Chapter 58: Test (2)

Ding-dong!  

<Elite Soldier Cockroach>  

– Danger Rank: A+  

– Discovered Location: Morgue’s Magical Warehouse ‘Observation Zone’  

The legion’s finest soldier, possessing superior physical ability and countless battle experiences. 

Primarily tasked with guarding the queen or carrying out her orders, it leads workers and soldiers at the front line.  

“They’re all the same insects, yet some are queens, some soldiers, some workers, some slaves… Where have I seen this caste system before?” —Featherback—  

Pure white horns sprouting from its head.

Broad shoulders and a sturdy, muscular body.  

A white exoskeleton that meticulously encased its flesh.  

The newly appeared cockroach looked like a white knight clad in silver plate armor.

…It looks insanely tough.

And it really was.

CRACK~! CRACK-CRACK! CRACK-CRACK!

That exoskeleton shattered every single one of the Pseudo-Dragon’s fangs.

“KRRRAAAAHH—!”

The Pseudo-Dragon staggered back with a scream.

Crimson blood and fragments of broken teeth rained down onto the ground.

At the same time.

GRAB!

The Elite Soldier Cockroach seized the Pseudo-Dragon by the throat.

Its fists immediately began hammering into her.

DADADADADADADADADADA~!

A roar like a machine gun on full auto.

Head. Chest. Abdomen, flanks, arms, legs…

The constant crack of bones breaking rang out.

The Pseudo-Dragon’s body twisted and bent in unnatural directions.

Then the Elite Soldier kicked off the ground and leaped.

BAM!

It delivered a brutal kick straight into her abdomen.

A shockwave rippled outward from the impact.

The Pseudo-Dragon’s body folded into a 『ㄷ』 shape and was launched away.

Yet.

“You insolent insect! I’ll tear you apart—!”

The Pseudo-Dragon instantly sprang back up.

She planted both hands on the ground and charged like a beast.

The moment her razor-sharp claws were about to pierce the Elite Soldier—

It closed the distance even faster and seized her arm.

Then.

WHOOSH— SLAM!

Using her own momentum against her, it smashed her into the ground.

But that wasn’t the end.

The Elite Soldier grabbed her tail and hoisted her up.

Then.

BOOM!

Slammed her into the opposite wall.

KABOOM!

And again to the other side.

BOOM!

Again.

BOOM! KABOOM! BOOM! KABOOM! BOOM!

With terrifying force, the Pseudo-Dragon was repeatedly pile-driven.

Like a child abusing a toy, the Elite Soldier rag-dolled her.

Finally.

CRACK!

Her tail was torn clean off.

At the same moment, the Pseudo-Dragon flew limply like a marionette with cut strings and crashed into the wall.

KABOOM!

“Ugh… uuuugh…!”

She couldn’t even groan properly.

Every joint in her body was twisted in grotesque directions, broken bones protruding through muscle and skin.

Then the Elite Soldier turned its gaze toward me.

[…….]

Not a hint of fatigue.

Even with the advantage of the first strike, overwhelming the Pseudo-Dragon to that extent…

It was definitely top-tier among A+ rank monsters.

At that moment, Yi Seonggye drew his bowstring and spoke.

[That one looks quite lively! This will be a satisfying hunt!]  

But I immediately stopped him.

“Please continue exploring the rest of the Observation Zone, all three of you. Report anything unusual.”

[Very well, we shall follow your will. Call us if anything happens!]  

Shadow Knights cannot defy their summoner’s command.

Soon, the three Shadow Knights scattered like heat haze and vanished.

I looked at the Elite Soldier Cockroach and said,

“Now then…”

Before I could finish, a jet of dark crimson liquid shot toward me.

SPLASH—

Acidic solution fired from the Elite Soldier’s mouth flew right up to my face in an instant.

Then.

Ding-dong!  

<Item skill ‘Blood Mist’ of the Blood Mist Ring activated!>  

WHOOOOM—

My body turned into blood-colored mist and let the acid pass straight through.

I nodded and said,

“Not bad?”

…No, way too good?

Of course, I meant the artifact I had just used.

Ding-dong!  

-<Blood Mist Ring> / Ring / A+  

A crimson ring once worn by a Vampire Lord.  

The wearer can transform into blood mist that is immune to physical effects.  

– Skill ‘Blood Mist’ available  

  Blood Mist (A+): Transforms into mist of blood immune to physical influence. 

However, while in mist form, the wearer cannot physically affect the surroundings and becomes extremely vulnerable to fire attacks.  

An A+ rank artifact obtained after defeating the Vampire Lord — the Blood Mist Ring. 

Its item skill was a fraudulent ability that nullified all physical damage of A+ rank or lower.

It had a few fatal weaknesses, though.

First, you cannot breathe while in Blood Mist form.  

Air simply passes through.

