Raided The God’S Warehouse [EN]: Chapter 516

516. Raiding the Demon God’s Warehouse

[Yuseo-ah: The West Gate is secure.]

[Harry Kane: You don’t have to worry about the East Gate either.]

Just as Se-un was using Apollo’s artifact to defeat the Outers surging over the horizon, messages arrived from the West and East Gates reporting that all was well.

There was no report from the North Gate, where they had initiated the battle together.

‘Baek-hyun will be fine on his own.’

Although he’s alone, it’s Baek-hyun, after all.

He had recently reached the point where his subspace, granted by his Authority, was full, and he could no longer store any more Undead. He was already a one-man army. No, ‘one-man legion’ is a more fitting description.

He drank the elixir made from Arune’s petals, increasing his Divinity and strengthening his power, so his martial prowess alone should be enough to defend the North Gate.

‘What’s left is…’

Thud-

The Outers on the horizon are burning, emitting black smoke from the power of Apollo’s artifact and Destruction.

Through the black smoke, a massive creature reveals itself.

Thud-

‘That thing.’

Even from this distance, I could tell.

That thing is different from any Outer I’ve faced so far.

Instead of the unstable, dripping black liquid, its exterior is hardened as if coated, with a glossy sheen.

It clearly retains its original form, and there’s no hint of the impatience characteristic of Outers in its movements.

Next to Se-un, the Commander, who was trying to remain calm, mutters blankly at the sight.

“Ah, is that the monster of Scorching Sands that the Shaman of the Frozen Winds sealed…?”

Is it just my imagination?

I felt like I made eye contact with it.

Outers are supposed to be parasites that instinctively devour living things and increase their numbers, but in that thing’s eyes, I sensed cold reason, not instinct.

“Ka-ra-ra-ra-ra-rack!”

As it cried out, a new black wave writhed on the horizon.

Monsters covered in Outers.

But they, too, were different from anything I had seen so far.

Completely different from the monsters we had just turned to ashes.

‘Why are they different?’

Small scorpions, as if that giant monster had spawned them.

Like the monster, the Outers surrounding their bodies were hardened like armor.

Even from this distance, I could feel that their presence was distinctly different from other Outers.

“What are you going to do? How about using the fortress walls as a shield and attacking from a distance like we’ve been doing?”

“No.”

Se-un shook his head.

That’s what he had originally planned, but seeing those scorpions changed his mind.

If they were ordinary Outers, they could use the fortress walls as a shield as the Commander suggested, but he didn’t think they could against these new foes.

It’s a bit dangerous, but it’s better to charge directly into the enemy lines.

“I’ll go over there.”

“That’s too reckless!”

“Like I said, this place is just a hindrance in a fight. I’d rather fight in that desert without worrying about Skave collapsing.”

“Grrr…”

The Commander bit his lip.

As the person responsible for Skave’s security, the fact that he was only a hindrance in the face of the approaching monsters must have hurt his pride.

“There’s no need to feel ashamed.”

“What was that?”

Just before jumping down towards the desert, the Commander looked up at Se-un’s casual remark.

“Surviving against those things is valuable enough.”

Leaving behind those cryptic words, Se-un’s figure launched towards the horizon.

* * *

As I flew with Turiq’s wings spread, the horizon rapidly approached.

The closer I got, the clearer the Outers’ forms, obscured by the black smoke, became.

‘It’s not just their appearance. Their behavior is different from the start.’

Scorpions covered in Outers like carapaces.

Outers tend to move haphazardly, driven by instinct, but these guys were maintaining a formation, albeit clumsily, like soldiers in a military unit.

It was a stark contrast to the behavior of the Outers I had seen so far.

‘First, reconnaissance.’

Starting with reconnaissance when facing a monster for the first time was a habit Se-un had carried over from before his regression [his return to the past].

With his keen eye, experience, and the Compass of the Journey combined, it was easy to find the enemy’s weaknesses.

‘First, the small ones.’

Judging by their appearance, it seemed that by observing the small ones closely, I could understand the characteristics of the Outers clinging to them like carapaces.

However, the Compass of the Journey wouldn’t work from too far away, so I lowered my altitude and descended closer and closer to them.

With my excellent eyesight, I could see every movement of their joints, and just as I was about to begin full-scale observation.

“Ka-ra-ra-ra-rack!”

“Ka-ra-ra-ra-ra-rack!”

With the giant Outer’s cry, the small ones raised their tails sharply, making sounds as if they were echoing orders.

That eerie voice, both grating and somehow sharp, like screaming underwater.

Feeling a sense of crisis from that strangeness, Se-un tried to soar upwards immediately, but the Outer’s actions were a step faster.

Whoosh!

They spewed black liquid from their tails.

Normally, a scorpion’s tail would be an organ for spewing poison, but the liquid coming from their tails was viscous like mucus, rising high and covering Se-un from above.

Like a net.

However, Se-un had no intention of just taking it.

– According to the Mysteries of the Black Tower, the power of ‘Inferno’ is enhanced.

Sizzle!

He unleashed flames containing the power of Destruction, burning a point in the net.

