126. Finals (5)
Kugagagagaga!
A sword strike shooting up into the sky—and the charge of White Tiger piercing straight through it!
- What is this?! A skill we’ve never seen before from HunGyo is exploding onto the field!
- Incredible! It’s swordsmanship performed with just one arm—how can it be this powerful?! It feels like it could slice the entire world apart!
- My jaw just won’t close. Against two S-rank summons! No—there’s even a Mermaid added to that, and yet HunGyo is holding his ground without faltering. It’s honestly admirable!
“……”
“Wow…”
“That’s insane.”
Both the Korean audience and the British audience—were watching the match with stunned expressions.
Among them were, without a doubt, world-ranked players.
‘So this is what a ranked battle looks like. Everything in the league until now was just child’s play.’
‘Just watching is overwhelming—but every single one of those skills is being controlled with insane precision… This is a whole different class.’
‘Will I ever be able to fight like that? Before that, will my summons even reach that level?’
‘God Ji-nu, God Ji-nu… I’d only heard the name before… but… he’s just completely insane.’
A duel that was educational just by watching.
That was the match between Baek Jinwoo and Rachel.
- Krrraaaaargh!
Even as White Tiger charged in as if to slaughter everything in its path, true to its skill name—
HunGyo did not waver in the slightest.
Even if he were to be torn apart by those claws right now, he intended to unleash everything he had learned.
‘The only regret is…’
That not even 10% of its original power was being drawn out.
It couldn’t be helped.
He had only mastered it up to 3-star, and even that was barely successful.
If Aso’s fully realized Ruination were unleashed?
The moment it was used, whether it was White Tiger or even the Yellow Dragon—they would be shredded into thousands of pieces.
Before a divine technique wielded by a genius, rank meant nothing.
S-rank or not—it was simply the end.
That was exactly why Aso had been hit with a balance patch.
Crunch! Crack!
HunGyo gave it everything he had, but in the end, White Tiger pushed through it all and closed the distance.
‘This is as far as I go.’
A faint smile rose on HunGyo’s lips.
My lord.
‘Still… I held out quite well, didn’t I?’
The stacks should have built up nicely—please make sure to win.
‘And… I’m sorry I couldn’t hold out any longer.’
As HunGyo slowly closed his eyes while staring at the massive White Tiger head charging in with its jaws wide open—
Whoooosh!
A stream of flame shaped like a dragon poured straight into its mouth.
Explosive Dragon Sorcery, Secret technique - Flame.
A portion of the fire that had been accumulated through Link until now erupted as Flame.
‘Explosive Dragon?’
Feeling the intense heat on his skin, HunGyo opened his eyes slightly in surprise.
Standing firmly with a proud expression, planting its staff into the ground with a thud!—protecting him from the front—when had Explosive Dragon even arrived?
Flames surged—whoosh!
The Explosive Dragon, spewing fire from her entire body, seemed to be saying this: If you want to take HunGyo, you’ll have to take me first!
Yellow Dragon?
So what!
‘I’m the Explosive Dragon!’
* * *
“Ha…”
At that same moment, watching the battle from afar, Baek Jinwoo frowned.
‘It can’t be helped.’
To secure victory, he needed to buy more time.
HunGyo had done well—but not even ten minutes had passed yet.
So he had no choice but to deploy Explosive Dragon!
Flames roared.
Fortunately, thanks to intense training, its accuracy was high. It had been inserted perfectly—right into White Tiger’s mouth.
- KRRRRAAAARGH!
The White Tiger that had been charging as if to slaughter everything now cried out in pain.
‘Even if you’re S-rank, it won’t matter.’
Maybe not as broken as Devour—but Explosive Dragon Sorcerer was pretty broken too.
And for beast-type summons, the weak point is usually inside the mouth.
The softest area—and closest to the brain.
‘And animals fear fire.’
“Lamba.”
—Y-Yeah…
Lamba whispered in a tiny voice.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Her arms were moving so fast they were nearly invisible as she desperately swung her staff.
