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True Vampire Stigma sharpened his senses and looked around.
‘I don’t feel the presence of anyone else other than them.’
The dumbfounded Stigma turned to look at them and asked, “Hey, bro and sis. Is it just the three of you?”
“Any problem with that?”
“Do you seriously think that you can beat me with just three people?”
“God, that punk talks too much,” Milphage exhaled through his nose and muttered, “The annoying brat reminds me of my six-year-old nephew. I’ve always wanted to spank him.”
“Are you going to spank me?”
“No way. I’m going to beat the crap out of you.”
“...”
As a True Vampire, Stigma had never received such treatment from anyone else.
Stigma glared at Milphage with narrowed eyes.
“Guys, look at him glaring at me. Hey, you! You shouldn’t be so rude to an adult.”
“...I’ve lived much longer than you, bro.”
“What? So, you’re a dumbass, then?” Milphage shook his head and teased. “Why are you calling me a bro when you’re older than me?”
Stigma trembled in fury.
Wei Chun-Hak took another puff on his cigarette. “What can I even say? Congrats? Should I congratulate you because you finally met an enemy of a similar mental age as you?”
“God. I didn’t think that there would be another guy like Rahmadat in this world.” The Mercenary King, Milphage, rubbed his hands together. “Anyway, let’s stop talking. We’re about to kill each other, and I don’t want to become fond of you.”
Stigma’s bloodshot eyes glared at Milphage.
“Congratulations. I have decided to kill you first.”
“Hahahaha! Should I thank you for that?” Milphage boisterously laughed and gallantly stepped forward.
He slapped his chest with his palm and shouted, “Come here, hit me!”
“...?” Stigma stared alternatingly between Skaya and Wei Chun-Hak, obviously confused.
“What are you looking at?” asked Wei Chun-Hak.
“We also have no idea what’s going on inside his head,” said Skaya.
“But, bro and sis. Isn’t he your colleague?”
“To be exact, we’re not colleagues. We just happen to be working in the same field.”
“Yeah, don’t lump me in with him.”
‘What are these people? They’re weird.’ Stigma bit his lips. He was still confused.
“...These humans are strange.”
‘I’m just going to kill them as soon as possible, so I can go ahead and look for Seo Jun-Ho. He must be normal compared to these guys.’
Stigma made a decision and raised his index finger.
He pointed at a few parts of Milphage’s body and said, “Engrave.”
Strange patterns were engraved on Milphage’s limbs.
Stigma grinned. “All right. You can’t run away anymore.”
“Who says I’m gonna run away?”
Stigma mimicked a gun with his finger and shouted, “Bang!”
There was a loud explosion in one of the patterns engraved on Milphage’s arm.
“Argh?!”
Milphage lifted his tattered arm and said with a dumbfounded look.
“What is this…?”
“Hehe, I told you. You can’t run away anymore.” Stigma laughed boisterously and lifted both of his hands to mimic guns. “Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Crash! Bang! Crash!
Milphage was quickly turned into a bloodied, tattered rag.
“This is why I had to ask why you only brought three people to confront me…!” Stigma giggled and shrugged. “You will never be able to run away as long as my symbol is engraved on you.”
Milphage wouldn’t be able to escape Stigma’s attack even if he ran to the depths of hell.
Wei Chun-Hak’s expression seemed stiff as he asked, “What should we do?”
“...I have no idea. How does such an ability even exist?” Skaya seemed confused as well as she said, “He’ll win just by engraving his symbol on his opponent? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t make sense, sis? You can see it right now, right?”
Stigma giggled and fired his finger gun once again.
“Bang! Bang!”
The symbols on Milphage exploded.
“Kearghhh!”
The furious Milphage got bigger. Milphage’s anger level had reached Berserk, and an overwhelming amount of energy could be felt from him as he ballooned in size.
“Argh…!”
Veins bulged all over Milphage, and his sharp eyes resembled a beast’s eyes. Milphage instantly grew taller, and he was now two hundred and thirty centimeters tall. He glared at Stigma as he towered over the latter.
“Congratulations. You are the second person to have made me this angry.”
“So what? What can you do when you’re angry?”
Stigma smirked.
Bang! Bang!
Two violent explosions occurred on the symbols engraved on Milphage, but Milphage refused to just stand there and endure the pain. He started running.
“...Huh?”
Stigma’s expression turned slightly pale.
‘Humans usually die after a few explosions. Aren’t all humans weak?’
“Get ready...”
The Angry Man’s fist struck the crown of Stigma’s head.
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Thump!
Stigma forcefully collided against the floor, and the force of the punch even made him bounce off the floor into the air. Milphage didn’t miss his chance to kick Stigma away.
Crash!
Stigma flew into one of the buildings, which immediately collapsed upon impact.
“Huff, huff.” Milphage looked down at himself. His entire body was filled with the perfect muscles of his dreams. “Hehe, I guess my body becomes this beautiful once I go Berserk.”
Milphage smiled, but he inexplicably started to shrink.
“Huh?”
