Chapter 349 (1/2)
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Pu-ha-hak—!
Ruuuumble—
The intimidatingly huge bodies of the giants that were approaching Su-hyeun while radiating Death Aura were enveloped in the purple-hued flames.
Soon afterward, their heads were severed, and their torsos were sliced in half before collapsing to the ground.
In Ellid’s eyes watching on from the distance, Su-hyeun’s figure remained “invisible,” and the only thing he could see was the giants falling like puppets with their strings cut.
“It’s far easier to cut them down?”
Initially, he had to wonder why Su-hyeun wasn’t doing anything and instead let those creatures combine into something much bigger.
Even without doing that, these zombies were already hard to kill with regular types of magic, and they even possessed tenacious endurance. Sure, they were comparatively weaker against fire, but that’s still “comparatively” speaking.
Not only did these creatures boast excellent magic resistance and endurance but the Death Aura that stuck like clumps of dirt all over their bodies also worked as powerful toxins.
Therefore, it would be hard to guess just how much worse their endurance and magic resistance might get after they combined into a bigger individual.
That was why Ellid was concerned, but this…
“There was no need to be worried, after all.”
There was a crucial difference between Su-hyeun and Ellid—while the latter was a magician, the former was a swordsman.
Not just any swordsman either but one capable of wielding fire, too.
Zombies were weak against fire and lacked a strong physical defense, so for them, no other opponent would prove to be as bad of a match-up as Su-hyeun out there.
Whether they combined into one or not, it didn’t really matter.
It wasn’t as if their lacking physical defense would suddenly become sturdier anyway, and even their regenerative powers were being hampered by the flames. From Su-hyeun’s perspective, this event was basically the same as the number of enemies he needed to behead decreasing significantly instead.
As a result, Su-hyeun only needed about three more hours to kill off all the remaining giants.
Drip, drop—
Su-hyeun shook off the chunks of flesh and the dried blood of the giants stuck to his blade to the ground.
Ellid landed back on the ground below the ice wall and approached Su-hyeun. “Well, it has turned into a pigsty.”
“It can’t be helped. I was fighting against these dirty creatures, after all.”
Corpses of zombies and the giants were littered everywhere.
Even if these things were burned and purified by the flames, the Death Aura leaking out from their bodies was more than enough to contaminate the ground below.
Ellid spoke again, “In that case, I’ll have to ask you again.”
“I was planning to without being asked, though.”
Shu-aaaahk—
The Death Aura spread to the surroundings began getting sucked into Su-hyeun’s body. Although the concentration wasn’t all that high, once the Death Aura did enter him, it rapidly became his own energy source.
However, the stat didn’t change.
He hadn’t absorbed Death Aura from a massive area, after all. And as it was mentioned already, the concentration of the aura itself was lower than what he had absorbed earlier.
Fuu-woo—
Thinking that it was finally finished, Su-hyeun exhaled deeply.
Ellid studied Su-hyeun’s face and asked, “Aren’t you feeling tired?”
“This much is alright.”
He wasn’t bluffing.
Even when taking a closer look at Su-hyeun’s face, Ellid could not find a single drop of sweat on Su-hyeun’s forehead.
He seemed a little out of breath just now, but that was due to the process of absorbing the Death Aura, which had added to his fatigue from the battle.
He certainly didn’t look like someone who fought nonstop for well over a day without taking a single break.
“Well, your stamina is truly amazing. Also, I don’t think your magical energy reserve is infinite, now is it?”
“It’s more than doable as long as I manage it properly.”
“Manage?”
“Yes, both the stamina and the magical energy. If I allocate the correct amount, then I can fight for quite a long time. You’ll end up exhausting yourself when consuming a lot of magical energy or using a powerful attack, you see. And it’ll be harder to recover your spent energy the lower your magical energy and stamina reserve become.”
“I also know that, at least theoretically.”
“Since you know, it shouldn’t be all that hard to pull off. After that, just make only the necessary movements and continue fighting. As long as the rate of recovery is faster than the rate of magical energy consumption, and by operating under the premise of not using more than a set amount of magical energy at once, you should be able to utilize an unending stream of magical energy.”
When Su-hyeun explained himself, Ellid couldn’t help but make a disbelieving expression.
When looking at the theory alone, what he said was not wrong.
Assuming that one’s lung capacity was unlimited, while the muscles in arms and legs could withstand the fatigue, plus if the magical energy consumption and the rate of recovery more or less maintained an equilibrium, then well, what Su-hyeun said could be put to practice without a problem.
However, such a thing was only a theory and nothing more.
“Even a dragon would find it impossible to pull off,” Ellid inwardly mused.
Not to forget, the zombies Su-hyeun had been fighting possessed a rather excellent endurance. Without exhausting quite a lot of strength and magical energy, it would be hard to kill even one of them.
“In order to make that a reality, the level of stamina allowing you to fight the whole day without a rest is a must, and you’d need to fight while having quite a lot remaining in your reserve, too…”
Ellid could proudly boast that he was a genius and that he practically knew everything under the sun, but at least this time, he felt quite puzzled.
“I can’t figure it out.”
Should he take what Su-hyeun said at face value or not?
Su-hyeun stared at Ellid who was busy making a puzzled face. When the latter didn’t say anything for a while, he decided to break the silence first. “By the way, just what happened to you earlier?”
* * *
Tumble, sizzle—
Bubble, pop—
A pretty good-looking soup was currently being boiled inside a pot.
Ellid scooped some of this soup on a bowl and handed it over to Su-hyeun. It contained meat of an unknown creature, various vegetables, and spices and proved to be surprisingly edible.
“This is actually delicious.”
Su-hyeun was taken aback greatly.
He wasn’t simply being polite here. The soup was really delicious. When Ellid said he would personally cook something, Su-hyeun even tried to dissuade him initially, but now, he was beginning to regret saying anything.
While scooping some soup into his own bowl, Ellid replied, “Us dragons can live our whole lives drinking only water, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a need to satisfy our taste buds, even more so for a dragon like me.”
“You were an epicurean?”
“That’s right. Alright, let’s enjoy our meal first, shall we? I’m sure you’re famished by now.”
Clack, clack—
For a while, the only sound that could be heard was their utensils hitting their bowls.
All conversation came to a stop, but even while busy moving his spoon, Su-hyeun was inwardly organizing what Ellid had told him before the meal began.
Tap—