Chapter 64

Chapter 64

 

Black Leviathan was shaped overall like a centipede.

And that thing had three heads.

Rather than intimidation, the first thought that came to mind was disgust.

Because it looked so grotesque.

But there was no time to appreciate his opponent’s ugly mug.

A crisis was approaching.

Ha-kyung, who had been frantically moving his arms and legs, suddenly glanced back.

‘Wait, then do three skills come out at the same time too?’

The purple net that had covered the area.

Abyssal Dragnet had definitely started from Black Leviathan’s mouth.

Bad premonitions always came true.

Three maws opened wide at the same time.

[Black Leviathan deploys Ravager Impaler]

Purple flashes began filling their throats.

Ha-kyung felt as if his heart was being squeezed.

He had not yet rejoined his team members.

At this rate, he would take a direct hit from that unknown skill.

Because all of Black Leviathan’s heads were watching Ha-kyung.

‘Since I’m the only one with aggro, this is the obvious result. Damn it, I have to dodge somehow…….’

Whatever the opponent’s skill was.

It would be difficult to avoid it with a human’s pathetic swimming ability.

Then there was only one method.

He had no choice but to take the hit as lightly as possible.

Soon, purple beams poured from Black Leviathan’s maws.

WHOOOOOOOM—!

The surrounding water was pushed back, creating enormous bubbles.

It was a phenomenon caused by powerful Abyss Energy.

It felt as if thick pipes had been formed and then vanished.

Soon, an even stronger force struck Ha-kyung.

BOOOOOOM—!

The expanded bubbles collapsed and generated another shockwave.

Caught in the turbulence, Ha-kyung barely held on to his fading consciousness.

The moment the purple energy struck.

Ha-kyung shoved the Resonance Pillar forward.

WHOOOOOM—!

‘Ughhh!’

Since it was an incredibly sturdy artifact.

He thought it might be able to endure Black Leviathan’s skill.

Fortunately, the Resonance Pillar met Ha-kyung’s expectations.

By absorbing the energy, it greatly reduced the skill’s power.

But the secondary shockwave was the problem.

Because an unbelievable force had been applied.

Ha-kyung was battered to pieces.

‘Ugh! It feels like every bone in my body has been shattered.’

His arms and legs bent in grotesque directions and hung limp.

Perhaps his spine had been crushed, because he had no sensation at all below his neck.

Only his head, which he had tried to protect until the end, was fine.

It was exactly the result Ha-kyung had wanted.

As long as he did not die, he could recover as much as he needed.

[Tyrant’s Bracelet activated]

[Body rapidly recovers]

Crack! Crunch! Snap!

Ha-kyung squirmed grotesquely, like a zombie.

It was unavoidable, since his bones were being set back into place.

But just then, someone grabbed his body.

Grab!

“Bro! You didn’t change jobs into an undead, did you?”

The person who suddenly appeared was John.

There were still about thirty meters left until the coral zone.

It seemed he had come this far to meet Ha-kyung because he was worried.

“Is that really what you should say in front of someone half-dead?”

“Even if your mouth is crooked, you should speak straight. You were recovering perfectly fine.”

“That’s true, but still.”

“Then stop talking and……. Uup?”

John suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Then he immediately threw himself to the side.

While strongly pushing Ha-kyung’s body with his foot.

Ha-kyung was flung away without knowing why, but he instinctively understood.

John had saved him.

Ha-kyung shuddered at the chill he felt behind his back.

‘Again? What kind of skill can it keep firing in a row?’

[Black Leviathan deploys Ravager Impaler]

WHOOOOOOOM—!

Still, the situation was better this time.

The distance from Black Leviathan was greater.

And it had not been an attack aimed at Ha-kyung in the first place.

Three streaks of purple light struck the coral zone.

By coincidence, only Ha-kyung and John were outside the attack range.

RUMBLE—!

With an ominous vibration, visibility shrank sharply.

