Phobia Hor.
The Phobia Hor I knew was a beastman and enemy of humanity, but he was also soone who could discern right from wrong and respect his enemies.
I thought that one day I might et him as an enemy, but even then, I believed we could respect each other.
-Kuoo!! Kuooaaa!!
But sothing about this situation…
Why is he appearing in this sanctuary, and why is he blocking our path as a monster like those we defeated before?
Were the monsters not just humans who transford for so reason?
Why did even he, who should have no relation to this sanctuary, appear before like this? Why…?
“Hero! It’s dangerous!”
A shout aid at , who had stopped in confusion, echoed.
Only then did my body, regaining its senses, gain strength, and my gaze caught the approaching massive paw.
Even in his grotesquely twisted state, he moved with speed.
The sheer size alone was overwhelming, creating an imnse pressure even without any special abilities.
An attack that saps the opponent’s will just by facing it. No matter how strong one was, if they were overwheld, their reason would be paralyzed, and their body would be slaughtered in an instant.
-Whoosh!
But my body had experienced such things countless tis over the past six months.
Steeling my courage, I aid the tip of my spear at his paw, infusing it with mana, and spun the shaft.
It was pushed back by the mana flow following the trajectory.
In that state, the shaft struck his now open body.
-Bang!!!
The accompanying mana explosion hit his massive body, but Phobia only flinched slightly, not being pushed back.
Damn, to withstand a counterattack with sheer mass alone, what a monster.
-Grrr, kaak!
No, seeing him cough up blood, he did take so damage.
But the monsters we had encountered so far had regenerative abilities.
Minor internal injuries would surely heal quickly.
-Whoong, kuung!
As if to confirm my guess, a series of paw swings followed imdiately.
In my mind, while I continued to fend off these attacks using my spear, I only thought of strategies to exploit my opponent.
If the adversary had lost its rationality and had beco a monster, I couldn’t afford to be complacent.
What I needed to do now was not let past connections ruin the fight but think about how to defeat a monster superior in size.
‘In a fight, the difference in size is absolute. No matter how much mana you can use, if the opponent also uses mana, the difference in power will beco even greater.’
As Flang taught , the idea that larger opponents are slow and clumsy is just a fantasy.
If that difference could be easily overturned, humanity wouldn’t be treated as the weakest in this world, standing on the brink of extinction.
I realized this even as I deflected Phobia’s frenzied charge at this mont.
A slight misstep in deflecting these attacks, and my neck would be severed in an instant.
‘So say that the strong are easily careless because of their power, but thinking that all strong people show weaknesses out of carelessness is the arrogance of the weak. Betting on the hope that the opponent will act according to your thoughts is sothing the weak should never do.’
As the saying goes, you can’t expect all enemies to act as you hope.
Expecting beasts or monsters, or now these crazed monsters, to act with reason is too much.
‘So always rember, if you think the opponent is stronger than you, they can overwhelm you with full power at any ti.’
The power of a strong opponent, a pri example of that teaching, was continuously rushing at .
Whoong, whoong, a series of paw strikes from the massive body.
While deflecting the attacks with my spear several tis as I moved across the drawbridge, I felt impatience rising from deep within my heart.
Is it really enough to just deflect the attacks like this?
Shouldn’t I be counterattacking whenever I see an opening?
‘Never charge first. If the opponent is stronger, they can withstand showing an opening, but if the weaker party shows an opening and gets caught off guard, everything will end.’
As I struggled with this conflict, I began to notice changes in his body.
The swelling that started from his torn body parts soon turned into sothing like flesh and bone tentacles, spreading around .
-Kwa-deudeuk!
Sharp, deadly weapons whipped around repeatedly.
Had I rushed in out of impatience, I would have suffered from these attacks.
But more shocking than that, sothing seed to be launching from his opened torso.
The pounding heart and the swirling organs inside it.
And the huge… flow of mana that was distorting between them.
