Chapter 190: 190

Act 7

Crack, crack—!

Su-hyeun grabbed Hercules’ neck tightly and slammed it to the ground . Hercules was already staggering from his injuries . Moreover, Strength was Su-hyeun’s best stat, and he was using the Immortality skill at the moment . Above all, Hercules here wasn’t the hero in his prime .

Crunch, crunch—

Craaack—!

Hercules’ head went through the floor, and the floor of the stage collapsed . Some heroes who had been rushing toward Su-hyeun hesitated for a moment . The others launched their skills .

Whoosh—!

Swish, swiiish—

Ifrit’s flames swept over Su-hyeun and Hercules . Meanwhile, other heroes rushed at Su-hyeun with their spears and swords .

Stab, stab—

Whooosh—

Su-hyeun’s body was pierced by the spears and swords and burnt by fire magic . One spear pierced Su-hyeun’s neck . He still held Hercules’ neck tightly . The shadow heroes stopped moving all of a sudden . Right after that—

Puff—

—Su-hyeun’s figure scattered like smoke .

[Doppelganger . ]

Swish, swish—

Slaaash—

The heads of the rushing heroes were cut with a single stroke . At that moment, Ifrit started moving again .

Whoosh—

Crack—!

Huge wings appeared from both of Ifrit’s shoulders . At the same time, Su-hyeun hit Ifrit’s abdomen . Ifrit’s mouth opened wide . Even though they couldn’t make sounds, it seemed like they still could feel pain . For a moment, Ifrit staggered .

Stab—!

When Su-hyeun tried to swing his sword again, an arrow from somewhere penetrated Su-hyeun’s shoulder . Su-hyeun couldn’t swing his sword all the way . With no other choice, he moved his other arm and grabbed Ifrit’s neck .

Crunch—

Ifrit’s neck was broken . Su-hyeun lifted the body without hesitation .

Whiz—

Wham, wham, wham—

Five arrows flew to Su-hyeun again . They all aimed for his weak spots .

Robin Hood was the hero who had fought against Chun Ha-jin at the quarterfinals .

Screech—

Robin Hood drew his bow once more from a distance . The arrows that had been flying were definitely annoying . Su-hyeun took his spear off his back as Robin Hood drew his bow . There was no preparation action . He didn’t even inject his magic into the spear . Naturally, the Dragon Slaying Spear was just an ordinary spear without magic . Su-hyeun even didn’t need a skill . He only needed to kill one person . What he had to do was throw .

Swiiish—

Whiiiiizz—

The spear and arrow flew at the same time . The tips of the spear and arrow hit each other . The spear broke the arrow and stuck into Robin Hood’s neck .

Crack—

Flop—

Robin Hood fell backward . His neck had a hole from the spear . Su-hyeun knocked another annoying opponent away . He pulled the arrow from his shoulder . At that moment, he felt dizzy . He felt as if the sky and ground turned upside down . Su-hyeun held his head with his hand .

Robin Hood’s arrows had been flying at him throughout the fight . He was avoiding them because it was easy enough . But the one shot Robin Hood had made was a source of trouble .

It was a poisoned arrow . And it was a deadly poison . It was a pretty fatal wound . If it were a simple poison, Su-hyeun would recover slowly over time because his magic resistance was directly related to his resistance to poison . But…

There was little time left for the Immortality skill . He had to hurry . He didn’t have time for detoxification . Su-hyeun began to move again . There was no reason to hesitate since he realized that there was no time left .

Swish, stab, slash—

Chun Ha-jin, Hercules, Ifrit, and Robin Hood . Su-hyeun had been killing many important heroes . Now, almost a quarter of them remained .

Su-hyeun’s eyes moved fast, gleaming .

Splash—

Luslec stepped on the body of a shadow hero who had fallen to the floor . He didn’t mean to step on him, but it just happened when he began to move . Luslec canceled the summoning . Then, the shadows heroes who had fallen all over the place turned to smoke and scattered in the air .

“Gasp, gasp—”

And, among the smoke, Su-hyeun was standing, his sword tip on the floor . His mouth was filled with a sweet smell, and his legs and arms were shaking . His whole body was covered with wounds, and the poison was spreading through his body . The duration for Immortality was already over .

Whoosh—

Luslec could clearly see with Eyes of Heroic Spirit skill, that the flame inside of Su-hyeun had weakened . More precisely, it was the little magic power left in Su-hyeun . Not only was he injured and out of shape, but his magic had run out .

“…Great job . ”

But Luslec was still amazed . He had no choice but to be amazed . He looked at the shadows of the heroes that were still turning into smoke .

“At first, I wondered who would be the strongest one here,” Luslec said .

“Gasp, gasp—”

“After you beat Chun Ha-jin, I began to wonder how many heroes you could defeat . But you… you exceeded my expectations over and over . ”

Clap, clap, clap—

Luslec clapped his hands with sincere admiration . He didn’t clap to celebrate Su-hyeun . It was to express his respect .

“You’re the best,” Luslec went on . “The achievement rate is meaningless for you . Now you can move on to the next floor—”

“Bull…sh*t…,” Su-hyeun muttered .

Crack—

Su-hyeun pulled out the sword that he had stuck into the ground . Luslec frowned a little at such an act from Su-hyeun .

“Are you trying to continue?”

“I…didn’t win yet, did I?”

The king was still standing . The game, the competition, wasn’t over yet .

Su-hyeun could not accept that idea .

