Chapter 257. The Ninth Floor of the Tower of Magic (4)
Coco sneered inwardly, finding it utterly ridiculous.
‘This guy is truly something else, isn’t he?’
To think he was doing this when he’d just started wielding a Holy Sword.
He was someone who defied all expectations.
What was even more shocking was that she hadn’t noticed anything until the situation had escalated to this point.
‘He hid it so meticulously.’
For someone to analyze her to such an extent and replicate her at this level, there should have been some signs that slipped out, even subconsciously.
Yet, there were none from Yuri.
‘If there were, I would have noticed.’
For him to ‘learn’ and ‘master’ her moves so perfectly while avoiding her gaze was something that deserved not just praise… but admiration.
Furthermore, Coco immediately understood why Yuri had done such a thing.
‘He’s a smart guy; he must have realized it long ago.’
Why couldn’t he catch up to her when he wasn’t slower than her?
And what he needed to win this fight.
‘You’re trying to analyze my Domain, aren’t you?’
He was imitating her to analyze the unknown force called the ‘Domain.’
Coco was convinced of this.
And in some ways, it was a plausible idea.
But…
‘Will that be enough?’
Imitating someone didn’t mean you could replicate everything.
Moreover, how could one completely replicate an ability when the person they were imitating was on a higher level than them?
‘Especially if that ability involves the absolute perception of a Domain.’
Coco had every reason to be certain of this.
The Martial Arts of Strength, Precision, and Magic.
These were categorized from Official Rank 1 to 6, dealing within the scope of matching wave frequencies.
However, from Official Rank 7 onwards, the scope completely changed.
To put it in perspective, if Official Ranks 1 through 6 were like having the same test subjects, Rank 7 was like taking a completely different exam.
And now, Yuri, merely at Official Rank 6, was trying to analyze her Domain by imitating her?
It was no different from trying to solve a problem you’d never studied.
‘It seems like a trump card you’ve devised after much contemplation… but merely imitating me won’t bridge the gap between us.’
Confident in her belief, Coco remained at ease.
However, that ease was shattered in just one move.
Swoosh—
Yuri’s hand traced a circle in the air.
Yuri’s hand traced a circle in the air.
It halted briefly before starting to move.
‘Is it coming?’
Coco predicted the path and movements of Yuri’s hand and prepared herself in advance.
Her own hand drew a short arc in response.
Under normal circumstances, that alone should have allowed Coco to outpace Yuri by half a beat.
But an unexpected turn of events occurred.
Swoosh—
Yuri’s hand moved much faster than Coco had anticipated.
He caught up with the half-beat gap that Coco had created.
“……?!”
Startled, Coco tried to predict Yuri’s movements again and shifted her body, but Yuri, as if knowing this, kept up with her.
Seeing Yuri repeatedly catching up to her movements, Coco was astonished.
‘What the hell is this?!’
Yuri hadn’t opened a Domain.
Yet, he moved as if he were controlling a Domain.
‘How?!’
Yuri’s movements defied everything Coco knew.
As she was caught off guard, Yuri smiled inwardly.
‘It worked!’
Coco had been convinced that Yuri was simply trying to analyze the unknown element of the Domain.
But that was only half the truth.
Yuri didn’t intend to stop at merely analyzing the unknown aspect of the Domain.
He aimed to fully analyze, utilize, and ultimately make the mysterious power of the Domain his own.
‘There’s no way I’m letting such a golden opportunity slip by!’
The Domain.
No one had taught Yuri how to open it.
But he could see it.
Right in front of him, there was someone who had reached the peak of this lofty realm and was showing him exactly how to use it.
With such an excellent textbook right before his eyes, there was no need to search far for answers.
So, Yuri decided to imitate.
All of Coco.
Her thoughts, actions, habits—he studied and mastered everything to find out what the Domain was and how it activated.
He believed that if he imitated a thousand times, ten thousand times, he would eventually get the hang of it…
In some ways, it was a crude method, but given the 99-day time limit Yuri had, there was no other option.
