Chapter 764: Black Butterfly (2)
Screeeech—
A violent gust tore through the ruins, carrying the nauseating sound of twisting metal. Unlike before, this wasn’t something simply dropping in. It was forcing its way through, hammering at space with the weight of a battering ram. Streams of water fluttered through the air like dragonfly wings, and in their midst, a small humanoid shape, soaked through, blinked with hollow, punctured eyes. It beat its watery wings, stared for a moment at Seong Hyunjae and Song Taewon—
and vanished.
Song Taewon, who had already shifted into a fighting stance, twitched a brow.
“…I thought every intruder here was after you.”
“They all have minds of their own. Still, it did look rather appetizing.”
Should I go after it?
Tracing the fading trail of pale blue mana it had left behind, Seong Hyunjae murmured under his breath. It was unquestionably different from the others. Its presence alone had been on another level. Beyond the thick black clouds, the sky that had flashed and churned so violently had gone still.
The invasion hadn’t stopped, though.
Distorted space pressed in from all directions. There was also that circling pressure, something battering at the walls of this world without quite managing to break through.
The stronger the being, the harder it was to step into a world where it didn’t belong.
Something scraped against the barrier and twisted its body. A chittering noise came with it, like grinding teeth. Thunk. THUNK. Two pathways opened almost at once above the ruined buildings.
“It’s raining!”
A servant with a long single horn snapped open an umbrella. Beside it floated an angular flower, its petals turning in a slow circle, as if it had been made of cloudy white glass. The horned servant looked at Seong Hyunjae. The ornament hanging from its horn gave a soft jingle.
“Let’s meet again later.”
Its hoof-like shoes tapped lightly off the ground. It sprang to the top of a fallen pillar, and the glass flower clinked sharply after it.
“What? I’m not stopping you, but you’re at a disadvantage before the system fully applies. You can’t even use your skills properly.”
Whether servant or transcendent, anything inside a world with an active system had to abide by it. But beings from other worlds needed time to adapt. Their skills had to be adjusted to match the rank and environment of the world they had entered. A few abilities could be used immediately, without localization, but most could not.
“Feels like this world’s administrator is dragging things out on purpose, too.”
Clink, clink. The flower spun once in the air. Around the round orb at its center, dozens of petals sharpened into glass thorns.
“Glass.”
Glass was a classic insulator. If it were ordinary glass, overwhelming it with heat and current would have been enough. But this was a servant of a transcendent. Its durability would be on another level. The horned servant cast Seong Hyunjae one last glance, then kicked off again and disappeared into the distance.
Left behind alone, the glass flower slowly shifted its thorn-petals. Rain ran in thin streams over its sleek surface. Song Taewon stepped forward.
At the same instant, Seong Hyunjae drove his heel down with a crunch and spun.
Clang!
The chain he whipped out slammed into something invisible. Another servant had come at him under perfect concealment. Even an S-rank’s senses couldn’t catch it.
But Seong Hyunjae had Battle Precognition.
Song Taewon read the situation in an instant and moved without hesitation. He would take the glass flower. Seong Hyunjae would take the hidden attacker. No words were needed.
The glass flower’s sharpened petals shot toward Song Taewon from all sides. He didn’t dodge. Instead, he activated a barrier item. A disposable S-rank defensive item. Under normal circumstances, he never would have used something that precious.
Clang, crack!
The glass petals hammered the barrier savagely. A moment later it shattered, and several petals with momentum still behind them sliced across Song Taewon’s body. He didn’t slow down. Accepting the wounds, he pressed forward until he was right in front of the flower’s main body.
Thud.
The toe of his combat boot struck the ground like a stake being driven in. The hand wrapped in a gauntlet clenched tight, the line of his body pulling sharply back through the shoulder.
Sensing the attack coming, the flower’s core turned red as it started reinforcing its defenses.
Its species had already been tough. Now it had layered a powerful defensive skill on top. It must have judged that a mere punch from an S-rank Hunter could never break through. Instead of dodging, it restored its petals. Behind Song Taewon, the shattered glass petals reformed in the air, surging back into shape.
Just before they struck, his drawn-back fist drove forward in one clean, perfect line.
A black shadow stretched over it.
Sssr—
The instant before his fist connected, the shadow touched the flower’s core first. A devouring force erased the defensive skill enveloping the red glass sphere in seconds. The red glow vanished. The surface went pale. Even the mana settled inside it began to unravel.
– Chaaang!
The flower made a startled sound. It had no time to react. Hearing the petals screaming through the air behind him, Song Taewon poured every ounce of force from his body into that single point without the slightest tremor.
Craaack!
