novelraw Chapter 195 : Where You Are (2)
Chapter 195 : Where You Are (2)
Where You Are (2)
Ah-yeon felt her breath quicken.
The reason was probably because of the memories of Estella that she had occasionally seen.
The memories seen by the woman presumed to be her past life seemed to tighten around her throat.
The emotions Estella had felt at that time came to Ah-yeon more vividly than ever before.
Would she finally achieve the long-cherished wish she had held for so long, or would she come to a halt here?
"Shin Ah-yeon-nim...?"
The agents from the Bureau of Paranormal Phenomena who were beside her shot her briefly puzzled glances, but that was all.
Right now, they were too preoccupied to pay attention to Ah-yeon.
They were too busy watching for the sudden appearance of a "demon" who had appeared with the collapse of a dungeon.
"What happened to the Hunters who were inside the dungeon when it collapsed?!"
"Fortunately, it seems everyone is safe."
It seemed that, even as the dungeon collapsed, everyone had managed to escape unharmed.
After breaking through the gray dust and escaping from the dungeon, they saw the two figures facing each other.
Park Jung-woo and the demon who was called Cade Barrel.
"Why are you here?"
"For a simple reason."
Cade smiled as he looked at Jung-woo.
Just from his expression, it seemed almost like he was greeting an old comrade he hadn't seen in years.
"After all, the current method of opening the demon realm's gate using 'divine art' still has a lot of shortcomings. Therefore, either you must possess tremendous regenerative abilities..."
That was undoubtedly referring to the slaughterer, henaite.
There was no other demon with such overwhelming regenerative power.
"Or you must possess a body so strong that it won't collapse under the pressure of the dimension."
And this one referred to himself, Cade Barrel.
"Of course, to operate in this world, a demon must merge with a human. In that sense, I was fortunate."
In a world not yet fully demonized, even a top-rank demon couldn't display their full power.
Thus, both Henate and Cade had to borrow the bodies of humans to become one.
'Henate must be nearby, too.'
If Henate hadn't personally awakened him just moments ago, he would have stayed asleep much longer.
He didn't know exactly why he was here, but he had a rough idea.
This unstable land was the perfect place to trigger a "rift".
As he was thinking that, Jung-woo frowned and asked,
"... That shouldn't be possible, should it?"
"Come now, just how much time do you think has passed? There's been plenty of opportunity for the necessary techniques to emerge. Haven't you seen this so-called divine art right before your eyes?"
Cade tried to speak nonchalantly, but he was carefully watching Park Jung-woo's movements.
Having fought him several times in the past, Cade knew how strong he was.
And, as Cade had yet to become fully accustomed to Owen's body, he would not be able to unleash his full power right now.
'Still, he's impressive.'
He was certainly the human who once suppressed him.
Owen's human body was, if anything, superior to his own original form.
If he added his capabilities as a demon to this, he could become several times stronger than at his peak.
"This was the power we always longed for. Only now have we managed to obtain something akin to it."
At those words, Jung-woo's eyes sharpened.
"That day, if you hadn't stopped me..."
On a rainy day, Jung-woo had first met Cade in the forest after chasing the vanished Estella.
Along with the image of Estella hesitating before him.
That was the first time he had seen Estella tremble so.
KWAANG!!
Jung-woo bent his knees and slammed into the ground.
His body shot toward Cade like a missile, his fist aimed straight at him.
Cade blocked it with his sword.
Though the greatsword was broken in half, Cade preferred it this way.
The sword he usually used wasn't such a ridiculously huge blade anyway.
"Ah, is this the reverse scale then?"
"You're as talkative as ever."
"Well, isn't the past just the past? Besides, your dear Saintess isn't even in this world anymore to listen, is she?"
Through those words, Jung-woo once again realized how little the demons knew about Ah-yeon.
To them, she was simply a great mage with exceptional talent, just one of the S-rank.
They had had contact with numerous S-ranks in recent years, yet had never approached Ah-yeon. From that alone, he could tell that to them, Ah-yeon was not considered important.
'She was too young, and she had once been broken.'
Indeed, there was too much negative information to properly gauge her talent.
From the demons' perspective, they wouldn't believe it possible for Ah-yeon to become S-rank before turning twenty.
