Record of a Thousand Lives

Kang Yoon-Soo ran toward the other side to hunt down the Mana Golem while Shaneth was keeping the Frost Demon occupied. He was worried about Shaneth, but they had no other choice if they wished to hunt both of the powerful monsters at once.

‘I’ll take care of the Mana Golem quickly and go help Shaneth out,’ he thought.

“I, move,” the Mana Golem said, starting to rock its body as if it were about to disregard the six hundred undead clinging on to it and immediately stand up.

Kang Yoon-Soo raised his right hand and muttered, “Corpse Explosion.”

A large Undead Ahinkul exploded, and the explosion was much stronger than when he used common undead for the skill. It was because the Ahinkuls stored flammable oils in their bodies.

“I, feel pain,” the Mana Golem said as some fragments fell off its body because of the explosion. Such mana stone fragments were rare materials used by Alchemists and Enchanters.

Kang Yoon-Soo grasped the mana stone fragments in his hands and crushed them into powder. The powder soon turned into blue mist, and his body absorbed it. He thought, ‘Mana stones can quickly replenish mana like potions.’

The current level of the skill ‘Corpse Explosion’ was Level 3, and it consumed 120 mana every time it was cast, while Kang Yoon-Soo’s maximum mana was 1,170. He would normally only be able to use Corpse Explosion ten times, but thanks to the Magic Amplifying Bracelet, the Ring of Life Suppression, and the mana stone fragment he had just used, his mana regenerated at a frightening speed.

He unsparingly used the skill. “Corpse Explosion. Corpse Explosion. Corpse Explosion.”

Booom! Boom! Boo-booom! Boooooom!

The explosions that covered the Mana Golem were so intense that they shook the whole ruin. The Mana Golem’s body was severely damaged, tearing a hole through a section of its chest. The hole exposed a large blue internal organ—the golem’s mana heart. A golem’s mana heart, also known as a core, was what gave it free will and the power to move around.

“I, feel my body is light,” the Mana Golem said, suddenly moving with great agility. Its sudden increase in speed was because it had lost significant portions of the heavy, burdensome stone guarding its mana heart.

Kang Yoon-Soo stopped using ‘Corpse Explosion’ and gave another command. “Focus your attacks on the Mana Golem’s heart.”

The Undead Ahinkuls crawled up the arms of the Mana Golem, attacking its mana heart at Kang Yoon-Soo’s command.

“Damn it! Let’s die today!” Henrick shouted, taking out wooden archer dolls and wooden thief dolls. He commanded the dolls through his mana threads to rain arrows and daggers down toward the golem’s mana heart.

“I, am angry,” the Mana Golem said, rampaging because of the damage it had received.

Boom! Boom!

The Mana Golem punched the ground numerous times. Every punch that hit the ground shook the entire room, and numerous undead fell to the ground like flies whenever it swung its arms in a rampage.

Kang Yoon-Soo approached Iris and suddenly hugged her from behind. Iris turned to look at him with eyes filled with curiosity.

“I heard this act is done by lovers. Kang Yoon-Soo, do you love me?” Iris asked.

“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he lifted Iris up, and he then called for White.

White immediately dashed toward Kang Yoon-Soo at his call, and he and Iris both mounted the beast. White ran at a frightening speed toward the rampaging Mana Golem, and Kang Yoon-Soo whispered in Iris’ ears while still hugging her, “Bon appetit.”

“What do you mean?” Iris asked with an innocent expression.

The Mana Golem’s fist landed where they had been moments ago.

Boom!

The ground broke apart into ice fragments because of the tremendous impact of the Mana Golem’s fist, scattering all over the place.

Kang Yoon-Soo stood up while atop White, throwing Iris toward the Mana Golem. As Iris flew toward the Mana Golem, she thought seriously, ‘Flying through the air feels so good.’

Bam!

Kang Yoon-Soo had thrown Iris so accurately that she landed directly inside the now-open area on the golem’s chest, where its mana heart was exposed. Iris stared at the mana heart, which was giving off a blue glow. She then asked the golem, “Can I eat this?”

“No, never!” the Mana Golem shouted, slamming its large hand into its chest to chase the intruder away.

However, Iris ducked and avoided the golem’s attempts. She said as if she were facing a severe dilemma, “Kang Yoon-Soo, this child is telling me it does not want me to eat its heart.”

