104 Guardian Angel
It was enraging; the sheer helplessness of his own wound, and unhelping was the scenery before him as he looked up with tears born of a mixture of agony and grief:
Demons crawled around the distant buildings, screeching out, crawling from the underbelly of the world as they burst through concrete.
This…is the end, he thought.
It wasn’t just his fate he was considering–the sheer amount of deathly creatures of otherworldly forms birthing into the world with malicious intent was something beyond his imagination.
A few caught wind of him as he was knelt in the middle of the street, likely through the stench of burning blood that rose from his accursed wound.
Black-skinned, lanky humanoid demons crawled across the walls of the surrounding buildings, dragging their lengthy tongues against the air as they sought his flesh out.
A massive, minotaur-esque demon of sooty, brown fur stomped towards him, wielding a hammer forged of melded bones with a handle made out of spines.
All he could do was sit there on his knees, witnessing his own end approaching–both internally and externally.
…Sorry. Kamou, Myung-Hee, Hyun, Ara…I couldn’t make it. Sorry, Mom…Even in the end, I couldn’t be somebody you could be proud of, he thought.
As he began to accept this fate, he looked up with tears in his eyes before, for some inexplicable reason, something bubbled up inside of him: a fire burned in his gut, one intangible, but one that washed away his willingness to die.
What the hell am I saying…?! He thought.
He forced himself to his feet as his legs trembled beneath him, weakened from the heavy blood loss as he pushed past the pain with heavy, uneven breaths.
I fought all of this time. I lost so much…so why the hell would I lay down and take it now?! If there’s even a glimmer of hope–if there’s even a chance in hell–take it! He told himself.
This resolve came just in time as he managed to evade an incoming strike that came in the form of one of the grotesquely elongated tongues of the no-eyed, crawling demons, using a [Blink Step] to jump back.
“Ngh…!”
He felt his wound sear from the sudden movement, but he knew it was better than being caught by the attack.
Despite dodging that attack, his reflexes were dulled by his critical state, having his left wrist suddenly bound by another one of the crawling creature’s slimy, black tongues.
“–!”
It began to reel him in like a catch from a lake, tugging him towards its maw that unhinged like a serpent’s, planning to consume him.
He contested its pull by planting the soles of his boots against the asphalt, but with the little, fleeting strength he had, he stood no chance in fighting against its pull.
With the slowly stomping, gargantuan minotaur approaching and the other crawlers encroaching on his position rapidly, he flipped the dagger in his free hand around, “Ripper!”
[Spirit: -200. Remaining Spirit: 3000/3600]
With just a single dagger, he unleashed the onslaught of slashes in a moment, dicing apart the dark tongue and freeing his left hand before pulling away.
It was a race; faced with so many enemies–he had to force himself to act beyond his dwindled limits.
Everything–! He commanded.
This order was issued to the Sage System itself as his eyes strained, quickly becoming bloodshot as he honed them to their max with forcibly amplified perception and reflexes–pushing past the limits of his own consciousness.
It allowed him to perfectly react to the three incoming, curving tongues from the set of crawlers that sought him out, stomping his foot down as he gripped the handles of his trusty weapons with all of his strength.
“…Ripper…!”
[Spirit: -200. Remaining Spirit: 2800/3600]
Through the fleshy tongues, he swept his daggers with utmost, yet withered speed, tearing them apart before they could reach him as his body strained itself, his skin being pressed with veins all across his body.
I can do this…! He thought.
Forging space for himself, he now had a direct opening to the three, weakened crawlers from Hell as he took a single step forward before being stopped
It was a present right beside him–dense, thick, and imposing–belonging to the towering, four-meter tall minotaur.
A steamy air exuded from its flared nostrils as it looked down at him with beady, crimson eyes.
All he could do was raise one of his arms before the massive, bone-forged, blunt weapon it wielded was swung against him, causing him to be flung back with an air-cracking impact.
[Health Points: -500. Remaining Health Points: 450/3250]
His trajectory was finally stopped once he slammed into a car, being stopped as he laid there for a moment, attempting to coax air into his burning lungs. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Once he finally opened his eyes, looking up at the scarlet clouds that taunted him with an eerie laughter, he stood up with swaying vision.
