World's Strongest Survivor-Chapter 96

Solo Squad. Total Mayhem Battle.

Just then, the map revealed the AoE zone of the Azure Dragon over the central island.

The moment he saw it, Seowoon recalled the plan he’d only entertained in his mind until now.

He’d never dared try it before—for the sake of his teammates—but now the strategy to take down the epic monster snapped into place.

Seowoon had been watching closely, and the Azure Dragon always followed a similar pattern.

Once it appears, it won’t show up again for at least 24 hours.

And when it does, it unleashes a 30-minute storm of furious lightning before disappearing.

When it spawns, swarms of winged serpents appear nearby.

As Seowoon repeated those three facts in his head, his body faded into the darkness and disappeared.

He already knew from experience that the monkey bastard could see through his Cloak of Stealth.

And with the monster rampaging now, surviving the next 24 hours became Seowoon’s top priority.

"If I can get the timing right, I can set off the chaos bomb."

True to its legendary name, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven continued to rack up kill notifications all day.

Especially after slaughtering over a hundred players, the feed was flooded with reports of people getting toyed with by him.

As the game entered its final phase, the storm circle closed in aggressively.

On the second day of Seowoon’s long campout, the storm had twice forced players into more than half the central island.

From his nighttime scouting, Seowoon had spotted a 60-man teamer group in a standoff over the Agit Stone with a pair of twin squads.

"What the hell is that monkey thinking?!"

For some reason, the monkey bastard hadn’t killed anyone since yesterday.

While hiding in the valleys—terrain twisted with ponds and forested hills—Seowoon finally spotted what he’d been desperate to find.

A swarm of about ten winged serpents.

Flying low, heading somewhere with purpose—he cautiously trailed them. That’s when a voice rang out beside him.

"I knew we’d meet again."

The moment he heard the voice, Seowoon began chanting without even turning his head.

"Humni chinya chappa ha... humni chinya chappa ha... humchi humchi..."

The instant the incantation left his mouth, the Great Sage—who’d been flying next to Seowoon with an easy smirk, head propped in his hand—plummeted to the ground.

"Graaaagh!"

As the monster howled in agony, Seowoon called out in his mind.

’Hammit!’

—On it. On it.—

As the familiar spinning wheel appeared, Seowoon’s heart raced more desperately than ever.

—Trrrrr... DING! Resurrection. Kukuku, finally shows up! But uh, looks like your situation’s a bit too much for just one extra life. Well, use it well.—

The skill Seowoon had hoped for was Forced Strike.

He’d wanted something that could chain the monkey down, keep him away at all costs.

But what came out instead was Resurrection, the rarest skill on the wheel.

"It’ll do. Nothing pulls aggro better than this."

Seowoon couldn’t help but feel maybe—just maybe—this was the final piece for the chaos he’d been planning.

Even as he chased the winged snakes, he recited Gingojoo over and over again.

Each time, like magic, the monkey would falter somewhere nearby with a scream.

"You damn brat! You still don’t know what the endgame’s like!"

Above the monkey’s head, Gingoa appeared, clear as day.

Clutching his head with both hands, the bastard kept chasing Seowoon doggedly.

"Your powers must be nerfed on this island, huh? You’re way weaker than off-island."

Having already accepted death, Seowoon openly taunted him.

"YOU LITTLE—! How dare a mere human—!"

Enraged by the truth, the monkey stomped hard, and his form instantly closed the gap between them.

Just as he reached out to grab Seowoon—

Gingojoo rang out again.

"Rrraaagh!"

Watching the trembling but advancing monster, Seowoon tore open a healing scroll—and his face drained of color.

The monkey’s hand had barely grazed him—and his wrist was gone.

Even after ripping open three scrolls in a row, the severed hand didn’t regenerate.

Clenching his teeth as he stared at the awkwardly lost left hand, Seowoon regained his color with one thought in mind.

He hesitated for a moment—should he keep chasing the serpents?—but then he checked the map and bolted toward the Agite Stone at the center.

The players preparing for a final showdown over the stone turned with puzzled expressions at the sight of Seowoon approaching. Then, they spotted what was chasing him.

The last few survivors blanched at the sight of the Great Sage right on his heels.

The monkey, meanwhile, was gradually adapting to the first part of Gingojoo, stumbling less, and drawing closer to Seowoon step by step.

"Shouldn’t we bail now...?"

As one teammate muttered, Berus began to nod—when Skers spoke up.

"Wait. Doesn’t that look... weird?"

He seemed to grasp something instinctively about the way the Great Sage ignored everything else and chased only Seowoon.

"Kukuku... Tried to pay him back and got bitten instead, huh?"

A smirk curled on Berus’s lips—right as Seowoon dashed past both squads, cutting through the two battle lines.

Neither side made a move. They just watched.

