Chapter 127

What made the golden dragon’s Ascension Breath so terrifyingly potent was its nature as an absolute area-of-effect strike.

Concealment or stealth meant nothing.

If you were caught within its sweeping trajectory, you suffered the consequences. It was that simple.

Furthermore, this was no ordinary offensive strike—it delivered maximum damage output capable of obliterating any target instantly, unless that target happened to be an S-rank tanker or a defensive specialist heavily fortified with protective runes.

Yet, how had this occurred?

Rachel found herself entirely unable to comprehend the situation.

In what way could Gale Slaughterer, a summon specialized strictly in swift assassinations, endure a direct blast from a breath attack completely unscathed?

Had a defensive enhancement been utilized?

Certain runes were known to temporarily boost health points to astronomical levels for a brief window.

However, she dismissed the thought immediately. It defied all logic.

No rational tactician would ever waste a tanking rune on a fragile, high-damage assassination summon.

As Rachel stood frozen in utter bewilderment—

Slash!

Rolly, having just severed the head of the golden dragon, did not hesitate for even a fraction of a second.

He lunged directly toward Baekho, his massive scythe whirling through the air in a blur of deadly rotations.

It was a relentless, suffocating assault designed to deny the opponent even a single moment to breathe or recover.

ROAAAR!

The deafening cry of Baekho snapped Rachel back into reality.

Forcing herself to react, she commanded Baekho’s sharp talons upward, parrying the spinning blade before retreating swiftly to create distance.

CLASH-CLANG-CLANG!

With that, the fierce duel commenced!

The two powerful summons threw themselves into a chaotic melee, claws ripping through the air as the scythe swung with lethal intent.

Thud!

Rachel touched down on the battlefield after dismissing the defeated golden dragon and called out across the arena.

“Baek Jinwoo.”

“Yeah?”

“How did you manage that?”

“Manage what?”

“He took a full, unmitigated blast from that breath weapon…! How is he still standing?”

“Oh, you mean that.”

Baek Jinwoo paused to consider his options.

Should he enlighten her, or keep his mouth shut?

In truth, the decision required very little thought.

“Reveal the identity of your final summon, and I will gladly share the secret.”

“……!”

Rachel bit her lip in frustration.

It made sense.

Throughout the entire confrontation, he had remained highly vigilant of the fact that she had only brought out four of her summons.

“It is a fair trade, isn’t it? You have to offer something of equal value to get information.”

“Never mind.”

Rachel exhaled deeply.

She focused her mind, desperately working to extinguish the furious, burning anger that threatened to cloud her judgment.

This was the grand stage to determine the absolute finest player on earth.

She did not require explanations handed to her by her adversary. She needed to deduce the reality on her own.

BOOM-CRASH-RAT-A-TAT!

Baekho and Gale Slaughterer continued their ferocious, close-quarters brawl.

Looking strictly at physical durability and raw power, Baekho, a specialized brawler-tank hybrid, possessed a massive advantage. Yet, the entity directing the movements of Gale Slaughterer was none other than JinuGod.

An incredibly smooth mobility and tactical execution that completely invalidated any disparity in base attributes!

This was the hallmark of his extraordinary mastery.

His flawless handling of the scythe served as undeniable proof of a rare, natural gift for combat.

And then, it hit her.

Ah.

As the intense frustration in her thoughts finally began to cool into a calm clarity, details that had previously escaped her notice started to manifest.

It couldn’t be…!

Rachel clenched her hands into tight fists.

The real reason Gale Slaughterer had walked away from that inferno without a single scratch!

The realization finally dawned on her.

The assassin had never actually been caught in the path of the breath weapon to begin with!

The moment that deduction solidified in her mind, a cold chill ran down her spine.

She broke out in goosebumps.

If one were to precisely reconstruct the boundary and execution of that breath assault…

From the exact moment Stormy materialized and unleashed the Storm Dragon Arts directly into Baekho’s jaws, Gale Slaughterer was already positioned right there.