“Don’t listen to bad kids,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“I see,” Iris said. She bit down on the Mana Golem’s heart as soon as Kang Yoon-Soo finished speaking, like an obedient child following the orders of a parent.

The Mana Golem thrashed around and attempted to drag the intruder out of its core, but all of its attempts to remove the intruder were futile. It did not take long for Iris to devour the golem’s mana heart with her innate ‘Predator’ skill.

“I, have completed my calling!” the Mana Golem shouted, before exploding from the removal of its heart.

Kaboom!

[You have defeated the Mana Golem (Boss, Level 224).]

[Your level has increased by 7.]

The giant golem turned into a pile of rock as its fragments scattered all over the place. Iris, who was in the epicenter of the explosion, was thrown back and seemed about to fall dangerously to the ground. However, Henrick, who was near the area she had been about to land in, caught her just in time.

“Umph! Is it because you eat too many weird things? Why are you so heavy?!” Henrick complained.

“Your words just now made me feel bad for some reason. Can I eat your heart, Henrick?” Iris asked with an innocent look on her face.

“Do you want to die?” Henrick responded.

Kang Yoon-Soo immediately rushed toward the Frost Demon and Shaneth while Henrick and Iris were busy bickering. His steps were much more hurried than usual. He thought, ‘It took more time than I thought it would.’

The Frost Demon was not a monster that could be faced alone for a long period of time—at least in the current situation. There was no guarantee that Shaneth would be able to hold on even if the other clan members joined the battle and helped her out.

***

The Frost Demon took in a deep breath, before letting out a deafening shout that rang throughout the room and even shook the walls. “Absolute Zero!”

A blue stream of magic spread around the Frost Demon. The temperature suddenly dropped sharply; even the air around the demon started to freeze, and the Salamander’s flames that enveloped the weapons of the clan members slowly started to die.

Sally, who had been providing the flames to the clan members from behind their lines, suddenly turned pale and shivered. She stuttered, “I-It’s too… c-cold…! I-It hurts… P-papa… Mam-a…!”

Her body started to slowly fade before she completely disappeared—she had been forcefully returned to the summon dimension. The Frost Demon’s magic that had dragged the temperature down to freezing levels by force had caused significant damage to the Salamander.

“M-my body!”

“My feet are stuck to the ground!”

The clan members could not move their legs and were frozen on the spot. Of course, the flames that surrounded Shaneth had long since disappeared.

“Kyaaah!”

A desperate scene greeted Kang Yoon-Soo when he reached the place where Shaneth and the Frost Demon had been fighting. The Frost Demon held Shaneth by the hair, while Shaneth, who looked pale and haggard, tried to resist the demon.

“Be my flesh and blood,” the Frost Demon began, preparing to stab Shaneth in her stomach with its claw. Suddenly, however, a bolt of lightning struck the demon in the back of its head.

Bzzzt!

The lightning numbed the back of the demon’s head, but it was not able to inflict any significant damage. The Frost Demon turned around before throwing Shaneth to the side angrily, looking for the perpetrator who had dared to hit it. Its eyes opened in surprise as it saw the mana fragments that covered Kang Yoon-Soo.

“T-those are… fragments of the Mana Golem!” the Frost Demon exclaimed in surprise.

“I killed it,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, slowly walking toward Shaneth as she lay collapsed on the ground and staring at her bloodied abdomen. Thankfully, the wound was not that deep, and Kang Yoon-Soo took out a vial of healing potion and applied it to her.

“K-kang Yoon-Soo…?” Shaneth moaned weakly.

“It’s alright,” Kang Yoon-Soo reassured her before drawing his sword and walking toward the Frost Demon. He said in a bitterly cold voice, “You will die by my hands.”

“Ha! What a joke!” The Frost Demon snickered, charging toward Kang Yoon-Soo.

Kang Yoon-Soo lowered his stance and avoided the Frost Demon’s charge, immediately counterattacking by stabbing his sword into the demon’s chest and using his skill. “Abyssal Sword.”

He focused on the demon’s weak spots and unleashed a barrage of strikes against them, and simultaneously stabbed his staff into the ground. “Release Lightning.”

Bzzzzzzt!

A ferocious electrical current crawled across the ground, shattering the ice that was tying the clan members down.

Durman rubbed his hands that had gone numb because of the current and complained, “Aigoo! That stung!”

