Chapter 440

For an instant, their eyes met.

Was it coincidence?

No way.

The moment those thoughts flashed through Reaper’s head all at once, the transparent Reaper instantly raised both hands—right as Kyou’s lightning flew straight at him.

Even in that split second, the lightning came surging in, showing off its pure speed as it charged. It rushed at Reaper.

Kwa-jijijiji———

The timing was too perfect to dodge, lightning he had no choice but to block.

The intense bolt came flying in with enough force to pierce through Reaper’s body, and it slammed into the two arms he’d raised.

Kwaaaaang———!!!

A brutal shock hammered Reaper’s body, and the transparent form that had been flying in became opaque again, as if color returned.

At the same time, Kyou erased the shadow clones Reaper had laid out and lunged at him.

Kyou was charging in at a seriously fast speed.

With the impact still buzzing through him in a numbing sting, Reaper felt a jolt of confusion.

‘It’s not lightning?’

Normally, Kyou moved by using lightning—using it to shift his body at high speed.

But this time was different.

What Kyou had wrapped around his body wasn’t lightning.

It was wind.

Wind like a typhoon that looked like it would sweep everything away.

That ferocious wind snapped Reaper’s mind into focus.

He could tell Kyou had gotten stronger, and that he’d even learned to handle other attributes.

But he couldn’t get caught up in that—he had to read the phenomenon and the situation.

Reaper, who had a good head on top of his skill, made that judgment, and as he grabbed his twin daggers and faced the charging Kyou—

Kyou stretched out a hand and called up the storm whipping around his body, mixing into it lightning, countless droplets of water, and shards of ice, then firing it all at Reaper.

Kwaaaaaaaa———!!!

A skin-crawling sound rang out, and Reaper’s eyes trembled for an instant at that typhoon that looked like it would swallow everything.

But Reaper was Almighty grade too—and the Dark Star’s disciple.

He’d learned a lot from the Dark Star, so Reaper began drawing out his power properly as well.

Reaper’s class, in the end, was Assassin.

So he didn’t need to take a head-on fight.

Even in the middle of battle, if he could kill the opponent somehow, that was victory.

So the light drained from Reaper’s eyes in a gloomy way, and in that moment he blinked through the shadows—teleporting and slipping into stealth.

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga———!!!

Kyou’s storm tore through empty air and flipped the ground over as if it were being plowed up.

The violent attack raged, but Reaper didn’t even spare it a thought as he moved fast.

He tried to appear behind Kyou through space movement, but for some reason he hesitated, so he shifted to another spot and immediately used stealth—turning transparent as he aimed for Kyou.

But then—

‘He keeps finding me.’

Even while transparent, even while using shadows to the extreme so his movement speed became faster than anyone’s—

No matter where he went, no matter how fast he moved, Kyou found him every time.

Meaning Kyou’s detection ability had skyrocketed.

And in that moment, Reaper understood.

That storm-like wind had already, before he knew it, filled the entire area.

Feeling that, Reaper couldn’t help getting chills.

‘Even the faint breeze blowing around... was all Kyou’s?’

As if proving Reaper’s thought was correct, Kyou kept sending attacks at him.

Storm and lightning, fast-flying droplets of water, hail—

He was using every kind of weather phenomenon to block Reaper’s movement.

Maybe that was why.

-???????????

-I, I can’t see anything.

-Something’s just flashing and I can’t see it......

-D-don’t you need to put slow on this?;;;;

-No, ㅠㅠ I have to be able to see something.

Viewers said things like that.

It made sense that they were getting annoyed.

They had to be able to see something to watch, but right now all they could see was Kyou standing still while everything around him was exploding.

They could tell they were fighting, but beyond that they couldn’t tell anything.

So everyone was getting frustrated, when—

That was when Seong and Helena started talking to provide commentary.

And the screen went into slow motion along with it.

“You might not be able to see it well, so I’ll slow the screen down and explain.”

“Hm? You can’t even see this?”

At Seong’s words, Helena said it like she was mocking them.

And the viewers—

-Ahhk.

-Helena noona, do it more, ㅠㅠㅠ

-Industry award

-Pya pya pya

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That playful way she said it is so cute

Their reaction was actually good.

The viewers who felt something weird tried hard to ignore it, and Seong explained the situation.

“Right now, Kyou-nim has understood Storm Lord, so he’s using more than just lightning—he’s using a lot of different things, but his utilization still looks a bit lacking.”

