Chương 118: Chapter 118
Most people believed Hojo, the Phoenix Troop Commander, would win. JiHan might have shown impressive performance so far, but he'd still only just reached Gold. Hojo, on the other hand, was a formidable mid-level boss for 'One Bridge', a map that was even used in Diamond League.
Most people usually let Bijang clash with him. As soon as JiHan decided to do it alone…
- Ah… Do you think Mr. Sung can win?
- How could he beat Hojo? Hahaha. I'm sure Bijang will help if he manages to survive for a bit.
- Yes. I saw that Bijang seemed to have a favorable opinion of him earlier. He won't let him die.
- He just needs to survive until Bijang comes to save him~ ^^7
- But I think that will be hard, hahaha.
The audience was naturally expecting Bijang to intervene in their battle, and JiHan thought the same.
'I've already been acknowledged.'
Originally, he intended to face Hojo to gain Bijang's recognition, but he somehow gained that recognition thanks to how well he absorbed the thunderbolt. He didn't have a need to fight Hojo anymore, but the giant lost his mind after he saw the phoenix and forced their showdown.
Before the fight started, JiHan thought, 'I should play along and team up against him when Bijang comes to help.'
There was no way the Gatekeeper would stay still and do nothing.
However, things ended up going completely differently.
"A… Agh…! This electricity… What the…?!" Hojo screamed as he quickly moved his sword to block the Phoenix Flag's lightning.
BZZT!
His block was successful, but the current flowing through his sword burned his arm. His skin melted in an instant as blood, flesh, and bone disintegrated.
"Why… Why are you so strong?!" he asked.
Thanks to his regenerative abilities, his arms and hands were quickly restored, but he couldn't understand what was happening. A giant's body shouldn't have been weak enough to take such damage from some residual current.
"I'm not sure," JiHan replied as he pointed his spear at the giant and shot another current of lightning at him.
Flash!
"Ugh…!"
Hojo busily tried to block, but JiHan's Thunderclap Lightning was only getting stronger.
'The Heavenly Lightning Technique feels so smooth now.'
The thunderbolt fusing with the Phoenix flag and his 'Lightning Seal' stat were showing great effect and allowing him to use the higher technique of Thunderclap Lightning as easily as he could use a normal technique.
It seemed that the exploration phase was over.
'Should I intensify things now?'
Hojo did his best, but he couldn't fully block the lightning and was hit again.
Fwoosh-!
A white flame rose from his burning flesh, which burned to ash and vanished shortly after. The giant's body broke apart and fell to the ground.
"I… Can't accept this…" Hojo mumbled.
Swoosh-
The giant regrew his limbs thanks to his regenerative abilities, but his fighting spirit was already half-gone. How could he continue to fight when a single hit was enough to send parts of his body flying?
"Are you an undead?" JiHan asked when he saw Hojo hesitantly approaching again.
"What… What nonsense are you spouting?!"
"Your weakness to lightning indicates that you're an undead."
Lightning was the bane of the undead, and since the fire from his Phoenix Flag was also an undead counter, his fused lightning might as well have been an ultimate weapon against such enemies.
'He doesn't look like an undead…'
Hojo, just like Bijang, looked like a giant, and he didn't emanate any of the typical undead's unique energy. His flesh and blood also returned to normal whenever he regenerated. Apart from being extremely weak to lightning, there was no evidence that he was an undead.
Perhaps that's why Hojo desperately tried to deny JiHan's theory.
"What nonsense is that?! Me, an undead?!"
"Well, we'll know once I kill you."
Nameless Divine Arts Heavenly Lightning Technique: Thunder God.
BZZT…!
JiHan's body slowly became transparent and crackled with white electricity as he synchronized his body with lightning itself. However, it looked slightly different than usual.
'There's no need to stick to the rules.'
The technique wasn't limited to lightning. He could also absorb the white flame of the Phoenix Flag as an effective counter against undead. Fire wrapped around his body and fused with the lightning.
"Ehem…" Hojo trembled slightly. He instinctively felt that the power was his natural enemy.
Whoosh! Whoosh-!
He tried to fight his fear and desperately swung his sword at JiHan. Though he'd been destroyed and restored a few times already, he was still strong, and his sword quickly reached JiHan's head.
"D-damn it!" Bijang, who was watching the battle from behind, tried to step in, but it was already too late. It seemed like JiHan's skull was about to be split in two by Hojo's sword at any moment.
Then…
"Ugh!"
Hojo's massive sword suddenly halted, unable to move any farther.
BZZT…!
"Ugh!" Hojo was unable to endure the currents flowing from JiHan's Thunder God form, and he only burned faster as he got closer.
"There's… No way…!"
The current of energy that was his greatest weakness flowed through his sword. His arm disintegrated and regenerated repeatedly, and he seemed to be on the verge of losing his weapon.
Then…
Rumble-!
A bolt of lightning shot over JiHan and struck the giant.
BZZT-!
