Episode 356
Chapter 109. Ozdok (3)
Jin instinctively narrowed his eyes.
A flash of venomous light shot out from Mary’s grip, stabbing straight into his vision. It was a blinding glare almost as intense as being hit directly by a flash cannon.
That light was the explosion of an infinitely condensed aura.
‘Is that a finishing move? Or some kind of secret technique?’
It didn’t seem like an attack modeled after the Meiwang Sword.
By the time Jin had that thought, Mary had already completed her motion. White smoke billowed from her sword, which was thrust diagonally toward Ozdok.
Huff!
Mary took a deep breath. The move was finished, but nothing had changed yet.
‘There was no moment at all when the sword was actually thrust…!’
Not even Jin.
No, not even a martial artist more skilled than Jin.
It was impossible to “see and react” to that light. True to its name, the “Light-Speed Thrust” was a fifth-level secret technique so perfected that no one in the world could dodge it by reaction alone.
You had to predict beyond reaction.
Or possess some kind of insight that transcended prediction.
Without such an element, the Light-Speed Thrust was an unavoidable strike. And a monster with no basic swordsmanship skills couldn’t possibly respond to such a miraculous blow.
The flash had already pierced through Ozdok’s core three seconds ago.
Crack—!
A moment later, a sound of something splitting and bursting came from Ozdok’s chest.
A hole the size of a human head had been torn right through the massive core. Ozdok lowered his head in stunned disbelief, staring at the hole, while Jin’s gaze passed through it.
He saw a much larger, black hole forming in the sky.
Mary’s Light-Speed Thrust had reached all the way to the heavens. Among the dense black clouds of the Black Sea, a round, island-like fissure had spread.
A chill ran down Jin’s spine. As a martial artist, he couldn’t help but feel awe. That this was the result of a single thrust.
‘Luckily, the magic was timed to hit that incredible speed. It’s not just luck—Mary must have matched the speed herself.’
Ozdok couldn’t block both magic and physical attacks at the same time. Jin recalled that fact and shook his head unconsciously.
‘But even if my magic hadn’t connected, I don’t think that thrust would have failed to hurt Ozdok.’
Guh—!
Ozdok spat out a lump of black blood. He writhed in agony, roaring, and furiously slammed his fists into the ground.
Blood…
Like a thread snapping, new cracks began to spread from the hole in his chest.
Lines appeared wildly across Ozdok’s body, like blood vessels bursting in his eyes. Hundreds, thousands of those lines all branched out from where the Light-Speed Thrust had passed.
Fingers fell off, his tail was sliced into dozens of pieces, ankles and thighs were severed. Ozdok’s entire body was literally being dismantled.
The impact befitting a secret technique.
Still, Mary ground her teeth, clearly unsatisfied.
“Tch, still a long way to go.”
Anyone who had seen a thrust close to divine power like that would never think to say “a long way to go.”
But those who had seen Siron Runkandel’s sword—who could erase an opponent like a shadow with a single strike—and who had grown up watching Runkandel, could think that.
Or even call it arrogance.
Already comparing herself to her father.
But what chilled Jin and Mary’s spines even more than Mary’s Light-Speed Thrust was something else.
‘He’s not finished yet.’
Ozdok.
Jin and Mary instinctively knew that the millennium-old core monster was still alive.
It was common for top-tier monsters to have ultra-regeneration abilities. Especially core monsters with names like Ozdok.
If Ozdok were only an outstanding core monster, the heroes from a thousand years ago wouldn’t have struggled so much.
Ozdok was truly one of the strongest core monsters of his era.
Crack, grind—!
Ozdok’s shattered body began to rapidly shrink.
On the surface, he looked completely harmless. It almost seemed like his separated bones and flesh were turning to dust and vanishing.
But that was preparation for a transformation.
Ozdok’s body, now particle-like, began to form a shape in midair. Mary’s pupils dilated, and Jin called out to his phoenix.
“Tess!”
Kraaak—!
Tess’s eyes glowed as she spewed blue flames. Jin gathered every flame he could summon and unleashed them.
The blue fire quickly engulfed Ozdok’s form entirely. Still not satisfied, the flames formed a barrier all around, trapping Ozdok completely.
But Jin and Mary didn’t relax, steadying their stances.
“Quite a stubborn one, huh? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone survive a direct hit from a Light-Speed Thrust.”
Fsssss…
Tess, who had been glaring at Ozdok, gradually shrank and was dismissed.
It wasn’t because she had exhausted all her power.
‘This doesn’t feel right. We need to conserve strength and switch back to probing.’
They had no way to predict how strong Ozdok would be after his transformation, so they held back. If the situation called for using the magic sword’s secret technique, they could summon Tess again.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen that annoying look.’
Murakan watched Ozdok finishing his transformation where the blue flames had died down.
