LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 77
Chae Hwa In turned her gaze away from me without saying another word and began to focus on Eric instead.
“Is that your trump card? It definitely looks strong.”
“…….”
Even with Chae Hwa In facing him, Eric still maintained his composure.
Ignoring him, I checked on JP, who was still caught up behind us.
He didn’t seem like much of a threat, but who knows? If things turned against us, he might take him hostage and start threatening.
“If you won’t come, then I’ll go first.”
Kugugugu.
As Eric reached out, the ground trembled and the atmosphere began to twist. Soon, a fierce wind rumbled all around.
Whoooosh!
Kwa-ka-ka-woong!
It was an overwhelmingly powerful attack that felt like watching a small tornado, powerful enough to shake the massive trees’ roots and relentlessly pound small stones and dirt against our bodies.
Thump!
Boom!
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-k!
I had used a bone shield spell in advance to protect myself, but the extensive attack made it difficult to keep my balance.
In that situation, Chae Hwa In just quietly pushed through the wind and moved forward.
Seeing this, Eric let out a small exclamation.
“You’re saying it doesn’t even get hit? Impressive.”
Then he immediately turned his gaze to me, looking puzzled.
“With that level, it shouldn’t be a Summon you can control, right?”
“…This is real.”
What’s wrong with my level?!
I frowned at my rising annoyance, but due to the now even stronger wind, I had no choice but to curl my body down.
Crack.
“It seems an attack like this is meaningless. I’ll have to get serious.”
In a calm tone, Eric pulled in his magical power, creating glowing symbols in an unfamiliar shape above his hands.
“I rose to the position of court mage in just five years there. And the magic I researched was…”
Whoooosh!
“To borrow the power of the sun.”
Zzzzzing!
Kwaaaaaaang!
Seeing the dangerous expansion of magical energy, I threw myself to roll from my previous position.
Fragments of dirt scattered, along with a massive explosion sound.
Finally, what I saw was the ground glowing red like lava flowing, along with a crater in a straight line.
‘…If that hits, I would die.’
An absurd attack resembling a laser; I couldn’t be sure from just one look, but it seemed he was trying to pull in the sunlight through magical power.
“The sun is antagonistic to Undead. There’s no way to oppose you.”
That much was certain.
Though I didn’t show it, it was quite a bad matchup.
I had heard he was a Returner, but he was wielding rather peculiar magic.
Yet Chae Hwa In, upon witnessing this sight, only continued to walk calmly towards Eric.
“…You’re making a mistake. If you’re coming like that, I’ll end it right there.”
As Eric raised his magic power, magical symbols hovering in the air swirled around his arms.
What emerged resembled a small sun.
Of course, the energy contained there was nothing compared to the actual sun, but it was more than enough to burn everyone present to a crisp.
Chae Hwa In momentarily stopped in her tracks, then placed her hand on the sheath of her sword, turning her head to glare at me.
“…Power is lacking. Give me more.”
“W-wait, more here?”
Ignoring my protests, she acted on her own whims again.
Honestly, I was already exhausted from the fiery breath earlier, but Chae Hwa In began to mercilessly siphon my energy.
Whoooosh.
“Ugh.”
No, I haven’t even allowed you yet!
I felt somewhat ashamed for some reason as I vacantly transferred energy to her.
Whoooosh.
“Ah, still?”
Whoooosh.
“…Ugh. Wait a moment, stop!”
Whoooosh!
“Ugh-eh…”
Just when I had become completely loopy and was staggering, Chae Hwa In finally stopped absorbing and gripped her sword once more.
And, without a shred of hesitation, she swung it forcefully.
“Blade of Cataclysm.”
Swish!
Kwa-ga-ga-gak─!
A ringing sound that felt like my eardrums might burst filled the air, as the refined energy of death and magic resonated everywhere.
Amidst the scene where it looked like a typhoon had just swept through, what emerged was a seething sun that had yet to lose its form.
“What a shame. It’s certainly powerful, but if it’s such an obvious attack, I could counter it easily.”
Eric looked at us with a ridiculing expression, then stretched out his hand and pronounced his final judgment.
“It’s over.”
Whoosh.
