The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Chapter 271

The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Chapter 271

Groooooowl!

The wolf quickly transformed after devouring the mountain skull in one bite.

Growl!

Rocks gathered on the Shadow Wolf’s murky fur, jagged points jutting out.

Then… he grew massive.

‘...Koko.’

The Koko Seol saw was capable of growing even larger than when he first met him.

[The Phantom Beast’s attribute is temporarily changed to Unshakeable Mountain.]

[The Phantom Beast’s type is temporarily changed to large beast.]

[Phantom Beast Koko, the Happy, is temporarily changed to Koko, the Sturdy.]

Koko’s new appearance really did look similar to the mythical beasts that appeared in legends.

Koko blocked all of the flying debris with his body.

[Koko the Sturdy’s Immovable Stone Skin absorbs the attack of the same attribute.]

[Koko the Sturdy’s Immovable Stone Skin’s defense temporarily increases.]

“...You’ve got a lot of tricks, don’t you?”

Shade raised his hand.

Fwooosh…

Fwoooooosh…

As he did, countless Cursed Hands appeared.

Shade’s attacks continued to pour out, like water gushing from a faucet with a broken handle.

[Shade used Command: Press.]

[Cursed Hands push the target. If the target collides with something, it takes 30% more damage for 5 seconds. This effect can stack up to 10 times.]

Fwoooooooosh!

Jamad scoffed after seeing the dozens of hands flying at him.

- Bark, wolf.

Inhale…

Koko took a deep breath.

[Koko, the Sturdy, used Nature’s Echo.]

[Nature’s Echo deals 80% of your damage in a wide area, and 1,500% damage to summoned enemies. Additionally, spells influenced by Nature’s Echo have their damage reduced by 30%, with a chance to be canceled entirely.]

WOOOOOOOOOOF!

Koko barked, unleashing an ear-piercing howl.

His howl drowned out every other sound, filling the area with nothing but his cry.

Crumble, crumble…

Crumble…

The Cursed Hands flying toward Seol vanished all at once, causing Shade to bite his lip in frustration.

- Good job, wolf.

Pant… pant, pant…

[Koko, the Sturdy, designates Snowman as the ‘Object to Be Taken Care Of’.]

[‘Object to Be Taken Care Of’ receives a 20% increase in defense while Koko is alive nearby.]

- Go hide now.

Swipe, swipe!

Koko swiped his paws at the air before disappearing inside of it.

[Koko used Do Nothing.]

[After a period of inactivity, one of the Mischievous Pranks will activate.]

[Mischievous Pranks are extremely harsh.]

- Good boy. You bought us some time.

Koko had managed to momentarily halt Shade’s relentless assault, destroying every single attack.

In combat, morale was half of the battle.

And morale had swung hugely toward the Shadow Summoner.

- Is it finally my turn now?

“...How arrogant.”

Hrgh…

Jamad lifted the ruin’s rubble before throwing it at Shade.

Fwoooooosh!

It flew directly, without any other tricks.

“Was that all you managed to come up with?” mocked Shade.

Fwoosh!

Fwoosh!

Two more pieces of rubble immediately followed.

Shade scoffed before swatting away the first piece of rubble with a Cursed Hand.

Crush!

The first piece of rubble was destroyed easily.

Flinch!

Turn…

Shade turned back around, an ominous feeling washing over him.

‘What was that just now?’

Though Shade was momentarily shocked by the mysterious presence, he did his best to hide it.

Crush!

With that, the second piece of rubble was also destroyed.

And then the third.

From the outside perspective, it seemed as if nothing had happened.

Hummmmmm…

“So this was what you were aiming for.”

A piece of the rubble was imprinted with the Lightning Seal.

Without much thought, Shade prepared a Cursed Hand to deflect it.

‘So he is able to create a seal himself. But it’s useless as long as it doesn’t reach me.’

Crackleeee!

Boooooom!

A bolt of lightning struck the rubble.

The shattered debris turned into bullets aimed at Shade.

Bam, bam, bam, bam!

However, when Shade placed a Cursed Hand in front of him to block the attack, it was unable to break through.

While Lightning Strike was certainly powerful, nothing would change if it couldn’t strike Shade directly.

“...So you chose to hide.”

Flaaaaaare…

[Wildfire expands.]

[The heat and smoke intensifies.]

Fwooooosh…

The ground began to heat up even more.

Shade then looked at the Cursed Hands, which began to melt from the heat.

He realized that the longer the fight dragged on, the more he would be at a disadvantage.

Fwooosh!

Multiple rocks started flying out from the swirling smoke.

“There you are!”

Fwooosh!

Baaaam!

The Cursed Hands flying through the flames would melt in the fire, unable to return to him.

Despite knowing this, Shade realized that if Seol accidentally revealed his location even once, he could turn back the tides.

“Tch…”

But Seol wasn’t there.

Fwip, fwip!

Fwip!

And just when Shade was beginning to forget about it, more debris came flying in.

Even if it did reach Shade, it would do nothing more than tickle him since he was in his mental form.

‘So there was a reason he made it a sea of flames.’

While the heat wasn’t too troublesome, the smoke hindering his vision definitely was.

Not only was Seol able to hide his presence well, but the thick smoke also made it hard to track him, making Seol practically a fly to Shade.

‘I guess I have no choice.’

