Chapter 469.: Collision 1
Raging Temperance.
The Parasite Queen was well aware of the Fourth Army Commander’s shortcomings even back when she first planned the Tigol Fortress Invasion.
That’s why she ordered him to stay in the Spirit Realm, which the Parasites had mostly finished occupying, to reduce the variables that could affect her mission.
But that decision turned out to be the second biggest mistake of her life after she decided to rebel against the Martial God.
The rampaging Raging Temperance became the reason for Twisted Kindness’ defeat. His failure ultimately served as a turning point that led to the resurrection of the World Tree and the Parasites’ defeat in the Tigol Fortress War.
In short, the Parasites lost the war that they should have won easily.
And the rest was history.
Because of one mistake, the future of the Federation and humanity, which should have ended a long time ago, had continued to this day.
The Parasite Queen’s face hardened as she recalled the past.
It was obvious why the Brightest Star was mentioning all this. He was attempting to manipulate the situation to his advantage by agitating her.
However, the Parasite Queen was a queen, and more importantly, a god.
She wasn’t stupid or inexperienced enough to fall for such blatant provocation.
[…How insolent!]
The Parasite Queen only snorted, and then roused her energy as she prepared for battle.
Seol Jihu opened his eyes slightly and pushed one corner of his mouth upward.
“This is our second… no, the third encounter. Am I right?”
Resting his spear on his shoulder, he began to speak.
“It sure has taken long enough. Too many obstacles stood between us. But now, I can finally enjoy a one-on-one date with you.”
He mocked her in a roundabout way, asking how she felt now that all four of her Army Commanders were subdued.
[Interesting. I see your take on romance is surprisingly peculiar. Do you wish for me to hold your hand and take a stroll around the bloody battlefield?]
The Parasite Queen answered fluently, unaffected by his sarcasm.
“That actually sounds great. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this date, Your Majesty.”
[Huhu. You sure seem fond of me. Try me if you want, but I must make it clear that I have no interest in holding your hand, or bearing your child.]
With a chuckle of contempt, the Parasite Queen raised her lengthy arm.
This was her battle signal.
“…Alright.”
Seol Jihu, too, straightened up his posture. He spun and pointed the Spear of Purity at the Parasite Queen. Then he spoke.
“I swear on my honor, that ‘Parasite Crybaby’ will be listed in the nickname section of your status window.”
[Parasite Crybaby?]
“Yes. The Parasite Crybaby, instead of the Parasite Queen…. Don’t you think it’s cute?”
After a moment of silence, the Parasite Queen’s eyes narrowed.
She decided she had been too tolerant for too long.
[Crazy fool.]
It was then.
KWANG!
Seol Jihu heard the roar of an explosion.
When he came to his senses, he found himself flying in the air. His body had sensed danger and reacted much faster than his eyes could see.
He glanced down and saw the Parasite Queen’s palm had struck where he had just stood.
Rumble!
He felt a chill run down his spine as the wall came crumbling down a beat later.
Had it not been for his Intuition, his whole body would have exploded, and he would be dead by now.
The Parasite Queen lifted her chin.
Seol Jihu’s eyes saw her body.
It was common sense that any ‘action’ required some kind of ‘movement’.
For example, the action of jumping required the bending of the knees to push oneself higher into the air.
Likewise, in battles, it was necessary as well as common sense to read the opponent’s movements, predict what their next moves would be, and prepare accordingly.
But the Parasite Queen’s movements shattered common sense.
She didn’t bend her knees, nor did she spread her bone wings.
She only looked at him, and Seol Jihu felt as if he were falling into a bottomless pit.
Again, his intuition raised red flags.
He kicked the air and pulled himself back. Then, as he raised his head, he felt an invisible blade slash down at the air in front of him, grazing the tip of his nose.
He didn’t even blink once, and the Parasite Queen was already above him, swinging her arm at his head.
Seol Jihu’s eyes widened with shock.
He was moving as fast as he could, but the enemy’s attacks kept pouring toward him.
This time, even his intuition was too late.
Toong!
Seol Jihu managed to activate Ethereal Shift at the very last moment.
At the same time, he intuitively thrust his spear, emitting Reinforced Sword Qi.
He knew that the enemy would catch up to him again, so he was intent on seeking a counterattack.
But Seol Jihu’s prediction proved to be only partly correct.
The Parasite Queen did indeed appear in the Spear of Purity’s path, but her fist was carrying an unprecedented amount of divinity.
It shattered Seol Jihu’s Reinforced Sword Qi and flew straight toward his head.
KWANG!
Another huge explosion erupted.
The air upon which the fist landed wavered before the space itself ripped apart.
Shaking violently, invisible force flew straight through the open space and beyond.
Even though at the very last minute he turned his head with all his might, the tip of his hair completely disappeared.
Seol Jihu’s throat moved as he swallowed.
The time he spent practicing mock battles with Black Seol Jihu in preparation for the Parasite Queen wasn’t helping at all.
In the mock battles, Seol Jihu first scored big, and then Black Seol Jihu chased him with small tricks.
But in the real game, he realized that his opponent was superior to him in both fields.
Suddenly he remembered Black Seol Jihu’s warning.
[The Parasite Queen? I don’t know….]
[It’s meaningless to plan a strategy against a god… but if I had to categorize her, I’d say she’s better at ranged attacks than melee.]
[That isn’t to say that her close combat skills aren’t top-notch.]
Black Seol Jihu seemed less than confident when asked what kind of strategy would work most effectively against the Parasite Queen, which was rare for him.
[I’ve only seen the Parasite Queen fight in person a few times. And it was only twice that I actually fought her.]
[The reason I learned Seamless Sublimity was to use it against the Parasite Queen.]
[Because, to kill her, I’d have to land her a blow first. And to do that, I thought I should first learn to move as fast as she could.]
[So I got rid of all the flaws in my movements and achieved a realm of perfection. But… well, it turned out that I underestimated her. The Parasite Queen’s movements are beyond flawless.]
Black Seol Jihu wasn’t wrong. Now that he’d experienced it, he understood, too. Fast wasn’t enough to describe the Parasite Queen.
He could see Black Seol Jihu’s hand moving during consecutive attacks, but with the Parasite Queen, even that was impossible. She seemed to defy all norms.
[That’s why I told you not to copy me.]
[My Seamless Sublimity failed. But your Trinity Harmony… it might be able to invoke a new possibility.]
[Thousand Stream Convergence. Your movement, which ties everything into one, and my movement, which has reached the height of optimization…. Maybe there’s some similarity between the two. Think about it.]
It was then that Seol Jihu finally understood Thousand Stream Convergence.
All rivers flow to the sea.
Differences in motion could be reduced by amplifying other abilities and integrating them all.
Seol Jihu’s eyes gleamed.
As he stomped his foot in the air, Thousand Thunder filled up to the top of his head.
Pang, pang, pang! He activated the Festina Earring three times.
Everything happened almost simultaneously but in succession, like a thread passing through the beads of a necklace.
The next moment, the sound of air ripping rang out, and Seol Jihu disappeared.
And so did the Parasite Queen.
Toong, toong, toong, toong!
Kwang, kwang, kwang, kwang!
Golden thunder flashed and crashed everywhere, and space fluctuated like a tidal wave.
In less than one second, already a dozen explosions had occurred.
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