Chapter 74: Buying Time

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For a brief moment, Astaroth was completely overwhelmed. His body was pushed down into the floor as the immense force of the reflected dragon breath beam crushed his leg’s bones, cracking them.

At the same time, burnt wounds emerged all across his body, his scales beginning to fall apart onto the floor one after another; he even vomited a mouthful of blood, and over half of the eyes across his body exploded into blood and stopped working.

“I-Impossible…!” Astaroth muttered, shocked over having been completely overwhelmed by his own attack!

“It actually worked!” Kevin celebrated.

“You did it!” Annabelle happily said.

“Ungh…!”

“Agh!”

However, Anna and Baihe vomited a mouthful of blood at the same time, feeling their internal bodies beginning to twist and break apart internally. Unable to fly, the two girls fell from the skies!

“Anna!”

“Baihe!!!”

Kevin and Annabelle were shocked, as they swiftly managed to catch them both before descending over a rooftop. The two girls quickly began drinking potions while resisting the agony, at the same time as Astaroth slowly tried to heal his wounds, groaning in agony.

“Ungh… Utilizing such high-level magic is not something we should be able to do." Anna muttered, drinking a potion she made by mixing Panacea with high-level Spirit Spring Water she bought in the Hunter Market.

The Panacea was a high-level elixir that healed all status effects, which she acquired out of the reward from defeating Bael. When she diluted it into a large quantity of high-quality potions and spirit spring water, Anna was able to produce over twenty “Super Healing Potions” that could heal all status effects and a nice chunk of HP.

"Even after drinking three potions, my body still hurts…” Baihe sighed. “We shouldn’t overuse this magic…” Slowly standing up. “But it looks like it worked wonders, though!”

“Yeah…” Anna nodded. “It is a power that’ll help Humanity grow even stronger… Eventually, the existence of Ki and the elements of Yin and Yang will become widespread.”

In the novel Anna read, such plot elements were introduced much later in the story, in the latter half of the “Second Awakening” Event, where Hunters couldn’t grow stronger anymore after reaching their limits from absorbing Monster Magic Crystals.

It was then that a strange Dungeon Opened, leading to random areas of the Abandoned and Ruined world of “Murim” or, in simple words, a Martial Artists Cultivation World that was destroyed long ago.

Much like every Dungeon, these Dungeons showed the areas of the Ruined Murim, filled with new types of monsters known as “Spiritual Beasts” and “Martial Beasts” and the remains of the ancient Murim Civilization.

With this, hunters discovered Pills, Cultivation Scrolls, and many other items. The Pill Anna acquired in the bug dungeon was only one of the few scattered across normal dungeons. And of course, the power of the Divine Yin and Yang Rotation Magic was only known much later and employed by Jack in the future to beat powerful foes that surpassed anything known before, surpassing even the might of SSS Rank Monsters, which were everywhere in the Third Awakening, the final, and biggest act in the novel before its completion.

Figuring out the basics of using such powers, such as having two people wielding Yin and Yang Physiques and possessing large quantities of Mana and Ki, she tried it out, and it worked wonders.

However, because this spell was supposed to be used by at least Rank 7 Physiques, it put a terrible backlash into their bodies. Without being prepared to take the hit with many potions, they wouldn’t have made it alive.

Naturally, the Dungeon Anna wants to visit in the future once it appears before anybody else enters is one of these first Murim Dungeons, which not even Jack discovered until very late when he confronted a powerful Martial Artist that monopolized these dungeon treasures.

“You damn… BRATS! RAAAAHHH!!!”

Astaroth didn’t give them much of a break, as he instantly stood back up from his stupor state and began rushing towards where Anna and company were, pointing his gigantic horns at them! His horns pierced the entire building as it quickly crumbled apart. Anna and her friends were forced to run away, and they quickly followed Anna from behind.

“Annabelle, Kevin! Can you distract that bastard for some seconds?” Anna asked. “I need to go pick up some materials.”

“Materials?” Asked Kevin.

“Okay!” Annabelle nodded. “Let’s go!”

Annabelle dragged Kevin without his permission as the two kids flew across the skies, greeting Astaroth as he shook his gigantic head after blasting the big, ruined building into pieces.

“GRAH! THERE YOU ARE!” He roared, beginning to fire beams against them and attempting to slice them with his draconic claws.

Meanwhile, as this happened, Sara and Hector were already midway through shattering the cores of the golems they were fighting, while Lee Hengyang was merely pretending to struggle, as he didn’t have any desire to help in defeating Astaroth.

“That damn monster; those kids are distracting it rather well!” Hector thought, swinging his axe several times against the golem’s core so fast that lightning strikes were being unleashed everywhere.

However, this golem was quite hardy, utilizing its Demonic Energy and the power to control rocks and stones to generate dozens of enormous hands, attempting to crush Hector with them constantly.

Although his defenses were superb, he couldn’t afford to take damage at all when there was such a huge S-Rank dragon to take down afterward, forcing him to evade the blows and delaying himself as a result.

