Chapter 96
[The one who resembles the brilliant light has donated 1,000TP!]
[Are you serious right now? Do you really want to fight?]
Michael, who had noticed what I was trying to do by my actions, asked me with a bewildered expression.
I nodded and answered yes.
The spirits who were watching the situation quietly looked quite flustered.
Well, of course they did, because the only thing we could do in this situation was to run away.
[The spirits all agree that this is impossible.]
[The one who laughs in the darkest place recommends running away.]
[The drunkard of the tavern tells you to leave quickly.]
The spirits usually enjoyed my challenges, but they couldn’t this time.
They thought thatKwon Jia and I were heading towards death.
Of course, I thought so too.
This was crazy no matter how you looked at it.
But still.
“We have to do it.”
I looked atKwon Jia, who was standing next to me, and said that.
I had made a vow since the moment I held the sword.
I was the protagonist of this stage, and I would never run away.
This was an extension of my belief.
[The one who laughs in the darkest place has donated 1,000TP!]
[Do you have a way?]
“I do.”
I looked at the stake of names that was far away and said that.
From the stake, a dazzling light was bursting out, and the skeleton general was standing next to it, looking down at us.
Even though it was far away, I could see it clearly.
I glanced around.
The collapsing ground and the twisting axis.
The heaven and earth shook, the atmosphere was unstable, and the dark clouds endlessly spat out thunder.
But the collapse of Ghost Land was not complete yet.
There was some time left.
So we had to pull out that stake before the deadline came.
“Can you do it, Miss Jia?”
“…I have to. But no matter how I think about it, I can’t think of a way to reach there.”
Don’t tell me, you did this without any plan at all?
She seemed to be slightly embarrassed by the meaning in my eyes, and she avoided my gaze.
I kept understanding why she had repeated so many cycles.
She was such a clumsy regressor.
But that’s why I chose her.
“I have a way.”
I racked my brain as hard as I could to find a way.
And I also had one of my skills, [Victor of the Battlefield].
An important skill that shows me the path to victory in any fight.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. But the most important thing in this matter is your role, Miss Jia. Miss Jia. I’ll ask you again. Can you do it? Can you stake everything on it?”
“I can.”
She answered without a hint of hesitation to my serious voice.
I smiled at her satisfying answer.
“Good. Take this.”
“What is this…?”
Kwon Jia looked quite confused when I handed her Baekryeon.
And so did Baekryeon.
[Hey! Kang Yu-hyun! Are you crazy?! Are you trying to abandon me?!]
‘I’m not abandoning you. I’m just lending you. Baekryeon. Please. You have to help Miss Jia.’
[You want me to let someone who’s not even my master touch me as they please?]
‘If you don’t, I’ll die too.’
[You…!]
Baekryeon must have realized how serious this situation was too, because even though he was angry, he couldn’t refuse.
[…You’ll pay for this later.]
‘Yeah. Sorry.’
I apologized to Baekryeon and forced him into Kwon Jia’s hand.
“Take it.”
“Th-this is…”
“A weapon. Yours broke, right? You need a great weapon right now. With this, you can beat that crazy skeleton.”
“Then what about you…”
“I have to go help those humans over there. Well, what can I do even if I hate them? They’re not bad enough to deserve death. So don’t worry about those people and leave them to me. You just need to think about how to deal with that stake.”𝒏օν𝔢𝙡𝙗ì𝖓.𝑛𝙚ｔ
“I got it.”
“Good.”
——————
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Whew!
I whistled and called Baekhyo, who was floating in the air.
He quickly landed on my shoulder.
“Baekhyo. I need your help again.”
Hoot.
“Do you see where the shining stake is? Take Miss Jia there.”
Hoot! Hoot!
He was reluctant to lead someone who was not his master, but he agreed to do it when I begged him earnestly.
He was a really smart owl who understood words well.
Kwon Jia looked at the owl on my shoulder and was slightly taken aback.
“Is this owl still a baby? He’s so small, how can he take me there…”
“You don’t know much about the Heavenly Owls, do you, Miss Jia?”
Even though our Baekhyo is still a chick, he has the bloodline of a divine beast.
He can’t be compared to other animals.
The Hungry Ghost Realm is a huge world.
The Ghost Land is very small in contrast.
If they coexist as they are, the Ghost Land will naturally be devoured by the underworld and disappear.
The stake of the list is only half stuck because of that.
Of course, he was still small enough to fit in my palm right now.
That’s why it only lasted for a moment, but I had no choice but to use a useful method.
“Baekhyo, bear with it even if it feels a bit strange.”
[I activate the title of the Engraver.]
I engraved an inscription on Baekhyo’s back.
There were three types of inscriptions: speed increase, resistance decrease, and growth promotion.
