The beast's eyes opened wider. 'Something' was slowly rising up from that wavering shade of a tree.
'Is that the human…?'
Or, was it the real Shadow Sovereign?
It couldn't quite figure out the true identity of its opponent yet. However, the presence of the enemy all five senses of the beast had picked up were identical to that of the man who drove it to the edge of the cliff all those years ago.
Didn't matter what his identity was, this man now possessed the perfect, complete power of the Shadow Sovereign.
'He chased after me all the way to here?!'
The terror of death seemingly had invaded deep into the beast's bone marrows, and as a result, the creature trembled greatly in pure fear.
And when Jin-Woo's entire frame completely emerged back into the world…
Growl….
One of the savage beasts bared its fangs to threaten Jin-Woo in order to protect its master before quickly dashing forward. This monster, although outwardly feline in appearance, possessed three red eyes. It was also known to be one of the most vicious creatures even in the Chaos World.
Roar!!
The monster opened its jaw wide to reveal dozens of knife-like fangs that coldly reflected the light.
Jin-Woo disinterestedly stared at the predator dashing towards him. It seemed to possess as much magic energy as a boss from a rank S dungeon. If it was in the past, even he'd have to pay attention, but now, it didn't pose any threat whatsoever.
But before that…
Boom!
Even before he could decide on what to do next, the savage beast suddenly lost its head and its four limbs sagged down to the ground.
The culprit was none other than the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs. It leapt in an instant and destroyed the savage beast's head. Then, it quickly extracted its fist stuck deeply to the ground.
'Why did he kill his own soldier…?'
When Jin-Woo stared at it with puzzled eyes, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs got low to the floor and bowed its head. And then, words spoken with a trembling voice leaked out from its mouth now facing the ground.
[Oh, Shadow Sovereign, this King of Beasts does not wish to enter into a conflict with you. I pray that you forgive this one's transgressions and accept me as your ally.]
This was the instinct of an animal in full display. When facing against an opponent that couldn't be beaten and also, escaping from it was impossible, then one should bow one's head.
The beast's instincts were quite strongly recommending this course of action. Since the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs possessed the characteristics of a wild animal, it readily discarded its dignity and pride to stay loyal to the demands made by its instincts.
[Not too long from now, the Dragon Emperor will lead his army to descend on this land. During that time, my beast army and I shall aid you in your quest.]
The beast had assumed the most subservient posture it could.
Whimper… Whimper…..
The savage beasts behind the Sovereign were all frozen stiff in their terror and had sprung a leak, wetting the ground with their p*ss.
To these wild, untamed creatures that lived for their own continued survival, the aura of death walking ever closer was the most terrifying thing imaginable.
Jin-Woo briefly observed the King of the Beasts and its lowered tail before coming up with a reply.
"Fine."
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was feeling really nervous, but upon hearing that easy answer, it began smiling inwardly. And that smile soon crept up on its face directed to the floor, as well.
What a foolish man!
'That b*stard is not the real thing.'
The real Shadow Sovereign would never forgive the one who had betrayed him once before, and not to forget, someone who tried to eliminate the vessel prepared for his descent to this world.
Thanks to this human's kindness and stupidity, the beast was able to buy some time.
How could it obey this man's words when this human, no, this prey was busy emitting a delectable scent mixed in among that of the real Shadow Sovereign's?
Indeed, all it had to do was to pretend as if it was on the Shadow Sovereign's side and wait until the Sovereign of Destruction's arrival.
'When the time comes, I shall personally rip your corpse apart and gnaw on your bones.'
So, how could the beast not break out in smiles right now? With a bright face, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs raised its head again.
[I swear my loyalty to…..]
As it did, it ran straight into the chilling glare, as cold as ice, and leapt back greatly from sheer fright. As a matter of fact, the level of fright it felt was so great that it had leapt back dozens of metres in one go.
Jin-Woo coldly addressed the beast and its pale complexion.
"Before we do that, though, we should settle our debt first."
The beast squeezed out some words with a hardened expression.
[Debt? Could you be talking about the past….??]
In the past, the Sovereigns of White Flames and Beastly Fangs tried to stab the Shadow Sovereign in the back. Jin-Woo had seen that treachery through the recollection of the former Shadow Sovereign. However, that had no relevance to what Jin-Woo was about to do right now.
From the subspace that the System designated as 'Inventory', he extracted one Kamish's Wrath.
Shururuk….
While grasping the blade tightly with one hand, Jin-Woo pointed to five spots in his chest with his thumb on the free hand.
"Five wounds where claws have pierced past."
