Chapter 508

“Uh…?”

Jinhyuk’s pupils quaked.

It was only natural for him to be flustered.

His three teammates had suddenly charged at him, consumed by madness.

He had known Benetty’s ability would be a hard counter, but this was far worse than expected.

No—he’d thought at least one of them would resist.

But somehow, only those completely blinded by jealousy were charging at him.

Jinhyuk swallowed a bitter sigh.

No matter how strong he’d become, handling those three alone would be difficult.

Especially when they were that far gone in madness.

In that case…

‘I have to end this before they can reach me.’

Jinhyuk quickly pinpointed Coffindance’s location.

The only way out of this situation was to complete the contract with him.

And for that, he needed a distraction… or rather, teammates to buy him some time.

“Undine… T-Bone!”

Jinhyuk summoned the five great spirit beasts.

“Master, what’s go—kyaaah!”

The moment she appeared, Undine spun into the sky.

“Uwaaah!”

“R-Run!”

“What the hell is this disaster?!”

The rest of the spirit beasts also panicked the moment they emerged and were promptly obliterated.

“I’ll remember you…”

After a moment of silence for the fallen spirits turned into stars, Jinhyuk called out the next reinforcement: T-Bone.

An undead soldier clad in heavy armor assumed a battle stance.

“Clatter. Master! Now that I’m here, you don’t have to worry—guaaagh!”

Of course, it was only the entrance that was impressive.

T-Bone flew even farther than Undine, his limbs scattering in all directions.

“If you don’t want to die, get lost!”

There was no way they could withstand the murderous aura surging from Alice.

Jinhyuk had hoped to manage it using them, considering the mana cost.

But now, he had no choice but to summon stronger forces.

“Goguma! Fried!”

Jinhyuk called forth new reinforcements from his subspace.

“Mooogii!”

“Miyoo!”

The two ancient species responded to Jinhyuk’s call.

“Hold out as long as you can. I’ll stuff you with mana stones later.”

“Mogimogi?”

Goguma glanced between Alice and Jinhyuk.

He seemed unable to understand why two people who always got along were suddenly in a chase.

But there was no time to explain everything to Goguma.

Even if they had to use breath attacks, the key was to shake off those three leeches.

[Goguma activates Lv13 ‘Fear’!]

“Mooogiiii!”

A power only dragons could use.

[Fear], which instills awe and terror into all living beings, echoed out.

“Miyooo!”

Fried’s heat-fueled tornado also did its part in slowing the pursuit.

⁕ ⁕ ⁕

“Whew. This is seriously the worst.”

After shaking off the three troublesome lunatics, Jinhyuk could finally wrap up his match with Coffindance.

First, he needed to thaw out his frozen body.

[Unique Ability ‘Sanctuary of the Sun’ activates!]

As the Egyptian mythological power activated, warmth returned to the frozen land.

Kukukukuku!

The clash of opposing elemental forces created cracks in midair.

The shattered ice gave way to an oasis filled with palm trees.

Although nearly half of the oasis remained frozen due to Coffindance’s [Frozen Air], it was still—

[Movement speed debuff is partially lifted!]

—enough to neutralize the status effect.

‘Good.’

Feeling some freedom of movement return, Jinhyuk nodded in satisfaction.

But then—

“What… the hell?”

A cold killing intent was felt right behind him.

Kwaang!

He barely escaped before the trio could complete their encirclement.

“Don’t run away! Why’d you choose her over me? Explain yourself!”

Alice immediately pulled out her [Blood Spear].

It was hard to tell if she wanted an explanation or just to skewer him to death.

Given the dead look in her eyes, it was probably the latter.

“Don’t run from me, Kang Jinhyuk!”

Chun Yoosung also drew his sword and charged forward.

That leech was already dumb even without being affected by jealousy.

“I… I won’t give up this time.”

Whatever she meant by that, Teresa had clearly lost all reason too.

To think they’d break through even Goguma and Fried’s barrier—he couldn’t even begin to guess the depths of their obsession.

“Hmph. Seems your friends have quite a few complaints.”

“This is all thanks to that damn Original Sin of Envy you brought! Judging from the setup, it reeks of Nyarlathotep’s handiwork. Why would someone like you follow orders from that bastard?”

“Because it seemed the most efficient route. Also, watching your teammates become emotionally deprived because of you… was fun.”

“Still a jerk, I see.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Coffindance shrugged.

He spoke with the confidence of someone certain of victory.

Bzzt…!

Ice formed at Jinhyuk’s fingertips.

From [Glacial Sculpting], which had now reached level 20, an intense chill radiated.

“You’re really going to fight me with ice-type abilities?”

“Since you chose freeze tag, this is all I’ve got. Don’t be too disappointed—I’ve got a little trick prepared.”

“Hahaha! Coming from you, that’s exciting.”

Coffindance laughed with genuine amusement.

In over ten years of watching Jinhyuk, not once had he been disappointed.

Always thinking of wild methods, always defying expectations—that was the drama only an old veteran like Jinhyuk could deliver.

Fwoosh!

Jinhyuk’s figure vanished again.

Front, back, and sides.

Moving at high speed while seeking an opening, he looked like a highly trained assassin.

‘Who would think he’s a ranged damage dealer after watching that?’

