To Hell With Being a Hero!

Chapter 328

All the monsters that filled the hall liquefied and merged. Then it fell to the floor and immediately started to flow in one direction like it was being sucked into a pump. Its final stop was the fire pit in the middle of the room. Kobalos’ magic fire pit sucked up the blood, flesh, and bones like a beggar devouring a bowl of soup. If the fire pit was a vacuum cleaner, Chi-Woo would have bought it for a hefty sum because in just a few seconds, it swallowed up the mess of debris and liquid without leaving even a nail-sized blood stain.

The floor that was finally revealed was covered in symbols. A collection of unrecognizable geometric patterns arranged in the shape of a hexagonal star. It was large enough to cover the entire floor of the room. As soon as Chi-Woo recognized the shape, the hexagonal star glowed an ominous blood-red, and then the fire from the fire pit began to burn brightly.

Gurggle! The molten solution inside the fire pit swirled intensely and rose like a tidal wave before tumbling out. The solution overflowed and looked as if it would fill the whole room. Soon it converged and began to take form. This whole process took place in a matter of seconds.

All the rescue team members slowly tilted their heads and looked speechless. A tzompantli emerged in front of them. It was one of the most famous monuments symbolizing the brutality of the Aztec civilization—a wooden rack made by threading human skulls on a pole. And that was what the solution spit out by the fire pit formed. Various skulls of all types with pieces of loosely hanging skin were stacked up in several layers, and bones and flesh oozing with thick blood were densely packed in between. It was a human meat sandwich cannibalistic giants would go crazy for.

The hall, which had been quiet for a while, became noisy again. “The monster just got bigger!” Jin-Cheon shouted as if this was no big deal. “It just changed from a small lump to a big lump!”

Emmanuel also added in affirmation, “It’s better this way.” He pulled his fleuret back and readied his stance. “Since our target has gotten bigger!”

No sooner had he finished speaking than he flung out his fleuret.

[Eustitia’s 12 Special Arts—Lightning Patterns]

A lightning bolt struck the top of the grotesque monster. Soon, it split into various shapes and tumbled down the skull rack.

Arghhghghhghgh! In an instant, the faces got enveloped by zig-zag lightning and screamed in unison.

Jin-Cheon whistled when he saw them twist and shake in great pain. “Look at that destructive power! Mister, that’s insane!”

Chi-Woo nodded in agreement. As expected of Lighting Fire. Lightning and fire were both effective against evil energy, and the effects doubled when combined. Moreover, it was especially effective against something of their current opponent’s attributes. Chi-Woo was again glad he chose Emmanuel as his second star. He barely felt the absence of Ru Amuh.

‘Good. If we continue like this…’

Then suddenly, Abis exclaimed in surprise, “Hey! Are you okay?”

When Chi-woo turned around, he saw—

Thud! Emmanuel fell on one knee. “Ack! Gasp!”

Chi-Woo was flustered for a moment when Emmanuel sounded like he was suffocating and couldn’t get his act together. The monster that came out of the firepit was still suffering from Lighting Fire, and Chi-Woo couldn’t feel any kind of external mana invading his sanctuary. However, Emmanuel was suffering. He was gasping for breath and trembling even though there was no visible sign of trauma. What the hell was happening?

—It’s pain sharing.

Philip gave him the answer.

—It’s a type of curse you put on yourself, and you return the same pain that the other person inflicted on you and those under your power.

In short, every time they attacked, the pain they inflicted on their enemy would return to them like a boomerang. Chi-Woo realized his mistake. He hadn’t thought that their enemy might put a curse on himself.

‘Then that monster…?’ Chi-Woo frowned when he turned back and saw the monster burned and melted by Lightning Fire gradually regenerating. The monster not only could share its pain, but its regenerative ability seemed extremely high. The speed of regeneration was relatively slow due to the sheer power of Lightning Fire, but it could probably immediately sprout new flesh if it got hit by normal attacks. After learning these two pieces of information, Chi-Woo realized that the monster that just got bigger was a much more troublesome opponent.

To kill it, they needed to take its pain, and the monster constantly regenerated itself. Would they be able to endure until that monster died?

‘Wait, what if we kill it before we can even feel pain…’

—I know it works in theory, but it’s probably not possible.

Philip sighed.

—That thing has as many lives as the number of beings that had been sacrificed to make it. It won’t die unless you finish off all of them.

‘What?’

—But above all, considering Samigina’s personality, he probably made it so that it can even regenerate its life.

