Chapter 358: Chapter 358: Isolation (5)

The Lighthouse Keeper, an ability user from Noark, who stood taller than even the Blood Knight at over 190 centimeters.

I licked my lips, eyeing him.

‘Damn… [Leap] would’ve made this so much easier.’

About 130 meters separated us.

Just two skills, and I could close the distance.

But…

‘Well, it’s gone.’

I dismissed my regret.

There’s no use dwelling on what’s already gone.

If I didn’t have a movement skill, I would just have to use my legs.

It was the barbarian way.

“Erwen, Emily, you two stay here and hold the line.”

“…What about you?”

“I’ll be back.”

“Back? Where are you—”

Where else?

「Character has used [Wild Release].」

I charged forward, roaring.

“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”

It didn’t have the same impact as shouting the name of my ancestor god, but it couldn’t be helped.

I wasn’t sure if Raven had found out yet.

She might still be under the same misconception as the Corpse Collector.

Tadat.

The others reacted immediately as I left the formation for the first time, having been focused on defense and protecting my companions.

The Blood Knight was the first.

“…….”

He charged towards me, having kept his distance to avoid entering the teleportation range.

But…

Clang!

…would that work?

I blocked his flaming sword with my shield.

Tadat.

I ignored the Blood Knight and dashed forward again.

I couldn’t shake him off with my Agility stat, so my back was exposed…

Slash!

…but I didn’t have to block with my shield.

I could just tank it. It would just be a deep cut, not a fatal blow.

It just hurt like hell because of my decreased Pain Resistance.

‘Ugh, it’s like he rubbed salt on his blade.’

I winced, but I didn’t stop running.

I wouldn’t have made it this far if I was the type to stop because of pain.

Tadat.

I pushed off the ground again, like a salmon swimming upstream.

And at that moment…

…the Blood Knight exclaimed in admiration.

“Wh, what…!”

He seemed impressed by my relentless advance, even after being stabbed in the back.

“Stop…!”

It was a bit underwhelming compared to the praise I had received in the past, but the panic in his voice was satisfying.

Right, you’ve never experienced this before, have you?

One swing of your Aura blade, and any tank would be cut down.

Slash!

He stabbed me again.

But nothing changed.

I kept running, like a runaway train.

And…

“……!”

…there was nothing he could do about it.

Tadat.

It was his turn to learn.

He probably didn’t realize it, having lived comfortably with his Aura…

Slash!

…but damage dealers were powerless in front of a tank.

Whoosh!

A support attack arrived from behind.

It was Erwen’s arrow.

And…

Thud.

…it hit his arm.

He was good at dodging when we were defending, but he had to try and stop me, didn’t he?

I didn’t know the details.

But his mistake was fatal.

“……!”

His distorted expression said it all.

One arrow might not be a big deal, but…

…the follow-up wasn’t.

「Erwen Fornachi di Tersia has cast [Rupture].」

The skill that had shattered Amelia’s clone.

Kwagic!

The Blood Knight’s arm exploded into dozens of pieces.

Okay, that took care of the annoying mosquito.

Tadat.

I continued running, leaving the Blood Knight, who had been thrown back by the explosion, behind.

But another obstacle appeared.

“Wow, that guy looks like an ogre!”

The Wailing Witch, Liranne Vivienne, was watching me from above, perched on her broomstick.

She giggled and unleashed her magic.

「Liranne Vivienne has cast the 4th-grade dark magic [Falling Flames].」

Black flames, like raindrops, rained down on me. But as with most AoE spells, the damage per hit was low.

I raised my shield and continued running.

Well, my shield would be damaged…

‘Nothing new.’

Had my shield ever survived a difficult battle?

I could just repair it with the loot.

Tadat.

I pushed off the ground again.

Did she decide to change her strategy?

「Liranne Vivienne has cast the 4th-grade dark magic [Stele of Pain].」

The rain of fire stopped, and a black fog enveloped me.

‘Judging by the effect…’

…this skill couldn’t be dodged. The only way to counter it was with Magic Resistance.

In other words…

‘She can’t dodge it either.’

I quickly chanted a command as soon as the fog touched my skin.

「Character has cast [Risk].」

Gachabon’s active skill.

The effect was simple.

It doubled the damage I received, but also increased the reflected damage of [Probabilistic Retaliation].