Right next to her position.

She had simply failed to notice his presence because his active concealment was functioning perfectly.

Meanwhile, Rachel, entirely blind to the trap, had confidently boarded the golden dragon and advanced forward to unleash the destructive breath straight at Baek Jinwoo.

Directly toward the coordinates where only the Wind Fairy and the opposing player seemed to be standing.

I allowed my emotions to dictate my movements!

Charging directly at Baek Jinwoo in a state of hyper-focus had been her critical misstep.

Furthermore, Baek Jinwoo’s apparent panic alongside the Wind Fairy frantically waving her staff like a lunatic had served as the perfect performance to sell the illusion.

“Wow.”

Rachel let out a soft sigh filled with genuine respect.

“……You’re resorting to theatrical performances now?”

It was maddening.

If that wide-eyed, bumbling display of terror was nothing more than a calculated ruse, the man honestly earned the highest accolades from the BAFTAs—the most prestigious cultural institution in England—without a shadow of a doubt!

And that Wind Fairy deserved a trophy of her own.

How could a summon wave her staff with such desperate, frantic energy at absolutely nothing but empty space?

“Oh, you deduced the trick far quicker than I anticipated,” Baek Jinwoo remarked with a sharp smirk.

Indeed.

While mechanical execution was vital, the Battle of Summoners had always retained a massive psychological component.

Baek Jinwoo had merely utilized that mental element to absolute perfection.

“However, I have now exhausted my hidden tricks. At this current pace, I am fairly confident I can neutralize Baekho eventually—so what about your ultimate trump card? Isn’t it time you brought it onto the field?”

Even while actively commanding his summon’s complex movements, Baek Jinwoo never allowed his focus to slacken for an instant.

Standard competitive bouts were played under the assumption that a competitor would utilize all five available summons.

A single entity was inherently disadvantaged against two, and two were weaker than three—it was a foundational rule of thumb.

But if an individual chose to deviate from that logic?

It indicated one of two possibilities.

They either completely disrespected their opponent’s capabilities, or the final asset they were keeping under wraps possessed catastrophic power.

Baek Jinwoo was firmly wagering on the second scenario.

For that exact reason, he refused to overcommit his resources entirely against Baekho.

Rolly’s razor-sharp blade sliced deep into Baekho’s thick flesh.

Already incredibly dangerous on his own merits, Rolly—significantly amplified by the cumulative enhancements inherited from Ramba—was delivering strikes that surpassed typical S-rank power.

ROAAAR!

Baekho was visibly losing ground. Definitively.

Crimson fluid sprayed from the deep lacerations inflicted by the scythe, leaving pale bone visible beneath the torn fur.

Rachel watched in utter disbelief.

Even taking into account that I have depleted nearly all of my magical reserves…… how is Baekho being utterly overwhelmed?

Her eyes remained fixed on Gale Slaughterer.

The assassin did nothing more than rotate like a violent cyclone with that massive polearm, yet the destructive pressure it generated was overwhelming.

“Are you truly not going to summon your final asset?”

“……”

“If you maintain this passive stance, your Baekho is going to be completely destroyed.”

Rolly’s fatal choreography grew increasingly precise and devastating with every passing second.

Bring it out already.

Show the world the secret weapon you have been holding back.

If keeping only four summons on the field was meant to be a grand psychological bluff… then she would suffer the ultimate consequence of that failed gamble through total defeat.

Rachel’s gaze wavered, just for a fleeting moment.

There was no alternative remaining.

She had desperately wished to avoid displaying this particular asset to the global audience if possible, but…

I refuse to accept a loss.

Just for today.

She wasn’t asking for permanent dominance beyond this match—she only demanded victory this single time.

She wanted to overcome this absurdly dominant deity of the competitive scene, the legendary figure known as Ilcheon JinuGod.

Swish.

She swept her arm upward.