I inscribed them on Baekhyo.
Triple inscription, and that too on a living being.
It consumed a massive amount of points, incomparable to engraving on an object.
And that was even for a one-time effect.
‘It’s my first time engraving on a creature, but it’s not easy.’
I finished inscribing on Baekhyo by spending a large amount of points.
Baekhyo must have felt a strange sensation when the inscription was engraved, but he listened to me well and stayed still.
As soon as the inscription was finished, Baekhyo’s body was wrapped in light and transformed into a giant owl that was 2m long.
The cuteness was gone, and he looked solemn enough to be called the king of the night.
Chwak!
When Baekhyo spread his wings wide, his wingspan was over 4m.
The unfortunate thing was that even with this size, he could only carry one person at most.
And the one who rode him was the person I trusted and entrusted everything to, not me.
“Go ahead, Miss Jia.”
“…Okay.”
Kwon Jia climbed onto Baekhyo’s back.
Baekhyo flapped his wings a few times to adjust to his enlarged body, and then soared into the sky like an arrow.
Chwak!
The pure white owl drew a white trail in the air and headed for the high place in an instant.
I confirmed that he was getting farther away quickly and turned my gaze to another place.
“Well, let’s leave that matter to them.”
Shall I try doing what I have to do?
I looked at the people who were still in panic and couldn’t come to their senses.
They couldn’t even think of running away now, and they were just trying to avoid the collapsing ground somehow.
Taak!
I kicked off the ground and jumped over the cracks as I approached the collectors.
***
It was hard to open his eyes due to the huge wind pressure. Kwon Jia tried desperately to keep his sanity in the face of the strong wind hitting his face.
‘What a tremendous speed…!’
Baekhyo was indeed a heavenly owl worthy of being called a divine beast.
Every time he flapped his wings, his huge body cut through the wind like an arrow and moved forward.
Kwon Jia tightened his grip on the feathers.
After some time passed, he was able to withstand the rough ash wind to some extent.
He had some leeway and was able to locate the enemy.
‘There it is!’
He spotted a jade light in the midst of the ash storm that was raging like a wildfire.
Kwarung!
As if the collapse of Ghost Land had added more fuel to it, a thunderous sound rang out.
No, it wasn’t just sound.
There were actually eerie flashes of lightning in the dark clouds that filled the sky.
“Over there!”
Baekhyo seemed to understand Kwon Jia’s words and immediately changed direction.
He immediately spread one wing and folded the other, making a sharp turn sideways.
It was such a swift movement that it was hard to believe that he had a 2m body and over 4m wingspan.
Kwon Jia clenched his feathers as he watched the spectacular flight in midair.
Chwaaak!
The wings spread out like gliding.
As if to block them, the ground rose up with a roar and created a huge wall in front of them.
“Danger…!”
Before Kwon Jia’s words fell, Baekhyo entered an evasive maneuver.
He moved like spinning in an instant and passed by sideways.
Kwon Jia and Baekhyo had no time to feel relieved, and they felt gloomy at the sight that unfolded afterwards.
Kugugugung!
“What…”
The ground that had risen up a while ago was just a taste, as if to show off.
The ground in front of them rose up frighteningly one after another.
They varied in size and shape.
But those rock pillars blocked the way between Kwon Jia and the stake of the list.
A natural barrier created by chance by the merciless pieces of Ghost Land swept away by the huge force.
It was as if the stake of the list itself had used its hand to repel the intruders.
It was too urgent to avoid it and move around.
Kwon Jia clenched his teeth.
***
“Huuk! Sa, save me…!”
Kwaduk!
As the ground he was standing on collapsed, a collector who lost his balance reached out desperately in midair.
But his colleagues just stared at him with wide eyes as he slowly fell.
Tak!
If it weren’t for a man who suddenly grabbed his hand.
The man, Yu Hyun, pulled the collector who was about to fall and rescued him.
He didn’t stop there and shouted at the collectors who were panicking and flailing around.
“Everyone stay still! If you scatter, the ground will collapse and we’ll all die!”
“Yo, you are…”
“Those who want to live, gather around me!”
The collectors knew that Yu Hyun was the person they should be most wary of, the White Flower Management person.
But in this situation, they were instinctively drawn to his confident appearance.
Maybe they could survive if they were with him.
That hope filled the collectors’ hearts.
‘I think I’ve taken care of this place roughly. Miss Jia is…’
Yu Hyun confirmed that he had gathered the collectors in one place and then turned his gaze to find Kwon Jia.
The plain that was Ghost Land had changed its terrain so much that it looked like a rugged valley.
The ash wind that endlessly battered them grew stronger than before, almost like a storm, and lightning struck from the dark clouds that filled the sky.
