<h4>Chapter 82: The Kan Effect (3)</h4>
‘It’s not Kan’s fault.’
Kan’s ability was to attract rare monsters like the Rare and Named Monsters, and not to create them.
In other words, it was to attract rare or named monsters among the monsters scattered all over the ce, and not to strengthen ordinary monsters into rare or named ones.
‘It had been here from the very beginning.’
This happened because the named Nazarus was in Endymion’s underground from the start.
‘So it’s not Kan’s fault!’
But…but still…
“Here ites!”
Cordelia quickly shouted, and Jude focused on the battle before him.
He could hear the startled Kan screaming behind his back.
“Named Nazarus.”
“Carac. Cara and C.”
“Rare, and they have one body.”
“Named are capable of dividing itself, also have a special ability!”
That was it.
Carac’s figure was fully revealed from the darkness.
It had the upper bodies of a naked man and woman, and its lower body was that of a giant snake monster. Both of them were monsters from hell, so they looked very evil.
“Kaha-!”
The male monster with a spear and shield, C, opened his mouth wide and spewed out fire.
To avoid the mes that spread out in a straight line, Jude and Cordelia split as they ran to the sides, and the woman holding a cane, Cara, chanted the spell as if she had waited for it.
“Metamorphosis!”
Paa-!
At that instant, a tremendous amount of life engulfed all the darkness underground.
Jude and Cordelia knew Carac’s pattern, so they had closed their eyes just before the light burst to prevent sight loss, and thus, they lost the opportunity to track Carac’s movement for a while.
Therefore, Jude used his sense of hearing.
He tried to figure out the movement of Carac by the sound.
“Agh! Eyes! My eyes!”
But it wasn’t easy. Because Kan had screamed from behind his back and rolled on the floor.
Bang!
There was a loud noise.
It was at their front.
At the same time, Jude felt their murderous aura. After having opened the third door of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, his sharpened senses filled in the gaps of his hearing and sight.
His eyes were closed, but he could somehow sense in the darkness that Carac had divided itself into two.
Chwaaak-!
A sharp attack pierced through the air.
Jude avoided the attack with minimal movement at the exact timing, opened his eyes and then clenched his teeth. This was due to the unexpected situation happening in front of him.
‘Cordelia!’
Cordelia was in front of him.
To be exact, it was Cara who had transformed into Cordelia.
The special ability of the named Nazarus was transformation.
It wasn’t just a transformation that only mimicked the appearance. With the power of the horns on their foreheads, they were able to glimpse at their opponent’s memories and mind and then use it to create an ideal look that was more real than the real person.
‘They usually transform into a lover or a colleague who were with the victim.’
It wasn’t quite a great ability in the game, but in reality, it was clearly different.
“Jude.”
It was Cordelia’s voice.
Moreover, the Cordelia in front of him had wet hair.
It seemed to have taken the form of Cordelia when she was bathing under the moonlight in order to lure the Fall Fairies.
“Ugh.”
It was the appearance of Cordelia that Jude had thought was the most beautiful.
Jude was suddenly filled with embarrassment as he thought that his innermost feelings have beenid bare.
“Jude, let’s y. Okay?”
Speaking in a Cordelia-like tone, Cara drew closer to Jude.
It was not an exaggeration to say that her approach was full of gaps, but just before he used his fist, Jude stopped and hesitated.
‘Damn!’
His mind knew that it wasn’t Cordelia.
But still, it was Cordelia’s face and voice. He felt a strong reluctance to hit her, and at that decisive moment, he instinctively hesitated.
His attacks didn’t hit, or his attack speed slowed down, and Cara broke into that gap.
“Will you hit Cordelia?”
Kara tilted her head and said while she created magic des that moved in the air, and Jude clenched his teeth again.
By using the Twenty-Four Gale Steps, he made a dash and avoided the magic des that rushed in to kill him.
‘Whirlwind!’
The seven whirlwinds surrounding Jude suddenly shot forward and blew away the magic des. In that short moment, it created a path between Jude and Cara.
‘Gale!’
Jude rushed forward. After narrowing their distance at once, he tried to use the Holy Cross Punch on Cara’s abdomen.
But it was impossible.
Again, he hesitated just before the attack.
“I don’t want to be hurt!”
Cara shouted in Cordelia’s voice, and his attack went awry, which was enough for Cara.
As a monster from hell, she dodged Jude’s fist and blew her breath onto Jude at a close distance.
“I love you so much.”
Along with those sweet words, poison prated into Jude’s body.
Jude hurriedly chanted the mnemonic chant of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors and activated the energy of his whole body.
