Chapter 178 - Last Battle (1)

«Acceleration»!

The moment the giant bat's body shone, his distance from Mayday increased.

"Wait, if you go alone, what do you want me to do…? Wait for me!"

'No.'

If he were to get to Ain as fast as possible, he didn't have time to wait for Mayday.

Slam!

Many obstacles were falling on his way to the altar.

Sand, rocks, and fog…

'This isn't the time to watch my HP!'

The «Wind Barrier» wouldn't be of any help there.

Hyun decided to go through the most dangerous place.

The bat began flying through the middle of the two surfaces.

Soothing the bat that was screaming in pain, Hyun hoped it would be able to resist until they reached the floating island.

* * *

Asra Online has been serviced for more than 10 years.

NPCs and users fought all the time, so there were fighting strategies developed throughout the years.

With all of that, users investigated PvP the most.

[You've resisted!]

[You weren't able to resist!]

[Your speed has been reduced by 25%!]

[The damage of fire-type attacks has been reduced by 20%!]

[All your damage has been decreased by 15%!]

"Tsk…!"

Ain clenched her teeth after quickly reading the message window.

She had been able to resist two debuffs, but three still affected her.

She wasn't able to use her ultimate attack at the moment.

If Hyun hadn't told her to keep «Latent Potential Increase» up, she would be lacking in terms of speed and damage.

"What? Is she really under a debuff? She's moving faster than expected."

"It's an Agility increase buff!"

"It's okay! We were able to nullify it with the debuff. Everyone, attack!"

Paf! The opponents got into formation and moved.

At that moment, Ain stopped breathing for a short while.

'I'll die if I make a mistake…!'

Her extreme concentration told her there was danger coming from all sides.

There was someone trying to stab her from the front with a sword,

There was a dagger flying toward her from behind,

and an archer was aiming at her from a distance.

'Save the movement buff.'

She suddenly felt she was hearing Hyun's voice.

Ain left movement to her instincts and let her body move according to its memories.

The stabbing attack changed directions thrice in an instant.

Ain read its trajectory and brushed off the attacks, she twisted her waist and slipped past the dagger aimed at her back, and she purposefully didn’t dodge the arrows.

Each party had 8 members at a maximum.

She quickly realized the swordsman in front of her and the archers weren't in the same party.

"Ugh, damn!"

The swordsman let out a moan of pain.

Ain pulled his arm and interrupted his movements, so he received twice the damage.

"It hurts!"

"The damage is higher than expected!"

"She also has a magical power increase buff!"

"So she won't go down easily. Good. This is more like Ain."

Fwoosh- Fwoosh-!

The flames rising from both of Ain’s arms swung through the air.

There were feinting and off-beat movements mixed in with her attacks.

They were Ain's attack patterns she used in the past when she was a werewolf. No, her movements had improved compared to before.

Even though they'd used a damage debuff and were using passive defensive skills, the HP of those touched by Ain's flames was going down very fast. Everyone couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"I understand why we couldn't beat her in the past…"

"But we became stronger, too. We're able to face her with three people. Also, Ain became weaker compared to before!"

When Ain first appeared in Asrian, they couldn't easily believe that the violent werewolf was, in reality, a girl.

Everyone was sure the girl was Ain after fighting her, though.

'These are guys I used to see in Asra!'

On the other side, Ain had also finally understood everything.

Even though it was her first time seeing their faces, she knew who they were based on their movements.

'Am I going to lose?'

She found fighting harder than before.

It was obvious. It had only been five or six months since the servers opened. She still didn't have time to increase the difference in specs.

'No. If it's only resisting, I can do it.'

Ain knew she was at a disadvantage, but she didn't intend to give up.

She'd guaranteed it to Hyun… She had to resist no matter what.

'My body is hurting even though I didn't use the ultimate attack.'

From a certain point, Ain felt her body burning.

Even though she was in a dire situation, she thought of why she felt that way.

Thanks to the «Assimilation», she'd learned how Hyun treated Asrian. That probably influenced her.

Yes. She'd never felt so anxious before.

'I must do it!'

She quickly looked at the opponents in front of her.

Through the shadows on the floor, she even knew where the enemies behind her were.

She wasn't going to lose track of a single movement.

For the first time, Ain wasn't fighting to have fun but to survive.

"I'm recording it, so we better kill her slowly."

"Yes. Four people can comfortably kill her!"

"Okay, let's chain attack with four."

"Now!"

The moment they leaped forward…

Ain felt her body moving on its own.

With a precision that surprised even her, she pushed away the attacks pouring in from all directions.

To think she'd be able to block the attacks so perfectly despite not using «Efreet's Claws»…

"Good. We've managed to restrain her movements!"

But after using the «Steps of Incarnate», she was caught by a vine that rose from the ground.

At the same time, the four swordsmen were about to slash her from the front.

"Die!"

The swords swung in her direction while making whooshing sounds.

Ain tilted her hand and changed the direction of the sword's attack.

Redirecting attacks with the palms of her hands was a risky technique she'd used against Lattice… but it didn’t seem dangerous at that moment.

She was sure she'd be able to brush it away.

Paf! The sword hit the ground, but the chain attack wasn't over yet.

"…!"

Immediately after, Ain saw an arrow flying toward her through a different swordsman.

Attacks between party members passed through each other's bodies.

Five arrows infused with magical power went flying toward her from all four directions!

It was an attack that was hard to react to with a human’s limits.

Even Ain wasn't able to dodge the attacks.

[You've received 2552 damage!]

[You've received 2932 damage!]

[You've received 3175 damage!]

…

Still, she twisted her body and turned them into grazing hits.

