Chapter 90 - 90: « Headband-Bound Demon King [1] »
The man with long black hair looked down at the players. He did not seem impressed. He looked at the tiger, then he looked at the injured Rankers on the floor.
"These are the beings I am supposed to stop?"
"Tsk. How lowly have they taken me. This is more like an insult to me."
He moved his hand. The blue chains on his arm rattled. Because of that sound, everyone felt a chill.
"I despise the stars."
He looked up at the dark ceiling of the cavern. "Most specifically... [Changing God]. If I ever get to see that bastard again, I will make sure to slit his throat."
He was still talking when the air behind him rippled.
Kim Jin appeared. He was using his best stealth skill. He held a short blade. The blade was aimed at the man's carotid artery. Because Kim Jin was fast, the blade reached the skin in a fraction of a second.
SPARK!
Blue chains moved on their own. They were wrapped around the man's neck before the blade could touch him.
The metal of the dagger hit the mana chains. Sparks flew. Because of the impact, Kim Jin's arm bounced back.
The man did not even turn his head. He moved his left arm. The chains on that arm were tied to his wrist.
They moved like snakes. In an instant, the chains wrapped around Kim Jin's neck.
The man pulled.
CRACK.
Kim Jin's head was snapped off his shoulders. There was no blood. The body did not fall. Instead, it began to dissolve. It turned into red mana. The red mana dissipated into the air and disappeared.
"Such an amusing trick."
He did not look surprised.
"Seems you lowlies have borrowed the power of the stars, judging from the avatar clone."
He reached up and rubbed his beard. He looked thoughtful.
"Is that why they wanted to do this?"
He was speaking to himself. It made no sense to the players.
Leonhardt Weiss tried to stand up. He pushed his hands against the floor.
Hyeonwoo tried to raise his staff. Minseok began to push his knees off the ground.
"Who said you could stand in my presence?"
A massive pressure hit the room. It was different from the tiger's fear.
This was physical weight. The floor under the players cracked again.
Because of this pressure, everyone was slammed back down.
Leonhardt's face hit the sludge.
However, there was one person who did not stay down.
Gunnar was already moving. He had one arm. He was bleeding from his nose and ears. But he ignored the pressure.
Gunnar used a burst of lightning from his feet and jumped.
He went high into the air holding his double-sided axe in his right hand.
"DIIIIEEEE!"
Gunnar swung the axe. It was a vertical strike. The yellow-black lightning on the blade grew three times its normal size. It looked like a pillar of electricity.
The man looked up. He moved his arm. The blue chains rose up to meet the axe.
BOOM!
The axe hit the chains. The man did not move. He did not even flinch. His feet stayed rooted to the air.
Because of the impact, the lightning scattered across the ceiling.
Gunnar did not stop. He used the momentum to spin in mid-air. He swung the axe again, this time from the left.
CLANG!
The man blocked it with the chains on his other arm.
Gunnar landed on the floor but did not wait for a second.
He began a series of heavy attacks. He swung the axe from the right, then the left, then diagonally.
Because he only had one arm, his balance should have been bad. But he used the weight of the axe to pull his body.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Every strike was blocked only using the chains.
The chains moved with high speed. They intercepted every single hit from Gunnar.
「Chat: What am I looking at?」
「Chat: Gunnar is moving like a beast.」
「Chat: The lightning is everywhere!」
「Chat: But the other guy isn't moving his feet. Not even an inch.」
Gunnar increased his speed. His muscles were tearing. Because of the strain, more blood leaked from his skin. He did not care. He was a Viking after all.
Gunnar swung the axe at the man's legs. The man floated higher. Gunnar jumped again and grabbed the handle of the axe with a reverse grip.
He brought the blade down toward the man's head.
"『Thunder God's Wrath』!"
The lightning turned white. It was the highest output Gunnar could produce.
The man watched the axe come down.
The man moved his hand. He did not block this time and instead flicked his wrist.
The blue chains wrapped around the head of Gunnar's axe.
The lightning was grounded into the chains and it disappeared.
Gunnar's eyes widened. Because the axe was caught, his body was stuck in the air.
The man did not use the chains to attack. He moved his free hand and made a fist.
He punched Gunnar directly in the gut.
CRACK.
The sound of Gunnar's ribs breaking was louder than the lightning.
Gunnar's body folded. He was launched backward. He flew fifty meters across the room and hit the far wall.
The impact was so hard that he was embedded into the stone and his axe fell to the floor.
Gunnar's head slumped and went unconscious.
The man looked at his hand. He looked like he had just swatted a fly.
"A Norse god as well..."
"Quite interesting."
Suddenly, Sasha Kim moved. She was not attacking and crawled forward on her knees. She lowered her head until it touched the sludge.
She was sweating. Her heart beating so fast that everyone could hear it.
"I greet the 65th Demon King!"
Sasha shouted. Her voice was shaking.
The man turned his head. He looked at Sasha.
He looked amused. Due to that, the pressure in the room lessened slightly.
"You..."
"I do not recognize your constellation."
Sasha did not look up.
"My constellation is of the lesser rank."
The other players were stumped. They looked at Sasha and at the man.
Everyone had the same thoughts running in their heads.
Demon King?
Did she say Demon King?
Is that a title?
No, it sounds like a rank. 65th?
Does that mean there are 64 others above him? This is impossible.
How is a Demon King here?
"Demon King?"
Han whispered.
"Like those demon kings from fantasies?"
The man heard him and looked at the porter.
"I am not merely a fantasy, how insolent!"
"Is my fable a joke to you?"
"I am the 65th Demon King among the stars. Clearly, if you cannot recognize me, you deserve destruction."
Kim Jin was lying on the floor.
The body that was killed earlier was a clone. His mind was railing with thoughts.
'I have never seen a being like that. I can tell he would kill all of us in an instant.
I have to dispose of him immediately while he is distracted.
If I don't use my final trump card, we all die.'
Kim Jin's body began to change.
Red mana started to leak from him. It was thick. It was different from his normal mana.
He moved.
He was crazy fast. He was faster than Gunnar to the point he became a red streak of light.
The Demon King moved his arm and blocked a strike from the right.
SPARK!
Kim Jin was not there anymore. He appeared on the left.
SPARK!
He appeared above.
SPARK!
Kim Jin was moving so fast that he was invisible to the normal eye. Only the sparks from the clashing metal showed where he was.
"Did Jin-ssi have an invisibility ability?" Woonhee asked.
No one answered her. Not even Yechan. They were all staring at the red streaks of light circling the Demon King.
The sparks grew bigger. They grew brighter. Because the speed was increasing, the air began to friction and create smoke.
Kim Jin was striking the Demon King's chains over and over again.
He was looking for a gap but Demon King kept blocking.
He did not move his feet. But his expression was changing.
He was clearly becoming annoyed.
"ENOUGH!"
He swung his chain in one fluid, heavy motion. He did not aim at a specific spot and rather swung it in a 360-degree circle.
BOOM!
The force of the chain hitting the air created a shockwave and hit Kim Jin.
The red streak was stopped as Kim Jin was sent flying.
He landed on his feet, skidding across the stone.
The smoke cleared.
Kim Jin was standing on the ground. He held his blade in his right hand.
But he looked different. He was encapsulated in a thick layer of red mana.
And on top of his head, there was a golden-maroon headband.
The headband was radiating red mana as well. Because of that, Kim Jin's eyes were glowing red.
His entire aura and presence had changed
The Demon King started to smile.
The smile was so wide you could see his sharp canines.
They were like the teeth of a predator. His pupils began to shrink until they were small dots.
"If it isn't Tang Sanzang's lap dog!"
