Chapter 68 – Final Battle With Joker (2)

“The kitten has now become the tiger…”

It already has become a habit to cover myself with Mana Shield.

On top of that, Reflect Shield, Frozen Shield, and Spirit Armor encompassed me as well.

There was a gap between my shields due to the cooldown being longer than their duration.

To cover this gap, I was saving Iron Skin and Holy Block.

And if I did receive his attack, Louver’s set should absorb the mana to form a shield.

The gray armor that covered Joker began to emit a glow.

Almost as if his form was boiling, smoke began to rise from him.

The effect must be from an attack buff skill of the executioner class.

Stomping towards me, he spoke.

“I’m relieved that I can take you down now instead of later…”

“You think it’s possible by yourself? You should’ve at least brought one person who could take your corpse.”

“I wonder how long your confidence will last.”

-SLICE!

The shock wave seemed to cut apart the very ground, making my ears ring.

For a second, I could not follow his movements.

In a blink of an eye, his attack struck me.

He was behind me.

However, since my shield seemed fine, I figured it wasn’t an attack that was beyond ranking.

My Mana Shield was quaking like ripples of a pond after a stone was tossed in.

On top of that, with that single attack, Louver’s Bracelet was fully charged.

It was an attack that had its damage reduced by the defensive equipment I wore, which included 40% physical damage reduction and 60% magic damage reduction.

‘Even with the reduction, for the damage to be this much…”

It just showed how much power was behind that attack.

The bracelet glowed blue, almost as if asking me to hurry up and cast an empowered skill.

However, it would be useless as of now against him.

The defensive skill blocked a certain number of attacks, so it wasn’t damage I needed.

“Mana Shield….”

“Oraaaa!”

-BOOM! BOOM!

I spammed Explosion and Holy Shock at him.

I didn’t know how many attacks Dodge Aura could block, but it would eventually wear out.

And my Mana is endless.

However, he was easily avoiding my single cast attacks as if mocking me.

Power and speed.

Having both, it was as if I was looking at a wild beast.

Out of the two Banwol Jincheons that spewed out constant fire, one stopped.

And in a brief moment…

-whoosh

A frozen field enough to cover the entire battlefield formed.

I had cast ‘Glacial Field’.

It doesn’t do a lot of damage, but since it is a wide range magic attack, it should constantly hit him.

To top that off, I used Gravity Laser as well.

Before, when I used it on Jin, the attack was stopped because I could not find his location.

This time however, I used this skill after casting Eye of Insight, so it would hit him even if he went into stealth.

After allowing me to attack him constantly, he suddenly started to move again.

Joker slammed his sword into the ground.

It was as if he was laughing at the attacks coming towards him.

Despite the floor being made of nano material, his swords easily went through.

I guess it’s only possible because he did put all his stats into strength.

After that, Joker pulled his swords out of the ground and put them back into each of their scabbards at his waist.

I didn’t know what skill would be coming out.

It was then.

A dark hole formed behind him.

It looked like a black hole, but didn’t appear to be sucking in anything.

After forming, swords same as the ones he held came out of the hole, floating into formation.

It was an effect just like using Piercing Sword.

Immediately, he raised his hand towards me.

“Take this!”

Receiving his command, the swords poured towards me at a frightening speed.

In an instant, my head began to run at full speed.

It definitely wasn’t a warrior skill.

And it wasn’t amongst the executioner class skills that Jong Ho showed me. I haven’t seen any skills with that kind of effect.

It was highly likely that the skill was beyond ranking.

‘If that’s the case…!’

-CRACK!

Instead of trying to avoid the attack, I cast Iceberg in front of me.

A massive iceberg appeared through the ground below.

The transparent iceberg had become tinted with purple after reaching level 200, and sparkled as if it was chiseled obsidian, blocking the path in front of me.

This skill was definitely for attacking.

The skill explanation even said that it was an A+ ranking attack skill.

But right now, Iceberg was being used to block his attack as a defensive measure.

I understood that a skill’s use wasn’t limited by its rank or type, but the user’s sense of when and where is the right time to use it.

Joker’s attack that flew in began to embed itself into the iceberg.

Its destructive force caused the block of ice that was tough as steel to crumble.

My guess wasn’t wrong.

It was definitely an attack skill beyond ranking.

I stopped my attack to cast an additional Iceberg.

Seeing that his attack became useless due to being blocked, Joker couldn’t contain his rage.

“You little… Where’d you learn such tricks!”

“I think my shield is saying hi to you. What about you?”

“What! AHHH!”

Unsheathing his twin swords, Joker charged again.

Each time his feet struck the ground, I could feel the earth shake.

He allowed me to continue attacking him as he charged towards me.

He charged until he was close to me.

Canceling the shields that ran out of their duration time, I cast Iron Skin and Holy Block.

My grip on the Banwol Jincheons tightened.

He would probably continue sticking onto me at melee range with a close-quarters combat attack.

If that’s the case, I should meet him with my own.

“Come at me!”

‘Piercing Sword’

-CLANG!

Without a doubt, Joker was very powerful.

