Chapter 171. Pouring Everything Out
“Over here!! Focus!!!”
[An imitation Lion’s Roar mixed with Madness shakes the ground!]
As if by habit, Ingwang shouted to draw everyone’s attention toward himself.
There was no way the effect of Lion’s Roar would properly work on a Great Hero.
But between everyone else keeping their mouths shut and Ingwang constantly shouting and making noise, there was no need to say which one naturally drew more attention.
“You’ve definitely grown stronger.”
After twenty years, the Ruler of Madness had returned with the name of Hero upon his back.
He now stood before her while carrying the trust and faith of everyone around him.
Even after accepting the power of Madness, his individual offensive power was still relatively low.
But Ingwang’s true value had never been in one-on-one combat.
[The Great Hero of Patience creates layer upon layer of walls!]
BOOM!
Ingwang swung his claws, infused with poison and Madness, and carved a scratch into the wall Pastien had created.
The instant a tiny opening appeared, concentrated attacks from the others poured into it.
The wall shattered in moments.
Almost absurdly easily for something created by a Great Hero.
Maybe she was deliberately fighting only at a level they could overcome.
If so, Ingwang welcomed it.
A free victory was still a victory.
If he won this once and simply never fought her again afterward, then the record between the two of them would forever end with Ingwang’s victory.
Even if that was nothing more than mental gymnastics, Ingwang had plenty of experience being forcibly declared the winner despite clearly losing because his opponent acknowledged defeat.
Compared to that, this was practically dignified.
“Your coordination is natural.”
Pastien watched them.
“You must have crossed countless battlefields together.”
“Yeeeeees!!”
Ingwang shoved his hand through the regenerating wall.
Old memories came flooding back.
He should not have been able to grasp the enormous Flow of a Great Hero’s power.
But with Hayangi actively helping him, he interfered with the Flow of the wall.
The remaining layers shattered in an instant.
Ingwang charged toward Pastien.
“...I will no longer underestimate you.”
Shing!
Pastien reached beside Asset’s spinal bones and pulled out a pure white sword.
She had said she would no longer underestimate him.
She hadn’t said she would stop holding back.
So Ingwang charged forward with a little relief.
Hoo... She pulled out something scary...!
He didn’t need to have seen it before.
Nor did anyone need to explain it to him.
That was the sword once wielded by the Great Hero of Hope.
The sword once called the Holy Sword.
Its hilt was long.
The blade itself was far too long for someone of Pastien’s size to wield comfortably.
Beautiful patterns were engraved across its surface, giving off a faint glow.
In Pastien’s hands...
It shone brilliantly.
“...First Fist, Battering Ram.”
A broad shockwave burst from the tip of Pastien’s rapidly thrust sword.
The group immediately recognized what it was.
Jin’s Annihilation, performed with a sword.
Against Ingwang, who used the mutually opposing power of Flow, it did not deal especially overwhelming damage.
But his companions behind him could not withstand such a wide-area impact.
So Ingwang stopped where he stood.
He took the entire force himself.
“Hey! What the hell! You can’t use that!”
“Hey, hey! Modak, focus!”
“...Modak focus!”
BANG!
Modak, pressed close behind Ingwang, raised both fists high and slammed them into the ground.
“Third Fist, Tower!”
BOOM!
BOOM-BOOM!
BANG!
The impact traveled through the ground.
Then it exploded directly beneath Pastien’s feet and formed a long cylindrical pillar.
Pastien did not bother dodging.
She rode the rising pillar and leaped into the air.
Then she glared at Ingwang and swung her sword.
“So Jin had a disciple.”
Pastien clicked her tongue.
“That woman always makes a ridiculous number of disciples! Ethan Style, First Sword...!”
“Certain Kill...!”
Pastien’s rapid sword strike moved at a speed no one present except Great Hero Erol could even see.
At that exact moment, Aien happened to swing her Certain Kill using all the strength she had gathered.
The two attacks unintentionally collided.
Certain Kill possessed the property of continuing forward no matter what.
Pastien had let her guard down.
The attack brushed past her arm.
A small cut appeared.
“An unusual technique...!”
Pastien looked at the wound.
“But still weak. Ethan Style, Second Sword...!”
“Hey!”
Pastien gripped the sword hilt with both hands and made a massive horizontal swing.
This time, Ingwang redirected it.
If it was nothing more than a horizontal slash, then no matter how enormous the force of a Great Hero was...
Redirecting it was still possible.
RATTLE!!
Pastien’s large swing briefly broke her stance and exposed her body.
Ingwang immediately fired his chains toward her.
Madness and Indomitable power mixed together, causing black flames to rise from them.
