[Chapter 169]
[Small Victory (5)]
The army commander's magic doesn't work.
He had expected this to some extent.
That's why Eun-ha, who had experienced similar situations many times before, confidently faced the army commander and swung his sword.
My thoughts were correct.
This guy is vulnerable to me.
It asks a question.
But Eun-ha didn't listen and swung his sword.
Gift
Though there's still plenty of internal mana.
The gift activated after resisting brainwashing magic several times.
Eun-ha's movements became even faster.
"Choi Eun-hyuk, stay back. And don't forget to use protective magic."
"Got it!"
However, the army surrounding it was quite concerning.
It seemed to have realized that brainwashing magic no longer worked on Eun-ha and gathered its army.
Eun-ha didn't miss that moment.
As Choi Eun-hyuk retreated─
─Violent Venom
They successfully pushed back the frontline.
Only those creatures remained on the road.
Eun-ha sprayed a highly contagious, lethal poison.
Kieeeeek!!
The reaction was immediate.
A sword strike that passed through the Sphinx's chest.
Its wound opened and extreme poison was injected into the wound.
Also, blood spurted like a fountain from the open wound, splattering onto nearby monsters.
──!!
The monsters screamed.
The Sphinx writhed.
The startled army swarmed.
The extreme poison spread even more.
Monsters fell vomiting blood, and a considerable number of monsters lost their lives in an instant.
Kieeeeee!!
But the army commander endured.
Somehow receiving protection from the army and distancing itself from Eun-ha, the army commander bared its fangs.
"Is it because it's a Level 3 monster... Is Violent Venom not very effective?"
Though he had expected it to some extent.
Violent Venom was an effective magic against armies, but it didn't seem very effective against the army commander.
The disappointment was brief.
Eun-ha quickly turned his body.
Even with Violent Venom, I can't handle everything alone as long as the army commander is here.
It's not just fighting today, I need to conserve strength as much as possible.
The army commander roared.
The army chases.
He used Mana Crasher with Winter Blooming Coldly's snow-crawling characteristic.
Sword strikes bending like whips lashed at creatures that got close.
Grrrr!
Then Jin Pa-rang, who had been jumping between buildings, landed behind Eun-ha.
Kaede was riding on the back of the huge wolf in the opposite direction of Jin Pa-rang's gaze.
"The frontline has been pushed back, and they're preparing to attack at the intersection. So you go to the frontline like this. I'll cover you." "Thanks."
She aimed her arrow at the army.
A small storm concentrated on the arrowhead.
She released the bowstring.
Storm's Arrow
Monsters that had come close.
They were torn apart by the storm that erupted right in front of them.
As soon as the first attack ended, Kaede, who had nocked another arrow made of mana to the string, manifested mana.
Right Step
In that state, Eun-ha started running.
Jin Pa-rang followed him, and Kaede checked the pursuing army.
Grooooar!!
Jin Pa-rang was excited.
He bites monsters blocking the front and throws them behind.
The ones thrown back are pierced by Kaede's arrows along with the army.
Meanwhile, it wasn't just monsters that Jin Pa-rang threw back.
Eun-hyuk running towards the frontline in front seemed quite slow to his eyes, so Jin Pa-rang bit and threw Choi Eun-hyuk.
"W-What!?"
Choi Eun-hyuk shouted in surprise.
He who somehow fell onto Jin Pa-rang's back had a dazed expression.
Question─
Right then.
The army commander being protected by the army burst out through the army.
It thought this was the only chance seeing Eun-ha fleeing.
"Damn..."
Choi Eun-hyuk gritted his teeth.
He tried to face the army commander with the swords revolving around him.
But the army commander ignored this and tried to ask a question.
To this, Kaede pulled her bowstring and─
"─Choi Eun-hyuk." "Huh?"
"Can you move to that guy's blind spot with Sword Spirit Encirclement like before, attack, and then come back here?"
"...It should be possible. If Pa-rang hyung slows down a little, I can return right after attacking."
"Then that's fine."
Kaede asked in a calm tone.
Choi Eun-hyuk thought for a moment and answered.
"I'll draw that guy's attention. So you give it one hit and come back." "Can you do it?"
"Don't you fail. Jin Pa-rang oppa, slow down a little."
Grrrr!!
To avoid falling for its magic, you need to close your eyes.
But if you close your eyes, you'll fall prey to the pursuing army.
A situation where you have to fall for the magic.
Nevertheless, Kaede spoke boldly, and Eun-hyuk decided to follow her words.
─Wrong answer
"Now, jump."
Sword Spirit Encirclement
Its pupils glowed yellow.
The movements of people who look into its pupils are slowed by the laws of magic.
