Chapter 640: Don’t Lose (2)
Instantaneously, the huge distance between them narrowed. No other situation was fitting to be described by the expression, ‘you have come so near.’
I could guarantee that none of the Holy Sword party members could catch up with Kim Hyunsung. In their eyes, Kim Hyunsung must’ve disappeared within a split second.
Imagine that a racing car that was running without brakes disappeared from sight all of a sudden. No one would be able to keep their composure.
I had simulated it countless times in my head. Their plan had gone wrong, and it was the moment that Kim Hyunsung was aiming for.
‘Chill down, f.u.c.k… Hyunsung, our Hyunsung.’
He launched himself forward with magic on his feet, reappearing behind the Miracle Priest.
When dealing with a huge group, targeting the priest was a common tactic for those who had a lot of experience fighting, but I didn’t think Kim Hyunsung was aiming for her with that thought.
Perhaps it could be seen as an instinct or memory imbued in his body rather than rational thinking.
Naturally, the balance of the party that was maintaining a perfect formation collapsed.
The embarra.s.sed wizard couldn’t chant his spell, and the knight who was in charge of the priest couldn’t respond to Hyunsung’s superior speed.
If it weren’t for my voice, Marien’s head would have been rolling down on the ground already.
I didn’t know if the Miracle Priest was aware that she almost died just then.
I had to zoom in to the Lee Joo-hyuk, who was looking at Kim Hyunsung with disbelief.
What I saw in front of him was Raphael’s face showing anger with his lips closed tight.
The live-burial duo had cold sweat running down their skin. The party seemed to have stopped for an instant, but Kim Hyunsung didn’t. He probably missed since she bowed her head, but he wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice.
“Protection magic, protection magic!”
The wizard’s shield, whose chant had already been done halfway through at the beginning of the battle, instantly covered the party.
The moment the sword aiming for the Miracle Priest stopped, the Holy Sword party was relieved.
‘Stop bullsh*tting, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Do you think that shield is enough to save your life?’
“Respond right away! Respond! Respond!”
The protective shield wouldn’t last less than 0.5 seconds, but it wasn’t intended to block attacks in the first place. It was better to think of it as a delayer. As if he heard my voice, the knight moved to save the priest’s life. The problem was that his method was wrong.
“Don’t block it! Don’t block it! Dodge!”
As if he wished to face death with his shield in his hands, he was about to block Marien’s front.
Hearing me, he grabbed the priest’s uniform with one hand and threw her behind.
While the live-burial duo caught the thrown priest, the knight moved sideways. It seemed that he was trying to get out of Kim Hyunsung’s attack range somehow, but he couldn’t get away from the consequence of his hesitation when he tried to block instead.
No matter how I thought about it, he was still within his reach.
“Magic!”
What saved them when the party was in crisis was the shield that bought them a few moments.
Bang!
Even after the shield was smashed, causing an explosion, his sword didn’t stop.
When I thought the knight’s neck would be sliced open, it was the party’s hound that saved his life.
He smashed into the knight’s body and dropped him out of range.
The knight, who managed to escape the crisis by shamelessly rolling the ground, turned his head immediately, but Kim Hyunsung was no longer there. The only scene he could see was the hound vomiting blood and falling.
“Gasp…”
“Heal him with divine power! Heal him with divine power!!”
He was running out of life. He was completely cut from his shoulders to his chest.
Only then did the priest, who suddenly came to her senses, hurriedly prayed, but the speed at which he was losing blood was faster than the speed he recovered.
When she bit down on her lips and reached out her hand to the sky, an angelic image appeared. Only then did the hound begin to regain stability.
‘Miracle.’
Marien’s unique ability, which could only be used once a week, was used shortly after the battle began.
Kim Hyunsung swung his sword again as if he intuited that the hound would stand up again, but Raphael’s Holy Sword intercepted his Durendal.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”
From the way he was screaming and fighting, I couldn’t find the foolish figure he had from the old days. Instead, his face was filled with rage. Kim Hyunsung bit his lips tightly and counterattacked.
‘He will die.’
Raphael could never react to his prowess. The first swing was fake, and the second was real.
“The first is fake.”
I warned that, but Kim Hyunsung’s hand was faster than my words. Once again, within 0.5 seconds, a shield blocked Raphael’s front. However, one of his wings was still cut off.
“d.a.m.n!”
In order to somehow buy some time, the archer shot an arrow, but without even turning his head, he caught the arrow with one hand. He didn’t even look.
‘f.u.c.k, that’s… really cool.’
“M-Monster.”
As if responding to the voice of the archer, Kim Hyunsung stretched his sword toward Raphael’s neck. One of the remaining seven wings blocked Raphael’s front again, but Kim Hyunsung tried to push the sword in, tearing the wings with his hands as if it was annoying.
“Ahhhhhh!”
The knight who hurried to the pathetic scream and the thief aiming behind Kim Hyunsung couldn’t move because Kim Hyunsung’s voice paralyzed them.
“Where is he?”
“…”
“Tell me. Where is he?”