Her excessively extraordinary talent had actually served as her own veil.
"Honestly, I don't particularly want to fight you right now."
A calm black wave of demonic energy flowed from Cade, wrapping around his sword.
"But to wrap things up here, it seems necessary."
With those words, he bared his white teeth in a smile.
It was a smile that didn't suit Owen's taciturn face.
"I'd also like to see what skills your newly acquired comrades have."
There was a sense of composure in Cade's calm words.
And he had more than enough skill to justify it.
Jung-woo had fought all the top-rank demons, but there were four among them he hadn't been able to kill.
Though not quite demon kings, they still wielded more than enough overwhelming power.
"Are you going to run away again after fighting like that?"
"Having already lost twice, there's nothing wrong with fleeing again, is there?"
At Cade's manner, Jung-woo let out a dry laugh.
He was simply not the sort of guy you could ever like.
"I've never liked you, not since the beginning."
"Is that so?"
The two distanced themselves, Jung-woo with his fists raised, Cade with his sword.
Sensing Jung-woo's fierce intent, Cade set his lips in a line.
He didn't like him either.
"The feeling's mutual."
From the very first meeting, things had not gone well.
Wasn't it all Jung-woo's fault that they missed the chance to end the war?
The demons had been poised for victory that day.
By obtaining the Saintess who bore miracles, they could have put an end to humanity's rebellion.
Crrrk, crcrcrick!!
The greatsword in his hand began to tremble with overflowing demonic energy and cracks formed along its surface.
Of course, objects from this world could not withstand Cade's overwhelming demonic energy.
So he would end this quickly.
"Supreme Blade, Iverta."
The blade of malice, the Demon King's sharpest sword.
The pitch-black blade, true to its infamous name, swept upward diagonally from below.
If special powers called Conceptualization Techniques were granted to humans who had surpassed their limits, the demons had the "bloodline blossoming".
It was the power of perfecting the innate ability they were born with and unleashing it in a new way.
Supreme Blade Iverta was the power that maximized Cade's abilities as a demon.
That ability was extremely simple.
Materialization of demonic energy.
It could become a blade, or even armor.
That was why, among demons, it was not odd for Cade to be called the pinnacle of pure physical power.
'What an annoying ability.'
Jung-woo twisted his waist to dodge and pushed forward.
Wherever the demonic energy in the form of a blade passed, it sliced everything in its path.
Behind them, he could hear countless canyon walls of the Grand Canyon cracking and collapsing.
'It's not easy to break, and even if I smash it, it's just demonic energy—it barely uses any up.'
If anything, if he recklessly tried to smash Iverta and overexerted his hand, he'd only put himself at a disadvantage.
So, if he was going to break anything, it would be best to go for the Iverta wrapped around Cade's own body.
"Oh."
As Jung-woo's new form suddenly closed the distance, a short exclamation escaped from Cade as he raised his sword.
A clash of swinging sword and fists.
They collided dozens of times in an instant in midair.
Unlike Owen, who took the blows head-on, Jung-woo redirected the tightening sword's path with his open palms, deflecting their trajectory.
An ordinary swordsman would have been severely rattled just by the change in flow of power, but Cade's stance didn't waver an inch.
However, even he couldn't prevent every opening.
In the instant before he could recover from Jung-woo's deflection and swing again, Jung-woo's foot smashed into Cade's abdomen.
"...!!"
Cade's gaze wobbled at the impact that penetrated even through Iverta.
'I shouldn't have given up distance.'
At such close range, fists were inevitably faster than a heavy sword.
He reflexively tried to retreat, but Jung-woo didn't let him.
KWAANG!!
Jung-woo grabbed Cade's collar as he tried to move away, spun him in a circle, and slammed him to the ground, then kicked him with his right foot.
Sent flying like a ball, Cade bounced across the ground for dozens of meters before finally arresting his momentum by stabbing his sword into the earth.
"Ha."
Cade let out a hollow laugh at the pain reaching him through Iverta.
Truly, it was an unbelievable force.
"... My god."
Those observing from a short distance away gaped in shock.
They were all reasonably skilled A-rank Hunters themselves.
Yet, not only could they barely keep up with the flow of the fight, but the destructive power was simply beyond words.