And after relentlessly pursuing this clumsy approach for 49 days, Yuri finally glimpsed a small clue.
‘Did I really see it?’
He saw something.
But even Yuri wasn’t sure what it was.
It felt like grasping at vague, floating clouds.
He had a sense of how to use the Domain, but he couldn’t articulate it clearly.
All he could do was apply what he had learned.
But another problem arose there.
‘How do I use this?’
Yuri had vaguely grasped how to handle the Domain by watching Coco manipulate it, but the issue was that Yuri couldn’t open a Domain himself.
Yuri’s current state was highly abnormal and distorted.
It was like skipping the initial steps of 1, 2, and 3, and only learning from step 3.
If someone had known Yuri’s state, they would have said it was nonsense.
How could one grasp step 3 without the preceding steps 1 and 2?
Without understanding the Domain, how could someone who couldn’t even deploy it possibly manipulate it?
Yet, through sheer tenacity and monstrous talent, the seemingly impossible happened.
And an even more absurd event followed.
Yuri, who hadn’t obtained the Domain, filled the gap in steps 1 and 2 with the cards he had.
[This Domain is something that can only be acquired through countless experiences and effort… but you’re different. If it’s Magic Flow, you may not be able to mimic it 100%, but you can replicate something close. Maybe around 40%? Well… honestly, it might be more like 30%……]
Johan’s past advice.
Using that as a foundation, Yuri created the Spider’s Web of Magic Flow.
He used it to substitute the unknown power of the Domain.
A so-called Pseudo-Domain.
And its effect surpassed Yuri’s expectations.
‘I can see it… No, I can feel it!’
How should he describe this?
A sixth sense?
Or perhaps a hyper sense?
In the pseudo-Domain created by the Spider’s Web of Magic Flow, all of Coco’s movements became readable.
The flow of her breath.
The sensations of her twisting bones and muscles.
Even the flow created by Coco’s mana waves.
The moment Yuri applied the method he had stolen from Coco’s Domain manipulation to the Spider’s Web of Magic Flow, a new world opened up before him.
A massive influx of information rushed in.
It flowed without any blockages.
It organized itself naturally, forming a kind of future vision.
A future vision of Coco’s movements.
Experiencing this firsthand, Yuri finally understood why he couldn’t catch up to Coco.
‘No wonder I kept losing!’
What good was it to predict moves with precision?
When the quantity and quality of information received were so different.
And when the resulting output was also different!
‘If this pseudo-Domain is about 30-40% of the real thing…!’
Then just how powerful was a true Domain?
He couldn’t easily fathom that level, but he was sure of one thing.
‘Anyone below Official Rank 6… will never even touch the hem of a Rank 7 inside the Domain.’
The Domain, a perception so precise it created future visions.
For anyone below Official Rank 6, it was an insurmountable wall.
‘This is… a power I must acquire no matter what!’
Even if it was currently just a pseudo-Domain, it was a power he had to obtain one day.
But first, before anything else, he needed to escape this wretched tower.
And at this moment, Yuri was facing the opportunity to escape the tower right in front of him.
Swoosh—
In the gray world.
Coco’s silhouette appeared as if drawn in thin blue pen lines.
No sooner had the blue silhouette of Coco shown herself than she moved to the right.
Yuri’s eyes flashed as he sensed this.
‘There!’
Slash—!
Thunder Wing unfolded, and his sword slashed through where Coco’s blue silhouette had moved.
The instant the gray world returned to its original color.
The real Coco began to overlay over the blue silhouette where she had just moved.
Yuri’s pseudo-Domain had translated his sensory future vision into reality.
‘Damn… It worked!’
Yuri was sure of it.
This time, it had worked perfectly.
With this, he could finally escape this wretched tower.
And then.
Sssss—.
A deep breath was taken in one go.
The cigarette burned fiercely as a result.
Sizzle—!
And eventually, the red ember touched the boundary line.
