First, I’ll boost my specs.
[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs’.]
[Activated ‘Amplification’.]
[The rank of ‘Core’ has increased. (A+ → S+)]
[The rank of ‘Wind Force’ has increased. (A+ → S+)]
[The rank of ‘Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger’ has increased. (B → S)]
[The rank of ‘Frozen Spirit Shot’ has increased. (B → S)]
[The rank of ‘Mutual Destruction Eyes’ has increased. (B → S)]
[The rank of ‘Movement Command’ has increased. (D → B)]
[The rank of ‘Spiral Explosion’ …….]
[The rank of ‘Feather Step’ …….]
……
Tududududu!
Swish-swish-swish!
Mana bullets and steel balls concentrated on the Blood Sword Commander.
Ahn Jeong-mi and Dang Il-bi had been fighting the blood ghouls, then suddenly fired them off.
On top of that, I pointed at the enemy with my frost fingers.
[Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger]
[Frozen Spirit Shot]
[Mysterious Yin Frozen Spirit Jade Demon Finger]
“Useless—!”
Six arms of blood-red energy swung six swords, slicing everything flying toward him in half.
And finally, he struck down even the last stream of cold energy. But instead of being cut apart,
Boom!
It triggered two explosions of freezing energy.
It was the result of adding a chain explosion effect to the Frozen Spirit Shot.
The cold that engulfed the Blood Sword Commander would, through the effect of the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger, freeze his blood vessels and disrupt the flow of his internal energy.
In other words, blocking it is meaningless.
It was a skill that had to be dodged at all costs, but there was no way he could know that, so I mixed it in with the other projectiles.
“….…!”
The Blood Sword Commander seemed to realize he’d been hit. His eyes widened but he didn’t stop and continued charging at me.
He closed the distance in an instant and brought down his energy blades.
Whooooooooooosh—!
The next moment, nothing remained in that spot.
It had been crushed so completely that not even a trace was left behind.
Of course, I wasn’t there anymore. But in a different sense, since I had used [Blink] to move far away.
I gave a wave to the Blood Sword Commander, who was staring this way.
“Did the noob finally make it?”
“Yooou—!”
Boom!
A powerful surge of energy burst outward from him.
He wasn’t just enraged,
That’s a debuff cleanse.
It seemed he had removed the cold from the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger.
Then the Blood Sword Commander kicked off the ground once more.
He closed in to point-blank range at a terrifying speed, but—
Boom!
Compressed air exploded, sending him flying back.
“What!”
The Blood Sword Commander’s eyes widened as if they would split.
It seemed he hadn’t expected to be pushed back so effortlessly.
Normally, he would’ve just staggered a bit and recovered.
Given that he was at the upper end of A-rank, his resistance would be considerable.
But right now, [Movement Command] was amplified to B-rank.
[Movement Command (D→B)]
▷Ignores 2 ranks of forced movement resistance
▷Every 3→1 minutes, ignores an additional 2→3 ranks
Once every minute, it could ignore a total of five ranks of the opponent’s forced movement resistance.
In other words, even an S-rank would be treated as E-rank.
Taking advantage of the opening created that way, another stream of cold shot toward the Blood Sword Commander’s chest.
“……!”
Whether from experience or instinct, the Blood Sword Commander immediately recognized the Demon Finger.
He must have learned that it couldn’t be blocked and had to be dodged and it wouldn’t have been difficult to avoid with a slight twist of his body.
Of course, I expected that much.
[Spatial Fold]
The Demon Finger that had been halfway to him flickered out, then reappeared at the Blood Sword Commander’s chest.
Boom!
The moment the freezing explosion went off, another powerful surge of energy erupted.
He cleared it again.
However, debuff cleanses always come with cooldowns.
And since he was a martial-type class, he likely hadn’t invested much into utility.
He’s probably almost out by now.
Even if he had one or two left, their effects would be weaker.
So the moment my eyes met the Blood Sword Commander’s—
[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs.’]
[Activated ‘Mutual Destruction Eye.’] ×30
[Target has been afflicted with ‘Poison (S)’ status.]
[Target has been afflicted with ‘Weathering (S)’ status.]
[Target has been afflicted with ‘Poison (S)’ status.]
