Chapter 353: Difference in Class

Ureureureureung―!

High above Manhattan, New York, where darkness had fallen.

A massive rift tore open, and the divine dragon Gleipnir, forged from the bones of an ancient dragon of antiquity and the bloodline of the abyss lord, descended, revealing its overwhelming majesty.

From atop the back of the divine dragon that had flown in breaking the speed of sound, Kim Minwoo looked down and gestured with his chin.

“Everyone, go loosen up.”

Paaaaat―!

The guild members dropped from the divine dragon's back as if shot toward the ground.

Manhattan 5th Avenue.

It was the moment the USA's 1st rank Guild Leader Thompson and Archmage Sophia were being pushed back and turning into a bloody mess by the thick veil of shadow and the pouring volume of spider demonic beasts.

“Kuhahaha! Bro! There are a f*cking lot of bugs here!”

Above them, Namgung Min, holding twin daggers, plummeted like a cannonball.

Peoeok―!

Simultaneous with landing, the scythe-like front leg of a giant spider demonic beast aiming for a blind spot pounced on Namgung Min's back.

A perfect surprise attack with no room to dodge.

It was the moment Thompson, appalled, was about to shout.

“Where did this bug bastard come from.”

Along with a chilling sneer, Namgung Min's figure pierced by the spider's front leg scattered smoothly like smoke.

It was an afterimage.

“……What?”

Thompson's pupils trembled.

Even with his SS-rank eyes, he couldn't capture the trajectory. It clearly looked like his back had been pierced, but…….

‘He slipped away in that instant and left an afterimage?’

His gaze hurriedly scoured upward.

Above the spider demonic beast's head.

In the hand of Namgung Min, who had mounted it before anyone knew it, the SSS-rank demonic sword Cardis harboring a pitch-black light danced.

Seogeok―!

Kwaaang!

Just a single clash.

By a lightning-fast slash that couldn't even be seen, the spider demonic beast's hard skull all the way to its tail was perfectly split in half as if measured with a ruler, spilling out bloody water.

“I-In a single strike……!”

When Thompson's jaw dropped.

From the shadow beneath Namgung Min's feet, pitch-black darkness surged up and someone popped out.

It was Lee Seoyoon.

“Hey, don't steal my toy.”

“You came late, Noona.”

Lee Seoyoon's body split into three shadow clones. As the main body and the clones cut through the empty air simultaneously, the eight legs of the spider demonic beasts swarming from all directions were entirely dismantled at an invisible speed.

The spot swept through by the two assassin duo who were crazy about butchering something literally turned into a bloody blender in just 1 second.

“Please move aside, Guild Leader Thompson. You'll get hurt.”

Next, Park Siwoo, who had landed on the ground, drew the Holy Sword Arpesia.

An SSS-rank swordsman who had received the Sword Immortal's teachings, caught glimpses of the fragments of the Mind Sword, and even realized the secret of compression.

Seuuuk―.

The white light condensed on Arpesia's blade bloomed thinly like a thread.

Every time Park Siwoo took a step, the air itself was split along the trajectory of his sword.

Seogeok―!

Kwaaaaang!

Three spider demonic beasts the size of buildings couldn't even scream, let alone resist.

Just a single flash.

Following the spot pierced by a single streak of sword light, the massive bodies were cleanly split in half and fell to both sides.

Kugugugung!

The remnants of the demonic beasts poured onto the road tore the asphalt apart, but Park Siwoo didn't even blink an eye and took his next step.

Another one.

Another one.

The cross-sections of the demonic beasts falling to the left and right were as smooth as a mirror.

“Crazy…… is that a human?”

It was that instant when Thompson muttered.

Chiit―!

A blind spot in the melee.

A spider hiding in the gaps of the fallen demonic beasts' remnants thrust its front leg like a spear.

The sharp tip accurately pierced the seam of Park Siwoo's left shoulder armor.

Jjijik―.

From the tip of the leg that squeezed through the armor gap, pitch-black venom splattered.

A shallow scratch.

However, the purple venom spreading along the wound spread out instantly to the entire shoulder through the blood vessels.

“Mr. Park Siwoo! There's venom on your shoulder……!”

It was the moment Sophia, watching from behind, urgently tried to chant a detoxification spell.

As Park Siwoo shrugged his shoulder, slime-like bodily tissue wriggled at his cut wound, and in less than 1 second, new flesh sprouted perfectly and healed.

Before even the venom could infiltrate, the wound itself had been deleted.

[The special passive, Baal's Resilience, is activated!]

As long as one avoided an instant death attack that bursts the heart, it was a passive that recovered decent wounds in the blink of an eye, allowing for infinite combat.

It was a skill obtained after eating Baal's elixir.

Park Siwoo, whose wound had disappeared, laughed heartily and drew his holy sword horizontally.

Peobeobeobeobeopeong―!

The entire area was devastated in a single slash, and over ten spider demonic beasts were sliced away like cutting radishes.

Overwhelming trampling.

“Oh, my god…….”

The staff slipped and fell from Sophia's hand.

Inside the veil, she herself, Thompson, and even the elites of the Dragon Guild couldn't exert their strength as half their skills were rendered useless.

Unable to pierce through the numerous penalties such as debuffs, vision blocking, and mana interference bestowed by the shadow veil, they were being pushed back helplessly.

