Chapter 266: Desperation
The entire city had been transformed. What had once been relatively flat streets were now broken by massive spires of earth, jutting out at different angles and leaving almost no level ground to stand on. At least, not for anyone who wasn't naturally suited to such terrain.
That had been Seo-jin's plan. Change the battlefield to favor himself and the Brood. It was a good plan, just not one that overwhelming power seemed to have much trouble dealing with.
"You've grown strong. But you've felt it, haven't you? The vastness of A-rank."
The Chairman's voice echoed through the broken landscape, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"It took me years to reach it, and even longer to barely climb it. Nothing can prepare you for that. Your ambition, your greed, nothing can breach that massive gap."
Lying in a spreading pool of his own blood, Seo-jin couldn't pinpoint the Chairman's location, even with Soul Sight. His words rang true, though. The moment Seo-jin had stepped into A-rank, he'd felt that enormous difference for himself. Even with his stats continuing to climb, he felt no closer to S-rank than when he'd first started.
"My Lord!"
Landing beside him, Sin immediately opened his book and slammed his palm against its pages. Crimson light erupted from the book, flooding Seo-jin's severed wounds. Within moments, new legs began growing from the stumps, lifting his body off the blood-soaked ground.
One by one, the Brood arrived. Most had no trouble navigating the broken terrain, while those who struggled, like Slims and still unconscious Ash, were carried by the others. Arriving alongside Pain, Min dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. She was awake and looked mostly healed, though her arm was still missing.
Looking over the Brood, Seo-jin felt a growing sense of urgency.
"Fang, get the humans to Grimm. The rest of you, follow Snare's lead."
He expected some arguement from Min, but the woman kept her mouth shut and her head low. With no time to worry about her and no need for further discussion, Seo-jin leapt into the air and landed atop one of the taller stone spires.
"Resistance is pointless. You know that."
He found the Chairman standing on the tip of another spire directly across from him. The man hadn't been there a moment ago, yet once again, Seo-jin hadn't sensed him move.
"You're right. The gap is massive. As I stand right now, it's practically impossible to win. But you and I both know that line is fragile. It must feel excruciating. How much of your focus is being used to keep yourself together?"
A wide smile spread across the Chairman's face.
"You noticed?"
Seo-jin clicked his tongue.
"If someone could forcibly advance without issue, it would only make sense for the method to be widespread. Even now, I can sense the sliver of life force inside you. The price you paid was almost too much, wasn't it?"
A dark glow began to spread around the Chairman as his aura finally revealed itself.
"That was a miscalculation on my part. I had no idea you would grow into such a problem. You forced me to ascend early. You even killed some of the sacrifices I'd prepared."
'Are the humans safe?'
Fang's voice answered immediately, cold and flat.
'Yes, Broodfather.'
"You even tried to turn Yu-na against me. Out of all the numerous variables I had accounted for, to think Wohan Seo-jin would be my biggest mistake."
What had started as a faint glow suddenly felt like an overwhelming ocean pressing down on Seo-jin. The Chairman hadn't even fully released his aura, yet the pressure was already making it difficult to remain standing.
But a King does not fall.
"I've dealt with that a lot."
This time, it was Seo-jin's turn to smile.
"Everyone's underestimated me. Demon or human, it doesn't matter. You've all looked down on me, and look where I am now."
Bloodlight began rising, slowly at first, before swelling into a massive pillar that stretched toward the sky.
"I was born in the Maw, one among millions, and I alone crawled out of it. I've killed my own kind, elves, dwarves, beastmen, angels. Everything that stood before me became my food. You will be no different. I will claim this world as my own. Destroy the Network, kill the ones responsible for the Convergence, and I will bring back the green. This world is mine. You all just don't know it yet."
'Now.'
[Mandate of Pursuit // Activated]
[+30% Movement Speed / +30% Tracking Efficiency / Enhanced Target Fixation]
[Sovereign's Call // Activated]
[All Allied Kingdom Units]
[+25% STR / +25% VIT / +15% AGI / +20% Damage Resistance / Immunity to Fear and Panic Effects Below King Rank]
Activating his King and armor skills simultaneously, Seo-jin felt the buffs surge through his body. His strength increased, his movements felt lighter, yet the difference between their ranks remained immense.
He expected an immediate response from Chairman Woon, but the man simply stood there, completely unmoved. As though the entire world could collapse around him, and none of it would make the slightest difference.
Their eyes met, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still.
Until Panic and Fang appeared beside the the human. His aura alone was enough to repel their attacks, each strike producing nothing more than a shower of sparks against the invisible pressure surrounding him.
Atop another spire, Widow swung a massive length of webbing around her, the muscles in her arms bulging with the effort. Attached to the other end was Pain, his flaming body resembling an enormous boulder waiting to be launched.
Bloodlight suddenly condensed around Panic's restraints, while shadows gathered along Fang's tail.
The Chairman finally moved.
Both Broodspawn attacked, their skills activating simultaneously, but the Chairman merely raised one hand and snapped his fingers. A shockwave of black flames erupted from him, sweeping outward in every direction.
The moment the flames spread, Pain came crashing down like a lightning strike. Propelled by Widow's momentum, he brought Surtur's Tooth down with tremendous force, only for Mr. Woon to catch it. The impact sent them both plummeting toward the ground.
[Dominion Scar // Activated]
Beside Seo-jin, the stone spire he clung to began to warp and twist. Within seconds, Pain emerged from its surface, one of his arms missing.
Dominion Scar was one of Seo-jin's new class skills. It allowed him to travel instantly between marked locations, as well as summon his subjects directly to him.
Gathering his aura, he fed power into Bahamut and Tiamat while Synapse and Widow laid down suppressive fire on the Chairman's landing site.
