Pulling the Accelerator (2)

-You learned Light Mastery (SS). Under the influence of the skills and traits you have learned, your proficiency will grow to B-rank. Golden Dragon Fighter has grown to SS-rank!

A dazzling light burst out from Kang Shin-hyuk. It was not pure white, but rather, it had a golden hue to it as it mingled with his Golden Dragon. He focused on himself and began to analyze the new skill he had just learned.

-Wind Mastery is a power exerted based on magic power or wind power. However, you are exercising it in harmony with your spiritual power. Light Mastery is a similar skill, but you can deal with it through your Golden Dragon Fighter.

“Huh… well, as long as I can create light, I suppose…” It was a new source of power at the very least; it didn’t really matter how it worked so long as it did.

-Few people deal with Light Mastery. Not everyone who uses the power of light has Light Mastery. Joo-young Oh, for example.

‘I see.’

-Light Mastery is an extremely rare skill. It turns out that it had been posted on the trading board belatedly, and now the freeboard is burning. The member Loki is dancing in a frenzy.

‘Oh, yeah?’

-Ascaldin, another member who already has Light Mastery, was teasing the member Loki, but when he heard that it was of SS-rank rarity…

‘You don’t need to relay that.’ In the process of adapting to the new skill, Kang Shin-hyuk’s body was continuously radiating bright light. The shadow elementals burned in the light he made, causing them to attack more viciously than before as they let out terrible screams.

-Because they hate the light, they are rushing to swallow yours.

“It’s funny for beings born in light.” The shadow elements swarmed around him despite being burned by the light he emitted. He thought it wouldn’t be very effective as it was only B-rank, but perhaps its synergy with Golden Dragon was boosting it. Kang Shin-hyuk mixed his trait within the light to further boost it.

-Shaaaaah!

-Kiiiiiii!

The golden threads stretched out to pierce the burning elements, the soul poison harmonizing with the light to wound the elementals fatally.

‘But the consumption from Golden Dragon has increased… I need to adjust it accordingly.’ Golden Dragon was the very lifeforce of Kang Shin-hyuk. He could recover it to an extent by drinking potions, but it was inefficient and took a while to recover that way, so it wasn’t very reliable. The boss of this gate had yet to appear, so wasting energy would be dangerous. He lowered the energy density to a more appropriate level and moved his hand to clean up those that remained. His automatic routing function was still active, but his party members didn’t seem to notice due to the dark surroundings. Instead, they were focused on the bright light he was emitting.

“Shinyuk, what is that?!”

“It looks like an awakening.” It would be weirder if they weren’t suspicious of the sudden change, but they couldn’t have known about the Hero Universe, so Kang Shin-hyuk didn’t bother hiding it.

“A huge number is coming!” The sky was torn asunder as the rain pouring in became stronger. All the raindrops that hit the ground flooded toward them in the shadows. It was as if the entire world had become their enemy. If it weren’t for the Soul Connection and the Light Mastery he had just learned, the shadows would have consumed them all by now.

“I’m really dying here!”

“Fix your shield! It’s because of the light I created.”

“It’s easy for you to say! Once we get past this, be prepared! I have a lot to ask!”

“I’ll have you pay for your life, so be prepared for that too!” Hyeongju shut his mouth and lifted his shield again.

-The boss is appearing. Be careful, as it is SS+ rank.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Kang Shin-hyuk thought about the set of intermediate status potions he had already prepared. He could only drink one set a day, and now he had the option of advanced ones…

‘Can I give this to another?’

-No. Status potions are items that cannot be traded even between members.

‘There’s no way?’

-Feeding through oral contact may work; however, it may be less effective.

‘It’s okay, never mind.’

-Cheh.

‘What?!’ Kang Shin-hyuk gave up on the idea of feeding the potions to Baek In-ha and thought of what he could do instead.

-The enemy you are dealing with has a spiritual body. Spiritual strength and Golden Dragon are more important than boosting basic stats. Thus, an intermediate potion will be enough.

That was true. Kang Shin-hyuk downed the three potions without worrying about it anymore, boosting all of his stats to the rank of SS+ with the added benefit of his soul connector. At this level, he was at the pinnacle of humanity.

-From the cracks of the torn world, the Sediment of Chaos (SS+) has appeared! Be careful; the enemy won’t die unless you break its core!

His battle preparations over, something massive gradually emerged beyond the pouring rain of shadows. It was a bizarre and disgusting sphere that seemed to extinguish all light in the world, possessing an infinite sense of darkness.

-Ooooh…!

