Chapter 176 – 176. The Hounds (6)
“This magic power… ?”
Randel frowned at the wave of magic he felt outside.
It was because he felt an alien sensation that was clearly different from ordinary human magical power.
However, it was a special aura that he felt for the first time, different from the magical power of black magic he possessed, the source of demons’ power, and the divine power of priests.
“What the hell is it?”
It was only natural that Randall, who had never seen the energy of a divine beast, be suspicious.
“Looks like you have time to think of something else.”
“…”
Gradually annoyed, Randall grabbed a dagger and glared at Gerard, who was confronting him.
“Didn’t I tell you? You cannot cut me with your dagger.”
“That’s what a normal attack would be like.”
It is an undeniable fact that the shadow barrier, which is said to protect the caster from threats to the caster with a principle close to automatic, is extremely superior and has excellent performance.
Although he spoke grandiosely, he just broke the magic barrier with a physical attack using a sword.
It’s like hitting a rock with an egg.
“Still, if a bastard like you was so incompetent that he couldn’t do anything about it, he wouldn’t have been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brothers and sisters and win the title of hero.”
While responding like that, Gerard suddenly recalled his past memories.
– Your technique is an assassination technique that specializes only in killing humans. In future battles, there is no guarantee that your skills will be effective against monsters other than humans.
– Really… Could it be?
– Because there is clearly a limit to the level that can be covered with the ability of the body. Besides, technically you’re more specialized in certain areas than Leo, so you’re too weak in other areas. You couldn’t even scratch the body of Agnes, who stood proudly and still.
– No… Why are you using that as an example? Isn’t that the same for Brother Riod and Raynan?
– Because Riod has a good physical balance even if he doesn’t have to use swordsmanship. Even if I can’t beat Agnes, I won’t lose. Technically speaking, he’s a genius, so he’ll figure out his own way to fight on his own. Raynan didn’t expect offensive abilities from him in the first place, and that wasn’t his strong point either. But you are different. When the technology you polished and polished doesn’t work at all, the first to be weeded out are you and me among us.
– … I can’t imagine a situation in which you would be the most weeded out of our team.
– He cannot gain physical superiority, his magic power is innately low, he has no divine power because he has not been chosen by God, and his talent is at the level of an ambiguous genius even if it is said to be excellent.
– No matter how big brother you are, if you say that, it really hurts me.
– Not only about you, but also about me.
– … Is your older brother in a similar situation to me? What nonsense… All right. Got it! I won’t catch the horse’s tail, so don’t look bothered! Then I… What on earth should I do?
– What’s wrong? You just have to do it until it works.
– Yes? What?
– If you can’t cut it, find a way to make it cutable, and if you hit a limit, keep moving until you find a way to break it. Even though the amount of time and effort to invest varies from person to person, the reward never goes anywhere. From now on, learn the techniques I teach you.
– No, brother! These skills are so difficult!
– Hmm? I can’t help it. Then… Let’s get fit and learn it with our body.
“Ah, fucking feet. Another trauma… You used swear words again.”
Gerard’s past temperament was not so gentle as he was playing a handsome middle-aged gentleman, courting a woman who would be his partner who would be with him for the rest of his life.
“…”
Seeing Gerard trembling by himself and muttering like a madman, Randall puts on a suspicious expression.
Irrespective of Randall’s stare, Gerard put magical power into the double daggers in his hands.
As the shimmering blue magic started to fluctuate, the flow of that magic was unusual.
It was as if the concentrated mana was trapped in the blade of the dagger and was screaming to get out.
“That…”
Randall’s expression began to harden little by little as he confirmed the magic power swirling from the blade of the dagger.
Anxiety strikes that her own shadow barrier, which has never been broken before, might be broken for the first time.
One of the reasons why Randall was far behind in terms of personal power and was able to use the hounds as his subordinates was that the hounds, including Baron, were unable to break through the shadow barrier embodied by Randell’s angiography and inflict harm.
His confidence in his black magic, which even has a track record of blocking Illyana’s 6-digit magic, is skyrocketing.
It was Randell’s only weakness, as she was thoroughly thorough and did not reveal herself, and used the method of sneaking behind her.
The euphoria she feels at having wonderfully refined her dark magic, her father’s legacy she inherited, to her own taste is the cause of her carelessness.
“Tsk… !”
Randell frowned at the imagination that had popped into her head and took out the number she had hidden.
“Come out! Shadow Hound!”
In the dark room, black shapes wriggling like a haze of flames.
Soon, the figures took the form of four-legged beasts, hounds.
Not the ‘hunting dogs’ that refer to his subordinates, Baron’s party, who kill according to the master’s orders, but the hunting dogs that take the form of real beasts.
“…”
Gerard stared blankly at the shadow hounds Randall summoned.
Kreur
Although it snarls and expresses hostility as it stares at Gerard, its source is a shadow with no mass.
However, those shadows clearly have substance, and possess the instincts of beasts and demons, are close to artificial ‘spirits’ that Randall created ‘souls’ in the shadows through imaging.
