Chapter 55

Chapter 55.

Resonar Type 1’s blue-green body, which had been wriggling revoltingly, froze solid as it was.

It was an unapproachable divine authority worthy of the name Ultimate Skill.

“…!”

The Tankers, who had each been waiting tensely with their shields raised, swallowed in unison.

‘They said she suddenly grew stronger after the last raid, but this power is…!’

This was the new power of the Republic of Korea’s Guardian, Han Seol-ah!

In the brief silence.

A murmur mixed with excitement and relief began spreading through the Tanker line like an epidemic.

At that moment.

“Everyone!!!”

Kim Tae-wan, the Tanker unit leader, who had keenly read that slightly buoyant atmosphere, shouted with the veins in his neck bulging.

“Focus!”

Boom!

As if by agreement, the restless Tanker line struck their shields against the ground in unison, answering with a heavy grinding sound.

The discipline that had been about to scatter instantly hardened like rock.

Kim Tae-wan did not relax his tension.

‘If Resonar Type 1 is attacked, Type 2 will counterattack…!’

That was Resonar’s rule, ‘Echo: Reverberation!’

Whiiiiine!

A suffocating flame flickered from the body of Resonar Type 2, which was floating in the sky.

It was a flame that gave off an overwhelming threat, as if one’s skin would cook just by looking at it.

“As briefed!”

“As briefed!”

However, none of the Tankers panicked.

That was because this had been written in the Apostle’s strategy guide.

In front of the giant larva, a sphere filled with an enormous amount of compressed Mana appeared.

The air trembled, and a noise like a swarm of bees flying around could be heard.

Rooooar!

Along with an overwhelming heat wave that seemed capable of burning away all the oxygen in the area, a Flame Storm that dyed their vision red began to descend upon them.

“Raise your shields!”

“Raise them!”

As promised, the Tankers stepped forward.

Thud!

Then they thrust their shields up toward the sky with all their might.

The radiance emitted by the shield Artifacts covered the air above their allies’ heads.

“Special Mission Team, activate your abilities!”

“Hah!”

Flash! Flaaash!

The Special Mission Team was a team gathered from Tankers who had not been assigned shields.

They were Tankers who had awakened area-wide protection abilities!

The Special Mission Team squeezed their Mana to the limit and overlaid another area-wide barrier atop their allies’ shield curtain.

The remaining Tankers took out the Consumable Items they had been distributed from their pockets without the slightest disorder and gulped them down.

Kim Tae-wan also took out an Ogre Skin Potion from his pocket and drank it.

‘Good!’

Kim Tae-wan clenched his fist tightly.

Hot energy circulated through his blood vessels, and soon he felt the entirety of his skin harden and thicken like gray rock.

It was the effect of the Ogre Skin Potion.

The coordination between the shield team and the barrier team, as well as the simultaneous doping, all flowed as naturally as water.

Whoooooosh!

The enormous Flame Storm descending as it covered the sky came crashing down with enough force to turn everything into ash.

What remained now was…

To block it!

“Shieeeeelds!!”

Kim Tae-wan, who had been watching the Flame Storm strike down, shouted with all his might just before impact.

“Poooooower!!!”

“Hraaaap!”

“Haiyah!”

Boom! Boom! Kwaaaaang!

The Flame Storm mercilessly hammered and exploded against the curtain and barrier spread by the Tankers.

The shock wave overturned the ground, and heat they could not fully block pierced through the curtain and burned their skin.

“Grrrk!”

Painful groans came back like an echo.

Enduring that pain, someone shouted.

“If we fall back, our comrades die!”

“Hooooooold!!”

The Tankers pressed their shoulders and backs tightly against one another without leaving any gaps, enduring the pain of bones breaking and muscles tearing.

Everyone became one mass and desperately received the flames.

But it was not easy.

This was none other than the 94th Floor Break Boss.

Even if the attack from such a being was only on the level of a basic attack, there was no way it would be weak.

“Ghk!”

The few seconds during which the firestorm raged felt like eternity.

Just as the Tankers holding their shields up toward the sky were about to stagger and collapse.

‘Now!’

Kim Tae-wan, having sensed the signs of collapse, shouted as if vomiting blood.

“Healerrrrrrs!”

Flaaaash!

Above the heads of the Tanker line, packed as tightly as a turtle shell, dazzling, warm light of life poured down like a waterfall.

It was the moment Min Ji-hee’s judgment shone, as she had meticulously formed their formation to distribute the damage and make it easier to receive area-wide healing.

‘Whew!’

The shield formation, which had been swaying and about to collapse, regained its condition.

‘This is… a weakened ordinary attack?’

Kim Tae-wan gritted his teeth.

His skin, cooked by the sudden heat, stung.

