“Ha…….”
Letting out a trembling sigh filled with anger, Lee Dana staggered as she lifted herself up.
Because she’d failed to land properly and crashed to the ground, she’d almost lost her newly acquired life all over again.
‘If it weren’t for that ‘Revive’ skill that triggered just before I died, I would’ve died a dog’s death for nothing. I have to win no matter what if I want to survive.’
When she’d been forced to hallucinate inside Tebeho’s body, she’d seen the future that would come if she lost this fight.
The future she saw in her hallucination was pure despair.
Even if she fulfilled her duties as an Awakened, worked hard to kill monsters and close Gates, there was no reward waiting for her.
People were afraid of her and kept their distance, for she commanded the souls of monsters as her minions.
There were even a few who cursed her, accusing her of using the power of darkness.
No—what she’d seen and heard was just a handful of curses, but in reality, maybe far more people had been badmouthing her.
‘Idiots. They live safely because of me, but instead of being grateful, they complain.’
Money wasn’t an issue; Dana had already earned enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life.
So the income from dungeon runs was no longer much of a reward for her. If it were the ordinary her before the dimensional shift, she might have thought such thoughts were spoiled.
But working yourself to death at something you hated just to earn money you didn’t even need was more dreadful and torturous than she could have imagined.
So, at one point, she’d tried quitting everything, holing up and not stepping foot outside her house.
But the reality was very different from her belief that peace would come if she just stopped raiding dungeons.
Whenever she did go outside, people would curse her, saying that even though she was Ranking 1, she wasn’t fulfilling her responsibilities. Every time she went out, getting criticized to her face by strangers was incredibly stressful.
On top of that, whether it was online or on SNS, as soon as she logged in, she’d see articles and posts criticizing her, so she started distancing herself from her phone as well.
Her depressing days began to gnaw away at her mind, until eventually she became a complete wreck.
“I can’t live like this, I just can’t………………”
Muttering the same words like a madwoman, she lifted her head. Thanks to glimpsing that terrible future, she’d tried everything she could—checking all her abilities and items to escape that fate—when, right on time, the ‘Revive’ skill activated. ‘Revive’. The description warned that it could only be used once, so to be cautious in its use, and that no one could say how the future would change. But the future upon defeat was worse than death.
When she came to her senses, she was standing in the arena.
There was no way she was going to lose.
Looking down from Bisharp’s back, she spotted Dana.
Without hesitation, she used the same skill Dana had used earlier and bound Bisharp with the Shackles of Darkness.
Unable to move its wings, Bisharp plummeted downwards.
‘She’d never have dreamed that hallucination would end up helping me.’
With cold eyes, Lee Dana watched Bisharp fall and quickly sprinted toward the spot beneath.
During Tebeho’s hallucination, she’d cleared quite a few dungeons. Thanks to that, she’d learned how to use her skills a little more proficiently.
It was an unexpected benefit from suffering through that hallucination.
Before dying once, she’d been completely at Dana’s mercy, but now she felt like she could finally put up an even fight.
Assuming Dana would, of course, still be clinging to Bisharp’s back, she widened her eyes and rolled her gaze.
She was searching for Dana.
“Where did she go?”
But Dana, who should have been on Bisharp’s back, was nowhere to be seen. Since she’d kept her eyes locked on Bisharp as she ran, she’d have noticed immediately if Dana had jumped off.
‘Don’t tell me—shadow form?’
The moment Bisharp hit the ground, maybe Dana had quickly hidden herself by turning into a shadow.
“Find her now and bring her to me.”
The killing intent in her voice as she spoke through gritted teeth was palpable.
‘Ah, this is driving me crazy.’
The moment Bisharp hit the ground, I quickly distanced myself from Lee Dana by slipping into shadow form.
The paralysis had spread enough that it was hard to even move my arms. Thanks to taking an antidote, the paralysis was spreading more slowly, but I couldn’t get rid of it completely.
If it had been another Awakened, the paralysis might have spread faster and frozen their whole body by now. At least for me, I was able to hang in there this much.
‘What should I do?’
Maybe the paralysis was affecting my brain too, because I couldn’t think of any way to turn this situation around.
‘Ah.’
At that moment, a risky—but possibly effective—idea against Lee Dana occurred to me.
I stood quietly in place, feeling the aura of Lee Dana’s minions drawing near. Soon, her minions surrounded me and tried to forcefully drag me up.
I let them do as they pleased without resisting.
“So you were hiding here? I get to see you run away and everything.”
“Shut up.”
As I glared with upturned eyes, pretending to have been caught while escaping, a faint smile curled on Lee Dana’s lips.
With my arms pinned by the minions, I ground my teeth, acting as if I couldn’t move at all.
