Chapter 172 - Hunting a Holy Knight (1)

Hyun's explanation was missing how they were supposed to hunt a named NPC that was close to level 400.

Not only that, but his underlings were probably protecting him as well, so they would have to fight against dozens of Holy Knights along with him.

Hyun smiled mysteriously at Ain's question.

"That's no issue because… the Knight Squadron's captain is Shakron."

* * *

[Possession]

The one that «Pray»s is set to become like the one they pray to! The most familiar being will dwell in your body.

- You turn into the form of the Transcendent you've most recently Emphasized to.

- You can use the 'normal skill' that the Transcendent has.

- Duration: 30 minutes.

(※ Warning 1: If your trust with the target is shallow, the skill won't activate!)

(※ Warning 2: If the difference in power is too big, part of its strength will be sealed!)

[Cooldown Time: 360 hours]

He had previously been famous for his bad personality and had died due to it.

Predicting how such an NPC would react was easy for Hyun.

「That guy goes crazy whenever he sees a demon. He previously charged toward a demon who had received a fatal wound but ended up dying… Even if it's a servant-class demon who has used up most of its energy, a demon is still a demon.」

As expected, Shakron went crazy when he saw Louise, but the problem was that she wasn't Louise, but Ain.

Hyun had used «Possession» while using «Assimilation» on Ain and made her look like Louise.

Not only that, but thanks to the «Latent Potential Increase», he had Ain's agility through three layers of the buff.

「Ain, just as planned! You remember, right?」

Slash!

The sword of chains expanded and showed its sharp teeth.

A distance of hundreds of meters was closed in an instant!

…But Hyun had set up a trap—one that was strong enough to surprise an opponent overwhelmingly stronger than them.

「Good, he's coming. Let's escape!」

The first step was to move him away from the rest of the squadron.

If his underlings followed him before the hunt began, all Hyun’s plans would be ruined.

Shakron had, at that moment, just ordered the Knights to spread away, so, ironically, he had adjusted to Hyun's plans.

'Huh? Why is it so easy…?'

They'd successfully made the captain move away from the Knights.

After unintentionally clearing the first step of his plan, Hyun hesitated for a moment. Shakron fell for it so easily that Hyun began thinking it might be a reverse trap.

「Amazing! He's moving according to Hyun's plan!」

「Ehem. Well, this much is nothing…」

It didn't matter how much he thought about it… It didn't seem like a reverse trap…

He couldn't understand why Shakron fell for it so easily, so Hyun decided not to think about that anymore and moved to the next step.

Next, Hyun used Louise's skill, «Black Wind».

Whish-!

Wind pushed out from her body, so Ain could safely run through the fog, but that wasn't the case for Shakron.

Using the fog was the second step of Hyun's plan.

"Wind…?"

Whish- As a strong wind current surrounded Ain's body, Shakron's body narrowed.

Touching the black fog could be fatal, even to him.

Naturally, Shakron couldn't help but move carefully, and that passive attitude was what Hyun was after.

「Good. He won't be able to get us immediately!」

The opponent was an elite who was almost at level 400—if he tried his best to capture them, Hyun wasn't sure if they would be able to resist for even 10 seconds.

…But they were in Darkness’s territory. Louise had the advantage there.

Hyun purposely ran near an area with thick fog, so Shakron wouldn't be able to charge toward them without thinking about it twice.

Even considering all of that, escaping from Shakron wasn't easy.

"Ha. It doesn't matter what trick you use. You won't be able to reduce the strength gap!"

Pang! The chain blade moved, and the sound of a whip exploding was heard.

Rocks and trees turned into dust, and even the earth’s surface was turned upside down.

Ain was forced to jump to dodge the attack.

「Be careful. Another attack is coming.」

「I know…!」

Slash! The sharp flash of light changed direction as if it were a snake with a will.

—From a horizontal attack to a vertical one!

Ain was forced to use «Steps of the Incarnate» to dodge any further attacks.

"Die."

Shakron's eyes shone.

Wiggle. The wave of Sacred Power that started from his hand reached the end of the sword.

Slash! Simultaneously, the sword began dancing crazily.

The technique annihilated everything along its path. Unfortunately for Shakron, that path was nowhere near Ain and Hyun.

Hyun smiled after seeing the explosion of Sacred Power.

「He fell for it again.」

What Shakron saw was a shadow that resembled Ain—it was an illusion created by Hyun.

Thanks to the Shadow Linker's ability, Ain was covered by flames, and the shadow looked similar.

「The fake worked? But it shouldn't work against captains!」

「That's how desperate he is.」

After realizing that Darkness had lost most of her strength, Shakron was desperate to kill her as quickly as possible.

It didn't matter how much he swung the chains, Darkness easily slipped out through the fog.

It was all thanks to Ain being in charge of moving and Hyun calculating the cooldown time of skills very precisely.

She managed to slip out by a narrow margin.

Shakron was feeling annoyed and anxious because, although he was faster than her, he couldn't reduce the distance between them.

「Let's lure him there.」

The more Shakron acted like that, the calmer Hyun dragged Shakron into a deeper part of the fog for the last step of the plan.

「Where was it?!」

「Behind that hill.」

GUOO.

The fog suddenly turned into a thick current of water.

According to Rutia's explanation, the place was the aorta of the Darkness's land.

It was Hyun's plan to drag Shakron there from the beginning.

«Acceleration»!

Ain's body left an after-image. A silver light brush passed her cheek.

After realizing that, if things went on like that, he might lose Darkness again, Shakron started taking bigger risks and trying to attack from a closer distance.

