EP.106 Beast, King of Beasts, Human - 2
Two claws imbued with blue energy tore through the world. Shea lightly twisted her wrist and blocked the successive slashing attacks that followed at short intervals.
The weightless sword, Cheon-aeng, was a weapon that unilaterally possessed inertia only for Ebon. Even though she was clearly blocking the left claw, with a slight twist of her wrist, it changed direction and immediately lunged to split Ebon's head. Because of this, Ebon had to attack with one hand while leaving the other hand ready to defend at any time.
"An invisible weapon. At first, I thought it would be a headache."
It was rather a blessing that Cheon-aeng was invisible. If he hadn't focused on Shea's wrist from the beginning, his head would have been split open before he could even notice the secret of Cheon-aeng.
Ebon blamed that unfairness and spoke.
"Indeed, it is a weapon far too good for the likes of you."
"What would your measly brain know? It's ten times better than you think?"
Shea sneered coldly and swirled her sword qi.
Heavenly Sword Qi, Tailwind.
From this moment on, the wind smiles only upon Shea. Cheon-aeng, draped in air, falls. Though it is a weightless sword, the vibrating wind itself is power.
"Ugh!"
Ebon crossed his claws with both hands and received Cheon-aeng. Six blades vibrated violently against the single Cheon-aeng. Ebon forcefully pushed both arms forward and shook off Cheon-aeng.
He managed to block it, but the moment he used both hands for defense, he had already lost the mental battle.
Shea sneered, and Ebon gritted his teeth.
"You're doing quite well for someone who took a beating from the King of Beasts!"
"Ah, this?"
Still wearing a sneer, Shea tilted her head. At that moment, the Blood Manipulation Art activated, and the blood that had flowed outside returned into her body.
Ebon cried out in dismay.
"Was it a feint?!"
"No, it wasn't a feint. I just recovered; I was actually hurt."
That fact provided no comfort to Ebon. If she had the ability to draw blood back and heal wounds even slightly, it would be difficult to use the tactic of inflicting scratches with his claws to gain the upper hand.
"That King of Cats didn't run away even though it was pretty badly hurt. I guess you trained it well? Thanks to that, I took some unexpected hits."
"You're quite full of yourself over some trivial ability."
Inevitably, he had to use his second power. Ebon twisted his left wrist and muttered.
"Call to Arms, Set."
At that moment, the small military armament built into the left claw slotted into Ebon's bio-terminal. Immediately after, the bio-terminal, having absorbed magic power, began to glow.
Clack, clack. A steel framework settles over his skin. Between it, Level 3 steel glowing with alchemical light fills the surface.
It was not a transformation. Since magic power and alchemical light flowed by riding the Aki Avatar, Ebon completed equipping his military armament even in the midst of battle.
Ebon, wearing a steel helmet, shook his head. Cheon-aeng, which had been aiming for his head, bounced off the single horn attached to his helmet. Facing unfamiliar equipment, Shea pushed Ebon away with the wind and retreated to assess his weapon.
Ebon muttered confidently.
"It is a General's Star Armament, Unicorn."
From the claws on both hands, gauntlets, breastplate with pauldrons, helmet, to a sturdy horn that was not just for decoration. It was Ebon's exclusive equipment specially made by the Military Nation, protecting the upper body while adding another means of attack.
Ebon explained to Shea, who was staring at him silently. His voice echoed from beneath the horn and helmet.
"You would know. Fighting with claws has the disadvantage of having to thrust one's head forward. Until now, if you aimed for my head, I had to take a defensive stance to block or evade... However, as long as I'm wearing this military armament, that's no longer the case. Now, all that remains is attack. How about it, can you block it?"
Shea tilted her head. Her face was full of doubt.
Ebon let out a satisfied smile, but contrary to his expectations, Shea's doubt was not about his capabilities.
"As expected, it's my first time seeing this military armament. Did you steal that? Or is the performance so poor that it was about to be scrapped?"
When you hear something so preposterous, sometimes patience doesn't work. Ebon, subjected to an impertinent and abrupt suspicion, uncharacteristically bristled and shouted.
"Of course not! I am the Star of the Military Nation, and my military armament is an artifact permitted only to Generals! Just as that star is one, a General's armament is unique!"