In short, even with a powerful ability, there was a greater possibility that their side would fall first. Chi-Woo’s assessment of the monster changed. It wasn’t just troublesome, but nigh impossible to beat.

‘Then how do we…?’

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—…I told you.

Philip smacked his lips.

—I hated having to deal with him the most.

Since Samigiya was still alive even though Philip had run into him a few times before his death, Philip probably hadn’t found a way to defeat him. Chi-Woo was at a loss, but decided to share with everyone the information he got. Although they had more or less guessed the monster’s abilities, they were still shocked. They couldn’t think of a concrete plan either.

“In the end, it’s a battle of who can hold out the longest.” Yunael shook off the blood and flesh on their spear and murmured. “Well, it can’t be helped. We have no choice but to endure and beat it up until it dies.”

“Oh, I like how simple it is.” Jin-Cheon also nodded in approval.

It was easier said than done. Emmanuel was a prime example. He had finally come to his senses after Abis poured the potion she had prepared on him, but his limbs were still shaking intermittently.

‘…Yeah.’ As Yunael said, it couldn’t be helped. In any way, Chi-Woo couldn’t think of any plans other than a war of attrition. ‘There’s no good in dragging this out.’ The chimera of a monster wasn’t their only enemy; Samigina was still alive and well. In short, they had to pick from two choices—a short and fast sprint with tremendous power, or a long and continuous marathon. Of course, Chi-Woo’s choice was the former.

Rather than consuming more power than necessary as Samigina intended, it would be better to defeat the monster in an all-out showdown even with considerable risk and damage. Chi-Woo was about to step forward while holding his club, but suddenly stopped walking. A spear was raised to block his path.

“Don’t come forward yet.” Yunael stretched out their arm and glared at the old man behind the monster. “I hate to admit this but…I don’t have the confidence to deal with that bastard.”

Chi-Woo immediately caught the meaning behind Yunael’s words. It was simple. Their enemy leader was still alive and well and hadn’t stepped forward yet. Therefore, they should also preserve their best force, Chi-Woo, as much as possible in case of an emergency. All the rescue team members nodded in agreement. In fact, Chi-Woo was the only one who not only fought on equal footing with Samigina earlier, but managed to push him back by a little bit. Chi-Woo swallowed what he was about to say. What if it’d been Ru Amuh who said that to him instead? He would have trusted him without another word, since Ru Amuh was his most reliable first star. But Yunael was someone that both the old dingo, who his brother specially regarded, and Aida, who was a star-seeker, vouched for.

“…All right.” Considering the situation, Chi-Woo didn’t ponder for long. “Let’s see how you did.”

“Ah, you’ll see.” Yunael snorted, but they didn’t seem to be in a bad mood. “Watch carefully with both eyes and don’t tell me later that you missed it, okay?” They pointed their spear straight ahead again and grinned.

“Hey, you’re not planning to take everything by yourself, are you?” Jin-Cheon stretched as hard as he could and chuckled. “Let me get a share too.” Then he turned back towards Emmanuel, who was struggling to get up. “Hey, mister. I’m sorry to ask this of you as soon as you got up, but can you do the same thing again?”

Emmanuel scowled.

“Hey, don’t get angry. It’s okay if it’s too hard.”

“…Don’t look down on me,” Emmanuel said in a slightly husky voice and lifted the fleuret roughly. “You guys…” The fleuret flashed with electric current. “Just watch!” At the same time as he let out a strained cry—

Rumble! Cracckkle! Thunder suddenly struck and shook the whole room. It was twice as powerful as before, and the thunderstorm fell on top of the monster that had just finished regenerating.

[Eustitia’s 12 Special Arts—The Sound of Thunder + Lightning Patterns.]

This time, not one, but several lightning bolts incomparable to the one a moment ago distorted their visions.

Arghuguhugwek!

“Aghhhhhhhhh!”

The monster and Emmanuel burst into screams at the same time.

“Geez, seriously! You didn’t have to overdo it!” Jin-Cheon clicked his tongue and lunged.

“Hey, healing potion.”

“Pyu?”

“Follow me.” Yunael grabbed Steam Bun with one hand and kicked the ground.

The monster was in the same position as Emmanuel. When it barely managed to pull itself up, it got beaten down into mush again. However, it reacted differently from before. Although it was in pain, it didn’t flounder in agony. If Chi-Woo wasn’t mistaken, its regenerative ability seemed to have increased.

