Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63. Geom, Bu, Chang, and Gwanju
Paak!
Nigues created a wave to stop the advance of the flames.
“Kyaa!”
Bu let out a laugh-filled scream and spun the axes in both her hands.
Nigues hurriedly rolled his body to get away from Bu. It was to avoid being attacked in a defenseless state right after using magic.
Kaang!
Bu’s axe struck the floor. She licked her lips, glaring at Nigues with narrow eyes.
Swish!
Nigues, cut by the sharp spear, bit his lip and moved his position. Red blood flowed from his shoulder.
“Tch! What a shame. I was aiming for the neck.”
Chang said, shaking the weapon in her hand.
Nigues let out a hot breath and stood facing Bu and Chang. His eyes were filled with anger.
“I want to tear you to pieces and kill you. But not now. So I’ll give you one chance, retreat now. Then you can live.”
“What are you saying?”
“Right, for an ugly old man.”
Bu and Chang snorted and launched themselves in different directions.
Nigues closed his eyes and circulated his mana.
Paak!
The sharp tip of the spear aimed for Nigues’s back. But it couldn’t pierce the thick wall of water that had spread out. Instead, its movement was blocked, caught in the current.
Nigues opened his eyes. As if in response, the wall of water that had been holding the spear changed its form.
“Wh, what?”
Chang was flustered. It was because the water that had been binding her weapon was trying to swallow her like the jaws of a shark. She tried to pull her weapon out somehow. But it was no use.
“Keuk!”
Chang was devoured by the current and crashed into the wall.
Kagang!
This time, the axe collided with a pillar of ice.
Nigues opened his eyes and struck the tip of the ice pillar with his fist.
“You! Damn it!”
Bu hurriedly tried to retrieve the axe embedded in the ice.
But Nigues’s fist was a little faster.
The ice pillar cracked, and Nigues’s fist pushed through the gap. The surfaces of the ice pillar split into sharp pieces.
Nigues stared straight at Bu and opened his hand wide. At that moment, the broken ice turned into awls and flew towards Bu.
Kang! Kang! Kang! Kang!
Bu hurriedly deflected the ice shards.
Finding it difficult on her own, she shouted, ‘Chang!’ and requested help. But the fallen Chang was struggling to even take care of herself.
“Kyaak!”
Bu, who had sustained numerous injuries, fell backward.
Nigues confirmed the two had fallen and stepped back. He composed his ragged breath from rapidly circulating his mana.
“If you thought you could do anything to me with just the two of you, you were greatly mistaken.”
Nigues said to Chang and Bu, who were glaring at him.
Chang and Bu struggled to their feet and spat on the floor. Then, they readjusted their stances.
“Mistaken, my ass.”
“For a smelly old man!”
They shouted bravely. But they did not rashly charge at Nigues. It was because they knew what Nigues’s words meant.
“So our two little cowards have been chirping away.”
A deep voice flowed slowly from behind Nigues.
Nigues’s expression darkened rapidly.
‘Geom!’
A cold sweat trickled down his face.
“Still, you were going easy on them. Seems like you were just patting them lightly.”
Geom said, looking at Nigues’s back.
Nigues kept his gaze fixed on Bu and Chang and breathed in a larger amount of mana than before.
“Ah, ah. The spot where I got hit back then still stings.”
Geom slightly pushed up the bamboo hat he was wearing. A face with sharp eyes, a thick nose, and a fist-sized scar was revealed.
“So today, I’d like to settle that score.”
Geom took out his beloved weapon. The blade, a chaotic mix of blue and red as if it had absorbed a great deal of heat, was closer to a saber than a sword.
“Great Anger says it’s been a while. It’s asking if the scar it drew back then is doing well?
Was it on your stomach? Or your chest?”
“Tell it I remember. And tell that bastard it will die today too.”
Nigues retorted and kicked off the ground.
Bu and Chang tried to throw themselves at Nigues. But they couldn’t. A transparent wall of ice blocked their movements.
“As expected! A 3rd Circle mage’s judgment is quick!”
Geom sneered and drew a thick line toward Nigues’s center.
Kwagwagwagwang!
Small explosions erupted along the path Great Anger passed.
Ashen smoke rose, making the surroundings hazy. Nigues emerged from within it. In both his hands were daggers made of ice.
