Chapter 25 - Abhorrent Skirmish

Myung-Hee used her claymore as a shield between her and the charging Crawler, meeting it head-to-head as it collided with the surface of her sword, contesting its strength.

"Ghh…!" Myung-Hee clenched her teeth.

Using the window of opportunity opened for him, he charged against the side of the colossal Crawler, spinning his daggers in his hands.

"Ripper!"

[Spirit -300. Remaining Spirit: 2100/2600]

A barrage of quick, successive slashes etched themselves into the hide of the white-armored, inhuman foe.

Each strike felt more potent and precise, coming swiftly and more numerous than his previous usages with his old broadsword. It became clear to him that the daggers were what he was meant to use this entire time.

It's working–! This is the true potential of "Ripper"! He thought.

The end result of the onslaught of slashes left a number of the Crawler's arms parted from its body, embedded dozens of lacerations on its hide as the augmentation spell from Kamou provided an amplified sharpness to his strikes.

"---"

A distorted howl left the unseen mouth of the creature as its stability wavered, giving Myung-Hee the opportunity to repel it with her claymore, preparing for an attack of her own this time.

"Iron Overhead!"

As she brought her blade overhead, its density was amplified and the gravitational force of it was augmented further, creating an immensely powerful downward swing towards the creature.

A lofty wind pressure generated itself in the path of the swing, unleashing a howl of air as the blade crashed down atop the Crawler.

–Or so was believed.

In an unorthodox movement of the large Defect, it spun itself around, evading the downward strike as it rapidly crawled to the side before smacking the woman with its limb-formed tail, knocking her back.

"Gyah…!" Myung-Hee winced.

"Myung-Hee!" Kamou called out.

The barrier shattered as if formed of brittle glass, bypassing it completely and inflicting damage on the toned woman as she crashed against the wall with a loud thud.

He was left perplexed by what just happened, freezing for a moment.

It broke through the shield and damaged her at the same time? That sort of attack power isn't far off from the dungeon boss from before–! What gives?! He thought.

[Question Recognized.]

[Answer: Enemy "End Crawler" has developed a unique trait due to its growth. "True Infliction" : the ability to bypass and nullify augmentations when attacking.]

Without hesitating, Kamou rushed over to the side of her companion who was slumped against the wall that had been caved in by the result of her crashing into it, breathing heavily as a bit of blood trailed from the corner of her mouth.

"Myung-Hee…!"

"Damn, that bastard caught me," Myung-Hee coughed up.

"Cast: Recover!"

Kamou held the staff in her grip close to the woman as the orb gave off an emerald light, healing Myung-Hee's wounds and restoring her health points.

Meanwhile, he did his best to hold off the overgrown Crawler, using [Blink Step] around it though it became difficult to simply dance outside of its reach as the unorthodox foe twisted itself in unpredictable ways to attempt to reach him.

Flipping over its head, his ankle was grabbed, much to his complete, blood-cooling surprise as he quickly cut the wrist of the arm that grabbed him before dashing away while the Crawler charged towards him.

Crap, crap, crap! This thing is adapting to my Blink Step! He thought.

Feeling its heavy, rapid steps encroach on him as he sprinted, he desperately ran towards a wall before using a [Blink Step] to completely juke it, causing the Crawler to crash into the wall.

The resulting impact caused the entirety of the underground station to tremble as if an earthquake had taken place, causing sediment to rain down.

"Jeong-Hui, don't let that bastard hit you!" Myung-Hee warned him, rejoining the battle.

"I know! It has some sort of ability that negates buffs when it attacks somebody!" He yelled in response, "Sorry, Kamou. It looks like this enemy was made specifically to counter you," he chuckled wryly.

Kamou took in a breath, "...I'll assist you both in a different way then. Cast: Fang Bolt!"

From the tip of her staff, the silver-haired girl manifested a curving bolt of lightning that struck the Crawler in the side, throwing it off balance momentarily.

"Oh…?" He let out in surprise.

So she can fight offensively, too? I guess that makes sense–it'd be totally unfair if she was a solo player and unable to attack! He thought.

"Alright! Let's finish this thing!" He called out.

