Chapter 300: Gold Rush (4)
Wait, the appearance was delayed.
Originally, I should have burst out the moment Taejo pressed the device, but instead of Taejo’s intention to collapse this entire cave, we responded by stepping forward ourselves.
Honestly, even if 10 S-ranks came, I wouldn’t be afraid.
It seemed that Taejo had also considered blowing up the cave, but there was no need for that.
It’s enough to blow up the enemy.
The slight delay was due to the concern about ‘how should we appear’.
-Yumir, what do you think about the Dark Charisma stepping forward?
-Then I’m not going out. I’ll just lend you magic power from behind, so go alone.
-…….
After a moment of silent contemplation for the unintentionally snubbed Dark Charisma by Yumir.I set up a few tactics with Yumir, then immediately transformed into Hessed Black War Dragoon.
The message to Taejo through this is clear.
Gwang Ik Gong was connected to the Sephiroth Knights.
I thought it might be an appropriate hint to let them know that one of the Sephiroth Knights is Gwang Ik Gong—or a descendant of Gwang Ik Gong. Thus, I intentionally took the appearance of a Sephiroth Knight in front of Cheonma and Rasputin.
“What is this thing called the ‘Gate of Qliphoth’…?”
Cheonma tilted her head, and Rasputin bit her lower lip as if something came to mind.
What was Qliphoth?
In contrast to Sephiroth, if Sephiroth were angels, then Qliphoth were demons.
In other words, they were beings like demons to the Sephiroth Knights.
It was okay to give Taejo a hint through the appearance of the Sephiroth Knights, but I was worried about the justification for stepping forward, so I came up with a random one.
There was a demon in this underground.
[I will not let you open the gate.]
As Hessed, I equipped claws on both hands and charged forward.
“Where!”
Cheonma immediately rushed towards me.
My body tilted forward, and Cheonma’s face drew closer as she also lunged forward.
“I’ve always wanted to fight you! Hessed!”
Cheonma grinned as she brought her face closer to mine.
At the same time, she swung her right hand over her shoulder, gathering magic power to thrust her fist at me.
[What meaning does this fight have?]
“Pleasure!”
Although I tried to bewilder her with a plausible question, Cheonma began to smile even more broadly as I easily twisted my body to avoid her attack.
“The joy of winning a fight!”
[Is that your distortion?]
As her name implied, Cheonma was indeed addicted to battles.
The reason she fought with Tosin over the sea last time was because she preferred hand-to-hand combat.
[Then, I will correct that distortion.]
“!!”
Facing Cheonma, who was striking me with bare hands and feet, I thrust the Dragoon Killer forward.
Thunk!
The blade pierced the side of Cheonma’s clothes.
The blade only pierced the clothes, but unlike the time she kicked Taejo’s blade with her bare foot, Cheonma’s expression changed dramatically.
“This…!”
Unlike Taejo’s steel, this was not just steel, but a ‘magic blade’ that looked like steel.
Naturally, it was a clash of magic powers.
The blade of the Dragoon Killer was sharply honed, and it could easily cut through the mana shield protecting the body, even if it was Cheonma’s shield.
[Rest assured.]
After pushing the Dragoon Killer further in.
[I don’t intend to kill you.]
“!!”
Releasing my grip on the Dragoon Killer, I grabbed Cheonma’s clothes.
[But I don’t intend to let you go either.]
“!!”
Cheonma, who was suddenly grabbed by me, infused her feet with magic power and tried to kick me.
If she kicked me as she was, it wouldn’t just break my leg bones; it would sever my leg entirely.
[Where do you think you’re going?]
So, I took a big leap with one foot on the ground.
Cheonma’s kick swung widely below, and as she descended, I took the upper position.
[Too slow.]
Boom!
I shot magic power from my back and slammed Cheonma vertically into the ground.
Grabbing her clothes with one hand, I pressed her abdomen with my fist, and with the other hand, I thrust the Dragoon Killer’s blade into both sides of her neck.
Crunch!
Red blood began to flow from both sides of her neck.
As the blade cut through the mana shield protecting her body, thin blood started to flow from Cheonma’s neck.
“……Ha.”
[Stronger opponents than you… No, I don’t even need to say more.]
Subtly hinting that there were far stronger opponents than Cheonma, I pushed the Dragoon Killer further into both sides of her neck.
[If you move, your head will fly off.]
“…….”
No matter who, the neck was thinner than the head.
In special cases, Cheonma’s neck might be thicker than her head, but that’s not the case here.
As such, with the blade embedded right next to her neck, there’s no way to escape.
“…Why did the Sephiroth Knights appear?”
[You don’t need to know.]
“Is the ‘Gate of Qliphoth’ a gate through which demons emerge?”
