Battlefield [29]

Jin-Woo's Agility was incredible. He relied on his raw speed more than any of his other abilities, striking his enemies several times before dodging their attacks was his way through fights. However, his Agility didn't just increase his physical speed. As his speed increased, his reaction time lengthened, his reflexes sharpened, and his combat abilities followed suit.

Despite admittedly fearing his body might not be able to keep up with all the mayhem, Sung had no fear that his eyes could. So, with all that speed, he Observed the situation.

First, he went over what he knew.

The group came through the Red Gate—which Jin-Woo couldn't even fake a bit of surprise over. He'd been entirely expecting to experience another one—and came face-to-face with Yogumunt, the Sovereign of Magical Constructs. The cavern where they all were then exploded to reveal the actual scene of the Red Gate.

Ignoring the startlingly high number of Constructs, the world was like a planetary Frankenstein's monster. The sky was deep red then bright blue then washed-out green in three different sections. The colors never blended, just shifted unnaturally like shoddy patchwork.

It didn't take Jin-Woo long to notice that it was exactly that.

In the far distance, he could see a familiar set of intimidatingly large trees. The top of their leaves dared to scratch the sky. He was pretty sure that was where he fought Jill and Kabuto. Observing confirmed his thoughts, it was indeed where he fought the first Failed Constructs he'd seen.

If he somehow ignored the horde of Constructs, he could see a body of water in the distance. And beyond that, he could see a small island. He wondered if that was where he beat Lycaon. Once again, Umbra Observation confirmed his thoughts.

If all the different Red Gates connected with this one, Jin-Woo deduced, it would have to be the connecting link between them all. And as such, it would be where Yogumunt resided.

That didn't make much of a difference, seeing that Yogumunt was right there anyway, but he was glad to know he'd have some sort of idea where Yogumunt ran off to if he managed to escape.

Now, focusing on the truly important thing, Jin-Woo scanned the horde of nameless Constructs—217, if he counted correctly. He Observed everything he could, getting a good idea of the weaknesses and strengths of his enemies. Most of them were easy enemies to defeat, some of them being even weaker than Jill and Kabuto.

However, there were a few enemies that were about as strong as Lycaon. They were all Failed Constructs, like all their allies, but they had names. Enkidu, Kali, Lilith, Xuan Zang, and Nyx. They also looked quite distinctive compared to any of the other Constructs, they looked human, for the most part.

Enkidu was a hulking Ent, standing the largest over any of the Constructs. He was more like a towering tree than a proper enemy, but the roots growing out of the ground looked far more dangerous than anything a tree could naturally create. Even under his gaze, the roots moved around the battlefield, passing through the rock and dirt like nothing was there. A few ideas of what the roots would do popped into Jin-Woo's mind, but he ignored them, staying focused.

Kali, Lilith, and Nyx were all unique as well, but Jin-Woo didn't care to keep their traits in mind. What he was focused on was Xuan Zang.

Xuan Zang was right behind Enkidu, protected firmly by the Ent. The robed monk held his hands together in a prayer, divine light rising from the monster.

Jin-Woo hadn't seen many monsters cast buffs, but he could easily see the danger in allowing such a thing to happen. Unfortunately….

[Xuan Zang is preparing to use the skill: Enchanting Prayers.]

[The skill will activate in 30 seconds.]

Just what he feared was already occurring.

A Healer was the most vital part of a raid, but an opponent who was a Healer was especially worrying. He instantly had his goal; he knew who needed to go down first. He glanced, back, looking at his allies' own Healers, Akari Shimizu and Ichigo.

While the latter didn't focus on healing others, the former did, providing consistent buffs to her allies. Without her, he doubted that the group could win against so many enemies, even if her buffs didn't properly affect him.

However, despite the large amount of overall danger, Jin-Woo saw potential in the situation.

'This'll be a lot of summons and experience points…! If we can keep ourselves alive here, this'll be it for Yogumunt!' Jin-Woo thought, grinning widely.

