Vol 20 Chapter 4

ACT 4 Magura’s Stone

Kuoooooh.

The crystal temple was locked in a bizarre silence. Ark and the rehabilitation group even forgot that they were fighting. The secret behind the slabs was shocking. No, such a thing didn’t matter. The problem was that Magura’s health and stats had been restored. When slowly chipping away 5% of Magura’s health, Ark’s group had lost an average of 30% health. It was the inevitable result when facing an elite level 600 boss with 12 people. But it was enough in a battle where Magura only had 15% health left. However Magura had recovered his health after eating Hae Gyeol-sa. Wasn’t it comparable to Dragon ball where a person managed to transform themselves to quickly increase their power?

“Damn, this dog wants to eat us?”

Isyuram rushed towards Magura angrily.

“Teacher! W-wait a minute……!”

-You fool…..it is too already too late……keuaaang!

Magura opened his mouth and roared. There was a sudden huge storm and Isyuram was thrown back. Isyuram immediately impacted with the ground. Hundreds of tentacles then wound around him.

“Teacher! Dark Blade!”

Ark attacked the tentacles wound around Isyuram. But hundreds of tentacles once again emerged from Magura’s body and formed a barrier. Dark Blade was blocked by the barrier and Isyuram was sucked in Magura’s mouth. The eerie sound of crunching flesh and bones followed. This time Magura managed to restore 10% of his health. Magura’s original health was 15%. His stats were also only at 15%. Now after eating Hae Gyeol-sa and Isyuram, his health and stats increased by 18%. In other words, he had recovered 33% of his abilities.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The effect showed straight away. Hundreds of tentacles crossed the space at an incredible space. The speed and power couldn’t be compared to before. Moreover, ‘Howling’ which was used on Isyuram was used again so Ark and the rehabilitation members couldn’t maintain their balance and stumbled. When in that state, the tentacles were certain to deal damage.

“Ugh!”

Ark quickly lost 20% health from the continuous attacks of ‘Howling’ and the tentacles. The rehabilitation members also lost 30% health and some of them were on the verge of death. It was truly overwhelming!

‘If this is what Magura is capable of at 33%, imagine 100%……!’

Ark had forgotten Magura’s true identity. Yes, Magura was the legendary devil who devastated the Jackson region and drove the Fire Draconians to their extinction. If he recovered 100% then his power would transcend imagination! No, even reaching 100% wasn’t necessary. Ark and the rehabilitation members couldn’t even deal with Magura when he was 33% recovered.

‘Did I travel all this way just to become that guy’s meal?’

Anger immediately surged at the idea. The important thing wasn’t if he died here or not. The reason Magura hid here was because he couldn’t heal his body. This meant that he wouldn’t stay here once his flesh was perfectly recovered. The legendary devil which devastated Jackson hundreds of years ago would once again be set free in the world. The world would become an ocean of fire wherever Magura walked.

‘Of course, I really don’t care that much if the world becomes an ocean of fire…..’

The problem was the entrance to the dungeon was on Silvana. So the first place Magura would turn to ashes was Silvana. Right now Silvana was rapidly developing in order to be promoted to a B ranked estate. In addition, Silvana was also the core place in his triangular trade route. If it was turned in an ocean of fire then Ark would lose everything. He had to stop Maura from resurrecting.

“Ark, do something!”

He heard Bul-kkun’s voice from behind him. When he raised his head, dozens of tentacles had surrounded the party. Ark freaked out and swung his sword wildly. At the same time, there was a huge pressure on his sword and Ark was thrown into a wall. The tentacles had become as strong as a hammer after Magura recovered 33% percent.

‘Oh my god! How can I win?’

The current odds of winning were only 1%. As more time passed, the chances were slowly reaching 0%.

‘Dammit, I can’t just give up like this!’

Ark spat out blood and raised his body. The battle with Magura wasn’t just a life or death situation anymore. If Ark’s group died here then Silvana would be at risk. Even if he wanted to, it wasn’t possible for him to give up. Ark bit his lip and got up.

Chiing!

A sharp sound resonated from behind him. The crystal wall had cracked where Ark’s sword had hit it and a small splinter had fallen down.

‘What the? Why is the crystal……?’

Ark looked at the crack in the wall with stupid eyes. The strength of the crystal in the temple was close to steel. It didn’t even crack when hit by one of Magura’s tentacles. Then why did a fragment fall off when his sword touched it?

‘Wait? That reminds me, the crystal…..?’

Ark recalled the situation from a moment ago and had an idea. After carefully looking at the structure of the temple, Ark sent a whisper to Tazza.

-Tazza, I have a request!

-What? Now?

-Yes, right now!

