Chapter 56

[Simulation Ended]

The frozen time flows again. The moment right after Jun-woo activated his Gift and we fired our restraining attacks.

The opponent’s <Triple Shield> hadn’t activated yet.

Nobody died, and the battle was just beginning.

Could we really win? Should I surrender even now? At this point?

But… there’s still a chance of victory that isn’t zero.

And I sensed it intuitively. If I surrendered here… I would lose the trust of the magical powers.

Either stop here, or break through.

“Charge! Don’t give him any openings!”

I shouted like a scream.

The beams we fired from beam hilt are blocked by Han Se-hoon’s <Triple Shield>. We need stronger and faster consecutive attacks.

Until now, we kept our distance because we didn’t know what his last memorized spell was… but now we don’t have that luxury.

It’s time for close combat!

“Kuk! What the-?”

Han Se-hoon, who had been acting smug while creating his <Triple Shield>, let out a surprised sound. The three of us charged in without hesitation. Our rush, unnaturally accelerated by body enhancement, easily surpassed the speed of arrows.

“Push them back! Don’t give him a chance to use nullification!”

The key is to prevent <Nullification>. If we lose our equipment in this situation, there’s no answer.

Fortunately, <Nullification> is a type of debuff, not an attack or defense.

If we keep attacking without giving him even a moment’s rest, he won’t be able to use <Nullification>.

After all, if he can’t stop the immediate onslaught of attacks, his life would be in danger!

I charged in with all my might.

I used all my cards except for <Saíl> and engaged head-on.

“Break through at all costs!”

When I said “break through,” I meant the protective necklace, and Yuria and Monggu understood perfectly. Whether the opponent has recovered or not, if we destroy the protective necklace, we can finish him with <Saíl>.

That’s our only hope for victory.

I now used the remaining 30 seconds of [Simulation] in 5-second increments one after another.

I saw one move ahead.

<Push!>

When he tried to push us away,

“Grab on!”

Boom!

I drove my arms into the ground and held on. Yuria and Monggu clung to my arms and legs. In that state, we crawled back toward him and launched another attack.

<Grease!>

When our bodies started to slip,

“Jump! Don’t touch the ground!”

We used booster boots to stay airborne and prevented slipping. We continuously bombarded him with magic and beam hilt beams until the slipperiness faded.

Ting! Ting!

When <Triple Shield> disappeared, he began to show signs of distress. He tried his best to dodge attacks using the <Escape> magic inscribed on his clothes and his 3rd Circle mage physical abilities, but magic that he couldn’t avoid was deflected by the protective necklace. But the necklace still glowing blue appears to be intact.

Snap!

<Triple Shield!>

This persistent guy…

When he quickly depleted his defensive spell, he used his Gift [Time Reversal] again.

Unlike before, he didn’t fully recover, but he recovered enough to reuse <Triple Shield>.

His cards keep getting replenished.

In contrast, our cards are diminishing.

The consecutive use of simulations has left only 7 seconds remaining, and I only have enough magical power for one more spell.

Other than that, all I have left are beam hilt beam attacks and slashes with the beam sword powered by my enhanced body. Yuria and Monggu are at their limits too.

But…

Snap!

<Triple Shield!>

Snap!

<Triple Shield!>

Snap!

<Triple Shield!>

Han Se-hoon’s defense grew increasingly impenetrable. He deployed <Triple Shield> three times in succession, and we no longer had the firepower to break through his defense.

His face turned pale and he had a nosebleed, likely from the backlash of overusing his Gift. But we were in even worse shape.

“Out of magical power now, aren’t you? Ha, damn. You gave me a hard time. Kid, it was like you could read my mind… But it’s over now.”

Grumbling from behind his shield, Han Se-hoon pulled out a stone.

The scene I’d seen again and again in the simulation. If he activates <Wind’s Protection> with that, game over. There’s no way to win.

‘No choice… Should I use <Saíl>?’

The only way to break through the triple-layered <Triple Shield> before <Wind’s Protection> activates is with <Saíl>.

