River Goddess – Part 1
‘Huge.’
That was my first impression upon seeing the River Goddess.
She stood hundreds of meters tall.
Would the Statue of Liberty writhing to life look like that?
But this was far more dynamic—her body, made of surging rapids, radiated a terrifying pressure that crushed everything in every direction.
[Kuaaahhhh!]
A monstrous roar.
The vibrating soundwave whipped through the air.
The fish-men waiting near the trap, even the ones standing atop the altar, staggered under its weight and nearly collapsed to their knees.
Only I stood unaffected.
Thanks to traits like
[Vajra Body] [Indomitable] [One-Man Army]
I calmly raised my hand.
My left hand—specifically, my forearm—thrusting it forward as if to block out the sun.
“Let’s go!”
I roared, infusing mana into the call.
The arm guard clasped to my elbow burst into radiant light.
[You called?]
And out shot a dragon.
Much smaller than the River Goddess, but still easily over a hundred meters long.
The magic saddle activated, pulling me toward it.
I surged upward as though riding the wind, landing perfectly onto the saddle.
Click! Whirr!
Safety belts snapped out on their own and secured me.
We ascended, soaring into the sky.
[Dragon Knight]
The trait glowed brilliantly.
[Kuaaaahh!]
The River Goddess screamed again.
Her distorted, vaguely human face turned to lock eyes with me.
Two blazing blue lights flared from the center of her face.
She didn’t hesitate.
Unleashing her monstrous nature, she slammed her arm downward.
“Kyat!”
“Kieeek!”
Down below, the fish-men shouted something.
Unfortunately, their affinity to the river only activated underwater, so I couldn’t understand a word.
Didn’t matter.
I glared, pouring all my focus on the River Goddess, on her descending arm.
A massive tidal wave.
Or perhaps a wall of water spray.
A torrent imbued with immense divine power—so strong it felt almost demonic.
An all-encompassing river bombardment.
It filled my entire field of vision. It felt impossible to dodge.
But I—
My traits [Bright Eyes] and [Sixth Sense] found a path.
I triggered them immediately.
[Flash]
My body evaporated.
My mind burned hot and I shot upward, rapidly ascending.
Red and I both became lightning.
We became electric sparks.
No longer dragon and rider, but a phoenix—no, a thunderbird—piercing through the wall of water.
A single, thread-thin gap.
A crack as small as a needle hole.
We zigzagged through, ignoring all physical laws.
In a flash, we passed through and reached the back of the goddess’s head.
“Red!”
[Wraah!]
No need for a command in dragon tongue.
Red had already read my intent.
He gathered an enormous amount of mana and unleashed a breath of flame.
Not an ordinary dragon’s breath, nor the Dragon Sovereign Fire.
But the Supreme Flame Breath.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA!
Golden fire vaporized her watery body in an instant.
The River Goddess twisted her body in pain.
[Kyaaaagh!]
Steam rose in thick clouds, threatening to engulf the world.
But that was it.
Even though we struck her with the highest-tier trait, [Supreme Flame], all we had evaporated was the surface.
The River Goddess remained unscathed, and the elemental water forming her body was impossibly pure.
If this were a game, we might’ve shaved off… 0.1% of her HP?
[Kuaaaahh!]
The River Goddess turned around.
The blue light in her eyes deepened.
Then, as if expanding her body, she unleashed a barrage of water missiles from every inch of her form.
As if her entire body had become a multi-launch rocket system.
“Ugh!”
I yanked on the reins.
Red began evasive maneuvers in a frenzied pattern.
We flipped through the air using aerial maneuver skills, ignored inertia, launched forward, and used several blinks.
Should I block with [Celestial Wall]?
No need.
Today, my role isn’t tank.
It’s DPS.
“Kyaaaahhh!”
A scream echoed from somewhere.
And the River Goddess suddenly froze mid-attack.
One of the fish-men had sacrificed its own heart.
At that very moment, both Red and I spun around.
‘Nice timing.’