[Target has been afflicted with ‘Freeze (S)’ ……]
…….
[Cooldown 14:59:58]
First time chaining thirty in a row.
And the first time using them amplified to S-rank.
Up until now, I had used Mutual Destruction Eye to draw out his debuff cleanses before following up with the Demon Finger, but at around thirty stacks, it would be stronger than even forbidden skills, so I reversed the order.
And as expected, the power was excellent.
Whoooosh—
Crack, crackle,
Wind coiled around the Blood Sword Commander’s entire body, and he was practically trapped inside a mass of ice.
The S-rank poison would also be eating away at him from the inside.
However, I felt a slight throbbing in my eyes.
My vision blurred for a split second before returning to normal.
Looks like thirty is the limit.
Setting aside the 900x cooldown applied by Octopus Limbs,
And while the poison penalty could be negated with [Poison Immunity],
It seemed the strain on my eyes couldn’t be avoided.
If I stack any more, I’ll probably get injured.
It might even trigger [Pain Delay] or [Retro Recovery], so it’d be better to keep it at thirty stacks or less going forward.
Even that was more than powerful enough.
Anyway, that’s all the seasoning done.
I’d stalled for enough time as well.
There was no need for me to handle the finishing blow, was there?
Just as that thought crossed my mind,
Craaash!
The Blood Sword Commander shattered the ice and emerged.
“From start to finish, nothing but vile tricks—”
Then his expression suddenly stiffened as he realized something.
The battlefield had grown unnaturally quiet.
The loud shouts, screams, the clash of steel, the collision of internal energies, gunfire, explosions….all of it had vanished.
A clap needs two hands to make a sound, and in the meantime, the Shura Blood Sword Unit had been completely wiped out.
Meanwhile, my allies had suffered little more than minor scratches.
Soon, Seo Ye-in, Dang Gyu-young, the Dang Clan Twin Heroes, Ahn Jeong-mi, and the Hye-seong Group employees each took their positions.
As the Blood Sword Commander slowly looked them over, his gaze suddenly stopped on the Qyu Shadow undead.
“Shadow Lord…?”
Soon, his face turned as if he’d been struck on the head with a hammer.
“Blood Wind Sword… Dragon Slayer Academy… so it was you.”
“Thanks to you, we’ve been making great use of them.”
You’ll be quite useful soon as well.
If we registered him as a Qyu Shadow undead, he’d probably be around A+ rank, wouldn’t he?
The Blood Sword Commander let out a hollow laugh.
“…I don’t even feel anger anymore. Regardless, it’s clear that you lot are a major obstacle to our sect’s grand cause. I’ll take at least one of you with me.”
Whoooooosh—!
A massive surge of blood-red energy began to swirl around him.
At the same time, his skin wrinkled and withered like that of an old man.
Seeing that, Dang Il-bi spoke with a grave expression.
“His true essence….”
He had detonated the very foundation of his internal energy, gaining immense power for a brief moment.
And it seemed that wasn’t all he had drawn upon.
The moment its effect ended, his life would end as well. But there was no guarantee the group could hold out until then.
So I gave the order.
“We’ll end this in a short, decisive battle.”
At that, the Dang twins each spoke up.
“We’ll use the Dang Clan’s secret art.”
“Even the clan head hasn’t fully mastered it yet… but if we combine our strength, we should at least be able to imitate it.”
“Buy us a little time.”
Then Ahn Jeong-mi and the Hye-seong Group employees stepped forward.
“Leave it to us.”
As they spoke, each of them pulled out purple-tinged rounds and loaded them into their mana guns.
Special ammunition.
If my guess was right, those were incredibly expensive. But they seemed ready to use several rounds each.
Well, they weren’t more valuable than a human life.
Seo Ye-in also raised one hand high above her head, as if preparing to use her ultimate technique.
But nothing happened, so I casually asked,
“Is it because we’re indoors?”
“…I think so.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Nothing to be done. I’d just have to put in a bit more effort.
Right then,
“Blood-drenched world—! Blood Demon’s descent—!”
With a resolute shout, the Blood Sword Commander swung his energy arms.
Shiiiiiing—!
Blood-red sword energy scattered wildly in all directions.
The Dang Clan twin heroes dodged the attacks while raising their momentum.