Xuan Zang was far behind the army of Constructs. Jin-Woo knew he'd have to get through an onslaught of enemies to stop Enchanting Prayers from being properly activated. And that was making the broad assumption that he'd even be able to kill Xuan Zang in time.

Jin-Woo let out a puff of air, focusing.

Not even a second passed after Yogumunt spoke before Cha and Goto moved. As bursting mana enhanced Goto's speed, he leapt forward, his carefully directed strength managing not to shatter the very ground he was pushing from. Cha's flickering feet glided over the ground like a Sea Spirit dancing beautifully. Beauty, however, did not mean harmless.

Crossing the battlefield in a flash, the sword-wielding duo's blades shot towards Yogumunt's neck. Weak spots for monsters depend heavily on the monster type, but because of his humanoid build, they struck where they knew they'd do some damage. Both used Soul Attribute skills, but Jin-Woo didn't cast the notifications any mind.

The S-Ranks of the Draw Sword Guild prepared themselves a half-second later, but even then, Jin-Woo was long gone, Dashing past the first onslaught of enemies to race towards Xuan Zang. Of course, his journey forward wasn't so easy, not with Kali, Lilith, and Nyx to account for.

Gladly, he wasn't alone. He heard a boom of power behind him—Ichigo racing to assist him—as several Lightning Lances—Fanzer's work—slipped through the heads of several nameless Constructs.

The Draw Sword Guild's Hunters rushed forward a second later reacting differently, falling into their different jobs in obvious different ways. Except, it wasn't quite everyone.

Kanae Tawata and Kim Byung-Ho were suddenly absent from the field. Not gone entirely, but not clearly visible either.

Either way, Jin-Woo pushed forward until a goliath of a Construct stood before him, halting him. It was Lilith, a tall, featureless, pure white woman who seemed to radiate light and energy. Sensing the abundance of energy, Jin-Woo began sucking in nearby mana, Umbra Control activating at his will.

The towering woman hesitated, her glowing light seeming to fade in face of Jin-Woo's abyss-like Mana of Death. However, before she could react, Jin-Woo dumped 3000 MP into Void Slash and promptly cut her in half.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

Sung's grin grew wider. With a confirmation that a 3000 MP Void Slash would probably kill, his confidence only grew.

Admittedly, he expected more due to how many Lycaon's defeat offered him, but he ignored that. With so many opportunities left, he didn't let it bother him. He didn't even waste any time putting his points anywhere, because of the threat of Xuan Zang's buff.

Only a few seconds passed, but such a forceful use of power costed him. His MP regeneration was certainly high—high enough that with Umbra Control activated, he'd go from empty to full in just around three minutes. However, the speed of his MP regeneration meant essentially nothing when he was pushing his speed so far.

As he barely avoided an attack from a nameless Construct, Advanced Observation warning him, he wondered if he wasted too much MP with the simple move of destroying Lilith, but he pushed the thoughts away nigh-instantly. Overthinking wouldn't help him now, he'd just have to work with what he had, which was about 45% of his MP left.

Between steps, Jin-Woo blinked, and was suddenly met with a new sight, nothing. Suddenly, Jin-Woo was left in the Gate alone. There were no Constructs, no Hunters, nothing. Even the sounds of distant movement or the sound of rushing air were completely erased.

It was eerily quiet, and before Jin-Woo could do anything about it, he was warned by Advanced Observation of several incoming attacks. Despite his sight and sound inaccurately feeding him information, he knew better than to trust those senses alone.

Under his feet, he could feel something different than what he could see. The ground was still rumbling, a sign of the many, many footsteps all around.

Jin-Woo dodged backwards, a notification flickering in the corner of his vision.

[Nyx is using the skill: Visual Illusion.]

[Nyx is using the skill: Auditory Illusion.]

[Nyx is using the skill: Temporal Illusion.]

Jin-Woo pondered how he'd advance with no sense of sight or sound but shook the thoughts off rather quickly.

