Chapter 205
I was enjoying a honey-like rest atop Moskden’s corpse when suddenly…
Crunch. From the direction of the amusement park square came the sound of small footsteps. I cast a fleeting glance into the darkness.
“…Mos.”
Standing there, motionless, was a dark figure who muttered those words.
Under a wide-brimmed black hat, black goggles and a crow mask. A man in a tattered coat flapping in the wind.
It was Dyrus, the human-hunter from my memories, looking exactly the same as before.
“Does it please you?”
I casually tossed something toward Dyrus’ feet.
Thud. With a wet, squelching sound, it rolled across the ground – a piece of Moskden’s leg.
I grinned broadly at Dyrus, though I wasn’t sure myself if the expression was genuine or just an act anymore.
“I’ve been busting my ass preparing for you, kiddo.”
I taunted him with words similar to what I’d used against Moskden before.
Swoosh. The black goggles atop the crow mask turned toward me. I could see fiery red eyes blazing with madness underneath.
“You… you persecute the goddess, Mos, us… You’re a monster.”
Ssshh. Dyrus drew a familiar curved sword from inside his coat.
He crouched low, ready to spring at me at any moment. Once again, he assumed his characteristic dancing-like stance.
“We must kill you. Every last one of you. Monsters… die!”
I chuckled darkly as I slowly drew my twin swords.
‘So this is how you react.’
This guy never planned to surrender easily, not from the start.
This is an official statement from Park Jeong-yong: When people face a momentous failure, they typically either accept it or become enraged.
In his past life, Dyrus chose the latter. And once again, he’s doing the same now.
‘Remaining water ether… two.’
That’s plenty.
Even with only one, I’d have had victory over Dyrus, who no longer has any allies.
Ssshh. I pointed my twin swords at his face as I clenched them tightly. A mocking remark slipped from my lips.
“Good. Try and kill me.”
Kaang!
Dyrus and I clashed.
“This won’t be easy!!”
I poured in the remaining fire, earth, and wind ether all at once. With a much more refined body and senses, I quickly closed the distance between Dyrus and myself.
I charged into him far more aggressively than I had in my previous life, since I had a good grasp on his movement patterns, habits, and possible tactics.
“Extreme…!”
Dyrus detected something from my determined all-out charge and responded more passively than he had in his previous life.
Kaang, Kaang! He repeatedly blocked my attacks. However, the fierce counterattacks I’d experienced before were not forthcoming. It seemed he judged that I had some sort of ulterior motive.
‘Thank you for that.’
I planned to press this advantage and finish the fight, ensuring he didn’t have even a chance to attempt some trickery.
With that resolve, I swung my swords with even greater intensity. The sparks from blade meeting blade grew increasingly intense and fast-paced as they pressured Dyrus.
‘An opening!’
As soon as I noticed a gap in Dyrus’ defense, I quickly thrust my greatsword of doom into it.
Pwoosh! My greatsword, enveloped in flames, cut through the air in a surprise attack using my sword art, but Dyrus evaded with a spooky movement.
‘That strange motion of his is still annoying.’
Given that Prometheus didn’t manifest, it seemed this was not a refined skill but Dyrus’ own unique movement — a personal skill. It felt like I was being toyed with, which was incredibly frustrating.
Dyrus hastily put distance between us, cutting off a part of his coat that had caught fire. He began searching through his coat pockets to sprinkle something at me.
“That won’t work!!”
The moment I noticed his movement, I used instantaneous movement.
“Keipo…!”
Dyrus was already beginning his incantation for the explosion rune in the direction I had been in. But when I vanished instantly, he stared in shock.
Thud. Without completing the incantation, the runes of explosion rolled helplessly on the ground. A moment later, Dyrus turned his gaze toward me behind him.
“I’ve got you.”
And I was already prepared to stab my blade into Dyrus’ face.
Oooom. A skull mark floated above Dyrus’ head. The instant I saw it, I plunged my sword.
‘It’s over…!’
Just as I felt the triumph and began to smile, the beak of Dyrus’ crow mask creaked open, splitting in two.
Dyrus’ mouth, cracked open, was revealed. He had something clenched between his teeth.
“Huff!”
He spat whatever it was at me.
A thin, long steel needle.
Realizing what it was, my mind went blank.
Thud. The needle struck my left eye.
“Kaaaaaah!!”
An unimaginable pain and partial darkness invaded my mind.
Clang! I dropped my sword. I fell to the ground, rolling around madly.
‘Damn it…! I… I can’t let myself be shaken!!’