"Must be desperate if he’s running right into the Azure Dragon’s spawn zone. Can’t even check the map anymore?"

A mocking scoff floated through the air.

Every player knew it now: the end was near.

Just as the two forces prepared to clash in a 60 vs. 8 brawl—

The moment Seowoon entered the Azure Dragon’s zone at the very edge of the storm circle, Sun Wukong roared:

"You think you can hide behind the Azure Dragon?!"

"You talk too much, monkey!"

As soon as he spoke, the sky dimmed—the storm had begun.

Lightning started to churn above.

At the same time, the hidden serpents all around sprang into the air with savage shrieks.

Seowoon mounted one of them, and the Great Sage followed suit.

The snake, trying to shake Seowoon off, suddenly calmed the moment Seowoon transformed into the monkey himself.

"Fly to the Azure Dragon!"

Trembling with fear, the creature dared not defy the monkey’s command—and soared skyward.

—CRAAAAACK!

The Azure Dragon’s wrath had begun.

As they rose higher, lightning arcing around him, Seowoon squinted against the wind.

When he pierced through the thick clouds and glimpsed the massive, writhing form of the Azure Dragon, his heart pounded.

Primal fear constricted his chest.

"No turning back now."

Gripping Hammit—now transformed into a staff—he dove toward the dragon’s head.

Even the Great Sage, who’d managed to catch up so far, couldn’t follow anymore.

"What the hell are you trying to do, you lunatic?!"

When Seowoon reached about 20 meters above the dragon’s head, his eyes widened.

There it was.

A single reverse scale, embedded backward beneath the dragon’s fluttering mane.

In that instant, Hammit extended—and struck it dead-on.

—BOOM!

With every ounce of inner power Seowoon could muster, the staff slammed into the inverted scale.

The Azure Dragon flipped its body and let out a deafening shriek.

—KUHHHAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

The roar was so overwhelming that even the players mid-battle turned instinctively toward it.

"You overgrown gecko! What are you gonna do?!!!"

Even as his whole body trembled from the force of the roar, Seowoon shouted back with everything he had.

Then, grabbing the winged serpent’s head, he yelled urgently:

"Run! Our lives are tied together now!"

The heat of battle, just moments from climax, froze in an instant.

Weapons lowered, players turned toward the sky, their faces gradually draining of blood.

"No way..."

In life-and-death combat, losing focus is rare.

But that roar—the primal, mind-rattling sound—and the sight of the Azure Dragon emerging from the clouds made it impossible to stay engaged.

"W-What the hell is going on?"

As the dragon followed Seowoon toward the gathered players, the faces of the Skers and Berus brothers went pale.

"That lunatic..."

"R-Run..."

Before Berus could even give the order, Seowoon shouted.

With a voice echoing like thunder, inner power roaring in his lungs, he hurled himself off the serpent and charged the Azure Dragon head-on.

—I am a decoy! You dumb lizard!!!

CRACKLE!

As Seowoon swung the Ruyi Jingu Bang, he was struck by lightning right in front of the Azure Dragon’s face. His entire body turned pitch-black as it was scorched.

Nobody paid attention to his corpse as it fell to the ground.

The furious gaze of the Azure Dragon shifted toward Jecheon Daeseong, who only gritted his teeth and cursed the now-dead Seowoon while tightening his grip on the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

ROOAARRRR!

"I told you, it wasn’t me! What? Monkey?! You damn lizard bastard!"

Covering his ears from the thunderous roar, Jecheon Daeseong somehow seemed to understand the dragon’s words and shouted back as he charged forward.

"E-everyone, fall back! Get out of the blast zone!"

Red lightning rained down like a storm, and as the titans began their clash, players tried to scatter in all directions—but escaping wasn’t easy.

The massive Azure Dragon thrashed the ground as it fought Jecheon Daeseong, making it impossible to judge which direction was safe.

To make matters worse, red lightning bolts kept striking the field, one after another, increasing the chaos.

"Gah!"

Meanwhile, Seowoon—who had revived in his original form—rolled across the ground and quickly pulled out his Cloak of Stealth, draping it over himself.

"Master. This is utter chaos."

As Hamit said, the scene of the giant Azure Dragon rampaging everywhere was chaos itself.

Even in that madness, Seowoon’s eyes locked onto the Agitation Stone.

’It’s not over yet.’

The moment Seowoon risked his life to reach the stone and laid his hand on it, a system notification chimed:

[Ding! The Agitation Stone is activating. This stone has already been triggered by another squad. Activation time is reduced.]

"Who is it?! Guard the Agitation Stone!" freēnovelkiss.com

Someone shouted, but with chaos all around, defending the Agitation Stone was nearly impossible.

***

"Holy crap... He’s actually doing that?"

Hearing Kichan’s words, the others watching the screen gulped hard.

"That’s insane. No matter how you look at it, that’s a suicidal move!"