He was blocking or evading most of the countless swords pouring out.

However, it was near impossible to defend against all of them perfectly.

Like the skill beyond ranking that Joker used, thousands of swords followed my orders and flew at him.

It was enough to wonder if there was a skill better suited to getting rid of his shield.

I was casting Piercing Swords with both hands.

Thanks to Dual Casting, I was able to cast skills with a third hand.

If I gave up on Mana Shield, I should be able to end his life even faster.

However, I was not going to make the same mistake I did before.

I was already pouring a cheat-like attack towards him anyways.

“Let’s see how long you can dodge!”

“You!”

It was then.

‘It pierced!’

The cut from the Banwol Jincheon was left clearly on his shoulder.

Not missing this chance, I stopped casting Piercing Sword from one hand.

Then I cast S ranking attack skill Formless Sword Aura.

Through Formless Sword Aura, I naturally obtained the art of the sword, allowing me to strike down his neck with perfect precision.

Despite the count decreasing by half, it was taking everything Joker had to block Piercing Sword.

“Ku-uck!”

I could feel it through the sword.

It was an attack with enough force easily slices through his hide.

Surprisingly, Joker pulled his body back quickly, preventing the sword from cutting in deep.

However, the important thing wasn’t that I was unable to take him out in one hit.

It was that his Dodge Aura had run out of dodges.

He shouldn’t be able to avoid the next attack.

After a successful attack from Formless Sword Aura, the attacks that follow after cannot be defended against.

No matter how good his senses were, I thought that it would be difficult to avoid the sword aura attacks that he didn’t know where it was coming from.

“Ku-uh….”

“I’ll finish you. Joker.”

It was then.

He moved his hands like before, entering stealth.

“I think the one pulling dirty tricks is you, not me.”

“Kuha. Do you think it would be over like this. You weakling.”

“I’ll show you that what you’re doing now will only amount to buying time!”

-Clang!

‘Wha… What the!’

I had already found his position using Eye of Insight.

To close the distance once more, I rushed him.

However, as I was running, I ran into solid darkness as if a wall was blocking the way and couldn’t continue forward.

I definitely had status effect immunity due to the Titan Boots I was wearing.

It wasn’t a type of bind or illusion, but probably a very strong defensive skill.

I was blocked in from all sides by walls roughly 10 meters wide.

No matter how much I swung my sword, the walls did not break.

-Clang! Clang!

“Kuhaha!”

My surprise for his sudden unexpected attack was short lived, because something bigger happened after.

From the 4 walls that surrounded me, 3 black holes Joker cast before appeared.

The size was also different from last time.

It was big enough to cover up each wall.

“This is crazy!”

I could only cast two Icebergs.

If I gave up on Mana Shield, I’d be vulnerable to his attacks.

Blocking it with Piercing Sword?

No. It wouldn’t be enough to try to block a skill beyond ranking with Joker’s power on top with just brute force.

As if suffocating me, countless Joker’s twin blades formed.

It was obvious that no matter what shields I used, it would be difficult to even stay alive.

The sound of friction between metal. And the fear from the surrounding view.

It was brief, but the pressure was immense.

“Whew… If I meet an executioner class ahead in the future, I’d be shaking.”

“Is that really your last words? The word ‘ahead’ doesn’t seem to fit you.”

“Pfft.”

-CRACK!

Casting Iceberg to each my sides, I cast Devil Avatar for the remaining side.

Giant creatures befitting of a level 200 skill spawned.

Being in a small room with 3 giant monsters, I felt more suffocated to be honest.

“KUWAAA!”

“Grr….”

‘Loud voice and look at that size. Perfect for a meatshield. Joker’s skill lasts for roughly 1 minute. Just hold out until then.’

“Defend. Block the attack with your whole body, with your lives!”

“KUWUHHH!”

Understanding my command, the avatars blocked the black hole with their bodies.

On top of that, the Iceberg I cast on both sides made his attacks useless.

All around me were covered with the blood from the avatars.

It was true that they had great defensive capabilities, but it looked useless in front of Joker’s attack.

Shattered bits from both icebergs joined the fray as well.

“Just have to block for a bit longer!”

“KUWAACK.”

The three avatars lost their lives with pierced bodies at the same time the black hole ceased.

I felt sorry for them as they were butchered pathetically, but in a situation where my life was in danger, that kind of compassion was useless.

“You did well.”

As soon as I said those words, the darkness the trapped me cleared.

Joker had approached me already.

The end of his sword was bent.

Using that as if it was a hook, he latched onto me.

It wasn’t a skill, but instead brute force he used to bind me.

Since I had my shield, I didn’t receive any damage, but it was an insane amount of power.

At the same time, my Formless Sword Aura began to cut him apart.

“Ku.. KU-URK!”

Joker was letting a terrifying scream out while leaning in next to my ear.

However, it didn’t seem like he had any thoughts of letting go.

Suddenly feeling worried, I cast all of my shields.

And with all my strength, I pierced his heart with my sword and pushed him away with my left arm.

Then.

-BOOM!

“KUWAAK!”