The Only Enhancer - Chapter 102
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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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Episode 102
102 – Kraken (3)
The moment Kraken heard that Min-jun was attacking, she thrashed her body as if in desperation.
She twisted and coiled.
From behind Kraken’s floating form, eight octopus tentacles shot forth like lasers.
Kwaaaaaaang!
Zzzzzzzzzt!
The tentacles, striking like artillery bombardment, slammed into the ground where Min-jun stood, and the shockwave rippled outward, shattering the surface of the nearby Frozen Sea.
There was no time to evade.
An ambush-like blow.
Had Min-jun taken a direct hit?
As Kraken thought this, she was about to retract her tentacles.
Then, from somewhere, an eerie sound echoed.
Uuuuuuung!
At the sound of a colossal force condensing, Kraken instinctively abandoned her position.
And then.
Poooooom!
The eight tentacles that had shot forth burst like balloons and vanished, and through the gap, a blue laser soared skyward.
Toward the very spot where Kraken had been hovering moments before.
The thought that I might have taken a direct hit sent my entire body trembling.
If I had been struck by that….
“….”
Kraken watched as the laser pierced through the clouds themselves, leaving a hole in its wake, and swallowed hard.
I had thought he was no ordinary human, but this creature is absolutely monstrous.
I erased the image of myself as queen from my mind.
I was certain now—escape was already impossible.
Why?
“Oh? You dodged it?”
Look at that smiling face.
He will never let me go.
Moreover, the moment I attempt to flee, I will be struck down.
Kraken realized this and coiled her body tighter.
I cannot face him with shadows alone.
So I swallowed it.
Kwack!
As Kraken swallowed the massive, dark octopus shadow that had been floating behind her.
Crack, crrrrrack!
“Krrrraaaaaaah!”
With the sound of my entire skeleton twisting, a black octopus-shaped tattoo manifested across my crimson skin.
Beyond that, there was nothing else that changed in my appearance.
Her appearance remained that of a delicate, slender woman.
But.
The moment Kraken took a step forward, she extended her leg slightly.
Boom!
The air exploded, and in an instant, she materialized before me.
Tearing through the surrounding air entirely, her body—having appeared in a flash—glowed crimson from friction with the atmosphere, and with that blazing, reddened fist, she aimed for my face.
Whoooosh—Crash!
The scorching air expanded in a violent explosion, and I had already raised my single-handed shield to intercept the attack.
Not even a crack formed, yet I retreated three steps backward.
But from where I had stood, the ground had vanished for at least several hundred meters.
Seeing this, I furrowed my brow momentarily and traced the empty air, summoning a sword into existence.
Upon seeing the sword materialize in my hands, Kraken threw another punch.
With this, no matter how formidable I was, I would have no choice but to retreat again.
She extended her fist faster and stronger, aiming to strike directly at my abdomen.
Slice.
But her extended arm was severed.
When exactly?
She hadn’t even felt the moment of severance.
She hadn’t even seen me swing the sword.
My stance remained unchanged—shield in hand, sword held forward.
Her arm, severed up to the shoulder, had her attack blocked pathetically.
The severed arm hadn’t yet fallen to the ground.
Kraken twisted her body and spun rapidly through the air, then launched a kick toward me.
Or rather, she tried to.
Slice.
Her leg was cut off.
The moment she rotated her body and swung her leg, a thin line appeared at her knee, and it was severed.
She hadn’t even seen the attack.
Confirming that her left arm and right leg had been severed, Kraken opened her mouth to gather dark energy for a direct strike.
A thin line appeared across her neck.
Shing—Snap!
The instant the line appeared on her neck, Kraken instinctively struck the ground with that energy instead of me, allowing her to escape the area.
Boom!
“Cough.”
The creature, having lost her arm and leg, clutched her half-severed neck where the thin line had vanished, her eyes wide open.
Crack! Whoooosh!
With effort, her limbs sprouted back instantly.
Her neck too regenerated, but unlike that rapid healing, all the severed areas bore scars.
She had nearly died.
Had she not struck the ground, her neck would have been severed right there, and she would have perished.
I didn’t know what it was, but one thing was certain.
If I entered that domain and tried to attack Min-jun, I would die.
“Oh? You’ve sensed it.”
Min-jun looked at Kraken with amusement, and Kraken swallowed hard, the metallic taste of blood still lingering in her mouth.
What kind of ability was it that automatically severed anything that tried to attack within that space?
I couldn’t comprehend it, nor did I wish to.
Kraken simply broke into a cold sweat and opened her mouth from outside the domain, unleashing a beam of black light toward Min-jun.
That ray, like squid ink, struck Min-jun directly, simultaneously staining everything around it in darkness.
This might work.
While there was intent to attack, obscuring vision was the greater purpose.
“Kyao!”
With a cry of success, I attempted to flee that location.
The ink didn’t just block sight—it severed all senses.
With this, I could escape.
No matter how formidable Min-jun was, dispelling this would take time, and in that interval, I would be long gone.
Once I left this place, I would never return to these waters again.
Though somewhat frightening, the Deep Ocean felt far safer.
The Deep Ocean teemed with monsters equal to or greater than myself.
