Chapter 735: Chapter 735: Clown (4)
Whooosh—!
A chilling wind blew fiercely, clearing away the swirling dust, and beyond it appeared the burning skeleton.
Flare—!
The corpse collector, reduced to nothing but bones engulfed in black flames.
Even so, the Staff of the Underworld—unaffected by the flames—was tightly gripped in his bony, marrow-like hand...
‘...Why does he look so weak?’
The aura he showed when he first unleashed his invincibility skill in Goblin Forest was gone.
The reason was simple.
One minute of invincibility.
And the huge surge of physical stats from the conversion of ability and spirit stats.
The skill’s performance hadn’t changed since then.
No, with the blessing of the Underworld, his specs were even stronger than before.
Yet he chose a different course.
Unlike before, when he had aimed to pierce my forbidden zone with sharp strikes during that one minute.
Tat-tat-tat—!
Without a moment’s hesitation, he turned his back and bolted away.
That sight reminded me of a familiar bug.
Back when I lived in the basement, when the kitchen light came on, cockroaches would dash off just like that.
‘...He’s pretty fast.’
With the Underworld’s blessing and Momentary Immortality combined, his stat boost must have been significant, making his movement speed very high.
So I hurried after him.
Boom! Boom!
I moved my long, thick legs until they ached, but the distance between us kept growing.
How could he jump so well on such small leg bones?
‘He’s gonna die eventually anyway.’
Though the gap widened quickly, I didn’t feel impatient.
An open plain with nowhere to hide.
No matter how far he ran, I stubbornly followed the direction he fled.
And...
‘One minute.’
The moment the Momentary Immortality ended, flesh gradually returned to the skeleton’s frame.
Tat-tat-tat—!
Now back to his natural state, holding only his staff, he continued to flee.
‘...Still not closing the distance.’
Despite the invincibility ending, he kept up his fast escape.
I felt slightly annoyed but knew it wasn’t a big problem.
The Underworld wouldn’t close for quite some time.
‘Maximum duration is probably 24 hours.’
No matter how many times he got hit here, it was roughly 30 minutes or so.
In other words, over 23 hours were still left.
Boom! Boom!
Striding at a steady pace, I grinned.
‘Let’s see how long you can keep running.’
A barbarian never gives up.
Have you ever played tag?
If so, you know.
Though it’s just a game, being chased offers intense tension and thrilling excitement.
If even a game feels like that, how intense would real tag be?
Actually, Nekrapeto hadn’t known well before.
Because he was always the ‘it.’
Tat-tat-tat—!
His legs ached from nonstop movement.
Maybe due to psychological pressure, he felt exhausted faster than usual.
“Huff, huff...!”
Breath caught in his throat as proof.
‘...P-please, just give up!’
The distance from the ‘it’ was still great, but he felt no relief.
Boom! Boom!
Even from afar, the steady footsteps were audible.
A tenacity that would never give up.
‘If I’m going to lose him, I have to widen the gap more...’
Growing anxious, he used every means he had.
He kept summoning corpses from the pocket dimension, trying to obstruct the barbarian’s path.
[Grrrrr—!]
He raised a massive wall of corpses.
[Kyaaaak—!]
Swung rotten claws, trying to irritate the barbarian.
“Oh, stacking buffs, nice.”
Unaware that the barbarian behind him was smiling with satisfaction.
Tat-tat-tat—!
Time passed.
One minute, two, three, four...
Boom! Boom!
Ten, twenty, thirty, forty...
‘One hour...’
Though he couldn’t tell exactly, it felt that long.
The situation remained unchanged.
The man rode his fastest summoned creature, and the barbarian thundered through the corpse horde.
And the distance...
‘...Why isn’t it getting any bigger?!’
It was similar.
There were two problems.
First, despite summoning corpses to hinder, it didn’t affect the tank-like barbarian much.
‘Giant form.’
The barbarian showed no sign of dropping the [Giant Form].
Usually, such transformation powers consume MP per second and can’t last long.
‘If only that ended, I could widen the gap!’
When it did, he hoped to finally distance himself.
A wish rooted in ignorance.
Abet Nekrapeto didn’t know—
「Bjorn Yandel activated a transformation ability.」
「Due to the effect of [Primordial Cell], the soul power cost of this skill is halved, and the highest stat is increased by 1.5 times.」
Shield Barbarian was about 70% complete.
「Bjorn Yandel cast [Soul Dive].」
「Soul power regenerates in proportion to the amount consumed.」
Unless MP drain is forced from outside, the [Giant Form] would never end.
Whooosh—!
Reacting to a chilling sensation behind him, Nekrapeto quickly turned—
「Character used [Aegis Dragon Armor].」
A massive soul warrior appeared, ignoring perspective or distance.
‘...W-What skill has its cooldown reset already?!’
It wasn’t a skill but an item effect, so Nekrapeto had no knowledge.
Aegis Dragon Armor was a ‘Secret Number’ not in the game.
He couldn’t have known that his summoned corpse horde rapidly rebuilt his stacks.
‘...I was trying to widen the gap because of that...!’
