Chapter 109 – Atlantis Colony (7)
The massive great sword wrapped in violet energy clashed against the black great sword shrouded in dark flames.
Clang─! Ka-clang─!
The factory interior was thrown into chaos as the violet and black slashes collided, creating an endless duel of attacks and counters.
“Kuhahaha!! You’re pretty strong, huh!!”
Kwaaa─!!!!
Kuroda’s energy erupted like a violent explosion.
The sword energy from his blade cut through the air, surging toward Sehyun.
The slashes twisted and coiled like living snakes, attacking relentlessly from multiple directions.
Bwang─!!!
The sword energies collided and tangled, causing massive bursts of force.
Through that chaos, Sehyun acted.
[Gravity Field]
With a gesture of his hand, Kuroda’s body was pulled toward him in an instant.
Fwah──
The dark flame swirling around the black great sword surged violently.
Any cut from this sword would be nearly impossible to heal, even with restorative abilities.
Sehyun aimed the Black Dwarf Star (Heukseokwaeseong) at Kuroda’s waist.
“Alright! I’ll take you on!!!”
Kuroda, even as he was being drawn in, raised his sword and welcomed the attack without hesitation.
Puk─!
Sehyun’s blade sank deeply into Kuroda’s shoulder, and
Seok─!
The black sword energy carved a long gash across Kuroda’s side.
“Gah!!”
Both simultaneously coughed up blood.
Immediately, they both reset their swords and faced each other again.
Chwaak─!
Chwaaak─!
A bizarre spectacle unfolded: each stabbing and slashing the other’s wounds—Sehyun restoring the cursed marks on his shoulder, Kuroda the black flame wounds on his side.
Cheng─!
And just like that, the duel continued.
This had already repeated over a dozen times.
Clash, slash, restore—their stamina was being drained rapidly.
‘So even you aren’t invincible,’ Sehyun thought.
Even someone like Kuroda, who seemed impossible to topple, was visibly tiring.
With each clash, Kuroda’s regenerative speed slowed noticeably.
And there was another factor feeding on his stamina.
Clang─!
The violet sword energy coiling around Kuroda’s hilt.
The cursed sword energy, which randomly unleashed curses on anyone struck, consumed massive amounts of stamina.
Normally, Kuroda wouldn’t have used curses this extensively…
Chwaaak─!
But Sehyun had no time to be cursed; he sliced through the black flame with his Black Dwarf Star.
Ordinarily, this would have required using the curse a few times at most, but now it was being unleashed dozens of times, draining stamina heavily.
‘But I won’t let him control that sword energy freely.’
Fwah──
The black sword energy surged toward him.
Kuroda raised his sword to block, but as soon as the violet energy began to slice into him, he immediately enveloped it in more sword energy.
“Damn it! So annoying!!!”
If Sehyun hadn’t defended with his stamina, the black great sword would have sliced through his massive sword.
Even though the sword energy was draining stamina, Kuroda couldn’t easily retract it.
On the surface, the battle seemed to be swinging slightly in Sehyun’s favor.
But the problem was…
Bwang─!!!
Kuroda’s kick slammed into Sehyun’s abdomen, throwing him into the ground.
“Ughh!!”
Blood soaked his shirt.
‘Damn it…!’
Even with the advantage, there was no time to prolong the fight.
No matter how drained Kuroda’s stamina was, it couldn’t compare to Sehyun’s total reserves.
Sehyun was only at a meteor-class level.
‘Then again, it’s a miracle I’m even still fighting him.’
In his previous life, he wouldn’t have even dared to look this opponent in the eye.
A living disaster.
That was Kuroda’s name in legend.
Monster, human, or player—it didn’t matter; he cut everything down without hesitation.
He was so dangerous that an alliance had formed just to defeat him.
‘Of course… the result was disastrous.’
Most communities were nearly annihilated under his blade.
Even Haihwan’s faction lost more than half their people in the hunt.
‘Seongcheol said he had a really hard time too.’
A rampaging beast with no leash, impossible to control.
‘And yet, here I am, facing him alone… I must be insane.’
Swish──
Sehyun rummaged through his cloak and pulled out a transparent vial.
Inside was a pale liquid containing finely crushed Soul Stone fragments.
“Hoo…”
He drank it in, feeling the deep flow of stamina through his body.
His irises briefly glowed blue before settling.
A stamina potion.
The Soul Stone’s power had been liquefied, like a distilled spirit.
‘Grinding the Soul Stone directly would be more efficient, but that’s too risky.’
The powdered Soul Stone was so potent it could even be used as a drug.
Made into a potion for emergencies, but the risk wasn’t fully mitigated.
More than three bottles at once could overwhelm the mind.
“Still… better than nothing.”
His body was forcibly enhanced by the stamina coursing through him.
Sehyun steadied himself and rose to his feet.
As Kuroda briefly disappeared from view…
Swaeeak─!!!
Bwang─!!!!
A violet sword energy shot toward him from somewhere.
He dodged, and immediately—
Swaeeak─!
“Kuh!”
Sword energies rained down like an aerial bombardment.
