<h4>Book 2: Chapter 81</h4>


    “Fr-, Frey!! What the hell are you doing?!”


    Joanna looked up at the sky with shock. Despite being rescued by him earlier, Elijah’s expression was the same as hers this time.


    Of course, he knew how strong this man who was facing the Vampire Duke at that moment was.


    He was very strong. No, calling him strong was still an understatement.


    Elijah pondered for a moment, but he couldn’t think of a better expression than ‘on apletely different level’.


    Nevertheless, he had seen the fighting style of Wizards numerous times before.


    The Gray Sun was hated by humans as well as the Demons, so they had shed with the hunters from the Hunter Association numerous times.


    Naturally, this meant that he had the experience of fighting a Wizard.


    They were tricky, annoying, and dangerous beings.


    Usually, the first one that they aimed for when a fight started was the Wizard.


    In Elijah’s opinion, they were much more annoying than Priests, who were in charge of healing.


    Nevertheless, they had one fatal weakness.


    And that was that they had an inherent disadvantage when it came to close-quartersbat.


    Their skills could only be truly disyed when they had a front line to stand in front of them.


    But the fight that he’d seen between this man and the Vampire Duke’s alter ego had caused this thought to shift slightly.


    It was a fight that had unfolded in very close proximity.


    This scene had caused hismon sense to take a hit.


    Wizards were weak in closebat?


    No.


    Elijah shook his head.


    ‘It’s just very, very difficult for them to fight close-ranged battles.’


    An ordinary Wizard had to perform calctions at every moment, to the point that their brain felt like it was on fire.


    When performing simple actions like ‘retreating first’, a Warrior or a Swordsman would simply have to kick off from the ground to propel themselves backward.


    But that wasn’t the case for Wizards. They had to decide whether they would shoot an Energy Bullet to the ground and use the force generated, use a movement spell like Fly or Blink, or create some kind of opening with a feint or a restraining spell.


    As a result, the amount of concentration they expended was much more than simply moving one’s body.


    The conclusion that was reached was ‘concentration’.


    The ability to maintain one’sposure regardless of the circumstances.


    He wasn’t sure exactly how strong this man was, but he at least had the ability to maintain hisposure under any circumstances. Even when the Vampire Duke was right in front of him, he didn’t seem to be affected at all.


    He had trained the skills required to be a good Wizard to the peak.


    ‘However…’


    In the end, his opponent was a Duke. He didn’t think that he could win just with hisposure.


    After all, Gurd wasn’t the only enemy.


    Jurk-


    Lee Jong-hak wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead while looking at the army of hybrids in front of him.


    He’d fought many hybrids sinceing to Africa.


    The average strength of any one of them wasparable to a low-ranked Demon Noble, but there were cases where they had powerparable to Counts. Their powers were also extremely varied.


    In any case, there was one reason why they were much more dangerous than normal Demons.


    ‘Tenacity.’


    The hybrids had a fierce tenacity that could not be found in the Demons.


    It didn’t need to be said just how terrible this one fact was.


    As most hunters knew, the only reason humanity still existed was because of the Demons’ arrogance.


    They never kept their guards up. And they rarely cared about the humans.


    And when they met an opponent who was stronger than them, they were willing to submit. Even Dukes were not an exception to this rule.


    However, hybrids didn’t have that arrogance. And even if they were barely alive, they would still try their very best to take down their opponent.


    The danger that these beings posed was not small.


    Lukas was confident that he could defeat a Demon Baron on his own. Without any major injuries, too.


    But he would have to risk his life against a hybrid who had the power of a Baron. The difference in mindset was extremely important.


    ‘There are hundreds of hybrids.’


    Dealing with hundreds of enemies was not something that they could do.


    Lee Jong-hak could only think of one solution.


    Nodiesop.


    Could they ovee this desperate situation by praying to him as Kim Go-hyuk had?


    “Half.”


    Elijah stepped forward as he said that word. He turned to look at Lee Jong-hak and smiled.


    “Let’s get rid of at least half of them. But I don’t think we’ll be able to kill them all.”


    Lee Jong-hak wasn’t sure what he was thinking. On the surface, however, it seemed that he hadn’t given up despite this desperate situation.


    He couldn’t tell what Elijah was thinking, but this alone was enough to let him know that he was a great man.


    “Well, something like that. It’s like weight training. If you set a ridiculous goal, then you’ll be exhausted before you even start. So I’m just setting a realistic goal.”


    “Pfft…”


    Lee Jong-hak let out a light snort.