It wasn’t an overstatement that the energy inside Jude was unrivalled in its clearness and purity that it not only repelled the poison but alsopletely purified it.
“Haa!”
Jude attacked again with a shout, and Cara quickly stepped back and evaded Jude’s attack.
Jude’s attack lost its usual sharpness, but he couldn’t help it.
‘This won’t do.’
It was more difficult than he thought.
Even though it was just her appearance, he kept reacting to it.
‘What about Cordelia?’
Jude was primarily good at fighting, but he was now struggling like this. So it was natural that he was worried about Cordelia.
Despite being in the middle of a fight, Jude diverted his gaze to the side and saw it. No, he ended up seeing it.
“This is so good!”
It wasn’t Cara but the real Cordelia.
T/N: Cara and Cordelia actually said the same words in Korean (?? ??), and that was why the next sentence rified that it was the real Cordelia and not Cara. Jo-ta (??) can both mean ‘love’ and ‘good’ in Korean. However, Cara’s words were more of seducing or enticing Jude, so I used the ‘love’ for the trantion, while Cordelia’s words were more of her feeling good about the current situation, so I used the ‘good’ meaning.
She excitedlyughed and one-sidedly cornered C.
“Be hit more! Be hit more!”
A storm of magic attacks raged.
C got hit by more than ten magic bullets, and Cordelia clenched her fist. As if this was not enough, she bolted towards C and shouted.
“Die! Jude!”
“Hey!”
The real Jude eximed, but Cordelia didn’t pay him any attention.
He looked exactly like Jude but was not Jude. This was such a good situation.
‘I don’t have to control my strength!’
She struck him with full power.
She hit him with the determination to really kill him.
“This is for Hong Yoo Hee!”
!
!
!
!
Due to the Spell’s Echo, the and spells were cast in session.
Cordelia’s fist struck C’s abdomen with frightful precision, and C even vomited blood from the intense impact.
“This is for Yellow Storm!”
Cordelia’s roundhouse kick exploded.
It wasn’t just a roundhouse kick but an attack that struck C’s neck like a guillotine.
She used again this time.
Thud!
C’s head hit the floor. But Cordelia did not stop.
“This is for…Cordelia!”
She stamped on C’s back, and it seemed to be a little weaker than her previous two attacks, either because of her mood or of the reality.
“Die! Die! Die!”
At any rate, Cordelia repeated her lethal attacks without any hesitation, and C groaned in pain.
“Hey! That’s too much!”
It was when Jude shouted.
“Gyaa?!”
Cordelia’s magic bullet flew at a terrifying speed. As he managed to avoid the attack by rolling down the floor, Cordelia said with a calm face.
“Ah, I thought you were a mob.”
He looked just like C whom she was stepping on now.
Cordelia focused on attacking C again while Jude trembled, and Cara, who had unknowingly watched all that had happened, said with Cordelia’s face.
“Uh…she’s your fiancée, right?”
Without affirming or denying it, Jude vigorously raised his strength and ran towards Cara.
However, Cara didn’t attack Jude. It was because C’s condition was too serious.
“Reunion!”
As Cara shouted loudly, a tremendous light burst again, and Jude urgently closed his eyes to prevent being blinded.
“Aaah! My eyes! My eyes!”
Hearing Kan’s screams, Jude expanded his senses. He then felt Cordelia approaching him.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m not okay.”
“What? Were you hit? They’re weak when they’re divided.”
“No, it’s not that.”
It was because of his feelings for a certain someone.
But Jude swallowed down what he wanted to say and looked straight ahead again.
Carac, the named Nazarus.
But it was quite different from before. Unlike Cara who looked fine, C’s whole body was covered in blood.
“Wow, you barely hurt her. Fighting gae-mo-tae, really.”
T/N: Gae-mo-tae makes an appearance again! This time, Cordelia is saying that Jude is bad at fighting since birth.
Jude began to tremble again at Cordelia’s words, but he soon calmed himself down. No, he clenched his fists in burning fury.
“I’ll take on C.”
Carac was still transformed into them and he detested it.
It was somehow strange, but if it looked like him, Jude could hit it without hesitation. But Cordelia opposed it.
“Eh? You want me to hit Cordelia? That’s a bit difficult…”
“…Then, let’s just hit both of them.”
“Yes, yes, that would be good.”
Cordelia grinned and used the Spell’s Echo to create more than ten magic bullets at once, and Jude kicked the ground.
“Gale!”
It was literally a raging dash.
Nazarus, a monster from hell, was not an easy opponent, but Jude and Cordelia had risen in level after they defeated powerful enemies at a rapid pace.
