CHAPTER 96: CHAPTER 96 – KYLE VS ARMAN

Chapter 96 – Kyle vs Arman

"Arman is probably going to win."

"...What?"

"This is a fight Kyle is bound to lose."

Luke , who’d been watching Kyle’s battle with sparkling eyes, turned to Jhin in shock. He blinked in disbelief as if he’d just been told something unimaginable.

Jhin spoke again, calmly, "The summoned Kyle—judging by his gear—is probably in the high level 200s. But the opponent is a level 500-range monster. Just look—it’s clearly not in his favor."

"But... aren’t stat values standardized? Even if the level’s high, if the base stats are matched, then Arman —"

"It’s because it’s Arman that he can’t win."

Again: to fight a dragon-type monster, you need a dragon weapon. Without one, you can’t extinguish "Black Flame," let alone cut the creature’s lifeline.

Even if Kyle can match the stat difference somehow, he has no way to counter Arman ’s inherent traits.

You simply cannot kill a dragon without a dragon weapon.

That’s the unkillable race—the "dragonkin."

Which meant, without a doubt, that the Kyle in front of them couldn’t beat Arman .

It was a simple conclusion.

’Even I died to that thing once because I didn’t have a dragon weapon.’

At the time, his level had been 502—equal to Arman .

And even with three hours of play, he still died in the end.

The memory was rage-inducing.

Damn it. Even thinking about it now makes him mad.

Jhin muttered low, "A Kyle in the 200s wouldn’t have a dragon weapon. Which means he literally cannot win."

So their course of action was clear.

"Let’s move—while Kyle is still holding Arman down, we need to get the Goblin Orb."

He barked the order and took a deep breath, quickly scanning their surroundings.

Even ignoring Arman , things weren’t looking great.

’Even without Arman , there’s more than enough around here to kill us.’

RUMMMMBLE—

As a figure came crashing through straight ahead with a thunderous roar, Jhin narrowed his brows.

He’d figured this thing would show up eventually.

But seeing it up close, it still made him sigh.

"Everywhere I look, it’s me," Millie muttered.

KIAAAAH!

With a piercing roar, the doppelgänger—A Peculiar—stepped forward, blocking their path.

An added blow on top of everything else, cutting off the group’s retreat.

Of course. It couldn’t have just ended there.

Jhin suddenly felt the ground shaking.

But it wasn’t just the quaking from Arman and Kyle’s battle.

It wasn’t the collapsing buildings or the cracking concrete.

"...Monsters."

Because the clash between Arman and Kyle had drawn everyone’s attention, the monsters scattered across Bey World were now instinctively gathering—all toward them.

"Damn..."

Using Soft skills to scan the area, Jhin bit his lip.

There wasn’t even the smallest gap to escape through.

It looked like more monsters had shown up than back at the stage.

There wasn’t even a crack to slip through.

Then Millie said quietly, "Jhin . Now’s the time."

"Huh?"

"Show them who the real Peculiar is. It’s time for a mirror match."

Even Lykan and Luke turned toward him with eyes full of hope.

But when he saw the utter trust in Millie’s expression, Jhin couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head.

"That’s not gonna work."

"...You can’t do it?"

"No, I can. If I want to, I can become a Peculiar anytime. Honestly, I might even be able to end this entire situation much faster that way."

To become a peculiar, all he needed was enough "souls."

The goblin mask contained the souls of many—the ones sacrificed by Lykan.

If he wished, he could become it right now.

But doing so would mean abandoning the outcome he wanted.

’A Peculiar is a technique that consumes souls.’

Among the spirits sealed in the mask were the children who’d been conned by Neon.

If he couldn’t separate those souls beforehand, he had no business activating a Peculiar.

If he did, they’d all be extinguished.

’It’s a power I should avoid if at all possible.’

And not just because of that.

’A Peculiar is dangerously unstable.’

The last time he pushed it to the limit, he blacked out for two full days.

Until he fully understood its usage and structure, he couldn’t afford to overuse a skill with such deadly side effects.

’I need another solution.’

Monsters were forming a complete perimeter, with A Peculiar at the center.

If things kept going like this, they’d all be killed before they even got a glimpse of the bear mask again.

"But Jhin ... we don’t have time," Millie urged.

A Peculiar stepped forward.

It had grown a bit since last time—maybe from feeding. It glared at Jhin with terrifying intensity.

Did it grow stronger by devouring other monsters’ souls?

That seemed likely. It must’ve consumed others in the meantime to gain power.

’Is there really no way out of this? Is there no method to fix this without turning into a peculiar...?’

KRRRK... KRRRK...

As the monsters approached, Jhin felt the pressure mounting.

Time was up.

"Jhin !!"

KIAAAAARGH!!

That moment—

A Peculiar and the other monsters roared, brandishing their weapons as they prepared to charge.

And then.

From behind the monster horde—a bright light flared.

A beam of light burst outward, and the monsters split left and right in a panic, fleeing like the Red Sea parting.

Jhin instinctively shielded his eyes.

Then cautiously peeked through his fingers.

’...A car?’

It was absurd. But yes.

A beat-up jeep was roaring toward them, headlights blaring, engine growling like thunder.

VRROOOOOM!

The jeep tore through the mob, tires screeching as it slammed the brakes and drifted into a halt right in front of them.

The door flew open.

And from within, a frantic voice yelled out:

"This way! Get in!"

It was the missing Captain—Adonis.

He was reaching out his hand.

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