‘You’re screwed. You’re screwed. You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, you guys are screwed. Now it’s up to you guys.’
The winner was already determined. No, there was no such thing as a fight in the first place.
No one could deny that most would have died right from the beginning if I hadn’t given instructions to them.
The priest, the hound. They were able to fight a bit all because I served as their eyes.
‘Kim Hyunsung’s attack group, my a.s.s.’
They swallowed hard. The party’s fear of Kim Hyunsung was apparent. He just stared at them with no emotions. Perhaps what was running through their heads right at that moment was…
‘Is he even human?’
Or…
‘Demon.’
Even to my eyes, Kim Hyunsung looked more like a lord of darkness rather than a warrior of justice. Doom Hyusung, Lord of Darkness, also looked pretty cool, but I couldn’t welcome it for the time being.
I didn’t know if it was because of the subtly dark lighting, but it’s somehow creepy to see Raphael’s wings splattering blood.
Even I, who had seen all the sides of Hyunsung, felt that way. There were no words that could describe how the others would feel. Since Raphael’s party made a living out of combat, they would be aware of what those eyes meant.
‘Everyone is going to die.’
Kim Hyunsung had no intention of letting anyone in front of him live.
He didn’t care about the memory he had with the heroes in the first round, nor the stock I invested in. Of course, even if Kim Hyunsung wasn’t that close to them…
‘Still, you said they were colleagues, Hyunsung. You should listen to them too.’
“f.u.c.k…”
‘You said the Miracle Priest had helped you and that you had a drink with the live-burial duo… Didn’t you say that you also knew the one that loves me? They didn’t do anything wrong. Raphael could have coaxed them all. Raphael could also have done it because he was heartbroken… Originally, heartbroken people sometimes make weird mistakes. You can’t beat people like that easily.’
“You can’t do that…”
‘It was so hard to raise them… You don’t really want to kill them either.’
Kim Hyunsung also missed them. He seemed a little happy when he told me about the first-round heroes and even talked about them as if he were drowning in memories.
Hyunsung said he had no intention of making new friends in the second round but wasn’t that clear evidence that he was rooting for them?
However, no such longing could be seen in his present state. There were no other emotions other than hate and anger.
‘I guess he really wants to kill them.’
I could tell without asking. Unless I went out and stopped him, Raphael and the other warrior party would cross the Rainbow Bridge with disastrous appearances.
I stumbled and tried to open the door, but it didn’t open. In the meantime, Kim Hyunsung was aiming his sword at them.
‘Regardless of the results… shouldn’t I save them first?’
The thought of ‘how?’ pa.s.sed through my head, but at least I had to buy time until I found a way to open the door.
I tried to send him a message because I wondered if it would be good to contact Kim Hyunsung directly, but it seemed he had left his hand mirror somewhere else.
That was when someone knocked on the door.
‘Who is it?’
“Vice Guild Master?”
‘Oh my, Li-ahn! Our Li-ahn did it!’
It seemed that she was waiting for the gaze of the Holy Sword party to stray from her. I didn’t know how she got out, but I didn’t care. I was happy.
“I’m looking for… a way to open the door. If you could wait for a little…”
“Ah, yes.”
I be able to get out of the place soon and stop him from ma.s.sacring them.
I patted my thigh with anxiety, but there was still no sign of opening the door.
In the meantime, Kim Hyunsung and the Holy Sword party maintained a subtle atmosphere.
‘Let’s save them first. Let’s save them.’
I didn’t think it would be easy. The odds were also low, but if I dragged time, it could be possible.
‘Marien’s unique ability has been used already…’
The wizard’s protection magic, which had a total of three charges, had also been depleted.
Of course, I could still recharge it, but it currently wasn’t possible for me to chant spells.
‘First, I have to apply the buff to them.’
Hyunsung could easily break his protection magic, but that was the Holy Sword party’s one shot at life.
In simple terms, I would save a total of 3 life points. It was only a means for them to hold on only for a moment, but without that moment, the party’s avant-garde wouldn’t be able to react to Kim Hyunsung’s sword.
If they had time, I could keep charging it, so it wasn’t that bad of a situation.
Although the Miracle Priest had broken down slightly, the hound had recovered enough to move his body, and the other party members were relatively unscathed.
If the Miracle Priest were caught in the beginning, there would be no possibility at all, but their party wasn’t that easily killed. Raphael, who could be cla.s.sified as a half paladin, was still in a situation where he could fight. He could withstand Hyunsung’s attacks until I could get out of my cage-like room. If I controlled the Holy Sword party as if I were dealing with Tactic Kim Hyunsung…
‘You can do it.’
30 minutes? Wouldn’t he be able to hold on for 30 minutes? Or 10 minutes? It would be nice if I could get out within 10 minutes…
Even amid various complex thoughts, my mouth began to move naturally.
I had to do the briefing as quickly as possible since there wasn’t much time left.
“Pay attention to my voice.”
“…”
I didn’t know how things in the world would work.
“From now on, I’ll be taking command of this party.”
I never imagined that I would lead the Kim Hyunsung attack raid.