The horrifying pain from that moment was still vivid in Jin-Woo's mind.
"Withstand five attacks from me, and I shall forgive you."
That was the same thing as telling the beast to survive five fatal attacks.
It was at this point that the beast finally realised that Jin-Woo never planned to let it go from the beginning. The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs roared out in a final show of its pride.
[You dare…!! How dare you toy with me, the King of Beasts!!]
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs activated Spiritual Body Manifestation and rapidly transformed into a gigantic wolf. Although, it was incomparably smaller than the one from the Shadow Sovereign's memories, perhaps owing to the fact that this wasn't the creature's original world. Still, the King of Beasts wielded enough power to destroy this world and then some.
Now thoroughly enraged, the giant wolf loudly howled at the Shadow Sovereign.
[My life will end here today, but you too will not live for long!]
Whoosh-!
It was right then, a strand of chilling wind brushed past the face of the huge wolf. Searching for the presence of Jin-Woo that had simply vanished from its view, the creature quickly took a look behind.
And that's where he was, having moved there before the wolf had noticed it. He slowly turned around to face the monster.
"The first hit."
The wolf then saw it.
It saw the horrifying black aura rising up from Jin-Woo's entire body. This guy, he wasn't the fake. His movements completely matched that of the Shadow Sovereign.
Gulp.
Unbeknownst to itself, the wolf swallowed back its dry saliva.
But, then….
With an audible 'plop', something fell to the ground.
For a moment there, the wolf forgot what kind of a monster was standing before its eyes and lowered its gaze. What fell to the ground was a huge ear.
The wolf's ear, cut off from its head, now lay on the ground next to its own feet like a hideous item of gore. And then, blood exploded out like a fountain. What visited after all of that was intolerably cruel pain.
The wolf gritted its teeth and raised its head back up and discovered that Jin-Woo was holding yet another shortsword.
One weapon in each of his hands.
Jin-Woo held the pair of 'Kamish's Wraths' oozing out black aura and delivered his final judgement on the giant wolf.
"Four more left."
*****
Literally, enemies on all sides.
After Jin-Woo disappeared from the scene, the Sovereign of Frost was left stuck in a rock and a hard place. It'd be logical to escape if there was no chance of victory. But then, the gaze of the ancient Ice Elf landed on the two Marshal-grade soldiers belonging to the Shadow Sovereign.
'Forgetting about the ant b*stard busy treating that human puppet of the Rulers, this….'
The remaining one was a huge problem.
It was none other than Igris, also referred to as one of the two wings of the Shadow Army, who was keeping a close eye on the Sovereign right now.
This black knight's nickname was the 'Knight of Death'. He was the greatest knight there ever was, accompanying the Shadow Sovereign to participate in many battlefields and killing countless enemies in the process.
One of the opponents that needed to be kept an eye out for was standing right in front of the Ice Elf.
'But then again….'
The ancient creature was not some measly little soldier, but a Sovereign. If it fought with everything it had, then bringing down two Marshal-grade soldiers wouldn't be difficult at all.
No, the real problem was with these two possessing immortality-like abilities. They would continue to regenerate infinitely until the Shadow Sovereign ran out of his power.
This was really bad news, considering that the Sovereign of Frost had to waste a lot of its stamina by activating its Spiritual Body Manifestation.
On top of that, if it decided to attack these two soldiers, then their master would be alerted to its actions. All Shadow Soldiers were connected to the Shadow Sovereign. Even if one succeeded in defeating the Marshal-grade soldiers, that would only serve to summon their master over here.
That had to be prevented at all cost.
'That's why….'
The Sovereign of Frost spun around in order to quickly generate a Gate to facilitate its escape.
Swish-!
But then, Igris appeared out of nowhere to block the escape attempt. He slowly shook his head and lightly tapped the hilt of the sword sheathed on his waist.
'Don't do anything foolish.'
Even without saying anything, his words came across loud and clear.
Swish-!
The Sovereign of Frost quickly swivelled its head around and discovered the ant standing on the other side, his maw wide open to screech out loudly.
"Kiiiieeeehhk-!!"
The meaning of this particular ant standing here, when he should have been healing the arms of that human….
….The gaze of the Sovereign of Frost shifted over to its front and caught the sight of the saboteur, now completely healed, walking in closer.
[These b*stards….!]
The Ice Elf shuddered in rage as the enemies surrounded it once more.
[Mere b*stards like you dare to….!!]
The angry voice of the furious King rocked the ground. The world began freezing again, and the storm clouds gathered up in the sky.