Gyaong—!

Miru, who was watching the game from the back, cried in a little voice . Miru was crying to stop Su-hyeun . He was about to move to come to Su-hyeun’s aid .

“Miru . ” At the call from Su-hyeun, Miru stopped flapping his wings . “Don’t…move…Stay…still…”

Gyaong—

Miru cried very sadly . His voice was trembling . But Miru still followed the order from Su-hyeun and didn’t move .

Luslec hadn’t cared about Miru since he didn’t move at all . There was one time that some heroes tried to attack Miru, when Miru had tried to protect Su-hyeun from Hercules’ club . Shortly after that, Su-hyeun had to fight against the heroes that showed hostility to Miru .

In the end, Miru’s role was extremely limited in the stadium because Miru’s survivability came from his mobility and flying ability .

“Are you really not stopping?” Luslec asked .

“…Yes,” Su-hyeun answered slowly .

“You’ve already achieved 100% accomplishment rate . You know that, right?”

“I…know . ”

“Then why?”

“But…is it really 100%?”

Luslec flinched as if Su-hyeun hit the mark . Then, he shook his head, grinning .

“You’re really something . ”

Accomplishment rate, 100% . Su-hyeun thought that was meaningless . And in fact, it was . 100% meant the maximum of the expectation of the administrator . And the highest achievement rate expected by Luslec, the administrator of the 42nd floor, was to knock down all the heroes here . Su-hyeun already had passed the original goal . What he had done so far was more than 100%; it would be considered close to 110% or 120% .

Su-hyeun’s suspicions were assured after he met Luslec, the administrator . The trial wasn’t a simple game . There was no fixed reward since it was a program . Luslec looked at Miru, who was sitting at a distance . Miru folded his wings as if he wouldn’t move no matter what happened . But he was still staring at Su-hyeun very closely . It seemed like Miru firmly believed in Su-hyeun .

“Then, borrow the power of your divine beast . You can do that, at least, right?”

“I don’t…need it . ”

“…Damn it . ”

Luslec scratched his head as if he was in trouble . He looked at Su-hyeun, who could hardly lift his sword up, squeezing the last of the magic he had .

He went on, “I think you assumed it already, but this isn’t my real body . ”

“I…know . Probably…it is a body…of a hero named, Luslec . ”

“Yes . I mean, I did adjust the numbers and types of the souls he had . But anyway, what I can display right now is as strong as Luslec was . ”

Schwing—

Luslec finally drew his sword out . He said, “Ok . Then, defeat this man . Let’s see how far you can go . ”

Rumble—

Dark energy came out from Luslec’s body . Luslec was a Heroic Spirit Summoner who was also good with a sword . The aura began to wrap around his sword . It was a mixture of his magic and the energy of dead people .

“Hwooo— Haaaa—”

Su-hyeun took a deep inhale and exhale . He already checked his opponent’s power . Now, it was time to check his own body and condition .

Su-hyeun thought .

Luslec drew all of his energy at once . He was going to do his best . Su-hyeun was glad . If Luslec judged Su-hyeun’s status with a cool head, he might decide to buy time to make him consume all of his energy . But Luslec didn’t do that . He wanted to finish it all in one battle . And that was also what Su-hyeun wanted and hoped for .

Checking his condition was a ridiculous thing at the moment . He didn’t need to bother . He already knew how he was; he was in the worst condition of his life . Many parts of his body were broken, cut, and bleeding . He didn’t have much Health left, and detoxification took too long a time . He was so dizzy, he even had a hard time just standing up . He only had a little bit of magic left . He might be able to swing his sword once, but that would be it . But Su-hyeun didn’t give up .

—Su-hyeun’s eyes sparked—

There was only a small chance to win this fight .

Gnashing—

Su-hyeun clenched his teeth . He could feel the true meaning of making a final effort . Su-hyeun took a small step forward .

Rumble—

The little embers in him lit up again . Su-hyeun surrounded his sword with his magic . That was all of the power Su-hyeun could squeeze out at the moment .

“Are you ready now?”

Luslec didn’t run away from Su-hyeun . He didn’t wait until Su-hyeun’s power drained out . That would be the most definite way to win, but he didn’t do that . Su-hyeun realized that it was the original character of Luslec . The administrator wouldn’t let his personal feelings affect the trial . At this moment, Su-hyeun was really dealing with a hero named Luslec .

“Then…I will—”

Stomp—

Su-hyeun took his second step .

“—go first . ”

Swish—

Su-hyeun’s body rushed to Luslec . He was . moving much slower than he had before . He was slow enough that Luslec could see every move he made . It was slow, very slow .

Rumble, rumble—

The energy from the spirits and magic rumbled like a giant wave from Luslec’s sword .

Su-hyeun thought .

Su-hyeun could see numerous spirits from Luslec’s energy and all the hostility they felt toward Su-hyeun . Su-hyeun got goosebumps . The steps moving forward began to tremble . Su-hyeun had no way to protect his body at the moment . It was Death Aura . And the energy it gave Su-hyeun felt like it would decompose all of his body, even his bones if he stepped forward one more .

Su-hyeun repeated like a chant . Spirit Summoners were good at distracting attention .

Swish—

Luslec swung his sword toward Su-hyeun, who rushed into the dark wave that he had created .

Slaaash—

Slash—

The two swords struck each other .

At that moment…

Slash—!

Su-hyeun’s waist was deeply cut, and blood splattered to the ground .