(289)

Dissipation (2)

“Eunah.”

Janus spoke up in a welcoming voice. However, Shin Eunah was still glaring at her, a golden thunderbolt in both hands. A thunderstorm of extraordinary magical power was swirling around her. Shin Eunah was strong from the start, but especially these days, she was growing stronger and stronger as she struggled with strong people. The lightning she created now seemed to prove her growth.

“It’s fast. Eunah is, after all, on our side, so I can’t kill her… I still can’t. I’m going to erase everything here.”

“You won’t.”

Janus swung again, and a thunderstorm erupted from Eunah’s hand at the same moment. Even Kang Shin-hyuk wasn’t capable of stopping the thunderbolt that Eunah fired at the sword, which she stopped.

“Huh?”

Janus’s eyes opened a little wider. She was looking at the sword in her hand with a strange expression. Then, as if she found the answer, she looked at Shin Eunah with eyes narrowed and a smile.

“Sure, you had it.”

“…Hm?!”

Shin Eunah also felt it. Kang Shin-hyuk realized what was holding Janus in check as she touched her bangs. Shin Eunah was wearing a headband made with part of the dragon heart used in making the Godslayer. Even when Kang Shin-hyuk held it, the Godslayer had resonated with her headband. Though he didn’t like it, now that it was held in the hands of Janus, its original owner, it was resonating even stronger.

“I didn’t mean to cause any harm, but as long as it’s like this, I’ll have to get it back. I’m sorry, Eunah.”

“I can’t give it to you.”

“It was mine originally. Think of it as you borrowed it, and now you’re giving it back.”

Janus smiled a little as he took a step forward. A storm of spiritual power swept across them. However, as Kang Shin-hyuk guessed, Shin Eunah was only learning how to resist spiritual power. She was floating in the air and enduring Janus’s pressure. In the meanwhile, Kang Shin-hyuk wasn’t quiet. While Janus focused on Shin Eunah, he recovered the two swords deflected by Eunah’s lightning. He used his spiritual power to conquer the swords again completely. It was his first time fighting an opponent who handled spiritual power better than him, so he made a mistake. But in the end, these two couldn’t fight Janus… If so.

“Eunah!”

“Huh?!”

Kang Shin-hyuk threw both swords to Shin Eunah. The swords, imbued with spiritual power and Golden Dragon Fighter, flew as if they understood his command, and the moment they reached Shin Eunah, they began to circle around her protectively. Then, Shin Eunah felt a new power building up in her body. The two swords were temporarily maneuvering with Shin Eunah as their master, and in particular, the power of the lightning she was using was amplified. Fire, light, and lightning. All three of these were included in her power, so simply equipping the two swords more than doubled her power.

“Junior, it’s great…!”

Kang Shin-hyuk was unable to show off his own abilities; from the start, his ability was to give wings to the tigers who had power. Janus raised her sword with a frown as if predicting the outcome of the combination of Shin Eunah and those swords.

“Ah, Anvil. Doing such annoying things.”

“Janus…”

Kang Shin-hyuk opened his mouth as he saw Janus, who didn’t show hostility to him until the end.

“Can I back off?”

“Why don’t you know that? Everything made like this… it’s you!”

Negotiations broke down. The moment Janus swung, Shin Eunah emitted lightning much stronger than before to block Janus’s movement. However, both Kang Shin-hyuk and Shin Eunah knew from the start that Janus’s limit wasn’t so little. Janus had been looking after them all this time.

“It might hurt a little, but I won’t kill you.”

Janus concentrated his spiritual power in the sword he held. Kang Shin-hyuk felt as if he could hear Oh Joo-young screaming from that sword. Obviously, due to his ability, the Godslayer had gained new powers and evolved, but Oh Joo-young couldn’t dare overcome Janus. He was taking Oh Joo-young’s ability and using his soul, skillfully handling his own spiritual powers to burn the fragments of Oh’s soul! Ironically, Kang Shin-hyuk was gaining a new realization on how to use spiritual power as he observed it.

“Aaaaaah!”

Then, someone else unexpected happened. A small student flew furiously toward Janus. It was an unexpected situation, and Kang Shin-hyuk urgently tried to stop them, as they would die on their own.

“Ahhh!”

“What?!”

Then, he stopped helplessly in front of the power to stop everything in the area, including himself. Perhaps it wouldn’t work against Janus, but just like that…

“Oh Hye-na?!”

“Ahhhhh!”

Yes, only Oh Hye-na had the power to ‘freeze’ or ‘stop,’ but how could she stop Kang Shin-hyuk? Although he had expended plenty of energy in his battle with Janus, the Great Heavenly Spirit, imbued with Halo’s branches, was still giving him infinite energy. It wouldn’t be possible to stop him by herself.

“Hye-na!”

“Ahhhhh!’

He soon realized the answer. It was the blue greatsword she held, that artifact Oh Joo-young had gifted her. She always brought it to important places, and, of course, she brought it out today as well. Kang Shin-hyuk couldn’t even move his fingertips, and as a result of looking at it with spiritual power, he didn’t interfere as he felt no problems. Who would’ve known that Oh Joo-young’s power was contained in it?

‘No, it definitely wasn’t there. Are you sure?”

