Chapter 142
Damn, what’s with her?
The woman seemed increasingly disturbed as she looked between the hwando and Jae-Hyeok. Soon, a thick killing intent spread out, and a torrent of blood-red mana erupted from her body like a volcano.
She seemed many times more powerful than when she had fought the captain of the Guards.
Jae-Hyeok wondered, Was I her purpose from the beginning? It was possible. After all, he already knew of two forces aiming for him. Either way, this situation was bound to happen sooner or later.
Jae-Hyeok threw away the empty scabbard and took a breath. Then, he grabbed another scabbard hanging from his waist, red tassel fluttering. This wasn’t another spare he’d received from Kim Jin-Myeong, but his true hwando.
“You, die.”
Baaang!
Jae-Hyeok’s vision shook. The ground collapsed and the sky screamed as the woman clad in red mana tore forward.
Fast!
There were still fifty meters between the two of them when Jae-Hyeok drew his sword. He judged that by the time he completely drew his blade, the woman would be on him. It was a subconscious calculation based on the physical abilities Roxanne had shown when fighting Byeon Cheon-Ju.
Sure enough, Jae-Hyeok’s sharp senses gave him a good insight into the level of himself and his enemies.
The speed of an S-class player was physics-defying. By the time Jae-Hyeok fully drew his dark blade, Roxanne’s crimson-wrapped fist was halfway to his face.
Jae-Hyeok gritted his teeth as he poured all his strength into his arms, waist, and back foot, bracing himself for the coming shock.
Just then—
[Kuhahahat! Aren’t you the foolish girl who goes around sucking blood despite having no fangs?]
Death Knight Theodore’s unforgettable voice rumbled in Jae-Hyeok and everyone else's minds. The sensation was head-splitting. Jae-Hyeok’s hwando shook, Roxanne’s fist faltered, and the guards spat blood. In the same instant, the ground split and Theodore rose up directly between Jae-Hyeok’s blade and Roxanne’s fist.
Is this a new type of suicide technique? In the fleeting moment Jae-Hyeok was imagining Theodore’s skull being smashed, Theodore crossed his arms in an X shape.
That was all it took.
“Cough!”
Roxanne bounced back. The red mana encasing her fist had been blown to shreds after colliding with Theodore’s raised sword, clad in a purple aura.
“Kuock!”
Meanwhile, Jae-Hyeok stood still as if nailed to the ground. Theodore’s left hand was firmly gripping his hwando. That bony hand was harder than steel, roughly grinding against the blade.
“As I thought, my eyes weren’t wrong back then. You have been growing well.”
Theodore smirked and tightened his grip, slowly driving the tip of Jae-Hyeok’s hwando toward the ground. The sound of crying metal grew louder, and Jae-Hyeok’s knees bent under Theodore’s inhuman strength.
Finally, Theodore let go and took a step back.
Jae-Hyeok looked at his blade. From the horrible sounds alone, he had expected it to be completely damaged, but the blade was surprisingly fine.
It must be thanks to the presence of Iyarugt.
[* Can’t be damaged.]
Jae-Hyeok felt a flash of relief as he refocused on Theodore.
Theodore looked different. He looked bigger than before, and not just because he was wearing larger armor: every one of Theodore’s bones had grown noticeably thicker and larger.
Has he recovered most of his strength? It seemed that was the case. If it weren’t, how else could Theodore have blocked an S-class player so easily? Not to mention, he easily overpowered me with one hand...
“Kukuk, what?” Theodore laughed when it saw how fierce Jae-Hyeok’s eyes had become. “Are you feeling competitive against me? What hopeless pride. Right now, you are just a kid with nothing but talent.”
Theodore clicked its tongue. Well, it didn’t have a tongue and used mana vibrations instead, wasting a high-level technique to indulge petty behaviour.
Jae-Hyeok couldn’t help but remember the words of the lion statue. ‘Theodore was a fool even when he was alive.But no one could stop him.’
“Hmph. You’re much weaker than I remember.” Roxanne said while massaging her arm. “You don’t deserve the name Death Knight.” Roxanne’s red mana, which had been shattered by the collision with Theodore’s sword, once again engulfed her fist.
As Roxanne’s power recovered, the defeated guards groaned.
Having been seriously wounded by Roxanne and internally injured by Theodore, the guards were already on the ground—some were unconscious, while others were vomiting uncontrollably. Now, Roxanne began siphoning their blood with her mana.
The unconscious guards foamed at the mouth, while those barely conscious collapsed.
The reason Byeon Cheon-Ju had earlier ordered everyone to remove wounded flesh became clear. Anyone hit by Roxanne’s red mana was cursed with a blood mark. In the ten minutes the blood mark lasted, its victims became nothing more than lifeforce- and mana batteries for Roxanne.
“Meanwhile, I’ve grown stronger.”
Roxanne’s eyes shone with greed. Theodore was a name that represented Lion’s Castle. Everyone guessed the reward for defeating him would be beyond imagination. She continued, “I have no idea why you decided to show up, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to kill you and get closer to transcendence.”
“Transcendence? Haha!”
