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240. Name Reclaimed (2)
Barub and Millions were tangled in an all out brawl for a long period of time.
Both of them concentrated all of their power into their hands and poured it out against each other.
They weren’t interested in the slightest in healing themselves.
After all, a single strike could decide the outcome of the battle at this very moment.
The amount of damage taken from looking away to heal would far exceed the amount healed at this moment.
And if the damage taken is critical, then it would lead to defeat.
This meant that instead of raising a shield, it would make far more sense to stab forward with a spear.
The two of them were beyond ragged at this point.
They looked as though they could collapse at any given moment, and anyone who looked at them would have difficulty believing that they were alive.
Their conditions had gotten to the point where enduring it wouldn’t be possible without a significant amount of power and mental fortitude.
Millions’ attack slowed noticeably.
It was the same for Barub’s Vacuum.
The force of suction and shredding power had severely weakened.
Barub’s hands still clutched at their opponent’s chest and nape.
However, the Vacuum skill that was being casted were growing weaker.
“Urgh.. Ugh….”
“Hu…. hu…”
Breaths too ragged to mock or taunt each other, the two continued their attacks.
It seemed as though it wouldn’t be strange if either of them died at any given moment.
However, the fire in their eyes roared fiercer than anyone else.
Their eyes were filled with a desire to to reach their goal, beliefs, and killing intent.
It would be over if 1/100th of a second, nay, 1/10000th of a second long window of opportunity presented itself.
Focusing everything on the fight, they poured everything they had into their attacks.
It was then.
“Urk!”
“…”
Millions’ fist flew towards Barub’s stomach.
The momentum behind the punches had decreased since the start, but since Barub’s defensive capabilities had fallen as well, the amount of dealt was about the same.
The punch went into Barub’s stomach, which had been shredded to the point where the intestine was showing.
Millions twisted his fist inside Barub’s stomach to destroy all of their intestinal organs.
Barub’s eyes became bloodshot and they began to puke blood.
Despite that, Barub did not make distance between the two and continued to cast Vacuum.
Most would’ve canceled casting Vacuum and made distance to start treating the critical injuries in this situation.
That would be what was expected in a normal fight.
For those with a lot of combat experience, such as Min-Cheol, they would do just that, and it would be the same for the average person who was sane.
However, Barub did not have any plans of doing so.
It wasn’t out of arrogance kept from the time they were a god that made this foolish decision.
It was because they saw a slim chance even in such a disadvantageous situation.
“Augh!”
“Kuh… Hu…”
Millions’ heavy breathing and Barub’s screams filled the air.
And it seemed as though victory was leaning towards Millions.
Despite how powerful Barub was, it wouldn’t take long before they would perish with a wound this severe.
However, the situation changed to something more amusing.
“Urk!”
“AHH!”
Millions’ stomach and nape had been pierced by Barub’s Vacuum.
Millions’ skin that seemed like it would never be pierced started to show cracks from Vacuum.
And with that, the tables were turned.
Millions’ hand that was stuck within Barub’s body began to lose its grip.
He was barely staying conscious, but it was obvious that Barub would deal a wider and greater amount of damage than his bare hand.
Vacuum absolutely destroyed Millions’ organs.
Not only that, but it also damaged his spine that supported his entire body.
And with that, it didn’t take even a full minute before Millions lost all feeling in his body.
That meant that the fight was decided.
The two hands that tortured Barub extensively sprawled onto the floor.
From his hands dripped Barub’s blood, splattering against the ground.
The droplets broke the still surface of the pool of blood that had formed.
Millions leaned on Barub’s body for support and spoke with great difficulty, coughing up what little breath remained.
“You said your name was Barub.”
“Kuh…Hu…”
“Your unwillingness to let go of a prey you’ve once bitten is something else.”
“…”
“I’ve lost. I have lost the fight between raw power.”
“Kuha! Have you become weak now that you’re at death’s door? It’s an emotion fitting that of a loser.”
“A real wild beast. My eyes did not deceive me. You really are a wild beast.”
“Do you think that your death will have any honor by speaking to me that way? The loser does not even have the right to speak. Urgh!”
“Agh! Even though it is late, I congratulate you on getting your name back.”
“Lowly human.”
“Barub. Hahahaha…”
Millions’ loud laughter rang out.
And with that, he drew his last breath.
However, Barub did not stop casting Vacuum on his body until the very end.
They did not stop until it seemed as though they planned to destroy his body until not a single bone or speck of flesh was left.
Barub really was without equal in how cruel and cold one could be.
A brutal revenge was being carried out to the one who had first given them the taste of defeat.
Some time later.
“Kuhu…”
Soaked in blood, Barub kneeled in the middle of the battleground.
The area around was the same.
Sticky blood had made a swamp of the area.
Barub did not have any strength to self congratulate themself for the victory obtained.
Breathing heavily, they could only heal themself to kindle the flickering flame that was their life.
Millions had been defeated by Barub.