Coffindance’s eyes tracked Jinhyuk’s movement.

Not with reflexes, but with prediction built on years of watching every single action he’d taken.

‘Still, I better not get careless.’

Even with the upper hand, there was no reason to leave an opening.

[Frozen Air – ‘Snow Coffin’ activates!]

Snowflakes gathered and formed a rectangular coffin.

Though thin and transparent enough to see through, the coffin was no joke.

Its ability to disperse external impact placed it among the highest-tier defensive skills.

Jinhyuk gathered chilling energy onto the ends of his dual daggers.

[‘Glacial Sculpting’, ‘Permafrost’ activates!]

Blades so white they seemed to freeze the very air began to flood the surroundings in pure whiteness.

But—

“No matter what kind of ice sculpting you do, you won’t break through this wall.”

Coffindance didn’t bat an eye, even with it right in front of him.

And just then—

The two blades struck the ice wall Coffindance had formed.

Crack-crack-crack!

As cold met cold, an even more intense chill exploded outward.

“I told you—it’s useless.”

Coffindance clicked his tongue.

As expected, the blades couldn’t even scratch the surface.

However—

“Hm?”

Something felt off.

It didn’t take long for that sense of discomfort to register.

No matter how inferior Jinhyuk’s power might be compared to [Frozen Air], to leave no mark at all? That didn’t add up.

At the very least, there should’ve been some trace left behind…

“…Don’t tell me?”

A strange sound escaped Coffindance’s lips.

The [Permafrost] formed via Glacial Sculpting was actually reinforcing the walls of the Snow Coffin instead.

“What are you doing?”

“If Glacial Sculpting can’t break through it, I figured I might as well buy a little time.”

He had deliberately layered more frost over a structure already meant to be sturdy for defense.

No matter how skilled Coffindance was with ice abilities, picking apart the mixed chill wouldn’t be easy.

This gave Jinhyuk a few precious seconds.

[Unique Ability ‘Mandala’ activates!]

A golden Chinese character appeared beneath Coffindance’s feet.

A strange energy permeated the air, emitting a radiant light.

“Tying down my feet like this… I’ll admit it’s clever. But are you saying you bought time just to use that?”

Coffindance didn’t bother hiding his disappointment.

He already knew.

That something like Mandala couldn’t so much as scratch [Frozen Air], even with a hundred years.

But regardless of his mocking tone, Jinhyuk activated yet another ability.

[Unique Ability ‘Eldritch Force’ activates!]

Four arms emerged behind Jinhyuk’s back.

If one wasn’t enough, use two.

If two weren’t enough, then stack the strength of four.

“External defense is meaningless.”

Dark crimson energy swirled at the fingertips of the four arms.

[Heavenly Demon Divine Art]

Even the best shields at dispersing external force—

Would be vulnerable to an attack that directly pierced through the inner layer.

[‘Crown of Tyranny equipped.]

A crown appeared above his head, amplifying all his stats.

Mana and mana swirled together into a storm, and the storm soon became a gale.

One step.

Jinhyuk took a single step forward.

At the same time, the four arms extended outward.

[Heavenly Soul Infiltration Strike]

KWAHHHH!

The outer wall of ice shattered, and a single wave of energy pierced through the inside.

This was a secret martial art of the Heavenly Demon—something Jinhyuk had never once shown to any past viewer.

⁕ ⁕ ⁕

Crack…

From the cracks that formed on the Snow Coffin’s surface, chunks of ice began to fall.

“Looks like I won.”

Jinhyuk gave himself a congratulatory clap as he looked at Coffindance emerging from the ice.

The only condition for victory in freeze tag was [physical contact].

According to that rule, Coffindance’s body now bore the clear marks of four handprints.

“To think you’d even mastered the advanced form of the Infiltration Strike… Using four arms to execute it must’ve been incredibly difficult.”

Coffindance muttered in disbelief.

He hadn’t even considered the possibility that he’d lose.

“I haven’t been slacking off all this time, you know. Anyway, I won, so keep your promise. If nothing else, you’ve never skipped out after a bet, right?”

As Jinhyuk finished his sentence—

“Promise? What bullshit is that! Don’t tell me you actually plan to end the fight like this?!”

A new voice cut in.

It was Benetty—the Original Sin of Envy.

“Stay out of this.”

“Stay out? This isn’t the contract we made. You were supposed to win over that Kang Jinhyuk guy and hand me the rest! If you tell ‘him’ what happened, can you even deal with the consequences?”

“Shut it. Don’t ruin my good mood.”

Coffindance raised his hand toward Benetty.

Benetty’s mouth froze shut.

“Mmph… mmmph!”

“Fine. A promise is a promise. I’ll retreat quietly this time. I’ll get an earful for sure, but hey—I had fun.”

Coffindance shrugged.

[Gate is activating.]

“Let’s continue this conversation next time. And remember—next time, I won’t let you off so easy.”

“Wait.”

Just as Coffindance was about to step through the gate, Jinhyuk stopped him.

“That guy she mentioned—‘him.’ He’s the same one Sleeper Owl talked about, right? The one who didn’t exist before?”

The core variable at the heart of the Tower of Trials becoming reality.

Jinhyuk had to uncover the identity of the one hidden behind the veil.