"Hell yeah!" Myung-Hee agreed, spinning herself with her weapon in hand to gain momentum.

[Sage Period Active.]

While the Crawler was momentarily stunned by the strike of lightning that seemed to compromise its muscles for a few seconds, he used a small, loose piece of debris as a foothold before leaping towards the creature.

"Black Ripper!"

[Spirit: -300. Remaining Spirit: 1800/2600]

"Cutting Edge!"

Myung-Hee attacked with him in unison, coming from the creature's left while he attacked from its right.

The onslaught of dark-engulfed slashes hastened by the usage of proper weapons of his class cut even the surrounding stone, digging into the hide of the Crawler as it howled.

In a single, powerful swing, the warrior-class player spun around into a swing that projected an astral, colossal blade, slicing deep into the side of the many-armed Crawler in an ear-filling squelch.

While it was left on the brink of death, bleeding profusely and letting out distorted howls, Kamou flipped her orb-inhabited staff, conjuring the final blow: "Cast: Providence Burn!"

From a mystical seal manifested in front of the caster, a coalesced formation of divine light propelled towards the form of the creature, finishing it off while it was left disintegrated into ash.

["End Crawler" Defeated | EXP+ 500. Current EXP: 1600/2000.]

[Daily Quest: Defeat Three "End Crawler" | 3 / 3 | Quest Completed. EXP + 500 | Angel Cold x 20 Acquired.]

[Congratulations. You've reached [Level 12].]

[Current EXP: 100/3500.]

[Resources [Health] and [Spirit] have been fully restored. Remaining Health Points: 2250/2250. Remaining Spirit: 2700/2700.]

[Remaining Skill Points: 2.]

They all fell silent for a moment, gathering their breath after the brief, but intense encounter as the foe was left to nothing.

"Hey, I leveled up," he said with a surprised look at the prompts that appeared in his personal interface.

"Oh, you did! Congrats!" Kamou said, standing close to him.

"Neither of you did? Guess it makes sense–the experience curve just shot up pretty damn high…" He said wryly.

After that unexpected encounter, handling the remaining two Crawlers needed to complete the daily quest for Kamou came easily.

"Phew…" Kamou wiped the sweat from her chin.

"What a workout," he said, stretching his arms as they ventured out of the subway station, "I'm ready to knock out at home," he finished his tired words with a yawn.

Myung-Hee gave him a reminder with a playful elbow to his arm, "Hey! Forgettin' something?"

He froze for a moment, being stripped from his wishful intent to relax as he slumped his shoulders, dragging his feet along.

"Right…We've got to find a Behemoth, don't we?" He sighed out.

"Damn right! I've taken one out before–they're a handful!" Myung-Hee laughed.

"I bet."

"Really…" Kamou added, "they're quite…repulsive."

"I bet," he repeated unenthusiastically.

[One Hour Later]

[Enemy "End Behemoth" Defeated | EXP+200 | Current Experience 300/3500]

"And that's how we get it done!"

Myung-Hee celebrated, holding her claymore up in a victorious pose, though the surrounding concrete was painted in rancid, verdant blood.

He had a disgusted look with his nose scrunched, wryly wiping his daggers of the disgusting substance, "...How am I going to wash this smell off?"

"Our Equip resets each time we release it and summon it," Kamou assured him, though she seemed plagued by the aftermath of the Behemoth as well.

"No…it's on our skin, too, Kamou…" He breathed out.

The corpse of the Behemoth was bloated and clamp, leaking out its rancid, interior fluids onto the street in the aftermath of the battle.

"I see why you were annoyed to get one of these things as your daily," he said, tucking his daggers into their sheaths as he looked at Myung-Hee, "enemies that use poison are pretty toxic–yeah, I just made that joke."

Myung-Hee laughed, though it felt more like a pity laugh at his failed attempt at humor, "A little challenge is good to keep you ready for anything!"

"...Define a "little" challenge. I think I've had a lot of challenge today," he sighed.

Finding their business in the city done, they began to make their way home, though they were cautious on treading out the same way they came.

"Yeah, on second thought…we should probably take the long way around," he suggested, coming to a stop around one of the corners.