Chapter 217 - Chapter 217 (1/2)

Only a few minutes ago.

Beru always prided himself as the most loyal subject to his king. But now, after getting trapped within the ice prison of the Sovereign of Frost, he realised what the taste of sheer powerlessness was like.

Was I really this weak?

Why did I continue to grow stronger? For what purpose was it?

Beru felt so pathetic by the fact that he couldn't do anything while his liege was being besieged by his enemies. However, there was nothing the former ant king could do.

The Sovereign of Frost was an existence on another level compared to Beru. And he didn't possess the requisite power to escape from this magic. All he could do now while trapped in ice was to pray that his liege would be safe.

Fortunately, his liege wasn't pushed back at all, even when facing off against transcendental enemies.

'As expected of my liege…. This lowly slave can only be moved by your greatness.'

Beru was so emotionally moved by his master's display of power that tears overflowed from his eyes as he continued to watch Jin-Woo's battle.

But then, the disadvantage of numbers gradually tightened around the neck of his liege. The progressively-worsening cycle of attacks and defences of the enemies began pushing Jin-Woo back and Beru desperately struggled against his restraints.

'My king!! My king!!!'

And finally, Beru watched as Jin-Woo was sent flying by the Sovereign of Plagues' large palm and slam into a wall.

The king was in danger. The king was in danger. The king was in danger!

'I must protect my king.'

Snap.

Something inside Beru's head snapped loose. The empty void where his reasoning used to be was replaced by the 'emergency mode' designed to protect his king.

"Kiiiiieeeehhk!"

Beru's expression crumpled to resemble a frightening devil as he screeched out loudly.

Arms, shoulders, neck, chest, thighs, calves, ankles! Every part of his body ballooned up at the same time and began pushing away the block of ice imprisoning him.

Crack, craaack!

The seemingly-inescapable ice prison began to develop several large cracks. Beru shook his entire body.

Kwa-jeeck!

The ice prison could no longer contain the power of the ant soldier going crazy inside and its surface cracked even more so. Even in the midst of this, there was only one thing in Beru's head – the thought of rescuing his king.

Kiiieeehk!

He poured out all his strength and twisted his body, causing a big crack to run down the ice block.

Kwa-jijijik!!

He used his sheer physical strength to prise out the gap even further and extricated himself from the ice prison. Beru then disregarded everything else while flying straight towards Jin-Woo's side.

"My kingggggg!!"

"Beru!"

Even before he felt happy at his master looking back at him, all those little nicks and scrapes on Jin-Woo's body entered Beru's vision first. They were caused by the insect woman when she smacked his liege into the building just now.

A mere insect woman dared to lay her hands on his king!

She dared to touch his king!!!

"Kiiiieeeehhk!!"

Beru's anger reached a new height and he flew directly at the Queen of the Insects. The thunderous screech of Beru reverberating throughout the battlefield that used to be city streets rendered the Sovereign of Frost quite surprised.

[A measly Shadow Soldier managed to break free of my binding magic?!]

Such a thing shouldn't even happen. It took a closer look at Beru's power in the 'emergency mode' for a second there and spat out a gasp of shock next.

This power didn't belong to some 'measly' Shadow Soldier at all.

[How did a mere human manage to rear up a Marshal grade being?]

Each and every single one of the soldiers with 'Marshal' grade acting as the Shadow Sovereign's hands and feet could be considered as destruction personified.

The Sovereign of Frost couldn't have imagined that it would see a Marshal grade creature today and failed to hide its astonishment. In the meantime, Beru had arrived right before the Queen of Insects, the target for his unquenchable rage.

[I must punish an unruly child that can't even recognise his own mother!]

"Kiiiieehhk, shut up, you crazy wench!"

[What did you say?!]

The resident of the Chaos World and the master of all insects living there, the Sovereign of Plagues got triggered by the former ant king's statement.

Vuuwoong!

Beru ably dodged an attack from the Insect Queen and took aim at the centre of the insects swarming together to form a single body before screeching out with his magical energy.

"Kyaaahk-!!"

The former ant king's thunderous roar forced the insects to fall off from the Queen's body in an instant, causing the real body of the Sovereign of Plagues hiding within to briefly reveal itself.

It was a humanoid female with rotting, distorted skin, and a pair of empty eye sockets filled with wriggling maggots.

The Sovereign of Plagues displayed violent rage against the detestable former ant king that dared to bare its fangs at its original owner.

"Kiiiaaahhk!!"

The screech from the Insect Queen resounded out loudly enough to tear asunder the heavens, and Beru was forced back with no way to block the attack.

He was pushed far, far back before he managed to regain his balance and floated back down to the ground.

"Kiiechk, kyahk, kyaahk."

While Beru was shaking his head left and right, a heavy groan leaking out of his mouth....

The Queen of Insects had managed to recall the bugs back to rebuild its giant body once more.

'Okay, that's good.'

Jin-Woo nodded his head after watching the exchange between those two.

Of course, he knew that Beru wouldn't last long. The enemy was far too strong for that. However, if he could just steal away the attention of one of these three….

While Beru was fighting against the Queen, Jin-Woo shifted his eyes back to the other two Sovereigns. The tension hidden within their eyes was transmitted in the air, and he could clearly sense it.

