Chapter 409. Memento Mori (2)
Drip, drip.
The Heavenly Demon raised his hand and brushed off the drops of water running down his cheeks.
“Is it… rain?”
When those words left his mouth, thick raindrops started falling as if there was a waterfall in the sky.
‘This is truly unexpected, but was he relying on this?’
The Heavenly Demon was so disappointed that he couldn’t help but sigh. He looked at the insignificant water that drenched the road.
‘Was he just relying on his Frost skill?’
It was true that the combination of rain and frost was a threat. However, it was only a threat to the average fiend at best. It could be said that it wasn’t that much of a threat for strong people such as himself, Isaac, Valencia, and Chef.
“If I knew this would happen, I would have prepared an umbrella.”
“That wouldn’t have been necessary.” Seo Jun-Ho answered coldly and glanced at the sky.
“Because it won’t be just water…”
Booooom!
As if to prove it, a huge lightning bolt fell toward the Heavenly Demon.
“…!”
The Heavenly Demon frowned. He raised his hand to block it.
Pzzzt.
He protected himself with demonic energy, but there was some soot left on his arm.
‘A lightning bolt.’
He raised his head and looked at Seo Jun-Ho on the rooftop. He felt as if someone was standing behind Seo Jun-Ho.
‘He’s already dead, but that old man is still annoying me.’
The Heavenly Demon shook off the unpleasant feeling and said, “Get rid of him.”
“Yes.”
Isaac Dvor looked straight back. The newly recruited cyborg fiends from the 5th Floor stood behind him. There were about eight hundred of them, so they would definitely be great as meatshields.
“What are you all doing? Kill him.”
“Y-Yes…!”
Hundreds of fiends started ascending the building.
The Frost Queen peeked at the fiends climbing up the building and said, “I see, so you do have a plan, Contractor.”
“I told you, I only bite what I can chew.”
“There is no room for rebuttal. As an apology for not believing you…” The Frost Queen smirked and extended her beautiful hands. “I will clean them up for you.”
The cold energy that came out of her fingertips created a new layer of cloud just below the dark clouds.
– How… spectacular!
The A.I. Yeon muttered with its eyes wide open.
It was the same for Seo Jun-Ho.
‘Frost, she has definitely gotten a lot stronger.’
The raindrops that fell into the freezing fog emerged as sharp spears of ice as they passed through the freezing fog. Hundreds of thousands of spears crashed into the ground. It was a power the child-like Frost Queen shouldn’t have been able to wield.
“…!”
“B-block it!”
“Black Wolf Martial Arts!”
The fiends tried their best to defend themselves while some decided to take cover.
“It is fun to see them floundering.”
The Frost Queen smiled. Just as humans couldn’t cover the sky with their palms, they couldn’t avoid the pouring rain.
Crack! Ahhh!
The falling spears of ice mercilessly pierced them from above.
“Uaaaah!”
“Ugh, ugh…”
Their death throes quickly filled the air, but their screams gradually died down.
Looking down at the road littered with corpses, ice, and water, Seo Jun-Ho pointed out. “You’ve really gotten a lot stronger. I can still remember when you were just the size of my finger. Back then, your power was incomparable to your power right now.”
“What is wrong with you? It is only natural that I have become more powerful after becoming a Grade 3 Arch Spirit.”
It had to be known that the proud-looking Frost Queen was actually just a Common Spirit.
Seo Jun-Ho smiled lightly and muttered, “Anyway, thanks to you, the obstructions have disappeared. Now, they are bound to show their true colors.”
“It will not be easy. They are different from the little ones just now.”
“I know…”
As soon as he spoke, he suddenly felt weightless.
Rumble!
The building where he was directly crumbled, and he was now falling to the ground.
– Partner, in front of you!
‘In front?’
The only thing he could see in front of him was concrete. However, Seo Jun-Ho immediately gathered his magic and swung his sword.
‘Black Moon Martial Arts First Skill: Sky’s Frost!’
First, the concrete directly became dust the moment it made contact with Seo Jun-Ho’s sword. Of course, the incoming attack suffered not much of a different fate from the concrete.
Claaang!
The attack was heavy, but it couldn’t break through Seo Jun-Ho’s defenses.
‘I’ll counterattack like this.’
The opponent probably didn’t consider the possibility of him counterattacking because he was still in mid-air.