This was the moment we had waited for.
I had already prepared Hailstorm and Mountain Wail.
[Mana Soul] [Thor Cultivation Technique] [Bright Eyes]
[Dragon Knight] [Invincible Gun]
I opened fire with Hailstorm.
Pouring every ounce of mana into the attack.
Pop-pop-pop!
With a cheerful sound, ice grenades launched.
Crystal-clear rounds tore through the air.
With enhancements from [Invincible Gun] and [Gunplay], every single round struck the goddess’s head.
CRACK! CRUNCH!
Ice began to form.
Her head started to freeze.
It wasn’t much damage by itself.
Once she recovered, her pure elemental water would easily return the ice to its original state.
So I swapped out traits.
[Supreme Flame] [Mana Soul] [Thor Cultivation Technique]
[Magic Brain] [Dragon Knight] [Invincible Gun]
Switched out [Bright Eyes] for [Magic Brain].
Then I aimed Mountain Wail.
Just like when I fired it at the Polar Emperor.
Drawing not only my mana but Red’s as well, I focused it to the absolute limit.
As the goddess’s eye-lights, briefly snuffed, flickered back to life…
As a certainty echoed in my heart that this was the moment…
I pulled the trigger.
Swoosh!
A golden round streaked through the air.
Not a mana bullet—but a custom-built round infused with [Supreme Flame], prepared in advance during strategy planning.
The goddess’s eye-lights flickered in instability.
[Guaaaaah!]
Just before she shattered the ice with a roar.
Just before she broke the fragile binding and regained freedom.
The [Supreme Flame] round exploded.
Golden fire bloomed.
But that wasn’t all.
From the point of impact, golden lines spread out like a web—or like the circuits on a semiconductor chip.
Then came the explosion.
KWA-A-A-AANG!
Half her head was blown away.
Dissolving into steam.
Her brain burned, but I could live with that.
I shot a glance at the River Goddess and yanked the reins.
Swoosh!
It was close.
A massive column of water slammed down where Red had just been.
“Come chase me, you monster freak!”
Thunk! Thud-thud-thunk!
I unloaded another Hailstorm barrage.
Freezing the River Goddess here and there, provoking her.
[Kuaaaagh!]
The Goddess rose and lunged at me.
This wasn’t just a wall of water.
A colossal water giant—hundreds of meters tall—rose into the sky as a formless, monstrous shape and came crashing down.
Like Niagara Falls given life.
‘Crazy!’
And she moved at lightning speed.
That mass of water charged as if using [Flash].
My body’s hair bristled on its own.
If I hadn’t instinctively used [Flash], I’d have been swept into the torrent.
“Kyat!”
“Kiiik!”
The fish-men scrambled to flee.
It’s fine.
They’d already done their part.
Proof of that—misty mana with chilling energy was coiling around the Goddess.
Bingbaek Barrier had activated.
I quickly loaded Mountain Wail and gave the signal.
“[Now!]”
“Kyat! Kyaaaa!”
“Kiiiit!”
More death screams rang out.
The already-slowed River Goddess came to a complete halt.
The Council Chief, the Guard Captain, the Sage, the Priest, and the Administrator unleashed their attacks.
Magic missiles flew.
Mana shells exploded in flares of magical fire.
State-of-the-art rockets rained down on the River Goddess in a steady stream.
[Kiaaaaah!]
But the most effective damage was coming from me.
Pop pop pop! Fwooosh—BOOM!
By combining Hailstorm with the [Bingbaek] trait and Mountain Wail with [Supreme Flame].
Freeze her, shatter her, freeze her again, then vaporize.
Chunks blasted off, and whole sections of her body started hollowing out.
The pattern repeated.
She’d chase, get caught in the Bingbaek Barrier.
She’d attack, trigger a Supreme Flame trap.
At a glance, it looked like a clean boss strategy.
But I didn’t let my guard down.
‘Phase 2 is coming.’
Phase 1 was just a teaser.