For a monster to have a core, it required unimaginable desire, stimulation, and time.
A monster wounded by a swordsman might reflect on countless defeats before one day evolving a core and a blade-sharp body. Or a monster defeated by a mage might develop immunity to magic…
In Ozdok’s case, it was greed.
He hadn’t lived by eating gold from the start. Like other ordinary monsters, he preyed on beasts, humans, or other monsters.
But one day, Ozdok’s greed for gold awakened when he realized the habits of the humans he killed.
Before gaining his core, Ozdok lived near a trading city.
There, until his dying moment, he never let go of the gold coins in his grasp, devouring countless humans who protected their gold even more than their comrades.
And when he gained his core,
Ozdok became more human than any other monster. Not just in appearance, but in personality, behavior, and even speech.
Clack…
Ozdok, hidden in smoke, descended from the air and set foot on the ground.
His mountain-sized body was gone. He now looked completely human. His former black flesh seemed to have transformed into armor and sword, fully armed.
“Whoa, what is that? Is he really a monster? He looks like a person.”
He was smaller. Even smaller than Jin.
Though much smaller than before, the oppressive aura Ozdok radiated was several times stronger.
It sent a cold shiver down Jin and Mary’s backs.
[Woke up after a thousand years, and this is the welcome I get?]
Ozdok shrugged.
“Damn, kid. Did that thing just talk?”
[That last thrust was a bit dangerous. You almost got me.]
Swish, drip!
As Ozdok finished speaking, a drop of blood splattered from Mary’s right cheek.
The sword energy he fired had barely grazed her face.
Originally, he had aimed for her neck. If Mary hadn’t twisted her head in time, her throat would have been cut.
Mary quickly put distance between them.
Huff, huff.
Her heart pounded wildly, breath ragged. Cold sweat beaded on her sword hand.
[Oh? You’re hurt? I was going to spare you pain for waking me up, but if you act like this, you’ll only suffer.]
As he said that,
Ozdok had already stabbed his sword into Mary’s side. The speed at which he closed the distance was impossible to perceive.
The attack was blocked by her silver armor, but a deep slash appeared on Mary’s shoulder from the follow-up strike.
If Jin hadn’t rushed in to block the third blow, the injury would have been much worse.
Clang, crack!
The black blades of Sigmund, tainted with lightning, and Ozdok’s sword clashed and tangled. Jin exchanged relentless strikes with the Meiwang Sword’s Lightning Slash and Suppression, but Ozdok showed no sign of being pressured.
[Wait, you guys… this swordsmanship… could it be Runkandel?]
Ozdok asked casually as he dodged attacks.
“What do you want with that?”
Jin turned his back to Mary, taking a defensive stance.
Having just expended a massive amount of aura with the Light-Speed Thrust and dodged the surprise attack, Mary needed a moment to recover.
[To spare you.]
“What?”
[I just woke up, and I don’t want to make enemies with those ignorant fools again. If Runkandel still exists, then has Ziphl been destroyed?]
Ozdok, once the common enemy of all factions, understood humans as factions rather than individuals.
So back then, he survived by making deals with various factions as needed, and he planned to do the same now.
No matter how strong he was, he had learned a thousand years ago that he couldn’t face the whole world alone.
[If Zipple is still around, I might be able to lend a hand. How about it? Maybe your family and I could form some kind of symbiotic relationship?]
“Symbiotic? More like parasitic, Ozdok. Do you really think the name Runcandel is something a mere monster can throw around so casually?”
[Doesn’t seem like you’re the sharpest tool in the shed.]
Slash!
Ozdok’s blade sliced through Jin’s coat.
“Youngest, can you buy me thirty seconds? Is that doable?”
Mary spoke in a low voice, but her expression wasn’t serious.
“More than that. As long as you need.”
[Such arrogance.]
Mary, however, looked positively thrilled—almost delirious with excitement. Just thirty seconds to recover her strength, and she could unleash her volcanic transformation and dive back into a fierce fight with Ozdok.
‘Mary Runcandel… she’s seriously crazy. Instead of asking me for help in this mess, she just wants to keep fighting? I thought the kid would come looking for me, but they’re just going to keep battling each other?’
Murakan shook his head in disbelief.
It was time for him to step in. There was no need to put the siblings in danger.
‘I should transform into my true form and get serious from the start… wait, what’s that?’
Just as Murakan was calculating the situation after his sudden arrival—
Shiiiiing!
A streak of light shot in from nowhere, severing Ozdok’s right arm. It wasn’t an attack from Jin or Mary.
In fact, the strike was meant to cut Ozdok clean in half.
[Ugh!]
“Oh? Hurt?”
A man smiled, echoing the words Ozdok had just said to Mary.
He was the same man who had been watching Jin and his group from the battlefield all along.