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Chapter 23
5 minutes later.
“Keheeek.”
“Kkeuk.”
The two sentinels sent by Calais were successively killed, their heads bursting from my attack.
I had transformed my right arm into the shape of a mace, and struck their heads directly with its heavy end.
It was a fatal blow conceived from the fact that the skull area of these sentries was particularly weak and thin.
“…….”
Calais, who had been watching me from a distance, took a slight step back.
Psst. Psssst.
Soon it began creating multiple clones of himself.
“Every time I see it, I’m jealous of this clone ability.”
Clap, clap.
I applauded towards Calais.
It was truly an enviable ability.
If I could deceive an opponent by creating another version of myself that looks exactly like me, my attack repertoire would become more diverse.
Paat!
Eventually, Calais and its clones scattered in three directions.
It seemed it intended to confuse me using its clones based on its quick mobility.
The attack capability of its clones was around 10% and not high, but not completely negligible either.
Therefore, if I were to leave an opening, there was a possibility of being hit by the coordinated attack of the main body and clones in an instant.
Of course, this would be the case if ordinary Awakener ones were facing Calais.
‘In the end, it’s just a bit of showing off.’
Not for me.
My altered eyes distinguish hallucinations, correct distortions, and can find enemies with infrared even in darkness.
So from the start, I noticed that Calais’s main body was moving to my right, and the ones in the front and left were fake.
However, it didn’t seem to know this, and tried to disrupt me by making his clones perform elaborate steps.
Calais, who looked like a kangaroo.
To obtain an artifact from this guy, I need to draw extreme emotions from him.
In other words, I need to create a situation where it feels like it’s going to die, forcing it to fight with all its might.
If I were to adopt the method of defeating ordinary Awakener ones by pressing down with multiple people’s damage,
While the attack might succeed, it would not drop the ‘Chaos of Calais’.
This is why numerous Awakener ones who tried to defeat Calais before me could not obtain the artifact.
‘In other words, I need to simultaneously stimulate extreme fear and challenge spirit.’
The conclusion is one.
Overwhelm, suppress, and stimulate.
Only by definitively pinning down Calais one-on-one will he feel fear towards me and respond with more venom.
A complex emotion of fear, venom, and fighting spirit.
This causes a special change within the body and finally creates the artifact.
I know this in such detail because Na Mi-na, who was the artifact owner in my previous life, had left a detailed review on her SNS.
She demonstrated the artifact’s efficiency and bragged so much!
I still vividly remember cursing several times back then.
Swish.
I immediately transformed my right arm back into a sword form.
While I can transform into various weapon forms, a sword remains the most versatile.
“Kyaaak!”
Eventually, Calais began rushing from three directions simultaneously.
I looked at the Calais on the left.
As if I had no idea about the main body’s location, I turned my gaze as if missing a step.
Perhaps because of this?
The main body’s Calais, seen from the corner of my eye, had a triumphant smile.
It was an expression that seemed to say, ‘The stupid Awakener one has fallen for it!’
I prepared to swing my sword blade towards the Calais on the left.
This is a fake.
I maintained only the minimum magic power required to keep my right arm transformed and concentrated half of the remaining magic power into my left arm.
“Kyaaaak!”
The clone Calais flew towards me with all its might, definitely catching my line of sight.
“…….”
The main body was calmly moving behind my back, quietly preparing to attack.
A change I could feel through presence and flow, even without looking back.
Right at that moment.
“Such tricks won’t work!”
I suddenly turned around with a movement that perfectly matched the word ‘suddenly’ and struck the Calais behind me with all my strength.
At that moment.
Paaang!
Through the numerous holes of the artifact gauntlet worn on my left hand, magic power exploded outwards.
An attack that uses high-intensity compressed magic power, released in one go through a narrow gap.
It was like pouring a water stream through a high-pressure hose.
Even with the same amount of magic power, its destructive power was considerable compared to simply releasing it into the air without an auxiliary device.
“Kuek!”
Had he completely not realized that I had already seen through the location of his main body from the start?
Calais couldn’t even take a defensive stance.
The released magic power ultimately and cleanly struck his chest without any obstacles.
Waddeuk!
A very clear, distinct sound of several bones breaking rang out.
Evidence that this attack was so unexpected that he couldn’t even think of blocking or dodging.
“Keheok!”
Calais’s body, losing its center of gravity, flew in a parabolic arc into the air.
With the main body struck, the clones lost control and scattered chaotically before soon disappearing.
‘I used quite a bit of magic power too.’
I had used half of my magic power reserves in the previous attack.
This was enough to be close to, if not quite a fatal technique.
‘It’s quick to learn and quick to respond. If I miss this opportunity, it’ll likely turn into a long battle.’
I watched him struggling in mid-air, trying to regain its balance somehow.
Calais’s terrifying aspect was its near-human intelligence, never falling for the same trick twice.
In other words, this could be the first and last chance.
