Chapter 239: Juliana’s Awakening (2)
“Good!”
Though her voice gave me chills, I couldn’t help but rejoice all the same.
Though it would be hard to sort this out afterward, what was more important was the task that I had to accomplish in front of me. I would take care of the rest later on.
“My Juliana! You finally woke up! You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you.”
-Gedric! My Gedric, I, too, have been imagining being with you for a long time.
“Juliana!”
-Gedric!
It was a bit scary seeing the sword floating around me and making weird sounds. I worried about it eventually piercing my neck as it realized that I was not Gedric.
Nevertheless…
‘It’s fine.’
There were no such signs yet. Juliana still considered me as Gedric and was now moving to protect me.
‘I did a good job wearing this…’
[Gedric’s Proposal Ring (Heroic)]
[You can resist the curse of Juliana.]
This was Gedric’s Proposal Ring, found in the Cursed Shrine. Though it had no function, I had always worn it on my finger out of habit.
I had to smile.
“Juliana! My Juliana! We don’t have time for this. Juliana!”
-Gedric… Ahhh! My love Gedric! Please kiss me. Please hug me to let this body crumble!
‘You’re a sword…’
“Juliana! I need your strength. We must release the wicked Crack Guardians’ seals that are forcibly holding onto the Ancient God.”
-Aah! My love Gedric! Whisper a little more love. Gedric! My lantern! My light!
‘Crazy bitch!’
I knew I wouldn’t be able to control her, but I had no idea her sanity was this unstable.
I didn’t know why the hell Gedric liked this woman and why he had been looking for her for such a long time, but I bet it could be a type of Stockholm syndrome.
Perhaps he had gotten kidnapped. For some reason, that thought began to settle in my mind.
“Help me! Juliana! I need your love.”
-Gedric! My Gedric!
“Juliana! The world is in danger!”
-Ahhh…
‘Sh*t!’
There was no more time left to delay. If I kept going at this rate, Juliana would only move after the rest of my party members had gotten wiped out.
I had no choice but to run as I held her in my hand.
I didn’t know how to use a sword, but something had changed after I inserted my magic power into it.
-Gedric! Your warm magic is flowing! Your power is flowing into my body! Ahhh! My love!
‘Please, shut up!’
Though her voice drove me crazy, it appeared that my magic had activated something.
-A little more! A little more! Please! Gedric! A little more of your love!
[One of Juliana’s sleeping functions has been unlocked.]
[AS’s Tentacle]
‘Nice!’
Until now, Juliana’s only function was to cast a curse.
Of course, that alone made her worth it. If I cursed the other person just by hurting them and consuming a lot of magical power, I could even apply a wide area curse.
Just listing the features mentioned above was not enough for a legendary-grade item.
It even protected me by itself, so it was definitely an ideal item. However, that was not its only function. This would soon be confirmed.
“Nice!”
Of course, AS’s black magic had been used before, but the magical power flowing from the sword was different from before.
If what I used before had been the closed beta version, what I saw now felt like the function had undergone several upgrades.
The tentacles of black magic, previously used by Juliana, began to bloom around her sword.
As these tentacles also moved towards me, I began to feel nervous. However, I knew she did not intend to harm me. The feeling of discomfort, however, rose when the tentacles slipped through my clothes.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the tentacles didn’t seem to limit my actions, but it was natural to think that they might eventually trap me.
However, the tentacles weren’t the problem.
-More… More! Ahhh! Gedric, your love! A little more of your love!
‘Stop sucking it up!’
Juliana was drinking my magic like crazy. My magic stats were already low, so having her slurp it up like it was nothing felt like a total burden. It even felt as if my life force was being drained.
However, the results were better than expected.
‘Fine… take a little more!!’
The energy the sword emitted was obviously not the type that I could create with my meager supply of magic. The black tentacles extending in all directions had long been out of my control.
However, I had no idea or ability to control it, anyway. All I have to do was hit this overflowing energy against the sealed chains, and it would be fine.
“Deokgu!”
“Ah… Okay!”
Park Deokgu, who had been looking at me with a strange expression, stretched out his hand toward me. When I saw that he understood without any explanation, I felt proud.
