Chapter 61: Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara (Part 2)
Jinhyuk retrieved an old piece of wood from his spatial inventory.
A sacred relic obtained from the corridor.
A fragment of ‘Merlin’s Staff.’
“What is that…?”
The brows of the Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara furrowed. He rolled his eyes rapidly as if ready to leap out at any moment.
He felt an ominous energy.
But it was already too late.
Blame yourself for taking your arm so lightly.
Jinhyuk merged the two items into one.
Woo-wooo-woong!
[“Merlin’s Staff Fragment (AAA)” and “Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara’s Jewel (AA)” are fusing!]
The holy artifact began to react with intense light.
[The fusion is successful!]
[Merlin’s Staff (Incomplete)]
Obtaining Difficulty: S
Description: Merlin, the great sorcerer and sage of England who served King Arthur. This staff was a relic he used in life, and it allows the user to enhance magical abilities to the extreme. (However, as it is made of incomplete materials, the maximum increase in abilities is limited.)
After a moment, where the light disappeared, there was a wooden staff with a jewel embedded in it.
‘Finally, I got it in my hands.’
Jinhyuk’s lips curled upward.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart was also beating rapidly.
Although it was not a complete holy artifact.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
This was enough.
After all, only a great sorcerer who had completed their third job change could use the complete Merlin’s Staff.
Okay. Next.
Jinhyuk looked through the ‘Eye of Gluttony’ at the status window of the Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara.
There was one thing he had to check before fighting the creature.
Name: Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara
Gender: None
Age: 30,985 years old
Level: ??
Strength ?? Agility ?? Stamina ?? Magic ?? Karma ??
Unique Ability: Mandala (曼陀羅)
Skill: The level of ‘Eye of Gluttony’ is insufficient to check individual skill windows.
[Copy Condition: The Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara intensely detests Western magic. Within 5 minutes, use ice magic to create a large and beautiful sculpture that insults the opponent. (Note, you must also select a fitting song to accompany the sculpting.) If successful, you may copy the opponent’s unique ability.]
Huh?
Wait, wait a minute…
Am I seeing this wrong?
Jinhyuk slowly closed and then opened his eyes.
However, the content written in the copy condition did not change.
‘The system is becoming crazier.’
He was dumbfounded when Cadric was told to attend a lesson on necromancers.
But this was getting more and more outrageous.
‘Songs and sculptures, huh?’ With the additional requirement that they must fit appropriately.
Jinhyuk pressed his temple with his index finger.
No matter what.
The proposition to insult one’s opponent had been creatively arranged.
The headache was already starting to pound.
But no matter how bizarre the conditions, giving up was not an option.
There was no other place to obtain ‘Mandala’ below the 25th floor.
“Huh.”
After a deep sigh, Jinhyuk activated the ‘Broadcast System.’
Not to stream.
It was one of the few features equipped for BJ.
Namely.
[Please select BGM.]
The broadcast background music.
‘There’s no better music that goes with ice magic than this.’
After choosing a song, Jinhyuk cranked up the volume to the maximum.
Soon a familiar and beautiful melody flowed.
The Disney animated blockbuster ‘Frozen’ that heated up the entire world in the winter.
And from that, the main hit song ‘Let It Go.’
[Let It Go~! Let It Go~! Can’t hold it back anymore.]
As the melody climbed, his face grew hot.
How to say it.
Feeling nostalgic about past memories?
It had been awhile since he listened, and it felt refreshingly new.
In contrast, the face of the Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara twisted in fury at the out-of-place song.
“You bastard! What is this trickery?”
A voice like raging thunder erupted.
A desperate real fight where life and death are on the line.
Amidst all that, ridiculous antics were being played.
“Please don’t ask why.”
Because I also don’t know why I have to do this.
Of course.
“Answer me! Human!”
As if it would be as easy as letting a snake over a wall, there was no way the creature would buy that.
Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara, angered, raised its magic power.
Koo-koo-koo-koo!
A golden energy overlaid the weapon in its hand.
A power different from sword energy or holy power.
Mandala (曼陀羅).
The most potent ability in Buddhism, to visualize all creation, was activated at this moment.
“The joke ends now. I will tear you apart with all my might.”
Seemingly quite infuriated.
Although the Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara had slaughtered countless human beings, it had never drawn out Mandala until now.
“But are you sure about that?”
Jinhyuk shrugged his shoulders.
“What do you mean?”
“If you unleash Mandala and lose, you’ll have no excuse, right?”
I’ve never seen anyone claiming to give their 100% and win.
How do they all shamelessly spit out such cringe-worthy words?
If it were me, I’d just be quiet.
Oh well, I suppose I’m not one to talk, considering I’m fighting while playing a song.
“You… despicable human! How dare a mere creature that can’t live even a hundred years talk about defeat to someone like me!”
Cracks began to appear on the ground.
…It’s the beginning.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The irresistible wave of golden energy.
However, the energy of Mandala, which shattered the ground, stopped right in front of Jinhyuk.
[Ice Glacier Sculpting ‘Blizzard’ activates!]
Pazt-pazt-pazt!