“Everyone! Charge at the Frost Demon!” a clan member shouted, and the Martial Blood Clan’s attack resumed. They once again coated their weapons in holy water and reentered their formation to keep the Frost Demon at bay. Meanwhile, Henrick, Iris, and even the undead joined the Frost Demon raid.

“Thread Tying!” Henrick’s mana thread shot out toward the Frost Demon, binding its body.

“Insolent fools!” the Frost Demon roared. It started dragging Henrick around in its attempts to resist being bound by the mana thread.

Henrick was taken aback by the immense power of the Frost Demon, but Iris tightly grabbed his shoulder and started to pull him back. “O-ouch!” Henrick cried out in pain.

Iris and the Frost Demon were now playing tug-of-war with Henrick in the middle, but the doppelganger was not giving an inch to the demon. In fact, Iris even had the luxury of smiling at Kang Yoon-Soo.

“The golem’s heart tasted good,” Iris said with a satisfied look on her face. She had used her innate ability, ‘Predator’, to absorb the immense strength of the Mana Golem.

“O-ouch! You stupid punk! My arms are going to tear off!” Henrick cursed and cried out, and tears started welling up in his eyes.

Kang Yoon-Soo dashed toward the bound-up Frost Demon before pointing his staff at it and calling out, “Release Lightning.”

The powerful bolt of lightning struck the Frost Demon dead center in its chest. The Frost Demon writhed in agony, and the pain it felt was clearly visible on its face.

“You! You insolent…!” the Frost Demon cried out, attempting to bite Kang Yoon-Soo’s left arm. However, Kang Yoon-Soo was a step faster, withdrawing his arm just before the demon was able to sink its fangs in. Still, the demon managed to bite the tip of the Staff of Lightning.

It was an unexpected turn of events, but Kang Yoon-Soo calmly muttered, “Release Lightning.”

The lightning rushed into the Frost Demon, doing massive damage to its insides. However, after using its final charge, the staff shattered under the demon’s fangs.

Cr-rack!

“Die!” the Frost Demon screamed, biting off a chunk of Kang Yoon-Soo’s arm.

The demon tore off Kang Yoon-Soo’s flesh and blood started to flow down his arm, but Kang Yoon-Soo was unfazed, immediately leaping back and taking the Slaughterer’s Bloodsword out of his backpack. He charged toward the Frost Demon, wielding Ravian’s Longsword and the Slaughterer’s Bloodsword in each hand.

The two swords stabbed down into the Frost Demon’s chest, where the Sword of the Holy Cross was embedded.

“G-gwuaaak!” the Frost Demon screamed as its chest was ripped apart. Finally, the demon fell to the ground and breathed its last.

The entire party was overjoyed, shouting in triumph and relishing their victory over the mighty demon.

“We won!”

“We’re the first on the continent to raid a demon!”

It was at that moment, when the group was drunk on their victory, that the cold, lifeless corpse of the demon started to squirm violently. The dark, black figure of a corrupted soul flowed out of it. The soul laughed arrogantly and said,

[Tsk tsk… Did you think it would be that easy to win against me? I apologize if I got your hopes up.]

A chilling wind incomparable to the cold the group had experienced until now blew around the corrupted soul.

[The real fight starts now!]

The words spoken by the demonic spirit made the group tense up. The vicious demon that hungered for human flesh and blood had turned into a spirit after dying, continuing to thirst for life. They all despaired at the sight unfolding before their eyes.

It was impossible to deal any damage to spirit-type monsters with their current weapons. It would be a different case if they had holy magic or black magic, but they had reached the point of exhausting their supply of holy water. There was no way for them to face the demonic spirit.

The spirit arrogantly smirked as if to show that the end was near for them before shouting proudly,

[This is immortality! I will still fight after death, and I will forever keep the great treasures of Pandemonium!]

Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly walked up to the demonic spirit and said in a low voice, “I won’t fight you anymore.”

[Ha! Have you finally decided to obediently offer up your flesh and blood to me?]

Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and answered, “No.” He extended his right hand toward the demonic spirit, and the Ring of Life Suppression on his finger glowed as he muttered, “Soul Extraction.”

[Gwuaaaaak!]

The demonic spirit was instantly sucked into the ring.

[You have defeated the Frost Demon (Boss, Level 261).]

[Your level has increased by 27.]

The party stared at Kang Yoon-Soo in disbelief.

The man who had just ended the battle in the strangest fashion stared back at them before asking, “What are you looking at?”