A fracture split the glass sphere. His gauntleted hand punched straight through it. Broken shards raked across his exposed wrist and forearm, climbing in jagged lines all the way to his elbow. The thorn-petals that had nearly reached his back dropped to the ground with sharp clattering noises.
Then the sphere itself split in two and hit the ground with a dull thunk, rolling away.
Among the shattered pieces lay a magic stone.
Song Taewon hesitated for a fraction of a second, then picked it up. Behind him came a booming crash. The invisible enemy lashed out with blade-like claws. Seong Hyunjae twisted aside and avoided the attack, then glanced back at Song Taewon.
Whoosh—
Instead of stepping in, Song Taewon threw him the magic stone.
Plunder was especially effective against enemies that relied on their defenses. Against this kind of opponent, though, where even landing that theft-like attack was difficult, helping carelessly would just get in the way. If he couldn’t even perceive the enemy properly, interference would only make things worse.
Seong Hyunjae caught the flying stone and absorbed it.
The servant’s concealment skill was troublesome, but Seong Hyunjae still looked far from pressed. After evading several more attacks, he began scattering tiny currents into the air. The concealment skill distorted even mana perception, but it couldn’t evade every thread of electricity that actually touched it.
Within the rippling current, the enemy’s outline surfaced faintly.
Splash.
Seong Hyunjae kicked through a puddle, sending water arcing up in a wall. The electricity he had already spread through the battlefield seeped into it with a crackle. Into the rising water. Into the rain. Into the damp air itself. Light began to condense inside the mass of water engulfing the servant—
KWAAANG!
It exploded.
Successive blasts boomed around the servant in rapid succession. Having already stepped back clear of the blast zone, Seong Hyunjae drove part of his chain like a spear toward the center of the explosions.
At that same instant—
KRAAASH!
Lightning struck.
A simple lightning bolt was something even an A-rank could endure, let alone an S-rank, protected as they were by powerful mana reinforcement. But this servant had already been battered by Seong Hyunjae’s mana, compressed and detonated through the water around it. The lightning that followed dug into its body and burned straight through it. Like taking a knife to exposed flesh after the armor had already been stripped away.
Another magic stone landed in Seong Hyunjae’s hand.
He didn’t even get a second to breathe before he felt new presences. Some intruders fled at once to wait for full system adaptation. Others remained, baring their fangs. A giant bent its massive body, looking as though it had been shaped from twisted deadwood. A great lump of condensed swamp mud licked up the rainwater and sucked it in. A fluttering strip of cloth drifted silently downward, moving like an empty ghost.
“This one won’t be easy.”
Song Taewon spoke quietly.
Judging by their forms, they looked worse than the last batch. Still, this was the best time to fight them, before the system finished applying. In terms of skills and items, the advantage was still theirs.
Boom.
The giant took a step. Wood, like glass, was an insulator, and likely one with strong regeneration on top of it. Two sets of eyes tracked the servants’ movements. Even a short window to observe them could make all the difference, if it gave them a clue to exploit.
The cloth stirred. The mud mass spread bit by bit. Cold tension seeped into the air.
Wooooong—
The world rang again.
Song Taewon’s brow tightened at the new intrusion. There were simply too many. He found himself hoping this one would leave too, but space was already slowly splitting apart.
Flutter.
A black butterfly rose from the opening.
Then another.
Then dozens. Hundreds.
Through the swarm of black butterflies wavering like smoke, the outline of a person appeared. The tips of his feet touched down on butterflies as if they were stepping-stones. He walked through the air with effortless ease. The rain falling around him vanished without a sound before it could touch him.
Beings from other worlds had to wait for their titles and skills to be reapplied.
But for someone who originally belonged to this world—
[Lonely Conqueror (SSS)]
The title activated.
A Hunter who had slain ten thousand monsters of S-rank or higher alone.
When there is no one nearby who bears goodwill toward the title holder, attack power, defense, and Agility rise dramatically. The effectiveness of resistance skills increases.
His already overwhelming stats surged even higher under the buff.
Everyone’s eyes snapped toward him as the pressure rolling off him settled over the battlefield like a physical weight. Butterflies wheeled wildly through the air. They could see flashes of black clothes and dark hair through them, but not his face. The butterflies hung around him like a veil.
A white hand extended forward.
A single drop of blood fell from the fingertip.
The butterfly it touched turned to flame.
Black fire fluttered softly, almost beautiful, and landed on the ground with feather-light grace.
The moment it touched—
Whooom!
Black flames erupted.
They began devouring everything.
[Blessing of Fire (SS)
A blessing granted to one who possesses at least three fire-attribute skills of SS-rank or higher.