[…….]
I wanted to say, “Don’t you even know that?” but remaining silent seemed like a good way to awaken her mind.
“Ha, a demon being born inside that gold lump? That’s nonsense… no, wait. Could it be…!”
Cheonma was talking to herself, answering her own questions.
“From the future…?”
She then provided the reasoning herself for why the Sephiroth Knight Hessed would come all the way here to stop anyone from touching the gold mine.
“So that’s it, that’s how it is….”
Just as I was about to speak, feeling that my line had been taken.
Boom!
A cloud of dust rose as something crashed into the wall.
“Cough, cough, cough…!”
[You’re weak.]
Through the dust, Rasputin, bleeding from the head, was panting, while Yumir, with golden magic power wrapped around one foot, leisurely lowered her foot and dusted her hands.
[You, who couldn’t even reach S-rank in Korea, trying to defeat me. Ridiculous.]
“You, damned…!”
[What? Thinking of becoming a demon because you feel like you’re losing?]
“……!!”
Ah.
That hit the mark.
Striking the anger, the shame, and the inferiority complex of the ability user perfectly.
Reaching for a cheat because you think you’d lose.
It was a statement that dealt a serious blow to the mind of an ability user, and naturally, Rasputin sublimated her anger into magic power and stood up.
“I will devour you, Demon Purifier…!!”
Whirring.
Magic power began to emerge from Rasputin’s body.
The mass of magic power gushing out from under her fluttering dress wriggled like tentacles, and the tentacles shot out between her legs and rose upwards.
[Ugh.]
Yumir openly expressed her disgust as soon as she saw it.
Everyone else felt the same, but Rasputin, who had revealed her magic in such an obscene form, confidently stroked the tentacle-wrapped column with her hand.
“Why? This is the secret to why I got the name Rasputin. The man who monopolizes the love of Russian women. Once you taste this, even men go crazy for it.”
[Are you in your right mind?]
“Of course. I’m in my right mind. This land made me this way.”
Rasputin grasped the spirally twisted bundle of tentacles with both hands as if holding a Gatling gun.
As she turned to the side and aimed the bundle of tentacles forward, it looked as if she was about to shoot a real Gatling gun.
“I’ll do everything you want in this damned country.”
[…….]
“Hey, do you know what my original alias was? It was ‘Crystalizer.’”
Before becoming Rasputin, her first alias was Crystalizer.
Now, it looked like tentacles, but to someone who didn’t know tentacles, it would look like writhing crystals.
“But you, the men of this country, insulted my ability! Calling me Tentacle Girl! Saying a woman carries tentacles around!”
[Uh, um.]
“I will take revenge on this country that insulted my ability! And with these tentacles, I will punish all those who insulted my ability….”
Slice.
The tips of the tentacles split open to the sides.
Instead of opening vertically like a snake’s mouth, they opened slightly to the sides like a crab’s mouth.
“With these tentacles, I will violate their filthy minds!”
[Ugh, really…!]
“Rolling Vulcan!!”
Ratatatatatatataㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ!!
Countless magic bullets began to pour out like a mountain, firing rapidly from the ends of the writhing crystals.
The barrage of bullets was unfortunately a murky color. I grabbed Cheonma and leaped back, pulling out the Dragoon Killer.
“What, what…!”
[Firing something like that indiscriminately. Tsk.]
Why was Rasputin treated as a villain?
Why did Rasputin never show herself publicly?
The reason was clear from her technique.
Ratatatatat.
The murky magic bullets scattered in all directions soon melted and covered the ground.
Like squid ink splattered everywhere, the white mana crystals flowed like liquid, sticking to everything they touched.
“My ability: crystallization of magic power, viscosity of magic power. And….”
“Ha, ha, ha!”
“My newly developed unique ability.”
One by one, those inside the cave began to breathe heavily and collapse.
The Chinese ability users, dressed similarly to Cheonma, all grabbed their lower parts and fell, while the ability users who came with Rasputin casually approached and started cuffing them.
“It’s a neurotoxin. Instead of paralyzing the body… You get it, right? If you’re a woman.”
[……!!]
Smirk.
As Yumir flinched and limped, Rasputin’s face twisted grotesquely.
“We’re taking all the gold here. Sephiroth? Qliphoth? I don’t care about those-”
Bang.
A lump of gold flew at Rasputin’s forehead.
A heavy lump, like a golden baseball, fell to the ground, and the one who threw it was none other than Yumir.
“How, even for an S-rank-”
[Such drugs don’t work on me. Because-]
Yumir glanced at me before extending her hand towards Rasputin.
[I’m always addicted.]
A light as bright as the sun instantly enveloped Rasputin.