Shaks realized he was moving out of the range of the ‘Lake of Desire’ skill that humans had deployed in this area.
“Have you discerned my abilities?”
Shaks, perched atop a lamppost, looked down at ‘Invincible’ and ‘Dark Knight.’
He began to feel a growing sense of unease with the arrival of another S-Class, ‘Invincible.’
‘This body is far too weak!’
If only Kang You-jin had leveled up the ‘Seed of Evil’ skill to A-rank according to the original plan, Shaks could have fully resurrected as his complete form.
But then Kang You-jin suddenly claimed repentance and surrendered, causing everything to fall apart.
Of course, thanks to the forged contract Shaks had kept as a safeguard, he managed to claim the body.
‘I must end this quickly at the outset; I can’t afford to be overwhelmed.’
Shaks lamented how even this level of strain was all he could manage.
Though he supported it in every way since it was the vessel he intended to use, it seemed that due to its incomplete ripening, there were still numerous deficiencies.
“Die already.”
Shaks resolved to target ‘Invincible.’
‘Dark Knight’ was evading attacks too skillfully, making it unlikely that he could be easily caught.
He extended his arm toward ‘Invincible.’
“Be careful…”
Before ‘Dark Knight’s warning could even finish, a laser beam ten times thicker than before was fired at ‘Invincible.’
“Khack.”
‘Invincible,’ detecting the threat, instinctively leaped away, but the beam, traveling at nearly the speed of light, pierced through his side.
‘If the S-Class tank Invincible can be wounded so easily!’
Shinnoda was astonished by the immense power of the enhanced laser.
It wasn’t just about thickness; the capabilities had significantly improved.
“It’s over.”
Shaks immediately used his next ability.
He aimed to give ‘Invincible’ no time to retaliate.
Dozens of red orbs appeared in the air, surrounding ‘Invincible’ from all directions.
Fiery laser beams poured out from them.
There was no escape; it was absolutely impossible to dodge.
‘Dammit. I should’ve gone to the safe and come here fully equipped if I knew this was going to happen.’
Because ‘Invincible’ had rushed here from the provinces, he came with only factory-made chainmail, leaving his artifacts behind.
Unlike dungeon items with high defense and additional abilities, factory-made armor was essentially nothing more than a piece of iron plate.
‘Would I really have known this was truly an S-Class?’
He regretted his past self who had naively believed the hype from the media.
‘Dark Knight’ wasn’t idle either.
He doggedly pursued the fleeing Shaks with the ‘Decapitation’ skill, but due to the significant gap in agility, it was hard to find an opportunity for an attack.
Laura unveiled the spell she had been casting.
“Hellfire.”
A blazing inferno as large as a building erupted in front of her.
It was an 8th-class spell, ‘Hellfire.’
The purplish flames of hell, blazing like the sun, flew toward Shaks.
But the speed of the fireball was far too slow to catch Shaks.
Of course, Laura had her plan.
“Bind.”
Suddenly, chains appeared near Shaks.
They swiftly flew toward him and wrapped around his body.
But they shattered instantly, unable to match his speed.
“Bind.”
Laura’s response was simple.
She continued to cast the ‘Bind’ spell.
Because it was a spell with low cost, she could cast it many times.
The dozens of chains that snaked around him like serpents gradually slowed down Shaks’ movement.
‘Dark Knight,’ who had caught up with Shaks in the meantime, fulfilled the conditions for ‘Eternal Death’ and delivered unavoidable consecutive attacks to Shaks’ arms and legs.
Shaks’ limbs flew through the air.
With his mobility completely lost, Shaks was struck by the slowly approaching ‘Hellfire.’
“Is he finished…”
‘Dark Knight’ muttered to himself as he stared down at the Shaks engulfed in the violet flames.
Moments later, red energies rose from the floor panels and were absorbed by Shaks.
“Your faces are full of questions about how I recovered. Look over there.”
Shaks, with a cawing laugh, pointed elsewhere.
Incredible reality awaited.
Arms, legs, torso.
Chunks of flesh torn into pieces.
The location Shaks had indicated held ‘Invincible,’ who had been dismembered by dozens of laser beams while ‘Dark Knight’ and Laura had been pressuring him.
As they launched their combined assault on Shaks, ‘Invincible’ had been shredded by numerous laser beams.
