Episode 11: The Grand Scheme / Chapter 185: Fate (4)

TL: emptycube / ED: Isleidir

Choi Hyuk didn’t slash his sword. Instead, he raised the senses in his body.

Though his eyes and ears were covered by this thick smoke, he could clearly sense his internals and blazing karma.

Choi Hyuk focused on his body rather than the external stimulation.

“You’re calmer than I thought?”

This time, Kwe taunted him by whispering in his right ear. Choi Hyuk didn’t move as he stood with his sword raised.

“Then how about this?”

Shiver.

A chilling blade touched Choi Hyuk’s neck. The sharply surging karma tried to slice his neck. There were no preliminary signs, yet he could sense the moment the blade landed on his neck. The instant he felt his hair being cut, Choi Hyuk made his move.

Pih!

Blood spurted from Choi Hyuk’s neck.

Crush!

At the same time, a blue blade was crushed by his left hand.

Jjoong!

‘Choi Hyuk’s Denial’ sliced through the air. The thick smoke rippled as it was sliced through.

However, before the figure behind the smoke could be revealed, more smoke filled this opening.

‘… So it’s like this?’

Having allowed the monster to attack first, Choi Hyuk nodded inwardly. The moment he grabbed the blade, he clashed his karma against Kwe’s aura. It was weaker than he expected. While the power Kwe possessed wasn’t small, it didn’t seem like the monster specialized in close combat.

“Wow… How shocking.”

Kwe made a fuss.

“If you’re going to be so scary, I guess I’ll have to wait until you exhaust more of your strength?”

Its voice was smeared with laughter.

“But I don’t know if you know? The moment I discovered you, I already sent the news to my brothers. It’s disadvantageous for you if you drag this on.”

It was a lie. How could the monster have shared such a delicious prey?

But Kwe was confident that Choi Hyuk wouldn’t take its words as an empty bluff.

“Huh? I’m right next to you. It’s true. I’m really right beside you. Wouldn’t it be easier for you to face my brothers if you take one down?”

This was because Kwe had realized that Choi Hyuk could be dangerous even within this thick smoke if he solely focused on counterattacking. Kwe hoped Choi Hyuk would attack first. This was a trick to make Choi Hyuk show an opening.

It was this moment when Choi Hyuk thought,

‘Do you think you’ll be able to win if I attack first?’

A bloody smile hung on his lips.

“Try it.”

Pscht!

‘Choi Hyuk’s Denial’ swung without warning.

The smoke, which densely enshrouds his surroundings, was sucked into his sword’s path.

Swaaaah!

‘Choi Hyuk’s Denial’ sliced through the smoke again. This time, a portion of the smoke melted with a boom.

Wherever Choi Hyuk swung his sword, the dense smoke would swirl, explode, and melt. It seemed like the smoke would clear up at any moment. Yet, the smoke always filled the area again by a hair’s breadth.

Pih!

“Waha! That’s it!”

Pscht!

“Aha! That was close!”

In a fervor, Kwe stabbed Choi Hyuk.

It could deal a critical wound. When Kwe tried to slice Choi Hyuk’s neck, he would avoid it as it sliced into his skin. When it tried to stab his thigh, the blue blade would be grabbed by Choi Hyuk when it went halfway in.

Even while Choi Hyuk was swinging his sword without rest, he diligently avoided any critical injuries.

‘Terrifying bastard.’

While Kwe was stabbing and teasing Choi Hyuk, inwardly, it was shocked by Choi Hyuk’s might.

Even though he was enshrouded in smoke created by sacrificing tens of thousands of sturdy monsters, Choi Hyuk could still threaten Kwe.

“Yeah! Yeah! Dance more!”

Kwe teased Choi Hyuk even more in order to hide its turmoil.

The monster sent more power to the bodies of monsters it was connected to. The monsters, connected by tentacles, boiled up as they spewed foul smoke.

The rate at which Choi Hyuk cleared the smoke and the rate at which the smoke was being created reached an equilibrium. However, Choi Hyuk was the one one-sidedly being wounded.

Choi Hyuk didn’t care about this one bit.

‘Just once.’

Pih!

