I Never Run Out of Mana - Chapter 69

Chapter 69

69 . Final Battle with Joker (3)

-BOOM!

Almost as if his body was a bomb, he exploded .

The impact was strong enough to not only destroy the floor, but all the walls of the battlefield .

After the explosion, I looked far worse off than the battlefield .

My left arm, as well as my body that I turned away were ripped in half and blown away from the explosion .

The Lizardmen Gauntlet was sprawled out on the floor .

On top of that, the nape of my neck was branded with an unknown symbol .

‘Damn it… . . ’

It was a special ability from the executioner’s class that Joker possessed, known as ‘Isolation’ .

Unlike what I heard from Jin, I was anxious because he wasn’t using his ability .

I was even looking down on him because I thought his attacks only reached at this level even with the ability .

But who knew he’d select his target for the ability like this .

Isolation, an ability that increased damage taken by the target . It was an ability that shined even more during 1v1s .

There aren’t many who could receive this kind of explosion and his attacks with the ability .

A massive ringing filled my ears .

Also .

“Urrgh!”

A pain filled moan came out naturally .

In my vision, now filled with splatters of red, Joker was slowly regenerating himself .

His form that had exploded was slowly coming back together, similar to the liquid human from terminator .

I had my Mana Shield, with 2 ranking shields casted on top of them .

It could’ve been a skill beyond ranking, but the self-destruct could only be explained by the passive he had .

It happened while I was casting heal on myself .

Perhaps he had recovered fully already, he began to mock me in a smug tone .

“Kuha! To think I’d have to use Isolation . ”

“Urgh! I really stepped on shit this time . ”

“It looks like you’re in a lot of pain . Yes . . that expression . That expression is the one that suits you the best!”

“…ugh, ur… . ”

‘Just a few fingers blown off… I can recover using Status Denial after I beat him down and leave… For now, let’s focus on recovering . No, first I have to prepare against his attacks . ’

Continuing to cast Heal, I picked up the gauntlet and Banwol Jincheon that fell to the floor .

The bleeding nearly stopped, but the damage would take a long time to heal with a recovery skill that was of low ranking like Heal .

Even during the fight against Park Hyun where my stomach was cut open from an attack by Jin, it didn’t take this long to recover .

Perhaps it was due to the attack being used with his ability?

The gauntlet that I put my hand back in was giving off an emerald hue, mixing with the blood that was still smearing out .

-Drip . Drip .

Pain continued from the hand that held the sword .

Think about it . Despite not realizing the importance of it, just how much you’d be distracted even from a small papercut .

Now you know how important it is .

However, right now my fingers weren’t cut or ripped off, but blown off .

The overwhelming pain was enough to break my concentration .

-Stomp . Stomp .

Joker was walking towards me with his dual swords pulled out .

It’s already been a while ago since the cuts on his neck and shoulder were gone without a trace .

Even the damage from the Formless Sword Aura that he took with his whole body was gone .

I needed to buy time to recover .

Since he was going to attack again, I needed to get away from him .

If I could disappear from his sight completely so I can buy time to heal my wounds, there would be another chance .

A skill that’s perfect for this situation exists .

‘Mass Stealth Jutsu . ’

Instantly, I disappeared from view .

Quickly, I casted Flash and hid myself in a corner of the ruined battlefield .

I even used Silent to hide the sound of my breathing .

Mana Shield and Reflect Shield .

I used one hand for Heal while keeping a lookout for him .

Looking at the spot where I was before, he mumbled to himself .

“Stealth… and he covered up the sound he makes . ”

“Ugh . ”

“At this rate, it would be difficult to find him . But…”

Joker had a smile on his face .

Almost like a predator that found its prey drinking water by the pond without any suspicion .

Once more, red smoke began to rise from his body .

Then closing his eyes, he spoke .

“But you know . Guess you don’t have any skills to cover up this heavy scent of blood . Oraa!”

-SLICE!

He turned his body towards the exact location I was stealthed at, throwing both the twin swords at me .

As the swords left his hands, it was covered in dark red flames, flying straight towards me .

It didn’t have any spin and it didn’t shake in the slightest, as the throw had an incredible amount of speed and power .

At this rate, it was going to skewer me before I had time to even prepare to react .

It would be over in a moment .

Both of his twin swords arrived right in front of my eyes .

Looking at the swords, I froze .

Even my eyes that should’ve automatically closed due to reflex stayed open .

There’s a saying that before you die, the life you lived comes all back to you in a flash .

I realized that it was true .

It was a short life of 18 years, but all the memories I lived began to pass me right before my eyes .

All the way up until the last film of a movie projector .

It was vivid, almost as if I was viewing from the sidelines .

As I returned to the present hoping that my situation had changed, I felt more hopeless than before .

Almost as if it was a slow motion video, Joker’s swords clashed with my shields .

Who would have known that this weak looking weapon toss skill would be a skill beyond ranking .

Without being able to resist at all, my Mana Shield crumpled .

Almost as if fighting to be the first, both twin swords came in at the same time .

And finally .

“……”

Without realizing, I had closed my eyes, thinking that this was the end . However, much time had passed .

One thing that consoled me was that the swords impaling my head would hurt less than my fingers did right now, but I had to accept that this was death .

Guess it’s true about what they say, that death’s door closes the slowest .

I heard a noise from where Joker was at .

“URRRK!”