But… after using <Saíl>, there’s no future.

All I’d have left is enough magical power for one 2nd Circle spell… and that wouldn’t be enough to penetrate the protective necklace and deliver a fatal blow to him.

In the end, my choice was simulation.

‘Huff… Let’s see one last time…’

[Simulation]

I used the last 7 seconds to see what would happen next.

<Saíl!>

In the simulation, I used Saíl and charged at him. Even the triple-layered <Triple Shield> was torn like paper before Saíl. At this speed, I could easily disrupt <Wind’s Protection>, which has a long activation time.

‘Let’s destroy both the protective necklace and that stone before <Saíl> ends!’

My final trump card!

But… what he activated this time wasn’t <Wind’s Protection>.

His magic manifested much faster.

“Tear them apart. Beast of the Wind!”

It wasn’t a one-word spell, but it was fast enough. The mana pattern was instantly stamped without the time needed to move the Circle.

‘The last memorized spell…’

The final memorized spell he’d been hiding. That’s what decided the match.

What he held was a white stone with rippling patterns. From it… magical power continuously poured out. The released magical power took the form of wind and raged.

Grrrr!

The magical power howled like the wind, and I heard the growling of a beast.

Crash!

When Han Se-hoon swung the white stone, the wind attacked like a pack of wild dogs.

Destructive magical power.

‘I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before…?’

Facing the oncoming magical wind, I had such a pointless thought.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

When <Saíl>’s power remained, it was manageable.

The winds came like a pack of wild dogs—I cut down the 1st wave, then the 2nd, then the 3rd.

But when the fourth storm approached, <Saíl>’s power was completely drained.

Crash!

My limbs, harder than steel, were mercilessly torn off. With only my torso remaining, spinning through the air, I saw Monggu’s body twisting and dying, and Yuria being shredded into blood and flesh.

Such… overwhelming power…

“Whew… That was close. What was that at the end? Cutting through the Beast of the Wind…? Well, the rest will be blown away soon… This is how you’ll end up. So, you should’ve surrendered when I told you to, then your limbs would still be intact, right?”

I heard Han Se-hoon’s grumbling voice.

Thud.

My torso, with all limbs torn off, rolled on the floor like garbage. The storm that had been raging wildly suddenly became calm.

‘Ah… Is that it?’

The overwhelming defeat at the last moment. Still… I got the idea. Good thing I ran the simulation.

[Simulation Ended]

+ – + – +

Time that had frozen began to flow again.

The future I’d seen through simulation was mountain after mountain of difficulty.

Han Se-hoon is preparing a spell called <Beast of the Wind> behind his triple-layered <Triple Shield>.

Only <Saíl> could break through <Triple Shield>, but it couldn’t stop <Beast of the Wind> too.

But my eyes gleamed.

<Beast of the Wind> was certainly a terrifying magic, but I could find a way to break it. The problem was that without the ability to use [Simulation] anymore, I couldn’t be certain of the result.

In theory it could work, but when put into practice, we might all die.

Wiping the warm blood flowing from my nose, I gritted my teeth.

‘We’re already in too deep, aren’t we?’

I organized my thoughts one last time.

Clue 1.

Han Se-hoon’s final spell <Beast of the Wind> is an offensive skill, not defensive. With just a little disruption, a weakness will be exposed.

Clue 2.

Whether <Wind’s Protection> or <Beast of the Wind>, both were storm-based on magical power. Direct strikes using magical power. In a way, it’s similar to Ki-blood magic.

‘Yes… this will work.’

After making up my mind, I acted immediately.

“Remember one thing. When I call, destroy the protective necklace!”

<Saíl!>

I activated Saíl and rushed toward Han Se-hoon. I tore through his Triple Shield like paper.

“Tear them apart. Beast of the Wind!”

The magical storm unleashed with a growl.

Up to this point, it was the same as before. But now comes the difference!

“Transportation!”

[T-rans-por-tay-shun!]