And the entity that materialized out of thin air in the middle of the arena was—a silver-bearded elderly figure gripping a massive staff!

“Wh-what in the world……!”

Baek Jinwoo recognized the figure instantly.

“You absolute cheater—!”

How could such a setup even exist?

Baek Jinwoo’s mouth hung open in shock.

Naturally, he was well aware of the entity’s identity.

It was a highly renowned S-rank entity within the competitive landscape of Battle of Summoners.

The Great Wizard (S-rank).

Among all humanoid-type summons, it was universally recognized as the absolute pinnacle of magical devastation.

Provided it was granted the necessary preparation and environment, it possessed the capacity to call down devastating meteors, freeze the literal flow of time, and even execute Power Word Kill—a definitive, instant-elimination spell.

Granted, developing a summon to utilize that tier of power demanded an immense amount of time and resource investment.

Even so!

Commanding two distinct S-rank summons was something he could rationally accept—but deploying THREE separate S-ranks was flat-out ridiculous!

This crossed far beyond the boundaries of mere good fortune!

CLANG-CLASH-BOOM!

Rolly, who had been actively pushing Baekho toward total annihilation, immediately shifted his trajectory.

The singular methodology available to maximize his chances of survival against the Great Wizard—

Engage in absolute close-range combat.

However.

The Great Wizard raised his massive staff high into the air.

CRACKLE-SNAP!

Violent violet currents of electricity began to arc wildly from the gemstone at its apex.

As if a deity of storms were descending directly from the heavens, an immense and terrifying gathering of energy coalesced from the atmosphere above.

Great Wizard.

9 Circles.

Power Word Kill.

The ultimate, absolute-elimination incantation of the Great Wizard, a spell that systematically drained every single point of remaining magical energy.

If the strike connected, you perished. Automatically.

Total health pools? Heavy defensive attributes?

Completely bypassed. Every bit of it.

The exact millisecond the magical energy makes contact, your summon is forcibly dismissed—there existed no superior ability for a localized, one-on-one confrontation.

With no remaining entities on the field besides Gale Slaughterer, JinuGod possessed no avenues for retreat.

“I am truly sorry, Baek Jinwoo. You are inevitably going to dominate every professional league after this tournament concludes anyway. Just permit me to claim this singular victory.”

Permit her to win? Not a chance in hell!

Baek Jinwoo’s eyes turned entirely bloodshot with intense focus.

No.

He refused to let that strike land.

BOOM-CRACKLE!

A massive torrent of violet lightning discharged, hurtling directly toward Rolly’s position.

The velocity of the attack practically matched the speed of sound itself.

Yet—pure intuition!

Baek Jinwoo’s deeply ingrained combat instincts screamed a warning inside his head.

The execution mastery of that particular spell was still underdeveloped.

If it were cast with flawless, pinpoint tracking, dodging would be an mathematical impossibility—but that implied a crucial vulnerability!

All he needed to accomplish was completely deceive Rachel’s visual tracking!

BOOM-BOOM-CRACK-CRASH!

In the midst of the lethal lightning discharging violently from the staff, an utterly impossible maneuver began to take shape.

Navigating the microscopic gaps between the descending electrical currents.

Rolly surged forward at an impossibly sharp, acute angle, elevating his brutal scythe high into the air—

FLASH!

And sliced directly through the humanoid magical summon’s singular fatal vulnerability: its neck.

Snap!

A massive fissure rippled across the structure.

THUD!

The head separated from the torso and fell away.

0.1 seconds.

The entirety of the sequence had unfolded within that microscopic window of time.

How……

How could a human being possibly execute that?

He successfully evaded Power Word Kill?

Through sheer manual input and positioning?

“I made myself clear earlier,” Baek Jinwoo said in a quiet, steady tone. “I stated that I would never suffer a defeat.”

SWISH!

Having instantly neutralized the threat of the Great Wizard, Rolly pivoted flawlessly on his heel and redirected his charge straight back toward Baekho.

“Wow.”

