I’m Here to End This Fight

Chapter 250 Yuri vs. Black Sword Corps (1)

The epicenter of the tremor that shook the tower, the third floor of hellish difficulty.

At the end of the only corridor where the luminous stones always shined, a pungent smoke crept in.

Just as the hazy smoke began to spread like fog, a black shadow, trailing a white tail, darted out at lightning speed.

*Whump-.*

The shadow, resembling a large ball, rolled straight into the entrance to the fourth floor.

Afterward, the third-floor corridor was completely engulfed in smoke.

—

Somewhere within the White Tower.

*Rattle-.*

Feeling the tremors gradually subside, Coco smirked.

She knew well where this vibration had originated from.

“Already at the third floor, huh.”

The fact that this vibration occurred meant that ‘that thing’ installed at the end of the third floor had detonated.

It also meant that the intruder had reached that point.

Coco turned around and asked a question.

“How long has it been since that guy entered the tower?”

At her inquiry, a Black Sword Corps member slightly bowed his head and answered.

“It’s been 24 minutes.”

Only 24 minutes after first entering the tower, and he had already breached the third floor.

This was much faster than anticipated.

Coco’s expression instantly soured.

“That old man… He was so confident.”

She recalled Segyung, who had boasted that if it was a mechanism he built, it would certainly kill… no, at least trap Yuri.

Watching her reaction, the Black Sword Corps member expressed his doubts.

“Since no official report has been received yet, we don’t know for sure if he passed, do we?”

“Why? Do you think he didn’t make it through?”

“Wouldn’t that be the case? With that thing having detonated?”

To the Black Sword Corps member’s assumption, Coco exhaled a puff of smoke and snickered.

*Fwoosh-.*

“A guy with about a certified 6th level wouldn’t have been taken down that easily. Especially if someone at that level had prepared, no matter how close it exploded, they’d still manage to survive.”

“What if he wasn’t prepared?”

“Well, if he’s human, naturally, he’d die. But at that level, even if caught off guard, he wouldn’t go down without a fight. Especially someone as cautious as that boy.”

“So… by now, that guy must have passed the third floor.”

“Most likely. Though I doubt he’s unscathed. After all….”

Coco took a deep drag from her cigarette at that point.

*Ssssss-.*

*Crackle-.*

“The purpose of setting that up wasn’t to kill him but just to cause some injuries. That alone would have achieved its purpose.”

Coco grinned, her teeth bared, as wisps of white smoke slithered out from between her lips.

—

The large, dark ball that had rolled into the entrance to the fourth floor.

*Thud-thud-thud-.*

After rolling helplessly, it finally came to a complete stop.

*Cough, cough-.*

From inside, faint coughing was heard, and arms and legs suddenly popped out.

“Hurk, damn it…”

Groaning, the black ball slowly rose.

It was none other than Yuri, who had curled himself into a ball.

*Crack-.*

“Ack.”

Stretching his upper body, Yuri patted his back with his fists.

His appearance had changed significantly from when he first entered.

While overcoming the traps on the first and second floors, he hadn’t even broken a sweat or breathed heavily.

But now, there were burn marks all over his clothes, and soot stained his face and neck.

“Damn, almost broke my back.”

Twisting his waist to ensure he was unharmed, Yuri looked back at the passage he had come through and clenched his teeth.

A fierce, blue murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

“Damn it! That crazy old bastard really went ahead and packed bombs into the traps!”

When Segyung was upgrading the mechanisms in the Demon King’s castle, he had insisted multiple times on installing bombs there.

Of course, Yuri had vehemently opposed it, pointing out that the castle would collapse if they did so, thus thwarting Segyung’s ambitions.

Not having been able to carry out his plan back then, Segyung had, as if to quench his old grudge, packed bombs into these hellish traps for real.

And not just any bombs, but medium to small-sized ones!

“I really almost died.”

Even though Yuri had prepared, thinking, ‘With that bomb maniac old man, who knows what he might do,’ the sheer power of the bomb that exploded in close proximity was truly terrifying.

If he hadn’t drawn his holy sword with all his might to cut through the fiery explosion, he would have not only died on the spot but the passage would have collapsed, making it hard to retrieve even his body.

Although he survived the explosion, the problem was that Segyung’s perverted ingenuity had evolved even further.

After the first explosion.

