Chapter 56
Chapter 56
Episode 56
[Caina’s Malice]
[Rank – B ++]
[Attack – 1,800 – 2,200]
[Skill – 0/500]
[Option – ???]
[A knight named Caina was dethroned and turned into the monster Dullahan. Their soul and mana were combined. Its head and armor remained even after the destruction of the undead. Only evil energy and power remain. This item holds Dullahan’s records; it can be thrown with mana for a powerful throwing attack.]
“Wow.”
Who knew Dullahan would drop his head! Of course, the players had never caught Dullahan before, so it’s obvious they didn’t know!
“Ugh, it looks like a helmet, but if you peel it off, you’ll see a rotten corpse’s face…”
“But look, it’s very powerful.”
“Where does such power come from…?”
“Well, isn’t this mana? Why does this look like it’s absorbing the surrounding mana…?”
[Caina’s Malice] adhered to both minimal and maximum attack power. Rather, considering that Jung Si-woo would have to use a lot of mana for the rifle, this head could be a more powerful weapon than that!
“Oppa, are you sure you want to use that…?”
“Hmm.”
While Soo Ah-rin was nervous, Jung Si-woo lifted Dullahan’s head and took a throwing stance. And he threw the mana-infused head towards the elite ghoul that came into sight!
[Coak!]
It flew through the air and crushed the elite ghoul’s body. What’s even more surprising was that Dullahan’s head returned to Jung Si-woo’s hand right after hitting the target!
[Option – 1. Retrievable after throwing 2. ???]
Was it because Jung Si-woo already had a big fight with Dullahan? Even though the artifact’s skill level was still zero, the power of the first option had been revealed. Even though its appearance wasn’t very appealing, he couldn’t help but acknowledge it.
“Awesome!”
“That’s good…”
It wasn’t very cool to watch Jung Si-woo throw rocks, but now he was throwing Dullahan’s head around! It was even more annoying because it was so effective. However, Jung Si-woo finished off the elite monsters by throwing Dullahan’s head, whether Soo Ah-rin was annoyed or not. Yong Se-ha spread his wings wide and flew through the undead, collecting every last stone.
“I found the giant’s scream too. All right, let’s go for a little sprint.”
Soo Ah-rin was tired of feeling rage. She just sighed as she watched Jung Si-woo throw the Dullahan’s head into the air and hit it with a hammer!
[Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiy!]
[It hurts, it hurts!]
[Setnaaak!]
Dullahan’s head, which was already strong, had become stronger due to the momentum from the blow. Caina’s Malice turned into a black laser and destroyed everything in its path before returning right before Jung Si-woo’s eyes. Yes, not in Jung Si-woo’s hands, but in front of his eyes. A rotten smile appeared on Jung Si-woo’s mouth.
‘It’s as planned.’
Dullahan had it in its arms all the time, so its retrieve option was its elbow. But this retrieve option wasn’t that simple since it was controlled only by consciousness. Still, Jung Si-woo could retrieve the head to whichever location he wanted. Of course, there was the premise that his intentions should be clear, but his mental strength and willingness were sufficient enough to handle it. The retrieving time was also the same case. It was possible to retrieve the head at any time you wanted after you already hit the target or not.
In other words, the option [Retrievable after throwing] was in fact [Retrievable after throwing ’at any desired time’ and ‘any desired location’]. Of course, the details of the options may not be considered as important compared to the performance of Caina’s Malice. But if that ability was given to Jung Si-woo, who had monstrous concentration and reflexes…
“Hmm.”
Jung Si-woo struck Caina’s Malice with his hammer. By the time it smashed the target, he had swung the hammer in his other hand and summoned Caina’s Malice into an orbit. Then, the head was struck by the swinging hammer and gained more momentum!
[Queek!]
“Ha!”
[Cough!]
[Kuaaaak!]
The scene unfolded as if it were a circus. Every time Jung Si-woo struck with the hammer, Caina’s Malice was retrieved and thrown again, and the undead was crushed and destroyed before they could reach him.
[Kuaaaak!]
[De, death. He is death!]
[Khhhhh!]
[Kaak!]
The intervals between shooting, retrieving, shooting, and retrieving were so short that it was as if Jung Si-woo was firing an infinite number of heads. Not only was he strong, but it would have been impossible if he didn’t possess tremendous dynamic vision and reflexes.
“Er…I can’t believe you handle Dullahan’s head like that…you’re scarier than him.”
“Dead Caina would’ve loved to see you do that…”
Jung Si-woo was controlling the flight trajectory of the head and his movements while identifying the undead’s movements at the same time. Knowing those three things, it was possible to infinitely shoot the head and crush all enemies at a distance. However.
