Chapter 236   – The Summer Queen (1)

Kindred ran furiously at Yeon-woo. Demonic energy whirled around him like a storm. Dust clouds rose up to pelt him like a sandstorm.

But—

“That’s nice too.”

Yeon-woo smirked. He even crossed his arms with a relaxed face.

Kindred felt anxious looking at Yeon-woo. It was the same danger he felt when he was hit with Meteor Strike.

“What?”

“Meteor Strike. You didn’t think I only prepared one, right?”

“……!”

“Stop it if you can.”

Kindred quickly looked behind him. He thought he could stop it if it came from the sky like earlier, but the summoning circle was already in front of him.

“Cainnnn!”

Kindred’s face crumpled when he saw the shadow that covered his face.

It was small compared to the meteorite that destroyed the Brocken Fortress, but it was still big enough to bury tens of people.

Boom!

Kindred punched the meteorite to shatter it. However, his body wasn’t completely healed yet, so his punch wasn’t as powerful as it should’ve been.

Kindred was flicked away like a kite without its string.

“You’re doing well. Keep trying that.”

Yeon-woo lightly flicked his finger where Kindred was. As he did, tens of magic circles opened around Kindred, and small meteorites were spewed out.

Kwang! Kwangg!

Kwakwakwang!

The price was the 4 blue crystals of the barrier’s centers. He used the first 3 and the Philosopher’s Stone to summon the first meteorite, but if he just summoned small meteorites, the remaining one was enough.

On top of this, Boo opened a portal with the Lawless Book and Yeon-woo added Demonism, so they didn’t have to worry about the meteorites’ strength. And this was all focused on a single person, so even Kindred wasn’t going to be able to bear it.

Krrrng!

Kwakwakwa—

Currrrr—

When the magic attack finally ended, Kindred was left above a burnt crater.

He was kneeling on one knee, and his entire body was covered with burns and holes. His face was broken too, so he could only look up at Yeon-woo with his single eye.

The nickname of Plague Ghost no longer fit him.

“C…..ain!”

“You’re enduring well.”

“Cain!”

“Sorry.”

Clack—

“But there’s still one left.”

The last portal opened above Yeon-woo’s head.

“Cainnnn!”

Kwangg!”

***

Yeon-woo lightly clicked his tongue seeing a burnt Kindred collapsed on the ground.

Although he wasn’t in the condition to move, he was still faintly breathing.

He had a tenacity for life, like a cockroach.

‘Is this also due to the influence of the 72 Bian?’

If he was left alone, he would probably heal himself. It was an unbelievable recovery speed. However, Yeon-woo was happy that the depth of the 72 Bian was deeper than he thought.

“I’ll…..find you, and kill…..!”

Yeon-woo stabbed Vigrid into Kindred’s babbling head.

His head broke easily. Black dust scattered away.

“So it was fake.”

Yeon-woo clicked his tongue. He had stabbed him first with Vigrid to confirm, but it seemed like his suspicions were correct. It was a shadow.

The corpse that was found in the Monkey King’s Palace was probably also a shadow. His actual body or another shadow might come to avenge himself, but Yeon-woo thought it wasn’t going to happen for the time being.

‘Even if it’s a shadow, the attack to his mind wasn’t something that he could recover from easily.’

The Reflect didn’t disappear just because a shadow died. Rather, it would have even more detrimental side effects.

It would probably take a while for Kindred to get himself together.

And that was enough for Yeon-woo.

Just by stopping the interference of the Devil Army, he had done a lot. Also, the other bishops that Kindred brought had probably died as well.

Yeon-woo passed where Kindred had been. Not too far away, he found Vieira Dune half-buried by the remnants of the explosion.

Unlike Kindred, Vieira Dune was dead. There weren’t any traces of her using Body Transfer either.

He could see her soul tied to her body through his Draconic Eyes.

Kya!

Vieira Dune, having become a soul, was completely on the defensive against Yeon-woo. But there was nothing a soul could do to Yeon-woo.

Tsk.

Yeon-woo clicked his tongue seeing her.

If he knew she was going to die this futilely, he would’ve made her suffer more.

But since she was a high ranker and the leader of a clan, he thought it would be a somewhat difficult fight.

Even if the function of the Philosopher’s Stone was blocked, she was the apostle of the ‘Great Mother.’