Moreover, thebination of Cheonmujiche and Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors was truly like a cheat.
Chwaaak!
The true strength of Twenty-Four Gale Steps was in the whirlwinds and gale.
It wasn’t simply just a footwork technique that was as fast as the wind. Golden whirlwinds rose and not only blocked the enemy’s attack but also controlled the enemy’s movement.
“Die!”
C spewed out fire and Cara sent a barrage of magic des.
But none of those could hurt Jude. The whirlwinds blew away the magic des, and the gale twisted the trajectory of the mes. Cordelia’s flying spells made Carac unable to focus on attacking.
‘They’re buying time.’
As Cordelia had said, Cara and C were weak when divided.
But they were now weak even whenbined. Because C’s injuries were severe.
Their reunion and use of ranged attacks instead of closebat were all aimed at buying C some time to recover.
So don’t let them buy time.
‘Hit them with the strongest attack.’
ck Dragon’s Ascent.
No.
ck Dragon’s Ascent was simply not enough.
“Jude!”
Cordelia cried out, and Jude read the wind.
Cara’s magic de flew as it aimed for his head, but Jude lightly moved his head to avoid it before he stepped on the wind. As if gliding, he leapt towards Carac and created a golden vortex in his left hand.
Kwooo!
The wind pulled C.
Cara tried to hit Jude, but Cordelia immediately responded.
“!”
It was the power that the White Snake in Frost Anvil had.
The pupils in Cordelia’s blue eyes sharply turned into slits, causing not only Cara, but also C’s movement to be temporarily stopped.
“Now!”
Jude drew his fist.
He focused his sacred battle aura on his fist.
The opponent was a monster from hell.
So the sacred battle aura and the Holy Cross skills were nothing but poison to them.
However, the Holy Cross Punch wasn’t enough.
Its power was weak.
So he had to add strength.
He applied the power of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors to strengthen the Holy Cross Punch!
Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors – Improved Form.
ck Dragon Cross Strike!
The golden cross became pitch-ck. The huge pitch-ck cross was released from his fists and crushed Cara and C.
Boooom!
The ground was destroyed. Its giant snake lower body was smashed at once.
Andstly.
There was still one shot left.
Using the recoil from the releasing of the pitch-ck cross, Jude rotated in the air, filled himself with the dragon’s energy, and struck down like a lightning bolt.
His heel that was full of the ck Dragon’s power smashed C’s head.
Boom!
Their transformation was released. At the moment of C’s death, Cara also died since they shared one body, and when the monster from hell died, the air around them fluctuated, just like when demonic humans died.
“Huuu.”
Jude let out a long breath as he looked down on Carac who had turned into ashes.
A series of pure white rings surrounded Jude.
Then Cordelia’s voice came.
“Wow, your new skill is awesome. What’s the new one called?”
She came running and then asked with brightly shining eyes.
It was the real Cordelia.
The real one and not the fake.
“Haaa.”
“Eh? Why are you sighing? You did well.”
She tilted her head as she asked, and her appearance was really cute.
“…I must be seriously ill.”
“Eh? What? Have you been poisoned? Should I use ?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“What nothing? If you want to say something, just say it. Are you upset because you couldn’t fight?”
At Cordelia’s question, Jude shut his mouth at once, and soon scratched the back of his head and said.
“No, that.”
“That what?”
“So that…”
“Ah! I understand! Are you upset that I hit you without hesitation? Is that it? Am I right?”
“Ahem, ahem.”
Cordeliaughed at Jude clearing his throat before she shrugged her shoulders.
“But it was too obvious.”
“Too obvious?”
“It’s fake. Well, how should I say it? My instincts say it’s not Jude! My intuition told me that. It smells different.”
“Smell?”
“Yes, it smelled different from you.”
Jude frowned at Cordelia’s exnation.
Instinct, intuition, and smell.
It was certainly very much like Cordelia.
“Indeed, you’re a real beast.”
“You want me to kill you?”
When Cordelia growled, Jude cleared his throat. Because he was relieved after hearing her exnation.
“By the way, you really didn’t injure it. You found it cute. Can’t you do anything because it’s my face?”
“Because I’m a gentleman.”
“Bullsh*t.”
Cordelia cursed, but she had a big smile on her face. One way or another, she seemed to be pleased with Jude’s behavior.
“Anyway, we defeated it.”
“Yes, we defeated it. I think we’ve really gotten stronger.”
It was something natural when they thought about it. All of the enemies that they had defeated while on the way here were of a higher level than Jude or Cordelia.