…It hurts…He thought.
With the crawlers and the hellbound minotaur approaching, he attempted to raise both of his arms to prepare for another clash, but only his right hand managed to be raised.
“Huh…?” He let out quietly.
Looking down, he realized the impact from the bone-club had completely disfigured his left arm, causing his forearm to twist in a completely different direction as it dangled with bruising and torn flesh at various points, still miraculously gripping his dagger.
“Aagh–!” He yelled out in pain once his brian finally processed what had happened.
In his compromised position, the demons closed in on him now, with the giant, grimy minotaur standing before him with steam shooting out from its nostrils.
…Shit…I…tried, at least, he told himself.
As he stood there, holding his shattered arm, he clenched his eyes shut as he witnessed the large, horned fiend drawing its bone-forged weapon back for a lethal, inevitable blow.
“Lower your head for me, will you?”
–It was a masculine voice he didn’t quite recognize, but definitely knew as familiar.
He didn’t know who, what, or why, but he listened–ducking down just as a hum filled the immediate area.
A grumble from the minotaur sounded out, followed by an ear-filling squelch as the sound of blood raining down on the asphalt met his ears in surprise.
As he opened his eyes, looking up, he found a tall, gray-uniformed figure standing between him and the minotaur, who had just been mercilessly sliced in half by the man in front of him.
Snow-white hair that curtained down his back, and a massive build surpassing that of Korain, with a seraphic aura that resounded a reassuring warmth within him–he finally recognized who the man was.
[Player Recognized…]
[Baek-Hyeon. Level: 55 | Class: Angelic Swordsman]
The white-haired, powerful figure wielded a scarlet odachi, a foreign weapon that sparked with a deadly aura.
“It’s you…?!” He let out.
Baek-Hyeon glanced back at him with his iridescent, golden eyes, holding a reassuring smile, “I made it just in time it seems. Good job holding out for as long as you did, Jeong-Hui.”
Before he could respond, the angelic-powered man returned his gaze forward as his divine locks swayed in the passing breeze, “…Now, let’s handle the rest of you.”
In a burst of speed that caused the mysterious member of Gangcheori to disappear right before his eyes, leaving a spiral of wind in his place, all of the approaching crawlers were cut into pieces within a moment.
Baek-Hyeon reappeared in his vision after having finished off the crawlers, now targeting another, larger minotaur that approached, stomping forth with two sets of horns and a two axes forged of bone as well.
Even as large in stature as he was, Baek-Hyeon moved with utmost elegance, possessing no wasted movements as he launched forward, spinning around as a single swipe of his scarlet blade cut through both the beastly entity’s weapon and through its body.
The aftermath of the slash left a tear of scarlet electricity propelling forth through the other end of the street.
It was only a couple seconds, but the man who assimilated the Destroying Angel had finished off all of the demons occupying the block.
This speed…this power–he’s in a different realm from the rest of us, he thought.
Still, it didn’t change the fact his body was shutting down from the multiple, critical injuries sustained as he fell to one knee again.
Before he could completely fall over face-first into the gravelly asphalt, he was caught by a white-gloved hand against his chest. Again, Baek-Hyeon displayed his inhuman speed by catching him by traversing a block within a moment.
“I’ve got you, don’t worry,” Baek-Hyeon assured him.
Though he was told that, he couldn’t put much stock into it; “no matter how powerful you are, it doesn’t change the fact I’m as good as dead,”–those were his thoughts.
However, such was unproven by the man who wielded the authority of Radueriel himself as a divine, golden glow emitted from the hand holding his chest.
“…?” He looked down with his mouth agape as blood trickled from his bottom lip.
Before his eyes, his wounds were mended by a mystical force–his shattered arm twisted itself back around to its natural state with all of the bruises and cuts fading away.
The same happened for the massive gash on his chest as it closed completely, also returning the life to his body as his consciousness returned in full.
[Health Points Fully Restored. 3250/3250]
Baek-Hyeon smiled, “It’s surprising, isn’t it? Though this power I have comes from an angel of destruction, it also gave me the ability to heal wounds. Angels are quite amazing, aren’t they?”