# 043. The King’s Arrival (14)
“You bastard…! You should forget any notion of dying peacefully now! Even your soul won’t remain when you die!”
Kim Shin, who had been panting angrily, shouted loudly.
Each of Jaehee’s arrows was extraordinary. The arrows that stuck in the ground were buried halfway up the shaft.
If one of those were to pierce a person’s body, it would be a weapon that could kill instantly, even if the target was an Awakened One. With that kind of power, it seemed like it might even embed itself in rock.
But even so, it wasn’t enough to deal with Kim Shin.
Kim Shin smirked and extended his blade forward. This wasn’t what he had wanted from the beginning. Ju Serin had been one of his cherished followers. He had been fond of her since she had mentioned that Serin was an exceptional talent. As she was also the last Awakened One to emerge from the tutorial, he had considered recruiting her into the Doomsday Cult with special treatment. That’s why he had provided her with various conveniences, knowingly or unknowingly, until now. But now she was showing such ingratitude by turning against him. There was nothing more he could do.
Kim Shin raised his blade again. The black flames began to grow larger and larger. The flickering of the black flames now covered the entire blade, making it impossible to distinguish between the blade and the flames.
“Lea-Leader…!”
Only Ju Serin seemed to have noticed what he was about to do. She urgently approached and called out to Kim Shin, but he paid no attention. Seeing those black flames, Jaehee flinched and stepped back. Park Yongpil and Kim Jisu, who were standing beside him, also retreated. The black flames evoked an inexplicable chill. They aroused a fundamental fear.
“Now see with your own eyes who you’ve been defying. Hmph, did you think I would personally draw my blade to deal with the likes of you? Using this directly to catch someone like you is like using a knife meant for butchering cattle to kill a chicken.”
The moment Kim Shin finished speaking, the air completely changed. Both Jaehee and the others realized that Kim Shin was the cause.
The previously stable atmosphere stirred ominously. It was as if everything surrounding them was following Kim Shin’s words and obeying him. When Jaehee looked at Kim Shin, he smirked.
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? About betraying your fellow humans. Well then, try dealing with them yourself. Your own kind.”
As soon as Kim Shin finished speaking, a large predator appeared from somewhere. The mottled spots covering its body made it look like a cheetah. Massive muscles rippled beneath its fur. It had a low, flat forehead and long, sharp fangs that protruded like saw teeth.
It was hard to tell whether to call it a cheetah or an alligator.
Though its entire body was covered in fur, its snout was bumpy and glossy. Looking at its bizarre appearance evoked disgust.
It opened and closed its mouth repeatedly, circled around Kim Shin once, then glared at Jaehee’s group. As if it somehow understood Kim Shin’s feelings or thoughts.
The creature crouched down. Like predatory felines preparing to hunt, it lowered its body and raised its hindquarters.
Jaehee realized it was about to pounce on him.
In an instant, he dispelled his bow and manifested a sword. The repeated manifestations caused a momentary stinging pain, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it. However, when the creature actually tried to pounce on him, Jaehee could only stare blankly, unable to respond. He simply couldn’t swing his sword.
He couldn’t find his stepmother among the survivor group. This made him unable to shake the thought that perhaps this bizarre cheetah might be his stepmother. With that thought, he simply couldn’t bring himself to swing his blade. If he were to harm his stepmother with his own hands, how could he ever face Yeong-i again?
“Hahaha! What’s wrong? Can’t kill it? Then you can die instead!”
Watching this, Kim Shin cackled with laughter. But no matter how much Kim Shin mocked him, Jaehee simply couldn’t swing his sword.
He was struck on the head by a massive paw. Even though he dodged and it only grazed him, he couldn’t regain his composure. Being larger than a normal cheetah, it seemed stronger as well.
“I’ll take this one.”
It was Park Yongpil who stepped in front of the staggering Jaehee. Instead of the greatsword he had drawn earlier, Park Yongpil was now holding a staff. As he swung the long staff in front of the creature, the alligator-cheetah’s attention quickly shifted from Jaehee to Park Yongpil.
“I understand what you’re thinking, so don’t worry. You take care of that madman.”
As Park Yongpil swung his long staff, the alligator-cheetah couldn’t approach easily. In truth, even with a staff, it was difficult to handle such a creature, but due to Park Yongpil’s exceptional strength and agility, he could at least keep it at bay.
Kim Shin looked at Park Yongpil and snorted dismissively. He flicked his hand, and countless animals densely surrounded them. Some had pointed, sharp beaks like birds but bodies covered in short fur, with thick legs instead of wings. Others looked like horses but had antlers like deer growing from their heads.
Among these fierce-looking animals, there were also several water deer like the ones they had seen on the tracks.
“Leave this to us for now, Jaehee-ssi. You need to deal with him first. That’s the only way to truly end this.”
Seeing Jaehee’s eyes flickering with uncertainty, Kim Jisu stepped forward. In the meantime, she had quietly set up several traps. Given the limited time, they weren’t proper traps per se. They were minor ones that used variations of Kim Jisu’s curse skills to make targets hallucinate and lose their way, or to make them drowsy. But since the people seemed to have lost their intelligence when they transformed into animals, these might be enough to hold out for a while.
Jaehee gritted his teeth and glared at Kim Shin. Kim Jisu was right. Simply blocking these creatures without killing them would only delay the inevitable. To truly end this, they needed to eliminate Kim Shin.
The situation was miserable. Why was Kim Shin doing this?
Why would he willingly become a minion of the Demon King?
“What did the Demon King promise you to make you go this far? If you wanted to become the king of the Earth, you could have done it with your own power…!”
At Jaehee’s words, Kim Shin tilted his head and then sneered.
“Why would I bother? You’re so funny. I did it because I could. Why should I take the hard way when there’s an easier path? Do you even know what a Demon King is, what a Constellation is? Do you know what kind of power they possess and what they can do?”
Kim Shin looked up at the sky with dreamy eyes, as if intoxicated, and smirked.
“They’re literally like stars in the sky above. Yes, I joined hands with the Demon King. I helped him possess this dungeon. But do you know what I gained from it? Well, a human like you probably wouldn’t understand anyway. Something like this noble power.”
The ominous black flames were flickering on Kim Shin’s blade. Jaehee gripped his sword again and charged toward Kim Shin.
“Yaaah!”
“You fool!”
Jaehee’s battle cry and Kim Shin’s mockery overlapped. When their blades clashed, a terrible pain shot up Jaehee’s arm as if it were being incinerated.
“Aaaaargh!”
It was the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced. He checked to see if his arm was on fire, but apart from his skin turning blackish, there was no other visible damage. Kim Shin grinned and thrust his blade again. Jaehee had no choice but to block it with his sword again, but a scream involuntarily escaped his lips. This wasn’t the kind of pain one could endure. It felt like his internal organs were twisting and his skin was rotting.
“Aaaaargh, hnngh, hnnngh.”
“See? You should have just stayed put when you were being treated well. Why dig your own grave and end up like this? Hey, grab him. I can’t just kill him so easily.”
“Well. Who said you could decide whether to kill or save someone else’s lover?”
At that moment, a calm voice resonated through the air.
Jaehee, who had been writhing in pain, gaped blankly. He was so shocked that he momentarily forgot the pain.
“I’m here, Jaehee.”
It was Jeongwoo. Jeongwoo had arrived.