‘They said they would adjust the power so we could somehow endure it once… and it really was true.’

From the simplified briefing, as far as Kim Tae-wan understood…

Resonar was a boss that counterattacked powerfully when hit.

However, if only the Status Effect of ‘Frost’ was applied without dealing any damage, it would not be judged as ‘being hit,’ so only a very ‘weak basic attack’ would come back…

And they had said that the attack would have enough power for the Tanker line to endure ‘just once.’

‘And this is only because Resonar Type 1 was bound so that it could not move at all….’

What if Han Seol-ah’s magic had failed to freeze Resonar Type 1 completely?

Type 1 on the ground and Type 2 in the sky would have attacked simultaneously, and under that merciless power, the Tanker line might have collapsed without enduring even a single second.

‘If even one thing had gone wrong… it would have been total annihilation.’

However.

There was one thing Kim Tae-wan had not expected.

Whiiiiine!

A horribly swelling sphere of flame began condensing once again near Resonar Type 2’s mouth.

The fact that Resonar’s earlier attack was on the level of a ‘basic attack’ meant…

That such a disaster-like attack could come flying in succession without even giving them time to breathe.

‘In-Insane!’

“R-Raise your shields!”

***

Resonar’s basic attack came out twice.

After all, storms were meant to surge twice.

I had expected the Tankers to endure the first one.

‘That is why I handed out all those items and Consumable Items.’

Fwoosh!

But they could not block the second one.

No matter how much they had been reinforced with equipment, the limits of human beings were clear.

‘Blocking it once was already a miracle.’

A group of A-to-C-rank Tankers had blocked one basic attack from the 94th Floor Break Boss?

That was miraculous news, enough for America to be thrown into chaos and Japan to tremble nervously.

Then who would block the second basic attack?

The card I had prepared would block it.

“Go, Lee A-un.”

Lee A-un, who had been holding his breath among the Tankers, protruded forward in time with the moment.

At the same time, the warriors who had awakened ‘superstrength-type’ traits grabbed Lee A-un’s feet and swelled their muscles as if they were about to burst.

“Throoooooow him!!”

He flew into the sky.

Boom!

Along with the sound of the ground caving in, Lee A-un was launched at tremendous speed like an anti-air missile.

As I watched that scene, I cast one Authority spell.

[You have four shots left.]

“Authority: Ocean of Blood.”

Craaaack—

Mana spread out like a tidal wave from beneath my feet, covering the ground in the area with a writhing blood-red swamp.

It was the level 60 advanced magic that borrowed the Blood Mage’s Ultimate Skill, the same magic I had tried using in the basement.

Its ability was simple.

It covered the ground within a certain area with magical blood for 15 seconds.

Allies located on the blood area recovered a certain amount of lost Health and Mana per second.

Enemies had their movement speed greatly reduced.

The first objective was to recover the Tankers, whose condition had greatly deteriorated from the previous strike.

The second objective was….

“Show them your ability.”

To make the summons Lee A-un would call forth a little sturdier.

***

[Now, insect! This is the moment!]

The skeleton knight in his pocket, ‘Ratty,’ thumped Lee A-un’s chest.

“Yes, Instructor!”

Lee A-un, who had leapt high into the sky, operated his dark Mana with all his might.

Mana flowed along the still-throbbing wounds.

A tearing pain surged through his yet-unhealed wounds and blood vessels, but Lee A-un gritted his teeth hard enough to crush them and forcibly opened a path for his dark Mana.

“Huuuuup!”

[Concentrate! If you fail, you die!]

‘I know!’

Instead of answering, Lee A-un screamed with all his might inside his heart and released all of his strength.

“Summon Elemental!”

The beginning was the power of a Spirit Sorcerer.

Kyaaaaaa!

Dark Mana surged out from within Lee A-un’s body.

The Mana took on a murky light in midair and ripened, then began to take form as spirits that had lost their clear essence and become bizarrely altered.

Those mutant spirits became two, four, eight, sixteen, as if cells were multiplying….

They replicated at an incredible speed and began covering the sky.

The spirits discovered the Flame Storm threatening their master and charged toward it bravely at frightening speed.

Pop! Boom!

Even at that moment, countless lowest-grade spirits were dividing.

Boom, boom, boom!

They charged in and burst apart.

The support of ‘Authority: Ocean of Blood’ spread across the ground proved effective.

That was because the spirits, which should have ended with one explosion, had evolved into a form where they revived just before death and caused one more explosion.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

A desperate chain of self-detonations continued, as if trying not to leave even the remnants of the flames behind.

[It is not enough!]

“Hraaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Poke! Poke!

[Your rotation is slowing! Here! Here!]

Ratty guided his Mana by stinging him with the toothpick.

“Inhale.”

The promised timing was approaching.

