I Became a Mythical Hunter After Killing the Golden Goblin - Chapter 82
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 82. Demons Digging in the Damp Pit—Deriachs (2)
Nam Woo-i and Deriachs were rendered speechless. It had been a near-perfect plan. A meticulous, intricately woven strategy that should have been absolutely foolproof.
Yet that plan had crumbled to dust. In less than five minutes, no less.
This was impossible unless someone had known the entire plan beforehand and devised a counter-strategy.
“Damn… this is insane.”
—That crazy bastard! How did he get here already?
The sacrifices hadn’t even reached ten yet. A descent? That was a pipe dream. And surviving against that monster with only my own power?
“Shit. Just when things were starting to look up.”
It’s impossible. Death stares me in the face—denying it won’t change a damn thing.
“You have no intention of sparing me, do you?”
None. Not a shred. Look at those murderous eyes. He looks ready to tear me apart on the spot. Did I do something wrong to him?
I never killed him. I never beat him to death. Yet he’s destroying my carefully laid plan and giving me that look? My frustration is driving me insane.
My mind is about to snap from the suffocation of it all.
Nam Woo-i ceased his dark incantation. From the thunderous explosions echoing from outside, it seemed the monsters he’d prepared as sacrifices had been swept away en masse.
—What are you doing?! Hurry and offer the sacrifices! Descend me now! Otherwise, it’s over! We’re dead!
Deriachs, frantic at the thought of losing to a lesser being again and having his toy shattered, pressed Nam Woo-i urgently.
Nam Woo-i was an incarnation. If the incarnation died, the demon’s true body would inevitably suffer damage.
Yet Nam Woo-i had already abandoned all hope. The sacrifices? Already swept away. Even if some remained, it was impossible to carry them into the Boss Room, hurl them onto the Altar, manifest the dark magic, and summon the demon.
“Damn it all. This is pathetic. But I won’t die without landing at least one blow.”
Nam Woo-i raised the staff in his hand and aimed it at me. Black demonic energy swirled around his body, and his Ma-in transformation manifested.
Yet defeat was already written across his face. Only the resolve to land one final strike before death remained—he had already accepted his loss.
“Stop struggling, you demon bastard.”
As I projected the gauntlet onto Man-byeon, Nam Woo-i began his incantation. That was the moment.
【You wretched thing!】
He convulsed as if struck by lightning, his body trembling violently. The black drained from his eyes as he gasped and clutched at his throat, thrashing desperately.
“Pathetic.”
But dangerous nonetheless. I swiftly manifested The Sun’s inner energy and rushed toward him. The moment my fist shot forward with a precise technique—
Crack!
Space tore open, and Deriachs’s domain materialized in the path of my punch. The same method he’d used before the regression!
I won’t fall for it twice. I seized control of my body. The fist that had been traveling in a straight line twisted sharply, striking not his abdomen but his left thigh instead.
Boom!!
With a deafening explosion, Nam Woo-i was hurled backward and crashed into the wall. I grimaced at the cost of forcibly warping my technique’s form.
Every muscle in my right arm had ruptured.
Sunspot Explosion—the first technique of The Sun Divine Art. In terms of temperature alone, the sunspot is the coolest region on the sun’s surface. Yet the explosions that occur there—flares—are devastating.
Severe flares can impact Earth itself catastrophically. Such power was concentrated in this single strike, and the backlash from forcibly altering its trajectory was immense.
Had I possessed even a modicum of proficiency with The Sun Divine Art, or had I trained the first technique enough to grow accustomed to it, I might have corrected the trajectory without suffering such recoil.
But I had no such luxury. Time was running out—I couldn’t afford to hesitate.
I opened my inventory and hastily downed a potion, steadying my trembling arm. Muscle fibers knitted back together as dead blood spilled from my lips, replaced by fresh crimson.
Crack. Pop.
I flexed my hand to assess my condition, watching through the dust and smoke as he emerged.
My entire left leg was severed. And in the place where it had been torn away, a writhing, repulsive insectoid body sprouted forth.
“Deriachs’s flesh?”
My question was cut short as a System Message materialized before me.
〚Hero (Sealed-Unique) Rank SSS-(Sealed-S-) LV 111: Pit-Digging Damp Worm-Deriachs Forced Descent〛
〚The system has detected the forced descent!〛
〚No sanctions will be imposed!〛
〚Instead, a penalty is assessed!〛
〚A Hidden Stage opens within the Artificial Dungeon!〛
〚Hidden Stage: Worm in the Pit
Grade: Unique
Rank: S-
Description: The demon, Pit-Digging Damp Worm-Deriachs, has forcibly seized the body of his avatar and manifested. Not content with merely manifesting his soul directly, he has also brought forth a fragment of his true form. Slay him.
Objective: Eliminate Deriachs (0/1)
Success Reward: Unique Ability: ??? Pit [Ancient-??], Devastating Strike Against Demon-Deriachs’s Soul, Title: Vanquisher of Demons, Item: Demon Spirit Orb (魔靈團) [Epic-SS+]
Failure Consequence: Physical Death, Soul Seizure〛
The message before me now was utterly transformed from what I had witnessed mere minutes ago.
His level was less than half of what it had been, and both his grade and rank had been diminished as he forcibly descended while ignoring the constraints placed upon him. Yet there was no denying he remained a formidable adversary—though compared to that absurd power from before, the difference was staggering.