The amount of time Beru could buy him wasn't much.

So, move faster than anticipated!

Jin-Woo dashed towards the Sovereign of Frost with all his power.

Kwagagagagagak!

The impact force from each and every one of his steps destroyed the ground below. The Sovereign of Frost glared at Jin-Woo making a beeline towards him and created a sharp ice spear between its two hands.

But, just before he collided with his target, Jin-Woo abruptly changed his direction and leapt towards the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, instead.

[…...!!]

The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was getting ready to counter the moment Jin-Woo attacked its fellow Sovereign, but it flinched in nasty surprise at this stunning movement.

By a mere whisker, the beast managed to block Jin-Woo's shortsword by nothing but sheer primal instinct. Its eyes shook hard.

Jin-Woo could only click his tongue as their blades remained locked like this.

'Che.'

He was planning to fatally wound this beast-like thing after making it assume that he was aiming for the ancient Ice Elf, instead. The reflexes of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs were faster than Jin-Woo's expectation.

However, it wasn't as if it was a total waste of time. He sensed the creature getting flustered just then.

'I must push this b*stard back like this.'

In the blink of an eye, he gripped the Kamish's Wrath in reverse grip and rained down a barrage of powerful attacks.

The horrifying sounds of air tearing up resounded throughout the area as the ultra-sharp blades left behind countless cut marks in the surroundings.

Clang!! Khang! Claaang!! Cah-hang!! Clang!!

The beast became fully occupied with defending against Jin-Woo's shortswords. Step by step, the creature was pushed back as it gradually lost out to his speed. The look of panic began clouding its face.

But then...

Jin-Woo sensed this sharp killing intent right behind him and urgently tilted his torso out of the way. The Sovereign of Frost thrust its ice spear and it slid past the location where his waist had been, barely missing him.

The ancient Ice Elf had entered the fray between Jin-Woo and the beast.

For the brief moment their eyes met, Jin-Woo discovered this incredibly heavy enmity from the eyes of the Elf b*stard.

Grit.

The grating noises of grinding teeth leaked out from Jin-Woo's mouth.

He slapped away the ice spear with his shortsword and quickly closed the distance as the Sovereign of Frost's posture crumbled from the after-effects of the weapon shaking loose in its grip.

Swish-!

He swung his blade, hoping to slice up the arrogant eyes of the creature, but regrettably, he missed by a hair's breadth. Instinctively pulling its head back to escape the danger, the expression on the ancient Ice Elf crumpled into something unsightly.

'Too bad, but....'

What followed after the attack was to defend. Jin-Woo ably blocked the beast's blade as if he knew it was coming.

CLANG!

Blocked again by a whisker; however, there was no time to sigh in relief after blocking the attack. The Sovereign of Frost grasped its spear again and commenced with its counterattack. The beast, too, came at him with its own barrage of attacks.

At the back, the Sovereign of Frost.

From the front, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.

Scary attacks from the two monsters possessing powers on another level rained down on him.

However...

Clang! Claaang!! Clang, clang, clang!! Claaang!! Claaang! Clang, clang, clank, clang, clank, clang!!

Two lengthy shortswords flashed about like bolts of lightning to either block or deflect all attacks coming from the two monsters.

Jin-Woo's movements had now firmly surpassed the limits of one's vision and they resembled just one long afterimage. It even looked as if he was blending into the already-blurry shapes of the two Sovereigns.

It went without saying that he couldn't possibly have seen every single attack coming in from his front and back, and respond to them in time with nothing but his eyes.

However, he could see something else, and that was the flow of each incoming attack. Things like pre-movement, the eyes, breathing, muscles twitching, the direction of magic energy, etc.

His sensory perception pushed to the absolute limit didn't miss out on a single little thing and accurately read each and every one of the enemies' attacks.

'….I can see it.'

That was why, just a little bit more! If he could go a little bit faster and surpass these b*stards...

'Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster!'

As the countless hits were exchanged, he got faster and faster. The complexions of the two Sovereigns fighting Jin-Woo hardened more and more.

'But, how.... how could this....?!'

'It's impossible! This human can't be fully utilising the power of the Shadow Sovereign!!'

But that wasn't it. Their enemy had exceeded the limits of humanity and was evolving further and further right before their eyes. That's when the two Sovereigns remembered it – the fear they held towards the strongest king that ruled the Chaos World.

And this happened around the same time.

Pah-ahck!!

Jin-Woo crossed blades with the weapons of both Sovereigns and then, with nothing but his physical strength, shoved them both far away.

[….!!]

[….!!]

Shock and astonishment quickly dyed the expressions of the two Sovereigns.

***

Lennart Niermann was sure of it now.

He was sure that there was no one else around here that could chase after the battle of those three with their bare eyes except himself, as long as the grievously-wounded Thomas Andre remained lying on the ground while being treated by the Healers surrounding him.

Even then, he couldn't clearly chase after Jin-Woo's movements with his eyes.

"...."

Only sighs of admiration kept leaking out of his mouth.

Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was not being pushed back by an inch even though he was fighting against the 'beast' that subdued the Special Authority-rank Tanker with brute strength, as well as a monster that froze up the vast ground with a single breath.