Ark shouted in an urgent voice. He explained the plan that he had just come up with. Tazza made a strange expression before smiling and nodding.

-Ohhh, that’s brilliant?

-Is it possible?

-It’s possible, no I will make it possible. But the situation is difficult since he already had two people. If you guys die before I’m finished……

-I’ll somehow hold out until your preparations are finished.

-I understand. I’ll do as you ask!

Tazza rolled and escaped from the tentacles before suddenly running away. When Tazza ran away, dozens of tentacles instantly aimed for his back. But Ark had expected Magura’s behaviour and spun his sword like a windmill to block the tentacles.

“Everyone gather around me!”

Ark explained his plan when the rehabilitation members gathered.

“From now on don’t drink potions. It is better to have less health now. Don’t attack the tentacles unless they wind around you.”

“What? What are you saying?”

“I don’t have time to explain. Just do as I say and you’ll soon understand.”

“Damn! What is this……?”

The tentacles flew towards where Ark’s group was gathered. Ark and the rehabilitation members scattered in different directions. Ark ignored the flying tentacles and only attacked the ones that wound around him. Their health decreased and all the rehabilitation members were instantly in a critical condition.

“Eh, I don’t know. Just kill me!”

-Uh?

Suddenly Magura’s movements changed. Yapsab only had 2% health left when the tentacles suddenly flew sharply towards him.

‘Huhuhu, indeed…..he’s been waiting hundreds of years so he can’t just let his prey be killed.’

Yes, that was the reason Ark told them not to care about health. Magura’s tentacles were made from intestines and other internal organs. Magura’s goal was to devour Ark and the rehabilitation member. With ‘Piece of Flesh,’ he could eat humans and restore his body. Naturally the tentacles aimed to restrict their movements so that Ark and the rehabilitation members could be swallowed. But Ark and the rehabilitation members just kept running and ignored the tentacle attacks so they couldn’t grasp the timing to wind around them.

-T-these guys…..!

After the situation was repeated, Magura started to realize Ark’s goal.

-For sacrifices to act so daringly…..playing cheap tricks…..

Chwa chwa chwa chwa chwa chwa!

At that moment, hundreds of tentacles intersected and seemed to form a huge net. The net was cast out and thrown over Yapsab and Ddeok-dae.

“D-damn!”

Yapsab and Ddeok-dae became puzzled and quickly stepped on it. But once caught by the net, the tentacles just became even more intertwined. Ark and the other rehabilitation members tried to tear the tentacles but more just appeared. In the end, Yapsab and Ddeok-dae were dragged like fish in a net into Magura’s mouth. At the same time, Magura’s health recovered by 14% and his left side and hind legs healed. Magura’s stats had recovered close to 50%.

-Kukukuku. You guys….postponing it is useless!

Magura once again made a net with the tentacles. Then he heard Tazza’s voice from the back.

“Ark, it’s done!”

Ark’s eyes flashed and he shouted.

“Everybody run out of the temple!”

“Okay!”

-You fools…..you can’t get away!

Hundreds of tentacles wound around the pillar pursued them. The hundreds of outstretched tentacles was like a scene from a horror movie. Ark who had escaped to a corridor smiled and said.

“Tazza hyung, now!”

At the same time, Tazza took out a large hammer and shield. Then he struck it and the sound of a gong seemed to resonate through the temple. And the whole temple started to buzz and vibrate. The crystal was a material which reflected sound well. But here was another reason the whole temple vibrated. It was due to the effect of what Tazza did. That was……

Pejik, pejijijik, jjejjejjaejjaek!

The humming continued resonating through the temple and the crystal pillars the tentacles were wrapped around started cracking. At first it was just a small crack until it suddenly accelerated and spread at an incredible speed.

-What is this…..why……?

Magura looked at the cracking pillars with confusion. Ark who had escaped into the corridor turned around and laughed.

“Crystal is just like glass.”

-Glass?

“Yes, glass. You’re a dog so you might not understand but it is a substance weak to vibration.”

-Vibration?

Magura looked like he couldn’t understand anything Ark was saying. He then belatedly became aware of the small objects lodged in the bottom of the pillars. It was a bent metal in a U shape. That’s right. This was the core part of the plan Ark had Tazza prepare. The reason there was a small crack in the crystal wall when Ark’s sword hit it was because it was a material weak to vibration. He hadn’t felt it at the time but when Ark was slammed into the wall, the attack had caused his sword to vibrate and crack the crystal. Ark had devised the plan after recalling a simple law of physics.

‘Then can’t I deliver a stronger vibration towards the pillars in the temple?’