“I will definitely kill you here!”
Nigues’s daggers dug into Geom’s chest.
Kwakwakwang!
With a roar, Nigues was sent flying. The clothes covering his chest were burned, revealing his blackened chest. A large cut was located there.
Geom planted Great Anger into the ground and looked at the fallen Nigues. The ice dagger embedded in his chest melted away.
“Keuk! Did you think I’d fall for the same trick again? Keuk keuk.”
Geom spat blood and sneered at Nigues.
Papang!
Geom righted his stance and swung Great Anger. A small explosion burst briefly in the air.
“This time, I’ll draw on the other side and make a cross.”
Great Anger tore through the air, exploding as it headed toward the fallen Nigues.
Nigues looked at Geom’s attack aiming for his chest. He thought he should roll his body. But his body didn’t follow his mind.
“Great Anger rejoices that its wish will be fulfilled!”
Geom laughed loudly and swung with all his might at Nigues’s chest.
Pajik! Pak!
A brilliant flash of light momentarily blinded everyone in the vicinity.
“What?”
Geom, unable to open his eyes properly, said. It was because Great Anger, which had been moving according to his will, had stopped.
“What do you mean, what? I’m here to catch the one who ran away.”
Piontek said, having blocked Great Anger.
“This bastard.”
Geom, unable to achieve his goal, opened his eyes wide.
He ground his teeth, expressing his rising anger without restraint. Then, he pulled back Great Anger and changed the direction of his attack.
Kang!
Piontek’s sword and Great Anger clashed.
Jijik!
Electricity and sparks flew together.
Piontek increased his speed and relentlessly stabbed at Geom’s openings.
Geom’s face turned deathly pale. It was because the time he spent defending while holding his breath had grown long.
Kaang!
A huge collision occurred, and a distance was created between them.
Geom let out the breath he had been holding and looked at Piontek.
“You’re pretty good for a young whelp.”
“Instead of complimenting me, why don’t you worry about your own life?”
“A dead man talks a lot!”
Geom changed his grip on Great Anger.
Piontek ignored this and continued his attack in the same manner as before. However, this was a mistake brought on by inexperience.
Great Anger drew a graceful line and deflected all of Piontek’s sword strikes. Then, it swayed naturally, gradually cutting Piontek’s arm, shoulder, and waist.
“He looks rough, but his sword is incredibly soft.”
Adellian, who was watching the battle between Piontek and Geom, said with fascination.
Behind her, Chang and Bu lay unconscious.
“It will be dangerous if we just watch like this.”
Nigues said to Adellian.
“Is his circle high?”
“He’s a 2nd Circle, so it won’t be easy. And that sword he has is special. His swordsmanship utilizing it is also excellent. He probably has the highest combat power in Hobiyukyeong.”
At Nigues’s explanation, Adellian looked at him blankly.
“So if his sword isn’t special, he’s just about a 2nd Circle? What god did he swear an oath to?”
“I remember it as Benetuo. Because he created explosions and increased their size with wind.”
Adellian watched the battle between Piontek and Geom and fell into thought.
“Hey, mister. Can you put some magic on my sword?”
“What kind of magic?”
“A water chain. I thought if we tie up that man’s sword, he won’t be able to fight properly.”
Kwagwang!
Great Anger exploded, cornering Piontek.
Piontek didn’t just take it. He was resisting with all his might, deflecting the impact of the explosion with electricity. But the aspect of the battle seemed disadvantageous for him.
“I’ll do it right away. We have to do something.”
“Yes, please.”
Nigues imbued Adellian’s sword with a water chain.
“Mister, you go find your family. Piontek and I will hold this place.”
“What? With just the two of you……”
“Quickly. I think we can manage somehow.”
Nigues hesitated to act as Adellian said. He thought he should recover his stamina and fight together with them.
Adellian gave up on persuading him with words. Instead, she decided to show him that it was okay through her actions.
Kagak!
Adellian, who had charged at Geom, struck down on Great Anger.
Geom, seeing the sudden appearance of Adellian, scowled deeply.
“What do you think you’re doing! Can’t you see we’re fighting?”
“This isn’t a duel, you know.”
Adellian retorted as if she was dumbfounded and drew out her power to the fullest.