“Can’t even shake free? The poison must have spread through your whole body.”
Lee Dana circled around me, examining me closely, her gaze sharp as if she wanted to make sure I truly couldn’t move.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a slow, deep breath.
“Let’s check and make sure, then.”
Lee Dana punched me in the stomach. If I so much as flinched reflexively here, I’d be exposed on the spot.
But I had no intention of being discovered so soon.
I’d let myself be caught on purpose, waiting for her to drop her guard so I could strike.
“Hm? That must’ve hurt, but you didn’t even twitch.”
Lee Dana tilted her head, then frowned as if bored. She even grumbled that she hadn’t expected me to go down so easily.
She seemed completely off guard.
I slowly moved my eyes, waiting for my chance. I needed to attack Lee Dana properly and end this quickly.
“At this point, doesn’t this mean I win? Why isn’t the status window popping up?”
“I guess it’s only determined for sure when you kill the other person.”
“You’re going to use Revive too, right? Then I’d lose. It’s better to settle it now.”
Lee Dana scanned the air, waiting for the status window to appear.
“Ugh, she looks like she’s about to die, so why isn’t anything happening?”
Not even a minute had passed, but Lee Dana snapped irritably at the empty air.
“I won, so hurry up and end it! Send her to Another Dimension!”
She must really have hated the idea of Another Dimension. Watching her yell to send me over there left me speechless.
It was a life she had chosen herself, yet she was reacting like this.
Of course, she hadn’t known the Gate would open again when she chose, but that world was always a place with Gates and Awakened.
She should have considered the possibility of the Gate reopening and chosen more carefully. Because of her own greed, Lee Dana had lost the peaceful, comfortable life she once had.
“You chose this, and now you’re throwing a fit to change it?”
The more I thought about it, the more resentful I felt, and I couldn’t just let it slide.
At that moment, Lee Dana turned her back to me as she stared at the empty air. It was only a brief instant, but I didn’t miss the opening.
Unlike my arms, which wouldn’t move as I wished, my legs still worked fine and cut through the air.
The moment my toes drew close to Lee Dana’s leg, I used the same skill on her that she had used on me.
Cursed Blade.
Because she turned her back at just the right timing, I was able to aim precisely for the back of her leg with my toes, leaving her no choice but to collapse.
“……!”
Lee Dana’s strength left her legs, and she reflexively dropped to her knees, looking back at me.
That blade skill didn’t have to be summoned to my hand and swung directly. Just like now, I could make the blade appear at the tips of my toes and attack.
I didn’t stop at stabbing just one leg. I swung my leg so that the blade cut across the back of her legs.
Since the blade was coated with paralyzing poison, the wider the area I cut, the more effective the attack would be.
Now, Lee Dana’s legs would soon end up like my arms.
“Ugh…! You little—!”
I’d attacked her legs on purpose to limit her movements, and it worked exactly as I’d intended.
Trying to stand by putting strength in her legs, Lee Dana almost collapsed again as her legs kept giving out.
She hurriedly reached for a Recovery Potion, just as I had done, and tried to down it.
But in that very moment, a black arrow flew at high speed and shattered the potion bottle with a loud crack.
“Ah, no!”
Lee Dana reached out, but there was no way to retrieve the liquid spilling from the already shattered bottle.
I wanted to give Sahin a big thumbs-up, but settled for a smile to praise him. Then, turning to Lee Dana, I took a moment to think about what to do with her.
‘Killing her with my own hands just feels wrong. Even if it’s not a real death.’
Just then, I caught sight of the minions, all identical in appearance, locked in a fierce battle amongst themselves.
[Bisharp, everyone except Red, stand down.]
The minions flinched at my order, then quickly disappeared, looking regretful.
Having suddenly lost their opponents mid-fight, Lee Dana’s minions all turned their gazes to me.
Now that they had no one to fight, it seemed they wanted to come protect their master.
‘No way.’
I issued another command to Bisharp and Red, who were still battling fiercely with their counterparts.
[Can you two wipe out everything below?]
This was probably the first time I’d ordered minion to attack and kill another minion. Up to now, I’d never had a reason to give such an order.
So I wasn’t sure if Bisharp and Red alone could take down all of the minions below.
But if I wasn’t sure, the best thing was to act quickly and see what happened.
[Of course.]
[I was just itching to wipe them all out anyway!]
Red, excited, shoved aside his fake counterpart and unleashed a crimson breath at the minions below. He then began bombarding them with magic, the dragon’s forte.
While Red was clearing out the minions, Bisharp fought against the fake Bisharp and Red.
Of course, I wasn’t about to leave Bisharp to deal with them alone.