But no movement is needed to switch positions with a sword revolving in the sky.
Kaede gave the signal, and Choi Eun-hyuk activated his magic.
Choi Eun-hyuk's form disappeared.
At that moment, Hoshimiya Kaede─
─Gift
She closed her eyes.
She who maximized her gift's power sensed the movement of air, the sounds of monsters.
When their presence came very close─
─Now.
She released the bowstring.
The arrow that left the string.
The arrow brought a fierce storm.
Gift-imbued artifact
Gushing Up
The storm flying horizontally suddenly gushed up vertically.
A wall of wind.
Charging monsters were torn apart, and the army commander stepped back.
Gift-imbued artifact
Gift
Crescent Moon Slash
Choi Eun-hyuk fell from high in the sky.
It looked up in surprise.
The brainwashing magic had already been dispelled.
So Choi Eun-hyuk looked at it and found the stream of light his gift informed him of.
Pshew!
Kieeeeek!!!
A sword strike that hit the left eye.
It screamed in surprise.
Blood splattered in all directions.
Meanwhile, Choi Eun-hyuk switched positions with the sword spirit he had placed near Jin Pa-rang.
"Now it can only ask questions with one eye."
Eun-ha, who was running ahead watching the situation, smiled.
He had thought about facing the army himself after sending his clan members ahead first.
But they resolved it on their own.
It seems to have completely lost it.
Due to the impact of the army commander losing an eye.
Eun-ha and his clan members were able to distance themselves from those creatures.
But that was only for a moment.
The army commander, forced to close its left eye due to a diagonal wound, suddenly began chasing at a terrifying speed.
Nevertheless, they weren't worried.
Because it was now the intersection.
Grrrr!!
Jin Pa-rang sped up and entered the intersection.
Soon after, the army rushed into the intersection where Sowol-ro and Toegye-ro meet.
Begin bombardment! Full deployment!
Fire without holding back!!
As if they had been waiting for this moment.
Players waiting on the left and right simultaneously activated magic.
Boom boom boom boom!!
Boom boom boom boom!!
Bullets rained down, and magic roared.
Players poured out their full power as if to pay back for what they had suffered until now.
Kieeeeek!!
Even if it's Level 3.
Even it was helpless against the Players' united attack.
With magic flying from left and right, there was nowhere to dodge.
Moreover─
─Memento Magia
Jo Ara was preparing magic.
She who was holding a pocket watch in one hand waved the baton held in her other hand.
Rock Stake
Load Grenade
Cover Hellfire
Accelerate
The mana that left the baton splits into four streams.
Soon countless rock pillars with sharp ends appear around her, with an added effect of exploding internally and scattering debris upon impact.
Furthermore, the rock pillars are enveloped in flames and aim at the monsters.
The magic that flies according to her signal has its speed increased by acceleration magic, enhancing its destructive power.
Thus─
─Meteor
An area-of-effect attack magic is created.
Each component forming the magic formula doesn't possess great attack power on its own.
But as the four formulas intertwine and mix, they create magic of a new dimension.
Boom boom boom boom!!!
Still less than ten pillars.
But the pillars that fly at those creatures pierce through them.
Flames devour them while the pillars that received impact shatter and scatter outwards.
If the first attack shook the earth, the second attack caused a sea of fire, and the third attack caused damage to the entire surrounding area.
Kiee...ee...
They launched a full-scale offensive.
By the time the monsters' voices disappeared.
The Players stopped their attack.
Grr...
Using the army as a shield.
The army commander in the place where the smoke cleared.
But its condition looked precarious, like it might collapse at any moment.
It supported its body with three legs, but kept losing balance and collapsing.
Two of its wings had partially burned away and disappeared.
Ques...tion...
Nevertheless, it tried to change the situation with its remaining eye.
The Players had already exhausted their power and were in no shape to attack properly.
Moreover, Players who had gathered to annihilate the army were looking into its eye.
"─I told you it doesn't work."
Eun-ha immediately rushed forward.
His sword had turned platinum and was waiting for the moment to be released.
Right then,
Damn... Why is that guy here...
A huge presence that suddenly appeared.
Eun-ha clicked his tongue.
Whiieeeeaaaaoooo!!
Gift-imbued artifact
Level 3 overrank monster Ye-gyeong.
It revealed itself.
It applied jamming magic to the area, foiling the Players' magic.
Platinum Cross
But not Eun-ha.
He immediately activated
The necklace reacted, and Eun-ha's magic rapidly regained stability.
He slashed through the air.
However─
─Whiiiieeeaaaaaaa!!
Damn it, he said.
Eun-ha faced a dazzlingly bright world and cursed.
Ye-gyeong had responded with magic.
Flash and flash.