‘Without wings, there’s no way someone can move while falling.’
However, he was Seo Jun-Ho. He had the Frost skill, and it was raining, which meant…
Crackle!
‘It’s possible.’
Ice manifested in mid-air to support his legs, and Seo Jun-Ho kicked off of the ice to rush forward.
‘Black Moon Martial Arts Second Skill: Silent Flash Wave.’
Crack!
Seo Jun-Ho weaved through the falling rocks, kicking off of them several times while carrying a sword engulfed in darkness.
“…!”
It was a sword that could penetrate everything, and it aimed to pierce the surprised woman’s eye.
Thud!
However, Seo Jun-Ho was struck and sent flying into the opposite building.
“Cia, do not let your guard down. The enemy is Specter. He knows how to hunt fiends.”
“…” Valencia’s eyes were cold as she took a step back. If it weren’t for Isaac’s assistance just now, Seo Jun-Ho’s sword would have pierced her eye and then her brain.
“Pweh!”
Seo Jun-Ho stood up. He spat the blood in his mouth and stared at them.
‘Valencia Citrin lacks experience, but her movement is good.’
‘Isaac Dvor is the troublesome type. He’s a veteran at this as well.’
In short, it meant that Valencia and Isaac had a synergy.
“Contractor, shouldn’t you start retreating? If Heavenly Demon were to come here…”
“No. He won’t come here.”
Seo Jun-Ho was sure of it. Actually, while they were fighting here, the Heavenly Demon was still being bombarded by lightning.
Rumble! Crash!
“Keuk!”
Dozens of lightning bolts had singled out one individual. The Heavenly Demon was in a desperate situation, and he was doing his best to block the lightning bolts. It wasn’t that difficult for him to block the lightning bolts, but the damage would accumulate.
‘This is bad…’
Bzzt, bzzt!
The Heavenly Demon’s arms had turned numb and swollen. It looked like his arms would explode anytime soon.
‘I’ll collapse at this rate…’
If that happened, then he would definitely sustain damage that would take him several months to recover.
‘Specter…’
The Heavenly Demon stared at Specter for a moment before saying, “Isaac, take care of Specter for a while.”
“Understood.”
“Valencia, block the lightning bolts on my behalf.”
“Yes.”
The Heavenly Demon decided to go down with the help of Valencia and Isaac. It seemed that he didn’t want to accumulate more damage by staying here and blocking the lightning bolts.
“What are you going to do now, Contractor?”
“That’s easy.”
Seo Jun-Ho’s sharp eyes stared at Isaac. With Valencia blocking the lightning bolts on the Heavenly Demon’s behalf, Isaac no longer had someone who could synergize well with him.
“Mmm. How scary.”
Isaac was momentarily overwhelmed by Seo Jun-Ho’s aura, and he couldn’t help but start thinking. ‘In this case, a solid defense is better than offense if I want to hold this monster down.’
At that, dozens of magic circles manifested in the air and formed a defensive line around the Heavenly Demon, similar to an iron fortress. They were blocking all routes to the Heavenly Demon and were like handcuffs to hold down the monster named Specter.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t go any further.”
“Oh, really?”
Seo Jun-Ho looked at the Heavenly Demon, who had already arrived in front of the elevator. The Heavenly Demon was walking away leisurely as if he had no doubts that he would be able to escape intact.
“Haha.” Seo Jun-Ho chuckled with bright eyes, looking as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“Yeon.”
– I am here.
What was the biggest difference between a fiend and a Player? It was that a fiend would find it hard to hold in their murderous urges after absorbing demon blood. In that case, what method was the system using to distinguish fiends and Players apart?
‘No way.’
Seo Jun-Ho shook his head. Reiji, the Administrator of the 2nd Floor, once said…
“Administrators don’t get involved in Players’ business. No, I think it’s more accurate to say that we can’t do that.”
Therefore, even fiends could use the Administrator’s Store without issues. It was all because the system treated them as Players.
“In the system’s eyes, there’s no difference between a Player and a fiend.”
The million-dollar question was this—as the Emperor of Neo City, he had the authority to expel Players from the 5th Floor. If he could expel Players, did that mean he could expel fiends as well?
“Let’s find out, then,” Seo Jun-Ho stared at Isaac in front of him and said, “Yeon, expel all Players aside from the Heavenly Demon and me.”
– As you wish, Your Majesty.
“W-what…?!”
