novelraw Chapter 97 : Chapter 97
Chapter 97 : Chapter 97
Chapter 97: Living Dead Swing
Literally the moment I closed and opened my eyes.
Ryu Jinwoo was standing right next to me.
No footsteps, no presence.
To the point where I wondered if he was a ghost.
‘When on earth?’
Along with surprise, my gaze went down.
Faint heat was rising around Ryu Jinwoo's legs.
The surrounding air shimmered minutely like overheated metal.
Ryu Jinwoo frowned slightly.
"Your legs, are they okay?"
"I'm fine. More than that……."
Before he could continue, the surroundings began to change all at once.
The Living Dead Swing holograms lit up simultaneously.
As irregular lighting spread in all directions, ghost figures appeared.
Scream-like laughter, screams, and cries overlapped, filling the entire space.
There were much more than before. Perhaps because Ryu Jinwoo was added, this time the number was greater and the faces were much clearer.
Seol Hayun swallowed her breath.
For her, these were scenes impossible to accept.
Not stopping there, the hologram ghosts even approached her abruptly.
Sudden jump scares.
‘Hiiik……!’
Breath caught in her throat suddenly.
Clutching her chest, she shrunk back.
The faces of the ghosts appearing this time were particularly realistic.
Faces looking half-burnt, lips covered in blood, eyes rolled back white.
It felt not like simple holograms but actual vengeful spirits visiting.
‘Out of so many themes, why actual ghosts of all things.’
They could have used cute ghost characters if anything.
Seol Hayun, pouring out complaints inwardly, regretted belatedly.
Because she remembered it was she herself who activated this Viking ride.
Thinking about it now, there seemed to have been a button to set the theme too.
In the end, it was fear she brought upon herself.
Just as she was hanging her head low.
"……Yun, Seol Hayun!"
Ryu Jinwoo's voice pierced through the silence hanging inside her.
Seol Hayun flinched and lifted her head.
"Are you listening to me?"
"I'm listening."
Unfortunately, it was a lie.
She didn't hear a word. Because she was so startled.
"Then quickly! Please!"
"……Actually, I didn't hear."
Seol Hayun muttered embarrassedly with her head bowed.
"Tell me again."
Ryu Jinwoo threw a look of disbelief for a moment.
It was a moment where her cheeks burned for no reason.
And soon, words mixed with a clear throat were heard.
"Give that monster one shot of Flame Eight-Armed Octopus!"
"Flame Eight-Armed Octopus?"
She narrowed her brows.
Her gaze naturally turned downward.
Beyond the Viking's bow, a slightly distant spot.
The Giant Troll stood tall.
The monster's gaze shook here and there as if looking for Ryu Jinwoo who disappeared in an instant.
"Rooooar-!"
Before long, a roar echoed, overturning the air.
It had discovered Ryu Jinwoo standing on the Vulture's back above the Viking hull.
‘Use Flame Eight-Armed Octopus?’
Seol Hayun looked at the Giant Troll.
The spell she used on that guy once before.
Would using a technique that didn't work once again have much meaning?
"Please."
Just as hesitation passed, Ryu Jinwoo's voice was heard again.
Short and firm.
Seol Hayun looked at Ryu Jinwoo.
Eyes imbued with strength, the certainty contained within them was conveyed without filter.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but you're asking me to trust you, right?"
Seol Hayun asked back.
Ryu Jinwoo nodded.
That single signal was enough.
Seol Hayun's eyes changed.
The fear and doubt from just before disappeared, and solid determination filled that place.
As her breath sank deeply, her two hands met.
Her hands drew continuous movements.
Fingertips interlocked, then pushed each other away, twisting the air.
The smooth flow continued as if weaving invisible lines.
In an instant, the magic power wrapping around her gathered to one point.
WHOOSH-
The air twisted.
A flash pulsated between her hands, and wind gathered like a vortex.
As red heat climbed up her arms, her hair fluttered softly.
The flame blooming between her hands shook regularly like a heartbeat.
[Flower of Flames: Flame Eight-Armed Octopus]
Finally, the moment her palms met as if in prayer, the flame between them was crushed and died down.
Following that, an explosion burst from over there.
BOOOOM-!
Cutting through the air, flames soared above the Giant Troll's head.
Red energy swirled and began to take form.
SWISH-!
Burning lines entangled.
Coiling legs, burning tentacles.
The form of a giant octopus was completed within the blooming flames.
The fire octopus, looking as if it crawled out of hellfire, twisted its body fiercely.
Magnificent flames, enough to cover the monster's cry, spread and burned above its head.
"Done."
Seol Hayun muttered low.
At the end of her gaze, the fire octopus lifted its head.
It struck down as is, covering the Troll's entire body.
CRASH-!
Hot currents spread fiercely.
The fire octopus tangled and wrestled with the Troll.
Huge tentacles wrapped around the Troll's shoulders, and flames tightened around its torso.
One of the fluttering tentacles began to wrap around the Troll's neck.
However, the Troll reacted at once.
Swinging its arm roughly, it tore off a tentacle in an instant.
Flames burst out like fireworks.
‘As expected, it turns out like this.’
Seol Hayun bit her lip.
It's a technique it already suffered once.
Even a mindless monster learns pain.
The guy was adapting instinctively.
"It can't drag on for long. It will be broken soon."
She said, looking back at Ryu Jinwoo.
But Ryu Jinwoo wasn't looking at the Troll.