One could say that they were evenly matched to the dot.
Barub’s victory could be attributed to luck.
After all, the fight had been decided with Barub coming out just the slightest bit ahead.
Barub received all the power that Millions possessed.
However, due to the sheer amount of damage received, Barub could not feel any increase in power.
With how their life could be snuffed out with any given moment, there was no time to sense how stronger they had become after all.
Calling forth what strength they had left, Barub increased the speed of their recovery.
While it wasn’t possible for Barub to recover as fast as when they reattached their dismembered arm, their organs and body began to slowly heal.
Recovering enough to just barely move their body, Barub stood up and walked forward.
Their eyes rested on the artifacts that they had left behind.
Barub’s golden armor had already served its purpose and was utterly destroyed.
The armor had lost its stat bonuses and had become just a piece of scrap metal.
However, Millions’ armor that had taken far more damage was surprisingly recovering its form slowly.
Was this the difference between the higher tier and the highest tier equipment?
Barub had just realized much too late how important artifacts were.
On top of that, Barub learned just how important proper usage of skills decided the outcome of a battle.
“Urk… The great Barub, brought so low.”
Barub tossed aside their armor they could no longer use.
At the same time, Barub put on the armor that Millions left behind.
Millions’ armor that had holes here and there recovered back to its original form, and also readjusted itself to fit Barub’s form.
There was no remorse in Barub’s mind for Millions.
Instead, one could only see Barub preparing to hunt the next prey.
With the armor equipped, Barub forcefully moved their horribly thorn facial muscles to smile.
“Kuha! This equipment is on another level compared to what the counts used. Millions. To think that you would lose even with armor like this. It seems that it cannot be helped for lowly humans.”
The slow healing picked up at an insane rate as Barub recovered their body and regained their strength.
And since they had defeated Millions, their strength was now nearly two fold.
While kindling the flame of life was difficult, putting the firewood of great power on the flames created a roaring inferno that could not be stopped.
This resulted in Barub recovering from all their wounds in less than 5 minutes, and their attention shifted to seeking out the next target.
At this point, many requests for summons had arrived in their status window.
After all, they had contacted the remaining 6 marquises to let them know of Min-Cheol’s plans.
They half believed the information that Barub had leaked, but the price on Barub’s head was something that they could not ignore.
The remaining marquises probably had no idea that Barub had defeated two marquises at this point.
They must be thinking that only a few counts they lost contact with were the only ones done in by Barub.
After recovery and feeling the immense amount of newfound strength, Barub spoke.
“They all are shouting over each other to be killed. I now hold the upperhand of this bet.”
Barub did not accept the summons.
Instead, they sent a summon request for one of the marquises that had sent a summon request.
It was because Barub knew that if they were grouped, they would not be able to avoid a difficult fight.
Marquises that had no idea how strong Barub were.
Each of them will fall into the hole that Barub had dug up one by one, as if entranced.
The marquises will come without realizing that the bottom of the hole is where Hell and death awaits.
It didn’t take long before the system’s sound announcing that a marquis had accepted the summons sounded.
-‘Sir Dopel’ has accepted the summons.
“This dawn could not get any better!”
****
With his plan exposed by Barub, Min-Cheol moved on his own.
It was because he could not risk Dan and Audu from getting into danger.
He searched after the marquises on his own.
However, this was a lot more dangerous than what seemed on the surface.
It wasn’t as if Min-Cheol knew all the faces of marquises and counts, and he had never met the castellan.
It was a fact that it’d be difficult and there would be limitations for Min-Cheol to confirm the identity of each person encountered using just the accounting book in his hand.
Because Barub had defeated Millions, there were only 6 marquises remaining.
And the 6 of them weren’t exclusive preys for Min-Cheol.
After all, Barub had summoned the one named Dopel to themself.
This meant that no matter how quickly and successfully he moved, he could only obtain 5 marquises at best.
And Barub wouldn’t be watching idly by.
In the current situation, if Barub killed 3 marquises excluding Dopel, then there was no way to know for sure who would win the best.
Even though Min-Cheol had the insanely powerful cloning skill, if he did not keep increasing his own strength, then it would be the same as a frog stuck in a well.
If that happened, then the only thing Min-Cheol could do was to attack the Castellan Mithrael.
Min-Cheol had his assistants Dan and Audu. On top of that, no one in Larkenta knew just how powerful the castellan was.
To go against him was the same amount of recklessness as when he smashed the gate back on Earth and charged in without a plan.
However, if the situation had become so that he could not match up against Barub’s strength, then it would be do or die.
Min-Cheol was even thinking about the worst case scenario ahead of time.
And so he decided to move alone in order to prevent that worst case scenario from happening.
“Going to the estate of a marquis isn’t really ideal…”
Despite hesitating, Min-Cheol headed for the estate of a marquis without much of a choice.
He could hear that there was quite the commotion coming from within the estate.
Casting the stealth skill again, he carefully opened the door with haste.
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