Chapter 259 - Force Control
The hero's touch can choose between two things.
Move towards the target and charge the object.
Ryu Min, among them.
"I'm going for option 1."
He chose the path towards his brother.
Because he also wanted to confirm who the enemy his brother must protect and avenge was.
Flash!
At the moment of choice, what Ryu Min saw was an archangel threatening his own brother.
"It won't work. I'll have to grab him and tear him apart..."
CRACK!!!
Unable to contain the anger flooding him at that moment, he slammed the angel against the living room.
"Since I adjusted my strength in the end, I probably didn't kill him."
It would be problematic if he did.
Since the demon's blessing hadn't activated either.
"Gabriel..."
The female archangel headed towards the living room bewildered.
"The guy I hit was called Gabriel."
Only after reading his thoughts did she realize the other archangel's name was Raphael.
She even knew they were ranked as the second and third archangel.
While Raphael looked after Gabriel, Ryu Min looked back.
He saw his brother staring at him with a bewildered expression.
"What's your name?"
"Ryu... Won."
"I'm Black Scythe."
"Oh, I know. I've seen you a lot on TV."
Being exposed in the media at times like this had its advantages.
There was no need for a long introduction.
"You must suddenly regain your composure, it's an urgent situation."
"What kind of situation is this exactly...?"
It would be complicated for Ryu Won.
An archangel suddenly appears, threatens him with chains, and suddenly Black Scythe appears?
"There's no time for explanations. What's important is that we must escape from this place."
Then, a message arrived.
"The duration of the target's 'hero's touch' has ended."
The 10 seconds of invincibility his brother had were over.
Without hesitation, Ryu Min threw the Rune of Sacrifice to his brother.
"An objective to protect has been designated."
"I will take the damage instead of the objective."
"If the distance between the objective and me increases more than 100 meters, it will be automatically canceled."
It was fortunate to have the Rune of Sacrifice.
Now his brother was practically invulnerable.
"He won't die trapped in battle. At least, not until I die."
However, he couldn't relax.
There were two archangels.
"Although I inflicted some damage with the previous attack, it probably wasn't fatal."
But it turned out to be different.
Gabriel was getting up without a single scratch on his face, shaking his wings.
"Raphael. You've let me see something embarrassing in front of you. I couldn't avoid a human attack."
"Are you okay?"
"Thanks to you, I don't have a single injury."
It wasn't boasting.
Gabriel really didn't have a single injury.
"Even though I adjusted my strength, is he completely unharmed?"
Surprised, Ryu Min only understood the mystery after reading his thoughts.
"It's because of that angel named Raphael."
Although he didn't have combat abilities, he was an angel with all kinds of support abilities.
The reason Gabriel wasn't injured was also because of the protective shield that Raphael had activated.
"It won't work. I should target Raphael first..."
But Gabriel also seemed to be aware of that fact and stood in front of Raphael.
"Come behind me. It seems this human is brave enough to worry a little."
"I agree."
Seeing Gabriel shielding Raphael, Ryu Min had a hunch.
"These guys won't be easy to deal with, right?"
However, that didn't mean he didn't trust himself.
Though he wouldn't know until he faced them, he was sure he could beat them.
The problem lay in protecting his brother in confined spaces while fighting.
Ryu Min didn't take his eyes off the archangel as he spoke.
"Listen carefully, Ryu Won. This is an emergency situation where our lives are at stake. Stay here without moving at all."
"Just stay still here?"
"That's right. Moving would only increase the risk. I'll protect you, so don't worry and stay put."
There was no response.
Gabriel was approaching with his chains extended.
"You're the feared Black Scythe, right? Honestly, you surprised me. You're stronger than I expected. But..."
Gabriel flung his chains without warning.
He couldn't dodge it because his brother was behind him.
Snap!
The chains wrapped around Ryu Min's body.
"You must learn that there are skies above the skies."
The chains burned a bright red and began to melt his armor.
Chiiii-
Smoke rose as his flesh was consumed.
His body melted and his limbs fell.
Tududuk-
"Aah!"
Ryu Won recoiled in horror at the sight of the body cut in all directions.
It was an unimaginable sight even after seeing it with his own eyes.
"Even someone like Black Scythe..."
Containing the nausea at the sight of the disfigured corpse, he could barely contain it.
But the angels, for some reason, smiled as they looked at the body as if it were a joke.
"That's ridiculous. If we knew you would die so easily, we should have made you suffer more before killing you."
"That's right, Gabriel."
"There was no need to take hostages since you were worried..."
For a moment, Gabriel was speechless.
He saw in his mind a bleak future where Black Scythe cut him from the side.
Whoosh!
He narrowly dodged Ryu Min's scythe in a terrifying manner.
For an instant, surprise appeared in Ryu Min's eyes.
"Did I manage to dodge it?"
"...Was it just an illusion easy to kill?"
He wasn't obligated to answer.
He simply wielded his scythe.
Gabriel's forehead creased at feeling belittled.
"You behave like an arrogant human! I'll turn you into dust in ten seconds!"
The golden chains moved like shining snakes.
Snap! Snap!
The chains dangerously passed close to Ryu Min's body.
"I must avoid that as much as possible."
The moment the chains caught him, he would use his skill as he did with his clone.
Even Ryu Min could be in danger if that happened.