"Why? Last time, there was no General with such a foolish armament. What is it, exactly? Were even you guys not the main culprits?"
"...What do you mean?"
However, Shea's question was something the current Ebon could not answer. Shea forgot about the fight and muttered.
"Instructor. A man, the Lord of All Creation who does something about humanity's great aspiration. He knew of the Immortal's existence, thought that one must at least be an Immortal to block it, and brought the King of Beasts."
Fragmented information poured from her mouth.
Lieutenant General Ebon, having heard Shea's words, asked with an even more sunken gaze.
"...Humanity's great aspiration? You scum, what do you know?"
Shea could answer that question but had no intention of answering. She just muttered to herself.
"Even two women. It's ambiguous whether Aji was included or not, and it's also vague whether the Major was beside him at the time, so let's skip that. Roughly, all the circumstances fit perfectly."
Shea, who had been reasoning for a while, grew irritated by the puzzle pieces that didn't fit.
"Then, who the hell is the guy who made a complete mess of the Abyss?! The Lord of All Creation bastards are supposedly beast experts, so why did they leave Aji in that state? And where did all those corpses come from?!"
Their information crossed. Shea's questions were ones Ebon couldn't solve, and Shea had no intention of solving Ebon's questions.
In this case, it was Ebon who had a newly arisen matter. Ebon clashed his claws, sharpened the blades, and swiftly pulled them across. Sparks flew from the blades with a metallic screech.
"It seems... I'll have to cut off your right arm and interrogate you to get you to talk. Don't worry. I'll leave the left arm with the bio-terminal. Because I need to torture you there, you see."
Shea, recalling a bad memory, scowled deeply. Even when a terrible memory that could cause PTSD surfaced, feeling irritated first was one of her virtues.
From the standpoint of a regressor, that is.
"Why don't you keep your horn in check?"
"What you're worrying about won't happen. The other parts are Level 3, but this horn alone is Level 4 alchemical steel. I hope you don't lose your life by poking it wrong. You have a lot to tell me."
"No, that's not what I meant. That thing on your head."
Shea smiled ominously. As she smiled like that, her hair was crackling from sudden static electricity.
Belatedly, Ebon noticed that Cheon-aeng was pulsating ominously. The fact that its color, which should have been transparent, had darkened like a storm cloud, too.
"Isn't it perfect for getting struck? They say thunderbirds looking for a place to land like pointy places."
Before Ebon, sensing something was wrong, could even respond, Shea's attack was completed. Shea traced her finger from top to bottom and manifested her power.
Heavenly Sword Qi.
Thunderbird.
As if it had been decided from the start, as if there were no other possibilities.
A bolt of lightning struck the Unicorn's horn.
"Aaaaaaaagh--!"
The electricity flowed through Ebon's body. Ebon steadied his trembling body and deployed qi techniques across his entire body.
Military Nation's Standard Qi Technique, Qian Form. Repel, Bounce.
The Repelling Force, which could deflect bullets or arrows, arose across his entire body. Having shaken off the lightning in an instant with the energy pushing out from his body, he planted his legs into the ground and drew up his qi technique.
Standard Qi Technique, Kun Form. Flow.
By keeping his legs on the ground and spreading his qi technique, he instantly flushed the lightning into the earth. The lightning qi that had been piercing his body seeped down below in an instant.
Ebon, having achieved the feat of flushing away the lightning, panted heavily.
"Hah. Hah."
However, even this was a terribly severe loss. Having to deploy qi techniques consecutively just to withstand the opponent's attack, not even dodging it, meant the consumption of qi was extreme.
Shea sneered at Ebon, who was steadying himself.
"You somehow seem to have achieved Qian and Kun. How about it, did you grasp Kan? Or do they make anyone a General these days as long as they achieve up to Kun?"
"Kuh... You just happened to get lucky and obtain an artifact! Don't spout nonsense as if you're above me just because you gained the upper hand with that power!"
Ebon shouted to buy time to recover. However, contrary to his expectations, Shea crumpled her face.
"Gear carry?"
He didn't actually say that. However, at her explosive reaction, Ebon couldn't even deny it and stood still. In the meantime, Shea fumed, gripping Cheon-aeng tightly and glaring at Ebon.
"Did you just say gear carry?"
Hostility swelled. Sensing that, Lieutenant General Ebon hastily raised his claws.
