Episode 48
The Succubus had sustained quite deep wounds from the Sand Soldiers' attack.
For a demonic beast, the Succubus was sensitive to injury.
Perhaps it was because the Succubus's gender was female.
Either way, it was a golden opportunity for Jeon.
Now that it had been confirmed the Succubus was Kaesyus sole weakness, it was time to focus his attack.
“Chyaa!”
Jeon fired Sand Missiles at the Succubus and detonated a Cremoa. At that, Kaesyu coiled itself to protect the Succubus.
Bababoom!
Jeon’s attack was blocked by Kaesyus hard scales and came to nothing. But Jeon was not disappointed.
He had already expected as much.
If there was one thing he had felt and learned above all else while following Deiodeun, it was the ability to see the big picture.
It meant drawing up in his mind how to finish the battle before it even began, then executing each step.
Thanks to the trials Deiodeun had given him, Jeon had mastered the art of guiding battles in a direction favorable to himself.
‘Step one: block the nine heads’ vision.’
Fwoosh!
In an instant, all the sand on the floor that had held Kaesyus body scattered into the air.
A dense cloud of sandy dust rose up, obscuring Kaesyus field of view.
Kaesyu was protecting its entire body with a barrier, but instinctively closed its eyes against the thick cloud of sand.
In that instant, Jeon concealed his form.
It was the second step of the picture he had drawn: hiding himself.
Jeon swam through the sand, moving toward the inside where Kaesyu was coiled.
Even then, Kaesyu had not noticed Jeon’s movement.
Because the Sand Soldiers outside were attacking, diverting Kaesyus attention.
This was the third step of Jeon’s plan.
Srrk!
Jeon quietly broke through the sand and revealed himself.
It was the inside where Kaesyu was coiled.
The Succubus’s eyes widened in surprise at Jeon, who had suddenly appeared.
The moment Jeon unleashed his Cremoa.
Boom!
Along with a deafening blast, countless sand beads surged over the Succubus.
“Kyaaaack!”
The Succubus shrieked at the powerful explosion.
For a moment, the barrier enveloping her body dispersed.
Jeon didn’t miss that opening and unleashed his Sand Blaster.
The Sand Blaster, which sprayed sand at high pressure, demonstrated greater power the narrower the gap.
Fwoosh!
High-pressure sand fired at a single point and struck the Succubus.
A large hole was punched straight through the Succubus’s abdomen. But the Succubus, fused with the Chimera, did not die.
Instead, thanks to Kaesyus monstrous regenerative power, the wound rapidly regenerated.
She raised her bowed head and cried out ferociously.
“Did you think I’d die from just this?”
“I know. That it wouldn’t be that easy.”
“What?”
Jeon’s voice came from right in front of the Succubus’s nose.
When the Succubus hurriedly raised her head, she saw Jeon standing directly before her.
After firing the Sand Blaster, he had closed the distance using Sand Step.
This was the sixth step of the picture Jeon had drawn.
And the final, seventh step.
Jeon activated Sand Mixer together with Aeksion.
The Sand Mixer was powerful enough on its own, but with Aeksion, its power doubled.
However, because Aeksion was not infinite, spreading it over a vast area was impossible. But if limited to a small target like the Succubus, the story was different.
Whirrrr!
The sand, including Aeksion, rotated at a terrifying speed.
“Kyaaaack!”
The Succubus let out a desperate scream.
Chunks of her flesh were ground away by the sand. Her delicate skin vanished in an instant, revealing raw red flesh beneath.
The Succubus tried to recover with the Hydra’s unique regenerative power, but the Sand Mixer gave her no chance.
Kwoooar!
Too late, Kaesyus nine heads detected the Succubus’s peril and raised themselves.
The nine heads rushed in at a terrifying speed to protect the Succubus.
At that moment, Jeon snapped his fingers and muttered.
Snap!
“Self-destruct! Sand Soldiers.”
In that instant, the ten Sand Soldiers exploded simultaneously in mid-air.
This was also a skill Jeon had recently awakened to.
Realizing that the Sand Soldiers’ suicide attack could inflict massive damage on demonic beasts, he had practiced it relentlessly, and used it for the first time today.
