Book 2: 260
Book 2: Chapter 260
Sedi finally made her move.
Taht.
With a light leap, her body shot up about two meters. Then, she spun in the air before bringing her heel down.
She could feel the momentum behind her attack. But she was doubtful about whether it would have any effect.
In a sense, Sedi’s attack could be called half-desperate.
If the Priestess died, the restrictions on Nodiesop would disappear. And their already small chance of winning would disappear with them.
But Nodiesop let go of the Priestess and easily avoided the attack.
“Cough, cough…!”
Coughing, the Priestess fell to the ground.
Sedi clicked her tongue when she saw this. She’d heard Nodiesop’s words. Was this woman really the special statue?
More importantly, didn’t he call her the Seven Fanged Dragon God? What kind of Ruler would be put in such a state in the first place?
For now, she decided to suppress the questions that arose within her.
Nodiesop was looking at her.
He still looked relaxed, his expression similar to someone who had an overwhelming advantage and knew it.
But…
‘…he dodged my attack.’
That fact gave her a bit of hope. He had chosen to avoid her attack instead of blocking it.
While it might seem minor, this fact was actually important.
If he had enough external force at his disposal, there would be no need for him to do such a thing. If he were to simply cover his body with external force, it would cause his defenses to surpass Kaz.
‘This might be a better matchup for me than Kaz.’
At least demonic energy, which was Sedi’s main attack force, would not be completely neutralised.
However, where were the others? How far away had they been swept for there to still not be any news from them?
Splash!
As if in response to her thoughts, two figures shot out of the water at the same time.
Taht.
Min Ha-rin and Leo.
Without even bothering to shake the water from their bodies, they stared at Nodiesop with fierce expressions.
Sedi glanced at them.
“Do you need me to explain the situation?”
“No.”
“…”
Leo answered indifferently, but Min Ha-rin remained silent while looking at Nodiesop with a murderous gaze.
‘This is the man.’
The Absolute who dared to kill Lukas.
Just thinking about it caused her mind to go blank. Her heart began to pound so heavily in her chest that it became hard to breathe.
“Tch.”
Sedi couldn’t help but click her tongue when she saw this.
As she expected, this girl would be dangerous. Emotions like anger could sometimes change the outcome of a fight, but that was only the case when the opponent was as strong as you were or only a bit stronger.
In a situation where the chances of winning were as low as they were now, losing your cool was akin to suicide.
It was annoying, but she would have to give her some advice.
“You, don’t act on your own. If we don’t work together, then our low chances of winning will disappear.”
“…”
“Hey, are you listening to me?”
“…I’m listening.”
She wasn’t listening.
Sedi’s expression became one of extreme annoyance. This was the biggest problem. Sedi’s voice would never reach Min Ha-rin. No. At that point, she doubted Min Ha-rin would listen to anyone.
And in the first place, words like consolation and encouragement would only be found on the exact opposite side of the universe from Sedi.
It couldn’t be helped. She couldn’t afford to pay attention to Min Ha-rin now. She couldn’t help her, so she could only hope that she didn’t do anything stupid.
‘The most important thing is how strong these guys were.’
She had a rough idea from looking at them. But their exact power level could only be learned after watching them fight.
Sedi decided to ask a quick question.
“Hey you, attack or defense. Which one are you more suited for?”
“Attack.”
“Me too.”
“…”
Son of a bitch. She wanted to hit someone.
Nevertheless, all three of them couldn’t focus on attacking. One of them needed to stay back in order to protect the Priestess.
Sedi sighed.
“Then you guys take the front. I’ll protect the Priestess and aim for any gaps I find. Understand? Don’t face him head on. Imagine that you’re fighting someone with full-body armor and a glass sword.”
Nodiesop’s external power was not something these brats could afford to take on.
Leo nodded, but Min Ha-rin didn’t answer.
Sedi seriously considered smacking her across the head, but she knew that now wasn’t the time to do so.
Nodiesop watched all of this with a slight smile on his face.
‘…he said that he didn’t want to waste time.’
But that didn’t seem to be the case.