“Dammit, these things are much harder than I imagined… Maybe we should have done this together instead…!” Hector thought to himself. “Why was I so foolish?!”

At the same time, Sara, who was a speedy fighter without the strongest attacks out there, as she specialized more on inflicting status effects, which the golem was completely immune against, was having an ever-harder time. Her sharp black daggers only managed to scratch the surface of the golem’s core while she was fighting; she couldn't break through it with normal blows alone!

“Fuck, do I have to go all-out to beat this big and slow thing?!” Sara gritted her teeth. “If only someone- No! I can’t be thinking about needing someone else’s cooperation. I am an A+ Rank Hunter after all!”

Her eyes began glowing bright red as her daggers took on a sharp, deadly red aura within them. The power that her Sponsor had granted her quickly started to surge.

“I’ll take you down!”

Meanwhile, Henrietta attended to the three disciples she was teaching. After their brilliant defeat of the golem with three overpowering consecutive blows in a row, they were left out cold. Completely exhausted.

This was because, unlike Henrietta and the other A+ Rank Guild Masters, they had only acquired their Sponsor’s Special Skills recently, and overusing their power would give them a deadly backlash.

They were newbies with great futures, but newbies nonetheless. Even if Cliff was given the Sponsorship of Artemis, Annette the Sponsorship of Hercules, and Hasan the Sponsorship of La Muerte (Lady Death), they were all incredibly strong beings. Because of this very reason, using their powers while they were still B+ Rank only was too much.

It was already insane that Baihe, Anna, and Kevin could utilize the powers of their Sponsors so well when they were even weaker, but Henrietta considered them completely different hunters, with amazing talents that surpassed even B-Rank Hunters.

“Sigh… I told them not to come here, yet they did anyway." Henrietta sighed to herself, feeling worried about them, especially her brother and Anna. “However… I have to admit it, they’re holding really well! Aren’t these kids comparable to A-Rank Hunters if they can do so well?”

What Henrietta didn’t know was that they were using the power of Anna’s amazing buffs from her Privileges, Anna included, to surpass their limits. This also included potions to further buff their stats and a lot of healing potions too. And that’s without even considering all the transformation Skills they used, which would run out of time soon.

Once the transformation skill duration was to run out, they would go back to their much weaker selves, so they could not keep up with such a level of power for as long as they wanted, unlike true A-Rank Hunters and beyond.

“Ungh… Henrietta…” Hasan muttered, slowly opening his eyes.

“Hasan! Are you okay? Do you think you can fight?” She asked.

“La Muerte me visito en mis sueños…” Hasan muttered in Spanish. “Ugh…”

“Huh? What did you say?” Henrietta knew very little Spanish herself.

“Ah! What happened?!” Suddenly, Annette woke up and sat down in shock, looking around. “Huh? D-Did I just fall unconscious?! Ugh! Not again! This damn thing always happens when I use my powers!”

“You did, dear.” Sighed Henrietta. “You’ll have to train much more if you don’t want to get taken down the moment you use such powers."

“Hahh… I was the only one who didn’t fall asleep; you guys are sure lazy!” Cliff laughed. “Agh… My stomach hurts, though. Please, no more lifting off the ground."

“Eh? No way this bastard didn’t fall asleep!” Annette got angry.

“I think I need to sleep for a whole week now." Hasan sighed.

“For now, you should retreat to the city. I’ll go assist Anna and the rest! You don’t need to push yourselves too much.” Henrietta sighed; her hands finally stopped conjuring a veil of healing light over their bodies. “Take care!”

As Henrietta flew away, the trio of B+ Rank Hunters were left there, glancing as she flew directly towards a dangerous S Ranked Monster all by herself…

“Hey, are you guys really retreating?” Annette asked. “Doesn’t this hurt your pride as a Hunter?”

“…Well, we are not strong enough yet, Annette.” Sighed Cliff.

“La Muerte wants to embrace me, but I would prefer that to happen much later in my life.” Sighed Hasan.

“But…” Annette sighed.

BAAAM!

And then, right at their side, they saw the huge golems the other guild masters had yet to take down. If they were able to take down one with their attacks, they might as well assist the others in doing so swiftly.

“Well, maybe fighting that huge dragon’s out of our league, but we can at least assist everyone else!” Annette said. “I ain’t giving up! No way in hell, I’m leaving this all to just fate!”

“Sigh, you never change, don’t you?” Cliff sighed.

"Fine," Hasan sighed. “But you’ll pay tribute later."

“Sure, sure, the drinks are on me after we’re done here.” Annette cracked her knuckles. “Now let’s go help these big shots…”

…

“RAHAHAHA! COME HERE!” Astaroth laughed, his movements becoming faster and more precise as his gigantic draconic claws swung horizontally and vertically against Kevin and Annabelle.

The slashing attacks from these claws unleashed powerful shockwaves of demonic energy and aura attacks that extended his attacking range much more! Annabelle and Kevin were working together to intercept his deadly blows. Kevin unleashed the power of Odin’s prosthetic eye once more, the third time today, which was his current limit, making his movements fast and precise.