“This is consuming a lot of my mana.”
“Of course, you’re using mana every time you throw it.”
The amount of mana consumed in a single throw of Caina’s Malice was similar to the amount of mana consumed in a single shot of a critical bullet. Of course, this was much more destructive compared to a critical bullet, but not nearly as fierce.
‘That’s all for now.’
Jung Si-woo was breathing heavily due to the pressure squeezing his body from his mana consumption. He retrieved Caina’s Malice and put it into his inventory. As he was trying to calm himself down, he noticed the surrounding landscape had turned into a mess.
“It’s been completely destroyed.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, really.”
He got a little too excited with his new weapon and went crazy with it. Caina’s Malice flew over the wall countless times and crushed thousands of undead. The remaining undead was either too weak, or they desperately avoided him because they still had a little rationality.
“But I can’t let you get away. Come on; I’ll make it painless.”
[Se, Setnak…Setnaaaaaak……!]
[Death, overwhelming deathhhh…!]
The undead has begun treating Setnak like a normal human because they didn’t think they could win! He sighed, realizing that the undead couldn’t comprehend human words, and grabbed the handle of the hammer with both hands.
“Okay, so you want me to make a move.”
The undead force that invaded the dead city of Serien had to be ridiculed for another twenty minutes before it was completely annihilated. It was the moment when a single human stood atop tens of thousands of undead. In the end, only silence remained.
“Wow, I’m having trouble finding traces of the city.”
“Glad I brought the books back in advance.”
Jung Si-woo shook off the wall debris while Yong Se-ha spoke and retrieved the stone left by an elite ghoul. Only elite monsters could drop a stone but take a look at how many undead had invaded. The number of hearthstones that are widely spread all over the battlefield was no small amount. Fortunately, Jung Si-woo’s Pendulum was able to react to the hearthstone, so it wasn’t too difficult to retrieve them.
“So that’s it, I guess.”
“Not many of them left something behind as useful as Dullahan did. But it was a good dungeon…a good world.”
“I know. If this were a job quest, I wouldn’t mind doing a couple more.”
“I feel strongly that this wasn’t the original purpose of the quest…but that’s okay.”
Soo Ah-rin ignored the muttering with a muffled look, and Jung Si-woo sat down after choosing a place where there aren’t any undead bodies. He inspected his weapons, including Caina’s Malice, and then took out the city’s books that he had kept in his inventory.
“Now, let’s explore.”
“I wonder if there’s any information we can get out of these books.”
Soo Ah-rin’s words weren’t wrong. Rather, the first notebook they acquired was filled with only bad words. In worse cases, there were books filled with only prayers in praise of the name of Louisos, the God of light.
“Huh.”
While reading, Soo Ah-rin started to panic.
“I got a message asking if I would like to serve as a priest for Louisos.”
“This was your quest, not mine!?”
“I’ll decline it because I’m a little scared.”
She thought it was absurd to become a priest of a god that she didn’t know about yet. Thus, Soo Ah-rin turned away from Louisos. Jung Si-woo read the prayer eagerly to see if there was a chance for himself, but the message never came. However, when Yong Se-ha noticed him frustrated, he picked up an old piece of paper from the pile and called out Jung Si-woo.
“Hyeong-nim, how about this? It looks very shabby and worn out.”
“Yes, there must be a very important clue to this.”
Jung Si-woo took the piece of paper and read it with some small expectation. It had only two sentences engraved on it.
“I will be anything in the name of God. I will not refuse war in the name of God.”
“Is it suggesting the war between Setnak and Louisos that took place in this world…?”
“Well…I don’t think it’s confined to this world.”
Both sentences bothered him. But if he were to choose which bothered him more, it was the latter. A war no one can refuse. What did Dullahan say? Did it say something about a fair fight?
“And it said that the earth refused.”
“What’s Dullahan talking about. It even had its own Ant Cave and Sky Castle…”
Jung Si-woo tilted his head, thinking of something as Soo Ah-rin grumbled. Jung Si-woo saw some sentences in front of his eyes.
[You have realized some of the truths of the world.]
[Gods exist in other worlds as powerful records and mana, and their servants are now targeting the earth.]
[The Sky Castle stopped them for some time, but they’ve reached their limit, so their powers and records are gradually reaching the earth.]
Okay, so they’re after earth. It was exactly what Dullahan said, but he said that the earth refused. Then maybe the sky castle that prevented monsters and gods from directly invading earth has…
Jung Si-woo stopped thinking because there was nothing certain.
[With this quest, you have proven the possibility of being a guardian, investigator, and a breaker.]
[What would you choose?]
Finally, a job was opening in front of Jung Si-woo’s eyes.