With the tentacles wrapped around my body, I wouldn’t be able to throw myself off the aftermath of such an explosion. I felt sorry, but I had no choice but to seek Deokgu’s help.
‘I’ll have to hurt you instead…’
A transparent and faint shield appeared on my body. This was Park Deokgu’s attribute, where he would take the damage received by others in their stead.
As soon as I touched the ground with my crackling hands, the dragon’s tail protruded from the floor and raised me up to the chains.
Although it was a little scary, Park Deokgu would take the damage even if I fell, anyway. Right now, swinging my sword was the top priority.
Of course, there was no damage from the aftermath of the explosion. I didn’t feel hot, and my skin didn’t come off.
‘Be patient, Deokgu!’
“Kiyoung-ssi?”
Though I heard Hyunsung calling out to me in confusion, I chose to ignore him. I couldn’t afford to answer him, anyway.
“Break it! Fuck!”
I then attacked the weak-looking seal using the energy within the sword.
The magical tentacles surrounding my body and the tentacles stretching out from everywhere quickly fell toward the chains, and the remaining magical power also quickly escaped.
-Gedric! Gedriiic! Aaah! Ah!
“Break!”
If once was not enough, then I would have to break it twice. If not twice, three times.
Though I was a beginner when it came to swordsmanship, I still had to try. Even the seal itself had a limit.
Cracks had begun to form along the chains. This indicated that the seal was breaking.
‘Good!’
It was then that Kim Hyunsung jumped out and swung his sword towards the part I hit.
I felt surprised, but I also felt glad. I was past my limit, for Juliana drained too much magic power from me.
Hyunsung had come just as I had lost all my magic, and I was grateful for that.
As soon as the lovely returner’s sword touched the cracked chain, the blue chain broke, and light began to pour out.
“Nice!”
I felt Kim Hyunsung’s hand on my back. Regardless of my will, my body began to move away from the chains, and I saw the Ancient God’s Fragment once again.
‘I did… the right thing, right?’
We had only managed to break one of the chains.
However, the balance of the seal holding the mythical being tightly broke, which prompted the other sides to break as well.
No, to be precise, the Ancient God’s Fragment was pulling the chains apart on his own.
‘He looks very strong…’
It was only then that I started to realize what we had just released in the world. My entire body had begun to shake.
[A Fragment of the Ancient God is released from the seal.]
[Warning]
[The Crack Museum’s protection program is operating.]
[Warning]
[The program is not operating normally.]
[Warning]
[The preliminary program is operating.]
[Warning]
[The Fragment of the Ancient God completely awakens.]
“Groaaaaaaaaaaarrr!!!!!!!”
-Ahhh… Ahhhhh… No!!!!
Max began to cry out at the same time the mythical monster roared out.
‘Preliminary program?’
I was unsure what it was, but fortunately, there seemed to be a Crack Museum program that would handle situations like this.
Of course, I didn’t know if that preliminary program could really fix this, but it was too late for me to do anything else. Now the responsibility rested with the manager, Max.
After all, it was sweeter to screw someone over than to let others screw me over.
Of course, I could not find it in me to laugh aloud in this situation. Even if we succeeded in breaking his seal, the fact that we were in danger still remained.
Before this monster could threaten the rest of the world, it was threatening my life, first.
The fragments seemed to have no thinking ability, so there was no option to negotiate with the ancient gods. Nevertheless…
“Yay, it’s the Ancient God!”
“…”
“The Ancient God has awakened! The Ancient God’s Fragment has been freed!”
I could see no other choice but to shout this aloud. I didn’t know if this would work, but at least I was producing some results.
The museum’s outer walls, which seemed to be unbreakable, were now collapsing, and the sturdy exhibits were also breaking.
‘My prediction was correct.’
This monster had the ability to resist the system.
“Grooooaaaaaarrr!!!”
As the Ancient God Fragment’s tentacle swung once more, the museum began its road to destruction.
-No… Noooo!!
Max kept screaming. I then turned to the other members of the expedition.
“First… Let’s go to the broken area and gather some items. There will be several exhibition halls influenced by the Ancient God.”