ushernet Chapter 405: Rainbow (2)
Chapter 405: Rainbow (2)
In the original story, rays of that form were usually represented as ‘Lethal Beams.’ They were categorized into two types. A single-use type with powerful lethality that pierces through a target as it passes. And a type that constantly ‘sears’ the target with a lethal beam, much like a welder continuously applying heat. When he first saw the flash, he couldn’t distinguish whether it was the former or the latter. However, after a short moment, it was revealed to be the latter. The reason was that the beam starting from Arcus’s fingertips continued without interruption.
Tadat!
Already in the rear, Ayane was moving in a different direction. Originally, she had been positioned almost in a straight line behind Kang-hoo, using him as cover. She too had recognized the existence of the lethal beam and realized that standing in a row was the most dangerous position. Unless she wanted to be skewered along with him in the worst-case scenario, repositioning was a necessity, not an option.
【Wall of Integrity】
He erected a wall first. Since he was on the verge of colliding with the beam, he needed the most reliable card to provide primary defense. However, he felt certain that this alone would not be enough. The level of this dungeon and Arcus’s status were too high for defense to end easily with a single Wall of Integrity.
【Protection - Level 3】
【Passive skill. When activated, it takes 1 hour to reactivate.】
【By activating Protection, you can neutralize all external attacks for 0.5 seconds.】
【By utilizing 33% of your possessed mana, you can re-trigger Level 2.】
He took out insurance with Protection - Level 3. But that was only for a brief moment. As soon as the 0.5-second neutralization period ended, the lethal beam striking the Wall of Integrity created a crack.【Protection - Level 2】
The subsequent Protection - Level 2 was also useless. Unlike Level 3, Level 2 is characterized by nullifying a single instance of an attack. The problem was that since the lethal beam was a continuous type, its function ended after enduring just one ‘sear.’
‘I might get hit even while holding the Wall of Integrity.’
A change in strategy was inevitable. He had taken a defensive position intended to double as reconnaissance, but staying this way seemed likely to cause more harm than good. A wall is only ‘integrity’ when it can succeed completely in defense; if there’s a chance it won’t, it inevitably becomes a wall with a weakness.
Kagagagak!
While deflecting the lethal beam to the side as much as possible with the Wall of Integrity.
【Acceleration】
【Leap】
Tadadadat!
He turned sharply and began to dash toward Arcus. It was based on the judgment that it was better to suppress him before figuring out the effects of the remaining colors on Arcus’s gauntlet. At that moment.
【Underground - Impact Bolt】
Bang!
From behind, a magic bolt fired by Ayane while she stayed low exploded against Arcus. Unlike general magic bolt attacks, this skill formed a trajectory that stayed almost glued to the ground. Underground - Impact Bolt was similar in form to Kang-hoo’s ‘Collapse’ skill. It did not react to human bodies but reacted directly to the terrain, serving as a means to create unpredictable variables.
‘Good.’
The timing was impeccable. Since he was aggressively rushing in, it was a situation where Arcus’s counterattack would have been the most troublesome. There were ways to respond, but just when he wanted to maintain his existing momentum, Ayane bought him time.
Rumble!
“Ugh!”
A violent shaking of the earth’s axis. Caught in the resulting cracks, Arcus’s body swayed violently from side to side. As he lost his center of gravity, the lethal beam that had been consistently pointing forward also snapped toward the sky. While he was preoccupied with controlling his body, the arm wearing the gauntlet lost its direction.
‘Off-beat.’
The choice he made to match Ayane’s coordination was not an honest melee approach.
【Black Moon Slash】
It was a Black Moon Slash, charged briefly for a single strike and immediately launched at Arcus. It was weaker than a fully charged Black Moon Slash, but securing basic cutting power was no problem. Just then.
‘As expected.’
Even amidst that chaos, Kang-hoo saw Arcus turning the gauntlet toward him. His prediction was correct. He figured that if he went in honestly, Arcus would see a chance to counterattack in some way, and he was right. The fellow must have thought so. That he would turn the crisis into an opportunity and instead ensnare his target, Kang-hoo, to devour him in reverse. However, Kang-hoo clearly won this game of rock-paper-scissors because he fired the Black Moon Slash predicting this reaction.
Swish.
“Aaaargh!”
He had already seen through where the hand would be positioned if Arcus turned the gauntlet toward himself. Part of the fellow’s hand and arm were severed. Thanks to that, the gauntlet he was wearing fell to the ground along with the severed arm, and his attack options were neutralized. A look of panic was evident on Arcus’s face. He hurriedly reached out with his other hand to grab the gauntlet.
Vroom!
He heard the sound of Ayane reloading in the rear. It was the sound of magic power condensing. Though he didn’t look back, he could predict what kind of follow-up attack Ayane would make just by listening to the sound.
【Unfair Trade】
Before approaching Arcus again, he activated Unfair Trade. By temporarily losing 1,000 points each of Physical Defense and Magic Resistance, he gained a full-body shield that would nullify one physical and one magical attack. Right now, he had to drive Arcus into a corner, no matter the reason. The most fatal situation for him had occurred: he could not use his main weapon, the gauntlet. Giving him time to recover here would be much stupider than an attempted suicide. However, he saw Arcus’s intact hand frantically reaching out and finally grasping the gauntlet. The activated color of the gauntlet was green. It was a different color than before, and the effect was unknown. However, since he had already activated Unfair Trade to prepare for the situation, he just had to clear his mind and ram through.
Grip!
Finally, Arcus, having barely managed to grab the gauntlet, activated the effect by pouring in mana. In the next moment.
Boom!