But…

「The inherent ability of the skill is unlocked by the power of the Transcendent.」

…when combined with [Transcendence], it had an additional effect.

「The damage immunity effect of [Probabilistic Retaliation] is removed, but the activation probability is fixed at 100%.」

Guaranteed gacha.

Whoosh!

The black fog that was clinging to my skin hardened.

It was the effect of [Stele of Pain].

Temporary movement restriction.

And…

Whoosh!

…an unavoidable attack.

“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”

This hurts like hell.

Crack!

I endured for about two seconds, and then the hardened fog shattered and fell to the ground.

The inside was covered in thorns.

Damn, what is this, a medieval torture device?

At least I wasn’t the only one who was affected.

「Normal Luck.」

[Probabilistic Retaliation] activated.

Clank, clank.

A skeleton rose from the ground next to me, its bones creaking.

It wasn’t a critical hit, so there wasn’t a special sound effect.

But…

「Reflects 30% of the received damage to the enemy.」

…it reflected 30% of the damage, not 15%.

And the damage I received was doubled, so it was effectively four times the normal reflection damage.

Well, it was still a bit unfair…

“Uh, uh…?!”

…but she was a mage.

It was a reasonable trade-off.

“Wh, what is this…!”

The skeleton raised its hand, and a black fog enveloped the witch on her broomstick.

And…

Whoosh!

A chilling sound echoed through the sewer.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaak!”

Damn, she’s loud.

So that’s why she was called the Wailing Witch.

Tadat.

I continued running, my body riddled with wounds.

It was a fixed damage spell, so the wounds weren’t that deep, even though the damage I received was doubled.

But it hurt like hell.

‘It seems like she survived.’

Vivienne, screaming as she fell from the sky, quickly regained her composure and used a levitation spell to avoid crashing to the ground.

‘Her wounds weren’t that deep either…’

Damn it, I thought a 30% attack would be enough to one-shot a mage.

‘Did she use a mana shield or something to reduce the damage?’

It was a bit disappointing…

“Ugh…”

…but at least I achieved my goal.

Judging by how she was still writhing in pain, she wouldn’t be able to attack me for a while.

I quickly closed the distance after taking care of the mage.

[Grooooan…!]

The Corpse Collector summoned more corpses to block my path.

Seven of them.

He must have summoned tank-type undead to stop me, judging by their size.

They were even bigger than large monsters.

‘About 7 meters tall?’

I would have been able to jump over them if I had [Leap]… but it wasn’t a big problem.

I wasn’t just a tank.

A wall blocking my path?

I didn’t even have to go around it.

「Character has cast [Swing].」

I could just destroy it.

「Strike range is tripled.」

I swung my hammer, which had elongated like a magical staff, and smashed the 7-meter tall corpse giant’s head.

It seemed like a tank-type undead, but that was enough.

The multiplier for [Swing] was Strength.

And its power was increased by 500% thanks to the Demon Crusher. And since it was a downward strike, it also had 50% armor penetration…

Kaboom!

How could a summon withstand that?

Pssssh!

The corpse giant was turned into a lump of rotten meat with a single swing, its blood splattering everywhere like a fountain.

Damn it, his poison is strong.

「Character has been poisoned (High).」

「Poison Resistance is 100 or higher.」

「Poison level reduced to Low.」

The poison seeped into my skin, causing pain.

But I didn’t stop.

Especially not when my target was right in front of me.

‘I’m finally here.’

I quickly passed through the gap created by the destroyed corpse giant and looked ahead.

The target was about 30 meters away.

But…

‘What the hell, why is he so far forward?’

Did he come here himself to summon the corpse giant?

The Corpse Collector was about 5 meters away.

He looked very flustered…

It would be rude to just ignore him.

「Character has cast [Swing].」

「Strike range is tripled.」

I swung my hammer at him without hesitation.

He chose to defend instead of dodging.

He used that familiar skill.

「Abet Necrapheto has cast [Bone Armor].」

Damn it, I used to have to hit him several times to break it.

How would it be this time?

I soon found out.

Crack!

The armor shattered with a single blow, revealing his flesh.

And…

「Abet Necrapheto has cast [Momentary Immortality].」

His body was engulfed in flames and turned to bone.

A 3rd-grade essence skill that converted Mental and Ability stats to physical stats and granted one minute of damage immunity.

