Chapter 129
I was dead.
At least, the Heavenly Demon’s instincts judged that to be the case.
She had clearly seen her own severed head rolling across the ground.
But the next moment.
The Heavenly Demon’s body was perfectly fine, without a thing wrong with it.
Instead, the A-rank monster that had been far away had vanished.
Fsssss…….
It had literally “vanished.”
Unable even to scream, it had instantly turned to ash and scattered into the air.
The fleeing citizens nearby and the buildings along the road were completely unharmed.
Only the target had been erased with absolute certainty.
“……”
The Heavenly Demon silently examined her own qi and blood as she watched.
Without her even realizing it, the Heavenly Demon Protective Aura had deployed at maximum output.
However.
If Jinjo’s attack had been aimed at her instead of the monster….
Could she really have blocked it?
She could not be certain.
‘Such power in a strike with no warning whatsoever.’
What was even more astonishing was that she had not sensed the slightest killing intent until Jinjo swung the scythe.
Even a moment ago in the arcade, Jinjo had grabbed her wrist directly, yet the Protective Aura had not activated.
The Heavenly Demon thought for a moment, then felt cold sweat break out on her palms.
‘……Was This One nervous?’
The final boss of the first SS-rank Gate in history.
She recalled the desperate battle against that gigantic monster.
Seeing death. Sweat breaking out on her palms.
That had been the first time.
And now was the second.
It had not been a fight to the death.
Nor had the attack been aimed at her.
Yet merely “seeing” Jinjo’s strike from beside her had felt equal to her desperate battle against an SS-rank monster.
‘That monster ultimately died by This One’s hand.’
But Jinjo——.
Could This One kill her?
Even that earlier attack, Jinjo had called “a very small part” of her authority.
In other words, she had much more that she could show.
Even if she fought at full power, she could not guarantee victory.
The moment she reached that conclusion, a smile slowly spread across the Heavenly Demon’s lips.
Was she afraid?
No.
Even the fear was enjoyable.
Her blood, cold for so long, began boiling hot enough to burst.
An existence capable of showing her death.
An existence who might stand even higher than she did.
At last, she had found one.
So, if someone asked what emotion she was feeling now….
“Ha, ha, hahahahaha!”
The Heavenly Demon let out a hearty, wild laugh.
She was so excited.
She simply adored this tiny supreme being in a black princess dress, holding a massive scythe.
She could not bear it.
***
Jinjo, descended.
Coolness, confirmed!
‘Kya, that was sick.’
I was quite satisfied with the performance Deathscythe had just put on.
I had been a little startled when a monster suddenly appeared.
Who could have expected an unpleasant chicken-headed chimera monster to pop up in the middle of a peaceful, bustling district?
But after being flustered for about a second, I realized this was an absolutely perfect opportunity.
A chance to show off my power, raise the completion rate of [Lord’s Great Deeds], and sweetly farm some experience from the monster.
Besides, I could safely rescue the people in danger, making this a perfect case of killing three birds with one stone.
So I immediately summoned the EX-rank divine weapon Deathscythe and went snip-snip in one fell swoop.
Thanks to all the martial artists whose blood I had diligently sucked in the Tower, my Blood Power was in the 300s—much higher than when I had first obtained Deathscythe.
With my stats up, [Life Harvest] was more powerful as well.
An A-rank monster like that had no choice but to disappear in a single blow.
Ding!
[Level Up!]
‘Yes!’
Since I had defeated a high-rank monster, I had leveled up too.
I had just entered the fifties, so I no longer jumped up by two or three levels at a time like before, but it was still a nice gain.
I put Deathscythe away and subtly glanced at the Heavenly Demon.
However, the Heavenly Demon was looking at me with a slightly astonished expression.
‘Why does she look so surprised?’
I tilted my head.
Wasn’t the Heavenly Demon the world’s number-two ranker too? Surely an A-rank monster was an easy one-shot for her.
Ah.
Could Deathscythe have been cooler than I expected?
Even I had to admit its design was cool enough to inspire admiration.
Besides, the performance just now had been pretty good, too.
And I had delivered my line rather convincingly.
“This One shall show you a very small part of This One’s authority.”
‘[Noble Demeanor] really is useful at times like this, huh? Vamphehehehe.’
Combining equipment power with skill power had produced this wonderful synergy.
I was feeling extremely proud when—
Suddenly, the Heavenly Demon began laughing loudly toward the sky.
‘W-what is this?’
Startled, I looked over. The Heavenly Demon, who had been laughing wildly, soon stopped and stared straight at me.
‘Her eyes look kind of scary……?!’