[Maw Annihilation Beam // Activated]
Two massive beams erupted from the serpents' mouths, tearing through the air before striking their target. The impact sent an enormous dome of light swelling into the sky.
But no damage notifications appeared.
A massive power chord erupted from Hex's axe, followed by a cone of sound that tore into the same area Seo-jin had just attacked.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the destruction, he searched for movement but saw nothing. He let his cleavers hang from his wrists, and system light began gathering between his hands.
[Iphitus Draw // Activated]
[+300% Attack Damage]
Gripping the thick bowstring, Seo-jin pulled it back with considerable effort. Even with his increased strength, drawing it fully was difficult, and keeping it there strained his arms further.
'Draw him out.'
The moment he sent the command, a smaller figure leapt into the sky and suddenly expanded. Tomb drove his enormous foot downward, shaking the earth as he landed—only for his leg to explode in a cloud of blood mist.
His agonized roar shook the battlefield, but the sacrifice had been worth it.
Seo-jin caught the briefest glimpse of the Chairman's black suit and released the bowstring.
The resulting shockwave cracked the spire beneath his feet, while the Soulmass arrow crossed the distance so quickly it almost seemed to teleport.
The explosion sent Tomb flying, burning away half his body in the process. Before the blast could settle, another shot struck the same location. Glancing over, Seo-jin saw smoke rising from Synapse's rifle, its barrel glowing red.
The second explosion seemed to pull the first inward, collapsing the surrounding space before erupting in a series of violent detonations.
Seeing the perfect opportunity, Seo-jin focused his will and activated his new Curse.
[Dark Womb // Activated]
[Space Designated]
Instantly, the area surrounding the collapsing explosions was sealed within a mass of shadow. Whatever happened inside was now hidden from everyone except Seo-jin.
Within Dark Womb, the enclosed space became an extension of his will. Alongside its constant effect of draining an enemy's strength, the Curse allowed him to bend the laws governing that space however he pleased. He could isolate gravity and turn it into a crushing vice, or command the surrounding shadows to harden and attack.
Drawing on every ounce of his will, Seo-jin forced the enclosed space to compress.
The repeated collisions between Seo-jin's and Synapse's attacks continued, growing more frequent and violent as the space contracted. Through the chaos, Seo-jin could see the Chairman standing upright, his jaw clenched as his aura pushed against the crushing pressure surrounding him.
"Impressive."
The single word struck Seo-jin's ears like a roar, despite the Chairman barely raising his voice. A moment later, the man's black suit began dissolving, transforming back into his enormous pair of wings. The strain of compressing the space instantly doubled, and Seo-jin felt as though his will itself was being pulled apart.
Just then, a pulse traveled through the Broodlink, carrying the message he'd been desperately waiting for. Snare had been tasked with identifying the Chairman's weakness, and his racial skill, Strategist's Eye, made him uniquely suited to the task.
'It's done, Broodfa—'
But Seo-jin never got the chance to hear the rest.
His attention snapped back to the Chairman as the man's aura suddenly spiked and his enormous wings unfurled.
Holding the space together felt like trying to contain a tornado with his bare hands.
The pressure became impossible to resist, and Dark Womb exploded, unleashing a blast wave that tore through the surrounding city. Foundations, rubble, and towering stone spires were reduced to dust as everything within at least three city blocks was disintegrated.
Before Seo-jin could see through the destruction, he sensed a presence beside him.
[Dominion Aegis // Activated]
[+100% Armor Defense / Reduces Incoming True Damage by 20% / Converts 10% Damage Received into HP]
His armor skill activated just as the first blow struck. Something slammed into his ribs with enough force to buckle his armor, followed by another strike that shattered his jaw and sent him hurtling through the air. He crashed through one stone spire after another, each impact hammering his back and sending chunks of rock flying. After tearing through dozens of them, he finally struck one that held, burying himself halfway into the stone.
Ignoring the notifications blaring in his ears, Seo-jin struggled to focus his blurred vision on the UI floating before him.
[HP // 196/4500]
[SM // 100]
Two hits. That was all it had taken. Even with his new armor absorbing sixty percent of the damage, he'd nearly died from that exchange.
[Blessing of the Father // Received]
[+50% Health over 5sec]
[Dark Pope's Benediction // Received]
[+500 HP]
Healing flooded his body, knitting broken bones and repairing the damage beneath his armor. The pain gradually began to fade, but it did nothing to restore his hope.
[I think we might need to run.]
"No."
Pulling himself free of the crater, Seo-jin looked up and found the Chairman suspended high above the ruined city. His enormous black wings beat slowly against the air, each movement sending visible ripples through the fabric of reality.
[You can't win here. We can always start again.]
'He won't let us leave. Look at him. Would you let us?'
Ruby's silence was all the answer he needed.
Tiamat and Bahamut raised their heads and roared toward the sky, baring their fangs at the Chairman. Far above them, Seo-jin caught glimpses of Grimm drifting among the clouds. He could feel his children all around him through the Broodlink, their thoughts and emotions pressing against his own, each one demanding his attention.
"Everything, or nothing. That is our only path."
"You have no path. The Dead Hands are gone. It is time for their boss to follow."
The Chairman descended from the sky without the slightest sign of injury. He seemed completely at ease, his dark aura wrapped tightly around his body, distorting the light as it moved across his skin.
Seo-jin climbed to his feet, his own aura nowhere to be seen. Raising one hand, he commanded his children to remain still.
"Do all assholes share the same trait?"
Spitting a mouthful of blood onto the broken stone, he wiped his face with the back of his hand and glared up at the human hovering above him.
"You all talk too fucking much."
[Desecrate // Activated]
[Soulmass Sacrifice // 98]
[Damage // 12936]
Bloodlight erupted from Seo-jin's eyes, and the Chairman screamed.