“The Sediment of Chaos…”

“Huh?! Whoa!” Hyeongju Ah let out a groan and kneeled before the boss had even launched a proper attack. Blood was leaking out of his ears. Was it possible that this monster was so fast that it could move without Kang Shin-hyuk’s reinforced senses to catch?

-That’s a type of demon. It emits dirty mana that will hurt those without enough mana or those who don’t know how to protect themselves with magic.

Therefore, Hyeongju Ahn had been brought to this state just by being near this boss. Shin-hyuk felt bad to say it, but he hadn’t been of any help since entering the gate.

“I have a bad feeling, but I don’t see a way to fight it.”

“I’m back to carrying around this extra luggage.” Should he shoot the thread? No, the Gaia system said he had to break its core to damage it. Was it buried deep inside that massive body? It was unlikely he could cut through it, given it was hundreds of meters long. He tried firing off a thread to test it, but it was cut off as soon as it was buried into its body.

-Guooohohoh…!

It seemed Soul Poison had a bit of an effect, however, as it turned towards Shin-hyuk with an angry voice. At the same time, a dark gas began to seep out from its body.

-Member…!

“Kh!” Kang Shin-hyuk crossed the threads into a grid pattern in front of him to build a shield. He empowered it with spiritual power and his Golden Dragon trait, creating a sparkling golden square shield.

-Chiiik, chiiik

The gas hit the shield and made a creepy hissing sound. Kang Shin-hyuk’s eyes narrowed as he poured more energy into the shield.

‘Like the administrator said, the nature of its magic is filthy…’ But what did that exactly mean? It meant that it was an attack that held no meaning to Kang Shin-hyuk.

“Baek In-ha, take Hyeongju Ahn to safety. Can you manage that much?”

“These damn shadows… okay! I think I can do at least that much!” Baek, who had been naturally excluded from the boss fight, was shouting energetically. The shadow elementals had been gradually increasing ever since the Sediment of Chaos appeared, but Baek was mindful of keeping Hyeongju safe.

“Please lend me the bike!”

“Seriously? Alright, take it!”

“Yes, thank you!” Once out of his inventory, the blue cow immediately understood what was to be done and went straight to Baek. Kang Shin-hyuk asked Onyx to go with him.

“If the situation arises, keep Baek safe.”

-Myu… myu!

Onyx seemed concerned but soon nodded that he could do that much before heading for Baek as well. He jumped high into the air, showing off a strange new ability that Shin-hyuk took note of.

“Okay then.” Kang Shin-hyuk released the shield of threads once the party had moved behind the rubble of the crumbling wall. The Sediment of Chaos poured out even more energy to end him, assuming the shield had faltered because of his attack. He felt like the attack was similar to the breath a dragon emitted, but he wasn’t entirely sure as he had never fought a dragon before.

-Guo…?!

“It’s okay.” The dark sticky breath roiled over Kang Shin-hyuk’s body. The gas had no effect on him at all. That was partially thanks to Kang Shin-hyuk’s strong resistance to all kinds of poison from his skill, Soul Poison. Secondly, however, it was because he had no mana that could be polluted.

“If that is all, it would be fastest to dig into its body and break the core.”

-Of course, digging into a spirit body is quite simple, but it becomes a confrontation between souls in the end. It would be a pain to endure the pressure of that thing.

“As is, it won’t work, so it’s better to bring it to an end soon.” Kang Shin-hyuk bought and drank a high-grade potion on the spot before jumping off the ground. With the power of Wind Mastery to compress and burst the air, he soared over tens of meters in the air instantly.

“Hahaha!”

Only

-Oooooh!

“I should’ve kept the Shinfeng orb!”

-It’s coming!

The next moment, his field of view was colored black.

“Huh?!” It wasn’t the gas. Something happened to the Sediment of Chaos’s body as it swallowed Kang Shin-hyuk whole. Kang Shin-hyuk briefly wondered if its body had been scattered all over the gate from the start. If so, that meant Baek In-ha and the others were in more danger than he was in right now. The problem was that he had no time to worry about them.

‘Get off…!’ Golden Dragon flowed through his body to push away the unpleasant energy that tried to worm its way into him. Spiritual power formed a thick armor over him and spilled out poison, making the boss realize he had swallowed up something unhealthy. It wasn’t enough by itself, however. Even if the path to the core was a straight line, he couldn’t tell exactly where he was.

‘First, the Great Heavenly Spirit…!’ The space around him was crushing down on him as their souls clashed. Wouldn’t it be possible to reverse the situation if he absorbed the enemy’s energy into the sword? Yet, as if possessed, he pulled out the Dark Spirit Pearl instead and put it inside of the Godslayer sword. The sword was dyed in shadow as a brief message appeared.

-The Godslayer has completely digested Excalibur: Demon’s Fang.