Chapter 60 – Beache (２)

Hamal’s Truth-Seeking Stone.

Through it, he had summoned the warriors of the plains.

And now, hundreds of Plains Warriors had appeared before him.

Their Strength was unmistakably greater than before.

It meant that Hamal, too, was steadily reclaiming its original power.

“Leave this place to us.”

They spoke.

They would handle the assault on the fortress, they said, and the enemy barrage pouring out from within.

“Understood.”

Gijun accepted without hesitation.

If he was to take down the General within forty-eight hours, he couldn’t afford to waste a single moment.

It had already cost him no small amount of time just to get here.

The sheer size of Tartaros itself was enormous.

And unlike the beginning, where he’d carved out shortcuts, there were no more path-breakers now.

That left only the direct approach.

Punching through the colossal fortress and reaching the General’s chamber alone would devour hours.

“Bring it down!”

Then the plains warriors let out a unified roar and charged toward the stronghold.

The instant they rushed in unison and swung their weapons with all their might—

BOOM—CRACK, CRASH, SHATTER!

One whole section of the city wall collapsed at once.

From within, a flood of Demon Beasts poured out of the fortress interior.

KEEE-AHH! KIIII-EEK!

An endless torrent of Demon Beasts, too many to count.

The plains warriors, facing them head-on, began to engage the monsters with no fear of death.

“Let’s move.”

“Yeah.”

While the warriors clashed with the Demon Beasts, Gijun and Amalta moved swiftly and slipped inside the fortress.

[You need to be on edge.]

Just then, Libre spoke.

[Something is coming.]

“….”

Gijun lifted his gaze, his face taut with tension.

A moment later, a massive Demon Beast burst out from within the fortress.

KRAAAAA!

It was a colossal beast, easily tens of meters tall.

[What in the world is that?]

Even Libre was taken aback by its sheer size.

CRAAAASH!

The moment the creature landed, the ground shook violently, as if struck by an earthquake.

“Ghastly.”

Even Amalta clicked his tongue in shock.

Countless eyes covered the creature’s entire body.

It was so hideous that even looking at it made him sick to his stomach.

Then, a message appeared.

[Seeker-exclusive Achievement activated.]

Seeker-exclusive Achievement.

[Slay the Underworld’s Minion, Kirgarf!]

-Reward: Harpoon of Annihilation

-Time Limit: 30 minutes

‘So its name is Kirgarf, huh.’

The Achievement was to take down this Kirgarf that had just appeared.

The time limit was thirty minutes.

‘The Harpoon of Annihilation…’

That was the reward: the Harpoon of Annihilation.

He couldn’t yet tell what the Harpoon of Annihilation was.

‘Doesn’t hurt to have it.’

The Seeker-exclusive Achievement had triggered at this timing.

And given the timing, there was a very high chance the reward would be an Item that would greatly aid in fighting the General.

‘Let’s go.’

Gijun moved.

‘Thirty minutes won’t be easy, that’s for sure.’

It was the kind of time you’d only barely reach by giving everything you had.

The second he let his guard down, that Harpoon of Annihilation would fly right out of his grasp.

“Amalta, I’m going in now!”

“Good.”

Amalta and Gijun started moving toward Kirgarf.

By then, Amalta had already sprinted ahead, his whole body wreathed in flame.

His combat strength had grown terrifyingly high.

As I said before, it was thanks to the Equipment he’d taken from the Generals.

The moment Amalta’s flame-wreathed Spear moved, the very air shuddered.

And then that Spear slammed into Kirgarf’s body.

Crack!

Even from where Gijun stood, a shockwave so violent it rattled his bones rippled outward in every direction.

Boom!

The weakened wall collapsed; even the massive castle shook from the sheer force of the impact.

A huge gash tore open across the creature’s body.

“It landed!”

Gijun shouted.

But that wasn’t the case.

Crunch—

The wound began regenerating at an alarming speed.

‘Damn it!’

Gijun ran forward too, launching a Fireball at the injury.

But—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Crash!