It was a sight that seemed to herald the end of the world.
‘Where is it?’
Yu Hyun’s eyes moved busily in search of a being in there.
In the dark and gloomy world, he saw an owl that seemed to shine on its own and a woman who rode on it.
Is it possible?
As he thought of breaking that thought, he saw the twisted strata blocking Kwon Jia’s way and couldn’t help but stiffen his face.
He immediately shouted to Kwon Jia through long-distance communication.
‘Avoid it! It’s dangerous if you go like that!’
-But there’s not enough time to turn around!
Yu Hyun clenched his teeth at Kwon Jia’s answer.
It was not enough time to go around and avoid it.
Even if he arrived barely, the skeleton general who guarded the stake would not stay still.
But then, what should he do?
As Yu Hyun tried to find a way somehow, Kwon Jia answered.
-I’ll break through as it is!
“What?!”
He didn’t know himself and shouted out loud.
Kwon Jia increased her speed as if to keep her word.
Yu Hyun widened his eyes at the sight.
‘She’s going to crash!’
As he thought that, Baekhyo folded his wings and squeezed his body into the narrow gap of the rock pillar.
And the sight that followed was enough to astonish even Yu Hyun, who had been through many hardships.
A white spot of light showed acrobatic movements and pierced through the gaps of the rock walls.
A movement like a dance that barely avoided collision.
Yu Hyun lost his mind at the precarious sight and came to his senses when he heard the system window ringing loudly.
[The spirits admire Kwon Jia’s courage.]
[The spirits earnestly pray for her success.]
[The spirits…]
[…]
Everyone was cheering for her with their mouths.
This was a fight for the impossible, a dreamer risking his life.
Yu Hyun remembered when he and Kang Hyerim broke through the Ottoman army.
The same picture was unfolding now with Kwon Jia and Baekhyo.
The excitement of that time overlapped with his memory, and Yu Hyun clenched his fist.
‘Please.’
Succeed.
As if Hyun’s prayer had reached him, Baekhyo, who did not slow down at all, showed an unbelievable acrobatic flight and almost escaped the twisted maze of strata.
‘Is it over? No, not yet!’
There was still one wall left.
A huge rock wall that was incomparable to the ones before.
It was too big to avoid by turning sideways.
Boom!
Even Baekhyo, the divine beast, widened his eyes at the sight.
“It’s okay.”
Jia gently stroked Baekhyo’s stiff back and said so.
“Keep going. Don’t worry. Just like that.”
Perhaps encouraged by the voice of his rider, who was not even his master, Baekhyo put more strength into his rigid wings and sped up.
At this rate, he would crash into the rock wall and become a bloody mess.
Jia tightened her legs and lifted her body from Baekhyo’s back.
The rough wind hit her whole body, but she resisted it with her strength and kept her balance.
She drew her sword, Baekryeon, and took a swinging posture.
“I can only use one technique in this state. So I beg you. Baekryeon.”
Jia murmured to her sword in the shape of a sword.
At the same time, a fierce aura flowed from her body.
It gathered in Baekryeon as a single point, and then unleashed an aura that looked like a giant beast’s claw.
It was something that transcended her level, something that was not allowed to her right now.
Crack!
Jia clenched her teeth and desperately controlled the claw that she had pulled out.
The moment she lost focus, even a little, the beast’s claw would turn against her instead of the enemy.
She felt like she would lose consciousness from the immense pain that afflicted her whole body.
‘It hurts.’
If it were the usual her, she might have given up here.
She might have harbored a careless thought like ‘I’ll do it next time’, and it would have been better if she had done so.
But not now.
She burned everything she had as if this was the last time.
She vowed to break through and overcome whatever blocked her way.
To show them all.
So she had to endure.
This kind of pain was nothing compared to the emptiness of giving up everything.
“Haaah!”
With a fierce shout, the beast’s claw tore through the wall.
Kwaaang!
The huge rock flew in all directions as if a bomb had exploded, and a cloud of dust rose up.
The broken rock wall collapsed with a loud noise.
Jia and Baekhyo pierced through the center and reached right above the stake.
She had not avoided the huge wall, but shattered it into pieces.
It was an unbelievable thing that had happened.
“Oh my god.”
“She broke through it?”
The collectors who were watching the scene with Hyun murmured in disbelief.
Taah!
As soon as Jia saw the stake close by, she jumped off Baekhyo’s back.
She swung Baekryeon at the skull general’s head as she fell.
“Haaah!”
[You bastard!]
The skeleton general raised his sword to block Baekryeon.
Clang!
The two swords clashed, and their eyes met across the blades.
There was not much time left until the collapse.
The final battle had begun.