Dump shouted in disbelief.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Still, no one could take their eyes off Seowoon’s play.

His reckless charge into a situation everyone called suicidal had them glued to the screen, hands sweating in suspense.

When he finally revived and reached the Agitation Stone, Limine’s eyes widened in shock.

"No way..."

"If we’d known this would happen, we should’ve taken another support island!"

Dump cried out, frustrated—but it was already too late.

No one could’ve predicted it would come to this.

***

"We need to head to the Agitation Stone!"

"Are you crazy? We’ll die if we go now!"

"Even if we run, our chances of surviving aren’t much better!"

BOOM!

As the two argued, the Azure Dragon’s head slammed into the ground right next to them, shaking the earth.

Scurse was hit by one of the dragon’s horns and went flying, crashing violently into the ground. Verus winced and turned toward the Agitation Stone.

Through the growing darkness, the glowing Agitation Stone came into view.

Even as he flinched from the flashing lightning, he stared at the stone—but couldn’t see a single player nearby.

He immediately thought of the Cloak of Stealth and drew his blazing sword, breaking into a run.

As his blade slashed horizontally to bisect someone in hiding, Seowoon’s figure appeared from the shadows, blocking it just in time.

Screeech!

With one hand clutching the Agitation Stone and the other barely deflecting the sword, Seowoon was thrown to the side like a leaf in the wind.

It was only because he held onto the Agitation Stone tightly that he wasn’t completely blown away.

"Cough!"

Blood poured from his mouth as his internal energy twisted painfully.

"You crazy bastard! It was you!"

Verus glared at Seowoon, eyes blazing with fury.

"An eye for an eye, asshole."

Despite the blood dribbling from his lips, Seowoon smiled.

"This whole mess is because of you, and you still have the nerve to smile? I’ll split you in half!"

Even with a flaming sword falling toward his head, Seowoon didn’t close his eyes.

-CLANG!

With a clear metallic ring, the blade that should’ve cleaved him bounced off.

"Damn, I’m buffed to hell."

[All base stats increased by 5x. All special stats increased by 2x.]

The sword falling from above felt so slow, it seemed like he could dodge it three times over before it hit.

ZZZZZZZAP!

As he extended his Bloodbone Claws, he shredded Verus’s armored arm like paper.

"VERUS!!!"

Scurse finally arrived and swung at Seowoon.

CLANG!

This time, Seowoon didn’t budge. He stood firm like a giant tree rooted to the earth.

CRUNCH!

Grabbing the blocked sword with his hand, he snapped it. Scurse’s face hardened.

Verus glanced at his blood-soaked arm and shook his head.

"That’s not a buff—that’s a cheat."

No words were needed.

Instead of replying, Seowoon launched forward.

He felt like a gust of wind as he moved—so fast the two couldn’t even track him with their eyes.

CRACK! SLASH!

Verus’s helmet shattered, and his breastplate was torn apart.

It was just stat boosts, but Seowoon felt like he had ascended to another level.

Without hesitation, he spun and dashed toward enemies just beginning to turn around, when a shadow loomed overhead.

KRA-KOOM!

The massive body of the Azure Dragon crashed down where his enemies had just stood, leaving Verus and Scurse stunned.

"He’s dead, right?"

"No one could survive being crushed like that."

As the dragon moved away, and there was no sign of Seowoon, the two tensed—until suddenly, killing intent rained down upon their heads.

CLANG!

Barely managing to block with their swords, their knees were driven into the dirt from the force.

This technique hadn’t worked on Scurse before, but now it had.

SCREEECH!

As Seowoon’s fingertips turned red, their weapons let out painful cries.

"Now!"

The two kicked outward at the same time, trying to push him away. But in midair, Seowoon flipped and kicked them both in the chest.

Staggering back, they looked up to see Seowoon launch forward like the wind, unleashing Wind Step.

CLANG!

Following up with Phantom Step, the two had no way to defend.

Even dealing with one of him was tough—but twelve afterimages zipped past them like specters.

SLASH!

Each time the real Seowoon passed, their armor was shredded.

Realizing they couldn’t win like this, Verus jumped and let out a blue aura, intending to slam his sword into the ground.

But Seowoon appeared in front of him instantly and punched the blade.

Counter Strike.

With his current strength, it would work perfectly.

As expected, Verus’s sword was deflected sideways, revealing his unguarded chest as he dropped.

THWACK!

Seowoon’s fist pierced through Verus’s chest and burst out his back.

Blood gushed from Verus’s mouth as his head slumped forward.

WHOOSH!

As a falling blade came down toward him again, Seowoon countered once more, and Scurse’s face contorted in shock.

CRUNCH!

Without even listening to whatever Skers was mumbling with his twitching lips, Seowoon smashed his head in.

Some players who witnessed Seowoon’s brutal strike hesitated and just watched him from a distance.