Yet at least none of them harbored such blatant malice, seeking my death with such clarity.
If I simply remained cautious, survival was possible.
Believing this, I moved my limbs frantically to escape that place.
Boom!
Air erupted again as I was propelled forward.
My body grew scorching hot, friction with the air heating it intensely.
I could break free from him like this!
The moment I thought so.
Screech!
Every space in the domain was severed in an instant.
The ink itself was cut away and vanished, creating a gap in that moment.
Through that gap, Min-jun and I appeared in a straight line, and the moment Kraken confirmed it, she twisted her body and brought both arms together.
It was nearly an instinctive movement.
But it was the right answer.
Min-jun’s weapon had transformed from sword to spear.
And that spear was hurled toward Kraken, unleashing that same radiant beam.
Kwagagagagaga———!
The spear, infused with savage power and grinding all things to dust, pulverized even the ink and air, transforming into a blue beam that shot forth.
Kraken gathered all the dark shadow energy into her two arms and collided with the spear.
Kwah———thud!
Yet she was pierced by the spear, her two arms and shoulder bursting apart.
Had she not blocked it, my heart would have been the one to burst, not my head.
Most critically.
It wasn’t regenerating.
Crack!
Grinding my teeth, I realized I couldn’t flee.
The moment I understood I had to fight until death in this place.
I unleashed black energy to fashion replacements for my lost shoulder and arm.
Then I lunged at Min-jun, and he simply nodded as if amused, retrieved his spear, and drew a sword instead.
It wasn’t the same sword as before.
Two short blades.
He’d even put away his shield.
But I didn’t see it as an opportunity.
Rather.
‘Tch.’
I felt as though Min-jun was testing various weapons against me.
And that was probably correct.
I wasn’t even a true opponent—merely a test subject.
At that thought, I threw myself at him with everything I had, desperate to wound him.
Whoosh.
How impossibly fast was this?
The entire world seemed to slow.
As if time itself had frozen, everything ground to a halt.
Within that frozen moment, only my consciousness raced at full speed.
It was my first time using this power at full strength, yet I wielded it with surprising mastery.
A gray world where everything stood still.
Moving within it was far from easy.
Whoooosh!
Even the slightest motion caused my body to ignite from friction with the air, as if melting away.
But it was fine.
I knew such temperatures could never harm me.
With my entire body burning white-hot, I kicked off the ground and charged at Min-jun.
Yet in that gray frozen world, I wasn’t the only one moving freely.
Clang!
Min-jun effortlessly deflected my extended fist with a short blade, altering its trajectory.
Boom!
My fist tore through empty air and shattered it, while Min-jun slid backward, escaping the blast radius.
I absorbed the explosion’s force directly and used its momentum to thrust my fist at him even faster as he retreated.
Clang!
He blocked my fist with the short blade just before it could shatter the air again, twisting its path.
Simultaneously, he swung the blade in his other hand toward my throat, but I twisted my body and drove my opposite leg toward his head with tremendous force.
Had I not seen the green aura gathering on that blade.
The moment I saw it, I abandoned my attack and retreated, but my reaction was inevitably delayed by the leg strike I had been attempting.
Slice!
A shallow cut across my flank.
The instant Kraken saw it, she tore into my side.
Blood sprayed as the torn flesh decayed and crumbled away as if rotting in real time.
Was this some kind of divine authority?
Watching Min-jun effortlessly evade even my ultimate technique while my own abilities proved utterly useless against him, Kraken could only feel despair wash over her.
But I couldn’t simply die like this!
“Kyaaahhh!”
I unleashed a roar and swung my fists wildly, and Min-jun blocked them while retreating.
But he quickly closed the distance, extending both fists repeatedly in a desperate attempt to kill me.
Each time my poisoned dagger collided with his strikes, my body decayed and rotted, yet I shaped my own essence to wield it like a physical form.
When every part of my body except my chest and head had turned black.
Min-jun opened his eyes wide and released the dagger.
Simultaneously, a long combat hammer materialized, and the moment Kraken saw it, she desperately tried to attack Min-jun, but she realized that an enormous shadow had already engulfed her.
In that instant, Kraken tilted her head slightly upward to look.
She discovered the shadow of a fairy above her head.
It wasn’t the shadow of a fairy appearing behind Min-jun’s back.
Min-jun’s shadow itself had taken the form of a fairy.
A mysterious and sacred aura emanated from Min-jun’s form.
Yet to the monster Kraken, it was the most violent sight imaginable.
And upon witnessing it, Kraken closed her eyes.
Crack.
My head burst, scattering black blood in all directions.
Whoooosh.
Black blood gushed forth from my small body in a torrent.
Wondering if something might emerge again, Min-jun watched as Kraken’s body, including the black blood, collapsed and transformed into light.
Seeing this, Min-jun smiled faintly and discovered a completely blackened sphere and an item glowing with violet radiance.
So it truly was a Disaster Level 6 monster.
With that thought, Min-jun was about to leave the area.
[You have obtained a clue of Level 8.]
[You have obtained a clue regarding the monsters of the Deep Ocean.]
[You have defeated a Disaster Level 6 monster for the first time.]
[A hidden effect of the trait ‘Enhancement Mage’ has been revealed.]
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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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