"But I can't just block it with my scythe. It might get entangled with the chains if I do it wrong."
In the end, he had to either avoid it or deflect them briefly.
Like now.
Ting- Boom!
It was evident it wasn't a common weapon.
The movements of the chains were rather flexible.
Whoosh- Whoosh-
Ryu Min only dodged instead of counterattacking.
Sometimes, when the chains dangerously approached his brother, he would push them away with his scythe.
Gabriel openly laughed at this continuous evasion.
"How long do you plan to just dodge? Stupid human! Attack like before!"
He seemed to think that merely dodging without a chance to attack was hasty.
Though it seemed pathetic to retreat like this, it was just an act, of course.
Agility stat is at 580,000, isn't it hard to dodge?
"First, evade while evaluating the opponent."
Ryu Min was gathering information with the rune of inner heart.
He analyzed the skills, weapons, and techniques of the angels to determine if there was any variable he could exploit.
Since the opponent is the opponent, caution is necessary.
"Alright. I understand how to attack."
As soon as he compiled the information and formulated a strategy in his mind, Ryu Min moved into action.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
[...!]
Ryu Min's movement had notably become faster than before.
Even Gabriel, with his future sight abilities, couldn't keep up, let alone the chains.
Crack! Clang!
Gabriel, who had been struck on the side with a scythe, was gracelessly thrown against the wall.
"But you damned human..."
Though he cursed, he had no time to stay still.
Ryu Min was targeting Raphael, who was unprotected.
"Ah!"
Surprised, Gabriel hurriedly flew, but Ryu Min's scythe was already descending towards Raphael's forehead.
Crack!
But what Gabriel feared didn't happen.
The scythe was stopped by an invisible barrier and bounced back elastically.
As if it was poking a balloon.
"You cowardly brat! Attacking an inactive opponent!"
"He's inactive. I was just giving a power boost from behind."
Gabriel had significantly increased his speed and strength thanks to Raphael's power boost.
That was why he was protecting Raphael.
Still, he couldn't match Ryu Min's speed.
Crack!
Gabriel, struck again by the scythe, created a dust uproar.
Despite being grazed by the scythe, he didn't have a single wound on his body.
But his pride had been touched, and his expression wasn't as good as his appearance.
"Shatter him."
"Didn't you say the same thing ten seconds ago?"
As if ignoring his question, Gabriel lunged.
With more strength and fury than before.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Crack!
The room was in shambles.
The sofa and the television were unrecognizable, and the marble floor was shattered.
Crack!
"But Gabriel couldn't land a single effective blow.
Only Ryu Min could get rid of him with his scythe.
"You damned brat!"
As Gabriel charged like a beast towards Raphael, he knew that if he couldn't protect him, he wouldn't have a chance.
"Why? Why am I being outdone by someone who can see three seconds into the future?"
During the battle, Gabriel felt frustration.
For him, with future sight abilities, it wasn't so difficult to foresee and block the scythe's trajectory.
But as the speed increased, it also became harder to predict the future.
As if his mind couldn't keep up with his body.
Thud!
When the scythe struck his body, Gabriel was pushed back.
He could maintain his balance with his wings, but his pride had already been wounded, and there was no way to recover it.
"Gabriel... my power..."
"Ten seconds and you're already done? Are ten seconds for you like ten hours?"
"Arrogance is piercing the sky!"
Whether he had heard Raphael's words or not, Gabriel was only focused on killing Black Scythe.
The chains that seemed to touch him but didn't made him even more desperate.
Crack! Crack!
Though they exchanged blows, Ryu Min had no intention whatsoever of killing these guys here.
He hadn't invoked the devil's blessing yet.
"It's not that I don't want to use it, it's just not the right time to use it."
To use the blessing, he had to activate the God of Death and increase his stats.
Only then could he obtain the maximum reward.
"But to use the death deity, I have to switch to the Thanatos helmet."
That meant taking off the assassin mask he was wearing.
"If I take off the mask, the current appearance of the lost helmet that I'm maintaining will disappear. There's a risk my brother will discover my identity."
There wouldn't be an issue if his brother, who had sympathy for Black Scythe, found out his identity, but it wasn't the right time.
He could explain his identity thoroughly later, once everything was resolved.
"For now, I have to avoid the battle. If I change the helmet in front of my brother, my identity will be discovered."
To do that, he first had to minimize the arcangel's power as much as possible.
Once he weakened him to the point of being on the brink of death, his brother would have time to escape.
But Gabriel was resisting better than expected.
He thought he would collapse soon, but it didn't happen.
"A slow debuff has been applied."
"Temporarily, attack and movement speed decrease by 30%."
With the sudden message, attack and movement speed noticeably decreased.
It was Raphael's doing.
"After several tries, it seems he finally succeeded."
The saint's blessing on Ryu Min's body also protected against status ailments, but it also blocked debuffs with a 50% chance.
"My resistance only applies to status ailments. I can't block debuffs."
Fortunately, thanks to the saint's blessing, it wasn't worse. If it weren't for that, he would have been affected by the debuffs from the beginning.
"Supporters are such nuisances."
Though he knew it was Raphael's doing, he couldn't easily approach.
Even if he defeated him, Gabriel would come back like a roast chicken to protect him.
Snap! Snap!
While dodging all the chains coming his way, Gabriel's eyes gleamed.
"Stop resisting, human!"
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