The patterns were simple, and the attacks lacked precision.
Even in-game, I could’ve easily hit 100% evasion rate if I wanted.
And sure enough—
[Kuaaaaaargh!]
With a single scream, the frozen riverbed began to quake.
Looking down, I could see dozens of tiny bubble-like forms clinging to the surface.
The River Army.
An elemental legion of water spirits.
Phase 2 was all about infinite elemental summons.
Fwoosh!
And that’s not all.
The riverbed cracked, and four water giants burst upward.
Much smaller than the River Goddess, but each as tall as the Statue of Liberty.
Her clones.
Their combat power was around that of a Level 7 boss—not to be underestimated.
“Kyah!”
“Kii! Kiiit!”
The fish-men charged.
Surfing the current, they threw their spears, retrieved them, and threw again.
The Council Chief and Guard Captain.
They’re Warrior-types, so they should hold out well.
The Priest and the Sage—Priest-Mage hybrid—would support them.
CRACK! BOOM!
Bingbaek Barriers and Supreme Flame traps were triggering properly.
The modern weapons launched by the fish-men were steadily dealing damage too.
As for me?
No need to even mention it.
Still, even while unloading Hailstorm, even while firing Mountain Wail, I could feel something lacking.
‘Too weak.’
Sure, I was gradually whittling down the Goddess’s body.
But the problem was a finishing blow.
I had no way to directly strike the mana core, which had to be buried deep inside her body.
The original plan was to drain as much of her water as possible with Hailstorm and Mountain Wail, then strike her weakened form directly.
With the Nephilim Sword.
Not just ordinary Sword Qi—if I used the Black-and-White Sword Qi, I could definitely damage the mana core.
The problem was time.
We were absolutely running out of it.
“Kyah! Kiiiii!”
“Kyat! Kyah! Kyakyak!”
Look at the Council Chief and Guard Captain.
I told them to kite two clones each, but they’ve already been caught and are now in full-on melee.
The Priest and Sage were clearly reaching their limit.
They were chugging elixirs and high-grade mana potions like water, but it still wasn’t enough.
And the spirit army writhing beneath the river?
They were pounding on the ice like maniacs. It wouldn’t be long before they broke through.
And once that happened, it would essentially be our defeat.
The fish-men simply didn’t have the power to kite the spirit army.
‘My expectations were too high.’
I thought they could at least fight like Level 7 characters.
But if they were that capable, they’d have been recruitable NPCs in the game, right?
There’s always a reason some characters remain as NPCs.
I let go of expectations.
As I fired away, swapped traits, I also pushed my brain to the limit.
With help from [Magic Brain].
‘What do I do?’
I need something powerful—extremely powerful.
An attack that could pierce that massive water giant and hit the mana core in one blow.
Mountain Wail?
Impossible.
Even with special catalyst rounds and amplification from [Magic Brain], the damage output had a cap.
‘I have to use the sword.’
That thought came naturally.
But how?
She was still hundreds of meters tall.
Even if I drew the Black Tiger Sword and unleashed max Sword Qi, to her, it’d feel like being poked with a toothpick.
[Kuaaaaaang!]
I yanked the reins.
Red twisted his body, clearly irritated.
A water spear narrowly grazed past him.
Not a single scratch on his scales, but that seemed to piss him off.
[I’ll kill you!]
Without any command from me, Red opened his jaws and unleashed a blast of [Supreme Flame].
The golden fireball clumped together like a mine, like a bomb, and soared forward.
BOOM! BOOM!
Just then, the charging River Goddess was engulfed by the golden explosion.
“Kyaaaaah!”
A scream burst out at almost the same moment.
The River Goddess froze mid-motion.
And fell.
Crashing into the frozen river—right on top of a [Supreme Flame] trap.
Golden fire erupted again, and Red let out a triumphant roar as he opened his mouth wide.
[Eat this!]
Another round of Supreme Flame bombardment followed.
I silently watched the spectacle from above.