However, those people were moving as if such restrictions did not exist.

“……Crazy.”

A groan-like muttering leaked out from between her trembling lips.

The eerie rumors about the Money Talks Guild, which circulated like legends among Awakened worldwide, flashed through her mind.

A tiny elite guild that supposedly only accepts world ranker-class talents. And the breathtaking stories that its leader, Kim Minwoo, collects the world's most precious elixirs and equipment with unimaginable wealth and information power to supply them free of charge exclusively to his guild members.

‘……Park Siwoo.’

Sophia's gaze pierced the back of the swordsman trampling the battlefield. During the Super Rookie Selection Match, she had also witnessed Park Siwoo's skills firsthand.

He was definitely amazing back then too, but…….

‘The gap between us…… was never this wide…….’

The Park Siwoo of back then and the Park Siwoo of now felt like they lived on completely different levels, to the point it was embarrassing to even call them the same human.

Even among fellow rankers, the density of their growth was on a different dimension, something she could feel on her skin with every single clash.

Behind him, Han Siah, wearing pitch-black priest's clothing, was wielding a massive scythe.

Every time she, who had awakened as the Saintess of Death, swung her scythe, the demonic beasts' tenacious life force rotted black and was harvested.

Cheolgeureok! Cheolgeureok!

From the sky, dozens of Dragon Tooth Soldier units were dropped along with black mana.

Elite undead composed of the bones of an ancient dragon.

As the swarm of spiders brought down their front legs, the joints of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers twisted bizarrely, and they instantly transformed into heavy infantry holding massive tower shields, deflecting the impact.

The transition between offense and defense did not even take a split second.

In the opening created as the impact was deflected, other Dragon Tooth Soldiers transformed into assassins and jabbed at the spiders' eyes and joints.

“Wh-what in the world is that…….”

While the American Awakened were losing their minds over the overwhelming cogwheel tactics, a true long-range massacre was beginning in the sky.

Swaeeaek―!

Seo Yerim, having leaped over the skyscrapers, declared a kill zone.

Thousands of mana arrows fired from the divine bow twisted their trajectories like living snakes and accurately pierced the eyes of the spiders fleeing up the walls.

Above the head of the bone dragon next to her, the sniper with blue eye glints and fluttering silver hair, Ifrin, was aiming her anti-materiel sniper rifle.

Taang―!

A magic bullet breaking the speed of sound cut across the sky over New York. The head of a Shadow High Priest, who had come down from the ark and was about to cast AoE dark magic, burst accurately from several kilometers away.

The jaws of the American Awakened dropped.

The sight unfolding before their eyes was destroying common sense.

Those bastards had become several times stronger than during the Shanghai Magenta incident, yet Kim Minwoo's guild members and his subordinates were slaughtering those monsters like slicing goblins, weren't they?

“I-is that truly the military power of humans? Just what in the world happened in Korea……!”

When the American Awakened were dropping their jaws.

The true disaster was beginning from the sky.

Kim Minwoo flicked his finger.

Paaaat―!

The four Legion Commanders popping out from the shadow of the divine dragon swept over the sky above New York.

“Kuhahaha! A bunch of highly flammable garbage has arrived!”

Vulcan's massive black flame whip turned the white spiderwebs covering the Manhattan sky to ashes the moment it touched them.

“Arrogant rats, taste the pain of the abyss!”

It was the moment the Shadow High Priests coming down from the ark were about to chant dark magic simultaneously.

The witch with fluttering silver hair, Merhen, pointed her finger at them.

[Merhen uses Heavenly Word!]

―You guys, don't use magic.

“Keu, heok?!”

Absolute mana seal.

The dark mana gathering at the fingertips of the priests was forcibly scattered, and they vomited blood.

Toward that perfect opening, Cedric's blood-red spear plunged like a thunderbolt, and the Duke of Blood Olivia, having popped out from the shadow, mercilessly sliced the priests' necks with her Formless Sword.

Peobeobeobeok―!

Just 5 minutes. The spider legion and shadow priests that had driven the USA into hell were butchered without a trace before the overwhelming firepower of the Money Talks Guild and the four Legion Commanders.

“Hurrah! Long live Kim Minwoo!”

“God Bless Kim! God has saved the USA!”

“I'm going to believe in the Death Cult starting today!”

The American citizens and Awakened remaining on the streets of Manhattan fell to their knees toward the sky and let out cheers.

The moment the ground was perfectly being cleaned up.

Ureureureureung―!

The massive ark still soaring high in the sky.

The mana gauge pointing at its core was boiling blood-red without stopping.

Before the forces on the ground were annihilated, it had already perfectly completed its preparations for activation using the life force of the sacrifices sucked from New York.

On top of Gleipnir's massive back.

Kim Minwoo, floating in the empty air, looked up indifferently toward the ark soaring far above with Hell Rhapsody resting on his shoulder.

Where his gaze landed.

At the very top of the ark far away, the High Priest of the Shadow, Persen, stood leaning on his staff.

Even though his elite forces were annihilated in just 5 minutes, Persen's face showed no sign of bewilderment.

Rather, looking down at Kim Minwoo who had orchestrated this overwhelming massacre, he was showing a bizarre smile as if finding it very interesting.

Seueueueueuk―.

The blood-red mana gauge of the ark floating in the sky began to waver ominously like a massive heart.