A loud explosion similar to thunder was heard from the sky. Immediately, a cross-shaped pressure attack centered on Arcus slammed from the sky to the ground. It was a ‘slam’ attack that created a transparent wall in the shape of a cross and pressed it directly into the ground. It was immense power. The bushes were pressed down and buried beneath the dirt, gravel was shattered, and rocks cracked and split open. Whether it was judged as a magic attack, the magic shield among the two full-body shields Kang-hoo had deployed disappeared.
‘The pattern is such a pain.’
He was only able to pass through without incident because he had a special shield that could nullify attacks. What if a normal hunter, not Kang-hoo, had been approaching? They would have been crushed to death by that cross-shaped slam just now. It would be a lucky death to die with one’s form intact; it wouldn’t be strange for the body to be mashed and burst. Of course, that was Arcus’s optimistic delusion; the reality was the exact opposite.
Stab!
“Aaaagh!”
Kang-hoo, who had entered after neutralizing the cross attack, drove his dagger into Arcus’s remaining intact arm. As he slammed it down while linking it with Great Decapitation, it became as immovable as a hand with a nail driven through it. If his other hand were intact, he could just reach out and pull out the dagger that had pierced through the back of his hand. The problem was that the other hand had already lost its owner above the wrist. There was ‘no way’ to pull out the dagger. Then.
‘Now.’
Kang-hoo, predicting the timing of Ayane’s coordination, slightly twisted his body and stepped to the side. Simultaneously.
Bang!
An explosive round was deployed. The Burst Bolt, one of Ayane’s core attack skills, was a skill that focused more on shock delivery than penetration.
Pshh!
“Gugh!”
Kwagwagwagwa!
Hit directly in the shoulder by the Burst Bolt, Arcus’s body rolled messily across the ground like a stone being kicked. The force was so strong that Arcus couldn’t even maintain proper focus. Kang-hoo was already deploying Flame of Annihilation at Arcus’s location the moment the Burst Bolt hit home.
【Lightning Throwing Blade】
【Fire Dragon Spear】
Throwing attacks aimed at his two still-intact legs were a bonus. On top of that, he added an additional attack aimed at Arcus’s face as the fellow struggled to pick himself up despite the dizziness.
【Qi Gong Blast】
Shooooooo! Crack!
It was a well-timed blow. His neck and head were snapped back with force as the upper part of his face was struck accurately by the Qi Gong Blast. If it had been intentional, it would have been fine, but because it was an impact from an external force, there was no element of cushioning.
Grind!
The sound of bones breaking was heard. A sound that made him certain something had gone wrong somewhere in the cervical spine. Thud! With a heavy sound, Arcus, whose back of the head slammed directly into the ground, spat out thick saliva.
【Cutieeeee!】
He continued the onslaught. The giant slime created in mid-air pressed down directly onto Arcus’s entire face.
Slash!
“Argh!”
Approaching immediately after, Kang-hoo severed Arcus’s other healthy arm. It was a muscular arm that couldn’t be easily severed with just a dagger attack, but if he linked Black Moon Slash and White Sun Slash, the story was different.
【Blood Flower】
Pop, pop, pop!
A beautifully blooming flower of blood. The areas where the fountain of blood gushed out intensely were the severed surfaces of both hands, which Kang-hoo had so graciously helped him lose.
Ssssssssss...
Arcus’s hands and the gauntlet, separated from his body and losing their vitality, vanished into a handful of ash. The disappearance of the gauntlet, which could arguably be called Arcus’s everything, was a situation equivalent to a death sentence.
“Heh...”
Arcus, who had been in a hallucination where his non-existent hands seemed to twitch, let out a bitter smile. The sense of loss from losing his body parts, the starting point, and his weapon, the most important means of attack, was great. No, it wasn’t just loss; he had completely lost his will to fight. It was because there was nothing more he could do.
“Hehehe...”
As if letting go of everything. Arcus, who laid back his head after struggling to lift it, closed his eyes. A de facto declaration of surrender. All that remained was to take his life as quickly as possible. And so. After a scene of one-sided slaughter where blood and flesh scattered in all directions. Kang-hoo and Ayane were able to put an end to the long and eventful dungeon exploration, conquest, and map completion. For Kang-hoo, it was an ending he had been clearly envisioning since he first entered, but for some, it was an unexpected result. Ayane, who was with Kang-hoo, felt that way, and Lars, who had been continuously monitoring the situation from outside the dungeon, felt the same.“...They cleared the dungeon entirely?”
Lars, who received the report from the guild member in charge of monitoring the dungeon entrance, asked back in surprise. This was because the exit only became active when even the main boss monster was defeated. Without this, one had to head back the way they came to get out of the dungeon. In other words, the situation on the field was saying, without a doubt, that the internal conquest was ‘finished.’
-It’s hard to believe, but that was the case.
“To think that Shin Kang-hoo and Ayane did what even our guild couldn’t finish in the end...”
-What should we do? It seems they will be out soon.
“Wait. I’ll be there shortly.”
Lars, who had been resting at the lodging, hurriedly stood up and began to get dressed. His hair was a mess, but now was not the time to be leisurely. It was time to offer words of gratitude and welcome. He had considered the possibility that the two might compromise with reality to some extent in the middle and return. So, Lars had thought he wouldn’t hear any news about the two for about two days. However. The unbelievable happened. An exploration request that even he, the client, hadn’t thought would be successfully conquered while commissioning it. Shin Kang-hoo had accomplished that ridiculous task. Ayane was with him, but it was an obvious result that anyone could see Shin Kang-hoo was at the center of this success.
“...”
Quiver.
Lars’s fingertips, pulling at his sleeve, trembled. ...How was it possible?