Chapter 330. The Grand Scheme (3)
“What the hell… What’s going on?”
-Rumble-
Akran, who’d tried to calm down the others back at the War Fortress, freaked out at the storm-like aura that was radiating from the distance.
Lightning shot down as thunder roared out.
From time to time, a vicious aura would burst forth and spread throughout the entire land.
One of the underlings near Akran asked him quietly,
“We… We’ll be fine, right? He said it wouldn’t eat ants.”
But Akran could not answer his underling.
Since he couldn’t be certain.
The crazed Ark-Roa’s vicious aura was too terrifying for them to drop their guards just yet.
The bloodthirsty aura it was letting out resembled an animal that had been injured.
Of course, he didn’t have to ponder for long.
Graaarrr!
‘… What the hell is that?’
Akran could see something dashing through the tundra in the distance.
He then realized what it was as he roared…
“Damn it! Prepare for battle!”
Akran swung out with his sword, staring at the black dog that was approaching them at a terrifying speed.
***
-Boooom!-
As Hansoo swung out with his spear.
-Rummblee-
A huge explosion ripped apart the red barrier in the sky.
And for a moment, people could see the sky through the hole in the barrier.
The red barrier, which had more than enough energy to incinerate dozens of people, chased after Hansoo.
-Crackle!-
-Kwaduk!-
Hansoo continued to walk forward while ripping apart the barrier with his Forked Lightning, and then he suddenly slammed at something that was embedded into the ground.
-Boooom!-
As the Rangkom’s Stake in the ground shook from the impact…
-Jijijijijik!-
… The red silk-like energy chasing after Hansoo abruptly disappeared.
‘Rank 25, Scarlet Hell. She learned a lot, huh?’
Plus, the Rangkom’s Stake had been gathering energy for two years.
Hansoo ripped apart the barrier, which had been created from the energy that was within the stake, and then muttered as he looked towards the direction Taehee had gone to.
‘I’m not sure what she’s planning.’
The Ark-Roa was there.
Which explained quite a lot of things.
Like how such a major beast like an Arc-Roa had been able to come this far down.
‘I guess I’ll need to hurry.’
-Boooom!-
Hansoo grasped onto Rangkom’s Stake and then dashed towards the distance.
***
“Ahh… Eres. Keldian… Kang… Tae. Clementine… Shin Taehee…”
The Ark-Roa continued to repeat the names viciously.
As his intellect rose up, the memories of his past were coming back.
Memories of going around the Abyss and deciding to get on the elevator to eat some tasty things.
Memories of having eaten a lot, but then being caught by those things. And then being beaten to the point of death.
The memory of it being forced down the elevator in its weakened state.
Memories of being sealed the moment it came down to the 4th Zone and then being shoved into that mana node thing.
As it looked at the person in front of it, all those memories flashed through its mind.
The aura inside that person was definitely one of the things that had sent it down here.
‘… I’m still far from healing.’
The Ark-Roa gritted its teeth as it glared at its opponent.
It had neither fully healed, nor had it suppressed the toxins in its body.
And those memories.
Memories of it being destroyed, despite being much more powerful back then.
The Ark-Roa only pondered for a moment before it came to a decision.
To escape.
Another powerful aura was quickly approaching this location.
And from what it could tell, those two were enemies.
As long as it could escape from this location, the being in front wouldn’t chase it down.
And after that, it just needed to heal up using the Hunting Dog it had sent out.
‘I don’t know why you appeared, but I’ll see you later.’
-Booom!-
The Ark-Roa quickly started to dash away.
Thousands of spikes, Demeter’s skill, rose up from the ground and towards the man ahead of it.
At the same time, the Ark-Roa’s hands spread out into the air.
-Crackle!-
-Swooosh!-
Zeus’s lightning shot out from its right hand, and the fog of Dionysus seeped out from its left.
Explosions occurred all around the Ark-Roa as the surroundings melted down.
But the Ark-Roa didn’t let down its guard as it continued to dash away.
-Swooosh!-
The space beneath the Ark-Roa folded into itself and was distorted.
Hermes’s skill: The God of the Skies.
Of course, the strength behind the skills were dimensions apart despite being the same exact skills.
-Zoooom!-
Space cracked apart as the Ark-Roa shot out hundreds of meters away in an instant.
But then-
-Kwadudududuuk!-
“Ahh!”
A hand reached out from the poisonous fog and grasped onto its neck.
-Bubble, Bubble-
The bubbling barrier destroyed the poisonous fog and the lightning.
It even started devouring them.
-Squeeze-
‘Grrrr…’
The hand tightened its grip on its neck.
It could not run like this.
The Ark-Roa looked towards the boy who had defended against its lightning and spikes, then used its right arm to smash down on the hand holding onto its neck.
-Booom!-
Though she had the Elemental Outfit and the Golden Demon Reinforcement, the Ark-Roa was not a weak beast at all.
A shockwave rang out from the wrist holding onto the Ark-Roa’s neck.