‘Is that his disgusting laugh again? I had to kill him at least before dying… . ’

“KUUUHHH!”

‘He’s being really lou… . Wait! That’s not the sound of laughter?’

After accepting my end and letting everything go, now I gathered my resolve once more .

The pain I felt through the end of my hand . And the vivid sounds of his screams .

Opening my eyes, what I saw was enough to surprise me .

Both his twin swords had pierced his chest, straight through his heart .

With his face contorted, I saw Joker screaming as he tried to pull out the swords .

Each time he pulled at the hooked swords, sticky blood spurted out like a fountain .

It was a stupid thought, but just a moment ago, I thought I was dead for sure .

But how did it come to this .

Suddenly an idea came to me .

That was it .

“Reflect Shield… . . ”

That’s right . The skill he used on me was blocked by the counter effect from the Reflect Shield .

The attack had flown back towards him .

Since it was a level 200 Reflect Shield, the reflection chance was 50% .

The reflected damage was 70% .

He probably attacked me while using his Isolation ability, so the attack did twice the damage .

Not knowing that it would come back to him, that is .

It didn’t matter how this situation came to be, because it was my chance .

The pain from my fingers? Pain from my charred blown up body?

I didn’t feel anything from these petty injuries .

Another chance had found me .

Firstly, I had to finish off Joker, who was critically wounded .

“Oraaa!”

I cast an attack buff .

Due to the attack I received, Louver’s Bracelet was fully charged for an empowered skill .

Dashing towards him, I began to throw out my Formless Sword Aura .

Pulling out his swords from his body, Joker began to swing his swords wildly .

Due to the extended fight, it appeared that he was running out of mana .

He wasn’t even using the most basic executioner class skill that strengthened his body .

He was only swinging his swords with just his bare strength .

I wasn’t sure if it was only due to chance, but he was blocking few of the invisible Formless Sword Aura attacks .

Each time he moved though, Joker was bleeding out more and more .

Some time passed like that .

“Huff… Huff . You dare! Someone like you!”

His breathing was heavy .

I wasn’t sure if he was screaming or roaring, but his loud voice filled the battlefield .

He had already received several Formless Sword Aura attacks with his body .

Blood leaked out from in between his grey armor, forming a pool on the floor .

His eyes were already unfocused and body limp, and he was no longer capable of combat .

Despite all that, he still held his sword and continued to stumble towards me .

-slice!

In one swing, I cut his arm that held the twin swords .

His arm, as well as the sword that was held, clattered to the floor .

Joker was trying to put his remaining arm into his armor .

Was it his last attempt? It looked as though he was trying to find something .

“Tenacious bastard . ”

“Ku… Kuuk… . I, to be defeated by the likes of you… . ”

“A class and ability that are specialized in killing people . I shouldn’t stay alive . ”

“It’s not over y…”

-slice!

-thud

The crescent Banwol Jincheon cleanly separated his head from his body .

Blood spilled forth from his neck, and the head had a twisted expression as it collided on the ground .

There was no information I needed from him .

To be honest, he probably had lots of information .

But I didn’t want to hear anything from him anymore .

The rage I felt against him suddenly blew up .

And that’s how Joker died .

****

I covered Joker’s corpse with Fire Shock .

It was to make sure that no evidence remained .

Even if this was a restricted area that no longer gets visitors, it didn’t hurt to be thorough .

Meteor gave out very powerful flames, but no skill can compare to this one when it comes to incinerating things to oblivion .

“Whew… . ”

After getting rid of the evidence, I focused solely on recovery .

Perhaps due to the injury I received being quite serious, a few levels of the Heal spell rose during the process .

The corpse was incinerated without a trace left, with only the grey armor and sword remaining .

The weapon and armor could withstand the fierce flames of Fire Shock .

I was sure that it was worth a vast fortune .

“I’ll take care of them well, Joker . ”

It happened when I lifted his armor .

-clang .

Something that was in the armor fell to the floor .

The size was similar to an Awakened Essence, but the shape and color was completely different .

A transparent pearl that was perfectly spherical .

I remembered that Joker was trying to find something with his amputated arm before he died .

I couldn’t help but think that this was what he was looking for .

Since I didn’t know what ability this pearl possessed, I carelessly shoved it into my pocket .

With that, I gathered all the items and exited the association building .

****

“81 missed calls? People would believe it if I told them that this was my lover . ”

-riiiiing . riiiiiing .

Even in that short span of time, another call came .

Just as I thought, it was Jong Ho .

“Hel…”

“Hey you! Are you okay?”

“Of course . I’m fine . ”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Hm… . Status Denial . Can I get it immediately through the midget?”

“What . Is it serious? Where and how is the injury!”

“It’s not that serious . Don’t worry . ”

“When will you come back? What about Joker? What happened with Joker?”

“I killed him . In about 10 minutes, I’ll take Warp to get to the midget’s office . I’ll see you there, hyung . ”

“Ok . I’ll head there right now and wait for you . You have to come straight away, okay?”

“Yes . ”

Ending the call, I was engrossed in my thoughts .

I only survived this battle with pure luck .

It was also pure luck that I won this battle .

A 50% chance to reflect .

If Reflect Shield wasn’t able to successfully counter?

Obviously the role of the winner and loser in this battle would be swapped .

“Luck… I can’t depend on luck for my life . ”

I couldn’t hope to get lucky every time .

I needed to obtain more power for the days ahead .