The Guide didn’t turn red as it had during the early days of the Stage of Advent. Therefore, it originally had such a vicious expression.
It vanished and reappeared, then was impaled by the lightning blade’s prison. It tried to escape from the violent trajectory and thunderbolts derived from there. The moment it completely got out of the prison, one of its blue arms was cut off. However, a golden arm replaced it instantly.
[Ta-da! ( 'ω' )/*҉ It’s too early to be shocked.]
It flew straight to me, but not at a transcendental speed. However, the strange movements around me were comparable to its pace. I soon realized that Lumah-le was attacking me. The force pressured me and made me unable to move anywhere. When I shook it off like I was lifting a mountain…
[That’s surprising! But it’s too late.]
Lumah-le’s new golden hand was rushing toward my right eye. I could avoid it if I wanted to, but I let it hit me. Instead, I smirked the same way it had done to us multiple times before. It should have stopped there if it had realized something, but it didn’t. Perhaps it was planning to dig into my eye and destroy my skull.
I was certain about it when I saw the Guide, which had only existed as a glaring light, being united into a clear form of a body at the moment. I didn’t even think about whether I could crush its protective barrier or whether I could break through the Ender section and gain even greater strength.
I stared at its wicked face. However…
[Strongman has been activated.]
The Guide bounced off, and its face burst open. The golden light shone and the blue light disappeared. Its new face was formed again in gold.
I quipped.
A quick look at .com will leave you more fulfilled.
- Why are you hurting yourself? Stupid.
[You did it!]
It became translucent like it was in the beginning. It had realized attacking me physically was like committing suicide.
I suggested.
- Why don’t you do that again? The thing you did a little while ago. Do you have a name for the skill?
I asked it about the skill that had made me motionless for a moment.
[Do you think Lumah-le is as silly as you guys? The System is made for dumb ones. The people who can’t do anything without the System. Idiots like you guys!]
Its face and messages gave off different moods. The face of an evil spirit who just crawled out of hell didn’t match well with its frivolous messages. That was abominable. Even then, it was digging holes in the air and moving around without a break. Its eyes were searching for an opportunity to attack me, so I found them quite despicable.
[Hey, I warned you. (◔‸◔ )っ✄╰⋃╯I did say I would really cut it off.]
As it had said, the entire force that was pressuring me was moving down to my penis. It was the same power that had burst open numerous Awakened’s faces. I had no intention to be taken in by its disgusting pranks. It was time for the Guide to get a taste of its own medicine.
The pressure on my lower body was immense, but my upper body was free. I stretched out the Thunder Spear. The light from its golden face blocked my line of sight for a second, but it couldn’t stop me. As expected, the Guide was digging a hole again in the air.
A thunderbolt fell behind its back. The force in the weapon was equal to the power that Odin’s Thunderstorm had as it was concentrated from the spear.
It was a time when I was shaking off the fucking pressure on my lower body. The Guide was falling off from the hole it created in the other direction. My eyes were on the Guide.
[You have used Indra’s Sword.]
The lightning power from Indra’s Sword was thick enough to swallow dozens of spirits like that. I didn’t expect it to scream like Doom Dejire as Devi’s Sword was currently at level 9. However, it would suffer from more extreme pain as it was weaker than Doom Dejire.
[This is the converted form of Devi’s Sword, right? That’s unfair! Why is the cooldown time so short?]
That was its scream. I didn’t directly stab it with Indra’s Sword. Instead, the thick lightning bolt engulfed it like a tide. I saw its remaining arm and two legs being torn apart. Now, its golden head and torso were the only things struggling against Indra’s Sword.
I jumped up high. Both Indra’s Sword and Thunder Spear had unbelievably strong lightning power. When the two lightning strikes were fused, the destructive power doubled up. I was about to pierce it with the tip of the spear and toy with it, like a cat playing with a dying mouse.
This was being delayed a bit. The force that had held me down and almost crushed my lower body was now forming a barrier around the Guide. I was forced to land on the ground as I glared at the Guide that was escaping from Indra’s Sword.
However, it stumbled in the air and began to fall.
I smirked.
- This is the second quest. Quest ‘Fire Hell.’
[You have used the Road of the King of Hell.]
I sketched out where I wanted things to go first.
[You have used Hanuman’s Tail.]
Then, I snatched the Guide, which was falling, with my fiery tail.
The Guide sent a frivolous message again as if it was alive and well.
[This is unfair! It’s just an A-class item, not even S! But why is it so powerful?]
