CHAPTER 213: SERPENT’S HEAD (6)

Seriously, what’s wrong with her? She’s not going down alone, is that it?

Kwon Oh-Jin shot a resentful glare at Song Ha-Eun, who continued to overly describe the mating demonic beasts with a pale face.

”M-My child...” Vega, shaken by the absurd sight, stumbled as she settled on Kwon Oh-Jin’s head. “I-I feel nauseous.”

“Same here,” he muttered.

A bloody, violent scene would’ve honestly been better. He hadn’t expected to be attacked in this kind of way.

“Haaa.”

Nonetheless, he had to figure out what those two boss demonic beasts were up to. Steeling himself, he took a deep breath and forced his eyes back toward the two tangled creatures.

“Urgh.”

Just like Song Ha-Eun had described, a basketball-sized egg plopped out from the rear of the beast pinned underneath and fell down. Apparently, one wasn’t enough as another egg already emerged from the monster’s rear.

“Oh-Jin! Can I roast those freaks now?!”

“Kill them in one try before they pull any more sick stunts,” he said.

They had to act before the demonic beasts could do anything else.

Song Ha-Eun nodded and reached for her left eye. A fierce light radiated from the Draconic Eye. Thick, pulsing veins reminiscent of tree roots spread down her neck.

She extended her arm forward and opened her palm wide. Massive flames compressed into a red orb the size of a fist. She had created a Dragon Pearl. Then, she aimed the flame orb of annihilation, capable of disintegrating anything it touched, at the disgusting demonic beasts still locked together.

“Die, you freaks!”

There was no dramatic sound.

The moment the Dragon Pearl pierced through the demonic beasts with glowing yellow eyes reminiscent of a serpent’s, they turned into ashes and instantly vanished. It was a futile end for the creatures that had looked down on them so arrogantly like some final bosses from an evil organization.

“Huh? That’s really it? They’re dead?” Song Ha-Eun stared at the pile of ashes with wide eyes.

Granted, the Dragon Pearl was hard to aim. However, it dealt terrifying damage if it landed.

“Still, that felt kinda anticlimactic,” Song Ha-Eun said.

She hadn’t thought they’d go down that easily.

“Wait, Ha-Eun. There’s still one left,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“Huh? What’s left?”

“That egg.”

Kwon Oh-Jin raised his spear and pulled his arm far back. He aimed at the basketball-sized egg produced by those mating demonic beasts. It had rolled down and was now wedged between two rocks. It seemed harmless since it was freshly laid, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The demonic beasts suddenly mating and laying eggs made no logical sense, but it stirred up an ominous feeling in Kwon Oh-Jin.

The egg began to crack just as he braced himself to destroy the unborn creature.

Crack.

Are you fucking kidding me? What is this, a sergling?

It hadn’t even been thirty seconds, but hatched already.

Without hesitation, Kwon Oh-Jin swung forward with all his strength. With a loud boom, his spear launched at an incredible speed like lightning. The spear, crackling with blue lightning, pierced the egg.

A dying shriek echoed from the shattered shell. “Khhhhhhk!”

The creature born inside never even saw the light of day as the electric spear instantly roasted it.

Vega sighed with a conflicted expression. “Haa. I know it was necessary, but it still weighs on my heart.”

Even if it was to remove a threat, incinerating a newborn before it could take its first breath stirred a natural sense of guilt.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”

“No need to apologize. Had I been in your place, I would have done the same.” Vega fluttered over and landed on top of his head. “I’m a little drained.”

“You used up a lot of energy, right?”

“Still, I believe I can remain manifested for about thirty more minutes.”

“Then we need to find the exit fast.”

They would be able to escape more easily with Vega’s ability to sense dimensional fractures.

“God, those things were disgusting,” Song Ha-Eun said.

Having eliminated every last monster, she ran a hand through her sweat-soaked hair and bitterly stared at the narrow gap between the rocks. She could see Cheon Sang-Gil’s corpse with his chest torn open.

His death felt far too pitiful and meaningless for someone once hailed as the Avaricious Wolf who had achieved countless heroic feats.

“Gramps.” Song Ha-Eun bit her lip and clenched her fists.

She didn’t have time to mourn during the chaotic battle, but now that she stood in front of the corpse, her chest ached as though it had been slashed open.

“Let’s go, Ha-Eun.”

Rather than comforting her, Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed her arm and pulled her along. He wanted to recover Cheon Sang-Gil’s body, but they had no time.

“How’s your side, Isabella?”

He headed toward Isabella, who had been holding out at the front. Demonic beast corpses piled around her, almost double the amount that Kwon Oh-Jin, Song Ha-Eun, and Vega dealt with together. It wasn’t an exaggeration. The corpses were stacked so high that it looked like a mountain one could actually climb.

She took all those beasts down alone?

A chill ran down his spine as he approached Isabella.

“Ah, Mr. Oh-Jin? You’re finished on your end?”

Even for someone like Isabella, she looked visibly tired after taking on that many monsters alone.

“Yeah. It’s all taken care of.”

“I just wrapped up as well,” Isabella said.

“By the way, did any of them show up here too?”

“Them?”

“You know, the ones with different eyes.”

Isabella cocked her head in confusion.