Meanwhile, Annabelle utilized the temporary transformation she had undergone to tank this and summon the combined power of her Abyssal Poison Magic and her Spider Queen Skills together, summoning enormous spiders named Spiderlings to swarm the dragon.

“T-These damn annoying things…!” Astaroth roared angrily as dozens of huge spiders made out of darkness and poison energy were swarming his entire body, biting his wounds and slowly opening them while riddling them with venom.

In a fit of draconic rage, Astaroth unleashed a powerful shockwave of Demonic Energy, throwing away the swarm of Spiderlings and making them explode into dark clouds one after another!

Annabelle and Kevin saw the scene and quickly started to get worried. Their movement speed was also lowering, and their stats were already beginning to go down due to their immense exhaustion. Drinking the “Stamina Potions” that Anna gave them wasn’t working anymore; their effects would become lesser and lesser the more they drank.

“I’LL CRUSH YOU, TINY HUMANS!” Astaroth roared, charging like a furious bull towards Kevin and Annabelle at the same time.

The enormous blow impacted the two younglings, their bodies unable to resist the prowess and their speed insufficient to evade in enough time! The two of them flew down and pierced across three buildings at once, making them crumble apart one after another, generating a terrifying tremor as their bodies landed terribly over a pile of rubble.

CRASH!

“U-Unnggh… I can’t take it anymore. AGH!” Kevin muttered, his eye beginning to bleed as its powers deactivated. He felt quickly tired, and the backlash of overusing Odin’s Eye was beginning to get through his body. “F-Fuck…! Ungh…”

“K-Kevin!” Annabelle grew worried, as she didn’t look any better. "We need to retreat! Hey, Kevin!” She quickly panicked, seeing Kevin quickly lose consciousness in front of her.

“FOUND YA…”

Astaroth emerged in front of the two, his enormous, bleeding body glaring at the two of them with shiny red eyes. A smile curled on his gigantic jaws, showcasing his countless sharp teeth.

“Get away!”

Annabelle roared furiously, and her aura surged tremendously as two enormous claws made of darkness and poison emerged out of her body, punching and slashing at Astaroth’s face and torso!

“Don’t mess with me!” Laughed Astaroth. “These feeble attacks ain’t doing it, HUMAN!”

He swung his gigantic tail and his claws against Annabelle’s last attacks, completely destroying her Aura Embodiment and pushing her to her limits. As she vomited a mouthful of blood and quickly fell to her knees, her transformation was slowly beginning to dissipate; she had barely any time.

“Huh? Is that all you’ve got?” Astaroth suddenly felt disappointed. “That attack from earlier... It was good. But now you’re all just fighting pointlessly. You can’t even harm me. Pathetic! This is why demons are much superior to humans! It is laughable that you believe you’ll get through the machinations of the Outer Ones when you’re so weak! Not even we, the powerful demons, could! So how would you pathetic humans do so?!”

His gigantic foot reached down towards Annabelle and Kevin.

“I’ll give you a swift death, so you won’t have to suffer through what’s next to come, you naïve children!” Astaroth roared.

“A-Anna…” Annabelle muttered, holding Kevin in her arms.

Annabelle glanced at Astaroth’s last attack, slowly descending towards her and Kevin, as she started to feel like she had yet to fully repay all of Anna’s kindness.

FLASH!

However, a flash of bright, golden light surged from within the skies. A single, gorgeous woman that Annabelle remembered from before emerged, flying with angelic wings made of light. She swiftly intercepted Astaroth’s foot with all her strength as her divine sword shone with the might of the light of heaven!

“Unlike you, demons, we humans have an unyielding spirit of perseverance and justice! Something you will never be able to understand!!" Henrietta roared, her eyes glowing with divine power, as her divine sword slashed across Astaroth’s front leg, covering it with deadly wounds!

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

"Such divine light! You're the Incarnation of an Archangel?!” Astaroth immediately felt threatened, stepping back in shock!

“Astaroth! We meet again!”

Suddenly, the voice of Archangel Gabriel echoed from within Henrietta’s Divine Aura, as the Apostle of Death instantly felt a chill run down his spine.

“G-Gabriel! You bastard!” He screamed in frustration and fear. "You, the one that destroyed our world, have now become so pathetic that you’re helping a mere human?!”

“W-What?” Henrietta suddenly felt doubt. “Gabriel, did you do that…?!”

[“…You will eventually understand, Henrietta. It was something I had to do… or else, it would have been us, the Angels, who would have suffered such a fate.”]

…

Anna ran around the ruins with Dan Baihe, finally finding what she was looking for. A large pool of fresh, red blood and several torn-apart scales, along with some pieces of flesh and even thorn-apart eyes, were all from Astaroth after he took that powerful blow.

“Anna, why are you looking for these items?” Dan Baihe said.

“For a way out of this predicament!” Anna said, quickly gathering all the items and then bringing out the Demonic Sword Garm.

“This better works! {Synthesis}!”

FLUOSH!

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