Matan’s Shooter

Even in his transformed dinosaur state, the sheer force transmitted through his hands, arms, and shoulders made them quiver uncontrollably. It was obvious that the moment his skill deactivated, his body would surely be cleaved in half.

It seemed that when simple and brute attacks reached their zenith, techniques became redundant.

Kijung found himself on the defensive, with no room for counterattacks. Yet, the resolve in his eyes remained unbroken.

Inside the completely armored helmet of Toon, Kijung’s eyes were targeting something else.

‘Just once. If I can use it just once, and catch them off guard―’

As Kijung’s eyes moved, so did Bluebeard’s.

However, Bluebeard was not looking at Kijung.

“Hmm? Since when was that there?”

Curious as to what Bluebeard was seeing, but too overwhelmed by Ghibrid’s relentless assault, Kijung couldn’t turn his head.

At that moment, Rubini’s whisper pierced through.

—Someone is there, Master Kay! I saw a dot behind you a while ago……

—What?

A voice filled with rage suddenly echoed from behind.

“Must you always… take everything…?”

Whooooosh──────…

Despite the wind growing stronger, the voice remained clear.

“I’ve had enough of this―yay──!”

Boom──────!

A violent blow swept through the surroundings.

At that moment, Kijung realized why Bluebeard looked so surprised and who had suddenly appeared.

『Wh-what? How did you―』

In Kijung’s mind, Rubini’s voice echoed.

—It was Lee Jiwon! Lee Jiwon was following Master Kay! But how he managed to remain hidden on my radar…

Lee Jiwon had been tailing Kijung ever since Raphaela used her super wide-area skill, threading his way through the chimeras.

This was the result of his obsessive determination to locate his target, a target that had humiliated him, in the eastern part of the new continent where teleportation was not possible.

The user who was more furious than anyone about the Demon King’s Fragment! Rank 2, magic swordsman, Lee Jiwon, had stormed onto the battlefield.

* * *

There was no way the community would miss out on discussing the first-ever S+ grade achievement.

Even Lee Jiwon, who had logged out due to death, saw it.

The achievement holder was not Alexander, whom Lee Jiwon considered a rival.

It wasn’t the overwhelmingly active Ha Leeha, nor the Pioneer King Fernand.

From Lee Jiwon’s perspective, it was a fairly insignificant user, Master Kay.

The first cardinal user? Such titles held zero significance for Lee Jiwon.

How had the belittled Master Kay managed to obtain an S+ grade achievement?

“Pyrot-Cocri… you… I cannot forgive you.”

Lee Jiwon knew well about it.

Rumors had flown about how his body had been turned into an undead, and there were also sightings saying Pyrot-Cocri was behind it.

〈Title: LOL isn’t he dead, what a shovel〉

〈Title: Did he join the Demon King’s army like Chiyou?〉

〈Title: -re: Do you believe something without even a screenshot?〉

〈Title: -re-re: Bullshit, partner got system notifications when attacked〉

〈Title: -re-re: Yeah, the rumor about being turned undead seems true〉

〈Title: Did Lee Jiwon awaken Pyrot-Cocri?〉

〈Title: -re: Just a hilarious prank, lOL hahahah〉

“Ugh… Ughhhhh…….”

Once interviewed by foreign media, Korea’s number 1 rank and 2nd rank worldwide, the pride of Middle Earth’s strongest magic swordsman, was utterly trampled.

Tack, tack─ Tack-tack-tack─!

Lee Jiwon’s hands on the keyboard grew faster and faster.

On the three connected monitors, new windows popped up continuously, matching his frenetic keystrokes.

“Pyrot-Cocri… Demon King’s Fragment…”

Letting his trampled pride go just like that was not something the world’s 2nd rank individual would do.

Lee Jiwon’s glasses reflected the light from the monitor.

Within the glinting lenses, his eyes burned fiercely.

“You’re all dead.”

With steely determination and unyielding resolve, whether he was connected to Middle Earth or not, Lee Jiwon’s every thought marched solely in the direction of “revenge”.

Today, he would follow Kijung’s trail until he found Bluebeard and Ghibrid!

* * *

“I can smell Cocri… Perhaps to Cocri—”

“Shut up~ 〈Corona Jet〉!”

Before Bluebeard could finish his sentence, Lee Jiwon activated his skill.

Just like a solar flare bursting, a mass of heat shot out from his black sword.

Bluebeard tilted his hat toward the direction of the Corona Jet and tapped it lightly with his staff.

All the heat from the Corona Jet was absorbed into the floating Bluebeard’s hat.

“Just as expected. 〈Sol Blade〉!”

Lee Jiwon was not dismayed.

He had anticipated from the start that losing one or two skills wouldn’t be an issue.

Fwoosh!

Gripping a sword ablaze with black fire, the magic swordsman charged forward.

Even though he couldn’t combine with a Blink, diminishing the power of his combo somewhat, his assault was still fierce.

“Oh dear, oh dear. Don’t you know that charging like a mad dog will just tire you out?”

With a look of annoyance, Bluebeard gripped his staff like a sword and raised it.

In an instant, with a staff extended like a stem, he blocked Lee Jiwon’s sword.

──────…….

The clash between the sword and the staff emitted no sound.

Apart from the fierce flames from the black sword and the dark energy leaking from the staff seeming like they would devour each other, it was almost impossible to tell their weapons had even met.

“〈Giga Spark〉, 〈Sticky Electric〉!”

Swinging his sword with his right hand and casting spells with his left, Lee Jiwon continued his relentless assault in true magic swordsman style.

