Chapter 32: Lord of the Flies (3)

The elevator cabin began plummeting from dozens of meters up.

KKIGIGIGIGIGIK-!

Spewing harsh friction noises, chunks of concrete and red-hot sparks rained down like a shower.

Soon, the thousands of flies enveloping the Death Lord all flew up at once.

AEAEAEAENG-

The swarm of flies transformed into the shape of a wide-spread hand.

Soon, the pitch-black hand lunged toward the falling cabin.

However.

KWAJIK! KWAJIJIK!

The gigantic hand made of flies couldn’t withstand the cabin’s weight and distorted.

Crushed and burst fly corpses stuck DADAK DADAK to the cabin floor.

The cabin, accelerating in a vertical freefall of dozens of meters.

It was mercilessly pulverizing the swarm of flies.

I looked down and grinned.

That thing’s pretty heavy, right? I packed the inside really tight.

At that moment, the Death Lord swung his hand blade toward the cabin.

Along the trajectory of his hand blade, a pitch-black aura rose in a crescent shape.

It split the elevator cabin in half and soared up dozens of floors.

At the same time.

CHWAAAAAAA!

Pitch-black liquid poured like a waterfall from inside the split cabin.

It instantly engulfed the Death Lord.

Sticky, pitch-black liquid filled the first-floor elevator space like a swamp.

At the same time, an acrid, nauseating smell WHOOSH rose up.

…Its identity was none other than the Gigasnail’s oil slime.

I packed it from floor to ceiling, pressed real hard.

An elevator cabin fully loaded with Gigasnail’s oil slime.

In short, an “oil bomb.”

The flies drenched in oil slime powerlessly fell to the ground.

But the real main event starts now.

DING DONG!

<Activating the item skill ‘Flame Dash’ of the Sulfur Hell Cloak!>

Flames began to rise along the oil slime laid out on the ground like a fuse.

PUHWAAAAK!

Downward. Even further down.

A wave of flame rushed toward the swamp of oil slime pooled on the first floor.

The moment the blazing sulfur fire touched the oil slime.

KWAAANG! KWAKWAANG! KWAKWAKWAANG! KWAANG!

Chain explosions erupted, and a massive pillar of fire shot high into the sky.

The building’s outer walls crumbled into ash, and exposed steel frames melted red-hot.

A pitch-black mushroom cloud and a nose-piercing sulfur smell covered everything.

The swamp of overflowing oil slime and Cerberus’s sulfur fire.

Their synergy displayed destructive power rivaling 6th-class fire magic.

But.

This isn’t the end!?

I stepped on the oil slime fuse again.

A second explosion erupted, and a fiercer pillar of fire surged up.

KWAAANG! KWAKWAANG!

This time, chain explosions caused an even more ferocious pillar of fire to rise.

He was an S-rank danger level super-high-rank magical beast.

No way he’d go down in one hit from that.

20 seconds left until the Flame Dash skill duration ends.

“From now on, I won’t waste even a single second to finish you off!”

I continued spewing sulfur fire onto the oil slime fuse.

Every time I stepped on the oil slime fuse, ferocious flame explosions followed.

KWAAANG! KWAANG! KWAKWAANG! KWAANG! KWAKWAKWAANG!

The interior of the elevator shaft had already turned pitch-black like charcoal.

The pillar of fire created by repeated explosions was burning wildly, as if to swallow Lethe Tower whole.

But then.

What’s that?

Something gleaming caught my eye at the center of the pillar of fire.

A blade.

It was a single sword maintaining its form perfectly at the heart of the pillar.

Soon, the sharp blade tip smoothly rose and sliced through the air.

SEOGEOK-

The center of the pillar dyeing everything red instantly died down.

…No, “died down” wasn’t accurate; “vanished” was more fitting.

The center of the pillar of fire hollowed out as if bitten off in one huge chunk.

From there, it began swirling like a pitch-black black hole.

『Seven Demon First Strike Secret Art: Gluttony Slash, Beelzebub』

A jet-black full moon rose from the center of the pillar of fire.

It sucked in all surrounding flames and heat as it soared upward.

KWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWA-!

Crimson flames and thick smoke. 

Charred oil slime and sulfur powder.

Anything touched by the Death Lord’s sword aura vanished without a trace.

The rising sword aura endlessly shot up, greedily devouring everything like a starving demon.

As I watched the scene in a daze, something began to appear in my eyes.

……The sky.

A bizarre-colored sky with purple clouds swirling.

This was inside a building—how could I see the sky?

Only then did I realize.

The ceiling of Lethe Tower…… part of the upper floors had been completely erased!

And with just a single slash.

No way, seriously!

S-rank.

A calamity capable of annihilating humanity.

An unreasonable existence possessing combat power outside standard metrics.

It was the moment I truly felt the reality of something I had only known through information.

At that moment, my body lurched forward and began sliding.

……!?

The ground had somehow tilted steeply.

