Chapter 127: Irreversible (1)
Irreversible (1)
While studying the Shingfeng orb and the Great Heavenly Spirit, Kang Shin-hyuk's first thought was, 'What would happen if I placed them inside the Godslayer sword?' That idea came with some great results. After all, didn't the Godslayer sword show great results against Spine Rose when imbued with the Great Heavenly Spirit? The Shinfeng orb, however, was a little difficult to operate in this way. The reason was that the Shinfeng orb wasn't in perfect condition. Even now, its self-healing was progressing slowly. Unlike with the Great Heavenly Spirit, which boosted the sword to the SS-rank, with the Shinfeng orb, the best possible was S+.
'It's a bit soon to put it into the sword. The wind emanating from it is still...but can it be used?' How could he use it without placing it in the Godslayer sword? He couldn't think of a way to recover it yet, but should he keep looking? In the end, Kang Shin-hyuk found a simple yet effective answer.
That was, to use both beads at once.
"Once you put things aside..." He placed one hand into his inventory while he swung his other with the Venom Princess Soul. Five strands of thread, like a dragon's claw, raked across the monsters aiming at him. More began to appear around the S-class gate forming in the air, human-sized snakes moving through the air so fast they could be missed. They quickly made their way into the gate before Shin-hyuk could stop them.
"Where...cheh." Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that the S-class gate had opened here? The remaining monsters swarmed Kang Shin-hyuk, trying to impede his movements while the elite boss jumped through. He was able to kill them relatively easily because of that, but he could not catch the monsters that ran into the gate. The story might've been different if he could directly control the drone floating beside him, but the drone was programmed to focus on protecting him.
'Why are they trying to...? Entering a gate that's about to be released, even a monster wouldn't be safe...' He moved as fast as possible to guard the gate. Safely pulling out the two beads from his inventory, he activated them at once. The Shinfeng orb first created a strong wind of spiritual power, while the Great Heavenly Spirit absorbed it before it could explode. That continued to repeat, causing the wind energy to pile up inside the Great Heavenly Spirit as the S-class gate finally opened.
-The S-class Irregular Gate [Ancient Warrior's Shelter] has deteriorated due to external intrusion. Be careful!
'Deterioration? Is that because of those snakes?' Abandoning his persona as the Death Puppeteer, Kang Shin-hyuk prepared himself with the beads in hand.
[You have finally arrived.]
[Our time has come.]
An unpleasant voice assaulted Shin-hyuk's eardrums. Crawling out through the gate was a monster with the upper body of a muscular human and lower body of a snake.
-It is a Naga Warrior of at least S-rank. Be careful.
The Shinfeng orb continued to energize the Great Heavenly Spirit, and Kang Shin-hyuk thought it was ready to be shown off. A golden hue formed all over him as vicious scratches ran across his eyes through the mask.
[You look pretty strong. But...]
[Those things you hold look more special.]
"You should check your eyes." The snakes entered the gate of the ancient warrior and came out a naga. But it didn't matter; he was prepared to fight an S-rank monster the moment the gate opened. The change that had happened to the enemy couldn't be matched with just the Shinfeng orb, but now the change happening to him was much more dramatic than that. Kang Shin-hyuk held out both of his hands, and the naga fighters instinctively sensed the thread attack and held up their weapons in unison.
"You can't stand before a dragon."
[Ahhh!]
[Keek!]
It didn't matter if they tried to slash at it or block it with shields. None of their weapons could overcome the thread wrapped in golden wind, which had been imbued with the power of both the Great Heavenly Spirit and the Shinfeng orb to increase its power immensely. The power of Golden Dragon Fighter only further pushed it.
-5,000HP bonus for members who call themselves dragons!
"Don't do it... I'm ashamed of myself."
-3,000HP bonus!
There were times when the administrator's bonus was sent to make fun of Kang Shin-hyuk deliberately. Pouting a bit, he looked out at the damage he had caused. The ten strands of thread were pulled taut as they cut through everything in their tracks once more. Even the lightning web, which was only A-rank, had sliced through the bodies of the nagas with ease. The harmony between the Shinfeng orb, the Great Heavenly Spirit, and his own abilities was better than he thought.
[My skin and bones are harder than steel!]
[That treasure is amplifying his power!]
[If we can use it, we will be strong!]
The nagas were still aiming for the Shinfeng orb, thinking it was the true source of Kang Shin-hyuk's power. It would be easier to move that way, so he had no intention of correcting them.