But, there was no change.
The small sun simply emitted flames in all directions without moving at all.
Ignoring Eric’s puzzled expression, Chae Hwa In sheathed her sword and turned her back.
Thud.
Thud.
“What in the…”
As Eric voiced his confusion, his body suddenly stiffened.
Chae Hwa In, moving her steps, turned her head slightly and whispered.
“…Your defense was too obvious; it was easy to break through.”
Swoosh!
Fwooosh!
As Eric’s body split in two, a massive ball of flames collapsed, engulfing the forest.
It was truly a blow of a whole different level.
Eric’s last sight was one of utter confusion, with no understanding of what had just occurred.
‘…I didn’t even see it coming either.’
Watching Chae Hwa In return to me, I felt an inexplicable chill.
Honestly, I thought she’d be strong. Even in her weakened state as Undead, she had easily defeated that Gordon.
But this strength was abnormal.
Even if she once had the power to be called the first S Rank Hunter while alive, under the present conditions, that power should have been considerably weakened.
‘She’s defying the rules.’
Just looking at the high-ranking Undead around me, languishing as they followed their master, made this clear.
Even the weakest among them, Jack, was originally strong enough to easily defeat three or four A Rank Hunters.
There was clearly something else at work in Chae Hwa In that not only influenced our contract but also involved different laws of power.
Swish!
The thud.
“Is this person the one who requested help?”
Once the fight was over, the one hiding all this time, Trione, appeared in front of me dragging the bound JP.
I shot him a glare since he seemed annoying, but to be honest, he probably wouldn’t have been much help anyway, so I decided to let it slide.
“Thank you. I thought I was going to get burned to death in that fight.”
JP, with a completely exhausted expression, pointed at his wrist with his finger and continued speaking.
“If possible, could you also remove this? I can’t use my magic due to this damn hunk of metal.”
“…Remove it.”
I commanded Chae Hwa In as I looked at her, and she hesitated for a moment before drawing her sword and cutting through the binding artifact.
Swish!
Clang!
“Now I can finally breathe. I feel like I’ve crossed over to the afterlife three times.”
Honestly, when chatting online, I had this image as a womanizer who only flirted with girls, but in person, JP was surprisingly a handsome foreigner.
“I’m late to introduce myself. I’m Joseph. I operate as an informant across Europe. I have a lot of curiosity about various things, but…”
He paused for a moment, shifting his gaze to the altar that Eric had been guarding.
“I think we definitely need to take care of this situation first.”
He was right, so we immediately headed through the flames towards the altar.
The structure was of a type I had never seen before, certainly not like what I knew. As I carefully inspected it, I soon realized something odd and quickly observed the flow of magical power around us.
Swish.
The traces of the magical circle that had been covering a wide area were now vanishing, meaning, as Eric had said, the ritual had already reached an irreversible completion stage.
However, according to the information I had taken from Bennett just now, by this point, a fragment of that “being” should have been summoned through the altar.
Yet, there was no sign of any magical energy flowing from the altar.
What that meant was…
“…I’ve been deceived.”
“What does that mean?”
“This isn’t the right place.”
Just then, streams of blood-red power began to rise from a location several kilometers to the north.
Boom!
Kugugugung.
I hurried over to that place, but all that remained was a completely destroyed altar.
It seemed like we had been outmaneuvered.
“…Looks like there were more companions.”
“No way, while I was captured, I overheard their plans, but there was no hint of such a thing.”
Joseph muttered in disbelief, but with the obvious results in front of us, he couldn’t not believe it.
“Fragments, huh…”
I had been rather curious and wanted to examine it, but this was disappointing. Still, there were plenty of things we had gained information-wise.
Without hesitation, I turned my steps and called the others.
“Let’s go.”
After all, I didn’t need to rush; Hades would sort everything out soon. If I needed something, I could get it then.
Just as I was about to leave, I felt the presence of multiple people approaching from one side of the forest.
Somehow feeling a sense of déjà vu, I exchanged worried glances with Trione.
Tap tap.
“Everyone, stay put! Reveal your identities and affiliations!”
With that, we were surrounded and captured by more than twenty Hunters in all directions, unable to move an inch.