“How pathetic. How weak. How disgusting.”
He seemed utterly insignificant now. I couldn’t fathom why pride would drive someone to such lengths. It made no sense.
Yes, pride matters. But it is not worth more than one’s life.
To stake so much and descend here was madness. If he fell, he would not only have his unique ability—connected to his very name—stripped away by me, but his soul would suffer grievous harm as well.
He had wagered everything but his life itself. All of it. Merely to capture me. Merely because I had slain his Apostle and uttered a single insult.
The inner force of Pride—The Sun—suffused my entire body. Influenced by Pride, the power of The Sun mingled with sanctity, engulfing me in brilliance so radiant it was blinding.
【Why? Why?! The constraints are not taking effect! That fire’s power! I was certain I had forbidden it with my constraints! How can you use it?!】
As Deriachs shrieked in convulsions, I answered with a contemptuous laugh, revealing the truth.
“Constraints born from unique abilities cannot suppress Authority. The hierarchy is different.”
At my words, the expression on Deriachs’s face—wearing Nam Woo-i’s visage—went slack with stupidity.
【Authority…you say? A mere insect possesses a seed?!】
A seed. I had heard this term before from Ra as well—that Authority was the seed of mythology. I still didn’t understand what it truly meant, but it seemed that even most demons did not possess Authority.
‘Perhaps only the 72 Demon Kings possess it?’
Those called Divine Seats appeared to wield Authority, so they likely possessed it. Perhaps even the highest or high-tier demons might have it as well.
Regardless, that was irrelevant now. I pushed off the ground once more and charged toward him.
【Insolent insect! Whether you possess a seed or not matters not! I shall simply annihilate you!】
Deriachs’s eyes blazed as he charged toward me in return. Moving those repulsive, grotesque legs composed of worms, he tore open a spatial rift, disgorged its contents, and simultaneously opened his maw to devour me whole.
He was a pit-digging worm. From the days when he was small and feeble, he had delighted in burying his treasures beneath the earth, and now his pit contained countless things.
From trivial trinkets to priceless treasures, and even demons and monsters that had caught his fancy—all were imprisoned within that space.
And most crucially, within the space of his pit, he was as a god.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Three small pits opened, and from within them, dark magics that Deriachs had suspended in stasis were unleashed all at once, hurtling toward me.
Magic held in suspension. Prepared. A skill no different from a mage’s Memorize ability—yet undoubtedly a far more sophisticated power.
Memorize demands far greater magical power in exchange for casting spells without incantation, but what he’s using is merely pre-constructed magic already expended and shaped.
I understood the strength of dark magic well. I’d suffered grievously at the hands of that insane archmage, the Decayed Dark Sorcerer.
Moreover, this isn’t dark magic borrowed from the demon race—it’s dark magic wielded directly by the demons themselves. Of course, the Decayed Dark Sorcerer’s dark magic was more formidable and magnificent, but I couldn’t afford to dismiss it carelessly.
Solar Divine Art
Solar Heart Method
Crimson Flame
Flames erupted from my body, rippling outward and spreading further, intercepting the dark magic. Vast internal energy drained rapidly, yet the effect was proportionally devastating.
I only needed to face Deriachs’ true form. As his dark magic crumbled pathetically and he found it difficult even to approach me, his fury intensified, his form blazing with light.
【How dare you! How dare you! A mere insect! Against me, a demon!】
“Yeah, must be nice being a demon. Congratulations—you’re becoming a demon who loses to insects. Aren’t the other demons mocking you? Laughing at the crippled demon who fell to an insect?”
Deriachs’ eyes rolled back completely. Because he’d always been superior, toying with other races and treating them like playthings, he’d completely shattered under this reversed situation.
He was being toyed with. For someone as prideful as Deriachs, this provocation was unbearable.
Space tears open. Deriachs’ body vanishes into the fractured void. Then space tears again.
【Perish! Vermin!】
Behind my back. The absurdity of spatial abilities is truly broken. I didn’t expect such sophisticated application.
But that’s where it ends. Sensing the killing intent, my body moves of its own accord. I evade the descending fangs and swing my fist.
Boom!
The gauntlet drove deep into Deriachs’ abdomen. An explosion erupts, and the acrid stench of burning flesh fills the air.
【Gaaahhh!】
I don’t let Deriachs escape. I step into a movement technique and surge forward, catching up to his flying body and driving another blow home.
Two strikes. Deriachs collapsed. No matter how much he demonized himself or forced a descent, his foundation remained a human body.
He couldn’t withstand two hits from the Black Dot Explosion. Fluid streamed from his abdomen, his ribs completely shattered, his heart burst—that entire section caved inward as though crushed by a hydraulic press.
【…A mere insect.】
“Still clinging to that insect nonsense to the very end.”
This much deserves acknowledgment. His obsession, his pride—I almost wanted to applaud.
“Now cough up your rewards and disappear.”
As Deriachs squeezed out his last breath to scream something, my fist reached him first, obliterating his head.
It’s over. Space collapses. With the master of this realm stripped of his unique ability, the space can no longer sustain itself.
The world inverts, and the dark night of reality emerges.
The moment I sank to my knees with a satisfied smile, my body drained of strength.
Squelch!
A long greatsword erupted through my abdomen.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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