It would be better to just release the Ark-Roa and attack another body part instead of holding onto its neck and doing nothing. But Taehee continued to grasp its neck, making no move to attack.
No, she even smiled at the Ark-Roa and asked,
“Why are you in such a rush?”
“…?”
As she continued to look at the Ark-Roa, Taehee questioned Kael, who was watching all this from within his body.
— Are you sure? Are you really prepared for all this?
Then-
Kael, who had been watching the situation, took a deep breath and then nodded.
He’d been ready for this since the day he received the soul fragment.
He was just sad that he couldn’t avenge Jang Oh with his own hands.
‘I wanted to meet Clementine at least once…’
— Thank you for everything. And… I hope you succeed in the future.
Taehee smiled.
— It’s just like Jang Oh told me. You are strong. Good job.
Then-
Taehee, in control of Kael’s body, reached out with his left arm.
Towards the open mouth of the Ark-Roa.
-Kaaddadak!-
The Ark-Roa instinctively ripped apart the hand but was still shocked.
It had filled its mouth with mana in case the attack was aiming for its head.
But shockingly, the hand was destroyed far too easily.
The mana inside the hand had no power, deathly intent, or skills.
But while the Ark-Roa was thinking in confusion, feeling the sensation of energy it had devoured from the hand… Taehee felt Hansoo’s aura charging towards this location and said,
“Eat.”
Taehee then shoved Kael’s left arm into the Ark-Roa’s mouth.
-Crunch-
‘…?’
At first, the Ark-Roa was shocked by these actions, but soon smiled in glee.
Its intellect hadn’t evolved to the point of critical thinking just yet, so there was a limit to what it could determine.
In its mind, there was no reason to decline a free meal.
‘Eat.’
Then-
-Crunch-
-Kwaduk!-
Countless mouths extended out from various parts of the Ark-Roa and started to devour Taehee.
Anybody would be terrified at the sight of their own body being devoured, but Kael only made an expression of relief as he watched from inside.
‘… Good. Jang Oh, I’m coming. I’m sorry I ran away like a coward before.’
-Squirm-
-Crack-
The Ark-Roa made strange noises as it devoured the body, mind, and even the soul of Kael.
***
“Ahhhhh!”
Groaaaarr!
Everybody screamed at the catastrophe that was the black dog.
They were being devoured.
‘…Damn it! Even a dog is this strong now?!’
“Run! Fall back! Everybody split up and run!”
Akran quickly roared.
His decision to try and fight it had not been a good one.
It was not a simple beast.
It was a beast created by the Ark-Roa for the sole purpose of eating.
Of course, such a thing would be much more powerful than them.
It was on the same level as a transcendent.
‘Bastard… Bastard… Fucking bastard!’
Akran gritted his teeth as he ran away.
“Aahahhhh!”
“Uaaaahhh!”
Countless screams echoed out from the surroundings.
That beast was literally ignoring all attacks as it continued to devour them.
‘… We’ll be annihilated at this rate.’
But as Akran fell into despair, a miracle occurred.
-Boooom!-
Groaaar!
Five beams of light shot down from the skies and smashed into the giant black dog.
And as the black dog roared out from pain, four people landed next to Akran.
-Tatatata-
‘… Taesang? Wait, who are the others?’
But even before Akran could ask…
-Booom!-
… The man, Karhal, who seemed to be the leader, sent out another five beams of light and then spoke to Akran.
“We’ll stop it, so run away.”
“… Who are you?”
But as Taesang tried to explain…
“Oh, not me. I’ll leave this to the two of you.”
… Athena spoke to Karhal and Athena from the back.
And Taesang stopped for a moment.
He was a bit disappointed.
‘… I don’t even count, huh?’
He knew he was weak, but he felt sad that she wasn’t even interested in him at all.
Even more so since Athena was so beautiful too.
A woman who made his heart flutter the moment he saw her.
‘… Maybe if I become stronger.’
Taesang looked towards Athena and asked:
“… Where are you going?”
Athena smiled as she replied,
“I’m going to go help Mr. Hansoo.”
‘… She’s going there?’
Karhal mumbled as he looked towards the distance where that monster was residing.
He could sense the bloodthirsty aura that was sweeping towards them like a storm.
Though he knew Athena was stronger than himself, he didn’t believe she would dare to help.
Karhal asked Athena:
“… Do you guys know each other?”
If they had met earlier and had a special relationship, then helping in a situation like this made sense.
But Athena replied with a shy expression.
“No no, I’m uh… Just a fan. Ever since the 1st Zone.”
“… Hansoo surely has a lot of fans.”
But Taesang asked with a confused expression as he looked at the blushing Athena in front of him.
“1st Zone? I’ve never heard of someone like you, though.”
It had been two years since he’d come to this world.
Since she was beautiful and powerful, her name would have spread far and wide.
But Athena smiled.
“Of course, I arrived after you. This is my first year, you see. Shall I call you Senior?”
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