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Chapter 279

“…Whoa.”

With a calm voice, Yuri looked up at the sky, exhaling a breath of admiration. Meanwhile, she grabbed the hilt of her sword at her waist.

“Ooh, this is nerve-wracking. To exude such immense energy and yet not feel an ounce of malice? That’s particularly interesting.”

While Yuri remained composed, igniting her hostility, Hyuk Mu-ryeon restrained his bubbling competitive spirit, biting back a sharp grin.

It must have dawned on him that their opponent regarded them as beings lesser than humans—or even termites.

Clack, clack, Hyuk Mu-ryeon sharpened his teeth, receiving a pitiful look from Yuri. As she watched him, Yuri raised her finger and pointed to the west of the clock tower.

“Stop your useless thoughts and go do what you’re supposed to do, rookie. You haven’t forgotten, have you? Our objective this time is not extermination, but repulsion.”

“Tch. I remember. I’ll take the west, and the old man will take the east. What about the rest?”

“Do you think Yeon-woo hasn’t thought of that? He’ll handle it, so don’t worry and just guard your area well.”

“Such trust in your disciple. Just so you know, old man, I can’t die here.”

At Hyuk Mu-ryeon’s provocation, Yuri, who had turned toward the east, suddenly stopped and smirked.

“Me?”

With a display of confidence bordering on arrogance, the two Aura Masters vanished. The four students, including Yeon-woo, who’d been gazing blankly at them, finally regained their senses.

Yeon-woo quickly clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Thank goodness! Those two remembered the priority of guarding the city and realized what they had to do!”

Dividing the city into sections was indeed a great idea. Finally, their brains, previously paralyzed under the pressure of the Demon King’s name, started working again.

“Alright, thanks to you two, we have a plan. Lord of Authority in the west, Master in the east. That leaves north and south. Luckily, we have someone for the north, so let’s focus on defending the south.”

As Yeon-woo spoke, the familiar energy of the vampire seemed to escape his surroundings.

Perfect. He thought of the team assignments as a success. Darius opened his mouth toward Yeon-woo.

“…Defense, huh? Didn’t you say repulsion?”

By the look on his face, he seemed less resistant than unsure about regional defense.

It was understandable. Given that his lineage was that of assassins, he would prefer offense over defense.

“I get that feeling, but can you reach that far with your blade?”

“…That’s true.”

Darius nodded at Yeon-woo’s raised finger pointing toward the sky.

Out of everyone here, even Yeon-woo couldn’t reach that domain without his wings expanded, so distant was their location.

“So we have to defend against the creature’s tentacles. Don’t think you can relax just because you’ve sliced or torn it. It regenerates quickly. It’s uncertain how long that will take, but while defending like that, it’s bound to come down. The real fight starts then.”

“So, we have to engage in an endless battle until it decides to come down?”

Just then, Baek In-hwa, who had been listening quietly, asked that question.

Thinking about it, he was right. It was easy to predict that this would not be a pleasant battle. Not that battling itself was ever enjoyable.

“Exactly. So, what? You can’t do it?”

That’s why Yeon-woo tossed out a casual provocation. He knew it would work effectively on the other two, if not Baek In-hwa.

“…If you do it, then I will too.”

“Seriously, you’re so annoying! Darius! Let’s smash that guy’s face flat!!”

“…….”

Great, it landed perfectly. Although Kim Yoo-min’s sudden burst of camaraderie twisted Darius’s expression, it wasn’t a problem. A little discomfort wouldn’t stop them from fighting.

“You really do handle simple-minded folks well.”

“It’s thanks to Namgung Seong.”

With a shoulder shrug, Yeon-woo looked up at the sky.

To be honest, this wasn’t the best lineup. It would have been great to have Namgung Seong, who excelled in aerial combat, or Je Gal Seong-ryong.

“Must be disappointing to get rejected.”

“What can you do when there’s work in the main household? Just have to accept it.”

Thinking of the apologetic expressions on the two’s faces, it was easy to guess that it wasn’t simply due to work.

There must have been some noise during the approval process from the family, resulting in their inability to obtain it. Being a minor branch of a powerful family brought unavoidable parts of that.

There was nothing Yeon-woo could do about the lord’s refusal to send them.

“Alright, we should also get in position. Even though we’ve divided the directions, Hwayeonsi is still quite spacious. It’s unreasonable to completely prevent destruction, but let’s do our best.”

“Yeah. Let’s do our best.”

At Baek In-hwa’s almost indifferent encouragement, Yeon-woo burst into laughter. Right, they had to do their best.