For a player, transcendence meant overcoming the thunder tribulation.
Theodore extended four fingers toward the determined-looking Roxanne.
“Four.”
“Four?”
“What you said earlier is true: I haven’t fully recovered, so to my shame, it will take me four moves to kill you.”
“Dumb thing, haven’t you realized that I’ve changed? I’m no longer that A-class could only run from you.”
“As for you.” Theodore turned to Jae-Hyeok, completely ignoring Roxnne’s words.
Scanning Jae-Hyeok like a prized horse, the purple light in Theodore’s eye sockets flared. Compared to when it was looking at Roxanne, the difference was like that of a candle to a torch.
“You are still growing. Same as last time—if you can survive a strike, I will let you go.”
Theodore cycled his mana as if to warm up, and the air immediately turned heavy with his aura. It felt more like a warning: don’t let down your guard. You won’t get a second chance.
Roxanne turned red with anger.
“What right do you have to let that kid live? Do you know who he is? Why are you even here?”
“So annoying. You talk too much for someone who is about to die.” Infusing mana into its body, Theodore’s bones tinged purple. It was the same body strengthening method that Roxanne had used. Before Jae-Hyeok could contemplate the significance—
Bang!
Jae-Hyeok’s hair whipped about as Theodore dashed forward, moving so fast that Jae-Hyeok momentarily lost track. The next thing Jae-Hyeok knew, Theodore was looming over Roxanne, chopping toward her waist.
Theodore’s sword aura arrived first, splitting apart Roxanne’s side like tofu.
Roxanne gritted her teeth and drew deep on the guards’ life force, sealing her wound as she stepped in close and elbowed Theodore’s sword hand aside. Blood-red mana gathered around Roxanne’s hands, and she struck Theodore’s chest. There was a sound like artillery colliding with a steel wall, and Theodore staggered while swinging its sword.
Theodore laughed. “Wrong move.”
In both life and unlife, Theodore had always been a battle maniac that enjoyed life-and-death fights against strong opponents, and in that regard, undeath was a blessing. It allowed Theodore to exchange blows endlessly to its heart's content.
A line appeared across Roxanne’s neck, and her head fell to the ground. What happened? No... confusion became despair when Roxanne registered her own headless body on the pavement.
The blood-sucking property of her mana had turned into a curse. Because of the lifeforce she was drawing from the guards, she remained conscious as a severed head.
I-I don’t want to die.
This was her greatest fear. The knowledge that soon she would be dead for real was crushing.
“Okay, your turn.” Theodore pointed his sword at Jae-Hyeok.
Roxanne’s eyes rolled around.
The Yaksha’s son. She took comfort in the fact that this cursed spawn would be her companion in death.
Jae-Heyok said, “One strike, right? Okay.”
Seeing how the boy was speaking so calmly after witnessing the slaughter of an S-class player, Theodore burst out laughing.
“Kid, things are different from last time. I’ve recovered much of my strength, and I don’t hold back. You still think you can close the power gap with your techniques?”
“Who knows?”
Jae-Hyeok summoned a small blue shield from his inventory.
Theodore sighed.
“Bad move.”
Theodore was disappointed. Relying on defense against an overwhelming opponent’s strike was a fatal mistake. Jae-Hyeok’s only chance of survival would’ve been to rely on a clever counterattack. Since he’d made his choice, the outcome was already decided.
Roxanne sneered. She looked forward to Jae-Hyeok joining her on the ground.
Theodore’s aura surged as it strode up to Jae-Hyeok without preamble and brought its massive sword down on Jae-Hyeok’s head.
Theodore’s attack radiated an aura that was much more powerful than when it had attacked Roxanne. Theodore was intent on erasing Jae-Hyeok for daring to hide behind a shield.
“Pay the price for disappointing me with death!”
Jae-Hyeok raised his shield and met Theodore’s sword overhead.
The resulting collision was deafening. From the point of impact, Theodore’s sword energy sprayed out in a cone, shattering everything around Jae-Hyeok and creating dust clouds of pulverized dirt and pavement.
When the roaring sword energy faded, the big shooting range building behind Jae-Hyeok was in two halves, split by a mirror-smooth fissure.
No one here was stupid enough to doubt Jae-Hyeok’s death.
Only Jae-Hyeok knew the rude future awaiting Theodore.
[Heavy Moon has completely absorbed the shock.]
Clang.
Theodore saw a flash of blue and felt his sword be gently knocked aside. What?
A small blue shield emerged from the slowly settling dust.
Roxanne’s lips parted as if in a silent scream. Even when losing her head, she hadn’t reacted as violently as she had now. The shield wasn’t on the ground; it was still being held... How? How!?
[Amazing achievement!]
[You have blocked the attack of an overwhelmingly strong opponent without a single injury!]
[All stats increased by 2.]
Theodore, who hadn’t stopped laughing since he’d arrived, fell silent for the first time.
Jae-Hyeok casually threw Blue Moon back into his inventory and asked, “By the way, what’s going on at school right now?”
Always strike when the opponent is emotionally agitated.
It was a basic Kang family technique.