That was a fatal weakness that most Absolutes tended to have. When fighting against mortals, they rarely went all out. As long as they weren’t forced into a corner, they wouldn’t abandon their relaxed attitudes.
‘It’s no different from when I fought Kaz.’
As this thought passed through her mind, Sedi knew that she was just being optimistic. Nevertheless, she was unable to hide the bead of sweat that rolled down her jawline.
‘Nodiesop doesn’t know how strong I am.’
She had raised her level even further after digesting the large amounts of demonic energy that she’d absorbed on Death Island. If she were to attack an opening with all her might, she might be able to defeat him.
But she would only get one chance.
If that failed, Nodiesop would lose his relaxed attitude and become alert.
At that point, he would stop treating the mortals in front of him as toys or bugs, and would instead start treating them as ‘enemies’.
‘That would be the end.’
So she would need to slowly build up her power.
It would have to be slow enough that Nodiesop wouldn’t notice, slow enough to make even snails cry.
Fortunately, she had a good excuse. Even if Sedi were to stay back on her own, Nodiesop wouldn’t find it strange. He would simply think that she was protecting the Priestess.
Therefore, the success of this operation would depend on Min Ha-rin and Leo.
‘Can those brats really hold on long enough for me to build up enough power to blow Nodiesop away?’
She didn’t know. She didn’t even want to think too deeply about it.
Sedi bit her lower lip.
But she couldn’t think of a better plan.
‘They have to hold on somehow.’
Otherwise, they would all die.
* * *
He’d once dreamed of something like this.
Fighting against a powerful enemy side by side with those closest to him.
It was one of the delusions of his younger, immature self, but Leo was only able to realise his dream at that moment.
Nevertheless, he wasn’t as happy as he thought he would be. Maybe it was because he’d already become more mature. Or maybe it was because this situation was a bit different from his dream.
There were two differences between the current situation and the one in his dreams.
Firstly, the condition of his teammate was not normal. It was in a mental sense, not a physical one. Seeing Min Ha-rin draw her sword with a dead look in her eyes made his heart ache. This was because he was more familiar with her warm, kind side.
The second difference was that their opponent wasn’t simply at the level of ‘powerful enemy’.
Taht.
As he rushed towards Nodiesop, he observed his posture. He stood in an unprotected manner, filled with openings and flaws, but Leo knew that he shouldn’t let that fool him.
After all, this man was a monster who had created a tsunami large enough to overturn the entirety of Dragon God Island.
‘Imagine that you’re fighting someone with full-body armor and a glass sword.’
Less than a minute after the battle began, he realised how apt Sedi’s analogy was.
His punches were always blocked by ‘something’. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it prevented his fists from going any further.
An invisible membrane?
It felt a bit different from that.
Leo’s expression was terrible. Since he didn’t know how his attacks were being blocked, he was forced to be more cautious, which also meant that the power and momentum of his attacks were bound to drop.
Clang!
Min Ha-rin’s sword was also blocked, but she didn’t panic. Instead, she raised her left hand in front of Nodiesop’s face with her fingers spread out.
“Hyper Bolt.”
Boom!
The bolt of energy shot out and struck Nodiesop directly in the face.
His ears tingled from the explosion, and vision being obscured by the smoke from the explosion didn’t stop Leo from jumping forward without hesitation.
He already knew where Nodiesop was, and he could still sense his presence in the smoke. His presence could be sensed from hundreds of meters away.
Since he couldn’t hit him with his fist, he tried to use his foot this time.
Paak!
But just like before, his attacks were stopped. It felt like he had kicked a wall, and his foot began to throb.
Whoosh!
A powerful tornado suddenly appeared around Nodiesop. The tornado was so strong that it blew away not only the smoke around him but Min Ha-rin and Leo as well.
Looking like a wet mouse, Leo looked up at Nodiesop. Even though he’d taken the Hyper Bolt directly to the face, he hadn’t even suffered a single scratch.
Looking at them, Nodiesop gave a kind smile.
“Are you curious about my power?”
“…”
“Showing you might be better than telling you. This is the identity of my power.”
As he said that, Nodiesop extended a single index finger.