Chapter 9: [New Tales] - 24 Years Before the Original: Is It a Misalignment or Hope? No One Knows 4
A wasteland swept by blowing sand.
Not a blade of grass grew there; the ground was covered only with the wreckage of Raptures—broken, rusted, and weathered to the point of crumbling apart.
Boom!
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
Amid the sand and dust, a bizarre shriek rang out as a wave of blue light burst forth.
A strange Rapture composed of various insectoid parts—its enormous body was so massive it looked capable of smashing a high-rise building, its scale rivaling that of a battleship.
Its hideous appearance, the purple lightning crackling over its entire frame, and the purple venom that corroded and melted the ground all posed a lethal threat to both living beings and machines.
A calamity that could melt metal in an instant and snuff out life just as quickly.
Yet, even in such a disastrous environment...
Krazzzzzt! Kra-gagagak!
“Kieeeeeeeek!?!?!”
The corroding venom was split apart in an instant, scattering into the air.
The lightning, packed with tremendous energy, was swallowed up in a flash and dissolved into the atmosphere.
A fierce green blade aura tore through the venom and lightning, ripping into the giant Rapture's body.
Despite his rabbit-like appearance, a single horn jutted from his forehead.
His abnormally massive hands and fingers—sharp as blades and pointed like spears—sliced through the air, tearing the Rapture apart.
“Should I use a little more force?”
With a single strike, he had already dealt massive damage to the giant foe, the Tyrant Rapture known as Ultra. Yet, the man with green hair and purple eyes continued to swing his fists with a bright, childlike smile.
Krazzzzzzzzak! Krazzzzzzzzak! Kra-gagagagagak! Pakakakang!
“Kieeek!? Kieeeeeeeek! Kiaaaaaaak!”
The green phantoms that moved in sync with his fists—known as [Demon Slash]—began raking Ultra in rapid succession.
[Demon Slash] is Eunwol’s fourth skill. It possesses extremely high damage scaling and is effective against multiple enemies, making it a primary skill and a staple for dealing massive damage to boss monsters.
Under the onslaught of rapid slashes, Ultra’s once-tough outer shell began splitting into five pieces almost instantly.
Being a mechanical Rapture, it boasted multiple layers of armor and high defense, but after taking several hits from [Demon Slash], Ultra—
Kakakakakakang!
“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiik—!”
Its imposing armor—the claw-shaped plating resembling a beard and the protective plating on its back—shattered, causing it to lose balance and collapse.
It quickly focused its gaze, pursuing the thing that had broken it—the “human” who should have been smaller and more insignificant, nothing more than “prey.”
A human attacking it with such delight. Though this Tyrant Rapture had weakened over time, it was still a boss-class entity that posed a deadly threat to humans and NIKKEs alike.
Furthermore, it was the very first entity capable of inducing [Corruption], a fatal change in NIKKEs, making it an exceptionally dangerous existence.
The moment Ultra’s core and the bulging venom sacs on its sides prepared to counterattack—
Boom!
“!?!?”
Ultra’s body, which had been pinned to the ground, shot into the air with a tremendous explosion.
Given that Tyrant Raptures possess a degree of intelligence, it tried to calculate the cause, assess the damage radius, and derive a solution—but before it could reach a conclusion—
“I’m busy, so just die already. Hurry up~”
Thud! Kaboom! Fwoooom! Kaboom!
“Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee—!”
As a crimson deer-like figure and a fist blazing like fire swung down, a violent shockwave erupted from Ultra’s body along with the explosion.
Each time the human, Hook, moved his fists, the crimson deer phantom followed suit, battering the air and pounding Ultra’s remaining armor.
[Torrential Fist] is Eunwol’s fourth skill, the final evolution of the Wave Fist and Tongbaek Fist trees, and the primary main attack skill used after the fourth job advancement.
Ultra was tossed into the air, slammed back into the ground, and battered in real time. The damage was so overwhelming that even its face—the area housing the core—was taking direct hits.
It attempted to spew deadly poison from the sacs on its sides, but—
Krazzzzzzzzzzak!
A small purple entity, [Shattering Iron Prison], swung a giant scythe, bursting one of the venom sacs.
Whoooosh! Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh!
From Hook’s back, sky-blue orbs of energy with a mysterious teal tint emerged, bursting the remaining venom sac.
As the orbs exploded, they took the shape of foxes biting down, shredding dozens of venom sacs as if chewing them up.
The skill [Fox Spirit] is Eunwol’s auxiliary attack technique. It triggers during attacks to provide supplemental damage, functioning similarly to homing missiles.
In sync with Hook’s [Torrential Fist], [Demon Slash], and [Shattering Iron Prison], dozens—and sometimes hundreds—of [Fox Spirit]s burst forth, striking like beads and detonating in fox-shaped explosions, further crushing Ultra.
Less than ten minutes had passed since the battle began.
Ultra, a foe so troublesome it would normally require at least two squads and a meticulous operation to subdue, was being reduced to tatters in mere minutes by a single person—and a human at that—Hook.
Its threatening form was shattered.
From the venom sacs, sparks of overload began to fly alongside the leaking poison.