Second, extreme vulnerability to fire.  

The Vampire Lord himself had taken critical damage from my flames, after all.

But.

There’s an old saying: turn misfortune into fortune.

Ding-dong!  

<Activating possessed skill ‘Oil Skin’!>

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

When the Gigasnail’s oily mucus combined with Cerberus’s sulfur flames, a massive pillar of fire erupted.

FWOOM—!

I poured my blood mist into the fire pillar.

Then.

KABOOOOOM!

The moment the flames touched the mist, they split into dozens of streams and burned even more fiercely.

As expected.

Flammable.

To put it simply, blood mist was like LPG gas — it caught fire easily.

No, it didn’t just burn well; it burned insanely well.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

The red flames gradually turned pure white as they rose.

White flames.

Once temperature exceeds 1,400°C, flames turn white.

In other words, this created fire several times hotter than the previous oil + sulfur flame combo.

The problem was…

FWOOSH—!

The white flames began rushing back toward me, devouring the blood mist with ferocious speed.

But.

Ding-dong!  

<Activating possessed skill ‘Embers’!>

The Crowman feathers absorbed every bit of the incoming flames.

<Skill 『Embers』 converts fire damage into energy!> 

<Skill 『Embers』 converts fire damage into energy!>

<Skill 『Embers』 converts fire damage into energy!>

“Well, that solves the fire weakness too.”

The more intensely the blood mist burned, the more efficient Embers became.

A perfect example of turning misfortune into fortune.

Soon, I condensed the Crowman feathers in my palm.

All the surrounding flames began gathering into a single point.

GRRRRRRRR—

A basketball-sized sphere of white flame swirled in my hand.

It raged like a white hole ready to incinerate everything around it.

But I absorbed it straight into my body.

<Skill 『Embers』 converts fire damage into energy!>

Of course, I did want to test this new flame magic combination.

But there was something I wanted to test even more first.

I looked at the Elite Soldier Cockroach and said,

“Sorry, but your opponent isn’t me…”

At that moment, a powerful voice boomed from behind me.

“Your opponent is none other than this great one!”

The Pseudo-Dragon, her mangled body already perfectly regenerated.

She bared her fangs and charged furiously.

“Kha-ha-ha~! Did you think this body would die from such petty attacks?! I’ll rip you to shreds, you lowly creature!”

Watching the scene, I lightly snapped my fingers.

“No, never mind. Go back.”

Ding-dong!  

<Recalling MRG-682 ‘Immortal Pseudo-Dragon’>

A black pentagram formed beneath her feet, and her body began fading away.

WHOOOOM…

Realizing what was happening, the Pseudo-Dragon’s face turned dumbfounded.

“What!? What the hell… You little— Warehou—!”

But she vanished before she could finish.

With the Shadow Knights and the Pseudo-Dragon all gone,

The Elite Soldier Cockroach now fixed its gaze solely on me.

…No, not just me. One more person remained.

RUMMMMMMMBLE~!

The air began to tremble violently.

An overwhelming pressure.

Sensing it, the Elite Soldier quickly spun around.

There stood the Death Knight.

Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.

The yin and yang auras flowing from the twin blades merged into one and surged upward.

They seeped into Jeanne’s body, resonating endlessly.

HUMMMMMMM—

Then.

『Seven Demon Second Strike: Greed Slash, Mammon.』

The dual-wielding Death Knight Jeanne swung the Soy Sauce Sesame Sword.

From top to bottom.

A clean bisecting slash.

At that moment.

FWOOOOOOSH—!

Two streams of crimson lava poured from the sword and took the form of dragons as they charged forward.

KWAAAAAAA—

Two fire dragons melted everything in their path as they roared ahead.

Cockroach corpses littering the ground, green acidic liquid, even the surviving remnants — all of it.

GRRRRRRRRR—

Wherever the Greed Slash passed, only boiling red liquid remained.

At the same time.

SHIIIIING—

The yin-yang energy resonating within Jeanne began spinning, enveloping the lava.

Ding-dong!  

<Vassal ‘Ravianglily Mu Jeanne d’Arc’ has activated item skill ‘Yin-Yang’!>

The Soy Sauce Sesame Sword’s item skill — Yin-Yang.

A technique that could bisect anything in existence… and even things that did not exist.

A black-and-white wave of flame crashed into the Elite Soldier Cockroach.

CRUMBLE—!

Its body instantly turned to ash and scattered.

But it didn’t stop there.

CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE—

The Greed Slash continued forward without end, cleaving everything in half.

Watching the scene, I muttered,

“This… I’m definitely going to get an earful from Featherback.”

Like Moses parting the sea, the ground, walls, and ceiling were all cleanly split in two.

CRAAAAACK!

Morgue’s Magical Warehouse, Second Layer — Observation Zone, was being bisected.