Max Level Newbie
chapter-86

Escape (2)

The approaching enemies were still quite far away, so Vulcan could not confirm exactly. However, it appeared that they were at least on par with the mages earlier.

They were far below Vulcan’s height. However, 25 was a whole different playing field in comparison to fighting just five.

If they poured out magic attacks indiscriminately, it was going to be a tough fight even if Vulcan fully utilized the Land-Fold.

Also, there was one other thing that was making Vulcan concerned.

Vulcan could see a man who was wearing gloves with red magic stones.

The man had protruding cheekbones and wide mouth. The teeth were showing a lot. His face was very defined and made Vulcan think of a dinosaur.

Extraordinary existence could be felt from his strong impression.

‘He is not at the level of Belgeram, but… He is the strongest of all humans I have seen so far.’

The man was far superior in comparison to the rest of the mages.

Vulcan thought that the battle will be extremely tough if the opponents fought under his command.

‘I probably… will be at a disadvantage.’

Vulcan was picturing his own defeat even with drinking potions like water.

Of course, that was excluding the option of Enlightened God Summon.

Vulcan currently had collected enough Vitality Marbles to summon the Greatest Battle God. With the summoning, he was sure he could take care of this level of threat.

‘Still, the whole situation is not going to conclude from ending just these bastards.’

If the entire forces of the Bae Su Jin was here, Vulcan would have summoned Yur Dong-bin and just think of the summon as exploding a nuclear bomb. However, now was not the time.

Against the number of the enemies currently approaching, Vulcan felt that it would be a serious waste of Vitality Marbles to summon the Greatest Battle God.

Having thought this far, Vulcan used the Thunder God’s Might to the maximum and used the Beast Transformation.

Uuuududududuk.

The overall body’s bone structure became a little bigger. His muscles swelled up. The joints in the lower body turned into a structure that was more suitable for running.

On top of this, Vulcan even used Spirit Form.

Pazuzuzuzuzuk.

There was a golden feline predator who was exuding sparks from the entire body.

Vulcan became what looked like a god beast only seen in legends. Vulcan took off in unbelievable speed.

Suuuuwawaaaaaaak.

He was faster than an arrow released from a bow that was pulled to the breaking point by the power of a Demi-god.

“Hurrr… Hup!”

Literally, in a blink of an eye, Vulcan was about to break through the formation that surrounded him. The mage who was standing closest to Vulcan gasped for air.

The mage reactively used the magic he was most used to and tried to stop Vulcan. However, it was utterly lacking in power.

Vulcan used Lightning Dragon Steps and dodged the magic attacks almost without slowing down at all. Vulcan ran to the distance.

“Stop him!”

Along with Hellmout’s shouting, a flashy banquet of magic spells started.

Their individual power would have made Vulcan snort and laugh. However, there were 21 mages.

There were several thousand shots of highest level magic attacks coming at Vulcan. Passing through them, Vulcan felt like he was trapped inside a layer of fire.

Despite that, Vulcan was moving all over the places in incredible speed and running away. The mages were absolutely impressed.

Hellmout, one of bosses in Bae Su Jin, was one of them. He was genuinely impressed by Vulcan’s god-like moves. If it was not for the fact that he was here to hunt Vulcan, and Vulcan was the prey, the situation was warranting applause.

‘However, this is no time to indulge in appreciations.’

Hellmout released all of the mana that he had been gathering since a while ago and summoned gigantic sand wall.

Kurururururru.

The wall surged at an instant. It was incredibly tall and thick.

It was so huge that Vulcan could not jump over it even with the Land-Fold technique. Vulcan clicked his tongue.

Also, the wall had incredible range. Vulcan felt he would be trapped in the mages’ formation if he tried to go around the wall.

‘Damn it.’

Vulcan cursed inside. He disengaged the Spirit Form and raised his front paws.

There were golden energies lingering on sharp claws protruding from the paws.

The Thunder God Blade technique was demonstrated in Beast Transformation state and scratched the wall.

Kwuagagagagagak.

The wall looked sturdy like the Great Wall of China. However, it was sliced like tofu.

Having created a breakthrough route, Vulcan sensed success and pierced into the gap.

However, that’s as far as he went.

“Damn it….”

Before he realized, yet another wall was summoned.

It looked like there was going to be another wall after this if Vulcan broke through this one.

Vulcan let go of his thoughts of escaping. He turned to look behind.

Vulcan could see 21 mages who finally caught up to where he was.

[Pei, Human Mage]

[745Lv]

[Lati, Human Mage]

[751Lv]

…

[Hellmout, Enhanced Human Mage]

[829Lv]

‘As I thought, that bastard must be their leader.’

With piercing gaze, Vulcan looked over Hellmout.

He figured the earth magic that generated the walls must be from Hellmout.

Hellmout was going to be the biggest problem in the battle to come.

Vulcan disengaged the Beast Transformation and drew his sword. Vulcan said,

“Why are you hunting me?”

His voice was amplified through magic.

Having heard the voice, all mages turned their heads toward Hellmout.

It was because nobody was going to speak on behalf of Hellmout, who was their leader.