The attack just now had started collapsing Lethe Tower.

KUGUGUGUGUGU~!

The floor cracked CHYEOK CHYEOK and began crumbling.

If this continued, I would plummet all the way to the first floor.

But.

I have this!

I quickly leaped toward the outer wall.

DING DONG!

<Activating the item skill ‘Slime Secretion’ of the Kwaktae Gloves!>

<Activating the item skill ‘Slime Secretion’ of the Tae Boots!>

My hands and feet stuck CHYEOK to the wall like glue.

Soon, I clung to the outer wall and looked down.

The first floor was visible through the gap in the split floor.

If I used the oil slime and sticky slime well, I could slide down to the first floor.

I took a light deep breath and slowly reached out.

DING DONG!

<Activating possessed skill ‘Hereditary Skin Oil’!>

Pitch-black oil slime spurted from my fingertips and flowed down the slope.

I began sliding down the tilted outer wall like riding a sled.

CHWACHWACHWACHWACHWAK~!

Tak!

A moment later.

After many twists and turns, I safely landed in the first-floor lobby lounge.

Falling building debris and protruding steel frames had nearly hit me several times.

I turned my head toward the elevator.

CHAENG-! CHAENG-!

Sharp metallic clashes rang out continuously.

Jeanne and the Death Lord were clashing swords at ferocious speed.

At that moment, Jeanne collapsed, gasping roughly.

Countless deep stab wounds covered her abdomen and sides, and her left eye was crushed, dripping DDUK DDUK with red blood.

In contrast, the Death Lord looked almost the same as before.

He’s unharmed even after being caught in that explosion?

To think there wasn’t even a scorch mark after taking dozens of powerful chain explosions.

Then.

“Hey…… over there…… you……..”

A crawling voice came from behind.

Someone was pinned under concrete debris.

But something felt strangely familiar……?

“Shin Sodam?”

It was A+ rank 7th, Red Mage Tower Lord Shin Sodam.

Hair matted with blood and dust.

A face twisted in pain and unfocused eyes.

It was far removed from the proud, refined image I’d seen on TV.

Shin Sodam opened her mouth, exhaling roughly.

“Can you help me up……? Ugh……. Just help me up. M-my legs are completely crushed…… I c-can’t feel them.”

I cleared the debris and supported Shin Sodam to stand.

Then Shin Sodam whispered.

“I have one favor to ask.”

“?”

“Hold me tight so I can aim properly.”

“??”

“And don’t let go of me. Unless you want to die…….”

“???”

Shin Sodam only spouted incomprehensible words.

At that moment.

WOONG WOONG WOONG-

Six red mana wheels rose behind Shin Sodam’s back.

Her red hair began fluttering like burning flames.

Soon, Shin Sodam extended her hand toward the Death Lord.

At the same time.

『Red Secret Art 2nd Fusion: White Phosphorus Bombardment』

An oval white sphere shot up ferociously.

Reaching the sky, the sphere instantly shattered into thousands of fragments.

Pure white fragments began falling toward the ground.

It looked like countless tiny feathers scattering.

Then Shin Sodam muttered lowly.

“It’ll be pretty hot. You monster bastard…….”

At the same time.

HWARRRRRUK~!!

The thousands of fragments ignited all at once.

Everything they touched burned pure white.

Concrete, marble, steel, even the air itself—the white reaper.

The infamous incendiary substance known as “Angel of Death,” white phosphorus.

Soon, thousands of white phosphorus rounds began raining down on the Death Lord.

PUHWAAAAAAA~!

The blinding white flash threatened to burn my eyes.

Meanwhile, a crimson protective barrier had already unfolded around me and Shin Sodam.

It repelled the white phosphorus falling toward us.

Shin Sodam had even deployed a barrier far away over the collapsed Cheok Junseong.

To cast 6th-class magic and simultaneously control top-grade flame barriers in that wrecked body.

Despite her injuries, it was terrifying mana control befitting the Red Mage Tower Lord.

Then Shin Sodam cautiously spoke.

“Did we get him?”

“……Ah.”

Before she could finish.

KWARRRRRUK~!

A black hole rose from the center of the white flames.

It began sucking in all the white phosphorus fragments.

A moment later.

Thud thud thud-

The Death Lord walked out unscathed through the pure white flames.

Watching this, Shin Sodam began laughing hollowly.

“Ha, haha…… This really sucks. All that bullshit for nothing…….”

Before she could finish, Shin Sodam fainted.

I laid Shin Sodam on the floor and said.

“It wasn’t for nothing. You bought us time.”

Soon, system windows began popping up one after another.

DING DONG!

<Warehouse maintenance complete!>

The long-awaited warehouse maintenance was finally done.

In other words, it was time to play my trump card.

DING DONG!

<Will you retrieve MRG-682 ‘Immortal Pseudo-Dragon’?> [Yes/No]

……

Immortal Pseudo-Dragon! You’re the one!