The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 202

'Damn it! How did things get so twisted!'

Gaudi bit his lip and screamed inwardly.

If he had his way, he would have liked to scream out loud to relieve this frustration, but in this situation, even complaining like this was a luxury.

"Heok… Heok…"

Gaudi's mouth was busy gasping for breath.

Taak-!

Because if he had time to scream, he had to use it to move his feet.

If he had any room to think, he had to use it to get out of the current situation as much as possible.

Nevertheless, Gaudi couldn't help but think while dodging the shower of bullets and bombs that were constantly pouring down on him.

'Where did it go wrong?'

The bitter taste of blood flowing from his torn lips felt bitter.

'Was it a problem that I came here to ruin Raven's plan?'

'Was it a problem that I was so relaxed until I came here?'

'Was it a problem that I ignored them the moment I first faced them?'

'Did I fight with all my might too late?'

'Should I have swallowed my pride and joined forces with Jahangil?'

He kept thinking about it, but there was no way to know.

The more he thought about it, the more frustration welled up, and Gaudi bit his lip even harder.

It was to drive out the despair and frustration that were muddying his mind with pain.

The moment the despair in his head flowed down and filled his chest, the defeat in his mind would become a reality.

But no matter how much he tried to awaken his mind through pain, it was only a temporary solution, not a permanent one.

If it had been a sense of powerlessness felt simply because the enemy was strong, it would have been better.

Aura users can become stronger or weaker depending on their own minds.

Therefore, the Leviathan family learns the heart of a snake that continuously aims for the enemy's heart, no matter how strong the opponent they face, from a young age.

But now, it was useless to Gaudi.

Because what Gaudi was feeling now was not despair from meeting a strong enemy, but closer to a sense of powerlessness from being unable to do anything.

A fearful sense of powerlessness that everything about him was being read, that everything around him was hostile to him, and that the opponent was slowly tightening the noose around his neck.

From the first time they met until now, Crowley's eyes, looking at Gaudi, had always been calm.

The eyes of someone looking not at a threatening something, but at an error that needed to be dealt with.

Crowley looked at Gaudi with those eyes and continuously took out new artifacts, perfectly dealing with all of Gaudi's attacks as if he had already known them.

At the same time, he used his attacks against him to create an environment that was advantageous to Crowley and disadvantageous to Gaudi.

It had been a long time since he had used up all the usable artifacts he had received from his family, which he had thought of as his trump card.

And among them, there was not a single one that had caught Crowley off guard and left a wound on his body.

He had also tried to seal the gun-type artifact by aiming for close combat, but it was useless.

He had taken the damage and forcibly approached Crowley, but Crowley swung his sword with a composed posture, as if to say that he wasn't holding a sword-type artifact for nothing, and attacked Gaudi.

When he fought Crowley in close combat like that, he would be pushed back at some point, and if the distance widened even a little, bullets and bombs would attack him.

The word 'good at fighting' alone could not fully describe Crowley.

In Gaudi's eyes, Crowley's battle was chess.

He calculated and practiced each move, predicted the opponent's moves, and created the board.

He used all his moves to chip away at the opponent's strength and raise his own, and he continued to do so.

Starting from the surrounding environment, everything turned to his advantage, and conversely, the opponent felt a suffocating frustration.

"Is this all?"

Crowley stood still in front of Gaudi like an impregnable fortress, his white coat trimmed with gold fluttering.

The moment he saw that, Gaudi had no choice but to admit it.

A fish out of water.

That the words Crowley had said were a perfect expression of his current self.

'Damn it, if I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have come here to check on Jahangil.'

Gaudi changed his goal.

He gives up on victory.

And he aims for something else.

'I need a very small opening.'

The opportunity is only once.

Pretend to be unconscious and launch a surprise attack?

Not even worth thinking about.

Even if it were the stupid guy next to him, Crowley didn't seem like a guy who would fall for such a petty trick.

Gaudi struggled to create an opening and tried to distance himself from Crowley, but Crowley chased him and attacked, as if he had no intention of letting him go.

Click-

"When you wake up, a fun time will be waiting for you, so sleep well."

The moment Gaudi, who was cornered, gritted his teeth and was about to use an artifact.

Tang- Tang- Tang-

The opportunity Gaudi had been waiting for came to him, no, to Gaudi and Jahangil, in an unexpected form.

A cylindrical something fell on the spot where Gaudi and Crowley were fighting and the spot where Baekhyun and Jahangil were fighting.

It hit the ground and at the same time emitted a huge smoke, enveloping the entire area.

"Tsk, it's not ordinary smoke."

Crowley clicked his tongue and threw a green bomb on the ground.

Hwiooo-!

The bomb bounced on the ground a few times, then created a huge explosion of wind, blowing away the smoke that was about to cover the surroundings in one go.

"What, I used three to make smoke, but you only need one wind bomb? Isn't the cost-effectiveness too bad?"

The moment the smoke cleared, a man slowly walked out from within the clearing smoke.

Seeing him, Crowley frowned.

"Why did you suddenly appear?"

"Sorry, but I have some business to attend to."

Even though he was wearing a strange mask, his voice was overflowing with an arrogant laugh.

If it had been the usual Gaudi, he would have immediately launched an attack at that arrogant man and torn his limbs apart.