A stunned, hollow laugh slipped from Rachel’s lips.

S-rank summons were supposed to be completely unbalanced and broken?

What a joke.

That absolute anomaly, that—that individual known as JinuGod himself was the only truly broken element in this game. Just… him as a player.

“What kind of madness is……”

Her voice trailed off entirely. Rachel could not even articulate a coherent thought, far too overwhelmed to speak.

Baekho fired off every single remaining offensive capability in a desperate, final salvos.

Yet she could only watch with empty, defeated eyes as Rolly effortlessly slipped past every single technique, methodically dismantling the beast’s defenses with his scythe.

The physical energy completely evaporated from her frame.

She could not even begin to conceptualize a tactical methodology to defeat a summon capable of moving with that degree of precision.

She had suffered a loss.

This was a definitive, unmitigated catastrophe of a defeat.

No matter how desperately she attempted to pacify her racing thoughts, her mind blazed so intensely she felt as though physical vapor might rise from her skin.

“Ahahaha.”

The sheer absurdity of the reality was so vast that involuntary laughter began to escape her.

The corners of Rachel’s lips curled upward into a wide smile.

Whatever, let it happen.

Take the entire victory, JinuGod.

If she was incapable of securing a win after pushing her strategies to this extreme threshold, then even a literal deity of mechanical execution would have failed to best him.

No—JinuGod was the literal definition of a deity.

A divine entity bearing the title of Jinu (GOD).

Rachel accepted her fate and completely severed her mental connection to Baekho.

ROAAAR…!

Accompanied by the agonizing, final cry of Baekho, the competitive bout officially reached its conclusion.

The 4th World League.

The victorious champion country: South Korea!

The tournament MVP?

Baek Jinwoo, without a single shred of debate.

The collective atmosphere across the entirety of England instantly plummeted into an icy, stunned silence.

What manner of non-human capabilities had they just witnessed live?

The revelation that Rachel’s hidden asset was yet another S-rank summon had been a massive shock to the system on its own.

But that absolute terror representing the East, who casually brushed aside her ultimate, game-ending spell in a singular, fluid motion—what kind of anomaly was he?!

How can anyone do that?

Is that individual even a human being?

You could be utilizing performance-enhancing stimulants and still fail to replicate that level of execution!

On the massive arena monitors, Rolly’s impossible evasion of Power Word Kill began broadcasting in extreme slow motion.

The sequence was so blisteringly rapid that even with the playback speed drastically reduced, standard spectators could barely register the trajectory with their eyes.

Even so?

Rolly’s tactical adjustments weren’t merely anomalous—they were breathtakingly beautiful to behold.

“Ha, completely unbelievable. I am genuinely left without any words to describe this,” Yoshida Hikaru remarked, laughing in sheer, stunned bewilderment.

“An absolute madman,” Xenos stated, slowly shaking his head in disbelief.

“……Rachel. That inscrutable competitor. She was actually concealing an asset of that magnitude?”

MoscowMan carried a look of profound betrayal across his features upon witnessing her deployment of three distinct S-rank assets.

“Bwahaha, I told all of you exactly how it would go, didn’t I? JinuGod is an absolute DEITY!”

Meanwhile, Baekcheon was laughing hysterically, surrounded by the members of the Taiwanese national roster who had gathered around his position.

Global elite rankers.

Competitive players.

Everyday citizens.

Every single individual was glued to the broadcasting monitors.

The exact historical juncture where the global balance of power completely shifted.

The definitive moment South Korea, once dismissed as the least competitive territory, aggressively claimed the crown from England’s grasp.

“Wow.”

Deep within the borders of South Korea.

A lone, quiet expression of triumph slipped from someone’s mouth.

Did that act as the catalyst?

“Waah!”

“Yeaahh!”

Fifty million individual voices roared out simultaneously, creating a sonic boom that shook the very foundations of the country.

South Korea’s massive, historic victory celebration?

It was only just getting started.