Kwaaang!
Roaaar!
Such was the might of the self-destruct attack that the heads of an enormous demonic beast like Kaesyu were flung in different directions.
In that time, Jeon ground the Succubus down to the bone with the Sand Mixer.
The Succubus screamed desperately, but her voice was buried by the sound of the sand spinning at high speed.
Jeon’s complexion turned pale.
He had exhausted all his mana in an instant.
Sand Mixer, Sand Soldier summoning and self-destruction, Cremoa—they were all skills that consumed an enormous amount of mana. Having used such skills in succession, it was only natural for his mana to run dry.
However, Jeon possessed Ellura’s Tears.
A cheat-like item that recovered all mana once a day.
Jeon used Ellura’s Tears to recover his depleted mana in an instant.
Crack!
The Succubus was instantly erased.
Kaesyus nine heads, which had been scattered by the Sand Soldiers’ self-destruct attack, glared at Jeon.
Although they had been forcibly fused by Hai'eltun, the death of the Succubus—whose body and mind had been bound as one—was more than enough to enrage Kaesyu.
Kaesyus heads each glowed with a different light.
‘Round two.’
It sounded nice to call it round two, but in truth, the real fight began now.
The one thing he could hope for was that with the Succubus, who had served as the brain, removed, Kaesyus responses might not be as sharp as before.
But contrary to Jeon’s expectations, they unleashed a skill with one mind.
Rumble…
Suddenly, the air grew heavy, and tremendous pressure bore down on Jeon.
So intense was the pressure that even the sand clouds suspended in the air crashed to the ground all at once.
“Gr…avity control?”
Jeon’s face twisted.
Gravity control was one of the most difficult and powerful skills among countless others.
Because of this, there were almost no Awakened in Neo Seoul who could wield it. Of course, their power could not compare to Kaesyus.
Kaesyu was increasing gravity throughout the entire massive underground cavern.
Subjectively, it felt like four or five times the usual pressure was weighing him down.
Meanwhile, one of Kaesyus heads gathered flames in its mouth.
Jeon instantly recognized the nature of the skill it was about to unleash.
“Breath?”
It might not be as powerful as a dragon’s, but reducing Jeon alone to ashes would be no trouble at all.
Jeon racked his brain desperately.
Then, Kaesyus severed tail came into his view.
It was where the Succubus had been fused until moments ago.
Without a second thought, Jeon threw himself toward Kaesyus tail.
The crushing pressure was immense, but protected by Aeksion, he could move enough.
The moment Jeon reached the tail, a breath of tremendous heat engulfed the spot where he had stood.
Kwaaah!
At the extreme heat, the sand beneath Kaesyu melted in an instant.
Without hesitation, Jeon burrowed into Kaesyus severed tail.
Crunch!
He rotated the Aeksion wrapped around his body like a drill.
From the inside of the tail, Kaesyus flesh was shredded.
Wracked with excruciating pain, Kaesyu thrashed about.
Boom! Crash!
The nine heads slammed into the walls and tangled with one another.
No matter how much it had been reborn as the Chimera Kaesyu, it was not incapable of feeling pain.
Hai'eltun had prided itself on creating the optimal combination, but fusing with the Succubus had been nothing more than creating a weakness instead.
Overcome with agony, Kaesyu swung its tail wildly and smashed it against the walls.
Jeon was swung about in turn. But he never lost his balance, controlling Aeksion until the very end.
Kwaaah!
Jeon dug deeper into Kaesyus tail at even greater speed.
Then, one of Kaesyus heads, unable to endure the pain, bit down on its own tail.
Crunch!
Enormous fangs sank into the tail.
Even the barrier wrapped around its body was useless.
Because it had effectively self-harmed.
In the meantime, Jeon avoided Kaesyus fangs and bored deeper inside.
Now he passed beyond the tail and entered the main body.
Not even the tremendous defensive scales could protect Kaesyu now.
Crunch!
Jeon rotated Aeksion with all his might.
His mana was consumed enormously, but he clenched his teeth and endured.
