Hard Carry Support

Chapter 165 - Empathy is... (2)

Hyun thought of using «Wind Barrier» to run through the sky but soon gave up on that idea.

The sky was a hell full of black fog, and going through it would be suicidal.

「We're going to have to face them.」

High-level Holy Knights also had the ability to distinguish between those that belonged to the Abyss and the Heavens. They wouldn't be able to fool them by changing the runes on their hands.

They had no other choice but to face them!

The group ran through the canyon full of darkness while coming to that realization.

Boom-!

The canyon was surrounded by fog, and they could hear the sounds of battle from both sides.

They would soon encounter the knight squadron’s rear.

'I hope it works…'

Leaving Ain aside, Hyun «Assimilated» into Louise and ran to the front.

The opponent was an elite of at least level 350. They wouldn't be able to beat even one if they played fair.

If there was a way, they would have to bet everything on that momentous loophole!

'Whether it works or not, we'll have to try!'

As soon as «Invisible», and «Biorhythm Acceleration» activated…

"…!"

A Holy Knight was surprised when the wind suddenly began blowing, but he reacted quickly.

Although Louise and Ain's attack wouldn't be able to deal him damage since he was holding a shield…

The wind wasn't targeting the Holy Knight. Rather, it was targeting the area behind him, the dark canyon that was full of fog.

Fwoosh!

The black energy spread to the sides when the wind encountered the fog.

A fog that devoured everything… Bahmir said that even he would struggle with it. There was no way Holy Knights, which were weaker than Bahmir, would be able to resist it.

"Huh? Ugh…!"

The Holy Knight’s body started to shine.

Most Holy Knights had regenerative abilities.

His body was being devoured by the fog and regenerating at the same time, but that only lasted for about 10 seconds.

[Level Up!]

The tornado that had Demonic Energy and fog mixed together looked like a black dragon.

After a while, there was nothing left where the wind had passed through.

"They're weaker than I thought!" Ain mumbled in disbelief.

Hyun briefly explained it while they continued running.

「It's probably that the fog is too powerful… You should also be careful and make sure it doesn't touch you.」

"The fog? Then we can hunt them all using this same strategy, right?"

「I'm not sure…」

Hyun wasn't sure how many times that strategy would work.

The Holy Knights were quite sensitive toward the death of a fellow Knight.

Even then…

Hyun looked around and saw that the rest of the Holy Knights were looking cautiously at their surroundings.

"Crayer died."

"What? Was there a dangerous devil behind us?!"

They soon thought of someone after seeing Louise covered in Demonic Energy.

It was the devil related to Darkness they’d received orders to kill.

"A black vampire…?"

"So it's that guy."

They realized the devil they hadn't seen in the town was still alive.

"But it's weird. That vampire… doesn't it seem to have the energy of the Heavens?" He asked after feeling Ain’s energy.

Among creatures like werewolves, some belonged to the Heavens, but that wasn't the case for vampires.

But how could a creature of the Abyss possibly have energy from the Heavens?

Anyway, neither of them was a normal devil. The Holy Knights looked carefully at Ain and Louise.

「As expected, we won't be able to use the same strategy.」

Seeing how they moved far away from the fog, Hyun realized that the same strategy wouldn't work.

"If we fought them, how many could we beat?"

「About two.」

‘Maybe only one…’

The Holy Knights had already invaded the fog canyon, which was a territory of Darkness.

They were running with all their might, but because of that, five Holy Knights had gotten close to them and were in formation.

"Then we're going to die here!"

「Be quiet, I'm thinking!」

Hyun soon realized that the enemies were afraid of the fog.

They had to run close to the black energy! If they didn't want to get attacked, that was the only way.

‘Ugh…’ Breathing became hard for a while.

Louise's heart began beating faster.

Hyun realized why that was the case after he took a look around.

'Damn it, why in this situation…!'

The group had passed through the Knights that were at the rear and had entered the canyon’s middle section.

There was still a fierce battle going on there. The Heavens were slaughtering the defeated Abyss soldiers, and Louise's 'Empathy' activated at the devils’ deaths.

The dying devils’ feelings entered Louise.

Ba-dump, ba-dump!

Every time one died, a sharp pain pierced her heart.

"Ugh…!"

Although Louise was agonizing over their deaths, he didn't have time to care about her at the moment.

The Holy Knights, who were watching from a distance, were trying to ambush them.

'Tsk, «Shadow Run»!'

Louise's figure stretched out, and sword energy full of Sacred Power poured down.

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

Slash!

As the earth shook, Hyun steadied himself in mid-air.

He jumped into the middle while keeping where the enemies were in his head.

「Ain, enter with me!」

「Leave it to me!」

Ain knew what Hyun wanted her to do.

She needed to divert their attention.

She used «Steps of the Incarnate» and blocked the Knights’ field of vision.

A brief gap in their vision appeared.

Although it might have been irrelevant in an area with low-level monsters, with the enemies they were facing, that was their only chance.

'«Sword of Darkness», «Shield».'

Hyun used both skills and used as much Demonic Energy as possible.

Pang!

Along with the wind exploding, he used the «Sword of Darkness» and sliced through everyone, including Ain and the Holy Knights.

Ting! The moment the Holy Knights were hit with the sword, its rotation stopped, but the effect of «Shield» worked perfectly.

「As expected of Hyun!」

Ain was impressed after seeing the Holy Knights being stunned.

He was waiting for her to push them into the fog, similar to what they did during the Awakening Quest, right?

Ain was thinking that when she suddenly screamed.

Fwoosh-!

Magical power blew, and all of the enemies freed themselves from the stun.