In the Heavenly Demon’s already-frightening black eyes, something like dark greed was glinting.
“Hah, hah….”
She exhaled as though she were slightly short of breath.
No matter how I looked at it, she was not in an ordinary state.
“Jinjo, you…. I wish to contend with you for all eternity…!”
‘Whaaat?! Why are you suddenly talking about fighting? We were having such a nice time!’
I was aghast inwardly.
We had been in the arcade just moments ago, even winning her a stuffed animal and enjoying a warm atmosphere—what was I supposed to do if she suddenly wanted to fight?!
‘I can’t use my ultimate move now, so there’s nothing else I can do.’
I hid my panic as best I could and cleared my throat.
“Um…. Ahem. Regrettably, This One has no time, so This One shall be heading back now.”
The best course of action in a situation like this was to get away quickly.
I immediately picked up my parasol, opened [Dark Portal], and tried to flee.
But.
[Insufficient Blood Power.]
‘Vamp-squeal?!’
My mind went blank.
It seemed that when I used [Life Harvest] with Deathscythe just now, I had overdone it trying to look cool and used up all my remaining Blood Power.
‘W-what do I do?’
I couldn’t run away on foot like this, and the portal would not open either.
I had no time to think.
‘Ugh. Whatever. I’ll just unsummon it…!’
If I unsummoned the avatar body, the clothes and equipment it was wearing would return intact to my real body, so there was no problem.
“That will be all for now. Let us meet again if the opportunity arises.”
Before the Heavenly Demon could stop me or pick a fight, I immediately unsummoned the avatar body.
***
The Heavenly Demon watched Jinjo hastily bid her farewell.
‘What a shame.’
Perhaps something urgent had come up. Why was she trying to leave just when things were getting interesting?
But Jinjo did not turn and walk away.
Suddenly, Jinjo’s form turned into a multitude of red butterflies and began scattering.
Flutterrrrr—.
The butterflies flew in every direction, and Jinjo’s figure vanished into thin air without leaving a trace.
Leaving behind only a faint scent of blood.
The Heavenly Demon’s eyes widened.
This was less a movement ability than—
‘……Could it be that she was a clone?’
A clone.
She had seen a few classes that used abilities like that before.
Yet the common point shared by all such abilities was that a clone was far weaker than its original body.
That was simply the natural law and common sense of the hunter world.
If so, did that mean the figure that had just unleashed such absurd power had been nothing more than a clone?
‘Then just how strong must Jinjo’s true body be?’
While the Heavenly Demon was still stunned—
She heard murmuring from nearby.
“I-isn’t that the Heavenly Demon?”
“Whoa. The Chinese ranker?”
“Looks like the Heavenly Demon defeated the monster…!”
“Wow, look at that presence….”
The Heavenly Demon had originally been using a stealth technique to avoid people’s attention, but it had been dispelled when she instinctively raised her qi to activate the Heavenly Demon Protective Aura against Jinjo’s strike.
‘What a nuisance.’
As people’s gazes began pouring toward her, the Heavenly Demon lightly kicked off the ground.
Thwack!
The Heavenly Demon leaped to the rooftop of a high-rise building in a single bound, then perched casually on the railing and fell into thought.
She took out the fluffy white fox plushie she had carefully tucked inside her clothes and quietly looked down at it.
‘…If it were up to This One, This One would keep her by This One’s side every day.’
She wanted somehow to convey this intense feeling she had experienced.
The Heavenly Demon opened a system window, logged into the Climber community, and began writing a post.
***
[Title: Jinjo.]
[Author: Heavenly Demon (天魔)]
A spring night’s brief moment is worth a thousand pieces of gold (春宵一刻値千金).
They say that a moment of a spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold.
The time I spent with you today was exactly that.
I already wish to see you again.
What must This One do to meet you once more?
Please tell This One.
- ?????
- Did Heavenly Demon-nim and Jinjo-nim really meet one-on-one?
- Crazy lol
- A legendary incident has occurred ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
- CorpseLover) Woooowwwww, did you meet Jinjo alone~? I’m so jealous~!
- Godchris) …….
- But the atmosphere
is a little
…
strange, isn’t it?
- What on earth did the two of them do together? ㄷㄷ
- A tender meeting between Tiny Heavenly Demon-nim and Soft Jinjo-nim? Gasp, gasp, gasp
ㄴ Sob, sob….
ㄴ Accelerate global warming!!!
ㄴ Until the entire Arctic melts
ㄴ Until the Ten Thousand Great Mountains are submerged
ㄴ Until all the blood evaporates
The Climber community heated up once again because of the Heavenly Demon’s postscript about her date.