His wrist was slashed this time. His recovery rate was gradually slowing down. The dense smoke burrowed into his wounds, infecting his body.

‘Show even your shadow.’

He didn’t bat an eye. Still swinging his sword, he cleared away the smoke that now even felt heavy.

Though he was one-sidedly being injured, he didn’t think he was at a disadvantage at all.

“You’re dead the moment I see you.”

Facing the glaringly dangerous individual that didn’t become even the slightest dispirited after being one-sidedly wounded, it was Kwe who felt anxious.

It taunted him to hide its anxious state.

“You will never be able to see me.”

Pscht!

This time, Kwe left a decently deep wound on Choi Hyuk’s chest.

“To die while locked up in the smoke your flames created. Isn’t it romantic?”

Saying this, Kwe trembled.

‘Thrilling!’

It hadn’t been long since Kwe was born.

The warriors it had fought until now were boring. This was its first time facing an opponent like Choi Hyuk. While Kwe was so scared that his body shivered, being able to fight someone like him without being pushed back, no, to even be able to push him into a corner, it believed itself to be even more amazing. At the same time, the sense of danger, where it felt like Kwe could die if it lost its concentration for even a moment, felt thrilling.

Kwe became intoxicated in the fight.

Whoosh!

“… Huh?”

There was a sudden change.

Because something from outside invaded the smoke, the smoke was slashed through in a thin line, revealing a slight opening. The problem was that whatever invaded the smoke was rushed straight towards Kwe.

Clang!

It wasn’t a dangerous attack, but there was no way to block it.

Blood spurted out. It wasn’t Kwe’s, but the warrior who had rushed in. She had short, black hair and a slightly tanned face. The warrior, who was wielding a white short sword, spurted blood, seemingly having suffered an internal shock.

Her blood splattered on Kwe’s cheek.

‘Ah… Ah!”

Kwe made a commotion in surprise. Until now, the battle between Choi Hyuk and Kwe was close like walking on a tightrope. Choi Hyuk was trying to clear the smoke, while Kwe was trying to maintain it. Kwe wanted to deal a fatal wound, and Choi Hyuk wanted to avoid and counterattack. This equilibrium was shattered by the attack just now.

“I see you.”

Kwe heard Choi Hyuk’s voice right beside it.

There clearly should have been some distance between them, yet Choi Hyuk was right in front of it. Choi Hyuk hadn’t moved. Rather, his black sword had erased the distance between them. Because the space between them had shrunk like a deflating balloon, they were right next to each other. Kwe couldn’t avoid Choi Hyuk’s sword.

Kwe screamed,

“Damn it! This is dirty!”

Choi Hyuk replied,

“What’s this corpse saying?”

**

Light-Maze, who was the commander-in-chief of the Event Horizon Troop, gritted his teeth as he blocked the monster’s attack.

“Defensive formation! Number 0!”

When he shouted, the tiny speckled lights, which formed his body, made a commotion.

‘Hey! Quickly supply smelting furnace #7 with karma!’

‘What are you doing? Team 3! Quickly make an 11-dimension reality distortion field!’

‘Ninth combat unit! Brace for impact!’

The karma weapons of Speckled Light Tribe members, who possessed group intelligence, were very different from other species. Rather than a weapon that was visible to the eye, the countless nano-sized facilities and equipment were their weapons. Countless speckled lights worked together to make miracles.

Voong!

Karma surged like a swarm of bees. Light-Maze’s dimension was distorted by dozens of layers. To the monsters, Light-Maze’s appearance distorted like an abstract painting.

Bang!

A long-haired boy’s fist smashed into it from above.

‘Gwaack!’

Even though they dispersed the impact through various dimensions, the remaining shock left a few speckled lights injured or dead.

‘Damn it! Damn it!’

Light-Maze swore. Compared to other species that recovered their injuries, Speckled Light Tribe members ‘healed’ by increasing in number after speckled lights died. Of course, this meant their recovery rate was slow and, even if they recovered completely, they couldn’t erase the sorrow felt from the deaths of their members.

This was also a reason why Speckled Light Tribe members usually took supporting roles, like healing or providing buffs, rather than fighting.

