Chapter 145 - Citadel Invasion (3)

«Latent Potential Increase.>>

«Latent Potential Increase», which had reset after not fighting for a long period, began to stack on top of itself one by one, and Ain's body was covered by bloody-red energy.

«Prepared for Extinction!»

Next, «Efreet's Claws» appeared over both of her hands.

Ain stood on the train's roof, covered with all of the buffs.

«Efreet's Claws», which were covered with a blood-red aura, resembled a ship's figurehead.

Choo-!

Suddenly, the train started running at max speed.

As the light stretched horizontally, the party’s clothes began to flutter like flags.

Louise was having difficulty remaining standing because she had low Agility, so she crouched on the floor.

The only one who was free from the push of the wind was Ain.

Thanks to her, they still hadn't run into any great difficulties.

Fwoosh-!

The way Ain was facing all of the enemies alone did really make her look like Efreet.

As the flames spread through the train, it felt like it was receiving the fire's protection.

Surprisingly, a few golden lizards didn't die even after receiving two attacks from «Efreet's Claws».

They almost experienced trouble as the enemies stacked up, but…

«Invisibility».

When Hyun's skills were added to hers, all of Ain's attacks became critical hits.

Crack- The monsters were cut by the unseen claws and scattered away.

Monsters who had their limbs cut couldn't do anything against the train's speed and were blown away.

Ain soon voiced a complaint.

「I told you I don't need help! I was about to get three layers of magical power!」

「It was just in case, better safe than sorry.」

Fwoosh- The bloody aura surrounding Ain thickened.

Just like she said, it seemed like the «Latent Potential Increase» had reached the 3rd layer.

「Now I really don't need your help.」

「Okay.」

Hyun nodded and turned his head around.

Although Ain was blocking the front, that wasn't the case for behind.

A group of lizardmen that had gotten up from the back compartment was closing in on them.

A group of harpies was glaring at the group from the air.

Monsters with a bird's body and a human's head, the harpies that could engage in close-range combat and use magic were on a whole different level compared to the dumb ghosts.

'I guess I'll have to take care of the situation.'

The only one who could solve the situation was TarrTarr… No, him «Assimilated» to TarrTarr.

'Demonic Energy, 32,000!'

As TarrTarr's longsword drew a circle, a half-transparent shield appeared in the air.

To determine the reference point for inertia, Hyun hung the tip of the shield on the train's roof.

After that, the harpies launched their white sphere attack.

Pang!

It shook the floor and made a huge explosive sound. Smoke rose and filled the place.

As the smoke covered their fields of vision, the harpies began talking with each other.

'Did they die?'

'They seemed weak, so I guess so?'

'Cargo, is the cargo okay?!'

Harpies were on a whole different dimension compared to undead.

Not only could they talk with each other, but they also could make decisions.

If the intruders had died from that attack, there was no need to damage the cargo!

While thinking that, they got closer to the smoke.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, a giant black object flew out.

«Black Hole», 23,000 Demonic Energy!'

As Hyun pointed the longsword to the sky, an impressive point of absorption appeared.

GUOO.

The black hole absorbed the harpies and the lizards approaching them.

All of the monsters coming from the rear fell off the train in one attack.

'They're alive!'

'They're going to die soon anyway!'

But there were a lot of harpies that the black hole hadn't absorbed.

Whir-

White magical power began gathering in their mouths.

They were about to launch another round of the attack that had just shaken the train.

A half-transparent shield appeared as they were about to launch their attacks simultaneously.

How did he do it when the shield was supposed to have a cooldown?

'Fu, against enemies with intelligence, things like this work.'

TarrTarr's teeth showed as Hyun smiled.

It was the Shadow Linker's technique, «Illusion», that copied the effect of a skill.

The harpies weren't stupid; that's why something like that worked against them.

Hyun saw the spheres made of magical power disappear.

They were monsters, but they were intelligent enough to know when they should save up magical power.

'The shield isn't disappearing!'

'That black shield! How much can he use it?'

'It seems like he can keep using it!'

The harpies tried to change direction by flying, but every time they did that, a giant shield blocked their path.

'Let's just break it by attacking it together!'

'Yes, that sounds okay! Together!'

Pang!

Once again, they launched their attack, and because enough time had passed for the shield’s cooldown to reset, Hyun used the real one.

But that was a temporary solution.

Whir- Hyun soon saw they were about to launch a third round of attacks.

'I guess there's no other way.'

Tsk, Hyun clicked his tongue, «disassimilated», and used a certain item.

[You've put on the ‘Ring of the Executioner’!]

[You cannot take it off for the next 10 minutes!]

Froom-! Bullets of magical energy flew toward them.

It was at that moment when Hyun moved.

The spheres that were moving in a straight line entered the range of the ring and began to change their direction as if they had a will of their own.

Boom-!

The magic energy bullets curved inward into each other and created a huge explosion.

At that moment, the recoil of the explosion made the train tilt.

"Huh…?!"

"Ugh, it's going to flip…!"

Just as the rail's curvature increased, one wheel fell off the track.

As the train was about to fall…

«Shadow Run»!

Hyun used the movement skill and pressed on the roof, and the wheel returned to the rail and began running normally.

"Haa…"

He sighed in relief. When he turned around, he felt his heart sink.

'Why is she there?!'

