Chapter 125

“Ugh!”

Drill Sarge unleashed every shred of latent power coursing through his veins.

Blistering heat radiated from deep within his core, and his weapon cut through the air in a dizzying torrent of slashes.

CLANGANGANGANG!

The horrific screech of metal rang out as Drill Sarge’s blade slammed against the razor-sharp talons of the golden dragon and Baekho!

“Kh—!”

Predictably, the sheer, crushing weight of their coordinated strike was far too intense, forcing him to give ground.

Even so, Drill Sarge stubbornly refused to break.

He anchored his concentration, absorbing each heavy impact.

Faster. I have to push past my limits.

KRAKAKOOM!

Drill Sarge forced his internal energy well past its safe thresholds.

He had to view this as a battle against a Tower of Trials boss.

Rachel’s recognized achievements included conquering the 50th floor of the Tower of Trials.

Simply put, the combined offensive of these two beasts had to surpass the strength of that 50th-floor guardian.

Looking at the situation through that lens… honestly, it seemed entirely hopeless.

If he had managed to fully accumulate his Ramba stacks, he might stand a chance. But he was empty-handed.

“HAAAAAAH!”

Drill Sarge let out a fierce, rumbling war cry.

The screech of colliding steel grew more rapid, more violent.

Defending endlessly isn’t an option.

He needed to establish a counter-rhythm.

While maintaining his guard, he had to scan for the slightest lapse in their movements, and the very second a critical opening presented itself, he had to drive his blade home without a single heartbeat of hesitation.

And right then, in that fleeting window—

Snick!

Drill Sarge’s weapon sliced cleanly through one of Baekho’s whiskers.

“GRAAAAAAOOOH!”

Infuriated by the insult, Baekho halted its offensive and let loose a cataclysmic roar that sent shockwaves through the atmosphere.

Ha.

Drill Sarge could only grimace inwardly.

The golden dragon and Baekho—both of them were a nightmare.

Every single time they bellowed, his muscles locked up completely.

Honestly, those sonic roars were far more disruptive than their physical strikes.

“……He is enduring far better than I anticipated.”

Rachel’s features tightened into an irritated frown.

She was well aware.

If she permitted Baek Jinwoo to remain unbothered, the striking velocity of that scythe-wielding Four Divine Beasts summon would continue to skyrocket.

She had understood the capabilities of the Wind Fairy for a very long time.

How on earth am I supposed to shut this down?

From the opening second of the match, Rachel had been giving this fight everything she had.

She had unshackled Baekho to let it hunt on pure animal aggression, all while keeping a razor-sharp, meticulous grip on the movements of the golden dragon.

Naturally.

She had been actively avoiding her active skills whenever possible.

She needed to husband her mana pool for the inevitable showdown against Baek Jinwoo.

Even taking that into account.

The reality that a common, E-rank summon was successfully staving off a dual assault from a pair of S-rank monsters was utterly preposterous.

Furthermore, the Drill Instructor was fundamentally a summon tailored exclusively for instructional purposes. Its inherent combat efficacy wasn’t designed to be anything remarkable.

KRAKAKAKOOM!

The golden dragon’s diving headbutts, sweeping tail lashes, and piercing claw strikes—

Not a single one connected cleanly with Drill Sarge.

He would appear on the verge of collapsing, only to whip out a sudden, lethal counter-offensive that sent a shiver down her spine.

I cannot afford to hold back a single thing.

Conserving her abilities was no longer a viable strategy.

She glanced off to the side.

Far in the distance, barely catching the edge of her peripheral vision, stood Baek Jinwoo and the Wind Fairy.

And positioned roughly midway between them, the Burst Dragon shaman sat in a cross-legged meditative posture, gathering internal ki.

No more dragging this out.

“Fine, I will concede the point.”

Rachel observed Drill Sarge’s frantic, desperate defensive maneuvers and gave a slow, deliberate nod.

“You are functionally equivalent to an S-rank summon.”

She couldn’t fathom how.

But this particular entity known as the Drill Instructor had been scrubbed from existence during a balance adjustment a long time ago.

Yet the current JinuGod held its contract.

This was no commonplace occurrence.

“Baekho.”

Fwoosh.

The moment Rachel lifted her hand, the very air pressing down on the arena underwent a violent transformation.

“GRAAAAAAOOOOH!”

Another earth-shattering howl rang out, vibrating through the environment—

Four Divine Beasts.

Baekho.

Descent Beast.

A radiant white aura exploded from Baekho’s form, and its massive physique began to expand, swelling to gargantuan proportions.

“You ought to view this as a grand privilege. This marks the initial occasion I’ve been pushed to such extremes by a solitary summon.”