Kirgarf tanked Gijun’s Fireball head-on.

Again, a wound opened up.

But it regenerated just as quickly.

“…This is insane.”

In that instant, Kirgarf’s fist—moving faster than the eye could track—smashed into Amalta.

“…Ghk…!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! BOOM!

Amalta slammed into the ground and tumbled dozens of meters.

“Kugh…”

The Amalta who’d charged in so boldly had taken a serious hit.

And then, Kirgarf moved again.

This time, toward Gijun.

All the countless eyes dotting the creature’s body fixed on Gijun in unison.

And then—

Flash!

“…!”

Light burst from those eyes.

‘Danger.’

In that moment, Gijun sensed it.

This was dangerous.

His feet moved fast.

And now—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Crash!

Beams of light blasted from the eyeballs, tearing up the ground.

Crack— Crash! Boom! Crash!

The beams chased Gijun relentlessly, attacking without pause.

What made it worse was that the direction of the beams was erratic.

As if predicting his path, beams erupted from front and back, above and below, without mercy.

‘This is insane…’

Even their sheer power was nothing to scoff at.

If one of those beams so much as touched a giant boulder or an Underworld warrior, they’d evaporate on the spot, gone without a trace.

[What a wretched monster!]

Libre shouted.

With that, her mind linked with Gijun’s again.

His senses expanded to an extreme degree.

“Perfect timing.”

Thanks to that, Gijun moved quickly, dodging the beams with barely a hair’s breadth to spare.

“Close.”

Even so, the danger was unmistakable.

One slip—a single mistake—and that light would graze him, and his entire body would vaporize, erased without a trace….

A flash—then a thunderous cascade of explosions.

Gijun channeled every nerve into evading the beams.

The barrage didn’t let up for a grueling three minutes before finally ceasing.

“Hah… hah…”

The beam assault was over, but the pattern was vicious enough to leave his mind reeling.

Amalta barely managed to push himself upright and regrip his spear, though his head seemed a tangled mess.

‘Damn. Even Amalta’s attack barely landed a scratch on that bastard.’

[Looks like the Monarch had a hand in this.]

Libre spoke up then.

“Had a hand?”

[Yeah. That disgusting thing definitely lent him its power.]

“So that’s why he got this strong all of a sudden.”

The difficulty had clearly jumped into a whole other dimension in an instant.

[But if we take him down, it should weaken the Monarch’s power—at least a part of it.]

“…Is that so?”

[Of course. That thing is the Underworld Monarch incarnate. Even if it’s just a fragment, destroying it means a chunk of the Monarch’s power vanishes too.]

“Hoo…”

Then that gave him one more reason to kill the bastard, no matter the cost.

“Alright.”

Gijun made up his mind.

‘Let’s do it like this.’

He planned to hit the thing with one massive blow of Damage.

Damage so deep it couldn’t be healed easily.

‘It’s not that we can’t hurt him with our current attack power.’

That was certain.

They could deal Damage well enough.

But petty strikes were pointless.

It healed them back in a flash.

‘Like when I took down that Magin.’

At the same time, Gijun recalled his fight with the Magin in that past Dungeon.

Magin could regenerate their bodies too.

But it wasn’t infinite.

After burning through their energy, they couldn’t regenerate anymore.

So this thing would be the same.

Gijun sensed that same energy emanating from both Magin and Demon Beasts.

“Amalta!”

Gijun shouted again.

“Speak!”

“Just buy me some time—keep its attention!”

“How long?”

“…Five seconds!”

“That’s plenty!”

Amalta bellowed back and charged forward again.

His bravery looked as if he’d completely forgotten the shock from moments ago.

Kwaaaaa!

He swung his Spear toward Kirgarf, unleashing a torrent of raging flames.

Kirgarf swiped a massive arm as if mocking the effort.

An incredibly fast and powerful strike.

But Amalta wasn’t about to fall for the same trick twice in a row.

He twisted his body swiftly, dodging Kirgarf’s attack and rolling aside.