Instead, he was looking at the empty air behind.
Holding his sword, he slowly lowered his center of gravity.
His eyes had sunk calmly.
"Enough."
A simple and low voice.
But that one word was sufficient.
Seol Hayun looked at Ryu Jinwoo.
Is it an illusion? For some reason, he seemed a little bigger.
Ryu Jinwoo kicked off the Vulture's back and jumped up.
Flames shimmered roughly at his feet.
WHOOSH-!
The firebird's embers scattered into the air.
Ryu Jinwoo's body soared, drawing a straight trajectory.
***
My gaze was directed at one point.
A metal frame hanging in the air.
That dense structure supporting the massive body of the Viking caught my eye.
And above it was a single 'sphere' supporting all the load.
Below that, the giant Viking was shaking rapidly.
The heavy hull repeated pendulum motion back and forth fiercely by magic power and electric energy.
Every time the hull cut through the void, the air flow rose roughly.
All preparations are finished.
I followed the Viking's movement with my eyes.
As the movement reached its peak, it was drawing a regular curve with constant amplitude.
The key is timing.
Not a single inch of error is allowed.
There was only one chance.
Gradually, I raised the energy inside my body.
Pain, a tingling yet unpleasant energy.
The sensation seeping along blood and nerves was no longer unfamiliar.
The curse flowing through the body, a ghastly power.
Although I can never get used to it, at least now I know how to use it.
I inhaled.
I firmly grasped the energy wrapping around my whole body.
My heart began to beat regularly, but ominously at the same time.
[Pain: Forging]
CLANG-!
Instantly, a ringing like metallic sound burst from inside my body.
It was as if countless hammers were beating my flesh and muscles.
Pain as if an invisible blacksmith heated my body hot and pounded it ceaselessly.
Hot fire seeped under my skin.
Nerves burned and blood vessels heated up.
Muscles swelled and squirmed as if suppressing the skeleton.
Intense pain raged, vividly awakening every sense in my body.
A sensation as if the body was collapsing and rebuilding.
Like steel taking shape in fire, my body was also being forged again.
GRIT-!
I clench my molars tight.
I bit the inside of my cheek to not faint.
Hot boiling energy covered my limbs.
As a living being, pain is a sensation to be instinctively avoided.
But it was always pain that made my blood boil.
A power like a curse that makes me stronger, harder.
[Strength: 16(+11)]
Reflecting the energy dwelling in my body, the figures floated up.
Soon, strength gathered explosively in my lower body.
"Phew-."
I exhaled shortly.
Shifting my gaze, I scanned the surroundings.
The massive hull of the Viking repeating pendulum motion reached the peak of its amplitude.
Mechanical sounds, vibration of steel frames, and heat mixed with flames fluctuated in the air.
Soon, the Viking's movement was engraved in my mind.
"Enough."
As I kicked off, the Vulture's flames shimmered violently.
Cutting through the wind, my vision soared upward.
SWISH-!
The air split.
My body was soaked in pain, but my mind was rather clear.
Even amidst the intense pain beating my whole body, a strange euphoria bloomed.
Strength was transmitted to the hand holding the sword.
Right before the Viking hull ascended drawing a crescent moon, that instant.
A huge metal structure was caught at the edge of my vision.
The central axis supporting the Viking hull in the air.
A huge metal sphere was located at the very top.
Blue light hovered in the sphere, twice the size of a human head.
The dense organization of countless alloy frames connected below it.
Layers of metal extended and held the Viking hull firmly.
In other words, all load was hanging relying on the sphere.
The single target decided like that.
Gradually, my breathing subsided.
Unlike my violently trembling body, my mind sank heterogeneously.
The tremor of the sword transmitted to my fingertips was heavy.
In an instant, the power filling my body poured into the sword as if exploding.
[Crimson Wolf: Blood Fang]
A single beam of sword light drew a heavy line.
CRUNCH-!
A metallic sound burst.
The sharp sword dug roughly into the surface of the metal sphere.
Blue light shimmered and seemed to resist, but it was only for a very short moment.
A sensation like a beast's fang tearing flesh arose at my fingertips.
The power filling my body seemed to flow through the sword as is.
The moment a huge metallic sound vibrated the air roughly and faded.
The last axis holding the upper part of the Viking broke, and all weight was released at once.
Silence hanging for a moment.
The tension disappearing in an instant happened at the moment the massive Viking hull was moving forward drawing a crescent trajectory.
As the constraint holding it disappeared, the giant ship flew cutting through the void like a blue whale thrown into the air.
Inertia and gravity led the hull's movement.
At the roar cutting through the wind, the Giant Troll tearing at the octopus lifted its head.
At that moment, a huge shadow was cast over the guy's head.
The shadow descended toward the Troll, gradually reducing its size.
A heavy pressure as if the sky was collapsing and falling to the ground.
It was like a kind of sentence.
The brand of an unavoidable ending that it was now over.
The Troll's eyes flashed.
The guy's mouth opened roughly.
A roar was about to burst out.
However, it was already too late.
CRASH-!
An explosion sound arose.
A roar as if dozens of bombs exploded at once hit the air.
The massive hull of the Viking fell straight to the spot where the Troll was standing, covering everything.
Pieces and debris flew, and smoke soared.
The huge ship pressed down and crushed the monster's body as is, digging deep into the ground.
Violent wind created by the impact raged around.
Gradually, the wind subsided and silence fell.
Like that moment just before the credits roll in a movie theater.