“Hang in there just a bit longer.”
Now it was time to decide.
Should he wait until HunGyo and Explosive Dragon were both unsummoned—or jump in at the right moment?
‘If possible, I want to force out the Yellow Dragon’s breath first.’
That Ascension Breath he saw last time…
It was dangerous.
No matter how fast Gale Slayer was, taking that kind of absurd skill head-on would melt him instantly.
‘Please…’
From afar, Baek Jinwoo began controlling Explosive Dragon.
‘Just hold on a little longer, guys.’
* * *
“…Ha.”
A hollow laugh finally escaped Rachel’s lips.
This was beyond irritating.
She had even used White Tiger’s ultimate—and it got neutralized by some Explosive Dragon Sorcerer?
And HunGyo was still alive on top of that.
Rachel could feel things were not going according to plan.
She considered ending it quickly with a breath attack—but that would prevent the Yellow Dragon from using its full power.
‘Handling it with just White Tiger is… God Ji-nu is just too scary.’
Of course, she still hadn’t used her trump card. A hidden summon she hadn’t revealed yet.
But she couldn’t use it now.
That was a final weapon powerful enough to finish God Ji-nu in a single blow—it had to be used when facing him directly.
Flames roared!
“Ah!”
Rachel flinched.
At some point, Explosive Dragon Sorcery—Transformation—had taken the shape of a Phoenix and was colliding with the Yellow Dragon.
More precisely, it was trying to invade inside its mouth.
An absurd level of control!
‘Focus.’
Rachel bit her lip tightly.
Sorry, God Ji-nu.
You may have been a legend in Battle of Summoners—but in this real world, the number one is me.
Crunch!
The Yellow Dragon casually brushed away the stream of fire.
Right now, it was only a single Explosive Dragon Wave formed through Transformation—so the damage itself was weak.
“Ha…”
Rachel maintained her composure.
An unwavering belief that she was the best in the world.
“Sorry—but this is where it ends.”
Explosive Dragon had already shown its limits, and HunGyo no longer had the MP to continue fighting.
Now—it could be finished with basic attacks.
- KRRRRAAA!!!
The rage of the Yellow Dragon surged toward Explosive Dragon’s heart.
HunGyo kicked off the ground and hurled his sword, and Explosive Dragon unleashed another stream of fire—but it was useless.
Thud!
—..…!
The horn pierced straight into the heart.
Yet she did not scream.
Cough!
Even as blood burst from her mouth, she maintained her concentration.
‘Idiot.’
At the same time, she mouthed the words, mocking Rachel.
‘Jinwoo’s acting worked.’
That Flame thrown at White Tiger earlier?
It was only about five stacks of Explosive Dragon Wave.
It just seemed stronger because it hit inside White Tiger’s mouth.
Which meant—there were still around twenty stacks left accumulated through Link.
‘HunGyo!’
As Explosive Dragon signaled with her eyes—
Step!
HunGyo, who had been knocked away by claws, gathered every last ounce of strength and launched himself toward the Yellow Dragon’s head.
At the same time—toward the base of the horn piercing through Explosive Dragon’s heart—
‘Now!’
Thud!
He drove the sword in.
KRRRRAAAAAAAA!
The Yellow Dragon let out a scream.
And through that opening, every bit of Explosive Dragon Wave that Explosive Dragon had stored up erupted as Flame.
Fwoooosh!
It pierced through the Yellow Dragon’s brain and began to burn.
‘This is insane!’
Rachel was horrified.
How was this even possible?
She couldn’t make sense of this situation at all.
What were they, cockroaches or something? No matter how many times she killed them, they just wouldn’t get unsummoned?
How were they managing to land fatal blows this persistently?
That one even had its heart pierced!
At this point, weren’t they basically S-rank themselves?
Sssshhhk!
The Yellow Dragon’s HP was visibly dropping at a frightening speed.
‘This won’t do.’
In the end, Rachel made her move.
“Just die already, all of you!”