Lee A-un took a deep breath.

His speed as he flew into the sky against gravity gradually slowed, and at last, the moment he stopped in midair.

[Prepare!]

“!”

Lee A-un, who had been focusing all his mind on Ratty’s instructions, stopped right when he was wildly pouring out dark Mana to feed the lowest-grade spirits.

Then he began compressing Mana into one place.

Hssssss!

From Lee A-un’s entire body, black fog-like dark energy seeped out thickly.

In that very brief instant before his rising speed slowly died and gravity reversed.

In a weightless space where the world seemed to have stopped, just as Lee A-un’s body slowly began to tilt downward.

[Now!]

“Skeleton Summon!”

Flash!

The compressed dark Mana burst out and roughly seeped into the remains of the lowest-grade spirits scattered through the air.

Rattle, rattle, rattle!

White bones burst out from the remains infused with Mana and tangled together.

The spirit corpses filling the air transformed into thousands of skeleton soldiers in an instant, completing the formation of a skeleton army.

That place was right in front of the Flame Storm.

The skeleton legion silently threw their bodies toward the flames.

Crunch! Crack!

The heaps of bones pouring down touched the Flame Storm and were shattered and burned in countless numbers.

At a glance, it looked like a useless sacrifice, but….

Rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle, rattle!

The number of skeletons being generated was enormous.

Skeleton Summon was a beginner magic learned by the Bone Dragon Master, a lower class of the Deathlord, that raised skeleton soldiers from corpses or remains.

There were many remains left behind by the lowest-grade spirits in the sky.

Moreover, because they had exploded twice due to the power of the Authority, the accumulated remains amounted to two people’s worth!

‘Hehehe…! Double the skeletons!’

Rooooar!

After endlessly grinding spirits and skeletons into Consumable Items like that.

Hissssss!

The Flame Storm, suffocated by the endlessly pouring sacrifices of skeletons, ultimately failed to reach the Tankers on the ground and scattered into black ash in midair.

“Catch him! Catch him no matter what!”

Toward Lee A-un, who had exhausted all his Mana and was dropping helplessly, the Tankers waiting below even threw away their shields and desperately rushed in, forming layers of human cushions.

Lee A-un fell onto them with a thud.

[You endured well, insect.]

On Lee A-un’s battered chest, Ratty gave a sharp military salute as if proud.

“Heh… hehe….”

Lee A-un felt proud.

As the price for operating dark Mana to the extreme, Lee A-un’s skin was splitting mercilessly, and blood was pouring out.

“My… nickname… Blood Clot….”

[…That is exactly what you look like right now.]

“Heh… hehehe….”

Thud.

Proud that he had protected everyone, Lee A-un grinned while showing his blood-red teeth, then his head drooped weakly.

It was a majestic fainting.

***

“It worked.”

Good work, Lee A-un.

At first, I had also considered making the most out of Lee A-un’s talent for ‘reflection.’

But considering Lee A-un’s rate of growth, I quickly judged that it was absolutely impossible.

Right now, Lee A-un was weak enough to burst and die from a single sneeze from Resonar.

Of course, that did not mean Lee A-un was useless.

The Deathlord had been judged by Earth’s system as an officially recognized EX-rank ability.

Moreover, with Dual Class, he had also received an A-rank Spirit Sorcerer.

System-wise, Lee A-un possessed enough power to be classified as EX-rank.

He was simply not prepared enough to fully open his power yet.

‘It is only a matter of time.’

Grrrrrr—

Resonar sagged while making a strange sound.

Resonar was a ‘gimmick-type’ boss.

A boss with a clear concept, and a style that developed that concept to the extreme.

In particular, Resonar was a vicious bastard that could never be defeated without knowing the strategy.

On the other hand, if one knew the strategy?

That meant it was the kind of boss from which a ‘fatal weakness’ could be drawn out.

The first method for conquering Resonar.

If one sealed one of its core rules, ‘Reverberation,’ it would become powerless for a short time.

Just like now, when Han Seol-ah had sealed Reverberation with a perfect opening!

‘It is in a groggy state!’

I stretched my hand into the air and drew the structure of the magic I would drive into it.

“Fatal Hex.”

It was the Deathlord’s level 20 intermediate magic.

Vwoooooong!

An enormous spear of black magic, trembling ominously, formed in midair.

Flash!

The spear shot forward in a straight line like an arrow and pierced deep into Resonar Type 2’s enormous body.

—Kiaaaaaaaaak!

A horrible scream that tore at the eardrums rang across the battlefield.

When the boss, which had been quietly in its groggy state, screamed, Min Ji-hee’s shocked voice immediately struck my ear.

[A-Apostle?!?!]

‘Do not worry, Min Ji-hee.’