Particles of ice began to take shape.
A giant hexagram of 3 meters.
From the massive ice magic circle composed of snow and ice, a pure white chill rose.
‘Impressive.’
Jinhyuk clenched the staff in his hands.
His hands quivered violently.
Even controlling the raw magic power was no easy task.
‘Surely, this must be a higher version of the skill.’
The newly acquired skill, ‘Ice Glacier Sculpting.’
Unlike the ‘Ice Sculpting’ he had used just before, even the structure itself was different.
If Ice Sculpting was about solidifying the moisture in the air into ice,
Now, with Merlin’s Staff in hand, he could create cold itself.
“Western tricks…!”
Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara gritted its teeth.
“Western tricks, huh…”
Jinhyuk smirked.
Thinking of them as mere tricks would be a significant mistake.
＊＊＊
Far from the battlefield.
Lichao and Melena perched on a tree exhaled in frustration.
“I just can’t believe it.”
“Not only the sword… but has he also mastered ice magic to such a degree? Is something like a multi-class even possible?”
The longer the battle went on, the pupils of Lichao and Melena watching it widened and then narrowed repeatedly.
It couldn’t be helped.
Everything they were witnessing defied all the common sense they knew.
The overwhelming might displayed by the Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara.
Indeed, it held power deserving of the title of a named monster.
Yet, Jinhyuk, who was confronting it head-on, was also beyond the category of humans.
And vastly so.
“It’s not just at the level of support. Within the Mage Association, there is no one who can use ice magic at that level…”
Lichao trailed off, finding it difficult to say that there wasn’t a more capable mage than a melee player.
Melena felt the same way. She hesitated with her lips twitches, eventually spitting out words that shouldn’t be spoken.
“Could we win, even if the two of us attacked together?”
Specialized in group combat, the two dark mages were proficient.
Even against an opponent with an S-rank evaluation, it was enough force to subdue them.
But Melena had no confidence.
Whether they could indeed win against that monster.
“…It would be difficult.”
Lichao also muttered softly with a grim face.
Realistically, the two of them couldn’t guarantee victory.
Perhaps, they had to consider the worst-case scenario.
“Let’s give up, Lichao. We can’t do it alone. Unless someone of a higher rank comes…”
“No. If we do that, whatever standing we’ve built up could collapse instantly.”
“Then what? Should we take the risk when we might die?”
“No.”
Lichao shook his head.
He had no intention of gambling recklessly.
However, he had no thought of abandoning the mission either.
“I will use the holy artifact.”
The holy artifact brought from the Mage Association for emergencies.
Once used, it would take a full three months before it could be used again, and so they preferred not to… however, given the current situation, there was no other choice.
If they wanted to complete their mission, they had to use every means available.
＊＊＊
Would you look at that?
‘It’s not only Cadric that came.’
Jinhyuk glanced to the side.
Atop a tree far from the battlefield.
There, a faint magic power could be sensed.
Given that he hadn’t noticed until now, these must be people ranking above Cadric.
No doubt they were the hidden cards prepared by the Mage Association to conclude this neatly.
‘This works out.’
Jinhyuk could now learn more about the Mage Association.
But just then.
Kwaang!
A tingling shock passed through his wrist.
“What are you looking at?”
The spear thrown by the Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara had penetrated halfway through the wall of ice.
The quivering blade of the spear.
Had he not quickly activated Ice Glacier Sculpting, it would have impaled his hand and body completely.
Right. There was this guy.
It’s important to interrogate the Mage Association fellows, but right now, he needs to deal with the immediate nuisance.
[Ice Glacier Sculpting ‘Extreme Icy Arrows’ activates!]
Tsz-tsz-tsz!
In an instant, over twenty ice arrows were created.
Certainly, this was much larger than the ice blocks he previously crafted with Ice Sculpting.
The giant lethal weapons that towered over 3 meters resembled harpoons used to hunt whales rather than arrows.
However, even this was nearly impossible to deal a fatal blow to Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteshvara.
In addition to the ability to absorb the opponent’s magic power, Mandala also had the power to predict attack trajectories.
It wasn’t ranked as a perfect ability in both offense and defense for no reason.
Then.
‘I’ll use both mid-range and close-range.’
No matter how exceptional the predictive abilities, there’s a limit to the number of attacks it can read.
Jinhyuk injected magic power into the staff.
Consequently, the staff shrank to the size of a single finger joint.
It should not be a hindrance to his movement now.
‘Good.’
Nodding, Jinhyuk immediately pulled out a dagger from his spatial inventory.
The black aura seeping along the blade.
In order to stand against Mandala, he even activated ‘Grave of Swords.’
“Until now, you were throwing ice lumps from afar; now you’re finally thinking of coming closer.”
“It’s about time I end things before the song finishes.”
‘Let It Go’ was also nearing its climax.
There wasn’t much time left.
Koo-koo-koo-koo-koo!
The two magic powers clashed, and blue sparks scattered everywhere.
And at that very moment.
‘Now!’
Along with twenty ice arrows.
Kwaang!
Jinhyuk kicked off from his spot and charged forward.
