Chapter 82 – El Quero (Part 4)
A goodbye gift from Cherish. (7/10)
Editor: Cherish
There was the sound of water pouring out.
The water on the right began to wash over El Quero’s body, carrying away streams of blood.
— Hhh! — Kang Yu let out an exclamation.
He began to feel intense pressure all over his body as he tightly gripped the chains holding down the monster.
If he was not using the Power of Iron Curtain and Power of a Thousand at the same time, the pressure would have simply torn his body apart.
‘A little more…’
He glanced at the stone golems behind Young-ju.
Bound by metal chains, they were pulling El Quero’s body towards them with all their might.
— Raaah!
The monster jerked sharply, and this vibration reached the stone golems through the chains, causing them to lose their balance and fall to the ground.
Despite the fact that there were a lot of them, about ten, their strength began to leave their bodies.
‘Their strength is running out.’
El Quero possessed strength corresponding to the size of his body. No, even more than that.
He was truly a strong opponent.
The stone golems behind Young-ju looked up at El Quero.
— Where are you staring, you stone heads!?
The guild leader used one chain as a whip and swung it at the golems.
(Editor’s Note: omg calm down you devil)
Echidna came to her aid, supporting them with Magi.
The golems looked between El Quero and the girls.
— Shorty, go that way!
— I’m not short! — Echidna puffed her cheeks discontentedly and went in the direction Young-ju pointed to.
The stone golems again began to look ahead and dragged the monster towards them.
The chains dug into him on both sides, creating more and more wounds.
There was so much blood that the surface of the entire lake was painted scarlet.
El Quero let out an eerie scream and began to flap his gills like wings.
A large number of poisonous thorns flew at the stone golems.
Since they consisted entirely of stone, the poison that would have been deadly to other creatures did absolutely no harm to them.
However, they still could not ignore the hail of spikes because of the physical pressure exerted on them.
Losing their balance again, they fell to the ground.
— Damn it.
The enemy turned out to be much stronger than anticipated.
Kang Yu turned to look back. Hwa Yeon and Hyun Mo, who’d fallen into the water, swam towards them.
‘Can’t wait around for help…’
In a situation where he has a Power only capable of lifting himself into the air, he could not come to their rescue so quickly.
As a result, Kang Yu came to the conclusion that he needed to deal with this situation on his own.
He frowned, trying to concentrate.
‘There is nothing left to do but to use a third Force.’
He could not afford to undo neither the Power of a Thousand nor the Iron Curtain right now.
In order not to miss El Quero, he needs to use three Powers at once.
The difference in using two Forces and three at the same time was colossal.
When it comes to consuming Magi, using a third Force required as much energy as the first two combined.
When Kang Yu used two Powers, he spent four times as much energy as when using one, and when using a third, the consumption of Magi was as much as eight times greater.
[Kraken’s Wrath]
With this effect applied, his coat began to radiate a dark blue light.
His bonus stats doubled and he gained 5 additional units of Magi.
Kang Yu focused and activated the third Power.
[Power of the Blade]
A black sword began to form in the hand with which he held onto El Quero.
Fully formed, it pierced through the skin of the monster.
— Wrra-aaahh! — A cry soaked in pain.
The blood, splashing with renewed vigor, once again poured out into the water.
‘No…’
The forces applied were still not enough.
El Quero seemed to have no intention of weakening. Still another powerful attack was necessary.
Kang Yu shouted to Young-ju:
— Create thorns!
— What!?
— Create thorns on the chains!
— Have you lost your mind?! Then… then you too…
— Hurry!
Young-ju suddenly turned serious.
She swallowed hard and nodded tensely.
Taking the bracelet in her hands, red light began to emanate from it again. At the same time, thorns ‘ran’ along the smooth chains to Kang Yu.
[Confrontation]
A feature embedded in the armor he’d obtained from Moon Yeon Ho.
(Reminder: The dude from Red Rose that fought Kang Yu when he was Rank 3 like 40 chaps ago. )
Within a short ten seconds, his resistance to physical attacks doubled.
Although the resistance was increased, Young-ju’s chains were still a Legendary weapon. As a result, the thorns that appeared pierced through Kang Yu’s armor and inflicted wounds on his body.
Sharp pain shot through his entire body.
Trying to control himself, Kang Yu struggled to maintain the third Force.
The pain was so strong that he thought he was about to throw up. It hurt so much he could hardly scream.
Following this, the thorns appeared on the chains inside the monster, undermining his strength.
Since there were many thorns, they created even more wounds from which blood poured out like a fountain.
Kang Yu was finally able to let go of the chains, and jumped off El Quero.
— Kang Yu, are you okay?
Echidna quickly ran up to him and gazed up at him with eyes full of anxiety.
The guy nodded his head slightly.
— We don’t need the stone golems anymore. Deal with them, Echidna.
El Quero’s resistance to magic was astounding.
None of Echidna’s actions would be able to bring the desired effect. That’s why Kang Yu decided she would be more useful at sorting out the stone golems and involving them in carrying out the plan.