“Still better than before.”

At Seong and Helena’s words, the viewers could only throw up question marks.

-?????????

-Then how are we supposed to tell?

-He’s in stealth and he’s fast, how do you even feel that???

-Storm Lord isn’t the king of analysis, is he

-How do you know????

When everyone got that confused—

Seong realized he’d been unkind.

Isn’t it common for people to mistakenly think the other person knows what they know?

Seong had done that too.

So Seong scratched his cheek awkwardly and said,

“You lay wind around the area and track the wind’s movement. No matter how good Reaper-nim is, he can’t use stealth while fooling even the wind. Not yet.”

“Mmm. That guy called Dark Star probably hasn’t taught him yet.”

“I think so too.”

“It’s an advanced technique, after all.”

As Seong and Helena talked like that,

The viewers still didn’t really grasp it, but—

They understood, at least, that while fighting Reaper, Kyou had laid wind all around and used changes in the wind’s movement to pinpoint his location.

A scene where lightning was striking back and forth as they traded quick mind games.

Watching that, the viewers couldn’t help letting out admiration.

Kyou, confirming Reaper’s movement through wind and firing attacks ahead of time—and Reaper, dodging all of Kyou’s attacks and trying to close in to land a strike.

-Wow;;;;;

-That was close just now.

-The dagger got right up to his neck......

-Kh, that’s a shame.

-The wind whipped up and shoved him away at that moment.

-Wow, that’s insane???

Reaper reached right in front of Kyou and tried to slash Kyou’s throat in a flash, but in that instant Kyou pushed himself away with wind to dodge—and at the same time he fired lightning to check Reaper.

He couldn’t push Reaper away with wind, so he pushed himself.

And the counterattack came as lightning—the fastest—so it became a shape where he both dodged and attacked at once.

Reaper, watching that lightning, slipped into shadow to avoid it, then burst out from where he reappeared and shot forward even faster, trying to attack Kyou.

And Kyou dodged Reaper and countered again, keeping the pattern similar.

Pa-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba———!!!

Seo-seo-seo-seo-seo-seo-seo———!!!

Kwa-jijijijijijiji———!!!

The area filled up with lightning and slashing strikes, and the wind spread them even farther around.

The ground—every single piece of terrain around them—shattered, got carved apart, and got scorched by lightning, turning everything to wasteland.

What had been a forest became barren land in an instant, and the area was packed with traces of destruction.

At that evenly matched clash, every viewer could only be awed.

But—

“Hmmm. It’s decided.”

“Ended blandly.”

When Seong and Helena said that,

The viewers could only stare blankly.

-What????

-Wh-what??????

-What do you mean?????

-Isn’t it dead even right now???

-??????????????

-What are you saying??????

No one could understand what Seong and Helena had said.

Because neither Kyou nor Reaper had been able to land a meaningful hit on the other.

That made it even more so.

And Seong, looking at the viewers like that, told them,

“To explain a bit more, in battles between lords, things like combat sense and combat skill matter, but the most important thing is how well you can utilize your own attribute.”

“Well, that’s basically skill.”

“Right. So this fight is the same. Who understands and uses their attribute better—and Kyou-nim’s understanding is higher.”

Even though Seong explained it kindly, no one understood.

-???????????

-P-professor, the pace is f***ing fast.

-At this pace I feel like I’ll be in a PhD program in a week.

-Are you saying you’ll become a grad student?

-A-ah!!!

-Anyway what are you even saying???

It was: why is Kyou’s understanding better, and why is he using it better?

In the middle of everyone being confused, Helena grinned and answered.

“Look up.”

At Helena’s words, the viewers did exactly that—lifting their heads and looking up at the sky.

And up there, they could see nothing but massive dark clouds.

Why does that matter?—that thought rose the moment they saw it.

But some viewers with sharp eyes could realize it.

Those dark clouds were gathered only over the area where Kyou and Reaper were fighting.

In other words—

-Holy shit holy shit holy shit, did Kyou make those clouds????

-No, he set something up above in advance while fighting???

-He made the battlefield like that????

-Wow, that’s crazy;;;;

-He made that while they were fighting????

The viewers still didn’t really know what those dark clouds meant.

But Kyou was a Storm Lord.

If the one who could be called the lord of storms laid dark clouds over the sky, what else could it mean?

It was practically a warning that he was about to unleash that much force.

And sure enough—

Kyou’s dark clouds began spiraling, swelling as they grew larger.