my body spun mid-air, the great sword followed down toward Valoran’s head.
Kwaaaang- But it didn’t reach.
A fist the size of my torso batted the great sword away.
I had anticipated this.
Bouncing off the fist as a foothold, I swiftly changed direction and landed on the ground.
Continuing smoothly, I attacked.
The force transmitted from my tiptoes on the pivot moved through my legs.
From my legs to my waist. From my waist to my shoulders. From my shoulders to my forearms. From my forearms to my fingertips.
From my fingertips, through Frey.
I replicated precisely the strike that my memory and body had imprinted.
There was no sound.
The magical orbs flying from all sides burst and exploded, enveloping the air in mist.
The rising mist dispersed in all directions, oxidizing everything around.
The hooves that had been rushing toward me split in two, and the previously lacerated neck wound deepened.
Instead of relaxing, I swung my blood aura, throwing my body to the opposite side.
Kwaaaang-!
An intensified fire demon engulfed Valoran’s body.
And then.
Cheeek- A crack appeared in the emerald bracelet.
Just by reproducing the posture of my strike, a crack formed.
[I can’t believe this.]
Taking a breath, I nodded in agreement with Cartia’s words.
And then, an abnormality occurred.
Ku-goong-
A powerful thumping resonated from Valoran’s body, caught within the fire demon.
Phase Two.
I stuffed painkillers and anesthetics into my mouth, sharpening my claws with blood aura, embedding them into the ground.
The first attack to come will be sound.
Next will be the spatial displacement and the strike.
Following that, a vortex of magical energy with tension.
Numerous magical orbs and spears that would be double the first phase.
Even if the rest sounds manageable, I couldn’t come up with a way to block the attack that comes from sound.
That’s why I brought painkillers and anesthetics.
Injuries could be handled with potions.
I could always ask Rubia to heal me later.
“Huuh…”
As I steadied my breath.
[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!]
A scream filled with terrible calamity shook the earth and trembled the sky.
Just as I thought, hot liquid gushed from my ears.
The only silver lining is that I don’t feel any pain at all.
It’s said that Ser put immense effort into crafting the medicine, and it definitely showed its effectiveness.
While I noticed the medicine’s effects, the debris of collapsed buildings and stones that had been on the ground turned to dust and scattered.
What remained of the structures split and burst, leaving behind no trace.
What used to showcase a cozy appearance, the mainland of Cartia, transformed into a desolate plain, a lifeless land of death.
Twenty minutes.
It took twenty minutes for this land to lose its life.
[It feels weird to see a place I have lived in for nearly a thousand years turn to ruins.]
As I drained the blood that had filled my ears, I nodded along with Cartia’s words echoing in my head.
The fact that the place Rubia loved most is gone… it weighs on my heart a bit.
After hastily draining the blood, I poured a top-grade potion into my ear.
One bottle for each side.
As warmth gradually spread through my ears, sounds began to filter back in little by little.
The sound of the wind.
And.
Zjeong-
A sound ripping through space reached my brain.
Spatial displacement.
I twisted Frey upward.
A heavy sensation transmitted as the great sword swung in from the right, rebounding off. Following that reaction, I rotated my body, stomping down on Valoran’s abdomen and pushing back to create distance.
I lowered my blood aura to reduce inertia.
Instantly leaping.
The sound of earth flying up.
The rhythm of my heartbeat.
The sound of rough, strained breathing.
The wind slicing through Frey.
And again.
Zjeong-
I scratched the ground with my blood aura’s claws, twisting my body. Swish- Valoran’s great sword brushed by, slicing a droplet of blood that fell from my jaw.
Drawing a dagger from my waist, I threw it to the floor, charging forward while blocking the rising heat of flames with Frey.
The droplets of sweat that hung on my chin evaporated.
Smoke blended with my exhaled breath.
The faintly spreading aura of mine cleared the magical mist, and the tentacle-like blood aura pushed back the magical vortex.
And then, Zjeong-
Valoran vanished from view.
To the right.
I swung the great sword.
Above.
The distorted space was sliced away as Frey stretched out.
Diagonally up to the right.
It pierced Valoran’s neck.
To the left.
Magically mixed droplets of blood splattered onto the ground.
At the same moment, with a smirk, Valoran grasped the blade of Frey.
[What the hell.]
Did they just smile?
At that moment.
Zjeong-
“Huh?”
The scenery shifted violently.
An empty space.
No.
[Oh, shit.]
The sky.
A chilling breeze wrapped around my body and passed by.
The blood aura with no ground danced wildly in mid-air.
A body with nowhere to brace itself lost its freedom.
At the same time, swinging from below came the great sword.
My body rotated around the weight of the sword.
Kaang-
Because I blocked it with an awkward stance, my body was flung away, unable to withstand the force.
While afloat in the air, Valoran’s great sword was swung without respite.
The spears rushing in from all sides swept past my neck, and the magical orbs exploding around me madly scrambled my sense of direction.
I couldn’t block.
I couldn’t evade.
I couldn’t even strike back.
I couldn’t even control my own body.
As all this transpired, my body dove toward the ground.
So I focused on landing.
I decided not to worry about minor injuries and aimed to protect only the crucial spots while waiting for the right moment.
I quickly expanded my senses, sketching out my position and the ground distance.
Roughly, fifteen seconds.
My blood aura pushed the magical energy away.
The expanded aura cleared the mist.
The swung Frey deflected Valoran’s great sword.
With each brief exchange, dozens of wounds were inflicted upon my body.
Zjeong-
[To the right!]
The great sword, wrapped in magic like the night sky, fell toward me.
With the help of blood aura, I twisted my body, using all my strength to twist the great sword upward.
And then.
Zjeeeong-!
I felt as if my insides were being wrung out while a tiger’s leap of overwhelming power came crashing down.
Two seconds ahead.
And.
Before I knew it, right in front of me.
Thousands of orbs. Hundreds of spears. The great sword laced with death. A colossal fist. An intoxicating cloud of mist.
[Shinnoah!]
At that moment.
Kwaaaang-!
A barrier of divine power exploded with a dazzling brilliance, blocking everything in its pattern.
[Shit… I really thought I was going to die!]
“Phew… Seems like Noah needs to put on some weight. Too light.”
And then, soft—
“…Huh?”
“Sorry for being late. I got lost along the way.”
“Ru, Rubia…?”
Zjeong-!
“Enough chitchat, quickly regroup!”
“Right. We won’t have time for casual talk. Are you alright?”
As I blankly nodded, Rubia’s divine power began healing my wounds.
“Ru, Rubia… Are you hurt badly?”
“Ah… Hehe, I tripped on the way.”
Perhaps due to her robes being completely torn apart, Rubia, loosely wrapped in them, was covered in blood.
Of course, she had no actual injuries, but the thick smell of blood indicated that wasn’t the case for her.
“I’m just glad there aren’t any major injuries.”
While Rubia was glancing over my body, her gaze shifted sideways.
There stood Hermila, bandaged hand ready to fend off all of Valoran’s attacks.
“Noah. I hate to be a burden…”
Taking a breath, Rubia spoke in a muted voice.
“If your arm gets cut off, I’ll put it back. Just trust me.”
“Pfft—!”
She said she’d reattach my arm if it came off.
It’s definitely not something a lover should say, but I was so happy to hear that.
“Yes, I’ll trust you, Rubia.”
And so, I drew Frey again and stepped forward with renewed lightness.