Shea gripped Cheon-aeng tightly with both hands, wrapped her arms around it, and rested it behind her shoulder. At the same time, Shea drew up qi from her entire body.
The overflowing qi, gathered from collecting all sorts of treasures and consuming spiritual medicines, seeped into Cheon-aeng.
In a fleeting moment, Shea, wrapped in an immense aura across her entire body, shouted at Ebon.
"Stop saying gear carry, you bastard! Even without Cheon-aeng, I can beat a mere Lieutenant Generaaaal!"
Heavenly Reflection.
The ultimate defensive qi technique of engraving movements into the body beforehand to naturally deflect even surprise attacks.
However, there was no reason why the engraved movements had to be defensive forms.
There are more variations of attack than defense. It must be more diverse and tailored to the opponent. Therefore, in the case of forms prepared in advance like Heavenly Reflection, the efficiency of defense is overwhelming.
In fact, the qi technique called Heavenly Reflection was also aiming for that.
Still, wouldn't it be okay to have... at least a few offensive forms? If they were movements relatively unaffected by the situation, about five of them.
Shea thought so, and acted on it.
One of the five offensive forms Shea stubbornly created. A left diagonal slash.
Cheon-aeng heavily cleaved through space. A weightless sword, when filled with qi, makes that qi its power.
The sword, filled to the brim with blue qi, was the only sky spread open within this Abyss. Unable to be resisted, unable to be blocked.
"Repelling..."
Ebon deployed his qi technique with all his might to defend his body, but.
In the face of the excessively fierce force, what bounced off was merely his claws.
The Unicorn's horn made of Level 4 alchemical steel was snapped. From the pauldron to the breastplate, Cheon-aeng slashed through in a massive arc. Even cutting through the qi contained within, Cheon-aeng drew a blue diagonal line across Ebon's body.
Blood splattered. Ebon staggered and was pushed back.
Shea, who had paused briefly due to the reverse movement of the Heavenly Reflection offensive form, assessed her opponent without pursuing further, since the distance had already widened.
It was thanks to the Repelling Force that he at least avoided a fatal wound. Because of the Repelling Force spread across his entire body, his body was pushed back the moment he was slashed, and he managed to protect his ribs from Cheon-aeng's trajectory.
It was already a serious injury, but somehow he had saved his life.
Ebon spat out a lament along with a mouthful of blood.
"...Damn it... Jeolchang... To drop... a monster like this... without even neutralizing it..."
Shea muttered indifferently.
"If you knew that, you should have brought more preparation."
Ebon laughed. After laughing heartily for a while and even vomiting blood, Ebon covered his choking mouth with his hand and muttered.
"Haha... I even brought... the King of Cats... What more preparation is needed?"
Shea also conceded. If the Lord of All Creation had even brought along the King of Beasts, they had paid considerable attention. Any more military force than this would literally be power for a final decisive battle. Something a Lieutenant General could not use privately.
Instead, Lieutenant General Ebon had used every means available from his position. From the authority coming from his position as Lieutenant General, to the talents he had painstakingly raised and recruited, the magic herbs, and even his adjutant.
"But, to think... everything would be blocked by a single variable..."
Ebon muttered emptily and released the Unicorn. The broken metal remained lost like that, and the alchemical steel of the remaining parts turned into a halo of light and rushed into Ebon's left arm.
With a click, a battered military armament packet popped out. A General's military armament was a sort of ID tag and a weapon filled with military secrets. In the event of defeat, locking it away in the form of a packet to prevent technological leakage was a soldier's virtue.
It was when Ebon picked it up with a trembling hand.
From inside the military armament packet, a *crack* sound was heard. A hollow sound that could be heard when a jewel breaks.
After that, the broken jewel fragments fell at Ebon's feet.
Ebon's eyes widened. He hadn't misheard. Its true identity was a twin jewel that resonated with each other.
If one breaks, the other breaks as well.
"What is that?"
Shea's question was heard, but he had no obligation to answer.
And the answer would soon reveal itself anyway.
Kihahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
From afar, Nabi's howl was heard. A howling tinged with a hint of madness, different from a simple snarl.
Startled, Shea turned her gaze inside the building.
"What? A Chest Roar? No, it doesn't seem like that..."
"Kuk, kuk, kuk."
