Evan D. Sherden, Complete the Dungeon (2)

[Why on earth are you here!? Why!?]

He screamed. His aura was still extremely strong, but Evan’s party members were looking at him dumbfounded.

“Why is he acting like that?”

“I believe he saw Evan’s aura and became delusional.”

“No, that’s…”

Only Mirole seemed to be slightly nervous. She pulled her hood down and hid behind Evan to avoid getting noticed by the Demon Prince Keiha.

[No, wait. Wait for a second…]

It was right at that moment. Keiha, who was half panicking, narrowed his eyes when he suddenly looked at Evan. Then, he seemed to regain his posture a bit.

[Perhaps…but no way. Did it happen by any chance? It’s ‘still’ young?]

A large, synthesized energy mass gathered on Keiha’s hand when he lifted it. It was obvious since it was the same attack pattern that Evan saw in the game. The party members moved swiftly as they were instructed, and Raihan stood in front of everyone.

[Don’t get in my way. That guy has to be killed now!]

“You can’t do whatever you want.”

Raihan replied coldly to Keiha’s desperate shout and activated his blessing. Surprisingly the AoE destruction ray, which Keiha aimed precisely at Evan, spread and regrouped as one ray before it bent towards Raihan and hit the center of his shield. Raihan withstood the force and took a step backward. In other words, that was all the damage that the ray had dealt Raihan.

“It felt heavy, but I can bear with it.”

“Good, then let the battle begin.”

Evan also realized that Keiha’s condition was weird. The shock that he felt after looking at Evan…no, that overreaction was also bothersome. Did he react that way because he knew something about Evan? Something that Evan himself wasn’t aware of?

‘But I can’t ask him that now. Shall I start with adequately beating him to a pulp?’

He took a step forward while clenching his fist. He had the shield wall that protected him from the mana, so Evan’s Heavenly skills that looked like magic but, in fact, was a product of physical force.

[I won’t be fooled by your fist. You couldn’t possibly have completed that skill…aaaaaargh!]

The moment when Evan stretched his fist forward while activating Heaven’s Press with all his might, the absolute power that protected Keiha’s physical and spiritual form shattered, and he was crushed into the wall with a loud noise.

[Argh, Krrrgh…!]

“…I believe the shield wall shattered?”

“Everyone, attack!”

“Hiyaaaaa!”

The party members started barraging their attacks! Shine’s dual-daggers, Belois’s violet crystal, Arisha’s rapier, Serena’s pets, Anastasia’s debuffs, and the wind arrow from Mirole’s unique weaponry penetrated his body relentlessly.

[Grrrrrrrgh! You, you little imbecile! You, you little whore! How dare you dream of the continuation of the Elven race while insulting meeeeeeeeergh!?]

Evan re-activated Heaven’s Press and stretched out both arms. As he took a grappling gesture in the empty air with both hands holding one another, Keiha’s body got squeezed by an overwhelming pressure! Keiha lost his shield wall once more, which he was trying to recast, as pain beyond his limit of endurance penetrated his body in the blink of an eye.

“Oh, my goodness. I’ve never seen anyone withstand master’s Heaven’s Press!”

“Everyone, stay alert and deal damage while keeping your distance!”

“Shine, receive the buffs!”

“That shield-less monster is trying to cast an anti-magic spell! Ms. Mirole, help me!”

“Understood! The Spirit of the Wind seal the mouth of the wicked demon! Blow the breath of blessing upon my allies! Put shackles of cause and effect to those who dare oppose the Heavens!”

Mirole finished a long cast. It was an ancient spell that maximizes buffs and debuffs to two targets. Evan also knew about it. He was a bit nervous as the spell had a possibility to fail, but it seemed that it was effective against Keiha, who lost his protection.

“Haaa!”

Belois, who finished her cast thanks to Mirole’s help, unleashed her magic with a shout of concentration. Purple shackles arose from every corner within the magic circle that filled up the entire area, tangling Keiha’s arms, legs, and neck. He opened his eyes fiercely and tried to shake it off, but Evan’s Heaven’s Press squeezed his body once more.

[Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! How!? How did you complete the god-killing technique already!?]

“God-killing, what nonsense…?”

Evan replied blankly. Then, he suddenly remembered something. He was receiving an armor penetration bonus parallel to his charm level due to the heart circlet imbibed with the dragon’s power he had equipped. Yeah, it was a power close to killing gods.

“Yup, it might be what you think.”

[Grrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Since, since things turned out like this, I’ll kill you guys first…Argh!]

“Hmph.”

Despite the terrible pain, Keiha tried to cast a spell, but his attempt was in vain. Even before he tried casting, it was canceled by Belois’s magic shackles, which bound his body.

[This power, god-killing…!]

With Shine’s and Arisha’s follow-up attack, his unbreakable skin was torn, blood spraying and his muscles could be seen through the cuts. Keiha quickly understood the nature of their weapons: dragon bone.

[You damn monsters! How on earth do creatures like you exist in this world!? I! I never allowed your existence!]

“Incoming pattern! Everyone, fall back!”

“Yiiick!”

At that moment, Keiha’s first rampage started. He slipped from Evan’s Heaven’s Press and Belois’ magic shackles, then amplified his vast power for a moment!

“Oh, mighty God!”

[Huh!?]

And that power got completely absorbed and evaporated by Raihan, who was waiting for the moment to defend. Raihan just looked like a black hole that absorbed everything. Keiha’s eyes shook as his spell, which could obliterate an entire city when fully released, was blocked by a single person.

[Where, where did that monster…?]

“Raihan Hyeong, are you all right?”