Two magics clashed.
Platinum Cross, which seemed to have the upper hand at first, gradually got pushed back.
Right Step
The creature's magic overwhelmed his magic and rushed in.
Eun-ha immediately retreated.
Does it mean it won't let the army commander die like this?
Winter Blooming Coldly
Winter Blooming Coldly absorbs the remnants of the magic Ye-gyeong fired.
The blade turned pitch black.
He looked up at Ye-gyeong while controlling the Maengoshu that seemed about to burst out.
Kieeee!
Grrrr!
Kieeee!
The army revealing itself one after another.
Just when they thought they had annihilated the army, it was in vain due to the new army Ye-gyeong brought.
Eun-ha clicked his tongue.
The Players of Jung-gu were on the verge of collapse.
They had squeezed out all their strength, existing and non-existing.
It was impossible to block the army any further.
Whiiiiieeeaaaaooooo
Perhaps it was the same for Ye-gyeong.
It didn't pick a fight.
After facing off with Eun-ha for a long time, it began to retreat with Freak Sphinx and the surviving army.
The army is retreating.
See...you...next...time...
Following right behind Ye-gyeong.
Freak Sphinx snickered.
Eun-ha frowned.
We can't let that guy escape like this.
We were just about to deliver the final blow, if we let it go now it will become a future problem.
They couldn't face Ye-gyeong with the current forces.
But they couldn't just let Freak Sphinx leave either.
Somehow, we have to take it down.
If not, the frontline will become more difficult with each passing day.
What should I do?
The army commander protected by the army.
Will I be able to reach it?
Just as Eun-ha was about to fly towards it using Buldak's power─
"─I'll give it a try."
Star Picking
The trajectory Hoshimiya Kaede shot.
Jo Ara, who caught the trajectory, said.
☆
Maybe I can do it, she thought.
Jo Ara watched the army commander following Ye-gyeong while struggling to flap its wings.
So she asked Kaede and immediately flew through the sky.
Fly
When she got somewhat close to the army.
She let go of the hand holding the trajectory and activated magic to float in the sky for a moment.
Then she grasped the pocket watch in her hand.
Memento Magia
She quickly uses the pocket watch's magic to double her computational ability.
Meanwhile, monsters rushed towards her.
But she didn't pay attention to them.
Because Jin Pa-rang was there.
Grooooar!!
Running along the main road.
Jin Pa-rang who suddenly attacks monsters while jumping between building walls.
He blocked the groups approaching her.
And she─
─Gift-imbued artifact
Gift
She began to implement the vague imagination in her mind as magic.
Weight Increase
Muscle Weakening
Level 3 Freak Sphinx.
The reason it can fly is obviously because it has wings, but digging deeper, it's because its wings and weight are in harmony.
But at a glance, its wings seemed insufficient to lift it.
Surely it must use magic to lighten its weight when flying.
Also, to be able to fly with that large body, the muscles moving its wings must be quite developed.
...Grr...?
So she decided to disrupt the harmony and make it unable to fly.
It was already in tatters, and its wings were badly torn.
So she made a small adjustment to increase its weight and weaken its muscles.
The effect was immediate.
It was flying well but lost balance.
The army commander was flustered and gradually settling to the ground.
Not yet.
Two more left.
But her magic wasn't over yet.
Two strands remained.
High Pressure Designation
Low Pressure Designation
Wind is the movement of air.
Wind blows as high pressure air moves to low pressure.
She changed the air pressure in the surrounding area for a very brief moment to make wind blow.
Two magics create a storm.
──!!
High pressure around the army commander.
Low pressure where she was.
The environment changed greatly in an instant.
Increasingly heavy air gathered around the army commander and fell downwards.
Kieeeeee!!
Already unable to fly, it couldn't withstand the heavy air and finally crashed.
Meanwhile, light air that gathered around her surged upwards, lifting her higher.
Whooosh
A fast, fierce wind blew.
The army commander caught in the storm was separating from the army.
It began flying towards her direction like that.
Right then─
─Whiiieeeeaaaooooo
As if ridiculing.
Ye-gyeong applied jamming.
She drifted about in the wind and grasped the necklace in her hand.
Gift-imbued artifact
The artifact Eun-ha had given to each clan member.
She immediately activated the artifact to foil Ye-gyeong's magic.
Thus the wind didn't stop blowing and crashed the army commander to the ground.
And Noh Eun-ha, who had been trusting her and conserving his strength until now─
─Familiar Transformation
Phoenix's Cloak
Blast Cross
As if he had been waiting for this moment.
He unleashed magic wrapping himself in flames and attacked the army commander that had plummeted.
A pillar of fire rose magnificently.
Finally, the army commander perished.