The powerful impact had stirred up the sediment on the floor.

Ha-kyung pulled on the Refinement Rope.

‘This should let me meet up with John.’

Sure enough.

But then something hard touched his hand.

A moment later, John’s voice followed.

“Bro. That’s my magnificent pectoralis major. Fashion muscles I built to pick up women.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s your armor.”

“Ah, you caught me.”

“But where’s my armor?”

“Here.”

Ha-kyung quickly put on the Reactive Magic Armor.

Clack-clack-clack!

Fitting of an artifact, each part attached itself automatically.

With this, a mere shockwave would not shatter every bone in his body.

Soon, Ha-kyung grabbed the Whisperer.

“Is everyone all right?”

But for a while, there was no answer.

It seemed Black Leviathan’s skill had caused considerable damage.

At the very least, the shot-caller should have checked the situation.

Ha-kyung abruptly turned his head.

Tingle!

Soul Brand had sent a danger signal.

Sure enough.

Black Leviathan’s head had come close.

Its mouth was open wide, as if to swallow Ha-kyung whole.

‘Even though it fired such incredible techniques in succession, it doesn’t feel any strain at all?’

Monsters were the same as Awakened.

If they operated Abyss Energy excessively, it could only strain their bodies.

But Black Leviathan did not even seem tired.

What kind of monster was this?

Separate from his bewilderment.

If he wanted to live, he had no choice but to struggle.

Ha-kyung threw a punch dyed with gray-white energy.

BOOOOM—!

A sphere about ten meters wide flashed like it was blinking.

Since Kin-Eater’s effect still remained, its power was outstanding as expected.

Then Black Leviathan’s head bent far back.

It was the middle one, the one whose jaw had been split by Ha-kyung’s attack.

“You have reason to hold a grudge. But you’re the one who came at me like you wanted to kill me just because I touched you a little.”

In truth, he had not said it for the thing to hear.

He had only pretended to be relaxed in order to shake off his tension.

And yet Black Leviathan’s aura grew even more ferocious.

As if it had understood Ha-kyung’s words.

Soon, it began targeting him intensively.

RUMBLE! WHOOOOOM—!

One head pursued him relentlessly.

The other two fired only purple flashes from a distance.

It was a perfectly coordinated combination attack.

For Ha-kyung, it was hell.

‘Why is a monster fighting like a Raid Team?’

Still, thanks to his armor, he could endure it somewhat.

As he stubbornly bought time, a heavy noise came from somewhere.

THUD! THUD!

Heavy blows, one at a time.

It was the sound of John’s Titan Flail striking.

“I’ll draw aggro, so hold out a little longer, Bro!”

Soon, several tanks joined in and drew Black Leviathan’s attention.

How many minutes had passed like that?

Ha-kyung was able to regain his composure.

‘Now I can finally breathe a little.’

It was only because his Defense and Recovery were excellent.

If he had been an ordinary melee damage dealer, he would already have been more than dead.

Soon, Ha-kyung began searching through the coral zone.

Because he was worried about the rear line, which had given no answer.

Then, when he pushed a shattered coral pile aside.

Ha-kyung could not help cursing.

“Holy shit…….”

Because an unexpected tragedy had unfolded before him.

The situation was extremely serious.

Half the rear-line team members were dead, and the rest were gravely injured.

Because all the healers had lost consciousness, support had also been cut off.

Unluckily, it seemed they had taken a direct hit from Black Leviathan’s skill.

Ha-kyung quickly began waking the healers.

“Hey. Please wake up!”

“…….”

But no one responded.

It seemed they had suffered internal injuries from the secondary shockwave of the purple light.

Just like Ha-kyung, whose whole body had nearly been shattered.

He took off Tyrant’s Bracelet and placed it around one healer’s wrist.

It was the same person who had asked Ha-kyung for his autograph.

‘His name was……. Jeong Sang-hoon, wasn’t it?’

