Chapter 220: Vesper and Noctis

Kael noticed the Monster approaching him and immediately raised his arms to defend himself, but the creature was already much closer than he had expected. Before he could completely adjust his stance, the Monster’s fist came crashing toward him with a layer of bright yellow Lightning covering its entire arm.

The Lightning wasn’t simply surrounding its fist as an additional effect, but was constantly surging through its muscles and reinforcing the attack with an Elemental force that Kael had rarely encountered from a Monster, ’An Elemental attack?! Shi—!’

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The fist struck Kael directly and the enormous force behind the attack sent his body flying through the sky at tremendous speed. He crossed hundreds of meters in an instant before crashing into the side of a distant mountain, and the moment his body made contact with the rocky surface, the entire mountain shook violently as an enormous amount of debris exploded outward.

KRAAAAAAAAAASH!

The mountain’s surface collapsed around the point of impact, burying Kael beneath several layers of broken stone while dust and smoke rapidly spread across the surrounding area. The Monster that had attacked him remained floating in the air, its fist still covered in yellow Lightning as it slowly lowered its arm. However, instead of immediately turning toward another target, it stared at its own hand with a strange expression.

Something wasn’t right.

The Monster had clearly felt its attack connect, but the sensation had been completely different from striking another living creature. There had been no resistance, no feeling of flesh being crushed beneath its fist, and no sensation of bones breaking from the tremendous force it had released. It had simply felt as though its fist had passed through something that wasn’t supposed to be there.

The Monster turned toward the mountain again, its eyes narrowing as it stared at the enormous cloud of dust where Kael had disappeared. Several other Monsters floating nearby noticed its strange reaction and also shifted their attention toward the mountain, because they had all witnessed the attack and knew exactly how powerful an attack from one of them was.

The dust remained for several seconds before it slowly began to clear.

A figure emerged from within the collapsed mountain.

Kael stepped forward through the broken stones as though he had merely walked through a particularly inconvenient pile of rubble. His body was completely unharmed, and even his clothes remained almost exactly as they had been before the attack. There wasn’t a single wound on his exposed skin, and the only visible damage was a faint crack near the upper-right corner of his mask.

The Monsters surrounding him immediately widened their eyes.

Even they couldn’t understand what they were seeing.

That attack had been aimed at one of the strongest individuals gathered in this region, and yet Kael, whose cultivation was clearly lower than theirs, had taken the attack directly without even suffering a serious injury, Hell he was completely unscratched. The difference between their physical strength and his should have been enough for that single punch to severely injure him, but instead he was standing there completely fine.

Kael brushed a few pieces of dust from his shoulder before looking toward the Monster that had attacked him, "Hah, maybe Master wants me to move a little. That’s why she didn’t take action to protect me... Sigh, what a hassle." His voice contained no fear or anger. Instead, he sounded mildly annoyed that he had been forced to interrupt his observation of the battlefield.

Kael then looked toward the sky where several SSS-rank Monsters were floating together, each one watching him carefully after witnessing what had happened, ’It seems Master wants to know whether I can kill several SSS-ranks just like I can kill several SS-ranks. Well, even if she didn’t want me to fight, my Quest would have forced me to move eventually, so I guess this is fine.’

His attention shifted toward Eliana, who was currently surrounded by several SSS-rank Monsters. However, Kael quickly noticed that there was something strange about the situation. Despite the number of Monsters attacking her, Eliana didn’t appear even remotely threatened.

She avoided their attacks with movements that were far too relaxed for someone supposedly surrounded by multiple SSS-rank opponents, and whenever she allowed one of them to get close, she simply redirected its attack or pushed it away without showing her true strength.

Kael immediately understood what she was doing, ’Haha! Master is playing with them. Seems like it’s been a long time since she fought any real battles.’ A smile formed beneath his mask as he watched Eliana for another moment. He knew his Master well enough to recognize when she was genuinely fighting and when she was simply using an opponent to pass the time, and this was clearly the latter.