I’ve died and received wounds in countless ways, but having my eyeball gouged out while still alive was a first for even me.
No matter who I am, a new type of pain is bound to leave me shaken.
‘Is this… some sort of enhanced needle?!’
The earth ether is useless. This needle is undoubtedly magically enhanced like his pistol.
I have no time to be in pain. Dyrus is already regrouping and preparing to counterattack.
If I hesitate, I’ll die again! That can’t happen!!
“Huff, huff, huff…! Damn it, I’m Hahudon, Hahudon, Hahudon!!”
I took deep breaths and cleared my mind as much as possible. Then I quickly pulled the needle out of my eye.
Ssshh, a horrifying sensation as if the eyeball was being pulled out followed.
“Kaaaah…!”
Suppressing my groans, I immediately used the water ether.
A blue glow focused on my eye, and the pain disappeared. Soon, my lost vision returned as well.
Catching from the corner of my restored left eye, Dyrus’ coat flaps swayed in the wind.
“Damn it!!”
My body moved faster than I thought. I knelt low like a dog.
Whooosh. A curved sword passed right above my hair, leaving a chilly trace. It was a hair-raisingly close shave. If I hadn’t had Hero Sense, my head would’ve been lopped off at that spot.
“I admit it. You’re a real pain in the ass, huh. You got one on me.”
I used my sword art to draw the greatsword of doom that had fallen to the ground and mumbled those words.
‘Who would’ve thought you’d have another hidden trick up your sleeve.’
The continuous appearance of strange curved swords, explosible runes, and even the double-barrel pistol.
What’s astonishing is his ability to wield all these weapons so freely and skillfully.
‘If it comes to this…’
I need to change my strategy.
There’s still a possibility that I don’t know all of his weapons. If that’s the case, my current aggressive pressure tactic could be a mistake.
I narrowed my eyes and quickly created distance from Dyrus, while my mind was racing with thoughts.
‘Guide him to act exactly as he did in my past life!’
I understand this because I have the same skill set.
Since the explosion rune failed once already, the likelihood of him using it again is slim. That kid also knows the risks of repeating a revealed trick.
In that case, there’s one variable action I know. Guide him into using the double-barrel pistol. That’s why I’m creating distance.
“The monster must… be exterminated…”
Right on cue.
Dyrus recited the same mantra, stopping in place. He quickly pulled something out from between his coat sleeves.
I didn’t even look at what it was and immediately crouched down while infusing my weapon with mana.
“Instantaneous movement.”
Swoosh. My vision blinked momentarily as I positioned myself behind Dyrus.
Dyrus doesn’t panic like before. He turns around in the blink of an eye, pointing whatever he pulled out at where I appeared.
A pistol. The crimson-barreled double-barrel pistol was aimed at me.
“You’re done, kid.”
If I hadn’t known he had a pistol, and if I hadn’t realized his uncanny ability to detect my approach from behind, this exchange would have concluded with my defeat due to failing to foresee his move.
But my side saw through everything first. That’s why using the same trick again is dangerous.
“Stinger!”
Twang!
As the bastard fired one bullet from the pistol, I began my spell incantation.
The powerful energy beam fired at close range struck Dyrus’ wrist. Before he could fire two bullets, he dropped the pistol.
“Ugh…!”
In contrast, one of the bullets grazed past my lips and cut across my cheek.
Fsssh. A scarlet flash left a searing pain in its wake, cutting into my cheek’s flesh and splattering blood.
‘It hurts.’
But it’s not a fatal wound.
The pistol Dyrus was fumbling with flew in an arc through the air toward me.
“I’ve always wanted to say this line.”
Click. I caught the flying pistol.
I immediately pointed it accurately at Dyrus’ forehead. Oooom. A clear skull mark floated above Dyrus’ head.
A bullet that brushed past had shredded my lips. I let out a ghostly smile.
“…The sunset fades.”
Twang! The crimson streak pierced Dyrus’ forehead.
Was it due to the powerful effect linked to the hunting mark? Dyrus’ body hovered in the air for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground like a broken puppet.
Thud. Broken goggles and fragments of the crow mask scattered around chaotically.
“…Monster… die…”
Dyrus muttered vaguely with a blurred face and soon fell silent.
He was dead.
“”
Drops of blood seeped from the precise hole in Dyrus’ forehead. It spread widely across the ground with brain matter.
I stared silently at his corpse for a while before tossing the pistol carelessly onto it.
“Cut the trash.”
That marked the end of the long fight.
