Chapter 291. The Last Member (8)
I bit my lips and drew Absolute Soul’s power to the peak. Absolute Soul was the most important skill to prevent his fear from invading my consciousness, especially in this place where the dungeon’s power was restricted. Even a single mistake could lead to death.
“Do you have any information on him? Like his weakness?”
“He’s the Fear King. He’s adept at mental attacks, but his physical body is weak! To make up for it, his army has terrifying physical strength.”
“His physical body?”
Since Gungnir and Sleipnir pierced through him seamlessly, Hwaya was most likely right. But since he was moving just fine after being hit by two of Odin’s powers, I could deduce that he had high health even if his defense was low.
“I don’t know if you noticed, Shin, but normal attacks can’t hurt him at all.”
“Normal attacks?”
“Everything other than Evil Eyes or true names’ powers.”
I widened my eyes. If this was true…
“I shouldn’t have used Trishula.”
Would elementals or Lightning G.o.d’s power work? No, I doubt it. Hwaya said her flames didn’t work. Of course, there were also ranks among elementals. There was one I had expectations of. Not to mention, I haven’t used Overlord yet for this moment.
Still, it was a troubling situation. Overlord had a time limit of just 5 minutes, so I had to kill him in that time. Overlord wasn’t a power to initiate battle, but a power to end one.
“I’ll do it, Shin.”
Hwaya smiled.
“My Evil Eyes work on him.”
“But Hwaya.”
“Shin, you just support me so I can focus all my attention on him. You can do it, right?”
“That much is easy… Will you be okay?”
“Shin, you defeated two kings by yourself. If I don’t defeat even one, my Witch t.i.tle would cry.”
I wondered where her anxious self from a moment ago went. Now, she was full of energy. The wounds on her body was also disappearing one by one. I didn’t know whether it was her Evil Eyes’ power, or if she had a power I didn’t know about.
Or maybe, just like how I mastered Peruta Circuit and overcame my limit, she might have just overcome her limit.
“One of us has to handle those small fries anyways. It’s perfect.”
“… Fine. I’ll put them all to sleep and come help you. I have a plan in mind too.”
“Good. Then… I’m off!”
With that, Hwaya immediately disappeared. She didn’t disappear literally. It was just that she moved extremely fast. In just a breath’s time, she was facing the Fear King and shouting gallantly.
“You lump of tar, fight me again!”
[You were almost finished just a moment ago. Now, you’re surprisingly fine.]
“Don’t be stupid. When I knelt back then, it was to help propel myself forward!”
Flames shot up from Hwaya’s body, burning fiercely like a pillar connecting sky and earth. Good. It seemed Hwaya would be fine. In that case, I could focus on my role – dealing with the army of fear filling up this world.
[He is the Hero.]
[A Hero aiming for a higher peak.]
[Even he has darkness in his heart. I can see it.]
“You’re too noisy!”
I materialized Ruyue and Sharana. I could fly using Talaria, but even if I couldn’t, I learned to stay afloat effortlessly without using any other abilities when I mastered Peruta Circuit. So it was fine even if Sharana was separated from me.
[Shin, what should I do?]
[Master, just give your command!]
“Ruyue, you protect me. Sharana, you support Hwaya! Amplify her flames and protect her from other small fries!”
[Gladly!]
[Understood, Master!]
Sharana immediately flew off to protect Hwaya, and Ruyue spun around me in her beastgirl form. Meanwhile, the Fear King’s minions were endlessly sp.a.w.ning in the air.
“Ah, so that’s how it is.”
These guys were the Fear King’s clones. That’s what my intuition was telling me. Although the Fear King’s real subordinates might be hiding among them, most of them were giving off ident.i.tal aura to the Fear King. In fact, the entire area we were in was…
[Scared?]
[Are you scared of my power?]
[Despair and fall! This emotion of yours is a delectable gla.s.s of wine to us!]
No matter where I looked, I could only see grotesque devils. Their words were provocative, like they could peer into my mind, and they were frantically trying to crack my mental defense.
I raised my foot and took a step forward as if I was walking on ground. Ruyue sensibly created a scaffolding out of ice.
“Shut it, small fries. I’ll only listen to ones that can survive my Evil Eyes.”
[I’m going to do it, Shin!]
“Go.”
Ruyue curled her body like a cat, then stretched in a one big motion. In the sky, which carried a smoky smell of sulfur, large translucent mirrors of ice began appearing.
[A futile attempt.]
[Mirrors only serve to reflect your ugliness.]
[Mirrors can’t stop fear.]
“You lot.”
I raised my head and gazed at the sky. With a radiant golden light, my Evil Eyes reflected off the countless mirrors.
“You lot aren’t reading my mind at all!”
Reflected off the mirrors, the power of petrification spread through the countless mirrors and eventually covered the entire sky. However, looking at the reflection of Evil Eyes didn’t cause petrification. Even in Greek mythology, Perseus had killed Medusa by seeing her through the reflection on his bronze shield.
But my Evil Eyes were no longer ordinary Evil Eyes, and Ruyue’s ice mirrors weren’t ordinary mirrors.
I poured a terrifying, a truly terrifying amount of mana into my Evil Eyes, and Ruyue’s mirrors had the ability to preserve most of the Evil Eyes’ power.
As a result, facing a mirror was no different than facing me straight on, and there was only one path for those affected by my Evil Eyes.