[Restoration Veil activated]

[Resets artifact on standby]

[Tyrant’s Bracelet activated]

[Body rapidly recovers]

Crack! Crunch!

“Guh!”

Jeong Sang-hoon woke up, gasping in pain.

Then he looked at Ha-kyung with a bewildered expression.

“W-what happened?”

“I used an artifact to save you first. Please start healing.”

“Phew! Thank you. But is this a gift?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s a shame. It’d be perfect to get it signed and keep it as merchandise.”

Jeong Sang-hoon lifted Tyrant’s Bracelet and grinned.

There was no way he did not know what it was.

It seemed he had jokingly said he would return it.

Ha-kyung retrieved Tyrant’s Bracelet.

Then he began gathering the scattered team members.

That would make it easier for Jeong Sang-hoon to heal them.

A short while later.

The Raid Team’s combat strength was restored to some extent.

Having regained consciousness, Ryu Jeong-hwan looked around with sorrowful eyes.

“To think such a catastrophe would happen in my Raid Team……. As expected, The Void is The Void.”

In truth, they had simply been a little unlucky.

The Raid Team had made no mistake.

They had suffered because of the special environment of the Abyss of the Deep Sea.

Ha-kyung wanted to offer comfort, but there was no time for that.

“The front line is in danger. They’re getting no support at all.”

Perhaps those words brought him back to his senses.

Ryu Jeong-hwan’s gaze changed.

“We will reorganize as quickly as possible and continue the raid. Everyone, please return to your respective positions.”

Ha-kyung immediately headed to the front line.

Between the hydrothermal vent and the coral zone.

The raid was in progress there.

Naturally, the battle situation was not very good.

Because they had been grappling with the boss without support.

The fortunate part was that no one had died yet.

Of course, it was precarious enough that they could be wiped out at any moment.

Soon, as the healers’ skills erupted, the situation became somewhat livable.

Watching the situation, Ha-kyung sensed their fate.

‘Taking that unexpected blow earlier was huge. At this rate, we’ll lose in the end.’

Eight healers.

Five ranged damage dealers remained.

Their support was fine, but they would eventually collapse because they lacked firepower.

Ha-kyung had no choice but to judge it that way.

Because he had clashed head-on with Black Leviathan.

Now was the time to somehow fill the missing damage output.

Ha-kyung looked around.

‘It would be nice if we could use the terrain somehow……. But that’ll be difficult.’

The coral zone was only about ten meters high at most.

To Black Leviathan, it was less than a stone on the roadside.

Its body length easily exceeded a hundred meters.

But then a pitch-black current entered Ha-kyung’s eyes.

A hydrothermal vent glowing dark red.

Black smoke was rising from it at a fairly high speed.

The temperature near it was probably quite high.

If only they could slam Black Leviathan into that.

Ha-kyung gave a triumphant smile.

‘It’ll more than make up for the damage we’re lacking.’

The problem was how to bring that gigantic bastard over.

For starters, it seemed absolutely impossible to do alone.

Ha-kyung went to the front line and pulled John out for a moment.

Then he briefly explained the plan.

“Oh! Bro. What kind of dogshit are you talking about? That bastard is unbelievably heavy, and its strength is insane.”

“I know.”

“I tried beating the shit out of it with this flail of justice, but it didn’t budge. Even pushing it away is hard.”

“That’s why I prepared something.”

“What is it?”

Ha-kyung pulled the Refinement Rope taut.

It was incredibly thick, almost like an undersea power cable.

He smiled meaningfully and said.

“I’m planning to try that bondage play you mentioned again.”

“Holy shiiiit! Now that is one revolutionary method, comrade. Proceed at once!”

“…….”

Ha-kyung was left speechless.

He had known from the start that John would say something insane.

That was why he had thrown out the line.

But he had not expected it to come out like this.

For a while, Ha-kyung could not close his open mouth.

‘I’m really curious what the structure of this man’s brain looks like.’