The damage she received was greatly decreased due to the equipment given to her by Hyun, Recard's Devil Armor.

Her movements resembled a beast’s… The desperation she felt for the first time while playing Asrian allowed her to move like that.

'I'm still alive…!'

After the vine’s duration ended, she quickly moved off the dangerous area.

Everyone looked confused at what suddenly happened in front of them.

"Didn't she get hit with the ultimate attack up front?"

"Yes, I think so…"

"How did she survive…?"

Each attack had damage of over two hundred thousand.

She hadn’t used any special skills, but despite being hit with five of those attacks, she hadn't died. That was impossible unless you had a defensive stat of four digits.

'I must resist.'

Even though her HP had almost plummeted, Ain thought of ways to drag the time a bit more.

The enemies wouldn't be able to leave a variable behind and go up the altar.

As long as she was alive, Hyun's quest wouldn't fail.

"She’s just stalling now. Kill her."

In the end, the guild leader gave the order.

Ain hit the tankers to recover HP and resist a bit more, but…

The enemies soon realized what she was doing, so they changed the members out for long-range ones, and once again, Ain's HP plummeted.

"Finally…"

"We’re finally going to kill her!"

Every time they were about to complete a decisive quest in Asra, they were interrupted by Hyun and Ain.

The fact that they were able to take revenge had a lot of meaning to the Returner's Guild members.

Questions and doubts exploded from everywhere when they were about to finish her together.

"What?"

"Huh?"

After they saw her in Iluna, the Guild members thought they'd figured out all of Ain's skills.

But they remained cautious just in case she'd learned more skills.

Steel Rock was recording while making such an effort to be able to detect new skills.

"What's that?"

But it was their first time seeing such an effect since they started playing Asrian.

…They had also never seen it in Asra Online.

In front of everyone, Ain's body was being covered by pitch-black energy.

* * *

The top of the Darkness's land…

Scothanatos was looking at everything happening in his territory.

The appearance of the Knights, Darkness's awakening, the sadness and pain that she felt through Empathy, the movements of the Heavens users after the ceremony began, and their trying to interrupt the ceremony…

'If I couldn't understand it in the beginning…'

By using the strength of a powerful Duke, it wasn't hard to complete the ceremony, but Scothanatos only watched from a distance.

He'd received an order from a demon saying he shouldn't interrupt the natural course of events.

'Now… I think that I finally… understand the meaning behind it.'

The last part of the ceremony…

As the heart reached an incredibly high place, Darkness's ceremony began.

After her eyes opened, her Empathy was unlocked.

Scothanatos, who served Darkness, knew it because the soul's thread that connected them was re-established.

She knew where she was looking and what she was feeling.

'Bahmir… What did you bring…?'

In the past, Darkness looked at every underling in the same way.

To Darkness, even though he was a Duke, he was nothing more than a skeleton.

Why was it that she was only interested in one soul?

Scothanatos always believed he had no emotions, but for the first time, he discovered what jealousy was.

"Is it cause… and effect?"

Darkness’s reason for only having eyes for one soul…

He wasn't sure why, but it was probably related to why he shouldn't move.

"Hmm?"

At that moment, a new emotion flowed into Scothanatos's soul.

He felt Darkness's emotions through Empathy.

"This is… rage…!"

Scothanatos had a strong Empathy, so he was able to tell why Darkness felt that way.

It was because of the ten Heaven's users she saw when she opened her eyes.

Darkness was enraged after realizing her connection with one soul was almost cut forever.

She cared more about the well-being of a soul than her own safety…

"I also… don't understand this!"

Suddenly, he began wondering what cause and effect meant.

If it was something that a great demon said, there was no way he'd be able to understand it easily. In the end, he just had to watch from a distance as he'd been ordered to.

The skeleton's eyes constantly shone while he was immersed in thoughts.

* * *

Taing!

As the countless weapons that were leaping toward her were bounced away…

"Ugh…!"

"Is it a defensive skill?"

They backed off in surprise.

"It's a new skill!"

The last time Ain was seen in public was during Iluna's quest.

The Returner's Guild members had analyzed her skills, and they'd concluded that the skill that turned her into a fiery fox was her ultimate attack.

On top of that, they'd figured out her movement skills, HP absorption skills, and stat increase buffs.

They thought they'd figured out all of Ain's main attacks.

"What's up with that transformation…?"

"Does anyone know what that effect is?"

No one knew about a skill that turned your body pitch-black as if it were a shadow that didn't allow even the slightest bit of light.

The guild members subconsciously felt the danger and couldn't fathom attacking carelessly.

Ain also didn't move from her place, so there was a weird confrontation going on.

「You're late!」

「…」

Ain finally sighed in relief and complained, but she hesitated after realizing Hyun was acting strange.

「No… but… I'm not that late…!」

「…」

「I… I wasn't trying to blame you…」

It was at that moment that she heard a clear but low voice.

「I'm sorry.」

「…!」

Hyun's answer was quickly sent through the soul.

Ain felt that voice was chilly and cold as ice.

Was it because of the 'Blessing of Darkness' skill? Still, it felt different from that.

「I was expecting it, but I almost missed it.」

Hyun turned his head toward the top of the pyramid.

He looked at Louise, whose figure was obscured by Demonic Energy.

'This feeling just now…'

Darkness's Shadow realized her emotions faster than anyone else.

After the ceremony started, Hyun also realized that Darkness's empathic abilities were returning.

'I'm feeling it through Empathy, right?'

Hyun tried to Empathize with Louise's feelings.

What if the ceremony went wrong? The thought of not being able to see each other made her incredibly scared, so those that were trying to bother her should die.

Louise's will was constantly ringing inside his head.

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