As he thought that and looked up at the sky, a multitude of tentacles poured down like ropes shaking from a ceiling.

“Ugh, if this isn’t a heavy rain warning, I don’t know what is.”

With the Doppleganger’s sword, he extended his Aura Blade and swung it at the rapidly approaching tentacles.

*

Crash!!

The tentacle sliced by Yeon-woo’s Aura Blade rolled right into the middle of the road, uprooting tiles. Pipes connected to the steam engine burst, and steam began to pour out.

Perhaps swept away by the severed tentacle, a painful scream echoed. However, Yeon-woo didn’t have the leisure to pay attention to it. Dozens of tentacles hung down from the sky like curtains.

From that daunting height, those overwhelming masses were being swung down. Although the impact would have been reduced upon colliding with Yeon-woo’s Aura Blade, to think about it coldly, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to have died.

Yet, Yeon-woo’s senses were persistently turned backward. He couldn’t just ignore it, so biting his lips tightly, he spoke to Tae-oh.

“Tae-oh, can you help that person out?!”

[The Hunters are helping, but if you say so, I’ll assist for a bit.]

Only after grasping Tae-oh’s buoyant response and the information that flowed into his mind could Yeon-woo finally concentrate forward.

After all, as long as people were alive, the city hadn’t completely fallen apart. Even if some facilities were wrecked and people could still live there, that was more than enough.

However, having no means or way to attack while merely swatting away the tentacles continuously could tire anyone’s spirits.

Yeon-woo, who prided himself on his patience, was starting to feel drained.

He was thinking to himself that it would come down eventually, but that thought brushed past his mind—what if it didn’t come down at all? Was it too optimistic to think the Demon King was bound by the limits of being a living being?

Countless falling tentacles, and not even attempting something but merely relying on the inertia of their fall, coupled with the fact that the tentacles were still ubiquitous in the sky, was incredibly daunting.

The overwhelming numbers wielded as a weapon.

Swinging his sword horizontally against the tentacles scything toward the ground, Yeon-woo delivered a grand slice, as if he were the fourth batter at the plate. His Aura Blade split the tentacle in two.

As the filthy blood sprayed, a shadow from Tae-oh cushioned the flying tentacle, slowing its descent. With that slight reprieve, Yeon-woo glanced at the battle situation.

In the west of the city, a sweltering aura burned countless tentacles with blaring heat.

In the east, before their speed even picked up, a blade of energy cut through the tentacles, shredding them before causing any damage to the city.

The north was surrounded by a dome of red liquid. No matter how many tentacles flew in, the moment they touched the dome, they melted away, becoming part of the blood that formed the dome.

In contrast, the students’ situation in the south was quite shabby. There was a barely visible web of mana in the sky.

Darius, crouched atop it, seemed to prefer restraining the tentacles with the web rather than directly using his sword against them.

Kim Yoo-min was responsible for stopping any tentacle that could easily tear through the web, a task reminiscent of his match against Christopher. Despite what looked like a structure entirely different from humans, Kim Yoo-min’s fists precisely struck at the right spots, halting the tentacles’ movements.

As for Baek In-hwa… there was little to say. Always quite similar. It made him wonder what it would feel like if the rope from the sky had frozen.

“…How long can we hold out?”

Ultimately, it came down to mental fortitude. The moment Yeon-woo and his crew thought it would be better for the citizens of Hwayeonsi to leave the city, they would have no reason to keep defending.

An uneasy countdown was ongoing. A rather unfun chicken game they were playing with the Demon King.

*

For some reason, the Demon King tilted her head in realization that her stomach wasn’t filling up.

It was puzzling. Normally, she could sit and wait, and the feeling of hunger would resolve itself, yet for some reason, it had persisted for hours.

Medusa would have normally waited it out, but having felt this kind of hunger for the first time in her life, she carefully peeked her head out.

Even without opening her eyes, she could tell. It was painfully clear to her that the ‘operation’ wasn’t proceeding as it should.

A delicious smell was wafting up from below, yet she couldn’t reach it—a torture for her.

Slowly, the disc carrying her began descending toward the ground. Ultimately, it was the Demon King who couldn’t stand it.

Compared to the Hunters guarding the city out of a sense of duty and justice, it might be natural for the Demon King, driven by a primal craving for food, to struggle.

The Demon King still hadn’t opened her eyes. However, she was secretly observing the situation through her partially opened eyelids.

The moment the world would come to a halt was drawing close.

(To be continued)

 

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