He looked at Ain stepping on the flying harpies while swinging «Efreet's Claws».

Ain was falling after tearing the wings of a few.

«Wind Barrier»!

Hyun quickly used the skill, but Ain didn't step on it.

Fwoosh-!

A trail of fire that connected the sky and the train appeared.

Ain used her skill, «Steps of the Incarnate», and landed on top of the train.

「What are you doing? That was dangerous!」

"This much is okay. Hyun, you don't know how high my Agility stat is right now, right?!"

It seemed like she knew what Hyun was feeling. She proudly showed him the «Latent Potential Increase» had stacked six times.

Her smiling while being surrounded by a bloody aura and flames was exactly how you would think an Elemental Berserker looked.

「Even if your Agility is high…! Ooh, no.」

Hyun shook his head.

Ain didn't say anything wrong. Not only that, but she'd been of help.

Thanks to Ain's attack, the harpies were more careful than before.

Without relaxing, Hyun looked around.

'We should get down soon…'

The sound of the bell stopped. One or two lights in each building started to turn on.

That meant that high-level devils would start moving.

They were also being chased by wyverns.

As time went on, they'd even be followed by vampires, so if they remained still, they'd be devoured for sure.

But the train had barely passed the second whorl of rails. There was still a long way left before they reached the core.

'A little bit more!'

While Hyun was looking at the timer, he suddenly heard Mablen's voice.

Surprisingly, he'd followed the train moving at high speed while flying in bat form.

"I won't be able to go deeper…"

Mablen was following them because he was confident he'd be able to get out any time he wanted, but if he kept going a bit deeper, although he was one of the Duke’s closest aides, Mablen wasn't sure he'd be able to escape.

Once they got into the part with a more intense defense mechanism, he wouldn't be able to open a portal anymore.

"That's too bad. To think I wouldn’t be able to watch until the end."

Pang-!

A red portal that led to somewhere opened.

Lots of different magics were shot toward Mablen, but the strength of normal devils couldn't be compared to his. After all, Mablen was a story NPC.

Even while he disappeared through the portal, Hyun didn't seem to care.

No, he didn't have the mental space to care.

He knew instinctively that the most important moment was getting close.

「We're getting down soon. Everyone remembers, right?!」

「Yes, although I'm still not sure if that will work…」

「It will work.」

Salon shrugged when Ain countered his words.

「Hyun's plans haven’t failed us yet.」

「I see…」

「Everyone, don't say pointless things. Concentrate.」

Although it wasn't as massive as the outer part, the inner section was still quite big.

The train went through a bridge that cut the inner part of the castle in half.

It was time to move!

Kurrr.

There was an endless abyss beneath the bridge, so the devils couldn't get close to them.

「Remember what I told you? Once we get to the center, jump!」

「Jump here? Really?!」

TarrTarr looked at the abyss in surprise.

He didn't think too deeply about the plan when he’d first heard it, but after he saw it in real life, it was more impressive than he’d initially thought.

There was a seemingly bottomless abyss beneath them!

However, the cliff, which had a cross shape, was connected to the canal surrounding the core.

The only way to reach the core was starting from the beginning, going through the abyss, reaching the canal, and then jumping into it.

Strong elite monsters guarded the roads that could be walked.

「Follow me!」

When they reached the bridge's center, Hyun used «Assimilation» on TarrTarr and jumped toward the abyss.

«Wind Barrier»!

He created half-transparent walls and pathed a road in the sky.

The skill had a short cooldown time, but he could only maintain one at a time, so everyone had to land perfectly on top of it.

They'd received special training in preparation for that moment, but he wasn't sure if it had been effective or not.

Unlike when they had practiced, there were lots of devils flying toward them.

«Black Hole», 12,000 Demonic Energy!'

Hyun turned around and used TarrTarr's skill.

Guoo-.

A black sun appeared between the cracks of the cliff.

Unlike the sun of the symmetrical world, this one was a sun that absorbed everything.

Hundreds of devils trying to get through the cliff were dragged into the sun.

'Spirit Run!'

Then Hyun caused a spirit explosion in the middle of the black hole.

It was a debuff that decreased the moving speed.

The magic bomb’s explosion had a wide reach, so the devils probably wouldn't be able to follow them.

"Ugh…! I'm falling!"

Salon, who had lost his balance while trying to dodge a wyvern, exclaimed.

He was about to fall.

「Ain!」

「I know…!」

Ain used «Steps of the Incarnate», got close to him instantly, and grabbed Salon.

Slash-!

She stuck the claws on the walls of the cliff and then moved up again.

「What, don't hug me…!」

「U-Ugh… I'm sorry.」

Ain used the claws and grabbed Salon.

He wouldn't receive damage if they were in the same party, but it still didn't look good.

Salon looked as if the claws of a fire devil had trapped him.

「Ain, can you follow me?」

「Yes, go first!」

Hyun clenched his teeth.

Going first and making a way through the sky wasn't easy, so he didn't have time to wait for Ain and Salon, who had been left behind.

«Shield of Predation»!

Boom!

A dark wall blocked the bullets made of magical power.

Claws and explosions were rushing in all at once!

Trying to deal with a few flying devils was already hard enough; what would've happened if they had to face the ones that were on land as well?

They would have probably lasted only a few seconds.

____

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried for more updates!

____