Couldn’t he break the entire pillar? The problem was how to focus a strong and continuous vibration on the pillar. Then he thought of the U shaped metal lodged in the pillar. Once there was a resonance, it would continue vibrating continuously. So he had Tazza who changed to a Guardian=Engineer to create the bent pieces of metal. While Ark and the rehabilitation members were running around, he had lodged it in the crystal pillars. Then the gong was hit and the intense sound wave rang out through the temple. The sound struck the metal which changed it to a vibration which passed into the crystal pillar.The result was what happened. The cracks spread over the crystals as they were weak to vibration. Once the cracks spread, it couldn’t be stopped. When the cracks spread on the pillar, it couldn’t withstand the heavy weight of the ceiling and started crumbling.

Ku ku ku ku, ku ku ku ku, kwa kwa kwa kwang!

Magura looked up with puzzled eyes after hearing a roaring sound.

-Ugh! U-unbelievable……!

Magura wound his tentacles around a pillar close to Ark. The tentacles on the pillars in the rear unwound and Magura’s body flew towards Ark. A huge monster was flying towards him! But Ark just laughed and raised his sword. Then he lightly hit the pillar that the tentacles were wound around. A clean sound rang out and there was a smashing sound. The metal lodged in the pillar vibrated even stronger. With the tentacles coiled around it, the cracks spread even quicker. The tentacles fell from the pillar and Magura who was flying towards him was forced to the ground.

-Kuaaaak!

“Now get ready to become flattened like a rice cake.”

Kang, kang, kang, kang!

Ark turned around and ran around the temple knocking the pillars with his sword. More cracks spread until they couldn’t resist the weight of the ceiling and the pillars collapsed. With so many pillars collapsed, the weight of the ceiling was a burden on the other pillars in the temple. The pillars were broken like a chain of dominoes while would soon lead to the collapse of the entire temple. It was the end once cracks started to spread on the solid crystal temple. The temple would shatter into thousands of sharp fragments. There was no chance Magura could survive that.

‘With the pillars broken, Magura can’t use the tentacles to move. The rehabilitation hyung-nims have taken shelter outside the temple so I should escape soon!’

Ark used Sprint and ran down the corridor. At this point, the temple was already started to collapse as some debris fell from the ceiling. Even just a graze from a crystal splinter decreased his health by 200~300. Being hit by a large crystal would be instant death! While only small splinters had fallen so far, if he looked at the ceiling then he could predict when a large chunk would fall. However, if he ran while checking the ceiling then he wouldn’t escape the temple in time.

“Racard, time to do your job!”

“Understood. I’m so lucky to have such a cool Master!”

Racard who had been busy avoided Magura’s tentacles during the fight landed on Ark’s shoulder. Then he kept an eye on the crystal ceiling.

“Hik! 3 o’clock, there is a large crack in the ceiling! A huge crystal will fall 4 metres from here!”

Ark quickly avoided the crystal thanks to Racard’s words. So Ark ran down the corridor with Racard and avoided the crystals. After a while, he arrived at the entrance to the temple and saw the rehabilitation members who had escaped first.

‘That’s it! Now we just have to wait and it is out victory when the temple collapses!’

Ark was inwardly convinced of his victory.

“Ark, behind you, behind!”

Tazza pointed to something behind Ark. Ark’s face stiffened as he turned his head. A bloody Magura was quickly approaching Magura. Although Magura had recovered 50%, his lower body was still injured. He was also bleeding heavily from following ark through the falling crystals. Since he couldn’t use the pillars to move himself with the tentacles, he was dragging his body along using his paws. It really was a dreadful scene.

‘Damn! At that speed…..’

Even though Magura was significantly injured, he would be able to escape from the temple before it collapsed. And presently Ark and the rehabilitation members only had 5% health left. They wouldn’t survive if Magura escaped from the temple.

‘I have to stop him here!’

Ark turned around and ran towards Magura.

“Racard, take the Saw blade and go outside the temple!”

“Understood!”

He handed the Saw blade to Racard who picked it up and flew out of the temple. Racard never even considered saying something like ‘No, I won’t leave Master!’

-Kuaaaah, disappear!

After Ark blocked him, Magura tied the tentacles into a bundle and attacked him. Ark had no time to worry about the collapsing temple. Just as the bunch of tentacles was about to strike Ark’s body. Ark smiled and shouted.

“Area Declaration, Glory of the Night! Divine skill, Descent of the Fire Draconian!”

It was the only way for Ark to stop Magura’s rush. The dark spirit rose from the ground when he used the skill. At the same time the area was wrapped in darkness. But then flames burst upwards after a short time. The flames formed a Fire Draconian! The Fire Draconian flew upwards before falling like a lightning bolt towards Ark’s head. Ark was wrapped in the flames.

-You have used the Divine Skill Descent of the Fire Draconian!

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