— Got it.
She sent a charge of Magi towards them.
The Rock Men, tired of pulling El Quero and easily susceptible to magic, finally let go of the chains and began to fall to the ground.
— Chae Young-ju! Stop running away already and come back!
— You say that as if I’m running of my own free will!
Young-ju, who was running away from the stone golems as bait, approached Kang Yu. He nodded in the direction of El Quero.
— He didn’t die even after ascending to dry land.
— Of course not. Even though El Quero looks like a stingray, he’s not actually a fish.
No matter what, El Quero was still a monster from the Gate. Moreover, from the Gate of Level S. This was not a creature who would immediately die from being dragged out to dry land, though it was still a necessary move.
— Haah, it was so difficult to swim such a distance! — Hyun Mo exclaimed.
— We really successfully executed the plan, — Hwa Yeon commented.
As soon as Hwa Yeon and Hyun Mo returned, their team was reassembled.
Kang Yu raised his right hand, from which a black sword appeared.
— Let’s finish what we started.
It had to be done now, while El Quero was on the surface of the earth. This was their chance to end the creepy monster.
Hwa Yeon raised her long sword, and Hyun Mo took hold of his knives.
— Get started.
— His behavior should be different from when he was in the water.
— Wa-a-ah! — The monster screeched.
— No well… I can’t concentrate because of his screams!
Hyun Mo couldn’t keep quiet, and had to put in his five cents.
(Editor’s Note: In case you don’t know, ‘put in _ cents’ = put in your own opinion/thoughts)
But he himself knew perfectly well that it was not a time for jokes. Hyun Mo bent down and moved close to the monster, which immediately shook its tail like a whip in different directions.
A whip belonging to a 30-meter monster.
Its tail was only two meters wide.
Hyun Mo immediately crouched down. The tail had barely brushed past his head.
— Step back!
Hwa Yeon, from a distance beyond his tail, raised her long sword high in the air.
A strong wind enveloped her snow-white sword. Lowering it, she sent a jet of wind to El Quero.
— Wa-aaaa-aah!
The wind sliced off the end of his tail. Deep red blood flooded everything around.
El Quero focused entirely on Hwa Yeon, who was distracting him.
Young-ju and Kang Yu took advantage of this moment.
— I’ll distract, you attack!
— We believe in you.
Kang Yu nodded. Replacing his defensive Force with an offensive one, more damage could be done.
He did not follow Young-ju’s order and didn’t attack immediately, instead staring calmly at El Quero.
‘He’s weak.’
Unlike fish, he did not die choking on air.
Still, the apparent weakening was one of the features of sea monsters.
In addition, the wounds seemed to sting.
They were so large that it would not be surprising if he died as soon as he was fully out on dry land.
‘In that case…’ Kang Yu’s eyes lit up.
They just had to finish what they started.
He slowly closed his eyes and felt the powerful energy concentrated in his heart.
Man Ma Jung.
A cluster of Magi, of which he accumulated over a long ten thousand years.
It was stronger and thicker than any other energy.
‘Ocean.’
Indeed, it was like an ocean woven from Magi.
Endless and incredibly deep.
Even Kang Yu himself did not know exactly who created Man Ma Jung and the secrets kept with it.
He’d never thought about what was at the depth, and what could happen if he just dived in head first.
Neither now nor in the past when he used the Power daily.
Kang Yu raised his head and looked around.
He saw three doors hanging over the ocean of Magi.
‘There’s no need for that.’ He looked away from the doors.
The guy held out his palms to the ocean. He gathered what he saw before him into his palms.
But the power he gained was negligible compared to the ocean of energy.
Even so, this was enough for him now.
Very much so.
[Bident]
He simultaneously activated the Power of Dark Spear and Hellfire at the same time.
From the black tongues of fire appeared a spear, which the guy grabbed with confidence.
Incredibly strong energy gathered in his hands.
But Kang Yu understood that these forces would not be enough. The energy he used was like a small boat sailing on the boundless ocean.
Greed awoke in him.
The fire of thirst grew at an alarming rate.
‘A little more.’
[Crushing Power]
Tearing his armor and cutting his skin, the destructive power went into the bident.
Reaching the very end of the spear, the Force broke the tip into two, and the bident began to squirm like a snake.
Suddenly the feeling of powerlessness washed over him and, as if his soul had left his body, only lethargy remained.
Using three Powers at the same time and creating a bident was taking a toll on him.
Kang Yu felt dizzy and thought he was about to faint.
But he smiled.
[Death Spear]
With a slight metal-like sound, the crimson bident was completely transformed.
Grasping it firmly in his hand, Kang Yu kicked off the ground.
At that point, a couple of notifications popped up.
[You successfully used three Powers at the same time.]
[The second condition of achieving the highest degree of demonic form has been successfully fulfilled.]
It didn’t bother him now. He had no reason to think about it.
He directed even more power into the spear in his hand.
The monster prepared to strike him with his tail, but the shield of red chains prevented him from doing so.
Kang Yu punctured El Quero’s body with the crimson bident.
***