novelraw Chapter 146 : Chapter 146
Chapter 146 : Chapter 146
Chapter 146. Road to Extinction (7)
Riman knew.
That he could not eliminate Cheonjan's snakes with ordinary electric attacks.
Because no matter how much he scorched them with electricity, they would recover instantly with [Talpi].
At least with fire magic, he could eliminate the snakes by burning them, but this was also not very efficient.
Because Cheonjan would just summon more snakes than the number he burned away.
Of course, Riman's mana was close to infinite.
Therefore, if he dragged it into an extremely long battle while pouring fire indefinitely, it was possible to achieve victory against Cheonjan.
However, that was only theoretically so.
Riman did not think this was possible.
The current Cheonjan was only using one or two out of the dozens of cards he possessed.
Riman knew that the moment such a Cheonjan got serious and went all out, he would be pushed back helplessly.
So in the end, there was only one answer.
To cut off the aspect of a war of attrition dealing with the pouring snakes, and strike the main body, Cheonjan, directly.
Because no matter how strong the summoned beasts were, if the main body died, the summon would be dispelled.
That was why Riman had done such a thing.
The act of evaporating water to create clouds and amplifying electricity with those clouds.
By amplifying the electricity to the limit like that, Riman prepared a sure strike to end Cheonjan's life.
And in that process, by scorching the snakes with electricity, he prevented Cheonjan from noticing this intention.
This deception worked to some extent.
Because Cheonjan thought Riman was only dealing with the snakes and left himself defenseless.
And finally, the moment the size of the electricity reached its limit.
Riman extended the magic he had put all his effort into toward Cheonjan.
Extreme Eye, weather manipulation, charging.
The largest scale magic, doing everything Riman could do, exploded on Cheonjan.
[Cheonroe Byeokjang]
A thunderbolt grasped the ground.
There was no other way to describe it.
A giant hand made entirely of lightning pierced through the dark clouds, struck the ground, and gripped it.
Cheonjan, and the spot where Cheonjan was standing, were directly hit by that lightning.
BOOM!!
The ground collapsed just like that.
The shock swept the surroundings like ripples, and everything swept up lost its solidity.
Everything collapsed.
Streetlights and street trees fell as if crumbling, and parked cars were sucked into the ground.
It didn't end there.
The shock caused by the lightning strike even touched the foundations of nearby buildings.
The roots of the buildings snapped and broke.
The buildings, having lost the strength to stand, lay their bodies on the ground for the first time since they were born.
CRASH CRASH CRASH!!
Buildings crumbled like fallen leaves.
Concrete and rebar lost their places and scattered here and there.
Where skyscrapers had been lined up, now only hills of concrete remained.
Only a stone mountain remained in the place where the giant lightning had been planted.
RUMBLE.......
The dust that had risen high settled heavily.
The dark clouds that had conceived the lightning scattered before long.
The snakes that had been engulfed in the dark clouds and lightning were sprawled on the ground.
There was no movement.
Because they were all dead.
FIZZLE.......
The carcasses of the snakes began to disappear.
It meant the summoning was being dispelled.
The fight seemed to end like that.
However.
RATTLE-
The pile of concrete began to shake.
Something was coming up from beneath it.
SHOOT!
Something poked its head out of the concrete pile.
Something giant, long, and pitch-black.
Black color as if burnt and singed.
It was a snake.
A very huge snake.
It was huge enough that no snake existing on Earth could match it, but somehow its condition didn't look very good.
Because it collapsed as soon as it struggled out of the concrete pile.
THUD!
As big as its body was, the impact when it fell was heavy.
And a moment later.
Beneath the snake's skin began to swell.
Then-
RIP!
The skin tore and a man popped out.
A man covered in snake blood, breaking through the snake skin.
It was Cheonjan.
"Phew......."
Cheonjan took a deep breath.
He was alive.
At that moment when Riman's [Cheonroe Byeokjang] exploded.
He had summoned a giant snake and then allowed himself to be swallowed, taking refuge inside the snake's stomach.
The summoned snake burned to death instead of Cheonjan.
That was how he survived even after being hit head-on by Riman's technique.
"Splendid."
His words were sincere.
"Among the young wizards I've met in the last 10 years, there wasn't a single guy who surpassed you. As the President of the Magic Tower, I guarantee this fact at least."
However.......
"...You couldn't surpass me alone."
Cheonjan looked at the top of the building where Riman had been standing.
That building where the northern wall had been torn away entirely.
But Riman was not there where he had been.
Because-
ZZZT-
Riman's battle was not over yet.
ZZZT...!
He moves.
Fast, silently, and faster.
Bursting the shock stored in the boots to move at high speed, and simultaneously killing the sound with the shock absorption function.
Like that, sprinting through Cheonjan's blind spot, he rushed toward the back of his head in a single breath.
'Kill him.'
To surely end Cheonjan's life.
That moment he unleashed [Cheonroe Byeokjang] just now.
Riman intuitively knew.
Perhaps, if unlucky, even this attack might not be able to kill Cheonjan.
Of course, in terms of pure destructive power, [Cheonroe Byeokjang] was more powerful than any magic Riman had used.
However, destructive power is not necessarily proportional to lethality.
People often survive even where a nuclear bomb has dropped.
But if a dagger is lodged in the solar plexus, one almost certainly dies.
What Riman was aiming for was precisely this kind of lethality.
Not a disaster to bring down city blocks, but a single blow that could surely end one person's life.
For that one blow, Riman dug in behind Cheonjan in an instant.
Because of this, it was fine if that magic just now was reduced to a distraction.
Cheonjan, if only he could catch that monster.