And after being hammered and strengthened by the old blacksmith, the chains were stronger than ever.
“You went to the Isolated Sea!”
Ingwang grinned.
“Great Heroes sure do talk a lot, don’t they?”
Pastien was restrained for only a brief instant.
But that was enough.
The Village Chief fired magic bullets imbued with Pie’s curses.
The bullets tore through the air.
Mallyangi’s Spear of Light and Levy’s water cannon joined them.
Every attack slammed into Pastien at once.
“Hmph!”
A transparent barrier erupted from the center of Pastien’s body.
Ingwang’s chains were ripped away.
Every incoming attack was deflected.
But then—
A spear struck Pastien from behind.
Her stance collapsed.
The barrier shattered almost immediately.
“You hid a spear inside the Tower created by Jin’s disciple.”
Pastien glared at Ingwang.
“Such a shallow trick!”
“Winning is all that matters!”
Clap!
Ingwang clasped both hands together and instantly moved in front of Pastien.
Then he swung them.
Pastien looked at the wildly swinging joined hands with disbelief.
There was no way such a crude attack would hit her.
“Have you lost your mind? An attack like that can easily be—”
“Kahaha!”
[Compressed Madness erupts!]
From between Ingwang’s tightly clasped hands...
The ominous black energy of Madness he had compressed erupted.
And once Ingwang could no longer contain the force...
A massive explosion detonated directly in front of Pastien.
“I’m still not used to Madness!”
The blast of Madness did not distinguish friend from foe.
Aien stretched out the Arm of the Fighting Dragon, now dyed black, and blocked the wave.
Pastien had anticipated neither the sheer destructive force of the explosion nor the density of Madness within it.
She was directly exposed.
Yet inside the blast...
Pastien calmly raised her sword.
Her expression did not change.
“...Ethan Style, Third Sword.”
Her sword carved a deep diagonal line.
The strike cut through the black energy of Madness itself.
Even the mist of the Demonic Realm was split apart.
A line of pure white electricity remained suspended in the air along the path of the slash.
It crackled threateningly.
“I am Madness’s younger sister.”
Pastien glared.
“Did you think the power of Madness would defeat me so easily?”
“Not really.”
Tap.
Ingwang’s hand rested against Pastien’s stomach.
That was the terrifying part of Flow.
Before anyone noticed...
He had already come close.
He had hidden himself within the natural Flow.
One mistake could have caused him to be swept away by that Flow and disappear entirely.
No one except Ingwang himself knew it, but it had been a gamble with his life.
“Tsk.”
Pastien frowned.
“Using the power of Flow despite how poorly it suits you.”
She had already realized Ingwang used Flow.
Wary of it, she leaped far backward.
Ingwang smiled.
“That’s exactly what I wanted.”
He snapped his fingers.
“Doll!”
RUMBLE!
As though they had been waiting for that moment...
Countless jointed dolls poured from the darkness behind Pastien.
“Explosion is art...!”
A ring glittered on Ingwang’s hand.
The Ring of Twisted Affection.
It allowed him to issue commands to the rats even after their deaths.
Ingwang gave an order to the souls of the rats sleeping inside the dolls.
The dolls awakened.
And they happily obeyed him.
BOOM!
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
This was different from the physical damage of grenades.
The impact came from exploding souls.
It could even resonate with weaker souls and cause chain explosions.
It was a trump card Ingwang had held back even during his fight with First Horn.
But Ingwang was certain it would not be especially effective here.
Pastien had casually endured the explosion of Madness already.
If this attack somehow damaged her properly...
Ingwang and Hayangi’s pride would probably take a serious hit.
She’s lived for more than four hundred years.
There’s no way her soul is fragile.
Ingwang pulled Aien, who had advanced too far, behind him.
Then he fired chains toward the ceiling and spread another wide net just like during the battle with First Horn.
“Ethan Style, Fourth Sword....”
The exploding souls had shattered into fragments and formed a mist of spirit particles.
From within that fog, Pastien’s calm voice rang out once again.
SWISH!
She swung her sword toward the ground as though flicking blood from its blade.
The thick mist of powdered souls dispersed.
Pastien stood there completely unharmed.
Not a single wound.
The difference in strength was overwhelming to anyone watching.
Nothing they did seemed to work.
Just when despair began creeping into everyone’s minds...
Ingwang noticed something.
...The sword is getting weaker...!
The First Sword had been so fast he couldn’t even see it.
But the Second.
Third.
Fourth.
Each became slower.
And each carried less power.
A sword art that weakens every time it’s used?
No.
That makes no sense.
Pastien looked at Ingwang.
“...You truly are a man whom Hero and my sister entrusted with Qualification.”