    Killing half of the hybrids. They both knew that such a task was impossible. Nevertheless, Elijah was still able to joke in the situation.


    Just to relieve the tension of the situation a little.


    ‘He’s a great man. Really.’


    To boost the morale of the troops in response to the rapidly changing situation.


    This wasn’t something that could be taught or learned through training. It was innate charisma and leadership ability. The fighting ability that Elijah had disyed was incredible, but he might have been even more talented when it came tomanding troops.


    “Let’s pray to God. So that we can take down a few more.”


    “…pray.”


    Lee Jong-hak rolled this word over in his mouth a bit before slowly speaking.


    “Do you believe in God?”


    “I do.”


    “Then are you praying because you want God to solve this crisis?”


    Elijah looked at Lee Jong-hak’s eyes for a moment before he burst intoughter.


    “Hahaha. Is the Human Dragon, Lee Jong-hak, asking me about theology?”


    “It’s not like that.”


    Lee Jong-hak shook his head as he said that. Right, that wasn’t the case.


    He couldn’t help but recall the past. The miserable death of his mother and the fact that his young self was forced to witness it had caused hatred to be etched directly into his brain.


    And… Lukas and Nodiesop.


    They were beings whose power surpassed Lee Jong-hak’s imagination. They were probably the same kind of being. But their values werepletely different.


    Lee Jong-hak had met both of them, and that had allowed him to indirectly learn their thoughts.


    And in all honesty, he didn’t like either of them. However, the one whom he was most ufortable with was… Nodiesop.


    Unlike Lukas, who had chosen to save humanity and hid in the shadows despite his overwhelming power.


    Nodiesop revealed his power without hesitation, and a lot of humans had been saved by him.


    Or, at least, that was what he’d thought at first. But it didn’t take very long for that image to be cracked.


    ‘Nodiesop pitted humans against each other.’


    As a result, there was now a gaping void between Europe and Asia that could never be filled. This was something that he had never thought could happen.


    In addition, the fact that Nodiesop used his power without restraint filled him with a strange sense of unease.


    It was a feeling that didn’t have a logical exnation, which, in turn, made it even more pronounced.


    “I’m not praying for our troubles to disappear.”


    “Huh?”


    “Because life can’t always go smoothly. It is natural for there to be curves and bumps and for us to encounterrge and small hardships as we go. Sometimes, we will even be left with indelible scars. But those are what make us who we are.”


    “Do you have such scars?”


    “I lost my son seven years ago.”


    “…!!”


    Elijah’s voice remained calm as he spoke.


    “At first, I couldn’t ept it, and for a while, I was like a cripple. But that changed nothing. So I decided to look for a reason. A reason why my child died while I survived.”


    Those words created a strong stir in Lee Jong-hak’s heart.


    Was there a reason why his mother died that day while he survived?


    He’d never thought of it that way. He’d only taken out his negative emotions on the Demons.


    Hatred and anger was a good driving force, but in the end, all he was left with was a pile of ck ashes.


    “I give a brief prayer before every crisis. I ask God to lend me the strength to ovee whatever hardships I encounter.”


    Joanna wasn’t paying attention to the conversation Lee Jong-hak and Elijah were having.


    Instead, her eyes were locked onto the figures of Frey and Gurd high in the sky. It was faint, but she could feel something from the palm that Frey was pointing downward.


    He was gathering his mana.


    What the hell was he going to do?


    As Joanna looked up with a worried expression, she slowly became filled with a different emotion.


    Her eyes grew wider, and her mouth opened bigger.


    “Tha-… Tha-…”


    It was a storm of mana.


    This wasn’t a spell of some kind. Rather, the mana that was simply being released from his hand had created a storm.


    How dense and powerful was this magic power?


    And what kind of spell did he intend to cast with that much mana?


    Bang!


    The spell that appeared was something that Joanna was familiar with. Nevertheless, it still took her a moment before she realised what it was.


    This was because the spell that appeared was on apletely different level from what she knew.


    ‘Hyper bolt.’


    A 6 star spell.


    Although it was a spell that only required the condensing and firing of a mass of energy formed from mana and had a rtively simple form, it required arge amount of power to cast.


    But this Hyper Bolt was different from the ones Joanna knew.


    If she had the authority to give this spell a new name, she would have given it as many strong-sounding modifiers as she could, such as ‘King’, God’, ‘Emperor’, ‘General’, ‘Majesty’, and so on.


    Even a top-tier ssification, like ‘Hyper’, felt like it wasn’t enough to describe its strength.