Therefore, Jude and Cordelia were able to quickly grow stronger beyond belief.
“But Jude. Will we continue to go with Kan from now on?”
When Cordelia spoke in a low voice as she peered at Kan who had fainted under a low pir some distance away, Jude nodded his head.
“We should. As you know, Kan’s ability is not to create Named Monsters. He attracts those that already exist. Perhaps if we came here even without Kan, we would still have fought the named Nazarus.”
“Umm…if you think so, then so be it.”
“…It seems like you’re not doing any thinking nowadays.”
“Because I have JudeWiki.”
Cordelia proudly spoke as she posed with her chest out. Afterwards, she looked back at Carac, who hadpletely turned into ash, except for the horns that could be called drop items.
“Then, we’ll continue to go together with him?”
“We will. It’s much better to use Kan’s discovery ability if we’re going to encounter rare mobs anyway.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Huh?”
“No, I thought that Kan would suffer a lot if we left him.”
“Wouldn’t it somehow be more troubling for the one who took him along?”
Nazarus appeared after Lacto.
There was no knowing how many more monsters or demons were hiding in the underground of Endymion.
“Well…let’s think about that as we go. We need to save Lena too. In the first ce, Kan would have already been prepared toe all the way here to the wildnds.”
“You’re right.”
Jude nodded before he picked up the horns of Nazarus which were dropped by Carac.
It was an excellent item that could show a glimpse of other people’s memories depending on whether it was processed or not.
‘It’s worth the trouble.’
Gaining experience was also quite good.
Jude grinned as she said to Cordelia.
“Let’s go wake up Kan and continue moving. There might be other monsters who have heard the sounds of fighting.”
“Yes, sir!”
Cordelia saluted like a soldier and ran towards Kan, and Jude turned around as he stared beyond the darkness from where Carac came out.
Lacto and the named Nazarus, Carac.
Why were they here?
Who summoned them?
‘Lena.’
The hero of the first episode of Legend of Heroes who had died in Endymion.
Jude turned back towards Cordelia. He stepped forward to help her pull the groaning Kan.
***
At a different ce at the same time…
Ga?l and Adelia were heading towards the vige of the Gentle Snow Breeze tribe at a time when Jude and Cordelia were traveling with the fainted Kan.
However, their positions were a little different from usual.
“Ahem, ahem, is it ufortable?”
“It’s fine. What about Lord Ga?l?”
“I’m fine too.”
Red Gale had given them only one stag (male deer).
Ga?l stiffly sat in front as he looked forward, and Adelia buried her face on Ga?l’s back as she thought with her lips curled up.
‘It couldn’t be helped.’
Because the wildnd was unbelievably cold. They had to rely on each other’s body temperature. Moreover, it would be a disaster if she fell off the deer.
‘Yes, that’s it. It’s a rational and valid enough reason.’
Having convinced herself, Adelia’s lips curled up again, and she hugged Ga?l’s waist a little stronger.
And in another ce…
In a ce near the border.
Inside the territory of the S?len Kingdom.
It was ce for a man who did not know that Jude and Cordelia, as well as Ga?l and Adelia, have already crossed the border.
“There is nothing like this that could invigorate the body. Just a bottle of this would…”
Count Chase’s eyes narrowed at the words of the merchant who continued his passionate exnation while turning here and there.
What was in front of him was a special potion made by processing a giant eel, which was said to be only caught in the northern part of the S?len Kingdom.
“This is a secret, but my brother-inw ate this and now, he had twins…”
“Ahem.”
As Count Chase’s eyes narrowed even more, the excitedly talking merchant shut his mouth.
Although he diligently and loudly spoke about his wares, the existence of Count Chase seemed scary.
He was tall and had a well-trained body, which was unimaginable for a wizard.
His terrifying eyes and serious expression seemed to be able to kill one or two people with just a look of his eyes.
“…Give me.”
“Yes?”
“Give me two.”
“Two?”
“Two.”
Two, not one.
One might not be enough.
“Thank you! I’ll wrap it up right away!”
“Hmm.”
Count Chase nodded to the merchant who started packing the potions, and his mind was briefly troubled.
He had concerns regarding the whereabouts of Ga?l and Adelia, as well as Jude and Cordelia, but what upied his mind now was something different.
‘I need to get a new bag.’
The bag that he brought was already full before he knew it.
As he slowly nodded his head, Count Chase turned his attention to the other items on the shelves.
He couldn’t just put two bottles in his new bag.
“What is that?”
“Ah, speaking of that…”
The merchant’s exnation continued again, and Count Chase listened with a serious attitude, as a small but satisfied smile came to his face.