The dismembered chunks began to shrink as their energy was siphoned off by the floor panels.
‘Dark Knight’ quickly approached ‘Invincible’ to examine the remains.
Fortunately, the head and torso were still intact and breathing faintly.
It was due to his skill ‘Last Chance,’ which allowed him to evade death once during battle when he suffered fatal damage.
“Lord Invincible! What happened…?”
A-class heroes who had been fighting individually began to gather.
They pulled out potions and sprayed them on ‘Invincible’s torso without limbs to provide emergency care.
“Using Invincible as bait?!”
A-class Hero ‘Silver Tail’ glared at ‘Dark Knight’ and shouted.
“At the level where even an S-Class can be hurt, anyone not in heavy armor is just giving the enemy more life energy. Carry him away from here.”
‘Dark Knight’ gave no reply to ‘Silver Tail’s accusation but commanded the retreat of heroes who were not tanks.
They were angered that he was ordering them around like subordinates but followed his instructions, recognizing their correctness.
“To think I’d be listening to a villain’s words…”
On the battlefield against Shaks, only a few A-class tanks and the group of ‘Dark Knight’ remained.
Unfortunately, the bad news didn’t end here.
“I’ve run out of mana.”
A sudden and alarming announcement from Laura.
‘Dark Knight’ realized he would no longer receive her magical support for the time being.
“Where are the other S-Class members? That Red Knight should arrive quickly if she’s coming from Incheon.”
He complained despite knowing his vested interest in the situation.
“At this point, shouldn’t the government compromise, or the Inner Circle people abandon their greed and step in?”
It was part of the Inner Circle’s plan to delay and demand more benefits from the government.
Meanwhile, the government, surprised by the unexpected appearance of ‘Dark Knight,’ waited for him to defeat Shaks.
They deemed it unnecessary to bow to the Inner Circle just yet.
“Lord Invincible is truly pitiful…”
Shinnoda found ‘Invincible’s situation regrettable.
He was grateful that he came to help but couldn’t understand why he hadn’t brought any items.
“Could it be that Shaks is an S-Class monster and he didn’t know?”
To Shinnoda, ‘Invincible’s behavior was inexplicable unless that was the case.
Given that ‘Invincible’ had arrived as quickly as possible to save even one more life rather than taking the time to retrieve items from some storage, it seemed clear that the constant speculative articles from the media—”This is definitely an S-Class,” “A great disaster will occur”—had misled him this time as well.
‘The boy who cried wolf effect.’
At that moment, a red laser tore through the sky.
It grazed Shinnoda’s arm.
His skill ‘Mist Form,’ which could only negate physical attacks, was useless against Shaks’ laser beams, which were categorized as magic by the system.
He discarded his distractions and focused on the battle, knowing that a moment’s lapse in attention could lead to a fate similar to ‘Invincible.’
‘The dozens of laser beams that shattered my armor must be trying to cut me into pieces next.’
His armor, composed of scales, was already cracked and frayed from the fierce combat.
Taking more damage would be dangerous.
‘This is truly a screwed-up situation. Should I just run?’
Without any unforeseen circumstances, defeat was certain.
The heroes in heavy armor could barely focus on defense; attacking was out of the question.
Moreover, due to his inferior speed, Shinnoda was unable to land effective hits.
He had originally intended to just delay, but with the S-Classes failing to arrive, he was dragged into a life-and-death struggle, which annoyed him greatly.
At that moment, ‘Dark Knight’ noticed a strangely familiar figure.
“Y-you…”
Walking through the city burning under Shaks’ fiery beams was ‘Gareas.’
He looked like a revenant rising from a blazing hell to exact vengeance on the demons who had destroyed his civilization.
And this was ‘Transformation Form’ that Isiah had been messaging Shinnoda about.
“I’m just a wandering knight…”
Isiah nearly slipped and said a line from the special-effects drama she often watched, breaking out in cold sweat inside her suit.
“I am your knight, Lord Dark Knight!”
‘Gareas’ knelt on one knee, placed his hand on his chest, and spoke solemnly.
‘Will he think I’m strange?’
Isaya was afraid that their first meeting with ‘Dark Knight’ would go awry.
‘Knight…? What’s he talking about? It’s just Isiah.’
Shinnoda’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, wondering about the context behind the word ‘knight.’