Isaac’s eyes abruptly widened as a band of light wrapped around the three fiends: Isaac Dvor, Valencia Citrin, and the Chef, Roxan.
“Bingo!”
The three fiends disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The Heavenly Demon was startled at the sight.
“Tsk.”
Crash!
The lightning bolts Valencia had been working hard to block for the Heavenly Demon once again set their sights on their original target. At the sight of that, the Heavenly Demon started running while deflecting the lightning bolts. The leisurely look on his face vanished without a trace.
“You sure know how to run. Unfortunately, you should have run much earlier.”
“Contractor, are you just going to watch him run?”
“Of course not.” Seo Jun-Ho shook his head and looked at Yeon. “Yeon, what Namgung Jincheon said was true, right? Is it true that he buried bombs all over the city, not just in the central districts?”
– It’s true. I was actually freaking out because he actually wasn’t lying.
“In that case, let’s blow one up.”
Where should they blow one up? It would be nice to blow up one in front of the elevator.
Seo Jun-Ho’s lips curled up. The Heavenly Demon finally arrived in front of the elevator while deflecting the lightning bolts falling down on him. Upon arrival, he pressed the button to summon the elevator.
“Boom.”
Crash!
In addition to a lightning bolt on him, the Heavenly Demon and the elevator started falling. A bomb had exploded beneath the elevator, and the explosion directly created a hole, forcing the Heavenly Demon to fall underground.
“It was a trap!”
The flustered Heavenly Demon reached out and grabbed whatever he could. However, everything was falling around him, so there wasn’t really anything helpful that he could use.
‘He got me.’
The dizzy Heavenly Demon holding onto the elevator unleashed a burst of demonic energy to soar into the air.
Swoosh!
However, before he could even attempt to go down once more—
“…!”
He suddenly found himself in complete darkness. Then, a low voice pierced his ears.
“Black Moon Martial Arts Final Skill: Profound Righteousness.”
The darkness threatened to engulf the Heavenly Demon as alarm bells rang loudly in his head.
‘This attack…’
If he didn’t block this attack, he would be in mortal danger. The realization made him pull the trigger he didn’t want to pull.
Boooom!!
A tremendous amount of demonic energy erupted from the Heavenly Demon’s body.
“Wow, you actually managed to block it.”
The Heavenly Demon had mustered enough strength to casually block the final skill of the Black Moon Martial Arts. However, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t look disappointed, even though the Heavenly Demon successfully blocked his attack.
In fact, there was even a handsome smile on his face, and he looked like he was trying to provoke the Heavenly Demon even more.
“You, really…”
To survive, the Heavenly Demon had to muster all his demonic energy, and as a result, his body started screaming at him. Even worse, the magic he had been barely managing to contain was now escaping through his nose, mouth, and ears.
“Since you really want to die that much, then I’ll grant you death.”
He didn’t want such a lame conclusion to their rivalry, but the Heavenly Demon decided to kill Seo Jun-Ho at once. He had always hated those who dared to test his patience.
“Oh, is that so? But, I’m sorry…” Seo Jun-Ho slowly went down and started walking toward the city, abandoning the iron sword the Heavenly Demon had caught. “I don’t want to fight you.”
Seo Jun-Sik had made the right decision. Seo Jun-Ho started furiously trembling when the Heavenly Demon mustered the thousands of gapjas worth of neigong that he had absorbed from the neigong chips.
‘Seo Jun-Sik… he actually saved my life. How the hell do you even beat a monster like him?’
Realizing that he truly couldn’t defeat the Heavenly Demon in the meantime, he decided to just let the latter go. It didn’t really matter because he had already ruined most of the Heavenly Demon’s hard work on this floor.
“Specter…!”
The Heavenly Demon finally realized that Specter was just playing with him. In response, he reached out with his hand, but Seo Jun-Ho quickly declared, “The Emperor of Neo City declares—”
Seo Jun-Ho’s cold eyes stared right into the Heavenly Demon’s murderous crimson eyes.
“—Get out of my city.”
“Specter! I’m going to kill you! I will definitely kill you!”
The crazed Heavenly Demon was about to grab Specter’s face, but a band of light quickly banished him from the floor.
All alone on the rooftop of a building, Seo Jun-Ho replied quietly, “You better not forget that you’re going to die by my hands.”
He would make it happen—he would definitely make it happen.