Even so, Kang Shin-hyuk wasn’t that stupid. There was no problem with her greatsword, at least until she went onto the final stage of the rookie match, surely.

‘Adelaide Bodin…’

He only realized it now, why she had taken Oh Hye-na hostage. She had already been hard at work.

“Shin-hyuk, please!”

Oh Hye-na froze everything around her and ran straight towards Janus. Baek was also unable to move properly because of her ability.

“She’s a fool.”

“Ahhh…!”

He fully understood Oh Hye-na’s actions. It was probably because Oh Joo-young’s thoughts held in the Godslayer sword were sending out a rescue request. Through Adelaide Bodin, his thoughts had gone over to Oh Hye-na’s greatsword, and now they were encroaching on Oh Hye-na, forcing her to run without considering her physical limitations. Janus, who was fully distracted by Shin Eunah, soon realized she was approaching. Janus grasped the situation in an instant with her spiritual power and laughed.

“It’s the same wavelength as this one. Should I kill you?”

“Who!”

The moment Janus pointed her sword at Oh Hye-na, Kang Shin-hyuk managed to release the power on him and blocked her, and Shin Eunah, seeing it, summoned the greatest lightning she could create on Janus. And Oh Hye-na stabbed Kang Shin-hyuk, who had blocked her, without hesitation.

“I thought this would happen.”

Kang Shin-hyuk felt the alien thoughts flowing through his body as he cursed. Nothing went well with this damn kid. But in the end, well, it was a good thing.

“Junior!”

“I’m fine, so stop, Janus!”

Shin Eunah screamed as if the world was ending as she saw Kang Shin-hyuk getting stabbed, but he hurriedly stopped her with a shout. Oh, but there was someone else who would be even more surprised right now. It was scary to think about what Claire might be doing right now.

[This, what is this…!]

But right now… It was time to devour the ghost who dared to try to devour his soul.

[Huh?! It’s the same as that monster!]

‘You found the wrong number.’

It was worth knowing what Oh Joo-young was looking for in Jormungand. It looked like he was trying to work with Janus, but now he was about to disappear. The entity that was his main body was also destroyed by Kang Shin-hyuk, and now it seemed he was trying to flee to Kang Shin-hyuk’s body… Indeed, ironically, Kang Shin-hyuk also had a way to mimic the spiritual power Janus used. Of course, Janus had much better spiritual power than him, but he also had Golden Dragon Fighter…!

-Thanks to the destructive realization of the energy itself, your spiritual power and Golden Dragon Fighter will grow to SSS+ rank!

-The skill proficiency of the Soul Poison skill has increased significantly to the SSS-rank!

[Kh! Ahhhhh?!]

He transformed his spiritual power into poison and dissolved the thoughts seeping into him, then enveloped it with Golden Dragon Fighter. In the end, he devoured it. Kang Shin-hyuk handled Oh Joo-young’s thoughts in the way he learned from Janus, or rather, in a much more radical way. The moment Oh Joo-young’s thoughts were neatly digested, and they vanished from inside of him, he realized the source of his abilities like he did when he examined Excalibur. Now, with one step, he realized the essence of Oh Joo-young’s ability and could apply it to his own. And Kang Shin-hyuk already had what he needed for that step.

“Anvil, are you okay?”

Janus was looking anxiously at him. A gate had opened in the middle of the gym, and countless people had died by her hand, but she was looking worried that he had been stabbed in the stomach. No, it wasn’t just her. The other members of the Hero Universe…Yes, Tsukuyo. Those who treated the deaths of humans and other beings extremely lightly were especially polite to him, and specifically, to Anvil. He had thought it was all good as a result, but maybe some of them casually did things like Janus now. Even if not, it wasn’t able to affirm what he saw and judge what they were…

“Okay.”

Kang Shin-hyuk replied shortly as he shook off the countless thoughts he had. The greatsword in his stomach slipped away, and with it, Oh Hye-na fell to the ground.

“Me, what am I…”

“I know you’re not at fault, don’t react so clichély. If you’re ready, stay behind me.”

She had just stabbed him, so maybe she was a yandere?

“Senior, I… Dad…”

“That’s too cliched, you damn disciple.”

In fact, the wound she had dealt with him was already healing rapidly due to the Golden Dragon Fighter. Golden Dragon Fighter was initially a regeneration power he obtained from a troll. Considering that it was SSS-rank, such a wound was easy to deal with. Of course, it also depended on the magical and spiritual power of the person who hurt him, but Oh Hye-na was no such master.

“Senior…”

“Later. Now isn’t the time for you to intervene.”

Kang Shin-hyuk checked the wound as he responded coldly. He wasn’t fully cured yet, but now he could move around a bit. Shin Eunah and Janus kept an eye out for each other, but they were both concerned about him. Since all of them were carefully watching him, wasn’t this like another comedy? If it were just like a common comedy, it was okay to quit at this point, and no one would get hurt. No, a lot of people had already died or been injured.

“Janus, do you have to ask again?’

“Yes, Anvil. Sorry, I’m really in a hurry now.”

Janus raised the energy of her body even further to liberate herself from Shin Eunah once more. The entire gate that had been eroded only by her presence was roaring. Kang Shin-hyuk calmly accepted the pressure and took out his last hope to confront Janus.

Funnily, it had the name of despair and hell.