He was frustrated.
How could a tank keep using such broken skills consecutively?!
But he had no time for complaints.
Tat!
Diving off the summon, he dodged a giant axe falling like divine punishment.
The result—
Kraaaaang!
He barely dodged the axe, but his mount disappeared without a trace.
Thanks to the Underworld’s field effect, it would slowly restore, but it would take hours.
“Tch, thought I could break it this time.”
His keen hearing caught the barbarian muttering far off.
Snapping out of it, Nekrapeto got up and started running on his own feet.
Tat-tat-tat—!
He sensed something wrong after about five minutes of running.
“...Ugh!”
He dodged the axe’s direct hit but didn’t avoid it completely.
‘My... leg...’
One leg was fine, but his left leg barely moved.
He forced it, but pain crept up relentlessly...
Crack!
The pain worsened.
Naturally, his speed slowed.
Nekrapeto didn’t look back.
Saving the time, he focused on running.
Still, the sounds behind grew ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) closer.
Boom! Boom!
Step by step.
No matter how desperately he ran, the sounds neared.
Boom!
When the sounds were right behind him—
“Ugh!”
Feeling like his hair was being yanked, his body lifted upward.
“Finally caught you.”
Opening his eyes, the barbarian appeared.
As if mocking him.
“Pssst.”
Laughing aloud.
The chase was finally over.
It took just over an hour.
‘Once this is over, I need to quickly get more movement skills.’
Although the chase ended safely, I reflected on my shortcomings and planned improvements.
Recently, the lack of movement skills caused too many difficulties.
Even just [Leap] would’ve made this pursuit much easier—
“Haha....”
Lost in thought briefly, the other suddenly gave an awkward smile.
“W-what about negotiations?”
Why do these bastards always pull that crap when cornered?
“No.”
“B-But if we talk, maybe we can find a win-win solution—”
“No.”
“...”
“Then let’s just die.”
I clenched my fist, ready to finally put the baby-like opponent to rest.
But then—
“...Huh?”
“I-I refuse to die like this...!!”
The one whose hair was grabbed pulled out a dagger from the pocket dimension and slashed.
Swwiiiiing—!
Of course, the dagger didn’t aim for me.
Instead of my skin, which couldn’t be scratched, he cut his own hair.
Then...
Thunk.
Rolling like a breakfall, he distanced himself quickly.
‘Still looking for an escape, even now.’
Just like last time abandoning Vivian, the desire to live burned strong.
Well, no blame there.
“If you wanted to live, you shouldn’t have done stupid things to die.”
I raised my hammer and brought it down.
But—
Kraaaaang!
He rolled aside just in time to dodge.
Expecting the dodge, I immediately kicked his head.
But what’s this?
Tat.
He backflipped to evade the kick.
Despite his injured leg, he was surprisingly nimble.
‘Just one good hit and it’s over...’
Knowing this, he resisted desperately.
Whoosh!
I swung the hammer.
Whoooosh!
Reaching out.
Kraaaaang!
Another hammer slam, but no hits.
‘Damn, he’s so damn hard to hit.’
Like trying to swat a fly.
Not threatening but annoyingly hard to catch barehanded.
I just need to land the finishing blow, but it keeps missing.
“Can’t you just die already?”
Getting irritated, but the calmer you stay, the better.
“...Hoo, hoo.”
Even looking at a rolling stone, there’s something to learn.
Putting aside irritation, I saw him, seemingly in a trance, dodging all my attacks.
And then a small realization struck me.
Whoooosh—!
The reason my attacks missed was mindset.
He awakened all his senses to dodge each strike; what about me?
Did I use every bit of my effort?
The answer was no.
So...
‘Ha, this calls for a mental attack.’
I kept swinging my hammer at empty air and said what I thought would best disrupt his concentration.
“Do you know, Abet Nekrapeto?”
“...”
“I’m actually an evil spirit.”
“...?”
His pupils flickered slightly, but he again bent backward to dodge the hammer.
Hmm, that’s not enough.
“I was born and raised in Korea.”
I quickly continued, not giving him time to recover.
“In Stone Eben, I used the nickname ‘Elfnuna.’”
“...What?”
Finally, a proper reaction.
Well, Elfnuna was somewhat well-known.
And I pronounced it properly in English.
Whoooosh—!
“Ugh!”
His focus wavered, and the hammer barely brushed past his nose.
Still dodging?
“Clown, Abet Nekrapeto.”
I called out the name I used only at the round table, and his pupils dilated greatly.
His eyes seemed to say,
‘...How do you know that name?!’
Well, how else?
Grinning, I felt an inexplicable sense of liberation.
“I am...”
A truth I wanted to tell him someday.
“The Masked Lion.”
“...!!!!!!”
Ah, what a relief.
Seeing his disbelief lifted a huge weight off my chest.
“...Y-You are?”
He stopped moving and asked me.
“The Masked Lion.”
I nodded.
Yes, I am the Masked Lion.
So then...
「Character cast [Swing].」
Now just die.
Crunch!!!
Like a bug.