novelraw Chapter 98 : Chapter 98
Chapter 98 : Chapter 98
Chapter 98: Settlement
Hot heat wrapped around the air.
The wind still carried the scent of flames.
The ground was heated reddish.
Smoke rose from places where metal seemed to have melted.
With the giant body of the Viking lying on the ground, debris was scattering around.
Seol Hayun turned her gaze frantically.
Soon, her eyes widened as if she found something.
Looking up at the sky, something was falling through the flames.
That black shadow grew bigger in the blink of an eye.
"Ryu Jinwoo!"
Seol Hayun's instinct moved first.
Her two arms stretched out automatically.
Flames shimmered beneath her toes.
The Vulture's embers burst and soared into the sky.
Cutting through the air, her body sprang up.
Hot wind brushed her cheeks.
Fingertips touched.
It was Ryu Jinwoo's wrist.
"……Got you!"
She swung her arm with all her might to reduce the speed.
As the Vulture stopped abruptly in mid-air, embers scattered in all directions.
Slowly lowering altitude, she landed on the Viking boarding platform.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks to you."
It was a short answer.
His breath was shaking slightly.
Seol Hayun slowly lifted her head.
A majestic steel structure entered her view below her gaze.
It was the Viking's hull.
A massive lump of metal lay prostrate on the earth.
The giant steel frame was half crushed.
Debris and flames mixed around it.
At the very last moment, the monster was pinned exactly underneath it.
From the impact of the fall, the earth shook as if bursting apart.
And the Viking's giant body slid, pushing across the ground.
Along with a high-pitched screech of metal scraping 'Kwagagak', the ground was dug deep, and a dark red trail continued for tens of meters.
Scattered amidst the scorched marks were pieces of the monster's flesh here and there.
The Giant Troll was pushed like a mop while crushed underneath.
The earth beneath was dug deep as if the asphalt had been peeled off.
"I can't believe it even seeing it again."
Looking at that scene, Seol Hayun muttered.
"Did you ask me to operate it with this in mind? The Viking."
"That's right."
Ryu Jinwoo answered briefly.
"Because the opponent is too strong. You saw it too."
At Ryu Jinwoo's words, Seol Hayun nodded quietly.
Did he call it a Freak?
It even went berserk and transformed into a monster.
An existence at a level two cadets could do absolutely nothing about.
‘I didn't know we could defeat it like this.’
Seol Hayun experienced firsthand how powerful its regenerative ability was.
Even if burned with strong firepower, it restored its body in an instant.
But what if such a huge object crushes its body in an instant and pushes it like a road roller, creating friction with the ground?
No matter how excellent the regenerative ability, it was natural that it couldn't restore the body.
"I was surprised at how you came up with such a method."
Her gaze moved to the upper part of the Viking.
"Breaking that sphere wouldn't have been an ordinary task either."
At those words, Ryu Jinwoo bowed his head for a moment.
His expression distorted subtly.
Seol Hayun noticed that small change.
"Are you hurt?"
There was no answer.
His body was trembling roughly.
At a glance, he looked fine.
No wounds or blood were visible.
Yet, she could feel he was in pain.
It might be due to the burden.
The pressure that the moment he makes even a slight mistake, he could ruin everything.
Until right before breaking the sphere on top of the Viking, Ryu Jinwoo couldn't have been sure this would succeed.
As such, how heavy a burden must he have carried in his heart until completing this amazing plan.
"If you are hurt somewhere, I can give emergency treatment-."
As Seol Hayun continued while checking Ryu Jinwoo's pulse, Ryu Jinwoo slowly caught his breath and answered.
"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired."
"There's no way you're just a little tired."
He went through such things just now.
Saying he's fine was clearly a lie.
Like those words parents often say to their children.
Nevertheless, strength dwelt in Ryu Jinwoo's eyes.
That gaze stared at one spot.
A wary look.
‘Why?’
The place where Ryu Jinwoo's gaze stopped was the Viking's hull.
The massive body stopped after pushing across the ground.
The monster was crushed underneath it.
‘No matter how excellent the regenerative ability, with that much…….’
It must be dead.
Even the eerie magical energy that vibrated the air just a while ago was no longer felt.
Complete silence that faded in an instant.
So there should be no reason to be wary.
It was the moment she thought that.
A strange energy brushing her skin was detected.
An eerie feeling like a chill.
‘No way.’
It was the moment she thought it couldn't be.
SIZZLE-!
The sound of metal melting rang out.
It was faint at first, but soon it was heard clearly riding the wind.
"That makes no sense."
Seol Hayun muttered inadvertently.
Strength went into Ryu Jinwoo's arm.
His gaze headed towards the center of the Viking.
SIZZLE-
The corrosion sound rang once more.
And right there, a hand popped out.
As the huge steel plate melted down, a hand crawled out.
The hole widened gradually.
A blood-covered hand grabbed the steel plate and pulled the body up.
"It was alive?"
A bewildered voice flowed from Seol Hayun's mouth.
The monster slowly revealed itself.
The figure crawling up onto the hull was no longer the same appearance as the beginning.
It was wretched.
One arm was completely gone from below the shoulder, and parts of its body were scorched black.
DRIP, DRIP-
Every time it took a short step, pieces of flesh fell off.
Dark red blood flowed down, and the smell of blood spread in the air.
The massive build had also shrunk.
What used to be a Giant Troll was now barely over 2 meters.
Bigger than a human, but ambiguous to call giant anymore.
