Resurrection Chapter 51 - Nothing Went Wrong, Did It?

“Hyung, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

Heesoo hyung gave a bitter smile.

“I suppose it’s because of what I ate…”

“Do you think it’s having an effect?”

“Yes. A few of my passive skills are in the process of evolving.”

Heesoo hyung’s transformation was faintly visible even on the outside. After becoming Ulfheðinn’s first apostle and being possessed by him, his once stick-thin body had bulked up considerably. Though not to the extent of Yoon Younghyun, he had an overall bigger and sturdier frame.

On the skin visible beyond his clothes, a strange shadow would occasionally flicker. It seemed to be a phenomenon caused by the strengthening of his body. On a sunny day, my own passive skill, Golden Scales, was sometimes visible to the naked eye.

Just then, Min Gongchan, who was walking about half a step ahead, said,

“Get ready to fight. They’re coming.”

Screeeech!

With a sharp cry, a swarm of something like fireballs came flying from the far end of the red valley. Eyeballs the size of basketballs made up most of their bodies, and they spun four pairs of wings like propellers.

I stepped forward and used magic so that Heesoo hyung wouldn’t waste his energy on small fry.

“Twister.”

As soon as I finished the incantation, a powerful whirlwind rose up and sent them flying in all directions. After that, Fire Drakes poured out from crevices in the valley walls that I hadn’t even known were there.

“Kieeeek!”

“Krrrrk!”

There looked to be hundreds of them, far more than just a few dozen, so I shouted.

“Don’t tell me those things are the boss monster, are they?”

Min Gongchan retorted.

“Don’t worry. When the boss monster appears, you won’t even need to ask if it’s the boss monster.”

He didn’t seem to be scared at all, even with monsters running rampant on all sides. He was so calm it was hard to believe he was an ordinary person.

I had been continuously protecting him to prevent him from getting hurt or killed, but surrounded by hundreds of Fire Drakes, that seemed like it would be difficult. I had no choice but to take my attention off him while preparing an area-of-effect spell, so I had to toss him an evasion scroll.

“Do something with that!”

Min Gongchan grumbled.

“Not even a Teleport, just a Blink scroll?”

Ignoring his complaint, I began casting. As I formed the endlessly complex hand seals, a magic circle appeared in midair.

Seeing the magic circle, which blazed with an eerie light, made me feel like I’d become a magical girl. It felt like I should be doing a transformation sequence or something!

Instead of transforming, I shouted the incantation.

“Heesoo hyung, get out of the way! Inundate!”

Ruuuuuumble!

A tremendous amount of water poured out from the magic circle as if a dam had burst. Heesoo hyung quickly moved back to avoid the fierce torrent.

Unlike him, the Fire Drakes, caught unprepared, were hit by the unseasonable downpour and swept away.

The spell was quite large, even for area-of-effect magic, and my mana was drained. I panted, lowered my hands, and said,

“That’s it for me. I can’t use any more magic.”

I had to save some mana just in case I needed to use Resurrection on Heesoo hyung. Heesoo hyung looked at the Fire Drakes that had clung to the cliff to avoid the torrent and said,

“I will take care of the rest.”

It was clear that a few dozen Fire Drakes would be no match for the level 59 Heesoo hyung. His words that he would handle it were reassuring, but I was bound to become anxious soon after.

The torrent that had been sweeping toward the end of the valley suddenly exploded like a bomb and evaporated.

Boooooooom!

An enormous amount of steam shot up all at once, and the entire valley shook with a rumble. From that spot, a blazing ball of fire, like erupting lava, appeared.

Booooooom!

Even from a considerable distance, the heat radiating from that fireball was immense. The Awakened System, reacting to it, sent a monster alarm as if in a panic.

「Scorching Archdemon★★★★★: In the deepest part of the Fog Swamp, the Heart of Fire lies dormant. A fragment that has broken off from it protects itself as the Scorching Archdemon. The flames produced by this supernatural being are the ‘Raging Flames’ or the ‘Wailing Flames’ and can burn all that exists. As the ultimate fire attribute, it cannot be countered by ordinary water; on the contrary, a clumsy attempt to fight it with water will result in immense damage.」

In the alarm, which didn’t list a single method of attack, the most conspicuous thing was the stars. I shouted in horror.