Red, roaring triumphantly, spewed fire.
Golden flames poured from his open jaws.
Because it descended almost vertically, the [Supreme Flame] breath looked like a single, massive sword.
‘A sword…’
My eyes narrowed instinctively.
A spark of inspiration—one thin thread of intuition—was scraping at my heart.
Tingling.
Teasing.
It felt like something was about to surface—just within reach if I reached out, yet flickering away like a mirage, like snowflakes floating before my eyes, brushing against my nose.
Then it hit me.
“Ah!”
An exclamation burst from my mouth.
I immediately shouted toward the fish-men.
“[Sacrifice! Full power!]”
We had agreed on this in advance.
If time grew short, they were to crush their hearts in succession.
Freeze the River Goddess in place, and I would find a way.
“Kyaaaagh!”
“Kryaaah!”
“Kyah! Kyaaaa!”
Screams exploded in an instant.
The fish-men, without hesitation, drove their spears into their hearts.
And as a result—
Just as the River Goddess was expanding her body again, she collapsed with a splash.
Her form locked onto the frozen riverbed, no longer a great elemental of water, but like a solid sculpture of it—rigid and unmoving.
It wouldn’t last long.
Even with elixirs, there’s a limit.
Take too many in succession, and you suffer small debuffs—and more than anything, they don’t fully heal the mind.
They can’t completely erase the trauma of dying and coming back.
“Phew…”
I drew a long breath.
Red mirrored me.
I could feel our minds clear.
Both mine and Red’s.
Slipping into an advanced state of focus, purging every stray thought.
Clang!
I drew the Black Tiger Sword.
Yeah.
I chose the path of the sword.
I trained Baek Sorin, Janet, and Kali to gather the Three Great Sword Arts.
So it didn’t matter how powerful Hailstorm or Mountain Wail were—this had to be decided with a sword.
Too small?
That’s fine.
If it’s small, I’ll make it bigger.
The materials were already within me.
Trait swap.
[Nephilim Sword] [Master of the Sword]
These two were the foundation.
[Mana Soul] [Thor Cultivation Technique]
These mana-type traits supported the sword traits.
But the core lay elsewhere.
[Dragon Knight]
My trait transferred to Red.
[Aaaaaah!]
Red sang—whether in bliss or frenzy, I couldn’t tell.
[Master of the Sword] included the union of sword and wielder.
Naturally, I became the sword—and Red became the sword.
Dragon and Dragon Knight.
The two became one—became a sword—black-and-white Sword Qi blazing across our entire beings.
Now for the final touch.
The peak of fire—the last trait.
[Supreme Flame]
Fire erupted.
Golden flame fused with the black-and-white Sword Qi.
The whole world turned to gold.
All I could feel was heat.
A heat so absolute, a mana so supreme, that it scorched me, scorched Red, scorched the entire world.
In that distant, searing blaze, a single will took form.
[Let’s go.]
[Let’s go.]
Red and I were the same.
We thought only one thing. One and only one.
BOOM!
Red flared his wings.
Or was it me that launched into the sky?
I didn’t know anymore.
I only knew one thing.
We had already pierced the River Goddess’s heart.
SPLASH!
Water exploded.
A soft, pale spray burst outward in all directions.
What erupted at the center was steam.
A thick, milky cloud of steam spread violently.
And there, at the center—I saw it.
A massive, massive mana core.
Untouched, uncracked, holding its shape perfectly as it reached out with mana to clutch at the river.
“Hmph.”
[Hmph.]
Red and I snorted in unison.
We charged again.
And again.
And again once more.
Then, one more for good measure.
My whole body hurt.
My heart felt hollow.
My head felt like it would split open.
Red’s beautiful red scales were cracked and torn.
But our eyes—Red’s and mine—still blazed with light.
And so—
After dozens of reckless strikes.
After hammering the mana core with a golden meteor—
CRACK.
The River Goddess’s mana core shattered.
–TL Notes–
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yoooooo gotta gain a new trait after that