“Hmm? No, I didn’t see any. Why? Did something happen?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

He didn’t want to describe that horrendous scene.

“Let’s hurry and find a way out of here,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

They headed to the area the Doppelganger had mentioned. Beyond the tall rocks, a narrow path about five meters wide split off into multiple paths.

“Do you sense anything, Vega?”

“Hmm. One moment.” With her eyes closed, Vega pressed her temples with both hands. “Ah. There it is! A rift leading back to Earth!”

Relief washed over Kwon Oh-Jin at her excited voice.

“However... It’s extremely faint,” she said.

“Faint?”

“Like a candle in the wind on the verge of going out. It’s dangerously unstable.”

“We'd better move fast. Where is it?”

“Give me a moment. The aura is so weak that it's hard to pinpoint the direction.” Vega focused again and pressed her temples. “Hmm?”

“You found it?” he asked.

“No... not exactly.”

Vega furrowed her brow and turned back the way they had come, toward the site of their massive battle against the demonic beasts.

“A Star Spirit?” she asked.

“What?”

“Why is there a Star Spirit’s presence coming from over there?” Even Vega looked unsure.

Her expression grew increasingly complex as she looked back at the direction from which they had come.

“This isn’t just any Star Spirit... it’s dark... and ominous...”

It released a presence that radiated the same twisted energy as the Black Star Celestials.

Vega had been focusing with her eyes closed and suddenly opened them wide. “W-We must run!”

“What?”

“Right this instant!” she desperately shouted.

The ground shook violently.

Krrrrk!

The ground cracked and split as if a giant had taken a massive sheet of paper and torn it apart. The towering rocks began to collapse all around them.

“Mr. Oh-Jin!”

“Gah!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Kwon Oh-Jin quickly grabbed Isabella and Song Ha-Eun and launched himself off the ground. The spot they were just standing on crumbled and fell hundreds of meters down.

Crackle!

Using Lightning Steps, Kwon Oh-Jin leaped into the air and spun toward the sound.

“What the hell is that?”

He saw an absurdly massive and utterly terrifying monster. If the grotesque demonic beast they had fought earlier grew thousands of times bigger, it would look something like that.

“Oh-Jin, that can’t be?”

If any of the demonic beasts earlier had a mother, that thing had to be it.

Rumble, crash!

The demonic beast, hundreds of meters tall, burst up from beneath the ground and swung its massive head around searching for something. Unlike the peculiar beasts from earlier, this mother demonic beast didn’t have yellow serpent-like eyes. In place of eyes, it had some other highly developed sensory organ and flared its nostrils as it sniffed for something.

One of the tentacles extending from its back dragged something up from the collapsed ground. The monster egg, burnt to a crisp by Kwon Oh-Jin, crumbled and fell into the bottomless pit below.

“Krrrk, krrrk, krrrk!” the mother beast grotesquely cried out and flared its nostrils again.

Soon, the demonic beast stopped searching the area and looked right at Kwon Oh-Jin. A cry beyond the range of human hearing rippled through the area, shaking the surroundings.

Rumble! Crash!

The ground cracked as the mother demonic beast charged straight for Kwon Oh-Jin. Tens of thousands of tentacles shot out from its back and all aimed at him.

“O-Oh-Jin!”

“Goddammit!”

Kwon Oh-Jin spun around and continued kicking off into the air, but carrying both Song Ha-Eun and Isabella while using Lightning Steps slowed him down too much.

“Put me down, Mr. Oh-Jin!”

“O-Oh-Jin! Over there! That part of the ground is still intact!”

Nodding, he landed on the remaining stable section of ground.

Swoosh!

The first wave of tentacles shot toward Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Not so fast!” Isabella shouted.

“Back off, you motherfuckers!”

Isabella and Song Ha-Eun fought back, tearing apart and burning the tentacles in mid-air.

“Vega! Which way is the exit you mentioned earlier?” he shouted.

“I-It’s that way!”

Vega pointed her tiny hand toward one side. The fallen rocks revealed a black rift about a meter wide.

Just then, a tentacle struck Song Ha-Eun and sent her tumbling back.

“Agh!”

“Ha-Eun unnie!”

“Argh!” Song Ha-Eun groaned and clutched her side as if her ribs had broken.

“Ha-Eun!”

Kwon Oh-Jin scooped her up and ran for the rift.

The tentacles chased them with relentless fury.

Damn it!

Dodging was nearly impossible with the demonic beast’s attention locked on him.

“Vega! Take Ha-Eun and go out first!”

“Alright!”

Vega wrapped Song Ha-Eun in blue lightning and soared toward the black rift.

“Over here, you bastard!”

Meanwhile, Kwon Oh-Jin acted as bait and lured the tentacles away.

“Follow right behind!” Vega said.

“I will!”

Vega reached the rift and crossed over with Song Ha-Eun.

Good. Now I just have to send Isabella through and then myself. It’ll be—

He thought it would be over soon, but the rift suddenly shrank to about fifty centimeters after Song Ha-Eun passed through.

“Huh?”

Kwon Oh-Jin bit down hard on his lip as he stared at the small rift.

If Vega didn’t count due to her small size, that meant just one person passing through had reduced the rift’s size by half.

“Damn it.”

Between himself and Isabella, only one of them could escape.