“Are you kidding me? We barely managed to catch a 3-black-star Black Unicorn, and now it’s a 5-black-star?”

Even among regular star ranks, the difference between 3-star and 5-star is like heaven and earth. For black stars, that difference is overwhelming.

I saw the exploded steam rise above the valley and grow into a storm. What appeared at the root of that storm was a giant, burning so intensely that just looking at it felt like it could burn you to death.

With its appearance, the valley floor, which had been wet from the torrent, dried up in an instant. Every last bit of moisture disappeared, and the air was so hot it felt like it was burning.

The heat radiating from the Scorching Archdemon was not something a human could withstand. Even I, who possessed a strong resistance to the fire attribute thanks to the protection of the Golden Scales, could not ignore the terrifying heat it emitted. The expression ‘hellfire’ was truly fitting.

I was not just horrified, but terrified.

“This… this is impossible…!”

No matter how much Heesoo hyung has reached level 59, this is too much.

There was no way Min Gongchan didn’t know that fact.

Something is wrong, it’s a trap!

I didn’t waste time turning to Min Gongchan to argue whether this was a trap or not. I immediately threw myself toward Heesoo hyung, trying to grab him as he was, as always, ahead of me.

“Heesoo hyung…!”

The ground, which had begun to burn under my feet, kicked up dust like ash, and my fingertips brushed against the hem of his clothes. Heesoo hyung briefly looked back at me, but I couldn’t catch him. From behind me, Min Gongchan had pulled me back forcefully.

“Blink!”

At the same time, Min Gongchan used the scroll I had given him to move. I saw the scene before my eyes vanish as if I had blinked. When I came to my senses, I was about one meter away from Heesoo hyung.

Since Blink is a short-distance movement spell, the distance from Heesoo hyung wasn’t far. It was a distance I could have closed in an instant, but that distance separated us.

Ruuuuuuuumble!

Just as I was about to shake off Min Gongchan and run to Heesoo hyung, I was hit by a pillar of fire that shot up from the floor. The flame was so hot and fierce that the front of the leather jacket I was wearing completely melted away. If my body hadn’t been resistant to fire, I would have been the one roasted black.

“Uaaargh!”

I was thrown back by the pillar of fire, screaming as I fell backward. Min Gongchan, who collided with me, gripped me tightly under my armpits with both arms. In that state, he crawled backward, putting distance between us and the pillar of fire that was emitting tremendous heat. All the while, my eardrums felt like they were going to burn from the Scorching Archdemon’s shouting.

「Heart of Fire… those who…! True… trial…! Retribution…!」

The Scorching Archdemon roared, but its words were only partially interpreted. The translation provided by the Awakened System was shoddy, as the Awakened System generally was. Sometimes the translation was perfect, but other times it only conveyed enough information to grasp the meaning through approximate words.

Of course, I could guess what the Scorching Archdemon was saying even without a translation. That demon, said to have broken off from the Heart of Fire, must have regarded everything it encountered as an enemy coveting the Heart of Fire and was burning them to death.

Only after the Scorching Archdemon’s roar ended did I come to my senses. It was only then that I realized Min Gongchan had separated me from Heesoo hyung, and I yanked his left hand forward. At the same time, I threw my weight back, pinning him to the ground and pressing my elbow into his throat.

“You crazy bastard. What is this!”

“Keuk.”

As I pinned him down and yelled, I paused.

Min Gongchan hadn’t groaned from being pinned under me. His face was blotched red with severe burns. The same was true for his arms and hands that had held me.

Because he was just an ordinary person, simply standing close to the pillar of fire had left him in a miserable state.

Dismayed by his serious injuries, I couldn’t do anything more and got up. Leaving him there, I turned around and saw that the pillars of fire, which had shot up like iron bars, had completely blocked the middle of the valley.

Heesoo hyung was standing on the other side of those fiery bars.

“Heesoo hyung!”

My face went pale as I called out to him, but Heesoo hyung couldn’t look back at me. The other side of the valley was also blocked by a pillar of fire, leaving him trapped alone with the Scorching Archdemon.

As soon as I saw the scene, without a second thought, I threw myself into the gap between the pillars of fire.

Sizzzle!

Clang! Clang!

As the Golden Scales flashed and deflected the flames, the Golden Emperor sent a message of warning.