Chapter 135. Team Revival (8)
Chapter 135. Team Revival (8)
At the unexpected situation, I was almost hit by the drake’s fire breath. If Hwaya didn’t send her birds to block the flames in time, I would have been seriously injured.
“Be careful, idiot! If you die, I’ll drag you out of your grave and kill you again!”
“Thanks, Hwaya!”
I thanked Hwaya, but was still embarrassed and angered by Pepper’s grenade. Even in the heavy rain, I could clearly see the hole in the drake’s neck and the grenade buried in it.
It was amazing. What was amazing, you ask? It was that the grenade didn’t explode even with the drake’s fire erupting out just now. Those bastards went too far with the safety device!
“Leon Pepper, I swear I’ll strangle you…!”
I gritted my teeth and raised my spear again, absorbing the surrounding lightning energy. Since the easy method was now gone, I could only use the more difficult method. Ugh, it would be fine for SS rankers like me and Hwaya, but S rankers might get hurt, which I wanted to avoid… Ah!
[Mega Rock Strike!]
The drake stomped the ground with both of its feet. Ability users panicked and scattered to avoid its attack, but the a sinkhole appeared in the ground, dragging a few of the ability users underground. Immediately afterwards, a huge rock shot up from the sinkhole.
“Save them! If they get stuck down there, there’s nothing we can do!”
“O Earth, give back the ones you swallowed!”
Ludia and other ability users scrambled to save the ones who fell into the sinkhole, but I was more concerned with the huge rock that was shooting up hundreds of meters up into the air by the drake’s magic power.
What did it shout just now? Although it didn’t explain what it did, I could tell what it planned to do by seeing the huge rock in the sky.
That drake was planning on dropping the rock and smashing the ability users!
Everyone was moving about in panic. Since I was the only one who could block it, I didn’t need to hesitate. I ordered Lotte to fly up. However, Lotte shook her head.
[We can’t block it! If we get hit, I might be fine, but Hero will die! That isn’t a normal rock!]
“Don’t worry. I don’t rush into things knowing I have zero chance of winning. I won’t die.”
Lotte sighed and began to ascend. Just in case, I activated Dragon Skin. With this, even if the method I thought of didn’t work, I wouldn’t die. Although my speed fell with Dragon Skin, Lotte’s speed was unaffected, as she soared up quickly.
It was then that the rock had reached its peak height, and began to fall. In truth, it was terrifying. Huge didn’t begin to describe how big it really was.
“Shin, no!”
At that time, Hwaya flew over, while riding a flame wyvern. She must have thought I was planning on committing suicide, as her face was pale. As if. I wasn’t remotely close to a martyr.
I asked Hwaya, who looked like she wanted to drag me away.
“Hwaya, can you slow that rock down from falling?”
“If I do, can you do something about it?”
“Of course. So, is it possible?”
“If it’s just slowing it down… Yes, a little.”
Hwaya took out a potion from her inventory and put it in her mouth. Then, she raised her hand. On it, a spherical white flame appeared. She looked back at me, while putting more power into the white flame. I could clearly see worry in her flame-like eyes.
“I only have enough mana to maintain the flame army, so you need to do the rest, okay?”
“Thanks Hwaya. You really are a cool woman.”
“Don’t say half-hearted words. I’d rather get a deep kiss.”
“You won’t even let me compliment you…?”
When I murmured, Hwaya smiled and threw the completed white flame at the rock. The moment the falling rock collided with Hwaya’s white flame, its surface became red, and the resistance slowed down the rock. Good! With this, it would be much easier for me to execute my plan!
“Hwaya, you can run now!”
Without waiting for Hwaya’s response, I flew higher with Lotte. Lightning flickered in the spear I held up, and Lotte seemed to be slightly terrified at the approaching rock. I couldn’t blame her. It was as big as an apartment building. Hundreds of people could stand on it without a problem.
The rock was falling. 100 meters, 70 meters, 35 meters, 10 meters! I thrust my spear forward.
“Outburst!”
The moment my spear collided with the rock, I felt that the spear overcame the rock’s crushing force. However, in order to protect the spear shaft, the spear transferred the crushing force directly to me. Along with an enormous shock in my arms, I felt an electrifying pain in my solar plexus. However, believing in Dragon Skin’s power, I gritted my teeth and continued to thrust my spear forward.
“You god damn lizard bastard! Eat this!”
The rock split, not from shock of colliding with the spear, but from an unnaturally strong shock. It split into dozens, then hundreds of pieces. Then, just as unnaturally, the broken pieces rained down in a straight line. Of course, their aim was…!
[Kuaaaaaa, Heroooo!]
If I recorded it, I could use it as an alarm clock! The rain of rocks struck the drake’s body. I didn’t think it would receive a fatal blow, but I clenched my fists, as I had prevented S rankers from dying in vain.
However, suddenly feeling raindrops in my head, I raised my hands to touch it, and saw that my helmet had been split into two. It seemed that a piece of rock had glazed past my head. My mask would still hide my identity, but I would have to pay to repair the helmet. I gritted my teeth and put the two pieces of the helmet into my inventory.
The fight wasn’t over yet. If I let the drake freely rampage any longer, my companions might really be in danger. Because of its attacks, the Antelope Canyon was already in a sorry state. The damage was even reaching outer perimeters of the canyon.
Hwaya’s mana wasn’t infinite, and she wouldn’t be able to block its flames forever. Without her, I suspected that half of the people currently alive would be dead.
As such, I had to kill it before her mana ran out.
“Huu…!”