Although Bijang's weapon was also a lightning-type weapon, his attacks couldn't pierce through Hojo's defenses as easily as JiHan's could. The attack simply dissipated against Hojo's armor without a trace.
"This is how it should be…!" Hojo shouted as if he felt it was unfair. His armor had blocked Bijang's attack, so why was he utterly defenseless against a mere human?
"It's fascinating, isn't it?" JiHan asked as the Phoenix Flag effortlessly pierced through the giant's heart. "Why am I the only one you're weak against?"
Hojo was unable to come up with an answer.
Fwoosh-!
Having been pierced through the heart, Hojo's entire body burned to ash in mere moments.
[You've cleared the special achievement 'Subjugate Hojo'.]
[You've earned 10,000 achievement points.]
[You've cleared the special achievement 'Subjugate Hojo Alone'.]
[You've earned 30,000 achievement points.]
Achievement notifications popped up as if to announce Hojo's demise, and the giant's sword and armor were all that was left of him on the cloud bridge.
"…" Bijang, who'd been rushing to assist, was at a loss for words.
"Hojo… died?" He couldn't understand what was going on. Bijang, who belonged to the same race of giants, knew how strong Hojo, the commander of the Phoenix Troop, was. He was one of the five strongest leaders of the Wind Empire.
Someone like that shouldn't have fallen so easily to JiHan.
- Why did Hojo die so quickly?
- Wasn't he supposed to be harder than the map's final boss?
- Yes. He deals a lot of damage and has insane regenerative abilities. That's why most people let Bijang handle him.
JiHan's viewers were also stunned. Although Hojo was a mid-level boss, his challenging pattern and insane regeneration made him even more difficult to beat than the final boss.
Most people let Bijang handle him so they could preserve energy for the final boss, but such a mighty enemy was easily defeated by JiHan's spear.
- Wow… Was Hojo really an undead? Does that mean he's weak to Divine Power?
- No, I don't think so. He's resistant to both Divine Power and elemental magic.
- Yes, he resisted Bijang's attack, after all.
JiHan's gameplay was usually incomprehensible, but the way he easily defeated Hojo was even more inconceivable than usual. What had he done to be the only one with such a perfect advantage?
"You… how did you do it?" Bijang asked.
"Well, if I had to guess… Hojo seemed vulnerable to the phoenix's flames. He couldn't handle the combined power of the Phoenix Flag and your thunderbolt."
"To think the commander of the Phoenix Troop would be vulnerable to a phoenix's power… How peculiar."
JiHan hadn't been aiming for the result. The flag had proven to be an unexpected variable.
Since the phoenix's fire, the Heavenly Lightning Technique, and the thunderbolt's energy were individually strong against the undead, it only made sense that combining them would provide great results. Even so, it wasn't normal for an opponent as strong as Hojo to die so easily.
"Secure the divine beast!" The Phoenix Troop said nothing about having lost their leader and instead focused solely on the phoenix in the sky. "Charge!"
Dum dum dum dum-!
The cavalry rushed forward with impressive synchronization from the other end of the cloud bridge.
"What can you do without Hojo?" Bijang snorted in amusement.
Tap, tap-
"You should rest a bit," he said to JiHan before charging toward the oncoming cavalry with his spear.
Had the game proceeded as usual, Bijang would have been drained from fighting Hojo, but since JiHan had defeated the mid-level boss himself, the Gatekeeper was still full of energy.
Paf! Paf-!
He decimated the troops with each swing of his Cloud Thunderbolt Spear. Though there were hundreds of them, they were at a disadvantage due to the narrowness of the bridge and Bijang's immense strength.
'He fights well.'
As Bijang said, their charge was nothing more than a futile attempt.
"Agh…!"
Soldiers of the Phoenix Troop were sent flying off the bridge with every sweep of the giant's spear. They should have given up on charging when they saw such a power difference, but…
"Secure the divine beast!" The soldiers kept charging and shouting about the divine beast.
'Have they gone mad?' JiHan wondered.
BANG! BANG-!
A few somehow managed to slip past Bijang and approach JiHan, but it was all in vain. They were hopelessly weak compared to Hojo, and the Phoenix Flag easily turned them to dust.
Tsss-!
'These guys also vanish like Hojo did…'
It was a bit ironic that the enemies bearing the name of the phoenix were the most vulnerable to the phoenix's flames. Although he didn't know why, he decided to think of them as experience points and happily massacred them when…
"W-wait a moment!" One of the charging soldiers urgently pleaded, seeming to have suddenly regained his senses. "I… I can't believe this… Please, spare me! I'll tell you everything!"
'Finally.' It was the event JiHan was expecting, where one of the soldiers regained their senses, which always happened right before the end of the 2nd wave and before the final boss battle.
The final boss's weakness would be revealed thanks to the soldier's confession, and using that information to defend the bridge and target the boss's weakness was what the final battle was centered on.
'This seems easier than I thought it'd be…'
JiHan waited for the soldier to speak.
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