The confused Milphage hurriedly focused his anger and hatred on the opponent, but his fury was cooling down.
“Hm...”
Stigma emerged from the rubble and walked out just in time.
He looked relatively unharmed despite receiving Milphage’s attacks head-on.
“You surprised me. I didn’t expect you to run wild.”
“You can still stand up?”
“Daydream when you’re asleep—who would faint after receiving such a weak attack?” mocked Stigma. There was a familiar symbol on Stigma’s forehead.
‘That’s…’
Skaya glanced at the symbols engraved on Milphage.
“It’s the same symbol.”
“Why did he engrave the same symbol on himself?”
“I’m not sure. I think it has something to do with how he didn’t get hurt by Milphage’s attack?”
“So we will only find out what it means by fighting him…”
However, this didn’t mean that everything had been in vain.
They learned one thing from the fight just now.
Wei Chun-Hak glanced at Milphage.
‘I’m glad we have him.’
They had to avoid being engraved with Stigma’s symbol, so it was fortunate that Milphage was here to take on Stigma’s symbol.
Wei Chun-Hak threw away his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke.
“Come out, one-legged ghost.”
The cloud of smoke that should have scattered into nothingness took on the shape of a ghost. The weeping ghost seemed like it was made out of liquid because its body was continuously flowing down like sticky liquid, and its back was curled like a hunchback.
Overall, it was a bizarre sight.
Skaya was startled and exclaimed, “What? I heard you’re a Taoist but doesn’t the fact that you can handle ghost means that you’re a necromancer?”
“Taoists can not only control winds and rain, but we can also handle ghosts,” Wei Chun Hak explained. He lit another cigarette before saying to the one-legged ghost, “You can go ahead and kill him.”
“Heughhh…!”
The one-legged ghost cried out and vanished after receiving an order.
“W-w-what is this?!” Stigma was startled. The grotesque face of the one-legged ghost appeared in front of him from out of nowhere. He quickly engraved his symbol all over the one-legged ghost and fired his finger gun.
“Die!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Many explosions took place on symbols engraved on the one-legged ghost.
“Heugh… Heughh!” the one-legged ghost cried out. Its body exploded into a cloud of purple dust that landed on Stigma.
“Cough, cough!”
Stigma staggered.
‘It’s poison!’
The effects were worse than he had expected. He started to feel dizzy, and his eyes started swimming.
“I’m sure you can’t tell what’s in front of you right now, right? You won’t be able to engrave your symbol on us,” Wei Chun-Hak said indifferently.
“You… you inferior bastard!” Stigma haphazardly fired his finger gun, but every time he fired, an explosion would occur on one of the symbols engraved on Milphage.
“Argh…!”
“...We’ll have to wrap it up as soon as possible. We can’t let that idiot die.”
Wei Chun-Hak pulled out four amulets from his sleeves and hurled them at Stigma.
“Lightning Seal.”
Crackle!
The amulets landed close to Stigma’s feet, and they spat lightning bolts.
“Hm. Humans sure can use all kinds of strange skills.” Stigma grinned. “Are you sure you’ll be fine? You should be careful about using skills like this when you have no idea of your opponent’s capabilities.”
“...What?”
“Bang!” Stigma muttered.
Crackle!
A lightning bolt struck Milphage.
“Keuakkkkk!”
“Oh, no!” Skaya hurriedly shouted, “Accumulation and release!”
“What? Explain it in a way that I’ll understand!” Wei Chun-Hak hurriedly retrieved more amulets. He hurled them at Milphage, and the amulets healed Milphage.
“He can absorb the damage that he receives, and he can inflict the absorbed damage on his marked target,” explained Skaya.
“What? That’s ridiculous…” Wei Chun-Hak’s eyes trembled. If Skaya’s words were true, then there was no way he could deal any damage to Stigma. In other words, it was impossible for them to win.
“Wow. You are super smart, sis!” Stigma exclaimed. He clapped and said, “Even Tepes had to look at it twice to get the gist of it.”
The reason he was so relaxed was that he was confident that he would never be defeated.
“Now that you know my ability, you should know that there is no way you can beat me.”
Stigma’s true ability was the ability to absorb damage into the symbol he had engraved on himself and unleash the absorbed damage on a marked opponent.
The number of times Stigma felt pain throughout his entire life could only be counted on one hand.
“...I don’t know about that. Why does it feel like we can win?”
“Hmm. Then, let me take back what I said. You are not smart at all. You’re dumb.”
“Sigh. This is why I hate kids.” Skaya’s hair fluttered. Her magic made the surroundings tremble as a dark orb formed at her fingertips. “At least be as cute as Her Majesty.”
Bang!
The walls and the tiles of the surrounding buildings vanished upon making contact with the dark energy forming at Skaya’s fingertips. Wei Chun-Hak was already running away with Milphage on his back.
Stigma’s eyes trembled.
“...Hey, mage. What are you doing right now?” asked Stigma. In life, there were things that one would immediately understand with just a single glance. One of them was the dark orb forming on Skaya’s fingertips.
