The Game of the Greatest Black Mage

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 87

He was momentarily taken aback by the blocked attack but quickly regained his composure.

Even with senses impaired, skill use was still possible.

The sharp sword strike failed to cut through the barrier, and Hindel had to step back three paces from the powerful, momentum-enhanced blow.

Even with impaired senses, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Hindel had collapsed.

How much experience and training must he have undergone for his muscles to instinctively remember and prevent him from falling?

It was an unbelievable sight, but Seonghyun was no longer surprised.

In fact, he would have been troubled if Hindel couldn't even manage this much.

“Hoo…”

As some sensory impairment lingered,

Seonghyun didn’t miss the opportunity.

The sword aura barrier was still there.

In that case,

Seonghyun used one of the effects attached to Anemor Slayer:

Flight and the simultaneous use of a storm whirlwind.

A whirlwind blew from behind Hindel, where the sword aura barrier couldn’t block it.

The wind started as a gentle breeze, but soon transformed into a fierce storm, engulfing Hindel.

Whoosh—!

The blade-like wind swirled, leaving countless wounds on Hindel, though none were fatal.

Multiple hits landed, but it seemed to count as a single attack.

Only one handprint appeared on Hindel.

One hand created by the lingering grudges of the dead and another from the storm whirlwind.

Two hands reached out, gripping Hindel's arms.

With Hindel still disoriented and caught in the storm, Seonghyun flew up and slashed his back with his sword.

Slice! Slice!

Since it was a strike from mid-air, it wasn't a particularly powerful attack.

However, darkness bloomed in the air, and from within, two more hands grabbed Hindel's legs.

Dark hands bound Hindel's arms and legs like chains.

Seeing the number of marks of death increase, Seonghyun quickly fired bone arrows.

As the bone arrows flew towards Hindel's neck,

Flash!

All of Hindel’s senses returned, and his eyes snapped open.

Emitting a blinding white light, Hindel immediately spun in mid-air and swung his sword in all directions, deflecting the bone arrows.

Already, two seconds had passed.

He had moved as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, he couldn't detonate the marks of death.

However, it was alright.

‘One can’t expect to be full from the first bite.’

Seonghyun calmly assessed the situation.

Unlike Seonghyun, Hindel landed on the ground, utterly bewildered and experiencing a chilling sensation.

‘…Incredible.’

To use an unavoidable attack from the start, incapacitate senses, and seize an opportunity.

Seeing his own reduced health, Hindel realized he had been hit by quite a powerful attack.

And then there were the dark hands, gripping his arms and legs, showing no sign of letting go.

None of them could be ignored.

‘My movements have become sluggish.’

It must be because of these hands.

He couldn't afford to underestimate this spar.

Hindel, like Fiora, had felt it before, but he seemed to be instinctively conserving his strength.

Even against such a strong opponent, he was still trying to hold back.

‘This isn’t mercy or benevolence; it’s arrogance and presumption.’

Hindel internally reprimanded himself.

Trying to hold back against an opponent like Seonghyun?

He decided to atone for this by going all out.

To return to the matter at hand, his movements were hindered by the dark hands.

But that was fine.

He could simply increase his speed to compensate.

“I apologize. I will also take this seriously.”

Hindel emphasized the ‘seriously’ and stepped forward with his right foot.

A mere step forward.

But it was different.

Whoosh—!

The shift could be felt even in the air.

The flow of the atmosphere had changed.

Normally, the air would become heavier or feel oppressive.

But Hindel was different.

The air had become lighter?

No, it was more than that.

Hindel’s surroundings seemed to distort.

The air, not space, was visibly rippling.

The atmospheric pressure had changed.

To be precise, the atmospheric pressure and gravity around Hindel had all become lighter.

Freed from the shackles of gravity, Hindel lightly propelled himself.

Thwoom!

He shot towards Seonghyun, who was flying.

With gravity and atmospheric pressure reduced, his speed was extraordinary.

It was the speed Hindel only barely reacted to before.

He thought the four marks of death had greatly reduced his speed, but

‘He’s even faster.’

Seonghyun, eyes sharply open, watched Hindel approach at a terrifying speed and activated two skills simultaneously.

One was the wind barrier, a set option that could be used twice a day, to defend his body.

And as he used the other, a purple liquid formed above Seonghyun’s head.

The ominous, purple-smoke-emitting liquid couldn't defy gravity and fell from above Seonghyun.

Drip, splash—!

The purple liquid trickling down Seonghyun's body seeped in, emitting an ominous sound.

[『Poison: Pain Numbing』 has been used.]

[You will not feel any pain for 1 minute.]

[Concentration is increased while not feeling pain.]

A buff skill that allows one to continue using skills without interruption, even while experiencing pain.

He used it in addition to the Wind Barrier, as he was still uneasy.

As Seonghyun activated the two skills in preparation for Hindel,

Hindel arrived right in front of him and drew his sword back.

Flash—!

Crack—!

A flash of light appeared, and something pierced through the Wind Barrier.

Even before the sound of the Wind Barrier breaking was heard, a flash of light occurred, and Seonghyun twisted his body.

Hindel's sword swept through the spot where Seonghyun had been.

If he had tried to block it with a blood veil, he would have been skewered without even reacting.

After the Wind Barrier was pierced, cracks spread across the entire shield, and it collapsed.

Seonghyun tried to retreat using flight amidst the collapse, but

Hindel was wary of him creating distance.

Whoosh!

Thwoom—!

Between Seonghyun's simple flight and Hindel, who was freed from gravity, it was obvious who was faster.

Hindel tenaciously pursued Seonghyun, unleashing a barrage of attacks.

He relentlessly attacked with the effects of his swordsmanship skills, not the skill that had pierced the Wind Barrier.