Using debris as cover, he moved while pulling out another potion.
“Kuroda… changing tactics, huh?”
He had stopped meeting Sehyun head-on, now attacking from hidden positions.
He likely realized that colliding swords head-on would only consume his own stamina.
‘Looks like he’s cornered.’
Sehyun, holding the Black Dwarf Star, was losing stamina steadily—but Kuroda was draining even more.
Kuroda had abandoned a fair fight, forcing Sehyun to a war of attrition.
“Think I’ll just stand there?”
Sehyun drew his bow from his cloak.
[Marking White Horn Bow]
A bow that guarantees a hit on marked targets.
It consumed immense stamina, but one potion could produce one or two arrows.
Clink─!
The potion bottle shattered, spilling the crushed, dimmed Soul Stone inside.
Sehyun drew the string.
Bang─!
Two white arrows glowed on the string and shot simultaneously.
They twisted in a spiral but struck an unerring trajectory toward their target.
Bwang─!!!
“There!”
Sehyun leapt to inspect the debris struck by his arrows.
Then—
Kwaaa─!
Violet sword energy slashed across his shoulder again.
“If you’re going to just keep spamming sword energy…!!!”
But he stopped mid-sentence.
Kuroda, enveloped in his sword energy, grinned.
“This is strategy, kid.”
He had hidden himself within the sword energies.
His blade shot toward Sehyun’s back.
Puk─!
Yodo Muramasa pierced his chest in an instant.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the cursed sword energy prevented a physical wound.
But the curse itself dug into his heart with lethal effect.
Thump─!
“Ughh!!!”
Heartbreaker curse.
It felt like someone had grabbed his heart and crushed it.
Simultaneously, the cursed sword energy spread through his veins, rebelling against his stamina.
“Kraaaah!!!!!”
It was like thousands of needles stabbing every vessel, tearing him from within.
Each heartbeat was agony.
Even so, Kuroda likely felt the curse’s effect too, but…
Puk─! Chwaaak─!!!
As Sehyun gasped, Kuroda had already thrust his sword into his own chest.
The cursed heart began regenerating flesh in the void left by the removed heart.
Not fully healed, yet enough to move.
Sehyun, however, could not.
Clang─!
He dropped the Black Dwarf Star, clutching his chest.
Unable to slash the curse, he couldn’t even grip his sword.
“Hmph… that’s the end.”
Kuroda smirked, retracting the violet energy from his blade.
All that remained was to strike his neck.
“Die!!!!!”
Just as Sehyun prepared to deliver the fatal blow…
Swaeeak─!
Kwack─!!!
A white arrow flew from somewhere and struck Kuroda’s chest.
“Guhk!!!”
The arrow pierced his still-healing heart.
“Wh-what…!”
“Timing… it’s a delayed attack…!”
The arrow Sehyun had fired earlier to track Kuroda had intentionally missed, orbiting the factory.
Now it struck perfectly.
“So… you’re out of stamina too, huh?”
“You bastard…!”
Crackle──
The arrow struck, but Kuroda’s ability to regenerate was exhausted.
His face twisted in rage and pain.
Then a voice came over the radio.
[Hey, Kuroda. Not finished yet? I said just destroy the device and retreat!]
“Shut up, kid. I was going anyway.”
[Huh? That tired voice… did that idiot fight again? Hey! If you waste time and the operation fails, are you taking responsibility?]
“I’m going, damn it!”
Crack─!
Kuroda threw down the radio and tried to leave.
“Where… do you think you’re running?”
Sehyun couldn’t let him escape.
An opportunity to corner a living disaster like Kuroda didn’t come often.
This had to end here.
But…
‘…Damn it.’
His legs refused to follow his will.
“See you next time. Then, I’ll really kill you.”
Kuroda said this and vanished.
“Hoo…”
Though he missed the chance, Sehyun felt relief at surviving the living disaster.
He finally managed to hold his sword to his chest.
Puk─!
“Ugh!”
The blade pierced his heart.
Immediately, the Black Dwarf Star shattered.
“…As expected.”
It could no longer withstand the strain.
Fortunately, the curse was lifted.
“But my body won’t move…”
Thud──
He collapsed, unable to move a single finger.
“Still… no time to relax.”
Because Kuroda had destroyed parts of Atlantis, the city’s stability was gradually collapsing.
Hours more like this, and the city would be in danger.
Emergency measures were necessary.
“Three bottles… it had to be three.”
Sehyun managed to crawl, drink a potion, and let stamina flow through him.
He infused the remaining coral with stamina.
If I can use the residual stamina in the coral…
The faint rainbow-colored light spread across the coral, forming an aurora.
At least this would prevent the worst-case scenario.
“Now… I really can’t move…”
Sehyun picked up the radio.
“Inha? How’s it there?”
But there was no response for a long time.
“…Inha?”
Then static—
*[…Oppa! Can you hear me? It’s Jia!] *
Jia’s urgent voice came through.
[Oppa! Sister… sister…!]
“Jia, what’s wrong? How’s Inha?”
[It’s… not good…!]
Another unexpected situation had arisen.