At nearly the same moment, Yuri withdrew his sword and took a big step back.
Coco also stopped moving, standing still.
“…….”
“…….”
The silence hung between them.
In that brief stillness, the sound of Coco exhaling deeply from her lungs was heard.
Whoosh—
As the thick smoke dispersed into the air.
The area near Coco’s shoulder had a 15cm slash in her clothes, flapping in the wind.
Yuri’s sword had finally sliced through her clothing.
However.
“Ptoo.”
Yuri spat to the side with an irritated expression.
Coco, on the other hand, smirked.
Their contrasting expressions spoke volumes about the outcome of
the recent fight.
Coco smiled with her eyes as she spoke first.
“You admit it, right? That your sword was slower than the time limit?”
“…Your lung capacity is something else.”
Yuri’s lips twisted in frustration.
His attack had worked perfectly.
Yuri had been certain that he could escape this miserable tower.
But he had only been half correct.
His attack had indeed landed.
However, just before his sword could cut Coco’s clothes, Coco inhaled her cigarette all at once, and the ember reached the boundary line first.
Almost at the exact same time.
But both Yuri and Coco had seen it clearly.
The ember had reached the line before the sword.
Yuri felt like tearing his hair out in frustration.
‘Damn, I should’ve argued!’
They were so close that he should’ve contested it.
But he’d been so annoyed in the moment that he couldn’t maintain his composure.
Anyone could see that he had accepted he was slower.
Now, it was too late to argue.
Still, Yuri decided to protest.
“Hey, isn’t that a bit unfair? How can you just rush the time limit like that?”
“Hm? So, you’re trying to make a fuss and complain?”
“…….”
“Hehe, did I cheat in any way? I clearly said it would be until I finished the cigarette, didn’t I? Whether I smoked it fast or slow, that’s my choice, isn’t it?”
“…Damn it.”
With his protest falling on deaf ears, all Yuri could do was mutter a quiet curse and resign himself.
‘Ha… Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy.’
If Yuri had a pseudo-Domain, Coco had the real Domain.
There was no way she wouldn’t have anticipated her shoulder getting slashed.
But.
‘Still, the fact that Coco chose to end this round by burning through her cigarette… it means that my pseudo-Domain really pushed her to a close call.’
Didn’t that imply Coco had felt significant danger in this round?
‘Alright!’
That was enough.
It meant there was hope.
‘Yeah, if I did it once… why can’t I do it twice?’
Yuri found the current situation encouraging.
His plan and efforts had worked, so if he kept at it, he was sure he could eventually escape this miserable tower.
…Until Coco spoke again.
“It seems I really underestimated you.”
“It seems I really underestimated you.”
With that, Coco pulled out a new cigarette.
Ordinarily, the next step would be to take out a match.
But this time was different.
“Maybe I should start getting a bit serious now?”
Coco’s right hand moved to her back.
And soon after, what she pulled out was not a match, but something else.
Two long silver metal rods, much larger than matches.
As Coco gripped the rods with each hand and pulled them apart sideways.
Snap—
A gray chain stretched taut between the short metal rods.
Seeing this, Yuri murmured softly.
“…Nunchucks?”
Right after his muttering, Coco’s nunchucks began to spin furiously.
Whoosh—.
Silver afterimages formed around Coco as the whirlwind stirred.
Then they disappeared under her armpit.
Snap—
Coco gripped one end of the rod with her right hand and tucked the other rod under her right armpit.
She extended her left hand toward Yuri and gave a light beckon.
“Come at me.”
Vrrrr—
A black woman squinting with a cigarette in her mouth.
With just the addition of a pair of nunchucks, the pressure she exerted was on a different level.
“…….”
The fierce red aura stinging his eyes made Yuri mutter in despair.
“Damn it…”
Once was possible, so why not twice?
‘Yeah… I can’t do it twice.’
The difficulty had just skyrocketed.
“…Shit.”
He thought he’d beaten the final boss, only for the real final boss to pop up—one that was even stronger…