With a vicious expression, she raised the Yellow Dragon upward.
Kugagagagagagaga!
The once-small Yellow Dragon began to grow to an enormous size.
At the same time, Rachel’s body floated up into the air.
It was the phenomenon that appeared whenever it unleashed Ascension Breath.
‘The Explosive Dragon Sorcerer is finished anyway, and HunGyo doesn’t matter anymore.’
Sssst!
Right on cue, the body of the Explosive Dragon Sorcerer impaled in flame disappeared.
It had been completely unsummoned.
Then everything was perfect now.
‘If I just target Baek Jinwoo all the way over there, it’s over.’
Whoooosh!
The Yellow Dragon flew into the sky.
Its target was Baek Jinwoo, standing at the edge of her vision!
HunGyo was hanging limp with a sword lodged in the horn, but the dragon ignored him and charged forward.
Baek Jinwoo seemed to hesitate with a startled expression, while the Wind Fairy was swinging her staff like mad.
That transparent assassination summon had to be beside him.
‘Was it Gale Slayer?’
That had to be it.
Wind Fairy, Explosive Dragon Sorcerer, Training Instructor…they were all summons that had gotten balance patched.
And among the patched summons, the only assassination summon Rachel remembered was Gale Slayer.
There was no way that Wind Fairy was swinging her staff at empty space, so it was one hundred percent certain.
“Sorry, but it’s over, God Ji-nu.”
You didn’t expect me to fly up like this, did you?
Panicking now wouldn’t help.
The range of Ascension Breath was extremely wide.
Craaack!
The Yellow Dragon’s mouth opened wide.
There was no time to hesitate. Her opponent was God Ji-nu.
If she gave him time, who knew what else he might pull off?
And then—
-KIAAAAAAAAH!
Yellow Dragon- Ascension Breath!
A golden light on an entirely different level from every attack so far engulfed Baek Jinwoo, Lamba, and even HunGyo.
Fwooooooosh!
Like a nuclear bomb, the Yellow Dragon’s Ascension Breath disintegrated everything within the beam!
Papapap!
Lamba melted away before she could even put up any real resistance, and the recoil was so intense that even HunGyo, who had been hanging onto the horn, was unsummoned.
- Ah, aaaahhh! Aaah!
- A-Ascension Breath! That absurd skill she showed against Yoshida Hikaru in the semifinals has exploded onto the stage once again!
- At this point, no matter how good Baek Jinwoo is, there’s just nothing he can do…
- Unfortunately, that’s true. Is there really any lifeform that could survive inside that beam? This truly shows why it’s worthy of S-rank…
The commentators’ voices were filled with disappointment.
“Ah…”
“No…!”
“HUNGGYOOO!”
“That’s literally a disaster itself… How are you supposed to beat something like that?!”
The South Korean spectators were clutching their heads with both hands and crying out in despair.
“WAAAAAAAH!”
“WOOOOOOAH!”
“Rachel! Rachel! Rachel!”
“Yellow Dragon! Yellow Dragon! Yellow Dragon!”
“Breath! Breath!”
On the other hand, the British crowd was going wild with excitement.
There seemed to be no upset coming.
The breath was coming to an end, and inside the thick dust, it looked as though nothing at all remained.
Just as it seemed about to be proven that although Baek Jinwoo had lasted longer than the other Five Emperors, in the end even he was no match for Rachel—
Swoosh!
Something sprang out from empty air beside the Yellow Dragon.
And then—
Slice!
A sharp strike cleanly severed the Yellow Dragon’s neck.
In a single blow.
“…Huh?”
Rachel’s mouth fell open in shock at the unexpected strike.
“How…?”
Her pupils widened, and she immediately looked downward.
Through the thick clouds of rising dust, she could see the figure of a man looking up at her.
‘God Ji-nu…’
Within that breath, his barrier had not lost its light.
What?
How had this happened?
Rachel’s eyes were filled with confusion.
No comments yet. Be the first to leave a review!