‘It can even adapt?’ It would have been a disaster if they had dragged things out even more. They needed to finish this monster right now. As soon as Jin-Cheon went up to it, he stretched his arms sideways as much as possible, and he was hit with all kinds of unpleasant sensations as soon as his hands touched the monster—there was a sting like he was bitten, and the feeling of thick liquid flowing across his fingers and arms was equally dreadful. However, Jin-Cheon paid no heed to them.

He felt as if he was holding a rock the size of a house. “Arghhhhh!” Jin-Cheon put so much strength into his biceps that veins popped out. As a result of emptying all his remaining mana and infusing it into his arms, the monster and the floor separated little by little. When Jin-Cheon succeeded in lifting it up, he shouted, “Hereee!” and threw the monster as hard as he could.

Bam! The monster slammed into the wall roughly and toppled to the floor. It had been in the middle of regenerating and was about to stand up with difficulty, but ended up flustered when its whole body got turned upside down. While the monster floundered like an overturned insect, one person soared into the air. Yunael let go of the spear for a moment. They put Steam Bun on top of their head with one hand and took out a healing potion with the other hand.

Pop! Yunael quickly opened the cap and held the potion in their mouth before raising their spear firmly with both hands. Then they spread their legs in an O and thrust the spear down vertically.

Bamm! The force, added with the momentum generated from the jump, violently spread through the lower half of the monster.

“Ugh-!” Yunael bit hard onto the potion bottle, and a shrill scream escaped. They threw their head back as soon as they landed, and tears welled up for a moment. But thanks to their quick action, the bottle tilted upward, and the potion poured down their throat. However, they didn’t even have a moment to rest. Although Yunael felt the pain of being pierced from the top of the head to their bottom, and the splitting pain swept throughout their whole body, Yunael immediately opened their eyes and pulled out their spear after gulping down the potion. Then they began to give their all again.

“Ughh!” Yunael screamed with all their might and pierced the monster again and again. Steam Bun caught on to what they were doing by then and hurriedly vomited out whitish liquid, which ran down from the top of Yunael’s head and dripped all over their body.

“Haaggh—! Heuuuagh—!” Before long, Yunael’s battle cries turned into painful screams that were hard to even listen to. Yunael’s vision was getting hazy. Their body was screaming in intense pain, but they didn’t stop. Like shooting an enemy with a machine gun until there was not even a trace of them left, Yunael bombarded the enemy with countless thrusts and indiscriminately pierced the monster everywhere. Of course, the more they harmed the monster, the higher the price they had to pay.

“…! …!” At some point, they couldn’t even let out a sound. Their vision went blank; their senses gradually faded, and they couldn’t feel anything.

Nevertheless, Tap! Yunael finally stopped moving fiercely like an engine that just started and suddenly stumbled. They almost collapsed, but managed to pull themselves back up by using their spear as a staff. Their soaked hair tumbled down, and they let out a deep, rumbling sound like raging lava. “Ru…rugh…” Breathing heavily, Yunael leaned against the spear and tried hard to recover their senses. Then the floor came into focus. They saw not the monster’s body, but blood and shredded and torn debris covering the ground. The enormous monster was nowhere to be seen, and the only thing left after the bombardment was ashes. Yunael opened their mouth and spat out the empty bottle. They rolled their eyes from side to side and raised the corners of their mouth slightly.

“You s-saw…” They were about to fall, but stopped after seeing the wet stains. “Ah, ah…fuck…wait…” With the resolve to not fall down even if they were going to die, Yunael managed to jump while faltering. As soon as they were out of the range, their head hit the floor. Even though they lost all sensory feelings in their body as if they had suffered a severe burn, they managed to win. The rescue team achieved their desired goal by uniting their forces, and they succeeded in overcoming this crisis while maintaining their strongest force.

“…Haha.” Samigina laughed dryly after witnessing what just happened with his very own eyes. Without using any strategy, the rescue team simply pushed on recklessly and poured out attacks, but as simple as it was, their method was also the most effective. As a result, his trump card was defeated, and at this point, even he, an experienced great demon, had no choice but to admit that he was in danger. Despite the realization, Samigina was calm. In the first place, he had no fear of disappearing and had no special attachment to life.

However, there was only one thing that lingered in the back of his mind—a memory surfaced suddenly.

[If you stay here…the end is…]

The seventh rank great demon had visited relatively recently.

[Soon…The Demon Empire’s future…will be decided…]

[Before that…request…help…]

He remembered her prophecy and earnest request. Samigina fell into thought for a while, but he soon stopped rubbing his chin. “…Aha.” He let out a small exclamation and opened his mouth with a hint of excitement in his voice.