Ebon, who was familiar with such things, realized what had happened.
The process of taming Nabi was difficult, time-consuming, and even dangerous.
Even a human addicted to drugs is dangerous. Let alone if it's the King of Cats.
At first, Nabi, thinking it was a gift, readily accepted the magic herbs, but when the withdrawal symptoms worsened, it would attack the magic herb manager, steal the remaining herbs, and run away.
When the magic herb manager died like that, Ebon immediately cut off the drug supply.
When the magic herbs ran out, Nabi slunk back. It threatened, begged, and sometimes ransacked the entire base, but it couldn't find any magic herbs that weren't there. Nabi, whose body writhed in withdrawal symptoms, imprinted the fact that Ebon was the only being who provided the magic herbs.
After tormenting it for a long time like that, he provided the magic herbs belatedly and made it understand that if it stole the magic herbs, it would never receive them again.
Over and over, countless times.
Thanks to such efforts, Nabi came to associate 'the death of the manager' with 'the loss of the drug'.
That was not a bad thing for Ebon, nor for the Colonel.
At the very least, the Colonel's life could be protected from Nabi, and if the Colonel died, Nabi would go berserk and devastate everything. It was solid insurance for both of them.
"...Hah. Did 'He' even make something like this...? Truly, He's worse than me."
However, a certain being backing the Lord of All Creation had even turned that into a mechanism.
In the event Ebon was defeated, to make the King of Cats go berserk... It was clear that something had been planted inside the body of the Colonel, Ebon's only current adjutant.
Probably something that reacts when the jewel breaks and ravages the inside of the body. So that it smells as much like blood as possible.
"Anyway, I'm grateful. Thanks to this..."
Taking advantage of Nabi going berserk and Shea's gaze momentarily turning in that direction.
Ebon bit into the magic herb he had slipped into his mouth earlier while pretending to cover it. The paper wrapped around the herbs tore, and the magic herb made of catnip spilled out.
To be precise, the specially crafted magic herb, made by drying the leaves of the World Tree along with the King of Catnip, spread throughout his mouth.
Ebon muttered self-deprecatingly.
"Kuk-kuk. I didn't want to use this..."
Click.
A spark rose from his finger. Although he was a martial fighter, he had learned Level 1 daily magic as part of his basic education.
"Set, Ri."
Ignition, Ignite.
A combination of Fahrenheit of fire and Pascal of wind. The fire in his mouth spread like a wildfire and blazed all at once, in unison. Using the magic herb as fuel.
Shea, who had been momentarily distracted by the chest roar emitted by the King of Cats, was bewildered.
"Huh? He set his own mouth on fire? What the hell is he doing...?"
The answer came from the thing that was Lieutenant General Ebon.
"Kihaaaaaak...!"
His pupils narrowed vertically. His hair stood stiffly on end. His posture naturally lowered, his claws grew slightly, and he emitted something akin to a chest roar with a human body.
Shea finally realized the opponent's true identity.
"You...! A cat beastman...!"
Instead of an answer, thick black smoke poured from Ebon's mouth. The smoke generated when the magic herb burned provided a stimulus dozens of times stronger than ordinary incense. When a cat beastman smelled it, they would forget pain, regain their beastly blood, and emit a chest roar.
Due to its severe addictiveness and extreme aftereffects, even the Lord of All Creation did not highly recommend it.
But if one were to use it right before death, what would be impossible?
Even as the flames burned the inside of his mouth, Ebon shouted.
"Kihyaaak! No! I am not a beast! I am a human--!"
Ebon lunged. This time on all fours, faster and lighter than before.
Shea had faced this form, which emitted a chest roar while retaining its intellect, in the previous timeline. The beastmen who accompanied the King of Beasts, who was humanity's greatest enemy, looked exactly like this.
"I thought your attack style was somehow strange...! So that's why the King of Cats followed you! It thought you were its kin! But what about the ears and tail...!"
Shea hastily examined Ebon, and then saw it.
Where the helmet had disappeared, within his bristling hair.
A trace of something having been cut off, formed by clotted blood.
"Your own ears...! You crazy... bastards...!"
Those words couldn't continue. Because Ebon's claws struck much more fiercely and cunningly than before, as if he had become a real cat.
Facing Ebon, who was lunging at her while burning everything he had, Shea began the second round.