Shade believed his best option now was to give his enemy an opening to launch a big attack and then crush him in response.

He recognized that if this fight dragged on, all of his Cursed Hands would be burned by the fire.

Lower…

Shade lowered the Cursed Hands he had commanded to protect his body.

And with that, the attack that he was expecting arrived.

Fwip, fwoosh!

He minimized his defense to maximize his attack.

“There you are!”

[Shade used Command: Clap.]

[This attack consumes 2 Cursed Hands. Make them clap to create a large-area explosion.]

Woooooosh!

Seol and Shade exchanged attacks.

However, perhaps because Jamad was serious this time, the rock fragments he hurled managed to pierce through the Cursed Hands.

Crackle…

Boom!

The same tactic as before.

A Lightning Seal had been marked onto the rubble.

Crackle…

Crackle…

Boooooom!

‘...Blocked it.’

While the rubble marked with Lightning Seals managed to destroy all of Shade’s Cursed Hands, it failed to reach him completely.

Meanwhile, Seol had fully exposed himself, leaving himself at Shade's mercy.

Boooooooom!

Fwoooooosh…

With the large explosion, Shade managed to pull back the smoke and reveal Seol.

Shade couldn’t help but smile after seeing Seol’s Bones of Origin crumbling away. He was confident in his victory.

“Yes, is it finally my turn…”

Stab…

Shade suddenly felt something foreign enter his chest.

“...now?”

Jamad responded.

- No, it’s still mine.

Shade patted his chest.

Something invisible had just entered it.

“That…” began Seol, “is Watala’s teachings.”

“...What?”

Seol had mixed in debris that only those attuned to Watala’s teachings could detect when he threw them at Shade.

Since Shade had dodged the first one, Seol had been gradually selecting smaller and smaller pieces of debris, trying to find what Shade couldn’t sense.

Jamad laughed.

- Burn and die, ghost.

Clatter, clatter…

The lightning skull followed up.

- Be purified by lightning.

Obviously, the invisible piece of rubble Seol threw at Shade was also marked with the Lightning Seal.

Crackle, crackle…

“Damn it…”

It was a sign that a powerful bolt of lightning was about to strike him. Shade quickly braced himself.

[Shade used Exceptional Skill: Limited Oxymoron.]

[Significantly reduce all damage in the mental domain for a short period.]

[Additional effects will activate once this effect expires.]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Fsssssss…

Though he did his best to defend himself with his Exceptional Skill, Shade was scorched black by Seol’s Lightning Strike.

Fsss…

Smoke poured out of his mouth.

“I… will kill you.”

Even now, Shade could not see the invisible debris Watala had created. If he wanted to win, he had to change his methods.

Fsssssssss…

But then, Shade then shifted out of his mental form.

As such, the random terrain he created with his domain was also canceled.

[Exceptional Skill: Limited Oxymoron activates again.]

[You resist most elemental and mental damage.]

[You become vulnerable to physical damage.]

This was Shade’s way of nullifying the invisible attacks. He was even capable of choosing the attacks he was vulnerable to.

But this would not be enough to face Seol.

Gaaaaaape…

Suddenly, a massive wolf emerged from behind, ripping through the space with its wide-open jaws.

[Koko, the Sturdy, has done nothing for a long time.]

[Mischievous Prank activates.]

[Koko, the Sturdy, used Completely Destroy Shoes.]

[Completely Destroy Shoes deals 500% of your damage as physical damage. If the target is a living being, apply Abnormal Status: Bleed, which deals 30% of their health as damage over 20 seconds.]

Graaaaaaaar!

As Koko tried to bite into Shade, he did his best to resist it.

“Damn it! Damn iiit! I’ll kill you! Witness the power of evil!”

[Shade used Exceptional Skill: Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara.]

[Consume all remaining Cursed Hands to form a body.]

[Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara’s body reduces physical damage by 50%.]

[Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara’s body deals 150% of the Cursed Hand’s damage.]

BOOOOOOOM!

Koko was sent flying.

Rumble, rumble…

Shade began to grow bigger.

The Cursed Hands began to return to him, sticking to his body.

The young child had transformed into a giant, then further into a many-armed monster.

Well, he also resembled a crude statue of Buddha with multiple arms.

Creak….

Creak…

“Witness… true… power…”

- How disgusting.

“Die…”

Baaaaam!

The Cursed Hands had become much stronger after attaching to Shade’s body.

Resembling a spider-like humanoid, Shade sent his arms flying in every direction.

- Kukuku…

Despite this, Jamad laughed at the situation.

- Good, you still haven’t dropped dead yet. You can return now, wolf.

Pant, pant…

Fwirl!

As Koko returned to Seol’s Shadow Space, the light of the mountain pattern on Seol’s Bones of Origin dimmed slightly.

Jamad slowly continued.

- Come on, you lump of steel. Help out already.

Fwiiiiiirl!

Claaaaaang!

Karuna immediately swatted away a Cursed Hand after being summoned.

“I would appreciate it if you didn't give me orders, Jamad,” Karuna protested. “I only follow Master’s commands.”

- Just because I call you a lump of steel doesn’t mean you have to be such a hardass. There’s no need to make things so difficult, right?

Jamad then touched the new pattern imprinted on the Bones of Origin.

- I’ll give you a special chance to experience the new power I’ve acquired from the Void.