For Ah-yeon, too, this was only the second time she had seen Jung-woo truly fight.
As before, Ah-yeon did not find the sight of Jung-woo fighting unfamiliar.
If anything, it felt natural to her.
'... Especially fighting that man.'
It felt as if there had been a similar situation before.
Most likely, it was connected to those memories.
Estella, who had met demons in a rain-soaked forest.
If Jung-woo had come searching for such an Estella then, surely...
"Shin Ah-yeon-nim! Suspicious signs have been detected in each dungeon!"
At that moment, an agent hurriedly reported to her in an urgent voice.
The S-rank Hunters who had been continually searching inside the dungeons had detected anomalies.
"Hunter Lee Soo-ah says that it feels like a rift could open in the dungeon at any moment...!"
"Hunter Kian Rogers is reporting the same!"
Two out of the three remaining dungeons were showing abnormal reactions.
Even one rift was dangerous, but now it felt like two were about to open at the same time.
One rift could perhaps be managed somehow, but if it was two, it was a different story.
"Can two rifts open in a single area?"
"Normally, normally that's impossible."
A rift, by its very nature, consumes all the surrounding magic power.
Normally, one would end up getting absorbed by the stronger rift.
After all, a tremendous amount of magic power was needed to open a dungeon or a gate in the first place.
But the fact that two rifts were occurring now meant this was not a typical rift situation.
'Think.'
Ah-yeon tried to assume what would happen if two rifts opened at the same time.
Typically, one would naturally consume the other, but if by some miracle the power of both rifts reached equilibrium, they could be sustained together.
Naturally, this would not occur naturally.
It would only be possible if someone was artificially mediating the powers of the rifts.
'Is that something demons could easily do?'
Surely not.
Otherwise, humanity would have already been driven to extinction just by this method alone.
This time, it was probably only possible because certain conditions had been met.
But then, what could be done to stop it?
Even if you could stop one, what about the other?
No, the pace at which the rifts were occurring was extraordinarily fast right now.
Even stopping one that was opening would clearly not be easy.
Not even a single one.
"Originally, I had planned to open all four, but it can't be helped."
Sebin sighed as he looked at the "bones" dissolving into dust.
Just as Ah-yeon had reasoned, even for a demon, triggering a rift was not easy.
The creation of dungeons or gates was impossible by ordinary means.
All of it required the power of the Demon King.
But at present the Demon King was gone, and it was only by consuming the remains of the Demon King that such acts could be carried out.
In particular, for this incident, they had no choice but to consume the Demon King's right arm.
'I have to recover the Demon King's heart, no matter what.'
Otherwise, as Damian had said, creating a new "demon god" that even surpassed the Demon King was the only way for the demons to survive.
"Still, even with two, you can accomplish your goal even if the power isn't as overwhelming as you'd hoped, right?"
Although the plan had failed because of Owen, it was still half accomplished.
Henate looked at Jung-woo, who was fighting fiercely with Cade.
Even with only the slightest brush against him, part of his body was now not functioning properly.
It was truly a bewildering power.
He must have unconsciously encapsulated the Demon King's authority in that strike.
"At the very least, as long as we kill him, it won't be a failure."
Their original goal had been to set off four rifts at once, creating a grand rift and killing all the S-ranks participating in the Odyssey.
S-ranks not on their side were better off dead.
'Even if the demonization of the world is delayed because of the rifts...'
With rifts opening, massive amounts of magic power and demonic energy were consumed, so the period required for terraforming was extended.
But eliminating all the S-ranks in the Grand Canyon was more than worth it.
Above all else, if they could kill Jung-woo, they would benefit, even if it made the process several times longer.
"That's true."
Sebin agreed with Henate's words.
If they could kill him, it would be worth more than killing all the S-ranks in the Odyssey.
'You won't survive this time, Park Jung-woo.'
As far as Sebin knew, only the 'Saintess' could close a rift.
And even then, it would have to be the original Saintess, the only one who held miracles in her hands.
There had once been rumors of a great mage called Shin Ah-yeon who had closed a rift, but Sebin thought that was false information.
For a single person, not even dozens of great mages, to close a rift was utterly impossible.
Their assumptions were not wrong.
Except for one thing, that is.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】