First, I resolved myself. Will one minute be enough? Will I be able to aim properly? Should I really do it?
No, with Ludia’s buff, it should just barely be possible!
“Kuaaaaaaa!”
[You used Orc Lord’s Warcry! All party members are cleansed of negative status effects. All party members’ attack power increases by 50 percent for the duration. All party members become super-armored, unfazed by enemy attacks.]
Strength overflowed in my body. Of course, that wasn’t it. Standing firmly on Lotte’s back, I aimed my spear at the Flame Drake, currently swinging its front paw and breathing fire at the S rankers attacking it.
“Gigantic! Uk!”
[Kuk… It’s heavy, Herooo!]
“Endure it just for a second, Lotte!”
The spear grew to dozens of meters in an instant! The spear had become incredibly heavy, and it was devouring an unimaginable amount of mana from Spirit Aura. I gritted my teeth and shouted.
“Sky God’s Rage!’
The giant spear transformed into a lightning bolt. Oh, the spear became lighter! Plus, when I activated Sky God’s Rage, thunderclaps rang out consecutively and bolts of lightning fell from the sky. My spear directly absorbed all of the lightning and became even bigger.
[Hahaha, I feel super high, Master!]1
“I feel super heavy!”
At Peika’s spirited shout, I clenched my teeth. The strength from all my muscles surged. Damn it, if I didn’t learn it as a skill, it would have been impossible for me to concentrate all my strength in this situation!
“Here I go… Heroic… Striiiiike!”
I flung the lightning bolt whole.
“Kuk! What is that giant lightning!?”
“Thunder Knight, it’s Thunder Knight’s power!”
“What… That’s the power of an SS ranker? It’s well above it!”
“Ah, the drake is moving! Stop it!”
[Kuaaaaa!]
In truth, the spear I threw wasn’t as fast as real lightning. The drake was quite dexterous for its size, so it could definitely dodge it.
That is, if I didn’t do anything.
“Shadow Blink!”
The next moment, I was on the drake’s neck. It erupted strong flames from its body and threw the ability users back, and was now trying to dodge the incoming spear. Of course, I had no plan of letting it do that.
I raised my whitened hand and struck down at its neck, shouting, “Ice Touch!”
[Your target freezes for 5 seconds. Afterwards, it can dispel the status effect depending on its resistance.]
[Kak!]
Like a lie, the drake froze in place. With a grin, I leaped off. Lotte flew like an arrow and caught me.
“Nice, Lotte.”
[I’m falling back!]
It seemed Lotte could feel the power behind Sky God’s Rage. She flapped her wings quickly and flew off. Less than a second afterwards, the spear I threw out pierced the drake’s body.
[Critical Hit!]
[Kyaaaaaaaaa!]
“Wow, a critical hit.”
I watched, as I stood on Lotte’s back. After glazing past the drake’s neck, Sky God’s Rage burned everything in its path and pierced the drake’s body. Digging deep into it, it dyed the world golden for a moment, as formidable lightning struck its body.
At the same time, even the grenade that was stuck in its neck exploded! Right, if it could withstand Sky God’s Rage, it would be an SSS rank boss monster, not a grenade! The shrapnel from the grenade shredded the drake’s throat. Although it wasn’t as strong as Sky God’s Rage, with its positioning and the fact that all of Pepper’s strength was imbued in it, it dealt critical damage.
[Kuaaaaaaa…! The He…ro’s… power…!]
The drake screamed. Its voice became quieter and quieter until no one could hear it. If it didn’t die from this, I would have to resort to Deific Manifestation. When I was resolving myself to do so, the tension in my body disappeared. I had heard the voice I was waiting to hear.
[Event Raid success! Six of Earth’s dungeon explorers and one independent dungeon explorer, a total of seven dungeon explorers has successfully completed an Event Raid! This great achievement increases the rewards greatly! As your average rank is lower than the raid boss, the reward increases again!]
[Your dignity is worthy of receiving the attentions of Transcendents. All gods that love battles and wars begin to observe you closely.]
The reward increased even more this time!? Plus, that message… It seemed I needed to prepare myself for what was to come.
[You obtained 5 stat points for completing the Event Raid.]
[Rewards will be distributed in order of contribution.]
[Kang Shin-nim’s contribution is the highest. Choose your reward.]
[1. Rage of Vulcan (Epic)
2. Bride of Ignis (Epic)
3. Executioners in Two Moon (Epic)
4. Elixir
5. Volcanic Lance (Epic)
6. Volcanic Guardian (Epic)
7. 5,000,000 Gold]
‘… Even the worst reward is 5,000,000 gold!? And the potion reward is Elixir!?2 If that’s what I think it is… isn’t it the miracle potion that restores someone to normal from all physical or mental injuries and status effects!? If the potion is Elixir, then what about the other rewards!? I mean, they’re all Epic!’
“S-Shin, did the rewards come out? It did, right? You’re the first in contribution, so how is it? Anything good?”
I was clearly first in contribution. It couldn’t be anyone else. Hwaya, who knew that fact well, approached me and asked with sparkling eyes.
When I looked at her, the water vapor evaporating from her was lessening. The heavy rain had passed.
Seeing the ray of light shining down from between the storm clouds, I said with a solemn expression.
“Hwaya… we struck it big.”
1. She literally says “high” in English. And Shin says “heavy” in English.
2. Not the elixirs as in strengthening elixirs, compressing elixirs, etc. The Korean word for that is completely different than this potion, which is literally “Elixir” phoneticized in Korean.