「Hyun, I'm starting to feel worried!」

「We're almost there. It's right in front of us!」

At that moment…

Ain stepped over the «Wind Barrier» and stood on top of the fog's surface.

The floor was pitch-black. The entire place was surrounded by fog, so there was nowhere to step.

Even if Shakron was strong, he couldn't help but hesitate in front of the fog's surface.

"To think that there was a place like this…"

Shakron looked at the river of fog flowing at his feet.

Even Darkness was standing on top of the air, avoiding the fog… Was Darkness also scared of the fog?

That might be possible. After all, while escaping, Darkness had never gone through the fog. Because she'd lost her strength, there was a chance she couldn't face her old strength.

But still…

'This is dangerous.'

Shakron realized that he'd gone too deep.

If the fog didn't hurt Darkness, it was a battlefield where she had the advantage.

SSSS. On top of the fog river…

An alarm sounded in Shakron's head after he saw the smile on Darkness’s face.

'Tsk, there's nothing I can do about it. I must back off!'

If he tried to go farther, he would have to risk his life.

At that point, he had to either charge along with the Knight Squadron or destroy the Ruins of Darkness first if that wasn't possible.

KAAAA!

Shakron made his decision when he suddenly heard a scream from behind.

"What…?"

He took a deep breath after looking around.

Starting from a group of the weakest devils, the skeletons, there were bats in the sky, devils that looked like bulls, ghosts, dogs, wolves…

What he saw was a group of devils screaming while charging toward him.

"You lowly devils… Ha-ah!"

Shakron swung his sword. The sword chain increased to 20 meters in length and cut through the air.

As the Sacred Power shone, dozens of devils turned into dust, but even more devils filled their ranks.

"How could there be so many?!"

Since he’d entered the Underground, Shakron had realized that the devils were also scared of the fog.

He didn't consider them while chasing after Darkness because there weren't devils around the fog. Even if he encountered a few, he could always get rid of them instantly.

But… from where did so many of them appear?!

Fufu. Hyun was looking at the confused Shakron from a distance.

…

The last part of the plan was to make the devils move.

After the ceremony began, Hyun started to reach the high-ranking devils.

Thanks to «Possession», he got Louise's appearance and energy, so he used her authority.

It didn't take him long to find a ghost kid and ask it to take him toward a lich.

"You're the commander of this area. Right? Can you give an order to the rest?"

"Of course… Even if it isn't my order, there probably isn't anyone willing to go… against Darkness's will."

Because Louise had awakened Empathy for a short while, everyone remembered the energy Darkness had.

"But dear Darkness… How did you lose Empathy…?"

"What. Am I not Darkness to you now?"

"I didn't… mean that… I'm sorry for my rudeness…"

Things were about to go wrong, but in the end, the lich moved according to Hyun's will.

And they were witnessing the result.

"As the Darkness wishes…"

Boom!

As the liches attacked the earth simultaneously, a giant hole appeared near Shakron.

The shockwave made Shakron bounce toward the fog’s surface.

Pong! He tried to step into the air and get back into position.

「You won't be able to get out!」

There was no way Hyun would stand still while Shakron did that.

Shakron jumped into the sky to stop himself from drowning in the river of fog.

He didn't have support from the ground in the air, so the stats lost meaning.

Slash! As «Efreet's Claws» drew a half-moon, Shakron once again bounced away.

"Damn!"

Shakron soon realized that the fog under him was flowing down somewhere.

The end of the river was connected to a waterfall!

There were many areas where the fog cycle occurred around the aorta of the Darkness's canyon.

SWOOSH-!

The flow descending violently looked like a waterfall, and under that, there seemed to be only endless darkness.

It was at that moment that Shakron realized the situation was more dangerous than he initially thought.

"I command this to every soldier…! Stop what you're doing right now and gather in this place! Immediately…!"

The voice that spread thanks to the Sacred Power was sent to every member of the Knight Squadron.

But that order also reached Hyun and Ain's ears.

「There's probably a time limit. Can you do it?」

「If it's one-on-one… Yes!」

Most devils also couldn't reach under the waterfall, so it was on Hyun and Ain to finish up the rest.

Whir-

While descending to the waterfall and stepping on the «Wind Barrier», numerous colors began shining around Ain's body.

[You receive 30% less damage from Holy Attacks!]

[You recover 500 Demonic Energy every second!]

[Your defense has increased by 200%!]

"Although it's a lackluster magic… I hope you accept it…"

Kaa! Kaaa!

Using their flying abilities, the lich and bats that went flying down under the waterfall offered their support.

They'd offered numerous buffs and were supporting them.

「Ain, calm down. Don't hurry things.」

Shakron Neizer, one of the top five Holy Knights of the Holy Kingdom.

Hyun knew better than anyone how strong the top five Knights were.

Even though they had all the conditions, they couldn't say they had the advantage. Rather, they were finally on equal terms.

Shakron Neizer was that strong, after all.

「Even if you don't say it, I know that!」

Whish- The fog that poured like rain was scattered away by Louise's «Black Wind».

As that effect got mixed with the one of «Latent Potential Increase», it looked as if two layers of Demonic Energy were circling around Ain.

[Remaining time before Darkness recovers part of her Ego: 97 minutes 35 seconds]

Two hours was too long from the beginning. Once the Knights entered the Ruins of Darkness, there wouldn't be a way to drag out the time.

The only way was to advance beforehand and destroy the Knights.

That's right. If they lost the battle, it would be as if the main quest had failed.

「Okay, let's go.」

Pang!

The wind exploded, and the fog flowing under Ain's feet scattered around like water.

The hardest battle of the quest had just begun.

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