Meanwhile, the safe zone was shrinking, and there weren’t many places left to run.

And so began a 2v1 match.

Riding on the body of the Azure Dragon, Seowoon launched a punch at the Monkey King.

At first, the Azure Dragon seemed to try shaking off Seowoon, but upon recognizing their common enemy, it moved to aid him instead.

"Humnichinya-chapha..."

Chanting the incantation, Seowoon poured a barrage of attacks onto the monkey’s hardened body.

Bang! Crack!

Knocking the enemy into the air, Seowoon landed again on the prepared back of the Azure Dragon, and the Monkey King started to go berserk.

"You damn human!!!"

Crack-BOOM!

A crimson lightning bolt struck the Monkey King squarely.

White smoke rose from his fur-covered body, now bristling with rage.

It was obvious he had lost all sense of reason in his fury.

Even as the Monkey King flew at him swinging the Ruyi Staff, Seowoon could clearly read his movement.

His speed was incredible—but not unmanageable.

KAANG!

The Ruyi Staff struck Seowoon’s arm, sending a deep vibration through it.

As they clashed atop the Azure Dragon, their expressions contrasted sharply.

Seowoon, who blocked the Ruyi Staff, twisted his lips into a grin, while the Monkey King looked wide-eyed in shock.

"This buff is cracked."

Rip!

The Monkey King’s armor tore, exposing his shoulder.

For the first time, the Monkey King flinched and backed away, yelling in frustration.

"If it weren’t for the suppression seal!"

Unable to unleash his full strength due to the island’s suppression rule, the Monkey King roared in fury—but for Seowoon, this was perfect.

The Azure Dragon’s massive tail slammed down like a whip on the Monkey King’s head.

BOOM!

Seowoon dropped down right on top of him.

He struck down with a punch, but the Monkey King, though hit, sprang right back up.

"Damn, you’re tough."

Seowoon clenched and unclenched his aching fist, stepping back and shaking his hand.

"I’ll chew you to pieces!"

Kaang! Kakaang!

Each time Seowoon blocked the Ruyi Staff, the impact rattled his bones.

The pain kept increasing, and the internal injuries he had suppressed with temporary inner strength began to flare up again.

Just then, another lightning bolt struck the Monkey King.

This time, Seowoon moved only his lips.

"Humnichinya-chapha..."

"KRAAAAGH!"

The Monkey King screamed in agony as his singed fur exposed strange, flickering runes on his shoulder.

At the same moment, Seowoon’s Bloodbone Spear shot into that shoulder.

CRACK!

For the first time, his attack penetrated the Monkey King’s body.

Instead of blood, the stone-like petrification spread from the shoulder across the Monkey King’s body—Seowoon instinctively knew the fight was over.

As the petrified Monkey King collapsed, the Azure Dragon looked down at Seowoon, who had fought by its side.

After a moment of awkward eye contact, the dragon turned away as if yielding the final blow to him.

It let out a sky-shaking roar and ascended with its wounded body.

Still, the Monkey King raged to the end.

"A mere human thinks he can step over me?!"

"A damn monkey still dares to yap? I nearly died because of you."

BOOM!

Seowoon drove his Bloodbone Spear into the Monkey King’s skull with full force—but it only buzzed in his hand. Not a scratch.

"So this monster wasn’t meant to be truly killable, huh."

He stomped the monkey’s still-chattering mouth shut and slammed a punch into his already stiffening body.

"Mmmph! MMPH!!"

CRACK!

With a devastating Fist of No Mercy blow to the chest, the Monkey King’s torso shattered. His body vanished into white smoke.

[Ding! The clone of the Epic Monster ’Monkey King’ has been defeated. Glory to Squad Jin Seowoon!]

As the battle ended, instead of fleeing, the gathered enemies stared hungrily at the items dropped from the Monkey King.

20 to 1.

Was it greed for loot?

They seemed to think they had a chance.

It was clear they figured, If we’re going down anyway, might as well grab something.

In the battle that followed, Seowoon killed all but one player—barely letting that one cling to life.

[You have acquired part of the Monkey King’s Soul Stone.]

[You have acquired the second half of the Humnichinya Chant.]

[You have acquired the Monkey King’s Illusion Magic.]

Stashing the three items into his dimensional storage, he began leisurely looting the surrounding chests.

"Oh! This martial art?"

A player with limbs twisted in every direction watched Seowoon pitifully as he casually walked around the war-torn field, opening chests.

"Might be something useful for Ki-chan..."

After scooping up all the items one by one, Seowoon crushed the skull of the last enemy underfoot.

[Ding-ding-ding-ding! Cloyd Survival has ended.]

[Ta-da-da-da-daaa! Congratulations on becoming the final squad!

You have earned the right to participate in the next game.]

You will receive the first major reward in this game.

[T/L: Read extra Chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]