I poured my last remaining magical power into the transportation spell. A full-body suit tore through space and was equipped on Yuria, and simultaneously, Yuria and Monggu jumped through space and appeared in front of me.

<Transportation>’s limitation has always been that spatial movement is only possible from the arsenal to the outside, or from outside to the arsenal. But Yuria and Monggu are registered as 10th class supplies, and this place itself is the arsenal. Naturally, transportation was possible!

“Overload!”

Monggu and Yuria stood before the oncoming magical power. I used my 3rd level administrator privileges to overload their full-body suits.

-Anti-Deus function. Overload activated.

Bang bang bang!

The approaching storm exploded in front of Yuria and Monggu. I hid behind them to catch my breath. I wasn’t wearing a full-body suit. I needed to maintain <Saíl>. I just trusted those two and tensed my body to launch the final decisive move.

“Wh-what?”

Han Se-hoon was bewildered.

Yuria and Monggu were also greatly surprised by the sudden transportation and equipment overload, but they soon remembered my instructions.

‘Remember one thing. When I call, destroy the protective necklace!’

“Aaaaargh!”

“Raaaah!”

‘Overload’ comes with tremendous pain. But they endured the pain and charged at Han Se-hoon. He summoned a storm to confront them, but it was his storm that shattered.

“This can’t be happening!”

A scream of disbelief.

“It can happen.”

A simple fact. As long as <Beast of the Wind> uses magical power directly, it’s at a disadvantage against the 10th class combat suits.

The “Deus’s Strike” we faced in basic training level 5, that was also an attack using magical power directly, and the 10th class combat suits had the property of repelling magical power to counter that strike.

Add ‘overload’ to that, and it becomes an iron wall that isn’t easily penetrated.

While he was flustered and unable to respond properly,

Crash!!

The beam sword Yuria swung finally shattered the protective necklace.

The situation I’d been waiting and waiting for.

Now his final defense line was gone.

Through the raging <Beast of the Wind>, I clearly saw the small opening.

Thud!

I kicked the ground with the last energy of <Saíl>.

Slash!

A strike of supersonic speed that transcended perception.

Han Se-hoon’s severed head didn’t even realize it was dead as it dangled in the air.

Thud, thud, roll…

His head rolled across the floor covered in blood and corpses, and the growling storm suddenly stopped.

Silence fell.

+ – + – +

The spilled blood was stepped on with splashing sounds. Nearly thirty-nine corpses were scattered everywhere.

“Aaahhh…”

Yuria complained that her legs hurt and squatted in the middle of it all.

Monggu had already collapsed and was indistinguishable from the corpses.

“What do we do now?”

Her pretty face frowned… looking up at me from the pool of blood.

I replied while rummaging through Han Se-hoon’s corpse.

“What else? First, we take what we can-”

Unpleasant as it was, I stripped Han Se-hoon’s outer garment. The billowing coat, this had the <Escape> spell inscribed on it, right?

Then I removed the white stone from Han Se-hoon’s hand. It was elongated with rippling patterns on the surface.

Unfortunately, the protective necklace seems to be broken.

As I carefully searched through the corpses,

Flutter!

I heard the sound of wings.

It wasn’t a real bird. A glowing white smoke-like bird emerged from Han Se-hoon’s body and flew up to the sky.

Through the deep underground of the relic, all the way to the starry sky.

I blankly watched the bird and finished my sentence.

“After we gather everything, we need to run away.”

“Run away?”

“Yes. He mentioned a rear guard, remember? And I think… we just got caught.”

Where did that bird that flew away come from? Where did it go?

Of course, it must be the Tower of Covenant.

“Running away again? What kind of fate is this… Maybe you inherited Baek Song-i’s fate! Wanderlust.”

Yuria complained as she got up.

Was that how the word ‘wanderlust’ was supposed to be used…? It didn’t seem right, but,

“Well… we are nomads after all.”

I just gave a bland smile.

In any case… this was the day I won my first magical battle.