“I’m no ordinary mage,” Skaya replied with a smile. The people had been worshiping her as a Hero, and they referred to her as the Archmage.
However, she had already become one step above an archmage.
“I’ve become a Grandmaster Mage.”
The title of a Grandmaster was the most glorious title that a mage could only receive after becoming capable enough of establishing their own school of magic. Skaya had become the Tower Master of the Black Tower and the successor of Chaos Magic.
Magic Tower Grandmaster and Black Tower Master—Skaya Killiland stretched her finger out.
【Destruction Ray】
“T-that’s nothing…! I can take that!” Stigma exclaimed.
If he managed to absorb Skaya’s attack, he would be able to wipe them all with his symbols.
Zing!
Stigma glared at the incoming Destruction Ray and spread his arms open. However, the ringing sound in his ears as the Destruction Ray approached him made him realize one thing.
‘T-t-there’s no way… there’s no way I can take this…!’
The power within Skaya’s Destruction Ray was well beyond Stigma’s absorption limit.
“Ah…! Aaaaahhhh!”
Stigma let out a gut-wrenching scream as his world faded into white.
The Destruction Ray annihilated everything on its path before eventually disappearing.
“Haaa.” Skaya lay on the ground, exhausted after unleashing one of her strongest spells. She looked in a particular direction while wiping the sweat off of her forehead.
“...I’ve done so much for you. I’m going to kill you if you fail...”
***
Seo Jun-Ho kept his eyes closed as he maintained Dignity of an Emperor (S).
Keen Intuition cried out.
- Partner! You’ll be in danger if you keep this up. Have you forgotten what Reiji said?
Of course, Seo Jun-Ho could still remember Reiji’s warning.
She said that his soul would be torn apart if he were to maintain Dignity of an Emperor (S) for too long.
However, Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t back down.
‘The red fog.’
No matter what, he had to get rid of the red fog.
Dignity of an Emperor (S) was a prerequisite for his plan.
‘Tepes’ Time Reversal couldn’t erase my memory.’
More accurately, Tepes’ Time Reversal couldn’t overcome Seo Jun-Ho’s pseudo transcendence while he was using Dignity of an Emperor (S).
The plan was created with that fact as the basis.
“...Frost.”
“Yes, yes. I am right here,” said the Frost Queen with clenched fists.
Seo Jun-Ho was covered in sweat as he slowly opened his eyes.
“I’ll end everything this time. There won’t be any next time.”
“Hah, unbelievable. Do you know who you are talking to?”
The Frost Queen snorted, but her voice sounded concerned as she asked, “But, Contractor. Are you really going to be okay? Are you confident that you can hold out?
“I told you I’ll be fine. You can go ahead.”
The Frost Queen nodded at Seo Jun-Ho’s firm answer.
“...Okay!”
“Aaaarghhh!” Seo Jun-Ho groaned as a sharp pain assaulted his head, making him feel as if his head was going to explode. The pain was so terrible that Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t suppress a groan despite his Imperturbable Mind.
The Frost Queen bit her lips at the sight and accelerated the process.
“Argh!”
Whenever a Spirit used magic, they would exhaust their contractor’s mental strength rather than their magic. Seo Jun-Ho possessed Hero’s Mind (EX), so he was the strongest when it came to mental strength.
‘Hang in there, Contractor…!’
Seo Jun-Ho’s groans pained the Frost Queen, but she still reached for the skies with her arms stretched out in front of her.
“Freeze! Freeze! Freeze!”
Crackle!
The Frost Queen directly froze the red fog over the entire city of Trium. Once she was done, she immediately turned to look at Seo Jun-Ho and shouted, “Contractor!”
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes had rolled to the back of his head, revealing only the whites of his eyes. Twenty thousand players were desperately trying to stop the expansion of the red fog, but the red fog still spanned twenty kilometers.
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho staggered up. He managed to hold on to his consciousness as he desperately tried to catch his breath.
“Huff, huff…!”
Seo Jun-Ho held Twilight tightly and opened his magic circuit using the Black Moon Heart Method. The magic in the surroundings gathered at Twilight’s tip and rushed into Seo Jun-Ho.
“Ughhh!”
A shiver ran up Seo Jun-Ho’s spine to the crown of his head. Dignity of an Emperor (S) allowed him to once again look at the world in the eyes of a transcendent, and right now, he was looking at the world from a god’s point of view.
Seo Jun-Ho broke the silence.
“Black Moon Martial Arts Final Skill: Black Moon.”
Seo Jun-Ho swung once, and the darkness that had gathered at the tip of the sword flew toward the frozen fog, splitting it into two.
“...”
At the sight, Arnold was overwhelmed by emotions.
‘Seo Jun-Ho… the ray of hope you have given us by risking your life. My burning heart has received and heard it loud and clear...’
Arnold raised his head and screamed, “Wolves! Howl!”
- Awooo!
The howls of the werewolves inundated the royal palace of Trium as the suppressed werewolves woke up and transformed once more.