But now, on the contrary, he focused on erasing his presence to the extreme.

Because the small opening he had been waiting for was right now.

Kwaduk-

Gaudi moved his bracelet with one hand.

The moment he activated that artifact, he couldn't move a single step.

Therefore, he couldn't use it during battle, but now it was possible.

Crowley, who had noticed the situation late, looked at Gaudi, but Gaudi, whose artifact had been activated, did not avoid his gaze.

On the contrary, Gaudi smiled fiercely at Crowley.

"You'll regret letting me go."

It was a statement Gaudi had made to somehow recover his tattered pride, but the response that came back was just indifferent.

"You're making a fuss even though you're in this state because of me. I'm not scared at all even if dozens of guys like you gather."

At that, Gaudi's face distorted and he was about to retort, but his teleportation artifact on his arm emitted a halo of light and enveloped him faster than he could speak.

"He got away."

"It's the same here."

At Crowley's words, Baekhyun said with a grumbling face.

"The guy I was fighting also used a teleportation artifact to escape. And the cult leader who was lying on the ground was carried away by some winged person and disappeared."

"I saw that too. The moment the smoke appeared, he quickly snatched the cult leader and flew into the air. Judging by the way he disappeared as if swallowed by a shadow, it's probably that guy who was moving with that guy."

Cheon Yuhwa and Baekhyun said that, but they didn't show any particular disappointment.

Because Gaudi had already served his purpose for Crowley, and Baekhyun was not the type to care about an enemy who had run away.

No, if it had been the usual, he might have chased Jahangil and enjoyed it more.

Because fighting a strong person of that level was impossible in a situation like this.

But now, he had no mind to give to such a loser.

"…You two seem to be looking at me with very strange eyes."

"It's just your imagination."

Because the person who would replace the broken toy was right in front of them.

"To reveal yourself like this means you've made up your mind, right?"

"What resolve?"

At Lee Shin's words, Crowley didn't say anything and tapped the choker on his neck a few times.

It was a choker with a design that was unusually familiar to Lee Shin.

Woong-!

Not long after Crowley tapped the choker, a halo of light appeared next to Baekhyun and Crowley, and Yeonhwa and Cheon Yuhwa popped out from within.

The two, as soon as they came out of the halo of light, looked at Lee Shin and said.

""You're dead today.""

"…Hah, this is why I was trying to hide until the work started."

At the two's sincere voices, Lee Shin openly showed his annoyance and picked up Yagong.

"No matter how I think about it, it seems too violent for a warm-up. No, by the way, what did I do wrong?"

Seuk-

At that, the four each took out their own weapons.

"Why don't you think about it while you're getting hit?"

"Your mouth is long."

"Do you remember that you tried to steal from my warehouse?"

"Ah, Hyung. I don't have any particular ill feelings. I just joined because it looked fun."

This time, the four rushed at Lee Shin as if they would not let him go.

Hwareureuk-

At that, Lee Shin created red flames at the tips of his feet and the tip of his spear, as if to say, 'catch me if you can'.

◎ ◎ ◎

"Heok… Heok…"

Jahangil gasped for breath and took a deep breath.

He quickly moved his pupils and confirmed that the place he was in was different from a little while ago.

The moment he confirmed that, Jahangil let out a sigh of relief, feeling that he had survived.

But the sense of relief that filled his chest soon turned into extreme humiliation and shook his chest.

"How dare… how dare you give me such a humiliation…"

Now, on Jahangil's whole body, messy red lines were drawn, as if drawn by a child who had just held a pencil.

All of them were wounds created by Baekhyun.

Jahangil was ashamed of it.

The tough and hard body of a monster that does not yield to anything and is not wounded, that is the symbol and pride of the Behemoth family.

But that guy dared to wound his such body.

If he had his way, he would have liked to smash the face of the guy who was looking at him like prey right away, but that was also a distant wish.

If he let his emotions take over and went to find Baekhyun again, he would be torn to death by his claws this time.

His eyes were not so blurry that he couldn't see such a future.

On top of that, he had no time to fight now.

'A little while ago, that Gaudi guy also used a teleportation item.'

If he thought about it normally, he would have thought that Gaudi had just admitted defeat and run away.

But Jahangil couldn't think of it that way.

Because he had been clashing with Gaudi since Carnia, he knew well.

That Gaudi was not a guy who would give up on something so easily.

'He definitely has something up his sleeve.'

Dubeok- Dubeok-

While Jahangil was contemplating Gaudi's scheme, he heard small footsteps and turned his head.

He already knew who would be there.

The artifact Jahangil had used was one that made him chase the prey he had marked.

Jahangil had used that mark the moment he crushed the cult leader's leg.

And the one with the fluttering black wings had appeared after the cult leader had been kidnapped.

The cult leader, who had been beaten by Crowley, would not have regained consciousness yet, and even if he had, he would not be in a state to walk around so normally.

So there could only be one person walking to this place now.

"You hybrid."

Raven, with her face covered by a mask, said nothing to Jahangil, who was looking at her with eyes full of hostility, threw the cult leader she was holding to one side, and then said to Jahangil.

"The magic stones are in that room. Use them as you please."

"…What?"

At Raven's single word, Jahangil's boiling momentum subsided, and he asked back in a foolish voice.

Perseverance