‘Wow, he used his invincibility skill after just one hit.’

There was no point in attacking him while he was invincible, so I grabbed his arm and threw him away.

And…

Tadat!

…I jumped high, like using [Leap].

The stakes he had planted around him were shooting projectiles like turrets in a defense game.

4th-grade transformation skill, [Sublime Idol].

It was the Lighthouse Keeper's core skill, and its effect was simple.

It allowed you to transform your abilities by planting totems in the ground. For example, a single target buff or curse could be turned into an AoE aura…

‘He must have been in a hurry.’

Judging by the flames and magic bullets being fired from the totems, he had deactivated his support auras like [Haste] and [Soul Regeneration] and switched to attack mode.

“…You monster.”

He didn’t run away, even though I had endured all his attacks and reached him.

Well, it would be more dangerous to leave the totem range.

He shouted in desperation,

“…Come!”

What the hell, I have no intention of entering.

「Character has cast [Eye of the Storm].」

「The inherent ability of the skill is unlocked by the power of the Transcendent.」

It seemed like he was within range, so I used my grab skill.

Swaaaaaaaaaa!

A gust of wind swept towards me.

And…

“Aak, aaaaargh!”

…he was dragged towards me.

He’s screaming like a little girl.

Grab.

I grabbed his neck in midair with my shield hand. He struggled, but I just tightened my grip, and he calmed down.

You should have just given up from the beginning.

Thud.

I landed and looked down at him, saying,

“Your rings.”

“……?”

“I hope they’re expensive.”

It was a tough journey.

____________________

Crack!

I headbutted him.

It was a bad angle for a hammer swing, and he was also wearing a necklace.

It would have been crushed if I used my hammer.

“…….”

I was about to headbutt him again when his body went limp.

Did he die? Or just pass out?

I hoped it was the former, so I headbutted him a few more times.

Crack, crack!

Ugh, that’s disgusting. How can a human eye…

‘…Anyway, that takes care of him. So, what should I do now?’

I had achieved my first objective, so it was time to make another decision.

‘I caught the Lighthouse Keeper, and we can probably take down the rest 4v3…’

Should I return and use the teleportation spell?

Or should I finish them off?

I didn’t have much time to think.

Thud, thud!

The corpse giants were approaching.

‘Right, let’s retreat for now.’

I had been stabbed countless times, hit by magic, and poisoned.

I could endure those problems with my mental fortitude.

But…

‘My MP is dangerously low.’

I had been maintaining [Iron Fortress] to counter the Aura, and I was currently in [Gigantification] state.

And not only that…

I had been spamming my skills with [Transcendence].

If I ran out of MP, I wouldn’t be able to block Aura, and it would be much harder to protect my companions from the Blood Knight.

‘And they might have reinforcements.’

I made a decision and ran back the way I came, clutching my loot.

But then…

‘Why aren’t they attacking?’

The corpse giants who had been charging towards me were now lined up defensively, and there were no magic attacks.

“…Necrapheto! What are you doing?! Block him! He can’t even die!”

The Wailing Witch’s shout suggested that they had regained their composure…

But why?

I soon found out.

[If you want to block him, then you do it! It seems like magic works on him!]

One of the relatively intact undead spoke for the Corpse Collector, who was currently a skeleton.

They were all hesitant to attack because they had already been punished.

Well, they didn’t have any information about me.

They probably didn’t want to end up like the Lighthouse Keeper.

‘This is too easy.’

I was running towards my destination when…

“You… You’re going to fight me?”

…the Blood Knight, now in one-armed mode, blocked my path.

“…Your name.”

Huh?

“What’s your name?”

He wanted to know my name?

I only had one thing to say.

“Attack me if you’re going to, or get out of my way. I have to go eat.”

“…….”

“Damn, cat got your tongue?”

I started running, and the Blood Knight stepped aside.

“…We’ll meet again.”

He didn’t even try to stab me in the back.

He must have learned his lesson.

How could he possibly stop me when I just ignored his attacks and ran?

Tadat, tadat.

I soon reached my destination.

The magic circle on the ground was glowing, ready to be activated.

But the mage was frozen in place.

“What are you doing? Let’s go!”

Raven looked up at me, her eyes wide with fear.

What the…?

I looked around, and Erwen and Amelia also had strange expressions.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

They were looking at me as if I was a monster.

Even though I had brought back loot.