However, they didn’t have any other choice.

They didn’t have the time to mourn their deaths.

All because of that small monster that called itself ‘Myeol’{1}.

“Wow! You blocked it again?”

No matter how one looked at it, it looked like an earthling. The monster’s hair, which ran down its back, fluttered like a splendid mane, and its face made it look like a youth.

“Wow… This is fun. Fighting is so fun!”

It seemed like the monster, who had recently been born, was learning the pleasures of fighting while facing the Event Horizon Troop.

On the other hand, Light-Maze was suffering gravely.

“Keuh… Sorry.”

The vice-commander-in-chief, whose injuries were so severe that he couldn’t use more than 60% of his power, apologized.

Being ranked 117th in the alliance rankings, this wasn’t something he should be apologizing for.

“No, we were just unlucky…”

The problem was that the monster holding the Event Horizon down was too powerful.

Even though the 24th ranked Light-Maze, 10th if excluding the Exalted Wings, and the 117th ranked vice-commander-in-chief fought together, all they could do was endure.

“To face that monster, the Exalted Wings will have to personally take action… Or, two in the top 10 of the warrior ranking…”

None of these were currently applicable to this situation.

Light-Maze’s face darkened.

They could endure for now. However, they would die in the end. Both him and the Event Horizon Troop that was fighting intensely after being encircled by monsters.

‘Annihilation…’

Thinking about the grand scheme, Light-Maze swallowed his rage. He didn’t work under Dark-Sound to prepare for the grand scheme for such a long time only to die here like this.

How did things come to this…? They had encountered this monster while protecting the border at the very front as usual. Though they received the message to retreat from the alliance and Dark-Sound, they were too late as they were already caught by then. Currently, even if they somehow ran away from the monster, retreating was clearly impossible.

“… I’ll kill that monster even if I die.”

Seeing Light-Maze say this with such determination, Vice-Commander-in-Chief Kalon nodded. Kalon was born as a descendant of a now extinct species and had reached the transcendent level. He couldn’t accept his last moments being powerless, unable to kill the enemy in front of him.

‘Childish monster… I’ll show you the experiences of a warrior.’

Grinding their teeth, the two decided to give the young monster hell.

However, Myeol’s face suddenly distorted. The monster quickly turned around and shouted,

“What? Black Flames appeared there? Wait. Wait! It’s really the Black Flames? Ah, hold him back for a bit! I’ll go after finishing things up here! What? Elder brother is injured? Really?! Black Flames is that strong?”

Myeol, who was talking to itself, turned towards a tense Light-Maze and Kalon with eyes shining with excitement. Then, while giggling, it said,

“Sorry! Something urgent came up so I’ll be going now! Let’s see each other next time, kay?”

Whoosh!

Then the monster pierced through space and disappeared.

“… What the hell?”

Beep!

{Ah, I’m here to report.}

A hologram suddenly appeared in front of the taken aback Light-Maze.

It was the face of Choi Hyuk’s right-hand man, Baek Seoin.

{Reporting to all warriors in the Shapley and Laniakea Superclusters. The Flame Army, Virgo Cluster Regional Troops, and all the dragon races within the superclusters have decided to fight back with Dragonic at the core. Troops that fell behind and failed to retreat and warriors who want to protect their homeland until the end, we hope that you will gather in Dragonic. If necessary, we will dispatch rescue troops. While the current situation is very disadvantageous, Exalted Wing Leviathan has promised to send support. It’ll be our victory if we endure until support arrives. Once again, troops who failed to retreat and warriors who want to protect their homeland, we hope that you can gather in Dragonic.}

Then the screen changed.

{Kiyeeeeh!}

Monsters that didn’t know pain were screaming as they burned. The entire universe seemed to be blazing because the flames were black. Tens of millions of monsters were burning in flames and were being crushed by the Flame Army’s advance.

The scene of Choi Hyuk inflicting a critical wound on a monster that looked to be as strong as Myeol was replayed as well.

Baek Seoin’s voice resounded.

{This is the beacon of victory we are sending.}

{1} Character for ‘Destroy’. Used in the word ‘Collapse’.

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