“Attack!”
In response to the owner’s command, the shadow hounds charge at once to bite Gerard’s body.
The shadows that have substance boast a solid hardness, enough to deflect Gerard’s blade.
Randall is making a judgment that is close to certainty that Gerard’s offensive ability cannot handle his shadow spirits.
It was his confidence that he had accumulated based on many evidences, such as blocking Illyana’s high-level magic or deflecting Gerard’s dagger.
But that’s just an estimate based on the data we’ve collected so far.
As Gerard said, if he had concluded that it was impossible and had not overcome this difficulty, he would not have earned the title of hero.
[Gerard’s Attribute Secret]
[Thunder’s Tooth]
Dismissed!
The color of the magical power contained in the dagger changes to yellow, and the light from the thunderbolt emanating from the dagger begins to fill the room where the two were sitting.
Soon, let’s swing the sword at the shadow hounds who run to bite their bodies without mercy.
Paperweight!
The beasts of the shadows, which seemed like they would never fall, were torn apart like paper being torn apart.
“Oh, this can’t be… !”
“I know with honor. This skill is not something you can show off to just anyone.”
As he grew up with Eun-hyeon’s advice and training, the thunderbolt tooth he devised together with Eun-hyeon is Gerard’s last secret technique and a double-edged sword with clear risks.
Gerard, who was superior to others in no way in terms of physical strength, magical power, talent, or God’s choice, was born with the determination to fight on the frontline with heroes such as Riodna, Illyana, and Agies.
This creates a powerful thunderbolt that can rip and burn all enemies within range by pouring the few magical powers within its body, and strengthens its weapon and body with that thunderbolt.
The time that can be maintained is limited to 2-3 minutes, but on the other hand, the amount of magical power consumed is more than half of the magical power stored in the body.
Although it is a skill with poor fuel efficiency in many ways, Gerard was able to display the most overwhelming attack power in the team after Illyana for 2 to 3 minutes from the moment this skill was activated.
Paperweight!
Every time Gerard, who had been tinged with lightning, moved, the spirits made of shadows were torn apart and lost their shape.
Randell decides to run away, deciding that his judgment is wrong and that there is no longer any means to counter Gerard.
“Jen… !”
“I won’t miss it this time.”
In an instant, he left an afterimage on Lee Hyeong-hwan’s stomach and occupied Randel’s back, and Gerard cut Randall’s neck without hesitation.
Paperweight!
Sensing hostility, the shadow barrier quickly wrapped around Randall’s neck to protect it, but the yellow blade with thunderbolt drew a line through Randall’s neck as a shadow.
Before he could even scream, his neck fell to the floor, his headless neck burnt to black by a thunderbolt.
“… Something is bothering me.”
Even after killing the man he’d been pursuing for years, Gerard didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment or satisfaction that he’d gotten the job done.
Because the solution to the case was so easy and simple that it was futile, I still have doubts that something was being done.
Quaang!
“… What’s going on out there?”
Gerard, who sensed an abnormality with the shaking of the floor and the vibration that gradually intensified, began to feel uneasiness as to whether something had happened to Erin and the others.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Big… Omg!”
Erin’s body, which had been thrown away, began to crack as it hit the wall of the building, and the shock applied to her back was transmitted through her entire body, almost causing her to lose consciousness for a moment.
“Flaw… Ugh!”
The reason why Erin, who struggled to raise her body, did not lose her mind was largely thanks to her improved physical abilities enhanced by her divine power.
Erin quickly checked her body condition.
‘Are you okay. She can still move She just hit a wall, but… Hurry up and help White Ghost and Emilia…’
Despite being tossed into the air by her Baron and nearly knocking her back against the wall of her building with her colossal impact, Erin clenched her hands and held on to her self. She propped up her rapier as a staff and moved on with her slow steps.
As she struggled through her stride, Erin looked around her, catching the full picture of her fight.
‘… Not good.’
The battle between the two Hundred Ghosts he summoned, Emilia’s Dominus battle dolls, and the dozens of hounds seemed to be at an even boil, but as time went on, the burden increased on his own side, the Hundred Ghosts and the dolls.
The number is almost doubled, and the tactic of cutting the power of the white ghosts and puppets while thoroughly maintaining the 1:2 composition was creating a disadvantageous situation as time went on.
‘I just need to hold on at least until Eira-sister calls Artia’s knights.’
The most important problem is the leader of the hounds, Baron, who blew himself up.
From the moment her back was taken over, Erin keenly sensed the gap in skill between him and her own.
‘It will be difficult to win, but…’
– It’s a very important part of a fight to accurately grasp the gap between yourself and your opponent, but you shouldn’t conclude that you can’t win by realizing the difference.
Eunhyeon’s advice keeps popping into my head.
‘Know. I know, but how?’
The picture of defeating the head of the hounds cannot be drawn.
Erin was so confused that she couldn’t organize her complicated thoughts, but circumstances didn’t wait for Erin to organize her thoughts.
Cooong!