Now the remaining distance was 20 meters.
10 meters.
And finally, 5 meters.
Overflowingly sufficient range.
Riman extended his tightly clenched fist and spread his palm.
The magic he had been grasping in his grip sprouted in an instant.
[Incision]
It was not the [Incision] he usually used.
[Incision] that reached the extreme of cutting by repeating compression upon compression.
Cutting power enough to slice even a titanium alloy pillar in a single breath dwelt in that blade of wind.
The blade left Riman's hand.
The invisible blade flew, aiming precisely for Cheonjan's neck.
And the very next moment.
The streetlight that had barely been standing was cut in two.
Concrete piles and brick walls, cars stuck upside down, telephone poles.
The slash Riman fired spread fiercely, cutting everything it touched.
Except for just one thing.
CLANG!
The slash hit Cheonjan's neck directly.
It didn't glance off, nor did it graze.
Literally a direct hit.
However, until the compressed slash scattered and disappeared, Cheonjan's head did not fall.
"...Hoh."
Cheonjan lived.
Even after being hit head-on by a slash with this insane cutting power.
Riman's eyes shook.
"What...?"
Riman looked at Cheonjan's neck.
He looked at that part he had hit a few seconds ago.
And Riman realized why his attack hadn't worked.
'Snake scales...!'
The surface of Cheonjan's neck was covered in snake scales before he knew it.
High-difficulty magic that manifests only a part of the summoned target on the body.
In other words, with just that one thin layer of snake scales, he had deflected the slash Riman put his all into.
A difference in level that was hard to believe.
Cheonjan was different.
The class of his magic was truly different.
For the first time since falling into this world, Riman felt the emotion called despair raising its head.
"...This is crazy."
HISS.
A snake shot out like an arrow from under Cheonjan's sleeve.
Riman's instinct deployed a barrier automatically.
The snake struck Riman directly just like that.
CRASH!
Riman bounced far away just like that.
If it were like before, all barriers would have been pierced straight through, and he would have been pierced thoroughly through the solar plexus.
But fortunately, Riman had activated Extreme Eye.
Because of that, he was barely able to manage the attack that could have killed him instantly by bouncing far away.
The problem was that he flew nearly 100 meters.
"Kughhh...!"
Riman barely raised his body, enduring the pain felt all over his body.
As he raised his body, one thought dropped into his head.
'Can't win.'
Cheonjan, that bastard, I can never beat him in my current state.
But then.......
'Even if I don't win, is there a way to break through this situation?'
The answer came quickly.
'No.'
Unless he beat Cheonjan, or unless he killed him.
There was no way for Riman to survive in the current situation.
'...No, think.'
Riman racked his brain desperately.
'I'm the one who found a way to live even when I was imprisoned with ability-sealing handcuffs and stood before the Sword Saint. There is... a way...!'
Of course, the situation was worse than then.
Because he didn't have much information about Cheonjan, less than he thought.
Still, Riman thought and thought again.
A way to win, a way to survive, and.......
'...A way to create a probability of winning.'
One stratagem flashed in Riman's mind.
First, he had to admit one thing.
Cheonjan? Never can win.
But 'creating a probability to win' was possible.
It seemed possible to turn 0% into 0.0001%.
"Phew......."
He raises his body.
And looks at Cheonjan.
Still in that spot from a moment ago, he was standing still, arrogant beyond measure.
Riman quietly gathered shock in the soles of his shoes.
And-
DASH!
Leap just like that, start sprinting.
...In the opposite direction from where Cheonjan is.
"...Hmm?"
Riman escaped from this battlefield at full speed.
Seeing that figure, Cheonjan was flustered for the first time in this battle.
"Wha... What is that guy doing...?!"
And a moment later, absurdity and anger began to creep up on Cheonjan's face.
"...You spineless bastard...!"
WHOOSH!
A giant snake was summoned beside Cheonjan.
"Alright, I will kill you with full power now, without holding back."
Cheonjan stepped onto the snake's head.
He intended to chase Riman riding this snake.
"...Right, try running away as much as you want. Wherever you go, Hong Kong is my yard so... cough?!"
A sudden cough.
Cheonjan covered his mouth with his hand.
At that moment, something gushed out of Cheonjan's mouth.
After a moment, what was seen when he took his palm off his mouth was a handful of bloodstains.
The moment he saw that, Cheonjan's face distorted.
"This bastard...?"
That moment when he was hit squarely in the neck by [Incision] just now.
Cheonjan succeeded in blocking that technique with snake scales.
But he couldn't completely block the shock created by that slash.
Because of that, bleeding occurred in the internal tissues of the neck.
The coughing up of blood just now was because of this.
The moment he saw this blood, Cheonjan felt a slight chill.
'...My snake scales were pierced?'
The absolute defense technique that had never been pierced by anyone until now.
That was pierced by some wizard whose name he didn't even know.
Cheonjan felt tension creeping up his back.
'...I absolutely must not let him live.'
At most, a spoonful of blood.
An injury so small it wasn't even a threat to life.
But Cheonjan saw Riman's potential there.
The danger of Riman that would grow endlessly if left alive.
Just as an old farmer judges the fertility of a field with a handful of soil.
Cheonjan had seen through Riman's ability and potential with just this one attack.
'Must kill him. By any means necessary, right here and now.'
It was a misjudgment.
He wasn't a guy to deal with leisurely.
He was a guy who had to be killed even one second faster by mobilizing all available resources.
Cheonjan made a call somewhere.
As soon as the other party answered, Cheonjan spoke.
"Yenzen, from this moment on, stop all investigation of Kowloon Walled City, and concentrate all forces on killing Leman White."