-Kwaaah!!
The mont the flow of mana condensed and shot out like a cannonball, my body moved instinctively, bringing the spear shaft to the cannonball.
Then, I spun it in that state.
To deflect the impact starting from the tip of the spear and control the flow of that force.
-Whooooosh!
The fierce rotation of the spear was trying to neutralize the mana cannonball attack.
The afterimages ford a complete circle, and I felt the veins in my arms bulging as I tried to control that force.
But it wasn’t over yet.
If I stopped now, the unneutralized recoil would crash down on .
‘During combat, accept the force generated by the opponent, control its flow, and do not expel it externally; instead, gather it within your body.’
It wasn’t just about deflecting the enemy’s attacks.
The collisions inevitably generated power, which in turn would transfer to the surroundings and precipitate events.
My task was to absorb this force as mana and convert the local disturbances into a continuous flow, thereby maintaining the energy without neutralizing it.
I already had the delicate control abilities needed for that.
The spirits attuned to would control my mana to a level far beyond human senses, according to my will.
‘The next step is compression. Control the residual force within your body without releasing it, and compress it into a single point…’
-Kuoooorrr!!!!
Just as I managed to neutralize the cannonball, Phobia Hor charged again.
The tentacles bursting from his distorted body were wreaking havoc all around, and the spear in my hand split into two, transforming into dual swords.
-Shwiririk, shaaak!
I deflected the incoming tentacle attacks with the swords, rotating them to gather the force without scattering it.
I deflected the incoming tentacle attacks with the swords, carefully gathering the force without dispersing it.
As more impact was transferred, my body gradually felt heavier, the strain increasing as it neared a critical threshold.
But I must endure until I find a perfect opportunity to strike the opponent.
-Grrr, kaaah!!
A charge followed the roar at the end of our exchange.
Seeing the attack coming directly as an opportunity, my body spun, and the dual swords rged back into a spear, striking from below to above.
Releasing part of the gathered force, I unleashed a torrent of mana.
-Kwaaah!
The explosion halted the charge, creating an opening in the front.
No matter how much the enemy relied on their size, they couldn’t withstand an attack that used their own strength against them.
And that ant they wouldn’t be able to withstand the ‘deadly attack’ that followed.
‘Rember, the ti to counterattack is not when the opponent shows a gap at the end of an exchange, but when you can control their actions to create a gap yourself.’
Realizing I had succeeded in creating an opening ant I could now control the opponent’s actions to so extent.
There would be no room for a counterattack from them.
All the energy accumulated during the previous exchanges was ready to be unleashed.
-Pazuzuzuk!
As power gathered to its limits within my body, the air around seed to spark with the density of the energy.
My gaze fixed precisely on Phobia’s exposed front.
And what followed was a spear thrust sharper than my own eyesight.
All the energy gathered from the battle poured into this ultimate strike.
-Shwaak!!!
It was shot out in the form of a spear and hit Phobia’s body.
The intense rotation in that state would surely grind everything around it.
For the past six months, no one had withstood this deadly strike. Even the ruler of the Great Forest was killed in one hit by this deadly counterattack, and it was unlikely that a mindless monster could withstand it.
-Kaa… aaah!
I thought so until a scream erupted.
The spear, supposed to penetrate and advance, halted midway.
“This is insane…”
The very spear that should have shredded his body stopped in its tracks.
Soon, I realized why.
As the flesh ant to be carved out regenerated, its regenerative power even halted the spear’s advance.
-ROOOOOARR!!!
With the scream at the end, the mana-made spear shattered completely.
Blood poured from every hole in his body due to the impact, but Phobia did not die.
Rather, as if stimulated, the intense force emanating from his body began to affect the surroundings.
-Crackle, crack!
It didn’t take long to realize where that power ca from.
With a scream as a marker, frost began to form around us, and a bone-chilling cold enveloped the area.
“Damn, is this the second phase?”