If he couldn’t endure here, he would die to Kaesyu.
As a C-ranker, if he wanted to kill Kaesyu, a demonic beast nearing S-rank, he had no choice but to destroy it from the inside.
This was the final step Jeon had conceived to take down Kaesyu.
Overwhelming pressure crushed down on Jeon.
Kaesyu was constricting its muscles to crush him. Still, Jeon gritted his teeth and pressed forward.
The immense pressure burst the capillaries in his eyes and twisted the muscles throughout his body. Still, Jeon did not stop advancing.
He didn’t know how far he had advanced like that.
Now Jeon, too, had reached his limit.
The mana he had recovered through Ellura’s Tears was bottoming out again, and his body, trained to be so powerful, was groaning.
The speed of Aeksion, which had been spinning violently, slowed remarkably, and Jeon’s advance became noticeably sluggish.
Still, Jeon did not stop.
Due to the excessive mana expenditure and the limits of his stamina, Jeon’s body was gradually collapsing.
Moreover, Kaesyus blood contained intense poison, accelerating his deterioration.
His flesh rotted away, his bones were exposed, and tremendous agony washed over him.
Moving itself was hell.
Even so, Jeon did not give up.
If he could breathe, he could move.
If he could move, stopping was unacceptable.
As he forced himself forward step by painful step, something suddenly came into view.
A round object as large as an adult’s torso, radiating a blinding light.
Jeon instantly recognized what it was.
‘A Hydra’s mana stone?’
Though rare, demonic beasts could also produce mana stones.
Unlike mana stones mined from veins, those that came from demonic beasts sometimes held the creature’s energy.
Because of this, there were occasional cases where one absorbed the energy from a demonic beast’s mana stone and obtained a skill.
Naturally, the higher the demonic beast’s rank, the higher the probability of obtaining a mana stone containing a good skill. But the odds were so abysmal that cases of an Awakened acquiring a mana stone with a good skill were extremely rare.
He couldn’t know whether the mana stone before him contained a skill. But Jeon had no other options.
Jeon reached his hand toward the mana stone. Then, a pain incomparable to anything he had experienced thus far surged through him.
“Kuaaack!”
Jeon screamed and thrashed.
Tremendous energy surged through the hand touching the mana stone like a tidal wave.
A scorching-hot energy rampaged through Jeon’s insides.
Jeon had no strength left to control the foreign energy.
“Kuaaah!”
Jeon rolled his eyes back and screamed.
It felt as if his entire body was burning.
He wanted to pull his hand away from the mana stone, but it wouldn’t budge, as if stuck to a magnet.
Jeon lost consciousness with his hand still attached.
Even after he had fainted, immense energy from the mana stone poured into his body.
He didn’t know how much time passed like that.
The mana stone lost its light, and the energy that had been pouring into Jeon vanished.
It was then that a change occurred in Jeon, who had lain still as if dead.
Rotten, crumbling flesh fell away, and new flesh grew.
Color returned to his face, which had turned black, and his stopped heart began to beat again.
Jeon gasped and opened his eyes.
“Puhah! Am I not dead?”
Jeon checked his condition while lying face down.
His depleted mana was completely full, and the wounds that had exposed his bones had all returned to normal. Not only that, vitality overflowed throughout his entire body.
His wrist tingled.
Jeon removed his gauntlet while lying down. Then he saw light emanating from the sixth line of the rank insignia.
“What? I skipped B-rank and went straight to A-rank?”
Jeon was astonished by the tremendous change that had occurred to him.
He felt enormous energy, as if there were a volcano inside his body.
If his previous mana had been a lake, now it felt as if he contained an ocean.
It was the Hydra chosen as a Guardian by the Gold Dragon Hai'eltun.
Naturally, it was a special specimen, armed with tremendous skills such as hyper-regeneration, gravity control, and breath.
Jeon realized he had obtained the hyper-regeneration ability among them.
The proof was that all the wounds which had exposed his bones had healed.
He hadn’t obtained gravity control or breath because they didn’t suit his affinity, but hyper-regeneration alone was more than enough to satisfy him.
“Then did this actually become a blessing in disguise?”