76.
Kai stopped engaging with Ash and held his hand out. At the same time, the floor began to melt. The Hydra race's special skill was to turn a certain area into a swamp. It prevented people from stepping on the floor and teased their opponents with their unique persistent regenerative power.
'The first time I had to use this ability was when I dealt with that monster.'
It was then that Kai tasted an impending sense of defeat for the first time in a while.
'It’s gonna be okay.'
It wasn't that he wanted to beat Hyeon-woo. He was just buying time. He would have to fight with all of his abilities. Kai made up his mind and cast off his human form.
Gu-oh-oh-oh!
Hydra, a nine-headed monster, roared.
"Wow."
Ga-jun whistled. The floor turned into a swamp, but no one was troubled. Seon-woo froze the floor with his unique ability and Do-jin stepped on a shadow while hugging Hyeon-woo.
The hardest hit were the monsters. Some of the flightless monsters sank as if they were being dragged into a swamp and howled, but Kai didn't care about them at all.
“Isn’t this a disadvantage to me?”
Standing at the end of the leaning lamppost, Ga-jun grumbled, but that was all. He, too, had the ability to prepare for such a situation. He even snatched and rescued John, who was about to sink into the swamp.
The problem was that the monster right in front of him was formidable. That too was quickly resolved.
"I'll handle it. Are you fine with that?"
Two-eyed stepped forward and asked Hyeon-woo for his consent. And as soon as he nodded, he returned to his original form.
His neck lengthened, and his pillar-like legs stretched out. The spread wings were huge enough to cover the body, instantly darkening the area.
As the gigantic dragon stretched, its black scales shimmered. In terms of size alone, the dragon was a bit bigger than the Hydra.
“Come at me; I’ve been wanting to fight you.”
Kai shouted loudly and took his step forward. As a monster that originally lived in a swamp, its movements were natural. On the other hand, Two-eyed was shaking his feet as if they were in trouble. He should have been flying in the first place, but he didn't seem to care.
"Well, it doesn't matter."
Two-eyed grinned and confronted Kai, who rushed forward. His gigantic body writhed violently with a loud cry to subdue his opponent. He bit with sharp teeth and struck down with his hard tail. Each time he spurted blood with a roar.
“This is unrealistic.”
It felt like watching a giant monster series that was popular in the past.
“But is that alright?”
Two huge bodies collided with each other, destroying nearby buildings as well. Two-eyed, who had been thoroughly educated, seemed to take caution, but Kai was merciless.
"It can’t be helped, right?"
Saying that, Seon-woo moved his gaze to Ash, who was far away. He was looking this way as if he felt his gaze.
“Yeah."
“Are you not from the Phoenix Guild? Is this a betrayal at the guild level?"
“I can’t say with my own mouth.”
"Then I'll have to make you open your mouth."
Seon-woo, who moved as if sliding across the frozen swamp, immediately approached Ash.
"That’s good. I wanted to fight you too!”
Ash smiled as he raised both of his hands. Then, an invisible pressure pressed on Seon-woo's body.
'Gravity increase!'
It wasn't hard to get back up, but he couldn't move quickly. It was surprisingly strong. Even so, Seon-woo seemed to handle the gravity attack the best out of all the people Ash had ever fought.
“You are strong.”
“You are strong too. What did you sacrifice for that?
Ash smiled and waved his hand for the next attack. But Seon-woo wasn't particularly nervous. The opponent was strong but it wasn't that he wasn’t also strong. Besides, he wasn't alone.
Ga-jun, who had gone back before he knew it, stretched out his poison-stained hand and pressed Ash's back. He managed to dodge it by car, but Seon-woo dug in the gap created by that. The ice pick rotated and surrounded Ash, and a shadow that appeared before he knew it bounded him.
“Wow, so cheap!”
“Originally, when dealing with villains, it’s a fight for justice!”
Ga-jun grinned and grabbed Ash's arm as he desperately blocked the ice pick. Once he made skin contact, the poison spread quickly.