It was as if Segyung had anticipated Yuri would block it, so he designed it such that small bombs would explode in a chain reaction from the aftermath of the initial explosion.

Yuri, who was slightly off-guard at the very end of the passage due to the large explosion, reacted a bit late to the bomb that went off behind him.

Still, he hastily deployed Magic Flow and managed to neutralize the explosive force… though.

‘Ouch… my back stings.’

However, because he had deployed Magic Flow in a hurry, he couldn’t fully disperse the force, and he was swept along by the blast, rolling forward helplessly.

“Damn it….”

Yet, contrary to Segyung and Coco’s expectations, Yuri emerged from the explosion without serious injury.

Still feeling the burning heat on his back, Yuri gritted his teeth, his eyes gleaming with blue light.

“Old bastard… just wait till I get out of here, I won’t let you off easy.”

Vowing revenge against Segyung, Yuri climbed the stairs to the fourth floor.

However, his steps were noticeably more cautious and slower than before.

Yuri scratched his chin as he slowly approached the entrance to the fourth floor, contemplating.

‘If the third floor was like that… then what on earth will the fourth floor be like?’

Could he have covered the entire fourth-floor passage with bombs?

‘…With that insane, perverted old man, it’s entirely possible.’

Tense with such thoughts, Yuri carefully entered the fourth floor.

But contrary to his expectations, the fourth floor wasn’t a long passage.

It was a vast, open circular space with considerable area.

Moreover, one side of the distant wall had the entrance leading to the fifth floor.

“What’s this? A resting area?”

Though he spoke aloud, Yuri quickly scanned his surroundings.

‘Nothing looks particularly dangerous. I don’t even smell oil.’

No matter how hard he looked, it really seemed like just a large, empty space.

So what exactly was he supposed to do here?

‘Is it really just a resting place?’

Still not convinced, Yuri cautiously walked forward.

It was at that moment.

Footsteps echoed from the entrance to the fifth floor.

*Thump, thump, thump-.*

Soon, those who appeared made Yuri halt in his tracks.

“Black Sword Corps?”

The entities that emerged from the fifth-floor entrance.

They were none other than Black Sword Corps members.

And not just one, but three of them.

Sensing the aura emanating from them, Yuri instantly realized what he had to do on the fourth floor and smirked.

‘So I’m supposed to fight them, huh, those Black Sword Corps.’

Having figured out the challenge of the fourth floor, he examined his opponents closely.

‘Just regular Black Sword Corps….’

Judging from their aura, they were standard Black Sword Corps members.

Two were at a stable, certified 3rd level, and the third was a senior Black Sword Corps member at a certified 4th level.

Yuri tilted his head slightly, his expression puzzled by their level.

‘Only three of them?’

Of course, three Black Sword Corps members were not a force to be underestimated.

However, Yuri found it odd that they had sent only three regular members, especially since they must have had a general understanding of his strength.

‘There’s a senior one mixed in, but that doesn’t seem too difficult.’

And Yuri’s confusion stemmed from the Dragon’s Cradle’s misjudgment.

The three Black Sword Corps members on the fourth floor were calculated based on the assumption that Yuri had expended his energy from the first to the third floors and had sustained injuries.

Therefore, it was actually the Black Sword Corps members who were flustered.

“…He’s here.”

“Wow, he made it through that explosion?”

“But that guy… he looks way more intact than expected.”

Yuri had not only cleared the first to third floors in less than a day… no, less than an hour, but also appeared in much better shape than anticipated.

The Black Sword Corps members briefly stopped to glance at each other before letting out light sighs and hardening their expressions.

“Tsk.”

“Looks like the plan’s off track.”

“Even if that’s the case, we can’t let him pass easily.”

*Clang-.*

The Black Sword Corps members resumed their steps, drawing their weapons.

Yuri, facing them, similarly drew his sword and started to walk towards them.

Yuri and the Black Sword Corps.

As the distance between them gradually closed, their pace quickened.

Then, when only about 30 meters remained, they charged at each other as if in perfect sync.

*Tap-!*

There were no words exchanged.

Even without such exchanges, Yuri and the Black Sword Corps knew well

what they each had to do here.

The three Black Sword Corps members had to work together to prevent Yuri Holland from advancing to the next floor.

Yuri, on the other hand, had to defeat those blocking his path and move on to the next floor.