Clink, clink, clink,
Not only the steel spheres and coins, but every piece of metal in the area, large or small, rose into the air as if defying gravity.
Then they began to move along a massive flow.
The Blood Sword Commander seemed to notice but judged it wasn’t the priority right now.
He kicked off the ground and charged at Seo Ye-in at tremendous speed.
Immediately, four Qyu shadow undead moved to block his path.
However, as the six energy arms were swung wildly, they couldn’t hold out for more than a few exchanges before being torn to pieces.
Swish-swish!
Since the Shadow Corridor was still deployed, they were immediately resummoned, but even those were quickly shredded again.
Swish-swish-swish!
After casually clearing away the obstacles, the Blood Sword Commander charged once more toward his target.
Seo Ye-in fixed her gaze on him and then,
“Swish.”
She activated [Ghost Dance] and widened the distance.
However, the Blood Sword Commander seemed determined to relentlessly target a single opponent.
Unleashing his movement technique to the extreme, he chased after Seo Ye-in.
Blocking his path was Dang Gyu-young.
Perhaps judging that undead wouldn’t hold him for long, she raised her shadow club.
[Solitary Stand]
Woooosh….
The undead were destroyed all at once and absorbed into Dang Gyu-young.
Until now, she had only gained the bonus equivalent of two units, but with all four slots filled, the effect had doubled.
Surging with pitch-black energy, she stood against the Blood Sword Commander.
The swords wielded by the six energy arms and the shadow club clashed wildly.
Bang-bang-bang-bang!
At first, they seemed fairly evenly matched, but the Blood Sword Commander had drawn out every ounce of his abilities at the cost of his life.
He gradually began to push Dang Gyu-young back, and eventually, one blade swung toward her arm.
But instead, the blade bent crookedly as [Distortion] activated.
The Blood Sword Commander’s face twisted even further.
“You damn—”
“It’s a gift from the young monarch!”
Dang Gyu-young shouted with a grin.
Even so, her expression remained serious, as she was still on the defensive.
Sure enough, after only a few more exchanges, another crisis arrived, and a blood-red blade slashed diagonally toward her.
But by then, I had already closed the distance.
The crow branch and the blade stuck together with a smack.
[Harmonized Flow]
As I shoved it toward another blade, the six energy arms became tangled in disarray.
At that moment, Seo Ye-in also threw the mass of light she had been gathering in her hand.
[Fickle Trap]
[Spatial Fold]
It flickered out of sight and, the instant it touched the Blood Sword Commander’s chest, transformed into thick wooden vines that tightly bound him.
Tudududuk,
Just as the six aura arms began tearing and ripping the vines apart,
Thump—
Thump thump—
Purple bullets were fired from the magic guns of the Hye-seong Group employees.
Instead of striking the target, they halted abruptly in midair nearby.
Soon, violet currents connected the bullets, wrapping around the Blood Sword Commander like a net.
Jiiiiing—!
[Anti-Aura Field].
It had the effect of dispersing internal energy within its range.
Aura was no exception, and the six blood-colored arms flickered as they began to fade.
A couple of them had even shrunk to the size of a child’s forearm.
While the Blood Sword Commander was nearly neutralized like that, the Dang Clan twin heroes also seemed to have finished their preparations.
Clang-clang-clang,
A sea of metal had spread across the ceiling of the arcade.
Soon, following the twins’ gestures, it occupied all directions and concentrated solely on the Blood Sword Commander.
[Rain of Flowers Filling the Sky]
Kwaaaaa—!
As he looked up at it, the Blood Sword Commander’s body suddenly trembled.
Blood streamed from his seven orifices, likely the backlash from drawing out the last of his internal energy.
Tudududuk!
He tore apart the vines in an instant and broke free of the [Anti-Aura Field].
He roared while swinging his regenerated arms.
“This petty! Trickery! Can’t possibly bind—!”
Boom!
At that moment, compressed wind exploded and shoved him back to where he had been.
“Why do you keep moving? Just stay still for a moment.”
“…….”
The Blood Sword Commander stared at me blankly.
And just as he was about to spit out a string of vicious curses, the Rain of Flowers engulfed him.
Whoooooooooooooosh—!
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