If it wasn’t over yet, I had to keep fighting.
I tried to straighten my stance, but I felt my movents slowing down and quickly looked at my armor.
Frost was forming at the joints of my armor.
Realizing it was hindering my movents, my expression quickly twisted in frustration.
“Damn it, this…!”
This is the worst.
Precise movent was crucial for my tactics, yet the cold was inhibiting such mobility.
-Roar!
Damn, I can’t deflect this charge.
I had no choice but to gather mana into my armor to respond with my body, even if only for a mont.
-Shwhaak!
At that mont, a shadow jumped in front of , deflecting Phobia’s paw, and a bundle of threads wrapped around and threw my body in the opposite direction.
The skill that couldn’t be imagined from such a small fra.
I imdiately knew who it was from.
“Flang, you…”
“Run.”
Despite my bewildernt, Flang spoke urgently.
Following her urging, I felt the drawbridge we were on shaking violently.
-Creak!
One of the chains connecting the drawbridge was about to snap.
The drawbridge was far too weak to withstand Phobia’s violent rampage.
-Grrr, kaaah!
Phobia, seemingly unaware, prepared to charge again in a frenzy.
Flang looked at him sadly but then turned around and started pushing .
“Run!”
If the bridge collapsed, further fighting would be pointless.
I finally retrieved my weapon and, following Flang’s shout, turned and fled, while Flang guarded my back and glanced at the approaching Phobia.
The frost monster, raging with a twisted body, charged towards us, bringing a fierce snowstorm in his wake.
The drawbridge, already collapsing, accelerated its destruction with his charge.
Flang, who had been looking at the monster pitifully, finally followed off the drawbridge.
And then, crash! The chains finally snapped, and the drawbridge began to collapse.
Phobia’s body, standing on the drawbridge, couldn’t defy gravity and fell rcilessly into the raging river below.
The fierce blizzard that had been raging also subsided as if it were a lie.
In the ensuing silence, the soldiers cautiously looked down at the spot where he had fallen and spoke quietly.
“Is it… over?”
“Even if he’s alive, he won’t be able to co back up. Not after being swept away by those rapids.”
The height of the cliff and the rapids that even ford waves.
Falling into a place like that, akin to a natural disaster, would make it impossible for even an immortal monster to survive.
Even if he lived, he would be swept to the sea, never to reappear before us again.
As I finally caught my breath, I noticed the expedition mbers nervously glancing at each other.
“That was Phobia Hor just now, right?”
“It seems the beastn did invade here. Then sothing went wrong, and they went berserk.”
“Are you saying the vampires caused that berserk state?”
“What on earth is going on…?”
We defeated the formidable Phobia, but many questions remained.
I felt the sa way, but it was difficult to resolve those questions right now.
“…It’s not over yet.”
The gate stood at the end of the collapsed drawbridge.
Flang, looking ahead and beyond the gate, spoke quietly as she gazed at the city below.
It didn’t take long to understand what she ant.
-Screeeeaaaam!!! Rooooar!
Though mist obscured it, the city, rightfully nad a sanctuary, blended antiquated formality with sanctity.
However, the screams of monsters echoed from every corner, and the bloodstains and flesh pieces at the entrance greeted us ominously.
“…Yes, it’s just beginning.”
Despite the confusion, one thing was certain.
With the drawbridge destroyed and our route cut off, we were now completely isolated within a sanctuary swarming with monsters.
anwhile, in the sewers beneath the fallen city.
A monster, treading the sewers created to handle the city’s rainwater and sewage, kept moving along a path ford by the frozen river.
The strange power that spread from the mont he set foot on this land had long since corrupted his body and consud his reason.
“I will never…”
Yet, he had a purpose.
A purpose deeply imprinted beneath the realm of his instincts.
“I will never… forgive…”
Revenge.
That was the sole driving force behind the monster that had returned alive to the depths of this underground.
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