[How long do you think you lot will last against me?!]
Igris unsheathed his sword, Beru's claws extended in full, while the robe-wearing man held his shortswords tightly.
However, the event of these four colliding didn't happen.
The first one to sense the change was, once more, the Sovereign of Frost.
[….!!]
When its gaze hurriedly shifted over to a certain direction, others followed suit as if they had a prior agreement. The shadow there was rippling noticeably.
The Sovereign of Frost needed just a little bit more time, that was all. It bit its lower lip in vexation.
[Shadow Sovereign!!!]
In a spot of ground a bit of distance away, Jin-Woo emerged from the shadow.
'This is so convenient, not being restricted by the cooldown now that the System is gone.'
All restrictions on his abilities had been unshackled. That allowed him to return to this spot in an instant. Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Sovereign of Frost over yonder.
He then lightly threw something in his hand in the direction of the Ice Elf. The Sovereign caught that object drawing an arc in the air, before its eyes trembled greatly from shock.
[Isn't this….?!]
It was an ear belonging to a giant wolf.
The Sovereign only knew of one wolf large enough have an ear this big.
[It's only been a few minutes since you left, yet you already killed the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs?!]
The Sovereign of Frost cried out in sheer panic, but Jin-Woo didn't even bother to make his reply. He simply summoned his two shortswords like how he had done with the beast earlier, instead.
On the blades crafted out of the Dragon's teeth was the still-fresh blood from the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.
The ancient Ice Elf flinched greatly as the hostile intention from a truly powerful individual locked down on it. The two Marshal-grade soldiers and the robe-wearing man confirmed the black aura rising up from Jin-Woo's shoulders and quickly retreated to the rear.
Jin-Woo gripped the hilts of the two weapons tightly. He had already given this creature enough time. And now, he was going to collect the debt.
The Sovereign of Plague, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, and now, the Sovereign of Frost. The deaths of these three would serve as Jin-Woo's warning to other Sovereigns.
The Ice Elf watched as Jin-Woo dashed forward as if he was gliding on a smooth surface and urgently fired out multiple arrows of ice in a last-ditch attempt.
[You b*stard!!]
Of course, these arrows of magic were still fatal if struck, even though they were created in a hurry. Countless arrows, each one too powerful even for a rank S Hunter to survive, shot towards Jin-Woo in droves.
Dudududududududu!!!!
The Sovereign of Frost did everything in its power to prevent Jin-Woo from getting any closer.
[Uwaaaah-!!]
Too bad, Jin-Woo's hands were quicker than those arrows raining down. He swatted away all the ice arrows aiming at him and yet, his dashing speed hadn't decreased at all.
[Uwaaaaaaaah-!!!!]
Dududududududududu!!!!
Ice arrows were generated and fired out from the front of the personification of the frost, their numbers too innumerable to count, yet…
….Yet, Jin-Woo was able to break through their barrage and stand before his target.
Stab!
Jin-Woo accurately drove the Kamish's Wrath into the shoulder of the Sovereign of Frost – on the exact same spot where the dagger had struck in the past. He did that to remind the creature about the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui.
[Kuwaaahhk-!!]
Suffering from the pain on an incomparable scale than the last time, the Sovereign of Frost's head rose up high as it screamed at the top of its lungs.
Before the second shortsword could strike it, though, the Ice Elf hurriedly gathered the cold air in its mouth and fired it out. Jin-Woo reached up and simply covered its mouth.
Kuwaaaahh!!
Just as the cold blast of air unable to break free of his hand went on a rampage inside the Elf, Jin-Woo reverse gripped his other shortsword and stabbed it deep into his opponent's chest.
CRACK!!
He heard the sounds of its ribs breaking and its heart being penetrated cleanly. It was the exact same attack that he suffered not too long ago.
[Kuwaaaahahhhk-!!]
However, Jin-Woo knew that such an attack wouldn't be able to kill the Sovereign of Frost, since he had prior experience of killing two other Sovereigns.
"The beast died on the fourth attack."
The chilling light shone coldly in Jin-Woo's eyes.
"How long will you be able to endure?"
Terror filled up the eyes of the Sovereign of Frost as it looked down at Jin-Woo.
This man was the Sovereign of Death.
Weren't those eyes the exact same as the merciless warrior that slew all the enemies he came across in an endless battlefield?
Only now did the Ice Elf realise just who it offended, and began shuddering from the crippling fear.
Shortly afterwards, the shortsword stabbing into the creature's heart sliced down lower and tore the Sovereign's body into a rag.
[Kuwaahk!!!]