But Vieira Dune did not resist much. Was it because she didn’t have any time to use magic from the sudden attack, or because she trusted in the stone too much?

Whatever the reason, Yeon-woo felt it was futile.

‘This woman shouldn’t have died like that.’

Yeon-woo’s eyes flashed sharply. Vieira Dune had to die more painfully than the other traitors.

The others just turned their backs, but Vieira Dune had played with his brother’s heart.

And with what happened to Sesha, he could never forgive her.

He could add her to his collection and make her feel horrible pain, but there were still differences between when you were dead and when you were alive.

However, there was nothing he could do anymore.

Thinking he should at least squeeze everything from her soul, he spread his left hand and absorbed Vieira Dune’s corpse with Bathory’s Vampiric Sword.

“Swallow.”

A great amount of magic power flowed into his body, probably because she had been an apostle.

[You absorbed life and vitality.]

[Strength increases by 1.]

[Dexterity increases by 2.]

…..

[The proficiency of ‘Bathory’s Vampiric Sword’ has increased. 49.8%]

His body was already complete, so it didn’t affect his stats too much.

But there were still some unexpected gains.

[You have succeeded in collecting the soul. All the magic barriers set up by the soul have been released, and the artifacts are being given to the taker.]

[You have earned the ‘Ominous Philosopher’s Stone.’]

A purple light wrapped around Yeon-woo’s left hand. There was a stone the size of half his hand. It wasn’t as big as Yeon-woo’s, but it was the biggest of the Walpurgisnacht.

And its rank was different, as expected of the stone belonging to the leader.

Yeon-woo wondered whether he should keep it, but he just handed it over to the one it should belong to.

‘Boo.’

[Thank. You.]

It would be difficult to combine it with the Philosopher’s Stone he had. Also, Boo was one of the largest contributors to this attack. He wanted to give him a present.

Boo accepted the stone with trembling hands. Inferno Sight flamed up. A mixture of emotions swirled in his eye sockets. Joy, happiness, gratitude.

He was ever so grateful that his owner gave him this item like it was nothing. The greatest luck he had in this new life was being able to serve Yeon-woo.

Yeon-woo grinned and turned back to his left hand. The absorption was finishing up.

Thankfully, the message that he wanted popped up.

[‘Bathory’s Vampiric Sword’ has succeeded in taking and absorbing a part of the other’s skills.]

[The skill ‘Body Transfer’ has been created.]

‘It’s done.’

He had succeeded in taking Vieira Dune’s signature skill. Body Transfer. It was a skill that allowed him to move his Ego Data as long as he had another body.

Yeon-woo might not have a use for it since he wouldn’t be able to gain a Dragon Human body, but the skill’s effects would differ based on the user’s traits.

[The skill ‘Body Transfer’ is a power.]

[The owner of the power expresses displeasure at having their apostle killed. The mysterious being takes the power back.]

[A new skill is being searched for to replace the missing skill.]

[It is heavily influenced by the trait ‘Demonic Dragon Body.’]

[It is influenced by the title ‘Guide of Death.’]

[It is influenced by the title ‘Guide of Evil Spirits.’]

…..

[A new skill, ‘Regeneration,’ has been created.]

‘It worked!’

Yeon-woo clenched his fists. He didn’t expect to use Body Transfer anyway, since it was the power that the Great Mother of the witches had given them.

But considering how the system was always straightforward in how it gave rewards, he knew that it would try to look for something similar to it.

He was extremely satisfied with the skill he earned.

[Regeneration]

Numbering 91

Proficiency: 0.0%

Summary: A skill that you earned instead of the stolen power ‘Body Transfer.’

When you are injured, the speed at which you heal yourself increases. With greater proficiency, you can even recover an arm that has been cut off. In some cases, fixing a broken heart is possible as well.

However, there is an absolute non-negotiable condition that your brain must be alive.

*Charge

When your health and magic power are lower than the set amount, they can be recovered faster depending on the situation.

If your health is lower than 10%, you can raise it by 50% once a day.

*Restore

When your body has been badly injured, it immediately returns to the state that it used to be in. The speed of recovery depends on your proficiency and amount of magic power.

A Numbering skill wasn’t bad. However, compared to the power ‘Body Transfer,’ its rank was lower than it should’ve been.