His gaze eventually returned to the Monsters surrounding him. They had already begun spreading out, he understood what that meant, they weren’t planning to attack him one after another.

They were planning to attack him together.

He didn’t seem bothered by that decision. Instead, he slowly loosened his right hand, and the moment his fingers relaxed, a strange fluctuation appeared beside his palm. Space distorted for a brief moment before a pair of twin daggers materialized directly into both his hands.

The two weapons were perfectly matched in structure and size, with sleek, elongated blades that possessed a slight curve toward their tips. Their edges were exceptionally sharp and reflected the surrounding light with a dark purple sheen, while faint purple energy continuously leaked from the blades and dispersed into the air around them.

The hilts were considerably more elaborate than ordinary daggers, with dark metallic guards extending outward in sharp, creature-like claws around the base of each blade, while subtle scale-like patterns covered the grips.

PICTURE

Kael rotated his wrists once, allowing the daggers to settle naturally between his fingers before lowering his hands slightly. The purple aura surrounding the weapons continued to move slowly around the blades, occasionally producing tiny sparks that vanished almost immediately.

Kael examined them with genuine interest, ’I really like the designs of these daggers, System. I only told you to give me the same ones Sung Jinwoo had in exchange for all the SP I’d accumulated, but... these seem to be much stronger. Thanks, my dearest System~.’

[...]

Then another window appeared before his eyes.

[ Twin Daggers of the Eclipse — Vesper & Noctis ]

Kael’s eyes moved across the names before he continued reading the information beneath them. The moment he understood that the weapons could evolve alongside him, his previous smile slowly widened into a grin, ’Vesper and Noctis... What cool names. And they can evolve as well? Haha, I’m going to use these a whole lot.’

The Monsters didn’t give him any more time to admire them, the Lightning Monster that had attacked him suddenly disappeared.

Kael’s eyes narrowed.

He moved at the same instant.

The moment his figure vanished, several Monsters also blurred through the air, their movements so fast that the surrounding atmosphere violently distorted from their acceleration. Their speed wasn’t comparable to Azarion or Velmira, whose movements had been completely beyond Kael’s ability to follow, but these Monsters were still moving at a speed that even ordinary SSS-rank beings would struggle to react to.

For a brief moment, the battlefield seemed to slow down around them.

Kael appeared high in the sky with the Lightning Monster approaching him from above. Its right fist was once again covered in yellow Lightning, but this time the Monster wasn’t simply throwing a straightforward punch. It had compressed its Elemental energy around its arm, concentrating the Lightning into a dense layer that caused the surrounding space to tremble from the pressure.

The Monster’s fist descended toward Kael as the force distorted the very air around it.

Kael didn’t retreat in the slightest, Instead, he raised his right hand and moved Vesper toward the incoming fist in a frightening acceleration.

CRAAAAAAAACCCKKKKLLLLLL!!!

The dagger and the Monster’s fist collided, and an enormous burst of yellow Lightning exploded from the point of contact. The surrounding sky became filled with crackling energy as the Monster pushed its full strength into the attack, attempting to overpower Kael through sheer physical force.

Kael’s body was pushed downward several meters, but he quickly stopped himself. His eyes narrowed behind the mask as he looked at the Lightning covering the Monster’s arm.

Then he smiled as he spoke, "Too bad, Vesper has an ability that can cut through Elemental attacks..." The Monster’s eyes changed slightly as if it sensed something dangerous, but Kael had already moved.

"Elemental Cut—Severance of Elements."

Vesper moved, the curved purple blade passed through the Monster’s fist.

Instead, the Lightning itself split apart.

The yellow Element covering the Monster’s arm was severed as cleanly as physical matter could be cut. The Lightning separated into two streams before rapidly dissipating into the surrounding air, leaving the Monster’s arm exposed.

The Monster stared at its own hand in disbelief.

Kael hadn’t simply cut through its Lightning.

He had cut the Element itself.