Vwoooooong—

Resonar Type 2 cried as though in agony.

Ordinarily, Resonar Type 1 on the ground would have immediately gone berserk and fired an enormously strengthened beam, slaughtering all the Hunters on the ground.

‘It is fine.’

Right now, this was the rightful damage window obtained as the reward for clearing Resonar’s gimmick.

At this moment alone, ‘Reverberation’ would not operate.

“No matter how much you whine and cry now, your brother cannot hear you.”

You scat-mob bastard.

As Fatal Hex dispersed, a hideously pulsing black curse mark was engraved on Resonar’s blue-green skin.

It was proof that the ‘magic defense reduction’ debuff characteristic of Fatal Hex had been applied.

I stretched my hand forward and drew up the next magic that would cut off its breath.

Whooooong!

Mana resonated according to my will, and pitch-black darkness surged from my entire body.

A class specialized in plagues, diseases, and damage-over-time.

Plague Doctor.

Befitting that class’s characteristics, its Ultimate Skill was magic that scattered the ultimate plague.

The name of that plague was ‘Plague of the Apocalypse.’

Its effect was fixed damage proportional to maximum Health that continued until death, nullifying healing effects….

It was an ‘area-wide annihilation skill’ that widely scattered a disease guaranteed to kill the opponent once infected.

The magic that turned that Ultimate Skill into an Authority.

“Authority: Pestilence.”

A cloud of deathly plague covered Resonar Type 2.

Wooooooooh!

The giant larva let out a scream full of agony.

Fatal Hex’s magic resistance reduction.

Pestilence’s ‘guaranteed-to-kill’ plague.

Since it had been hit by this combo, that thing would soon die.

***

“Apostle?!”

At last, the Apostle had begun killing Resonar Type 2.

Watching the situation, Min Ji-hee let out a scream-like shout.

The second core method for conquering Resonar.

—Never kill Resonar.

Do not kill Resonar, which absolutely had to be subjugated?

It was an absurd strategy, but it was a countermeasure to prevent the activation of Resonar’s second core rule.

Resonar’s second rule.

‘Echo: Resonance.’

Even if a single individual was destroyed by a fatal attack, if the opposite individual was still alive, it would immediately resurrect in its intact form from before it took damage.

It was on a different track from ‘recovery-type’ effects such as regeneration or reconstruction.

It was a ‘complete resurrection’ that occurred at the moment of death!

There was only one way to stop it.

Type 1 and Type 2 had to be killed ‘simultaneously.’

And yet, right now, the Apostle was clearly trying to kill Type 2!

Min Ji-hee stamped her feet anxiously.

The Apostle had only briefed Min Ji-hee and the operations team up to sealing Resonar Type 1, then blocking Type 2’s subsequent ‘Flame Storm.’

When Min Ji-hee had asked what would happen after that, what had the Apostle answered?

—I will handle it.

“It revives the moment it dies! There is no way you do not know that…!”

If Resonar Type 2 revived, the opportunity they had obtained by completely sealing Type 1 would vanish in vain!

***

—Wooong…!

Less than ten seconds after being hit by the plague combo, Resonar Type 2 let out its final death throes and slumped.

‘It is done.’

A common trait of these extreme gimmick-type bosses.

Because all their stats were focused entirely on their gimmicks, their durability itself was pathetic.

‘The plague combo is horribly strong too.’

Damage proportional to maximum Health was always a fatal weakness for bosses.

And as I watched Resonar’s life response slowly fade away…

I was watching it in a world that had slowed to the extreme.

The movement of a single speck of dust scattering in the wind, and the creature’s dreadful screams of pain, split grotesquely like a stretched-out tape and circled my ears.

The split-second process of death swallowing its body was engraved clearly in my eyes, frame by frame.

It was a trick I had learned before while manually operating Frost Type Mana to the utmost limit.

If one poured an enormous amount of Mana into the brain, perceived time slowed doooooown tremendously.

‘Min Ji-hee must be very worried.’

I felt sorry for Min Ji-hee, but I could not explain everything.

After Resonar Type 2 died.

In less than 0.01 seconds of perceived time, in a truly split-second timing.

How could I tell Min Ji-hee that if I failed to hit that timing, it would mean the Republic of Korea closing up shop?

‘She would have foamed at the mouth and opposed it.’

In a slowed world where one second felt like years.

After a very long wait… the moment came when Resonar Type 2’s life ended.

Twinkle—

The omen of resurrection.

‘I have been waiting.’

Do you know this?

Resurrection comes after ‘death.’

And I…

Had Grand Magic that governed ‘death.’

Deathlord.

Level 99, Ultimate Skill.

Grand Necromancy.

“Great Harvest.”

No matter how brief the instant of death was.

Since you have stepped into death.

—You are mine now.