But Yeon-woo was perfectly satisfied. Since he injured himself frequently, this was basically the same thing as giving multiple lives to him.

Also, there was another reason why Yeon-woo wanted Regeneration.

‘Along with Shunpo, I now have 2 skills to match Allforone.’

Shukuchi and Thousand Li Eyes. After these two, there was a third skill that players found out to be Allforone’s third skill.

Immortal (不死).

Of course, it wasn’t like he really couldn’t die. You couldn’t do that unless you were a god or a demon. No, even they would die.

However, the Immortal skill that Allforone had was like he was actually immortal when people saw it.

It was a power that could heal him even if his head and soul were crushed.

A power to reappear again and again after death.

Because of that power, no players weren’t able to climb the wall called Allforone.

No one knew if Allforone’s ‘Immortal’ was a real skill. The name of the skill might be different.

However, his brother had realized that there was a certain secret to Immortal, and the materials needed for this were Regeneration or Body Transfer.

However, Regeneration itself was a Numbering skill, so it wasn’t easy to master it or raise its rank.

But if he could master it and satisfy the other condition, he could take a step closer to Allforone, who even the Summer Queen and Martial King couldn’t approach.

‘With this, I took everything that I needed.’

Yeon-woo confirmed that Vieira Dune’s body was properly added to his collection and slowly got up.

Actually, he wanted to question Vieira Dune right then and there, but the fight wasn’t over.

He could feel living people spread throughout the territory with his Extrasensory Perception. They had survived through that pandemonium. A ranker was definitely a ranker. He couldn’t look down on them.

But thankfully, he had taken care of his biggest task, so now he would be able to move more freely.

Just then—

Ding, ding.

[The Sudden Quest (Field Arrest 2) has been completed.]

[Final Ranking]

Rank 1. ### (182,333 Points)

Rank 2. Edora (812 Points)

Rank 3. Phante (695 Points)

Rank 4. Ione (30 Points)

……

[You have completed the quest with an overwhelming score.]

[You have gained ‘The Opening of Intrenian’ as a reward.]

[You have the qualification to move inside the 11th Intrenian. For the next 12 hours, you can bring out a total of 5 items that you would like.]

[You cleared the hidden condition, ‘Killing Vieira Dune.’]

[As a reward, you have gained ‘Dragon’s Blood (Dragon’s Blood Serum)’.]

He had seen the quests, but he forgot about them while he was chasing Vieira Dune.

He received the message that he cleared one of them.

Yeon-woo’s eyes instantly widened.

* * *

“…..Just what happened?”

Aether looked behind him with shaking eyes. The sudden explosion in the fortress caused the fight with the Red Dragon to be interrupted.

Rumble—

The canyons fell, and there was a rockfall. That was definitely where Ione and the Elohim were. What happened to them?

Aether wasn’t worried about them. Rather, he felt something else.

Suspicion. He felt Ione and the members of the Senate were people who couldn’t die or disappear.

They had the power to destroy his family and restore his reputation. They were the people who were able to change his world.

In Aether’s world, it was unimaginable that they died.

But if it was an explosion of that scale, even Ione and the Elohim were probably in danger. Aether felt like his world was crumbling.

“Meteor?”

Tom and the rest of the Red Dragon were also shocked. He didn’t care if it was the Elohim or the Devil Army, or whoever it might be. But that was the path to the fortress.

If the meteor had fallen a bit later, they might have received the same fate. And would they have been able to survive? He didn’t know.

And on one hand, he wondered just what kind of bastard would do something so foolish in an Outer Space.

Unless it was the witches who summoned the meteorite to self-destruct, he didn’t know how the meteorite would’ve been able to break through the barrier.

It was something that even the Summer Queen with a healthy Dragon Heart wouldn’t have dared to do.

So Tom didn’t know what to do. A second meteorite might fall. He didn’t want to put his life in danger looking for the Philosopher’s Stone.

Aether and Tom just glanced at each other. Neither of them wanted to be the first to move. They were just silently standing there. Just then,

Vroom, vroom—

A portal opened above Tom. Familiar faces appeared.

A woman with long silver hair and 8 soldiers to serve her. Tom’s brothers had come with their queen mother at their side.

It was the arrival of the Summer Queen.

The war taken a new turn.