However, instead of responding right away, Hellmout just steadily glared at Vulcan.

In his eyes, there was a sense of surprise that could not be hidden.

‘As I thought. Baeron was not exaggerating.’

The incredible speed that Vulcan demonstrated earlier…

Also, the destructive power that cut through the ‘God’s Barrier,’ the wall that he summoned after taking time, in a single blow…

Vulcan’s strength was beyond comparison from what he was 25 years ago.

Hellmout was certain that Vulcan was well above himself. Also, Vulcan could even go up against their Commander.

‘No. I think the Commander would be pushed back a little.’

When he got rid of prejudice and assessed objectively, Hellmout wanted to raise Vulcan’s arm as the victor.

Vulcan really was incredible.

Every organ and down to the individual cells, Hellmout wanted to cut open Vulcan and study them with uttermost attention.

“Hey. Are you deaf? Why are you chasing after me! I don’t even know your faces!”

Vulcan’s voice echoed through the area once again.

Hellmout responded this time. It was when he was about to open his mouth to respond.

Kwang!

Pazuzuzuzzuk.

Vulcan’s body was shot toward Hellmout like a rocket.

Vulcan was originally at quite a distance. Despite this, the gap between them was closed in an instant. The mages panicked and shot magic attacks.

However, they could not hide the feeling that they were lacking in ways to respond against Vulcan’s speed, which was going far past their expectations.

Shuuuuuushuut.

Vulcan even used the Land-Fold and approached within the striking distance to Hellmout. Vulcan thrusted his blade toward Hellmout’s mid area.

The Thunder God Blade’s length had grown well beyond 100 meters. Instead of calling it a blade, it looked more like a spear.

Vulcan’s attack was like the fury from a god, enough to pierce through everything!

Vulcan’s attack was tearing apart the land and charging toward Hellmout’s chest.

Kugwaaaaaak!

“Kuuuhuk!”

However, the attack ended up a failure.

A black shield suddenly appeared.

There was what appeared to be a giant heater shield. Vulcan’s attack stopped, unable to pierce through the barrier. Vulcan had the look of disbelief on his face.

‘Impossible… I used all of my power in that attack!’

Vulcan’s current level was 820.

He was definitely below Hellmout, who was at 829.

However, ever since Vulcan became a Demi-god, he came into possession of power that was far stronger than that of a human being. Also, with High Quality Breath from the Blue Dragon, his stats were raised up like popcorns by 30 levels.

Vulcan was able to fight even 850 level Balroc with ease. To assess Vulcan’s power from human’s perspective, Vulcan was a practitioner with 880 level abilities.

The attack was accumulation of the swordsmanship and magic that Vulcan honed to the extreme and even the Land-Fold technique, and the ambush attack was by Vulcan who possessed such incredible abilities. Despite this, he couldn’t penetrate the defense magic in front of him.

It was a huge shock to Vulcan.

“Hut!”

Kuwaaaaaang!

Vulcan dodged a gigantic hammer that appeared out of thin air. He then greatly widened the distance and prepared himself for the oncoming attack that would follow.

Fortunately, there was no more attacks. Vulcan slowly calmed his breathing and looked at Hellmout and the mages behind the shield.

As if he was not able to comprehend the picture, Vulcan cringed.

The nine mages who were around Hellmout were all lying on the ground, dried up completely like mummies.

‘This is… just…’

Vulcan knew that the mages didn’t fall from his attack.

Vulcan never learned curse type magic of such kind. Also, even if he did learn one, making such high-level mages incapacitated so quickly with it was impossible.

Vulcan had panicked look on his face as he watched what happened. He suddenly thought of something and turned his gaze toward Hellmout.

He then used the SYSTEM to scan Hellmout’s abilities.

[Hellmout, Enhanced Human Mage]

[829Lv(+90)]

“… This is insane.”

“Insane? Huu… You have foul mouth.”

Hellmout disengaged the shield and returned Vulcan’s mutter.

His face appeared to be in frenzy as if he just got a shot of steroid.

His body was swelled up. He looked like a battler instead of a mage, and humongous amount of mana could be felt from his body.

It was an incredible boost with effect that even the High-Quality Breath from the Blue Dragon could not be compared.

‘He scarified those people’s lives to gather this power. No, were they not people to begin with?’

Vulcan had no way of knowing, and this was not important either.

The really important thing was what kind of incredible power that Hellmout, now nearly at level 900, was going to demonstrate from this point.

“You definitely have incredible skills. 25 years ago, it looked like you were far below me. Just how did you become strong like that? Did you run into a good fortune?”

“…”

Vulcan did not answer. He would not have believed it anyway if Vulcan explained that this was the result of training. Also, to start with, Vulcan didn’t want to satisfy the curiosity of some low-life who treated people’s life like bugs.

Instead, Vulcan fiddled with the object on his waist.

‘Perhaps… I might have to use this.’

Vulcan was deep in thought about what to do and ignoring Hellmout’s question. Hellmout crumpled his face as if he was displeased. Slightly excited, Hellmout continued.

“Well, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. Let’s talk slowly under the laboratory’s light. Huuuuaaap!”

He extended his arms to left and right and operated mana.