And now Gijun….

Kwaaa!

He had warped the shape of his Fireball and was endlessly pumping Mana into it.

‘Just like back then.’

On the path where he first went to meet Libre.

Like back then, when he’d hunted the Hellhound he’d met on that road.

Like when he’d poured all his mana into a tiny Fireball, swelling it to its absolute maximum size.

‘Now, though—the power would be beyond imagining.’

The mana packed into Gijun’s Fireball through Mana Condensation was already compressed as far as it could go.

If he blew that condensed mana to the limit, expanding the Form-Changed Fireball’s size…

‘I can deal a lethal wound.’

That was Gijun’s plan.

Crackle! CRRRACKLE!

The spear-shaped Fireball began rapidly swelling in size.

‘…What in the hell is that now?’

Amalta’s eyes went wide as he dodged Kirgarf’s attacks, buying time.

The spear-shaped fireball he’d seen a thousand times had already bloated past ten meters.

And there were five of them.

‘That madman, I swear….’

Then Gijun shouted.

“Amalta, get clear!”

Amalta threw himself sideways without a second thought.

His gut was screaming at him.

If he got caught in this, it’d cost him his life.

In that instant, a searing, blinding corona erupted from the castle walls, so vast and fierce it hurt just to look at.

BLIND!

The Form-Changed Fireball, now grown to its full extent.

It had already breached ten meters.

From its usual size—barely a meter across—it had swollen ten times over.

No less fitting a name than Grand Spear.

That colossal fireball spun violently in place, belching torrents of flame.

“…Khh…?”

Kirgarf, too, felt something wrong and turned its gaze.

But it was already too late.

BLIND!

A flash so intense it seemed to brighten the whole world burst from the spot, and five beams of light arced from the Form-Changed Fireballs, streaking straight for Kirgarf.

KRRRAAASH!

A tremor shook the very earth as five Grand Spears slammed home into Kirgarf’s body.

“Ghk… ghkk….”

Kirgarf froze.

It reached a hand to pull the spears out, but it was pointless.

Because the Form-Changed Fireballs lodged in its flesh had already detonated in a violent explosion.

BOOMBAMBAMBAM!

“Krrrk!”

Even Amalta, already far away, was thrown by the blast’s shockwave.

And not just him.

The Demon Beasts in the area were torn apart by the Form-Changed Fireball’s concussive force.

“What in the….”

Even the Plains Warriors stood dumbfounded, staring blankly at the explosion ripping the distant sky apart.

And when the light finally faded…

Krrrk, krrrk…

Kirgarf’s crumpled, ruined body was revealed.

Five gaping holes had been punched clean through the creature’s upper body.

Even now, the wounds tried to knit themselves back together, but the flesh wouldn’t regenerate easily.

The superheated air still lingered, melting the creature anew each time it tried to reform.

But he couldn’t let his guard down.

The bastard still wasn’t dead.

If he left it alone now, it would surely recover.

Gijun shouted.

“Now!”

“Got it!”

With Gijun’s shout, Amalta shot forward.

Gijun couldn’t use magic again.

He’d poured every last drop of Mana he had into that strike.

“Die already!”

Amalta burned his Magic Power with a single-minded intent—to pour everything he had into this moment.

Just as Gijun had emptied his Mana, Amalta too was pouring every ounce of himself into this.

WHOOOOSH!

The flames wreathing his body swelled, growing as massive as Kirgarf himself.

And then, Amalta launched himself into the air once more.

FLASH!

A spear strike wreathed in blazing fire came crashing down from the sky, aimed straight at Kirgarf’s head.

ROOAAR—

Like a meteor plunging from the heavens, Amalta’s spear drove through Kirgarf’s body in a straight, piercing line.

BOOM!

Another colossal explosion followed.

Gijun closed his eyes.

The shockwave from Amalta’s attack lasted roughly ten seconds.

Only after the tremors subsided did Gijun manage to open his eyes.

“Hah…”

As his vision cleared, Gijun let out a low whistle.