«Purification Roar».

Most Holy Knights that were over level 350 had a skill that let them cleanse debuffs.

Ain thought they'd nullified their plan and became anxious for a moment.

「They're free!」

「It's okay.」

Hyun's voice was calm.

Ain saw a giant sword appear in Louise's hands.

He'd already used all of his Demonic Energy, and the skill still had cooldown time. Why was it that he could use the skills again?

«Illusion Run»!

The only ones who didn't know were the Holy Knights, who thought they were about to face the same skills.

"Everyone, dodge!"

They hurriedly shouted and tried their best to avoid the oncoming slash.

At the same time, a dark gust swept through the place!

But that time, the sword was just a shadow—it was just an illusion with a cooldown time of five seconds.

Hyun sighed in relief after seeing that the enemies were trying to evade.

「Haa… Let's increase speed.」

「Aren't we going to get rid of them?」

「Right now, we have to keep moving forward. The opponents behind us… Let's think about them later.」

Hyun kept using illusions and blocked the enemies from getting close to them.

As Demonic Energy and a fog made of shadow mixed, it looked as if the fog was running through the canyon, which looked dangerous.

'With this, we’ll be able to resist for the moment.'

He knew how dangerous leaving enemies behind was because you could be stabbed in the back.

But they had no choice but to keep running at that moment because Louise’s status was worsening.

"Where do demons go when they die…?"

「What…?」

"I'm asking because I thought, Hyun, you'd know the answer…"

The more they advanced, the more devils entered the range of Louise's 'Empathy' skill.

The feelings of death and nausea became more intense.

Louise probably kept mumbling weird things because she felt her feelings being devoured.

「I'm not sure. It's probably the same…」

To be honest, there was a slight difference.

If a demon died, a being of the next generation replaced it, but he didn't tell her that.

After all, the next Darkness wouldn’t be Louise.

「If you have time to think about stupid things… concentrate.」

The size of Louise's Ego was nothing compared to the name 'Darkness.'

It was obvious that Louise couldn't resist all of the negativity.

Clink, KAAA-!

Even then, devils weren't able to withstand the Knights’ attacks and were turning into ashes.

What would «Empathizing» with the agonizing screams that could be heard from their surroundings feel like…? It was probably impossible to understand it from the senses of a user.

Louise's pale face and trembling voice reminded him of a sick person that was about to face death.

"Do you remember when you first used «Assimilation»…? Back then, I was scared because I thought that I was selling my soul to a demon, but right now, you're defending the soul of a demon. It's funny if I think about it."

Bzzt!

Hyun used his reflexes to dodge an electricity attack that had suddenly flown towards him.

Even though he'd used «Shadow Shield» and the attack brushed past it, he'd lost about 1/5 of his HP at once.

'«Purification Strike…»'

Hyun looked at where the lightning had fallen from.

There were Magicians wearing armor made of chains.

Bzzt- Bzzt- Lightning spheres grew in size from the tips of their wands.

'Even Magicians…!'

If Holy Magicians had appeared, it meant they were getting closer to the main knight squad.

One couldn't dodge lightning perfectly because electricity had an area of effect!

Numerous magic circles appeared around the wands that were aiming at Louise.

The moment those shone…

'«Prepared for Extinction!»'

There was no time to talk.

Hyun «Assimilated» to Ain and used her ultimate attack.

Fwoosh!

Fiery fur grew from Ain, and her body was covered by a red flame.

BZZT!

The moment the wolf's body jumped in front of Louise, dozens of lightning attacks struck its body.

The electricity was powerful enough to melt the ground, but after the attack that no one should have been able to survive finished, the fiery wolf was still standing.

"What…?!"

「I'm sorry. I borrowed your body because it was urgent!」

After hearing Hyun's voice, who had «Assimilated» back into Louise, Ain finally understood what had happened to her.

"Huh, my body?!"

- While active, ignore (Fire/Ice/Electricity/Wind) attacks.

If the attack consisted of one of those four elements, it could even block an attack from an Angel. It was a new effect she’d gotten after changing jobs to Elemental Berserker when the level of her ultimate attack went up by one.

A spark that wasn't absorbed splashed into Ain.

Of course, the enemies weren't going to stay still.

"Long-range attacks work."

"Don't get close, attack from a distance!"

After the magic, they began throwing spears at them.

"Ugh…!"

Although Ain brushed off the attacks, she couldn't block the attacks without receiving damage, even in her incarnate state.

“Urgh!” Ain moaned in pain after losing half of her HP.

「Are you okay?!」

"I don't think I'll be able to resist for much longer…!"

BZZT-!

Once again, the enemies finished casting their lightning attack, but Ain read the trajectories of the attacks and managed to stand in front of Louise and absorb the damage.

The problem was that she couldn't block the damage done by the spears, so Ain had to twist her body and brush off the attacks.

[You've received 3921 damage!]

[You've received 4116 damage!]

Attacks poured down without even giving them time to catch their breath.

'When did they get behind us?'

BZZT-

Hyun realized a bit late that the Holy Magicians had finished casting from the rear.

There were five magicians, and Louise wouldn't be able to resist all five attacks.

「Hyun, I can't block that!」 Ain shouted.

She was busy with the Holy Magicians in the front, so she couldn't do anything about the attacks flying from the back.

"Damn…!"

Whir. Whir. Magic circles appeared around the wands that were aiming at Louise.

Hyun clenched his teeth after seeing the remaining cooldown times on his skills.

'I can't dodge!'

It was a magic that was impossible to block or resist.

The entire place filled with light, and crackling blue lightning shot toward Louise.