While not as powerful as the light-flashing thrust, each attack was still a significant threat.

‘I can’t get hit.’

However, Seonghyun used the knockback effect skill built into his Ring of Wind to knock himself back or knock Hindel back, evading each time.

‘As expected of Seonghyun-nim.’

Even so, he had already used the skill, which could only be used three times a day, twice.

As Seonghyun barely evaded Hindel's sword, the onlookers on the ground couldn't help but be astonished.

He was evading, not just once or twice, but repeatedly.

“H-how did he dodge that!? Is it… as expected of Seonghyun-nim?”

“…I think this is the first time I’ve seen Hindel-nim’s Radiant Flash miss. Even aside from that, it's rare to see him miss his general sword techniques, but to evade so consistently… this is a first.”

“…Me too, first time seeing this.”

Flan, Adeline, and Lyaden watched the spar—or rather, the battle, which was now difficult to call a spar—with wide eyes.

They wondered if they should intervene, but who among them could stop such a battle?

No one.

They could only watch and hope it would end soon.

Considering the situation, Seonghyun was evading all the attacks, but it was clear he was being pushed back.

Hindel, determined to solidify his position, inhaled sharply and his eyes flashed.

“Hiss!”

As he inhaled, Hindel's eyes changed.

From a radiant, golden gaze, they transformed into an enigmatic look that mirrored the night sky and starlight.

Along with the mystical eyes that seemed to contain a galaxy, a galaxy-like sword aura, resembling his eyes, surged from Hindel's sword.

However, seizing the opportunity, Seonghyun's eyes gleamed with a teal light, emitting an intense radiance.

Simultaneously, he activated a skill.

Gripping the air with his free hand, a spear woven from teal light materialized.

Without hesitation, he immediately hurled the spear.

While Hindel's movement and attack speed were faster,

Seonghyun's skill completion delay was overwhelmingly shorter.

Whoosh!

Hindel assessed the situation as he saw the approaching spear.

If he tried to cast his skill now?

He would inevitably be hit by that spear.

Even if the skill were completed before impact, it would be too late to dodge the spear.

He had many defensive skills, but having experienced it before, Hindel knew.

That spear ignored all defenses.

Therefore, he had no choice but to cancel the skill he was casting, gritting his teeth.

If he had completed the skill, he would have lost his senses again.

He canceled the skill and moved away.

He avoided the spear, so it was a gain… ?

Just as he was about to think that,

Hindel saw a drop of blood floating before his eyes.

‘…Oh no!’

As soon as he saw the blood droplet, he sensed danger and tried to move away, but it was too late.

A fierce blood storm erupted around Hindel, who was freed from gravity and without any resistance.

Crackle, crackle, crackle—!

The blood storm, with a power far exceeding the storm whirlwind he had been directly hit by while his senses were impaired, nearly caused Hindel to lose consciousness.

However, he kept his senses and began to release his energy.

Light erupted from his cosmic eyes, and like an ancient star accepting its demise, an explosion of countless lights occurred.

As the star's explosion occurred within the blood storm,

Boom—!

The blood storm shattered and scattered in all directions, dyeing the surroundings red.

The initial damage was quite significant, but he didn't take all of the damage.

If he had tried to defend within that storm, he would have been torn apart and taken damage again.

Therefore, he had to use the explosion to negate the storm and escape.

However, Seonghyun had disappeared, and as Hindel looked around at the blood-red surroundings, thinking it was blood scattered by the torn storm, he saw that it wasn’t blood at all, but over a hundred blood swords lined up.

“This is not easy. But…?”

As Hindel spoke amidst the countless blood swords, trying to cast a skill, he suddenly sensed something was amiss.

The world was too quiet.

As if time had stopped, in this silent world, only Hindel seemed to be moving.

No.

‘I… can’t move.’

Hindel himself couldn't move.

And it was then that he noticed the abnormality.

Since when?

He knew about the dark hands gripping his arms and legs.

But he didn't know when another dark hand had appeared, reaching for his neck.

He couldn’t turn his head to look, but he felt it clearly.

The dark hand was approaching.

And the dark hands gripping his arms and legs were also slowly creeping towards his neck, brushing against his body.

Goosebumps erupted all over his body, and a chill ran down his spine.

But what was even more terrifying was,

‘…Something’s… there.’

Besides the dark hands.

Something.

An irresistible, transcendent being stood behind him.

Even when he met Fiora, his back had been drenched, but this was on a different level.

His back wasn’t just getting wet; it was chillingly going cold.

As all the hands finally gripped Hindel's neck,

along with the pain of his neck being constricted, the being behind him moved.

It moved leisurely and grasped the five outstretched dark hands.

“Ugh!”

The pain intensified, and then, as the dark hands intertwined to form the shape of a cold, sharp scythe,

Hindel wanted to escape, forgetting his identity as a Hero.

No, he tried to escape.

But with a force that prevented him from even twitching a finger, he could only accept it, like an executioner on the guillotine.

The sensation of it slowly touching his neck, cutting into his skin.

Tzzzz.

That sound.

He had to hear and feel it.

Along with the slowly cutting sensation, a sound echoed instantly.

Slice—!

His neck was severed.

“Keuh-aack!”

As if struck by a death god's scythe, Hindel spat out blood and used recovery and mental enhancement skills.

Starlight poured down, blessing Hindel and enhancing his mind, but it couldn’t erase that vivid sensation.

In his eyes, the universe was slowly filling with fear.

“Huff, huff, huff.”

However, the blood swords still remained before him, and

Hindel raised his sword, facing those hundreds of blood swords.

Unlike before, the trembling tip of his sword wouldn’t stop shaking.

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]