Chapter 217 – The Northern Front 6 (2/2)
This time, the strike hit right next to the party members.
The party relied on the defensive barrier to endure the formidable attack.
“Is everyone okay? I think we stopped it somehow…”
“We were lucky this time, but I don’t know what’ll happen if we keep getting struck.”
Brynhildr and Maria exchanged words with serious expressions.
Then Helena pointed at Woohyuk and shouted out,
“Hey, you! Can’t you break it up a bit quicker? We’ve only stopped the attack once, but it’s already difficult to keep ourselves safe!”
“… I’m trying, so don’t complain so much, Witch of Annihilation.”
Woohyuk lightly passed Helena’s words into one ear and out the other.
Later, as he swung Verserios again, cracks gradually formed around the rift.
Kwa-Ji-Ji-Ji!
It seemed like he was making some progress.
Paimon also seemed to decide that he couldn’t prolong the inevitable.
[I think this is a suitable time. As you wish, I’ll present myself.]
Saaaa~!
Purplish wind blew out wildly from the rift as Paimon appeared.
He was an old man with gray hair.
Maybe his image was why they felt a level of dignity exuding from him, but, outside of that, there was no big difference from other Demon Kings.
“Are you going to fight against me alone? I’ll compliment you for your courage,” Woohyuk calmly stated.
“I never said that. Do you think I don’t know that you have seven Demon Kings under your control?” Paimon retorted. He certainly exhibited a seasoned and computational side.
Woohyuk also knew about Paimon’s calculative nature, so he didn’t do anything brash or clumsy.
“Why are you wasting time? Did Aleister promise you a magical invention if you helped him?”
“Haha… no way. However, he did lend me the weapon that fired the particle lightning a moment ago. For free, too.”
In short, the Demon King Alliance believed in Aleister’s invention enough to confront Woohyuk.
Woohyuk looked at Paimon as if he was looking at a pathetic gambler.
“Do you think I’ll be hit by that? You probably don’t know who stopped the first catastrophe.”
“Haha. We won’t know what will actually happen until we try, will we? That’s why we took some time.”
As Paimon finished speaking, a huge human-shaped demonic horseman appeared in front of the abyss rift.
“Is that the weapon that fired the particle lightning bolts?”
“Yes. Aleister named it Ishvar Unit 1.”
Ishvar Unit 1 used condensed mana as a power source.
Thus, the Demon King Alliance had wasted time because they were waiting for Ishvar Unit 1’s power source to be fully charged.
As Paimon talked proudly, Woohyuk looked at him pathetically.
“So, you’re saying that Aleister’s toy is stronger than you guys.”
“… It’s just a tool. It seems like you keep wanting to put us down, so why don’t you deal with this before blabbering on!”
When Paimon finished speaking, the red jewel on Ishvar Unit 1’s face flashed before it dashed towards Woohyuk.
At the same time, the rest of the Demon Kings in the Alliance emerge from the abyss rift.
After Woohyuk entrusting the other enemies to his allies, he focused on dealing with Ishvar Unit 1.
“Quo-oh-oh-oh-oh!”
Kwa-Ji-Ji!
When Ishvar Unit 1 screamed out, the battleground’s surface began to split like tree branches as a semi-translucent wave reverberated out.
Woohyuk leaped up into the air and avoided the wave attack. He had already grasped the attack’s characteristics.
‘It is a machine after all.’
The general attack power may be stronger than a Homunculus’, but if the unit relied heavily on mechanical operation, its learning and critical thinking ability would be relatively low.
In other words, if he figured out the pattern of its attacks and aimed for the loophole in its artificial intelligence, the unit could easily be taken care of.
The problem was that he had to avoid hasty approaches until he figured out the pattern.
Schwing-Wing!
The Ishvar Unit 1 fired a purple particle lightning bolt from a red gem embedded in its chest.
Woohyuk observed the trajectory of the particle lightning bolt and then moved outside its range. He then performed a simple long-range attack.
Kwa-Ang!
A jet-black wave flew from Verserios’ spear tip and struck the Ishvar Unit 1’s head.
It was an attack that would have caused quite a blow to any of the Demon Kings.
However, Ishvar Unit 1 moved casually after being struck.
Schwing-Wing!
Ishvar Unit 1 created a long sword made of purple particles.
[Neutral Blade].
It was a weapon with excellent cutting power, like a high-heat lightsaber.
“So, Aleister made that, huh…”
He recalled seeing mechanical calvary, albeit smaller, in Inotia, the city of high-tech magical creations.
If he could somehow take down this invention in one piece and give it to Aris, a more powerful entity could be invented.
Now that he had roughly figured out the pattern of Ishvar Unit 1’s attacks, he only needed to find its weaknesses.
Chi-Ji-Ji!
The Neutral Blade struck Verserios and made a high-frequency sound.
As he made contact with the Neutral Blade, Woohyuk analyzed the inner magic circuitry of Ishvar Unit 1 by analyzing its flow of mana.
‘It seems the power source is the red jewel on its face.’
Based on what Paimon stated earlier, the red jewel seemed to be a container of mana rather than a mana-generator.
When Ishvar Unit 1 took a step back after the clash, Woohyuk used Amon’s skill, Demon Annihilation, by operating the Nocturne of the Hidden Crescent Moon. The wide-area spell created black holes around the enemy to attack from different locations.
Hwi-Ahh!
Dozens of small black holes sprung up around Ishvar Unit 1.
Woohyuk continued to teleport in an irregular pattern along the small black holes after creating an alter-image.
All of this was done to confuse Ishvar Unit 1’s AI and give Woohyuk the chance to give the final blow.
As expected, Ishvar Unit 1 became confused and tilted its head.
‘Now!’
Woohyuk, who located the blind spot in his field of vision, escaped from a nearby small black hole and inserted Verserios into Ishvar Unit 1’s chest.
At the same time, a black vortex engulfed Ishvar Unit 1.