Papat!
I immediately followed behind Calais.
I planned to definitively land an unexpected blow and end the battle early.
* * *
Beok! Ppaak! Ppaak!
“Kehek! Krehek! Keheok!”
Every time Kang Shin-hwa’s fist, transformed into an iron sphere, forcefully stabbed down from above, Calais’s two legs would rise and fall repeatedly.
Calais was dying.
Its ultimate move of clone technique had completely failed.
The Awakener ones who had come to its base before had struggled greatly dealing with its clones.
Their movements were too elaborate, and with no way to distinguish the real one, their firepower was dispersed.
But this opponent was different.
It deliberately took hits from the clones while precisely targeting the main body.
In fact, when its main body’s location was first exposed, it had naively thought it was just luck.
Although it was discovered, it thought it could just take a hit and counterattack.
But it was a perfect miscalculation.
The moment Calais was hit by the magic power released from Kang Shin-hwa’s left fist, it realized with its entire body that its leisurely judgment had become a crystallization of arrogance and misjudgment.
The thickest and most durable bones in its chest were completely cracked.
Some were broken inward, possibly piercing some internal organ, as blood would flow back every time he groaned.
Of course, Calais wasn’t just taking hits passively.
Even while being pinned down by Kang Shin-hwa, it somehow moved both hands to strike Kang Shin-hwa’s side.
But.Â
Teong! Teong!
The attacks came to nothing.
This was because Kang Shin-hwa had selectively reinforced only the targeted body parts using steel reinforcement.
Though it had clearly attacked with full force, Kang Shin-hwa didn’t even flinch.
If it were about punching, Calais was confident.
How many Awakener ones’ heads had he crushed, hearts burst, and intestines torn with these fists?
Some Awakener ones trembled in fear, calling Calais’s fists “nuclear fists”.
Naturally, no survivors had ever escaped from here.
But in front of Kang Shin-hwa, these punches were nothing more than baby punches.
Instead, when Calais attacked his side, Kang Shin-hwa added more momentum and struck like an iron ball.
Not only that.
Boom!
Crack.
“Ugh!”
The high-pressure magic released through his left arm caused fractures all over Calais’s body in a relatively disadvantageous position.
It felt like being crushed by a compressor.
No matter how much Calais’s body and skeleton were enhanced, it couldn’t withstand the tremendous concentrated pressure at a single point.
It was a two-track attack.
Kang Shin-hwa ruthlessly struck Calais’s face with the iron ball from his right arm, making it difficult for him to even regain its senses.
Using the magic discharge from his left arm, he systematically broke the joint areas such as elbows, wrists, knees, and shoulders.
As time passed, Calais’s body began to look like a rag doll.
Its arms and legs started bending in directions they should never bend.
“Kreuugh…”
Calais unknowingly let out a groan or cry filled with deep fear.
The human before him was far from ordinary. He was like the Grim Reaper himself!
Despite systematically destroying various parts of its body, there was no change in expression.
No victor’s pleasure or joy.
It was mechanically dismantling the body, breaking only the necessary parts.
Vicious one, demon, messenger of the underworld.
These descriptors endlessly circled in Calais’s mind as the source of fear.
When a boss monster dies, it will be resurrected with the dungeon’s reset over time.
But the boss monster is unaware of this fact.
It mistakenly believes this has been its territory all along.
So for Calais, Kang Shin-hwa was the first one to instill fear since establishing its base here.
It felt this was completely different from the numerous C and D- ranked Awakener it had killed with its own hands.
Extreme fear!
It was the source of shame that numbed its legs and made its entire body tremble.
“…!”
It didn’t want to die like this.
The opponent was just one person.
Though its body was broken and twisted, it could recover by drawing out its latent abilities.
This wasn’t something told to it, but an innate knowledge inherent to Calais.
The next moment.
Swoosh!
Calais exploded with red light in it eyes, dramatically pulling out its entire body’s energy.
Simultaneously, a grayish-white energy spread from its heart throughout its body.
Awakening.
An instant hidden card that quickly restored its entire body and regained its original abilities.
Just then.
Tap!
Calais stretched out its left hand with all its might and grabbed Kang Shin-hwa’s neck.
It was a threatening posture quite different from the helpless state just moments ago, revealing the boss monster’s dignity.
“In people’s fights, they always grab the opponent’s neck when they seem to be at a disadvantage. But my neck is made of steel.”
Crack crack.
Kang Shin-hwa’s neck, quickly steel-reinforced, stood firm, making Calais’s forceful grip look futile.
Creak. Crack.
Calais tried to apply maximum grip strength to pressure Kang Shin-hwa’s neck, but Kang Shin-hwa remained unaffected.
Instead, he was smiling.
And then.
Tap!
This time, Kang Shin-hwa grabbed Calais’s thick neck.
“I’ll do the same. What will you do now?”
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
The hand returned exactly the same way, roughly gripping Calais’s neck.
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