Though the nanomachines characteristic of Tyrant Raptures attempted to protect the core and repair the outer shell,
the repair speed could not keep pace with the destruction caused by Hook’s attacks; the damage rate only continued to climb.
Ultra, possessing enough intelligence to realize the situation was hopeless, reached a desperate conclusion.
“■■■■■■■■■■■■■-!”
Repairing was not enough.
It would commit all its output into a single, final attack.
Unleashing a fierce, sharp [Calling Signal]—the sonic frequency used to summon other Raptures—Ultra began to maximize its core output.
Abnormal venom leaked from the ruptured sacs.
The creature concentrated the poison toward its mouth and core, while purple lightning surged wildly across its entire body, signaling a critical overload.
The sudden spike in energy caused the [Fox Spirit]s pouring from Hook to lose their trajectory, bursting harmlessly in midair.
Fzzzzzzzt!
The [Torrential Fist] strikes, which had been moving in perfect sync with Hook, were momentarily blocked.
A massive purple plasma shield formed, and overloaded energy began pouring out in all directions.
“Kiiiiiiiiiiing—”
Responding to the [Calling Signal], swarms of Raptures roaming the vicinity began to converge once more.
An hour prior to the clash with Ultra, Grave and Hook had encountered a horde of over a hundred Raptures and wiped them out in one go.
Seeing the new swarm pouring in despite the previous purge, Hook looked at Ultra with a look of sheer annoyance.
“They just keep swarming... so gross. What, you just refuse to die easily? Give me a break~”
While not a hundred, there were roughly thirty Raptures in the new group.
Among them was a [Lord-class Rapture], a mid-boss level unit.
As the purple lightning and dripping venom intensified, Hook stopped in his tracks, his expression turning blank.
Ultra, preparing its devastating attack, felt a momentary flicker of doubt—but—
Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping
Whoooosh~
Along with a gentle green breeze, small, cute, green rabbit-like creatures appeared from nowhere.
One, four, ten, twenty—their numbers grew rapidly, and simultaneously—
Wooooooosh—!
The gentle green wind began to grow violent.
Whirrrrrrrrrrrr—
The twenty green rabbit spirits began circling Hook, running in a tight ring.
As they moved, the wind intensified, evolving into a massive, raging whirlwind.
KwoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Papatatatatatatatat!
The giant green whirlwind and the spirit beasts began tearing through the air with shockwaves that rivaled the speed of sound, striking like missile warheads.
[Soul Curtain].
Originally, this was a tragic burst-damage skill that had been altered by a remake patch.
Before the remake, it was a third-job skill that moved slowly but boasted such massive area-of-effect damage that it was often called a fourth-job skill in disguise.
Even as it was steadily enhanced, its damage output soared, but the remake patch turned it into a deployable attack skill—the mist-like [Soul Curtain] being the prime example.
However, Hook demonstrated the ability to distinguish between the deployable [Soul Curtain - Silver Mist] and the current version, [Soul Curtain - Swift Wind], which boasted a tremendous whirlwind and supersonic physical impact, utilizing each perfectly for the situation.
The rapidly spinning green whirlwind generated immense pressure as it began to advance slowly.
Ultra, attempting to launch its attack, barely managed to hold its ground. However, the smaller Raptures below the Lord-class were swept up by the wind and sucked toward Hook.
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh! Kwoooang!
The supersonic spirits of [Soul Curtain] began headbutting the sucked-in Raptures.
A single charging headbutt was enough to erase the point of impact entirely. With twenty supersonic spirits taking turns?
The sight of the Raptures being smashed into pieces until they lost all form was a scene of horror that would terrify even a machine.
Even the trembling [Lord-class Rapture] was no exception.
Krazzzzzzzzzzzzak! Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh!
It was shredded as Hook slowly approached, the [Soul Curtain - Swift Wind] moving in perfect synchronization with him.
Tatatatatatatatatatatatatat! Kwijijijijijijijijik! Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“!?!?!?!?!?”
The overloaded energy and plasma shield were ground away and shattered by the supersonic pounding of the spirits and the violent whirlwind.
In this grotesque situation, Ultra—an AI weapon that operated on calculation and logic—had not even finished panicking before—
Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop! Crack! Pop!
Unlike [Torrential Fist] or [Demon Slash], [Soul Curtain] began to grind Ultra’s body down at a terrifying speed.
Ultimately, with no way to escape or attack, Ultra—
Puhk—
The core, the essential energy source shared by both Raptures and NIKKEs.
For a Rapture, the core is the very “center” that represents its origin and overwhelming power. Once it was pierced without leaving a trace, the machine began to slow to a halt.
But [Soul Curtain - Swift Wind] and Hook were unconcerned, as if determined to erase every last trace of Ultra's existence.
Kwagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagak!
They ground the motionless body of the Tyrant Rapture into dust that scattered in the wind.
==============
Twenty minutes after the clash with the Tyrant Rapture Ultra.
“.......”
“Target eliminated! Let’s move, Grave!”
Grave, who had watched the entire sequence from start to finish, stood there blankly, speechless.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“.........”
Grave thought to herself.
Though her body was a mass-produced model, aged by the side effects of experimentation and the ravages of time, she was still capable of taking down most Raptures.
A monster.
The emotions she felt toward Hook were a mixture of “fear” and “relief.”
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register