Seo Jun-Ho was in a trance.
His mind was calm, but he was moving at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
“Huff, huff.”
Seo Jun-Ho was gasping for air.
He would die if he were to falter for even a second. There were simply too many raindrops for him to relax. He was exhausted, but he endured it and kept on moving forward.
‘When will this end...’
Seo Jun-Ho had already parried away thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of raindrops. However, the Rain of Darkness poured down with no sign of stopping any time soon.
Seo Jun-Ho was fighting a desperate battle on his own.
His body screamed at him as he maintained a thousand percent Overclocking output.
‘How long has it been?’
Many questions came to Seo Jun-Ho’s mind.
‘Frost must still be fighting Specter outside this downpour. How much of my mental strength did she use? What if my mental strength suddenly runs out, and I end up fainting?’
Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t help but have bad thoughts one after another out of exhaustion.
Snap!
To make matters even worse, Twilight—Sir Hart’s favorite sword and Frontier’s national treasure—snapped in half.
Seo Jun-Ho didn’t have the luxury to mourn the weapon, as he had to immediately look for another weapon to use.
‘I should use...’
Unfortunately, there was no suitable weapon for him to use.
The Sky’s Will was more of a decorative sword the emperor used to command Neo City’s armed forces, so it was practically useless here.
‘Cruel Executioner.’
Seo Jun-Ho gripped an ink-colored halberd. Cruel Executioner was suitable for cutting down a large number of monsters, considering that it had the Lightweight option, but it wasn’t very efficient against raindrops.
Crack!
Cruel Executioner only managed to parry a few hundred raindrops before shattering.
For a moment, the memory of the battlefields and crises Seo Jun-Ho had overcome with Cruel Executioner passed through his mind like a panorama.
He decisively took White Dragon out of his Inventory.
‘I only have two left...’
The only weapon he had left other than White Dragon was the Freedom Blade.
‘Please... I need to reach Specter before White Dragon succumbs to its injuries.’
Seo Jun-Ho prayed desperately as he slowly moved forward toward Specter while thrusting White Dragon toward each and every raindrop ahead of him.
“Gasp, huff.”
The accumulated fatigue engulfed Seo Jun-Ho at once due to the disappearance of Indefatigable and Concentration—Twilight’s special options.
Seo Jun-Ho wanted to collapse and forget about everything. He wanted to lie on the ground and catch his breath, but he knew better than anyone else that he couldn’t.
“...”
He could give up on everything and lift the burden off of his mind if he thought of no one else but himself.
“Huff, huff.”
However, he knew that mankind’s future depended on each and every difficult step he took toward Specter. As such, he couldn’t stop moving just to put himself at ease.
Boom!
The raindrops slightly abated.
‘Light...?’
He could see the world outside from within the dimensional gap. Upon seeing the light, Seo Jun-Ho’s figure erupted into flames.
‘I don’t care even if I burn to ashes.’
Seo Jun-Ho had long lost control of his temperature, and Cell Regeneration was the reason he was still alive. It had been desperately regenerating his organs and blood vessels every time they were destroyed by the heat from Overclocking.
Swoosh!
‘It’s coming.’
A powerful attack was making a beeline for him.
Seo Jun-Ho didn’t stop parrying the raindrops as he squeezed every ounce of power he had left. All of a sudden, Seo Jun-Ho remembered the desolate and anguished teardrops that the Frost Queen had shed on the 8th Floor.
Fwoooosh!
At last, Seo Jun-Ho finally saw the oncoming attack.
‘The Spear of Darkness.’
The Spear of Darkness contained so much demonic energy that Seo Jun-Ho doubted if he could block it even if he were in his best condition. In addition, the spear was flying in a trajectory that didn’t allow Seo Jun-Ho to escape.
‘It’s either I break that spear or I break.’
Crunch!
Seo Jun-Ho stomped powerfully and lowered his knees slightly before looking up.
“Black Moon Martial Arts Final Skill...”
Seo Jun-Ho’s magic receded like a tide as he prepared to perform Black Moon, but...
‘...Damn it.’
“I am not wrong. I offered a clear and certain path. How dare you bastards question my ways when you have no alternative way to offer! You bastards just don’t want to admit that I was right all along!”
The Frost Queen’s face was as pale as a sheet of paper, and she went beyond pallid at Specter’s crazed expression and trembling voice.
Seo Jun-Ho finally arrived, and he thrust White Dragon toward Specter’s heart.
“The same goes for you.”
Shwik!
The spear pierced Specter’s heart.
Specter looked up at Seo Jun-Ho in a daze and asked, “What?”
“You just don’t want to admit that you’re wrong. Didn’t we just show you an alternative way to defeat the Archduke without abandoning one’s humanity?”
“...” Specter tried to open his mouth, but no words would come out of his mouth.
Eventually, he fell silent and remained quiet for quite a while.
In the end, Specter sounded helpless as he asked, “...Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Specter’s red eyes glazed over as he slowly let go of the Frost Queen.
“Well...” He gently patted the Frost Queen’s cheek and paused. ‘What more can I say?’
Specter smiled faintly at Seo Jun-Ho and the Frost Queen.
His smile seemed like a smile of relief as he muttered, “Good luck...”
He then collapsed onto the mountain of bones.
[Congratulations! You have defeated the Underworld Area Boss Monster, Specter.]
[You’ve obtained the title: Specter.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
...
[All stats has increased by 27.]
[Safe zones will now appear in the Underworld Area.]
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho wordlessly dismissed the System messages.
“Cough!” the Frost Queen coughed.
“...Do you want some water?” asked Seo Jun-Ho while staring at the Frost Queen’s tear-stricken face.
“Mmhm. sniff!” The Frost Queen nodded as she sobbed.
***
The battle had already ended, and the fatigue finally caught up to both Seo Jun-Ho and the Frost Queen.
Seo Jun-Ho finally achieved his dream of lying on the ground and relaxing.
However, he abruptly raised his upper body.
“I thought a lot about it.”
“About what?”
“About which of the two should I absorb—this punk’s demonic energy or his memories?”
“What? The answer’s obvious, you stupid Contractor. It’s obviously his demonic energy!”
Seo Jun-Ho recalled Specter saying that the reason he became a fiend was to consume demonic energy more efficiently.
‘The amount of demonic energy he had accumulated had to be beyond imagination.’
Seo Jun-Ho would definitely become ridiculously stronger if he were to absorb Specter’s demonic energy.
“But if I read his memory, I will be able to master the Watchguard of Darkness and learn why he actually became like that. Plus, I might even be able to get some information about the Archduke. They’re too valuable to forgo.”
Wriggle.
The Frost Queen’s long ears wriggled, intrigued by Seo Jun-Ho’s words.
“Hmm. That makes sense. Any information about the Archduke is priceless.”
“I mean, the best thing would be to have both his demonic energy and his memories. It’s a shame, but I don’t think that’s possible, and—”
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes widened the moment he placed his palm on Specter’s head.
[You can use Confession of the Dead on the target.]
[You sense the highest-level of demonic energy from the target.]
[Watchguard of Darkness can consume the demonic energy.]
[Upon absorption, your magic will increase.]
[The selected target is yourself. You can absorb both memories and demonic energy.]
“What a relief.”
‘I guess there’s no need to choose between the two.’
Seo Jun-Ho decided to read Specter’s memories first.
“Well, show me everything.”
‘What kind of life did the very first Seo Jun-Ho live before the parallel worlds appeared?’