If it were ordinary mucus, it would melt away from the flames, and if it were mucus strengthened by the power of the Outers, it would burn away from the power of Destruction.

The rate at which the mucus disappeared was slower than expected, but he managed to burn away part of it before the net covered his body.

The moment he flew straight towards that spot.

“Ka-rack… Got-cha…”

“Damn it!”

A sharp shadow shot towards Se-un through the hole created in the net.

Clang!!

Even though it was reconnaissance, I was always ready for battle, so I was able to block the incoming shadow with Durandal [Se-un’s sword].

The identity of the shadow was the scorpion’s massive tail.

The one belonging to the monster trapped in the sandstorm.

‘When…!’

I was clearly as far away from it as possible.

The thing that had quickly come within striking distance swung its massive pincers forward while Se-un was contending with its tail.

Gagagak!

Utilizing the Mysteries of the Taegeuk Sword [a sword technique], I let the tail slide off, folded my wings, spun my body around, and dodged the pincers.

How thick and sharp they were; the sound of the air splitting apart stimulated my eardrums.

“Sea-l…”

“Ka-ra-ra-ra-rack!”

Following that, the viscous liquid was fired again.

It covered the sky even more widely than before, forming a massive dome and hardening.

The small scorpions crawled over it, inserted their tails into the mucus, and further solidified the dome.

‘Outers are using strategy.’

I could tell the reason just by looking at the size of the dome.

This dome restricted Se-un’s flight and forced him to be within the giant scorpion’s attack range no matter what.

The scorpions were spewing out even more mucus as time passed.

I tried to break through the mucus before it was too late, but the big one wouldn’t leave Se-un alone.

“Duck-down…”

Kaga-gang!

Because the hardened mucus was blocking the sky, the altitude was lowered, and the thing’s pincers flew straight towards Se-un.

Outers that strategize, control their subordinates, and even speak.

It was about as shocking as when I met the man who called himself the Tyrant King, but that didn’t mean I could just take it.

Se-un desperately shook off the pincers and prepared for battle.

– The Gaze of Jealousy begins to fixate on ‘##$#@’.

It was clear at a glance that it was a formidable enemy.

As such, the Authority of Jealousy was the right way to start.

The enhanced Authority of Leviathan, having regained the Black Sea and Divinity, began to exert its power immediately, unlike before.

No, it should have started.

But.

– The Gaze of Jealousy ### the power of ‘##$#@’…

The message in front of me began to glitch.

Along with that, I couldn’t feel the power that used to fill my body whenever I used the Authority of Jealousy at all.

“Re-fuse…”

– The Constellation, ‘The Serpent Enclosing Jealousy,’ is flustered.

Incomprehensible things happen one after another.

In the moment Se-un was flustered, the thing’s pincers, which flew in one after another, tore through the purple wings.

I twisted my wings urgently to avoid them, to the point where I could hear the joints creaking, but I felt a burning pain near the wing root, and feathers scattered in all directions.

– M, Master. It hurts…

This won’t do.

Being trapped inside the dome, spreading my wings would only increase the area of damage, not increase my mobility.

Se-un immediately folded his wings and fell downwards.

“Ka-rack!”

“Krack!”

I thought all the small scorpions were maintaining that dome.

As if proving that their numbers were not ordinary from the start, dozens of scorpions were raising their tails sharply and revealing their poisonous stingers in the spot where Se-un was falling.

However, no matter how flustered I was, Se-un was not just going to take it.

In his hand, instead of Durandal, he was already holding Apelion [Se-un’s spear], circulating Yin energy and emitting frost.

– Through Internal Energy, the Third Form of the Ice Dragon Spear Technique, Ice Dragon Fall, is enhanced.

Shatter!

Se-un’s spear tip, which had fallen vertically, pierced through the torso of the scorpion directly below.

The form of the Ice Dragon wrapped around Apelion was not satisfied with just that, and spread out around it, emitting cold frost.

The floor was cleared in an instant.

However, Se-un’s expression was not good.

‘My senses are strange.’

As I was fighting the Outers, I had been using the power of Destruction continuously since earlier.

Normally, Outers would be split like tofu in the face of the power of Destruction, but the feeling when I stabbed just now was completely different from usual.

At first, I felt an impact like striking metal, and then, it felt like something viscous was dragging and weighing down the spear tip, as if I was sinking into a swamp.

“Kraaaaaa…”

The fortunate thing was that the scorpion pierced by Se-un was burning away from the power of Destruction, just like when dealing with other Outers.

‘The small ones are no problem, but…’

Even if my senses are strange, I can overcome this much with Se-un’s strength.

However, the opponent is not just these small scorpions.

The real problem is that giant scorpion.

If the Outers surrounding that thing’s body also have similar characteristics, I couldn’t even imagine how difficult it would be to deal with.

‘I can’t retreat anyway.’

I thought about somehow escaping the dome, but even if I escaped from this place, I would only buy a few more minutes.

If Se-un escaped, those things would trample Skave right away.

Se-un gave up spreading his wings, took out Apelion, which was embedded in the Outer, and straightened it out.

“The living shall- return…”