The conflicting goals soon transformed into fierce resolve towards each other, leading to a brutal clash.

Yuri vanished in an instant, and so did the three Black Sword Corps members.

Then, streaks of red, blue, and white light, and one golden trajectory, tangled together.

*Clang-!*

*Ka-ka-ka-ka-.*

The tricolored lights and the golden light clashed and separated repeatedly at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

During this, a hint of surprise flickered in Yuri’s eyes.

‘They’re different.’

This wasn’t Yuri’s first time engaging directly with Black Sword Corps members.

There had been Greta Wigun during the Leather Collection event, and the Demon King during the Save the Princess quest.

He had faced squad-level Black Sword Corps members properly before.

But at each of those moments, with his life on the line, there had been no room to leisurely observe.

So fighting standard Black Sword Corps members like this offered Yuri a unique experience.

‘This is… Black Sword Corps.’

The power contained in their blades when weapons met.

Bold judgments, rapidly linked moves.

Especially, the profound intent behind each attack was incomparable to the clumsy 50th batch cadets.

Even if they were just squad-level Black Sword Corps members.

As Yuri deflected the Black Sword Corps members’ attacks, he suddenly recalled an earlier memory.

Before entering the Dragon’s Cradle, in the proof test given by Master Johan after receiving the Dragon Plaque, the opponent he had faced was a mere Black Sword Corps member.

To defeat a certified 3rd level Black Sword Corps member at that time, he had needed to summon his Avatar, but now, here he was, casually handling three certified 3rd and 4th level individuals.

Realizing this, Yuri felt somewhat pleased.

Meanwhile, the Black Sword Corps members opposing Yuri were aghast.

‘We expected it, but… no, he’s even stronger than anticipated!’

Given all he had shown, every Black Sword Corps member was aware of Yuri’s strength.

But what was understood intellectually differed significantly from the reality of clashing with him.

‘Is this really just some second-year cadet brat?!’

Before first engaging Yuri, the Black Sword Corps members thought they were at a disadvantage but believed they wouldn’t lose.

While one’s level could rapidly rise through hard training and talent, accumulating experience was something only time could address.

So they figured that by exploiting Yuri’s lack of experience, they’d find enough openings to take him down.

But how wrong they were.

‘Even if he’d been fighting since the womb… how can this make any sense?!’

Lack of experience?

Openings?

They couldn’t sense any of that in Yuri’s movements.

Instead, he naturally managed his stamina and, if you looked hard enough, there were no unnecessary motions.

The Black Sword Corps members felt a sense of seasoned maturity from Yuri’s efficient and fluid movements, like it was second nature.

From a mere seventeen-year-old boy, no less.

And what further infuriated the Black Sword Corps members was—

‘Is this bastard… playing around with us?’

Yuri was handling them so casually that it was clear he was deliberately dragging out the fight.

As if using the battle to gain experience and learn.

To the Black Sword Corps members, who had fought with their lives on the line, this was both absurd and humiliating.

They gritted their teeth.

‘Let’s see how long that smugness lasts!’

‘If he wants to gain experience… let him experience this too!’

‘If he survives this, then I’ll acknowledge him!’

The three of them, eyes flashing, shifted their tactics.

Swiftly retreating, the Black Sword Corps members encircled Yuri in a 品 (pin) formation.

The tricolored trails they created intertwined and enveloped the space like a fishing net.

*Boom-.*

Yuri widened his eyes at the massive pressure pressing from all directions.

‘What the…?!’

Like gears meshing together precisely, the tricolored trails moved in perfect synchrony.

Yuri immediately recognized what this was.

‘A Convergence Formation?’

A formation designed for multiple combatants to confront a few strong opponents.

Seeing this for the first time, Yuri’s eyes sparkled.

‘This is a real Convergence Formation!’

It wasn’t Yuri’s first experience facing multiple opponents.

However, the difference was that what he had encountered before were merely simple, clumsy linked attacks.

This was an actual Convergence Formation executed by those who had trained extensively to master a single linkage.

Witnessing the real deal, Yuri’s heart raced.

‘This….’

This was it.

The excitement he hadn’t felt in recent sparrings with his fellow cadets.

The thrill and anticipation of experiencing something new.

Fully savoring the moment, Yuri beamed brightly and shouted.

“This is awesome!”

As if reflecting its master’s mood, the golden demon sword began to gleam joyfully.