It, of course, knew that both skills had exceeded the general limit and had been upgraded to the god-like LV. 8. Its impish and petty tone might have been used to determine other people’s life and death before, but it looked to be a defense mechanism to me. It was a way to hide its weakness. The contorted face of an evil spirit could never hide such truth.
I wouldn’t kill it until I fixed its poor manners. I was clutching it by my tail, and it was struggling with painful gestures. I soaked it into the flames that soared from the ground, then pulled it close to me.
As it got closer to my nose, I covered it with the Cape of Flame. The Cape fluttered recklessly. After that, it barely managed to remove the cape with all its might. It was wrapped around in a burning tail, and the tiles were heated to a great extent.
I remarked.
- You are pretty good at holding up. That’s enough to say that you completed the quest.
[What is the next quest? I thought about it, but I think the final reward for the linked quest should be Doom Man’s life. Oh, hmm… Wait! You have the Life Vessel anyway. This quest is so unfair! It’s a scam!]
Golden lights flowed down its cracked face like blood. It looked like it was thinking, ‘I shouldn’t die now. There is still a long way to go.’ I decided not to toy with the combination of Thunder Spear, Odin’s Wrath, and Hera’s Lunacy. Oh, also the triple flame streak[1].
I continued.
- The next quest is ‘Horrible Pain.’
[You will get in trouble one day if you use the power given by the System like that.]
I shrugged.
- I had proven myself and won the power. It wasn’t given by the Old One as I collected all the trophies lying between thorns on the way here. You are the Guide, but you don’t know a single rule. Are you an idiot?
It was staring at me as if it would soon burst into tears. When the golden blood poured down on its face, I saw a crack in the space above me.
How dare you.
I threw myself into the gap as I was grabbing the Guide in my hand. It was then the cracked top, which was torn from side to side, swallowed me. Pitch darkness unfolded in front of me, and it was the jaw that gulped me. Then, it vanished in a flash.
The Guide shook its head when it failed to attack me. The golden hue was now going down its neck and spread to its entire body.
I said while smiling at it.
- The power of death gives you the most extreme pain. You can count on it because I can guess what kind of pain it will be.
[Well, fine. Then, shouldn’t you let me go first? We should start the next quest.]
- Yes, we will.
[You have used Seth’s Nail.]
It was the grip of death that took one’s life in a blink, but the duration of the pain would feel like an eternity to the Guide. Even if it survived, the scar would continue to remain and gnaw at its life. That was why Seth’s Nail was often used for torture in the past.
Sseuk-!
Five black nails scratched the entire body of the Guide vertically from its head to its legs. I let it go when I saw a new expression on its face. Since then, it jumped across the space to avoid me. I couldn’t see its face when it bent its waist after struggling in pain. Flippant messages no longer appeared.
However, it came out from different holes by twisting its body and revealing its face, with its head hanging low towards me. If it could make a noise, it would have screamed ‘Aaaaaagh!’ Although the sky was blocked by the boundary of the Absolute Warzone, it seemed to have judged that moving as high as possible was the way to escape from me.
It started jumping through space toward the sky. I couldn’t see its face then, and I could only tell that it was struggling with the pain as it writhed in agony. I had multiple skills that would fly up on my behalf and attack him, but I felt bad after losing the Skeletal Dragon in my brutal combat against Doom Dejire.
When I was regretting my decision, the Guide crashed. Even then, I was already at the point where it would fall. I didn’t snatch it when it dropped before me. The ground was covered in the fire anyway, and it wouldn’t plummet deep down into the earth like a Graf.
It squirmed in the fire. Its wings were nowhere to be seen, and it had no more golden blood to spill. It was dying. It resembled a dragonfly that had been inadvertently toyed with by an innocent child. Its wings had been removed and thrown into the bonfire. When I met its painful eyes, a message that had stopped for a while popped up.
[You are going to spare my life, right? (ღゝ◡╹)ノ♡ ]
- What’s the magic word?
[...Please.]
I grinned.
- Yes, I was waiting for that.
I finally moved the Thunder Spear.
Crack!
The tip of the spear pierced the Guide and stabbed the ground. The wide part of the spear was capable of ripping off its head as well as its lower body. The Guide started to scatter into pieces.
[The command ‘Remove the Guide Lumah-le’ has been completed.]
There was no corpse left, but the power of the Old One inside the Guide was beginning to get revealed. It was busy giving off black energy and turning into a brilliant white light. The light started to flow through my whole body from the tip of the spear.
[Congratulations! You have gained the common power ‘Gate Formation.’]
1. Road of the King of Hell + Hanuman’s Tail + Descent of the King of Hell. ☜