Chapter 149

Chapter 149

“What is that?”

Elder Go’s eyes widened.

Damian had clearly been human.

Although he had worn an item called Prism Armor, his essence had remained human to the end. But the Damian standing before Elder Go now had changed so much that he could no longer be called human.

It was not merely his outward appearance that had changed.

It felt as though his very soul had changed.

And in truth, it had.

The one who had revived by borrowing Damian’s flesh was a monster called Balrog.

An ancient, catastrophe-grade monster with the alias Monster Duke.

It did not quite reach the level of a dragon, but its ferocity was evaluated as more than surpassing one.

Because of that ferocity, it was rated even higher than dragons in terms of danger level.

In fact, the appearance of a Balrog had once caused an entire kingdom to perish.

Because of that, in Kurayan, countless Awakened and nations had joined forces to eliminate the Balrog.

Even after pooling that much power, they had been unable to cut off its breath completely. In the end, they borrowed the power of the Spirit King and sealed it within the Crown.

That was the secret of the Crown that people believed had sealed the Spirit King.

The Balrog had revived through Damian’s flesh. But because it had been sealed for far too long, the strength of its original body had greatly weakened.

Even so, it was radiating a presence greater than that of a Grade S monster.

Everyone froze before the Balrog’s Fear.

Mariel, Borin, and even Serian, the queen herself.

Even Elder Go, who had protected his entire body with a barrier, had his spirit struck and was unable to move for a moment.

If they, who were renowned Awakened of Neo Seoul, were affected to this degree, there was no need to even mention the other Awakened.

The Scavenger and Awakened who had barely survived were frozen in place by the Balrog’s Fear, unable to move.

FLAAARE!

Those people were swept away by the flames of hell.

It was the Balrog’s Skill, The Eye of Destruction, said to be comparable to Hellfire.

Everything within the Balrog’s sight fell within the range of The Eye of Destruction.

No living being, Awakened, or monster could flee from the Balrog’s gaze.

It was not for nothing that the Balrog was called the monster of destruction.

Because its power had weakened from its long imprisonment, this was the perfect chance to eliminate it. But neither Serian nor Mariel could bring themselves to attack the Balrog.

They were crushed beneath the sheer pressure carried by the name Balrog.

If they had not known the Balrog’s true identity, they would have attacked it more lightly. But they knew the legend of the Balrog, and the fear engraved deep into their bones made them freeze.

“Grrrr!”

When the Balrog discovered them, even fiercer flames rose in its eyes.

Upon seeing the elves and nonhuman races who had sealed it away, powerful hostility radiated from it.

CLATTER!

A long whip appeared in the Balrog’s hand.

The flames of hell rose along the whip.

It was the flame whip, the Balrog’s weapon.

This flame whip was precisely the weapon that distinguished the Balrog from other monsters.

Most monsters instinctively used their innate bodies and Skills.

They had no need to study or use tools.

But the Balrog was different.

It pondered and researched how it could make itself stronger. The result was the flame whip in its hand.

It condensed its innate flames of hell and shaped them into a whip.

Naturally, its power exceeded imagination.

WHOOOSH—!

The Balrog swung the flame whip toward Serian and the others.

The whip containing the flames of hell flew forward, breaking through the speed of sound.

Coming to her senses belatedly, Serian hurriedly unfolded a Skill.

“Seven Overlap Shield!”

It was Serian’s unique defensive Skill, which layered seven shields over one another.

Fortunately, the shield unfolded before it was too late and managed to block the whip.

CRAAAACK—!

But the price was disastrous.

Of the seven layered shields, six were shattered by a single lash of the flame whip.

The final shield barely held, saving their lives, but the immense shock struck Serian, Mariel, Borin, and the others.

“Hrk!”

“Kuh!”

Mariel and Borin vomited blood and sank to their knees, while Serian’s complexion also turned pale.

Serian hurriedly tried to shift from defense to offense.

Although the Balrog’s appearance had seized the initiative, she too was a Grade S Awakened.

She lacked the strength to face the Balrog head-on, but she still possessed power that could not be ignored.

If she properly unleashed her Skills, she had enough ability to at least extract herself.

The problem was that the Balrog gave her no such leisure.

BOOM! BOOM!

The Balrog lashed out with its whip again and again.

Serian timed it and unfolded Seven Overlap Shield.

“Come to your senses quickly. At this rate, we’ll all be taken down.”

She shouted at Mariel and Borin.

But they could not easily regain their senses.

Because Serian was protecting them, she could not escape. That forced her even further onto the defensive.

“Good heavens! To think such a monster exists.”

Elder Go froze at the sight.

The Balrog was a monster that had appeared for the first time.

Neither Elder Go nor anyone else in Neo Seoul had ever seen a monster like the Balrog before.

Naturally, they possessed no information about it.

But one did not necessarily need information to know how strong an opponent was.

Just by looking, he could tell how immense the Balrog’s power was.

It was then.

GRAAAAR!

When the shield would not break, the enraged Balrog roared. Then an enormous flame storm rose up and swept across the area.

Elder Go, who was inside his barrier, was at least able to escape the effects of the flame storm, but the three Awakened of the Shadow Unit who had followed him did not enjoy the same fortune.

“Kraaak!”

“S-save......”

“Guh!”

Swept up in the ultra-high-heat flame storm, they instantly turned into a handful of ash and vanished.

It was the same for the others.

The Scavenger and Awakened who had barely survived melted away.