Seeing rocks hail down from the sky, I smirked.
[What boundless mana.]
[He’s not human!]
[He tricked us! This human is using the dungeon’s power!]
“Ruyue, scatter more mirrors!”
[Un!]
This place blocked the dungeon’s power and made it hard for me to receive Sherafina’s help. Compared to when I had the dungeon’s power, I only had 60% of my mana. But if I quantified this amount, it was about 420,000 points, which was only 80,000 less than the maximum amount I had before I defeated the Beast King.
I was constantly growing. When my mana pool increased, it didn’t stagnate, but accelerated instead. Not to mention, I had yet to turn all of the Beast King’s mana to my own. My growth speed even frightened me sometimes, but I had no intention to stop myself. In fact, this wasn’t enough.
[Do you think that’s enough to win over fear? You think destroying such meager amount would affect me in any way!? Unfortunate! I am everlasting, always existing within hearts of humans! Do you not understand what it means to be immortal!? Do you not see what’s awaiting you at the end of your futile struggles!?]
The Fear King’s gradually raised his voice. His body expanded like a sponge that absorbed water, and his minions continued to pop out endlessly. Just like he said, even if Hwaya charred him or I decimated his minions, he didn’t seem to come close to dying.
But that was what he wanted us to think. Unfortunately for him, Absolute Soul could see through his antics.
“Hwaya, he just has high vitality! It’s neither everlasting nor immortal!”
“I know…!”
Hwaya’s flames grew brighter and transformed white. Every time she moved, black smoke exploded from the Fear King’s giant body, and his indiscernible scream deafened my ears.
“I’m happy to fight like this!”
I wasn’t just standing around either. Ruyue continued to make more mirrors, as if to compete with the Fear King’s clones, and the power of my Evil Eyes continued to move from mirror to mirror. No matter how many of them a.s.saulted me, it didn’t matter. They couldn’t provoke fear from me.
“In the end, you’re also someone else’s underling, right? Not to mention, you’ll also die without knowing the truth! Three of your friends were already killed by us!”
[I am different from them. I exist, yet I am in a realm you cannot grasp!]
[The moment you peer into us, we come to live in your hearts!]
“When are you going to stop lying, you annoying mosquitos!”
Countless clones turned to stone and rained down. I raised my spear and lightly shattered the rock falling above me.
“See, I can destroy you just fine!”
[Let’s see how long you’ll last!]
“How long I’ll last? That’s what I want to ask you!”
Sharana blew away the clones flying towards Hwaya. They were then exposed to my Evil Eyes’ power through the mirrors, and they soon fell after being petrified.
I shouted.
“Ruyue, freeze them all onto the ground! I’ll give you 100,000 mana!”
[That’s more than enough!]
I gave most of my remaining mana to Ruyue and drank a highest-grade mana potion I had on my belt. Unfortunately, mana potions weren’t enough to rejuvenate my boundless mana pool. I had to rely on Peruta Circuit to do most of the hard work!
I raised my spear enveloped by an enormous whirlpool. The moment Ruyue froze the fallen rocks to the ground, I drew Talaria’s power to the peak, used Divine Speed, and shot down towards the ground. Before I smashed into the ground, I struck my spear down and shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Gaia Buster!”
[Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!]
I grinned. This was the first time I made the Fear King scream with my power. As the petrified clones weren’t dead until I thoroughly shattered them, I hadn’t dealt much damage to the Fear King until now.
But with Ruyue trapping the petrified clones to the ground and me using Gaia Buster, no clone could have survived. Since he lost so many clones at once, it was normal for their main body to scream!
[You! Herooooooooo!]
“I’ll be keeping you busy!”
Hwaya’s flames engulfed the Fear King’s outstretched arm. Filling up this entire artificial world, Hwaya’s flames danced and created a wave of flames.
“You think I just forgot about the humiliation I suffered from you? And when was I rejected? I wasn’t! He said he’d accept me!”
I decided to pretend not to have heard what Hwaya said. Instead, I focused my attention towards the shattered pieces of land and made them shoot up into the sky.
Countless clones still filled up the sky. The amount of mana he had even overwhelmed the Beast King and the Lava King. Together with his powerful mental attacks, there wouldn’t be many he couldn’t defeat. In fact, if I faced him before I obtained the Beast King’s power, he might have had a chance. If I didn’t have Absolute Soul, I might already be bowing down to him, and if I didn’t arrive in time, Hwaya would be doing the same.
But it was different now. I became a monster capable of wielding boundless mana consciously and instinctively, and Hwaya had succeeded in taking a step forward. As a result, the Fear King simply stood no chance.
“You call this fear? How laughable.”
I sneered.
“Break them all!”
The heaven and earth seemed to shatter. Countless rocks and ice carrying black lightning energy mixed together and shot across the sky, shattering the fragments of fear.
[Kyaaaaaaaa!]
“It’s too early to scream. I’m already just getting started.”
Seeing Gaia Buster tearing apart the Fear King’s clones, I flashed my eyes. The Beast King’s remaining mana was roused awake feeling the movement of mana and attempted to go wild. I didn’t squash it and accepted it. Wild instincts, having beaten off a fair amount of rationality, made me more energetic than before.
I raised my spear again. Now, I felt like I could do it. Within the next five minutes, I felt like Hwaya and I could kill him!
“This is what true fear is! Overlord!”