Nevertheless, the guy was standing.
With a wretched body.
Seol Hayun raised her hand immediately.
WHOOSH-
Flames rose from her fingertips.
[Flower of Flames: Kingfisher]
Red flames scattered in the shape of kingfishers.
They embedded into the monster's body and exploded in a chain reaction.
BOOM BOOM BOOM-!
Flames rose and smoke billowed thickly.
However, after a while, in the spot where the smoke cleared, the monster stood as it was.
‘It's enduring.’
Seol Hayun narrowed her brows.
Her magic power was almost at the bottom.
But she couldn't stop.
Just as fire was about to ignite at her fingertips once again.
Ryu Jinwoo stepped forward.
His hand lightly pressed her shoulder.
"Ryu Jinwoo?"
He didn't answer.
He just quietly, slowly started walking toward the monster.
The monster looked at him too.
It didn't run away, nor did it pounce.
It was just waiting for the opponent to approach.
***
Climbing onto the Viking, I faced Gonta.
I stood in front of the guy repeating the cycle of body collapsing and barely regenerating.
"You, you were targeting me. From the beginning."
Looking back, it was like that from the start.
The guy's gaze was always directed at me.
Eyes pressed down by hatred.
For me, I was just curious about the reason.
Gonta is the Alliance's 'Material Procurement Team'.
The role of stealing magic power or kidnapping humans with good conditions for becoming freaks.
That was the guy's original mission.
But he chose me, who has absolutely no magic power.
I still don't know the reason.
Perhaps simply, my face might have been the cause.
Since Gonta had a setting of collecting 'good faces' and decorating his room with them.
Whatever it was, there is no way to know now.
Because this guy can't speak right now.
It was then.
Strength filled the guy's fist.
Mushy skin flowed down as if melting.
Thick smoke shimmered over the face where muscles and tendons were revealed.
Nevertheless, the guy's gaze was directed at me.
Clear hatred was contained in it.
Fundamental aggression towards humans possessed as a freak.
I received that gaze without saying anything.
Sound of the body collapsing.
Smell of flesh boiling.
Slowly, the guy took a stance.
Corroded bodily fluids leaked from between squirming muscles.
I lowered my stance just the same.
The sound of my heart beating hit my ears.
The air slowed down as if the wind stopped.
My toes moved naturally.
Strength dwelt in the hand holding the sword.
Suddenly, such a sensation brushed by.
A sensation as if only I and the opponent existed in this world.
‘Here it comes.’
Gonta's figure distorted.
Vision was disturbed as if torn in an instant.
The shadow that popped out prying open the air reached right in front of my nose in a flash.
Like a cannonball, the guy's fist flew at me.
Thick arm muscles squirmed, and huge pressure pushed the space away.
That fleeting moment when the fierce strike rushed at me drawing a straight line.
I felt a strange sensation as if the world stopped.
A void where everything becomes silent.
[Hundred Night Yaksha]
With the right hand twisting palely, the sword trembled minutely.
Along with the sound of air being crushed, my vision flashed.
Over my vision directed at Gonta, a whitish light shimmered.
The faint light soon split into dozens of strands and began to flash.
Lines drawn in detail, their trajectories intersecting and entangling like a melody.
In that, I held onto only one sensation.
Cut.
My body reacted according to that simple will.
[Yaksha Style: White Lotus Dance]
Lines carved in the void piled up one by one, and two, as if overlapping.
Every moment the sword tip slid, heat rose.
A series of movements were being completed according to the basic will to cut.
SNAP-
The guy's arm stopped in front of me.
The guy's eyes trembled briefly.
The fleeting time that felt like eternity began to flow again.
SWISH-
A very minute sound of metal brushing was heard.
Sound bloomed belatedly from the trajectory the sword tip passed.
Slowly, cutting through the guy's entire body, countless dark red lines began to be carved.
SLIDE-
Blood drops spread from the gaps created by all those lines.
The monster's body divided as if sliding apart.
Turning into hundreds of pieces, the guy's body scattered.
The pieces touching the ground broke softly, turned into powder, and scattered into the wind.
Regeneration did not happen anymore.
Gonta's head thrown on the floor, its gaze was directed at the empty air.
DING-!
Amidst the silence hanging around.
A notification sound rang out sharply.
A sound now familiar.
‘Here it comes.’
I closed my eyes while sheathing the sword back into the scabbard.
I used a skill.
Then the aftermath was obvious.
Settlement, skills were post-paid.
After using it, pain is transmitted belatedly from the Tactical Manual.
It's obvious a message like 'Settlement begins.' will pop up and pain will come.
I quietly waited for the unavoidable system message.
But it was strange.
I closed my eyes and waited, but the pain didn't come.
‘What?’
Just as I opened my eyes again harboring doubt.
[……Digesting……]
What I saw was another message.
I instinctively looked at the Mimic.
The guy was chewing something crunchily in the empty air.
Soon, I realized the direction the guy was facing was the point where Gonta's corpse scattered and disappeared.
‘It eats?’
Come to think of it, the message saying it's digesting appeared once before.
Was it when I defeated Balzac?
Just as I was watching that scene blankly for a moment.
DING-!
Another notification sound was heard.
[Settlement begins.]
This time it was real.
Before I could even catch my breath, pain digging into my bones assaulted me.
‘Ugh…….’
Perhaps because I pushed myself the whole time, the intensity was particularly severe this time.
Damn it.