"Try and take it!" The battle began in earnest as S-rank naga warriors and archers jumped out of the gate to attack him. Kang Shin-hyuk avoided the warriors' attacks, cutting them down one by one as the arrows were intercepted by the drone hovering around him. Thanks to that, he could safely ignore the archers for the most part.
[He's fast!]
[Perhaps the treasure amplifies his speed!]
They weren't wrong. The amplified wind, processed through his Wind Mastery, increased the power of his weapon as well as his speed.
[Let's kill him and take it!]
[Right now!]
The frenzied nagas came at him with swords, axes, sickles, and spears. But the more excited they became, the easier it was for Kang Shin-hyuk to deal with them. The gap between them only grew wider as his threads shot out. Lines of golden pierced the throats of several of them at once, quickly moving to block others right after.
"Slow!"
-Member, twist your lips, and let out a single laugh!
"No!"
-4,000HP bonus!
He felt a sigh in his soul as the lightning web and Venom Princess Soul continued to cut off the nagas. More arrows and spears came toward him, but they could not keep up with his accelerating movement.
[Kyak!]
[Kehe!]
Those who failed to stab him with spears were strangled by the lightning web, whereas the poisonous web sliced into the naga archers. Each kill gave him roughly 60,000HP, and now he had accumulated at least 50 million. He would have to spend some time later thinking about his next shopping trip.
[Kek! It's poisonous!]
[It won't let go...kahak?!]
The web's nature changed as he controlled it, being sticky at one point but sharp at another and then poisonous. He controlled it with a steel will, driving the nagas back. This situation should be unfavorable to Kang Shin-hyuk, given how outnumbered he was, but he was able to reduce the number of them without suffering much damage himself. If he had fought with his sword, it wouldn't have been possible to control the environment like this.
-Bartender's whisper: Shin-hyuk, more of them are arriving. Are you alright?!
-Yes, I have it under control.
-Bartender's whisper: Eleanor is coming. Oh, and...
-Yeah? I can finish it myself...
"...Wow!" While Kang Shin-hyuk tried to respond to Claire, he heard Eleanor rushing behind him and shouting. It wasn't just her. Combatants in Vanguard's guild uniform, and those wearing the same association outfit that he was, flocked to this place. It was an S-class gate, after all.
"I'm blocking it by myself!"
"Can I call you Shin Eun-hyuk? We will join you now!" With the members of Vanguard and the association, even an S-class gate could be handled with ease. It was an unexpected situation for Kang Shin-hyuk, who planned to erase the gate by himself.
'Rather, the spider webs would interfere with them...' Kang Shin-hyuk was driving the nagas around the gate, subtly completing his trap of spider webs all the while. If they joined in now, they would suffer as much damage as the naga.
"It can't be helped." He confirmed the energy-filled capacity of the Great Heavenly Spirit and decided to attack as it was. With the boost from his Golden Dragon, it might be enough. He motioned for those around him to stop flocking to the gate and then placed the Great Heavenly Spirit to his chest.
[Kaaahhhh!]
A naga archer fired off an arrow with all his might at the motionless Shin-hyuk. It shot past the drone, and Eleanor tried to block it by throwing her spear. It stopped in the air as if blocked by a wall before it could; however, at the same time, Shin-hyuk fell to the ground.
"The ground..."
"It's shining." A huge circle was shining around the gate. It was the poisonous spider web trap that Kang Shin-hyuk had been preparing during the battle, laid out in complex shapes that couldn't be recognized. There wasn't any special meaning to it; rather, he had just fired them off as much as he could.
"Done." He had experimented with it before, so he knew it was possible, but it was the first time he had exercised power over such a wide area. The poisonous spider web began to transform into spiritual power under Kang Shin-hyuk's guidance.
[A trap?!]
[A magic circle, is it some magic circle we don't know about?!]
[Gate...protect it! He hasn't come out yet!]
Only
The nagas moved to protect the gate as an unusual wind began to form around the whole area. This was what Kang Shin-hyuk had intended. He compressed the spiritual power, pushing his Wind Mastery to its limit to give the wind direction.
To make it infinitely fast.
And sharp.
To grind up everything.
[Kuoooooh!]
[The gate!]
A huge golden vortex that reached up to the sky formed, engulfing all the nagas as well as the gate.
It was the moment that a new unpleasant nickname, 'Golden Wind,' appeared for Kang Shin-hyuk.