Incredible amount of mana, the kind that was hard to believe to be coming from just one human being, was pouring out like ocean wave. Vulcan felt the chill surrounding his body. He also raised mana and resisted Hellmout’s intensity.

‘Just what kind of magic…’

Anxious, Vulcan quickly cast Destructive Core and dropped it toward Hellmout.

It was a muli-elemental magic with enough power to destroy a country.

However, it was stopped by the gigantic shield that appeared again.

Kuwwwaaaaang!

Paasususususu.

The Destructive Core was successful in crushing the Earth Shield. However, Vulcan wasn’t able to deal even a nail scratch on Hellmout.

Vulcan decided that he might as well eliminate the remaining subordinates instead. Wielding the Strengthened Heavenly Lightning Blade, Vulcan charged toward the other mages.

“No!”

“Stop him!”

The mood felt like a one vs. one kind of battle was about to take place, but actually, the situation was where many were harassing just one.

Vulcan didn’t know what kind of magic Hellmout was using. However, since Vulcan’s attacks were not going to work against Helmout anyway, reducing the number of small fries at least was only logical.

Using the Land-Fold, Vulcan approached the mage who was standing furthest from Hellmout and swung his blade with all of his might.

“Kuuuuurrrrk!”

It seemed Hellmout didn’t have the power to take care of his subordinate at such distance. This time, even Hellmout didn’t block Vulcan’s attack. The mage who was cut on his waist coughed off a load of blood and died.

Vulcan didn’t even glance at the mage who just died. Instead, Vulcan moved toward the next target. The mage who was facing Vulcan charging straight at him was crumping his face like a toilet paper.

“Absolute defense!”

He activated a barrier. He even shouted the activation spell.

Watching the spherical barrier exuding blue light, Vulcan smirked.

That bastard’s level was 744.

There was no way that someone of that level was going to stop the Thunder God Blade.

“If you are confident, then try stopping this!”

Kuwwaaaaaaang!

Uuujujuk.

Tsuuwwwaaaaaaak.

Along with exhilarating shouting, Vulcan’s Thunder God Blade fell vertically at the barrier and mercilessly tore it apart before slicing through the mage’s body.

‘Excluding Hellmout, are there eight left? Huuu…. If Hellmout was not here, I could have handled this fight.’

Like earlier, Vulcan promptly moved toward the next target.

However, the battle didn’t flow so easily for him as it had earlier.

It definitely was fearsome and terrifying to watch Vulcan slaughtering mages all over the place while shooting out fierce lightning from all of his body.

However, it was also a well-established fact that the members of the Bae Su Jin were also superb mages.

They have panicked for a moment, but once they admitted to the difference in skills between themselves and Vulcan, the mages focused on holding out.

When Vulcan tried to kill just one mage, the other mages quickly supported the target with defensive magic and other attack magic to keep Vulcan in check. Even Vulcan was having difficulty cutting them down quickly like straws.

“Kuuuuuuuhuuurrrrk!”

After investing a very long time, Vulcan managed to kill just one more mage.

Vulcan calmed his breathing and drank a bottle of potion. However, he felt the sky was suddenly being covered in dark shadow. Vulcan quickly used Land-Fold.

Shooooook.

Kuwaaaaang!

A sword of incredible size collided with the ground. Lava and dust shot up as if there was an explosion.

Its physical power was surpassing that of a natural disaster.

Vulcan gulped as he watched the aftermath of that violent attack. He turned his head and looked at Hellmout.

Afterwards, Vulcan shook his head left and right.

A humongous sword…

A humongous shield…

A humongous solider shaped from mud, wielding them on each hand…

Perhaps because it had enormous quantity of soil and stones highly compressed to the extreme, the concentration and weight of the being looked incredible.

Every time it took a step, the solid ground of the Act 2 sunk deep. It was that heavy.

This gigantic summon construct’s mouth opened, and Hellmout’s voice, now amplified by several ten folds, came out of it.

“It’s been a while since I used the God’s Keeper.”

“…”

“Some like you should know well that resistance is meaningless. Surrender quietly. I’ll at least spare your life.”

‘Bullcrap!’

Vulcan already knew what Bae Su Jin was after. Vulcan didn’t have anything he could say besides foul words.

Vulcan spat and brought his left hand toward his left waist.

‘Now, my strength alone is definitely not enough!’

Even without fighting it, Vulcan could tell.

That magic was result of having sucked the life out of nine people. Vulcan could not handle it with the power that he had.

Perhaps Vulcan could get a praise by someone, something in lines of ‘you fought well.’ However, such words were meaningless in a battle with lives at stakes. Such words were useful only in sports.

Vulcan acknowledged it completely on the fact that he could not handle this by himself.

However, Vulcan had a move left.

It was a move that could turn this desperate situation instantly.

He could even call it a tactical nuke. Those bastards had no idea that Vulcan possessed such an incredible weapon.

Vulcan quickly injected the Beast Bird Kina Kina with mana and opened the inventory.

Kuwarurururururu.

Watching Kina Kina sucking in several tens of thousands of Vitality Marbles at an instant, Vulcan shouted loudly,

“Enlightened God Summon!”