“Argh, you little—”

Bluebeard’s hair stood on end as he deflected the electric magic with his nails, unable to counterattack given Lee Jiwon’s superior speed.

The movements of a magic swordsman at full buff, particularly one ranked second in the world, surpassed even those of top-ranked physical fighters.

“How long do you think you can keep this up? The moment I move, you’re finished.”

“Why don’t you try moving? I’ve already confirmed you can’t.”

“What?”

“Pyrot-Cocri killed me? Made me an undead? Hah! In our industry, that’s called a reward.”

Bluebeard’s brow furrowed.

He had underestimated the sheer determination of a Korean player.

How did Lee Jiwon spend his time during his unlogged days? What did he do the moment logging in became possible?

Bluebeard’s eyes quickly scanned Lee Jiwon’s sword.

The black flames emanating from his sword were changing. The heat intense enough to scorch clothes at close range had suddenly vanished. Though the sword remained black, the aura it emitted now was pure darkness.

This was not just any ordinary darkness, nor merely the cold chill of deep underground.

“Damn it… He had the key.”

“Yup~ I know what SolSol is~ Pyrot-Cocri should have kept quiet about any clues.”

Lee Jiwon shouted with a grin.

“〈Sol Blade Reverse〉.”

Completely inverting all the energy of the Sol Blade.

Unlike the solar flare explosion energy, this skill, as mentioned by Pyrot-Cocri, manifested the power akin to the deepest abyss of the underground.

Rather than emitting energy, it absorbed it, like a black hole devouring everything.

Shhhhhhhhh──────……!

The blackness of the sword blade intensified.

The background began to darken as if there was a graphic error where nothing could be rendered, expanding in size from the sword blade.

Starting from the blade, the inky blackness spread out, engulfing Lee Jiwon and extending around Bluebeard.

This was a skill of a completely different nature compared to the dark energy.

The reason why Lee Jiwon was able to remain unnoticed on Rubini’s map, and why the ‘Demon King’s Fragments’ could not clearly recognize him even when observing the battle between Kijung and Ghibrid at a close distance and checking the right moment to intervene!

The spreading black space enveloped Bluebeard.

After cutting it out and failing to paste it back properly, Bluebeard sat at the center, surrounded entirely by blackness.

It was a sight akin to a solitary asteroid floating in the universe.

“Anyway, that Pyrot-Cocri rascal, how bothersome!”

Bluebeard couldn’t even catch his breath. He hurriedly turned around.

Behind him, Lee Jiwon’s sword descended.

────────────……!!!!

The difference from an asteroid in space was that the black space surrounding him was entirely under Lee Jiwon’s control.

“Isn’t this fun? Haha!”

Bluebeard immediately swung his staff at Lee Jiwon, who disappeared into the black space.

“Curse you!”

Yet, Bluebeard couldn’t stop swinging his staff.

Lee Jiwon’s attacks poured in from angles and directions that Bluebeard couldn’t predict.

─, ─, ─, ─, ─, ─, ─…….

In a space where sense of distance couldn’t be grasped at all, Bluebeard’s staff and the invisible sword of Lee Jiwon continued their clash.

His shirt’s abdomen was turning blue.

The duel between Bluebeard, who had sustained a fatal injury from Bahamut, and the world’s 2nd rank, who had discovered a new aspect of his weapon, was heading towards a stalemate.

* * *

『This is amazing……. How on earth―』

“Are you getting distracted, Holy Knight?”

Kwaaaang────────……!

Unlike the infinitely silent duel between Bluebeard and Lee Jiwon, the battle between Ghibrid and Kijung was so loud that one could hardly feel anything else.

『What’s the big deal about getting distracted?』

“Hm?”

As the dust began to settle, Kijung spoke up.

Though the heaviness of the attacks was still overwhelming, Kijung was gradually able to react to them.

『It’s always easiest to face those who blindly trust their strength.』

The simplicity of the attack patterns.

One swing, and if Kijung retreated, they’d follow again with another swing.

Even the directions of the swings alternated between diagonal cuts, vertical slashes, and horizontal cuts in repetition.

Unless one was a fool, by the time he had parried his attacks through two cycles, Kijung had no reason not to react.

『A Strike of Conviction!』

This time, it was a vertical cut.

Kijung used a skill and twisted his body’s axis simultaneously.

Though Ghibrid’s attack had not yet started, Kijung was confident.

By taking a lateral step and rotating his axis, Ghibrid’s attack would inevitably lose its target.

Changing the direction of an attack recklessly was not feasible. At least, if one used ordinary muscles.

Thus, Kijung’s attack was supposed to pierce Ghibrid’s heart.

Cracken─────────……!

If Ghibrid’s muscles had been ordinary, that is.

『What the……?』

Kijung was flustered.

The sword of the “Nameless Paladin”, coated with Holy Power, undoubtedly stabbed into something.

Yet, it wasn’t flesh.

“… You underestimated me, Holy Knight.”

Ghibrid’s arm that slashed vertically remained in place.

However, a black mass that had ‘burst out’ of his forearm was blocking his chest region.

“At this point… This mere shell is only a nuisance.”

Indeed, as Ghibrid described wearing a human flesh. His facial muscles moved subtly.

Crack, crackle―

『Crazy…』

He began to peel off his ‘clothes’.

Tearing apart the human skin randomly, black masses started to reveal themselves.

It was the dreadful Ghibrid origin Kijung had once seen in Middle Earth, the most horrifying fusion.

The pure blackness of Lee Jiwon was completely different. Hundreds of eyes and mouths emerged from the filthy, sooty black mass.

TL’s Corner:

Ghibrid is like a slime. Hmmm.