The water chain activated. Water flowed from Adellian’s sword and surrounded the blade of Great Anger.
“Such a petty trick!”
Geom tried to cut the water chain using the power of wind.
But Adellian didn’t just stand by. She drew out all her power.
Frost began to form around Adellian’s hand gripping the sword.
“Damn it!”
Geom, feeling something was wrong, tried to pull Great Anger back. But it didn’t go as he intended.
The sword grew colder and colder. The water surrounding Great Anger also began to freeze solid.
“Piontek!”
At Adellian’s call, Piontek leaped high into the air.
Chaengrang!
The frozen Great Anger shattered into five pieces and fell as it was.
“G, Great Anger……”
Geom stuttered as if he had lost his mind.
Nigues stood behind such a Geom. He looked down at Geom with a cold gaze.
“Are you acting like that just because you lost one sword?”
Geom, hearing Nigues’s voice, turned around and extended his hand.
Teok!
Nigues blocked it. In Geom’s hand was something like a shuriken.
“We should never have met. You and I.”
Nigues had not forgotten everything Geom had done. No, he could not forget. He recalled it every day to remember clearly the day he first saw him.
“Die. Die forever!”
Nigues stabbed Geom’s neck with a fragment of Great Anger he was holding.
“Keoheok!”
Blood spurted from Geom’s neck. As if he wanted to live somehow, he clutched his neck and crawled on the floor, trying to leave the warehouse.
“You bastards, to my wife! And my child! You fucking bastards! Think about what you’ve done! You’re worse than vermin!”
Nigues looked at Geom and relentlessly unleashed his unbearable anger.
Geom, who had stopped moving, looked at Nigues. He was scowling deeply. But that scowl slowly faded, and an unpleasant smile faintly appeared.
Nigues, who had read something from Geom, hurriedly turned his head.
Hwareureuk!
Geom’s body suddenly burst into flames. Not only that, but the bodies of Bu and Chang were also spewing fierce flames, burning all their constituent elements.
“No, how did it suddenly……”
“What happened?”
The flustered Piontek and Adellian looked at Nigues.
Nigues swallowed a dry gulp and looked at the place where the darkness had fallen deeply.
“Gwanju.”
He said.
As if to confirm it, Gwanju walked out.
“……!”
Nigues’s eyes, upon seeing Gwanju, became more than twice as large. It was because in Gwanju’s hands were the wife and child he had been desperately searching for.
“I named it Hobiyukyeong so that the six of them would travel together.”
Gwanju said, looking at the burning Geom. He did not once look at Nigues, Adellian, or Piontek.
“I gave some decent weapons to some worthless things and attached some plausible nicknames, and they were mistaken, thinking they had become something. What a bunch of morons.”
Gwanju, who had clicked his tongue, threw Nigues’s wife and child, whom he had been holding, onto the floor.
Nigues shouted, ‘Honey! Carol!’ But his family was unconscious.
“They are not dead. They are important merchandise. Do not make a fuss.”
“Y, you! You son of a bitch!”
Nigues, without any restrictions, poured all his power and launched a large ice awl at Gwanju.
Chiiik.
Just before the enormous ice awl reached Gwanju’s face, it melted away helplessly as if placed on a hot plate.
Seeing this, Piontek and Adellian gasped.
Gwanju looked at the three in front of him with indifferent eyes.
“It is the Moonlight Festival. Do not spill dirty blood on a sacred day. Or else, brighten the festival with your blood.”
Gwanju raised his finger and drew a line in the air. At that, a thumbnail-sized hole appeared on Nigues’s shoulder.
“Keoheok!”
Nigues flew backward.
Piontek and Adellian were so surprised they couldn’t speak.
“Did you really think you could ruin the Moonlight Festival with the likes of you?”
Gwanju’s cold gaze swept over Piontek, Adellian, and the fallen Nigues one by one.
Piontek, overwhelmed by Gwanju, bit his lip.
‘I can tell without even fighting. That’s a monster.’
Piontek thought Gwanju was stronger than any being he had ever met.
‘Among us, someone who can fight that thing is…….’
Just as he was about to declare that there was absolutely no one, Maxim came to mind and he stopped his thought. Objectively, it was a fight they could never win. But strangely, a strong feeling that Maxim could do something about it arose.