"I didn't train my senses so intensely to fall to a simple illusion," Jin-Woo closed his eyes and narrowly dodged another attack. A series more came his way, all from in front of him. He started talking a step back to dodge but was more focused on other matters. He lifted his arm, confidence shooting through him before suddenly slinging Legacy in the direction of his right shoulder.

A second later, the sounds of the world returned. It wasn't a crashing cacophony or a slow trickle, but just a return of what had been blocked. With the return of sounds, Jin-Woo noticed the sounds of his ability relaying information to him regardless of his actual senses. For example, the sounds of leveling up ringing within his mind rather than his ears.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

Jin-Woo followed where he threw Legacy, eyes being guided through a row of a dozen Constructs, all with the same Legacy-sized injuries cutting through their bodies. At the end of that generous path, his eyes landed on the now-falling corpse of a Named Construct.

He noted that it was Nyx, one of the S-Ranked Constructs. He ignored how humanoid she was, focusing on the path ahead of himself with startling efficiency.

With his sight back, Jin-Woo saw the enemy who was currently attacking him—Kali, he filed away—and looked past her to find Xuan Zang, even as four fists launched towards his chest. The four-armed Construct was moving quite fast, so Jin-Woo had to Dash backwards to barely get out of range.

The Named Construct was still casting his spell, but unlike before—what just felt like a few seconds earlier to Jin-Woo—he was almost done casting his spell. Certainly, that was the effect of Nyx's Temporal Illusion.

[Enchanting Prayer's will be completed in three seconds.]

Jin-Woo tsked, activating Soul Mimicry and trying to pull Telekinetically pull Legacy back towards himself. He couldn't make it in time, and he doubted that he could allocate enough stat points in time to achieve a better effect either. But the second Legacy touched his fingers—

"Jump, Jin-Woo!" He heard Ichigo's roaring voice behind him, and he could almost feel the pressure of her bat bearing down on him. She was swinging towards him, and for a second, he was confused.

Had she betrayed him? No, that wouldn't make sense. There would be no point in warning him if she—

Without any more time to think, Jin-Woo jumped. He twisted unnaturally, as if guided by the wind—

[Fanzer is using the skill: Trailing Currents.]

—as Ichigo's bat slid under him. It was like moving in slow-motion to his hyperactive senses, but he could certainly tell the speed and power of the blow. In an unconscious move, he reached out, his distant fingers grasping the edge of her weapon.

Pain immediately shot through his arm. It was yanked and pulled out of its socket as Ichigo's swing sent Jin-Woo rocketing forward. The blow also slung a wave of air forward, sending several of the nearby Constructs backwards. Kali, however, had no choice but to take the blow head-on, causing her to quickly go from offense to defense, her four arms guarding her chest.

The Named Construct slid back several feet. She looked up, trying to grab Sung before he could fly past her, but he was long gone by then.

The Necromancer cut through the air, feeling a chunk of his HP disappear from the risky move. In two seconds, he was right before Enkidu. He leapt off a Construct's head, suddenly shifting his path midair and arriving before Xuan Zang. Right before Xuan Zang's skill could activate, Jin-Woo took the Construct's head from his shoulders, another 3000 MP Void Slash guaranteeing his kill.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

However, Jin-Woo was midair without much to defend himself, and Enkidu took advantage of that clear weakness, several tree roots shooting up from the ground and almost stabbing through Jin-Woo. They didn't quite get through him, but they got a fair bit into his skin before slinging him away. He flew through the cavernous battlefield.

He flew into several Constructs, killing some on them outright from the sheer force of his flying body.

Jin-Woo rolled across the ground, coughing but rolling out of the way of several incoming blows. He Dashed from his spot, narrowly avoiding several more blows before a blitzing blur of purple lightning assisted him, ramming through several of the Constructs.

Sung let out a huff as he took a few steps back. He glanced at his HP, glad that it wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be. Still, it was lower than he wanted it to be at around 50%.

As the sounds of the battlefield started to fade a bit, Fanzer spoke first. "You really took out three of those monsters in less than a minute? Damn, you're the real monster here."