"That’s mean!"
Ash shook his head like an angry man, then looked up. In a matter of seconds, his body had become a wreck. But he had a few hidden trump cards.
Suddenly, the shadow holding Ash felt strong pressure. His body swelled, more than doubling in size, and his skin turned gray. Then, his shiny forehead cracked, and his horns began to grow through the cracks.
"I guess he wasn't human either?"
Ga-jun stepped back and said calmly.
“This has become a more serious matter.”
If the monsters could change their form like Kai or Ash, it wouldn't be difficult to sneak into the city. And that was pretty dangerous news for people.
"Let's just grab it and see."
“That would be better.”
Seon-woo and Ga-jun stepped forward again.
“I’ll kill them all!”
“That's what I’m going to say.”
Seon-woo clashed with Ash again, and Ga-jun began to creep into the gap.
“Can I help?”
"It's hot."
He was getting a strange feeling. What should he call this feeling? Hyeon-woo stood there blankly and looked at Do-jin's back.
“Now I’m ready!”
Tiamat stood in front of a huge magic circle. She didn't even break a sweat as she imitated the behavior of someone she had seen and watched recently. However, the facial expression was awkward and not appropriate for the situation.
“Then next time!”
Tiamat smiled cheerfully, looked back, and tapped her forehead with her hand.
"Right. There’s no one to help.”
Tiamat had killed everyone upon entering this space. Among them were allies, but she didn't care. People were worth that little to her.
“Then I’ll do it alone.”
A huge magic circle was drawn in front of Tiamat, who looked at her again. And on top of that, there was an offering for summoning the portal.
"Because it's really fun."
The being that summoned himself here was a demon, and the being he would summon now was also a demon. If the summoning was successful, the high-ranking demons on Earth would become two. Three if you included Tiamat.
‘I had a dream.’
'What was it?'
She wasn't particularly curious, but she asked politely. It was a demon's dream. Obviously, it was to become strong and oppress the weak, conquer the world, or get wet with blood. However, the answer that came back was unexpected.
'It's to make the demons live in an affluent environment.'
“What for?”
At the truly unexpected answer, Tiamat looked at him with her eyes wide open
'Well, I just want to do it. Why can’t I?”
He was a weird guy. Tiamat thought so.
'The Demon Realm is like a barren tree. To be honest, it is not an environment suitable for life. That's why I want the earth.'
He said so.
‘He's a really eccentric guy.’
After completing all preparations, Tiamat began infusing magic into the magic circle. It was possible because she was a dragon born with tremendous magical power.
A magic circle imbued with magical power glowed and a small dot appeared in the air. The dot whirled and grew bigger and bigger until it filled the huge cavity.
“Okay then, come over.”
Tiamat whispered into the portal. How much time had passed since then? A white hand protruded from the center of the portal.
'It takes a long time.'
While grumbling, she poured out her magic power. Perhaps thanks to that effort, a body was slowly but steadily coming out of the portal.
“Why the hell is it taking so long?”
Tiamat would have been higher in rank had it not been for madness. Because she was like that, she secretly had a mind to look down on other demons above her. She was curious about which of the demons had such a presence.
And finally, the demon sticks its head out. At the same time, Tiamat realized that things had gone wrong.
"No way."
The magic circle was quickly disenchanted, but the portal did not close immediately. It was closing as slowly as it took to open. And in the meantime, the demon's body was steadily coming out.
"It can’t be!"
It wasn't the demon she was trying to call.
Tiamat hurriedly returned to her main body and prepared to release her breath. The only thing left to do was to destroy the portal.
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: Davine, YaagRabRag
HM: Tiamat is a girl, Ash is a gender-neutral name and is also a demon. Demons probably don’t emphasis on Gender stuff, like Humans do, which makes sense, since all they care about is destroying things. lol
Davine: Forgive my dizziness. I'm dead by trying to understand who's saying what.
YRR: I’m right there with you Davine. This section really jumped around.
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