The effects of fire-attribute skills increase. Fire-attribute monsters do not make preemptive attacks. Stats increase in fire-attribute environments. Recovery increases within flames.]
On top of that came Fire Attribute Enhancement (S).
Under the stacked amplification, the fire spread instantly. Before anyone could react, flames consumed the battlefield in every direction. Broken buildings, pooled rainwater, torn-up asphalt, all of it was swallowed whole.
The servants were no exception.
– This fire!
The deadwood giant shuddered.
To the black flames, it was a feast. Though the giant clearly possessed regeneration, anything the fire consumed did not heal. It staggered inside the inferno, unable even to flee. The cloth severed its own burning edge and shot upward to escape. The mud mass resisted. The moisture of that enormous swamp looked ready to smother the fire instead, but—
[Footsteps of Ash (SS)
A Hunter who burned countless dungeons. An ashen road stretches behind him.]
Another title activated.
When more than two-thirds of the surrounding environment has been burned, stats increase.
The flames grew stronger still.
The swamp writhed in resistance. The rain vanished before it could even reach the ground.
Then his gaze settled on the two men standing within the fire.
Song Taewon’s mouth hardened.
Danger.
For the first time, a cold certainty washed over him that this one they might not survive.
Chrrk.
Chains moved.
The black figure vanished.
Not quite teleportation, but close enough.
Clang!
A blade struck the chain.
At the same time, light exploded. A torrent of electricity crashed down in an instant, but he ignored it completely. Layer upon layer of elemental resistance. Layer upon layer of stat boosts. Equipment that had originally belonged to this world.
The sword spun and wrapped itself around the chain. Cutting through the current blocking his way, his foot drove straight for Seong Hyunjae’s chest. Battle Precognition barely let him avoid the worst of it, but riiiip— cloth tore open, leaving a shallow wound.
The speed was monstrous.
The moment Seong Hyunjae retreated, the black foot that had just kicked at him came down onto a butterfly. Then the man ran upside down through the air and turned on Song Taewon instead. A wave of black flames surged up, only to be barely swallowed and blocked by a black shadow.
As if he had been waiting for exactly that, the body launching off the butterflies drove the sword point straight in.
Crunch!
“…Gh!”
The blade pierced Song Taewon’s twisted body.
The shoulder.
He had barely saved his vitals, but that was only the beginning. The pale, hard hand released the sword without a shred of hesitation. Fire gathered in its palm and reshaped itself into a spear. Just as it came down for his head, a golden chain shot in.
The spear stopped midair—
then scattered into flame and clung to the chain that had tried to block it.
In the same motion, he abandoned the spear and swung his leg instead, kicking Song Taewon hard across the head.
It all happened in an instant.
The gap in power and speed was unmistakable. Song Taewon’s body flew across the ground and rolled. The impact rattled his brain so hard he couldn’t get up right away. His hand scraped uselessly at the ground.
“I still can’t…”
see you.
Seong Hyunjae’s words cut off.
The blade sliced through the air again with a cold hiss. Beneath his feet, the ground had already burned and melted until even finding footing was difficult. Battle Precognition was no miracle. If it couldn’t keep up with the opponent’s speed, its value dropped with it.
KWA-GWAAANG!
Lightning kept crashing down.
But he had no opening to draw it in.
Butterflies scattered.
Flames danced.
The golden chain cracked and split, even its essence as light beginning to melt away. Seong Hyunjae’s body skidded a long distance across the sticky, ruined ground. His faded hair whipped aside. Then, with a brutal stomp, his foot drove into the blackened earth. Through the hand he slammed to the ground, he forced current directly into it.
BOOM!
The ground exploded.
Melted, burning earth blasted upward and obscured his attacker’s view. But only for a moment. The surging black flames swept it all away.
The black fire came straight for Seong Hyunjae.
He jerked back, but the edge of his coat still caught and burned. There wasn’t a single uninjured place left on him. He was surviving by inches now, hanging from a tightrope made of Battle Precognition and razor-sharp instincts.
‘This is bad.’
There were options. Not many, but some.
If he used the power he had gathered, the magic stones he had absorbed, he could probably hold his own. More or less.
But if he did that, everything that had piled up inside him would become that much harder to contain.
Maybe it would be better to die once instead.
For the briefest instant, Seong Hyunjae’s foot faltered.
The blade came for his throat without hesitation.
Then something grabbed him by the back of the neck.
His body was yanked backward as if thrown.
And then—
Claaang!
“Took you long enough to get out here.”
The Puppeteer’s hand had caught the fire-wreathed blade barehanded.
Beyond the swarm of butterflies, black eyes looked at him.
“You’re that Gardener bastard’s servant, aren’t you?”
–TL Notes–
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