“It’s a bit painful, but I’m alright. I’m fully healed!”

[Healed!?]

It was because of this reason that Raihan was able to heal instantly. He used the Drain Shield skill, which he received from God a long time ago, to absorb the mana from Keiha’s attack, and he healed himself instantly with it. He was a living zombie.

“Then, let’s start all over again!”

[Argh!]

“Hyaaa…!”

Evan, who was looking for a window of opportunity to attack, pushed him to the limit. He used Heaven’s Step to block Keiha’s movement, and pushed him to the wall with Heaven’s Press and began beating him to a pulp! Belois drew out the magic shackle from the circle earlier and bound him once more.

“Strike now!”

“Haaaaaaaa!”

Keiha kept awakening several times depending on his health and mana pool through pure instinct, and these awakenings made the battle with him more difficult. However, Evan’s party beat him, blocked his attacks with Raihan’s abilities during the awakening, and pushed him to his limits, which made this battle look like manual labor instead of a fight.

“It’s weird; this is different from the hunt that I expected from the Prince of the Demon Realm…”

“Nothing went as you expected, Master! Every other time was just like this!”

“The dungeon never ceases to amuse us till the end!”

“Well, well, I kinda expected things would turn out like this when Evan talked about armor penetration.”

“It’s great that Ms. Arisha can cast her Wind Mirage rapier.”

“Be quiet, Belois.”

“Go, Slime and Dragon Jet Stream Attack!”

How much time had passed since Keiha was beaten to a pulp; his body was tainted dark, and overwhelming mana exploded from him for the last time. However, Evan didn’t let Raihan block the damage.

“Whew…”

Instead, he stood in front and stretched out both his arms. Keiha’s dark miasma that seemed to fill up the entire space stopped expanding due to a certain flow of air and started spinning like a cyclone. The cyclone that expanded as if it were about to explode gradually narrowed its range down to the point that it shrunk to a size just enough to envelope Keiha’s entire body, and as Evan stirred his hand, the current became so violent that it ended up tearing Keiha’s body into pieces. The magic betrayed Keiha, who cast it, and followed Evan’s will! With the abilities from the Heavenly skills, Evan suppressed the flow, stole control over the mana, and severed its connection with the caster, which made this phenomenon possible. Even Evan, who created this cyclone, somewhat knew how tremendous this work of art was.

[Argh! Then, the god’s cyclone!]

“God’s cyclone? It’s a somewhat good name. I’ll take that.”

Evan took a step forward towards him. Heaven’s Step activated, increasing the pressure on Keiha’s entire body. Surprisingly, the cyclone became stronger from within. As if the damage increased through a field buff!

“Now, shall we start a conversation?”

Probably it wasn’t just Keiha who shivered after hearing Evan’s voice.

“You, do you know me? …Why did you call me Zero?”

He remembered the time in the Eternal Glaciers. The King Spirit Ice, an ancient being that appeared in the ruins of the Eternal Glacier, certainly called him Zero. Mirole explained to him that Zero was an expression used to call a horrible and shocking supernatural phenomenon, but it was too suspicious that Keiha called him Zero on the spot.

[Kek, you don’t even know that? You know nothing, yet you wield such tremendous power!]

Keiha desperately shouted. As expected from the Prince of the Demon Realm. Usually, the enemies that were completely defeated by Evan like this lost all their will and waited to die, yet this guy still stared at him fiercely.

“Explain it to me since I don’t know.”

[Remember. You will pay the price for the strength you possess, for your distorted existence! The time will soon come! You will die and never return!]

“Huh, this bastard…”

That was a curse that triggered based on the predestined future. A curse that fixes the direction of a person’s future to a tragic and negative direction. The curse that went straight to Evan, whose defense against curses became low, got contained in the empty air as purple mana as the mana shackles blocked it.

“You’re mistaken if you’d thought I’d allow the same mistake to happen twice to Master in my presence.”

Belois threw a tiny glass shard into the empty air to absorb the clustered curse. The magic shackle embraced it and disappeared, dragging it below the ground. Keiha looked at Belois with a shocked expression.

[Accck!]

The dark miasma restrained Keiha’s body. It already fused with Evan’s Heaven’s Press and worked as a one-time utility tool that increases Evan’s abilities.

“Won’t you talk?”

[Argh, Zero. Even if you try to avoid the curse, you can’t change the predestined future. As you survive after me, destiny will come after you!]

“So, you’re saying you know me personally?”

[…]

“Like with your word choice such as ‘still’ or, ‘young age’…as if you know the old me.”

He didn’t speak further. But his actions already showed that he knew Evan personally. An ancient being that was stuck in the dungeon for several hundred years like a prisoner. And that means…there was a time when the future Evan would meet the past Keiha.

‘…No, no way.’

An explanation came up like a flash in Evan’s head at that moment, but it was so outrageous that he shook his head to forget such a thought. Even if there was a possibility, it wasn’t something he needed to cling onto now.

‘…’

Evan glanced at Mirole. As always, she was looking at him softly. A look that said she would do whatever he wants. Evan tried not to think deeply about it…and he clenched his fist. That moment, Keiha’s body got completely compressed into a ball, and it rolled on the floor. Gnar cheered and jumped onto Keiha, who died without saying his last words. When Evan turned his head away from the ugly scene, Shine approached him worriedly.

“Are you all right, Master?”

“Yup, maybe. It’s not that everything’s all right…but I’m okay. For now.”

All of them realized how bizarre Keiha’s attitude was towards Evan, but Evan clapped and shouted as if he was trying to wash away their worries.

“So, let’s get our final reward!”