Descent Beast was a self-buffing ultimate technique.

It instantaneously doubled every core attribute while simultaneously broadening the reach of its standard strikes.

The consequence?

Claws that previously fell short of their mark—

KRAKATHRASH!

—were now viciously tearing through Drill Sarge’s flesh.

With greater force. With greater velocity.

“GRAAOH!”

The massive white predator began to hunt Drill Sarge with the intent to consume him entirely.

“Wh-what an astonishing back-and-forth!”

“It appears Baek Jinwoo has retreated to accumulate power and discharge a massive burst all at once!”

“Precisely. With the Wind Fairy endlessly gesturing with that staff, it seems she is steadily multiplying the attack frequency of that scythe-bearing Four Divine Beasts summon!”

“Whew, so the entire outcome hinges on how long Drill Sarge can maintain his ground?”

“And he is pulling it off! Frankly, it’s nothing short of a miracle! The vast majority of players struggle immensely just managing the golden dragon by itself!”

KRAKAKAKOOM!

Baekho tore through the vanguard, tearing up the terrain and slashing through empty air.

Drill Sarge had hit his absolute threshold. Crimson fluids poured from his lacerations, yet he gambled his entire existence on dodging every oncoming blow.

“WAAAAH!”

“DRILL SARGE! DRILL SARGE! DRILL SARGE!”

“DON’T GIVE IN, DRILL SARGE…! JUST A BIT LONGER!”

The citizens of South Korea were transfixed by the broadcast, their palms drenched in nervous sweat.

However—

CRUNCH!

When the golden dragon’s disruptive movements were factored into the equation, avoiding damage became impossible.

“Oh—OH NO! Baekho has clamped its jaws directly onto his left arm!”

“It has relied entirely on its talons up to this point, and NOW it drives its fangs in!”

“GAAAAAH!”

Drill Sarge shrieked in agony.

Baekho’s dagger-like teeth were already deeply embedded in his left arm. Pulling away was out of the question.

Drip. Drip.

Vivid red blood spilled onto the arena floor.

Regardless of how conditioned to warfare Drill Sarge was, managing that level of sheer torture was an monumental task.

……Is this the curtain? Is this the absolute limit of my capabilities?

Then again, he had managed to stall for nearly five full minutes.

Expecting to survive any longer against a pair of such utterly dominant adversaries was simply asking for the impossible.

He ground his teeth together so violently they groaned.

Drill Sarge swung his remaining right arm—the one still gripping his weapon—aiming to pierce Baekho’s eyeball.

CLANG!

The golden dragon intercepted the strike with flawless timing.

What is the play here?

Was there any conceivable method to buy just a fraction more time?

Only one.

He despised the concept, but no alternatives remained.

“HAAAAAAAH!”

With a thunderous bellow, Drill Sarge brought his right-handed blade down and chopped off his own left arm without a fraction of hesitation.

Not a single shred of reluctance.

It was irrelevant what trauma his body endured—the moment he was summoned anew, every injury would be fully repaired.

SPLURCH!

Blood sprayed wildly. Drill Sarge’s severed limb hung motionlessly from Baekho’s bloody maw.

“D-did Drill Sarge just amputate his own arm?!”

“He absolutely did. You can witness the absolute resolve of a summon completely focused on buying precious seconds.”

“This is mind-blowing! How can a summon possess that level of devotion?!”

The majority of players developed rapport with their summons utilizing diverse strategies to ensure proper command structure.

If that rapport wasn’t sufficiently cultivated?

Forget high-level engagements—they wouldn’t even execute basic directives.

Rapport was also inextricably linked to raw loyalty, and…

“At that tier, we are talking about maximized rapport. Honestly—beyond the standard cap, wouldn’t you say?”

“Without a doubt. Even the most disciplined summons that obey their master’s directives do not venture THIS far into self-harm for a tactical advantage!”

“How in the world did he cultivate it to—! Regardless, what a breathtaking display!”

The casting team was utterly dumbfounded.

“Whoa……”

“That is actually achievable?”

“……That is truly magnificent, Drill Sarge.”

“At this rate, he is practically acting like a freedom fighter, isn’t he?”

The spectators, who had been observing with suffocating tension, erupted in collective astonishment.

Drill Sarge, battling tooth and nail using any desperate measure to secure time for his player’s triumph—he wasn’t merely respectable. He was deeply beloved.

“I think I just developed an obsession with a summon. No. I already have.”

“He has done far more than his share. You were incredible, Drill Sarge!”

Every single person monitored Drill Sarge with a unified heart and spirit.

They rooted for his endurance from the very core of their being.

Tap-tap-tap!