At the sight, Elder Go’s expression hardened.

“Good heavens!”

The ultra-high heat melted all the sand in the area, turning it smooth and glossy.

Even though it had not yet fully recovered its power, it already possessed this much might. He could not even estimate how terrifying its power would become once it regained all its strength.

Even so, he knew one thing for certain.

“If that thing heads toward Neo Seoul, a great disaster will descend.”

The Balrog was a monster that could ignore Neo Seoul’s anti-monster force. Unlike lower-grade monsters, it was unaffected by Neo Seoul’s anti-monster force.

If such a Balrog broke into Neo Seoul, a catastrophe was certain to occur. Before that happened, they had to hold the Balrog back.

At that moment, the enraged Balrog unleashed Fear once more.

GRAAAAR!

In an instant, powerful light erupted from the Balrog’s entire body.

The light reached Neo Seoul in the blink of an eye.

CRACKLE!

“Kuh!”

“What is this?”

Cha Jin-cheol and the mechanized Awakened, who had set up camp in the slums on Neo Seoul’s outskirts, groaned.

That was because the machines exposed to the light emitted by the Balrog sparked and stopped functioning.

Cha Jin-cheol looked at his sparking arm and muttered,

“What is this? What happened?”

An enormous wall of flames had risen around the fortress.

Because of that, from where he stood, he could not tell what was happening inside the fortress.

“Did an EMP go off or something?”

As if proving his guess, the power supply across the slums was cut off cleanly.

Because of that, all the lights in the slums went out, and darkness descended.

Seeing that, Elder Go muttered,

“It cannot be helped. I had no intention of doing this, but still.”

He was by no means an altruistic person.

If he had been, he would never have been able to serve as a member of the execution unit. However, neither was he so wicked that he could stand by while knowing countless people would die.

He had to buy time before the Balrog reached Neo Seoul.

Fortunately, he possessed that much ability.

“Haaap!”

With a shout, a gigantic barrier formed.

The barrier swallowed him, the Balrog, and everything else in the area.

He did not know how long the barrier would hold, but he thought it would at least buy time until other Awakened arrived from Neo Seoul. However, what he trusted was something else.

‘Zeon!’

The man floating in the air with drifting sand beneath his feet as footholds.

It was Zeon.

Zeon was looking at Damian.

There was no longer any trace of humanity left in Damian’s form.

The body perfectly fused with Prism Armor had grown large and strong enough to accept the Balrog’s soul, and ultra-high-heat flames surged from its eyes and mouth.

The human ego had vanished, and the powerful soul of a monster had taken its place within him.

In that way, Damian had completely become the Balrog.

Damian had known that this would happen.

From the moment he obtained the Spirit King’s Crown and Prism Armor.

Even though he knew that if he used them, he would ultimately become the Balrog, he had still used them.

That was how immense his hatred toward the elves and nonhuman races had been.

Everything that had composed the human Damian had vanished, but that hatred alone had fused with the Balrog and grown even greater.

GRAAAAR!

The Balrog unleashed Fear once more. Then an ultra-high-heat flame storm rose up.

However, the flame storm was blocked by Elder Go’s barrier and had no effect on the outside.

“Kuh!”

Under the immense impact applied to the barrier, Elder Go’s expression twisted. Forcing down the blood rising up his throat, he said to Zeon,

“We must stop that thing. If it leaves the barrier, disaster will descend upon Neo Seoul.”

Elder Go’s expression was desperate.

It was filled with the will to keep the Balrog from getting outside, no matter what.

“Whew!”

Zeon sighed and nodded.

Whatever the circumstances, Damian had chosen the path of becoming the Balrog.

It was not that Zeon did not know his deep-rooted hatred toward the nonhuman races, but even so, he could not allow the Balrog that Damian had become to trample Neo Seoul.

If the Balrog invaded, the place that would suffer the greatest damage would be the slums where he lived.

At the very least, he had to prevent his own home from being destroyed.

At that moment, Borin shot an arrow at the Balrog.

It was Nailia’s Bow, which she had purchased at the auction here.

As expected of the bow once used by Nailia, the elven hero, its power was terrifying.

THUNK!

It even pierced the Balrog’s skin. But a half-hearted attack only provoked the Balrog’s anger further.

WHOOOSH!

The Balrog swung its flame whip.

The flame whip, having broken through the speed of sound, struck Borin.

BOOM!

Borin was sent flying backward without even being able to scream.

Because she had at least blocked the flame whip with Nailia’s Bow, she did not suffer a major wound, but the shock stiffened her body and left her unable to move.

The flame whip flew toward Borin again.

“Borin!”

Serian tried to save Borin, but she could not be faster than the Balrog’s flame whip.

Sensing her fate, Borin squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Damn it!’

BANG!

At that moment, the air burst in front of Borin.

The flame whip had failed to reach her and had lashed the space right before her instead.

The terrifying heat felt as though it would cook her face, but because she had not taken a direct hit, her life was spared.

“What?”

Borin cautiously opened her eyes.

At that moment, she saw a man blocking her path.

It was only his back, but Borin instantly realized the man’s identity.

“Zeon?”

FLARE!

The blazing flame whip was caught in Zeon’s right hand, which wore the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat.

“From now on, I’ll be your opponent, Damian. No, Balrog!”

GRAAAAR!

The enraged Balrog attacked Zeon.

At that instant, countless streams of sand shot toward the Balrog.