Baron, who reached in front of Erin with her high jump, kicked the staggering body of Erin using his sword as a staff.
“Kuhup!”
“I don’t particularly like bullying the weak, but the situation is the situation. I want to quickly get things sorted out and leave before Artia’s knights come and things get louder.”
“Eww… Ugh!”
Erin felt the weight of the thick flesh that covered her body, making her breathless.
In order to resist the sensation as much as possible, she deploys her magical powers, grips her rapier, and prepares for battle.
“Under! I’m really sorry! Originally, I would have played with it slowly and killed it, but now is not the time to relax like that!”
Erin stared at Baron’s face, who looked genuinely sorry for her, and did not respond.
[Hujok magic (狐族姚術)]
[Fox fire]
The nine tails, which used to emit beautiful silver light, now emit blue flames.
He shot and threw the fox fire he created at the end of his tail at Baron.
Baron avoided the fox fire, which was not a very fast projectile, by turning her body obliquely, but from the beginning, Erin aimed not at Baron, but around Baron.
Manipulate the thrown fox fire to activate her magical power.
As Baron evaded them, the firepower of the fox fires around them gradually increased and a fence was created around Baron.
“Unlike a trick.”
There’s just no way I could confine myself to something like this.
Baron, who had an expression of annoyance at the shallow trick that was only wasting time, swung his magical sword and cut down the fox fire that was spewing fierce fire around him.
Soon, Erin jumped in from beyond the gradually weakening fox fire.
[Galahad Raise Sword]
[Gale Knight]
The number of Erin, who formed a circle of fox-fires around Baron, made a high fence to block his view, and tried to pierce Baron’s abdomen through a surprise attack.
The moment when the thrust with extreme penetrating power was about to rush through Baron’s abdomen.
“Joy.”
Caang!
Erin’s surprise attack was close to perfect timing, but she blocked her attack by striking Erin’s rapier with her sword.
There is no other way to explain that the number did not work except that the opponent was too bad.
‘Yet!’
Erin, who naturally had in mind that her own piercing would not work, was thrown upwards with her right hand holding her rapier by Baron’s sword.
She reached out her left hand and placed it on his abdomen, condensing her mana.
[Juhyeonseong Polar Plain]
[Hwajeopbalgyeong (胡蝶發勁)]
I tried to cause a violent internal wound that shook his intestines by shocking his abdomen while exploding the condensed magic power.
“Hmm.”
Even that was misfired because Erin’s wrist was caught in Baron’s hand and he couldn’t explode his magic in time.
Erin also grabbed the wrist of Baron, who was holding her wrist, and activated her divine ability.
[Nine-tailed fox’s unique ability]
[Energy Drain]
“… !”
Baron, who felt a sense of incongruity as all the energy in his body was sucked out in an instant, made a flinching expression for the first time while dealing with Erin.
Neither strength, nor speed, nor magical power, nor experience. Erin, who could not gain an advantage over Baron, was the only factor that could gain the upper hand.
Baron, who noticed the change in her own body, stabbed her heart with a sword, with the momentum to immediately cut off her breath.
Caang!
Baron’s expression frowned at the sense of being blocked by something solid, not the sense of being stabbed or pierced.
Sensing her strange deja vu at Erin’s something that blocked her own attack, she frowns.
Something is guarding the girl.
She soon lifted her leg and kicked her girl’s side with all her might, trying to free her hand from holding her own wrist.
“Nice… Whoops!”
Her side was hit by her kick, she forced her body to fly away, clenched her teeth, and held herself back from staggering.
Now, if she were to fall and let go of her arm that gripped her Baron’s wrist, the Baron, having noticed the number of her erins, would never again try to touch her hand.
This is the first and last chance to directly touch his hand without any boundaries on his body.
“I… Don’t fall down!”
“Haha!”
Despite all the energy being sucked out of his own body, Baron smiled, saying it was fun to see the fighting spirit in the girl’s eyes.
He then shook his head and raised his sword high.
“Die.”
The moment when his sword to cut Erin’s head in two was about to touch Erin’s forehead.
Caang!
Once again, something that blocks Baron’s sword and protects Erinn.
“Uh?”
This time, Erin was also able to correctly recognize something.
“Shadow…”
Seeing the shadow of her black figure emerge from within her own arms, Erin puts on a dumbfounded expression.
And where does the source of this shadow come from, she realizes.
“The black orb given by Illyana-sama…”
– Huhu, it’s a gift for my baby. In case of danger, this will protect your baby.
As soon as she remembered Illyana’s words, the marble in her arms moved by itself and floated in the air, revealing her appearance.
The scale of the magical power flowing out of the black marble gradually increases, and what is created is the figure of a person with a real body.
“Ah…”
And Erin let out a small sigh as she recalled the back of her familiar and nostalgic man who always protected her from her abusive father.
No way, even though she thought it couldn’t be, Erin had no choice but to put those words into her mouth, filling her with anticipation.
“Oh… Bar?”
The ‘Shadow Spirit’ that appeared in the black marble did not answer.