With lightning-fast movements, Drill Sarge pinched the critical pressure points on his left shoulder stump to halt the bleeding, then bolted toward the right.

Victory is off the table. I simply need to survive for as long as humanly possible.

A single glance at Rachel’s countenance revealed everything.

Past the initial shock—a deep sense of panic was written across her features.

She would likely begin expending her abilities with far less caution now.

“……”

And indeed, Rachel was thoroughly unsettled.

A summon voluntarily severing its own limb—not under a command effect, but by its own volition?

Ah.

I was being conceited.

Drill Sarge was engaging with that level of sheer desperation.

And what about her own approach?

She had been hoarding her resources, calculating ahead for the confrontation against JinuGod.

Even though she possessed absolutely no leisure to grant him more time.

Get your mind right, Rachel.

She chastised her own hubris.

It wasn’t a total loss yet.

She needed to eliminate Drill Sarge with maximum efficiency and advance on JinuGod.

If she truly allowed the clock to run out, she could drop this match.

She reached out with her hand.

And with that motion, another entity materialized on the field.

Mermaid. An A-rank asset.

A water-aligned summon she had kept in reserve specifically to mitigate the Burst Dragon shaman’s potential to obliterate her forces.

The defining trait of the Burst Dragon shaman was… Devour, correct? That specific capability was the reason it was targeted by a balance patch.

A broken hidden ability that permanently amplified raw destructive potential.

She had selected this summon to at least partially neutralize that threat, in the event that Baek Jinwoo had unlocked that particular power.

It was one of my concealed trump cards, but I will deploy it ahead of schedule.

Bubble, bubble…

The female mermaid hoisted her trident high into the air, and turbulent currents began to materialize along the path where Drill Sarge was retreating.

One of the Mermaid’s signature abilities—Escape Route Severance!

“……!”

Drill Sarge’s expression twisted as he confronted the crushing weight of the magical pressure.

An invisible constraint locked onto his frame and dragged him backward—directly toward the oncoming path of the sprinting Baekho and the diving golden dragon.

So this marks the conclusion.

Drill Sarge shut his eyes for a mere heartbeat and funneled every remaining drop of his internal energy straight into his sword.

Very well.

If he was destined to fall, he would go down delivering a final blow.

Practicing alongside his commander, instructing the alternate summons day after day—he had dedicated himself to intense study as well. It was time to unleash the martial discipline he had perfected.

The style derived from the Tribute Life Dark Art (貢命魔功), which manipulated vital energies at the cost of the user’s own life force—its designation was the Pacheon Divine Art (破天神功).

A martial discipline designed to shatter entities as grand and exalted as the heavens themselves.

Though still unrefined, it was one of the hidden arts he had been preserving to pass down to Aso in the future.

Hssss—

He drew in a sharp breath, then locked it in his lungs.

The blade in his fingers began to ascend, slowly, calculatedly—

Shhhhhhhk!

—and burst into a virtually invisible hurricane of slashes.

Originating from Drill Sarge, blade trajectories rippled outward like an intricate spider’s web, threatening to slice the entire arena into fragments.

Gossamer threads of light connecting heaven and earth.

纤纤细线连天地.

What on earth—!

Rachel flinched backward.

How could a basic E-rank summon generate an aura of THAT magnitude?!

The cuts were so incredibly precise, so fundamentally fatal, that even Baekho, right in the middle of its charge, pressed itself low to the dirt with its head tucked.

The golden dragon expanded its physical form and soared straight into the sky to meet the incoming barrage head-on.

That is being executed with a single hand?!

That heavily damaged summon was genuinely pulling THIS off?

Even in the heat of combat, Rachel couldn’t prevent a sense of victimization from bubbling up.

This bypassed the realm of absurdity—it was fundamentally unfair!

But Rachel was far from the type of competitor who would be taken off the board by Drill Sarge before even making contact with Baek Jinwoo.

“Baekho!”

“We are executing it as well!”

Baekho signaled its comprehension with a deep growl and bounded forward.

An ultimate capability that drained a full half of Baekho’s total mana pool.

Slaughter (屠戮).

A blinding torrent of white energy coated Baekho’s form, and it barreled straight ahead, completely disregarding Drill Sarge’s network of incoming blade strikes.

It would rip out his windpipe before that sword technique could achieve its full release!

However, from Drill Sarge’s gaze, a brilliant Radiance was already spilling forth in concentrated streams.

Ultimately, it would envelop the entire macrocosm.

The expanding network of sword strikes grew progressively wider, progressively more apocalyptic.

And then—

Pacheon Divine Art.

Secret Technique.

World Annihilation.

An all-consuming eruption of shockwaves blanketed the entirety of the coliseum.