NOVEL'S EXTRA: I Will Die at the Peak-Chapter 71: Ravien vs Welto [ part 2]

The wolves were completely silent.

Their eyes stayed locked on Ravien, trying not to miss even the slightest movement.

Their fur had bristled slightly, ears flattened back.

A thick, invisible tension hung in the air.

The dense crimson substance released by the parasite began to slowly spread the moment it touched the ground.

Welto, highly sensitive to scent, reacted to the increasingly sharp and strange odor.

His breath paused for a moment, his expression tensed.

He narrowed his eyes and instinctively took a step back.

As the liquid continued to spread, it began to take on a distinct form.

Contours emerged. Edges sharpened.

Within moments, piece by piece, body parts started to take shape: shoulders, back, head, torso—

a silhouette formed entirely out of fluid.

Ravien’s body had completely transformed.

He now stood nearly two meters tall.

The structure still resembled a human, but it had lost all natural appearance.

His muscles were well-defined, but his skin was rough and dark crimson, with veins curling near the surface.

Four horn-like structures protruded from his head, formed entirely from dark red fluid.

They curved outward, and from within them extended thin, forked tendrils.

The semi-solid substance had begun to harden, settling into a stable shape.

His face was completely gone.

No eyes, no nose—only a wide, lipless mouth remained, constantly moving.

His chest and abdomen were covered in red eyes.

Different in size, scattered chaotically—some sunken deep, others bulging outward.

Behind him, a wave of dark crimson mist hovered.

Its shape was undefined, its presence faint, but it created a heavy atmosphere around Ravien.

His arms were slightly spread open.

From the tips of his fingers, thin crimson thread-like structures hung loosely.

---

(POV: Ravien)

This felt... strange.

My arms, my legs, my entire body were covered in a dark red fluid.

It clung to my skin, but it felt like it was seeping inward.

There was a slight tickling sensation.

When I stood still, it spread through me in gentle waves.

Not unpleasant—just unfamiliar.

But the most surprising thing... was my vision.

A thin layer of black fluid coated my eyelids.

It didn’t blind me—on the contrary, I could see everything around me with flawless clarity.

And not just with my two eyes...

But with the dozens of eyes that had appeared on my chest and abdomen.

They were all open.

They all worked at once.

No blind spots.

I could see the wolves shifting in the dirt, the cracked skin of a burned corpse, even the subtle tremble in Asogi’s distant body—all at the same time.

I could move freely.

There was no weight in my joints—not even the slightest drag.

This form felt as if it had belonged to me for years—natural and seamless.

Every muscle responded instantly to my intent.

No resistance. Only unity.

Upon seeing Ravien’s new form, Welto dropped to all fours.

His eyes widened, his body tensed.

His breaths came in short bursts, claws digging deep into the earth.

Ravien didn’t move, but he was observing carefully.

Even without eyes, he scanned the surroundings flawlessly through the organic ocular extensions scattered across his body.

Aside from a few subtle muscle shifts, he remained entirely still.

A single thought echoed inside Welto’s mind:

"What happened to him? That strange fluid consumed him... and turned him into this.

Or... was this his true form all along?"

Ravien stayed motionless a little longer.

Then, all the sensory points distributed across his body converged on a single target: Welto.

The movement was simultaneous—no signal was given, no warning shown, yet all focus aligned at once.

Welto’s fur stood on end the moment he felt dozens of unseen gazes fixate on him.

His claws dug even deeper into the soil.

He let out a low, rattling breath.

Then Ravien opened his mouth.

His voice was muffled and metallic—resonating with a dull, hollow depth:

"I feel incredible.

This living armor... has finally completed the part of me that was missing.

Now... it’s time to test it."

And at that moment, he took his first step.

---

The instant Ravien stepped forward, the black soil cracked.

At the same time, he briefly lost contact with the ground—vanishing like a shadow.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared directly in front of Welto, his right fist raised and clenched.

Welto reacted on pure instinct, leaping to the side.

The moment Ravien’s fist struck the earth, the ground shattered—dry soil broke open, releasing thick, black smoke.

As he regained his footing, Welto never took his eyes off Ravien.

And in that moment, a ripple ran across Ravien’s outer layer.

Welto didn’t miss it—he lunged, opening his jaws wide, and lunged toward Ravien’s flank.

Just as he neared Ravien’s side, an eye opened along the surface of the outer layer.

Ravien had sensed the attack before it even began.

The outer layer at that spot suddenly split open, and from within, a massive mouth formed entirely of red fluid surged outward—nearly a meter in diameter.

Welto dodged at the last second, veering away from a direct collision.

Still, a few drops of the thick, living substance splattered onto his fur.

The liquid began to corrode the area it touched, dissolving the hairs upon contact.

Welto quickly pulled back, his breath coming in sharp, short bursts.

He landed to the side, claws digging into the dirt as he regained his balance.

The clotted mouth on Ravien’s surface retracted and disappeared.

He had returned to a more humanoid shape—yet the surface of his body still writhed with subtle movement.

Ravien reflected on what had just happened.

His expression tensed slightly as he recalled that strange mouth emerging from within him.

He murmured quietly to himself:

"That was... odd. I didn’t create that mouth.

Which means the parasite is filling in my unstructured gaps on its own.

And this whole shapeshifting thing... I’m starting to like it."

He flexed his hands slightly.

He felt the thread-like structures at his fingertips retract.

Suddenly, from the center of his palm, a sword began to form—graceful, blood-red, and twisting upward.

The liquid hadn’t fully solidified, yet it held its shape without wavering.

The blade shimmered and trembled faintly.

Ravien stepped forward with his right leg, left leg trailing behind.

He shifted his weight forward slightly, lowering the sword in his right hand to his side.

He tilted his head, scanning the surroundings with the eyes scattered across his body.

"Omicron Sword Techniques: Order."

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then—Ravien vanished.

Only a few crimson droplets remained in his wake.

Welto’s ears flattened.

His gaze darted rapidly from side to side.

A thought flashed through his mind:

"He’s coming from the left."

He threw himself to the right.

The sound of shattering earth roared in his ears.

Ravien was much faster than he had expected.

Welto forced his muscles to shift direction purely on willpower—

but it was still too late.

"No... I have to minimize the damage.

If I don’t, this ends here."

Ravien swung his sword downward toward the ground—

then immediately slashed upward in one fluid motion.

The blade carved a clean line through the air.

The atmosphere split on either side of the slash—

a nearly invisible pressure wave pulsed outward.

Welto twisted in mid-air, but he couldn’t dodge in time.

The blade sliced through his left arm from shoulder to paw.

A hot, searing pain spread through his body.

When he landed, he clenched his teeth.

His left arm drooped to the side, fur bristling wildly.

A few steps away, Ravien stood still—his sword resting casually on his shoulder,

his eyes fixed on Welto.

Ravien opened his mouth wide.

From within, a thin, elongated tongue slithered out.

It hovered briefly in the air, making a slow circle, then retreated back into his mouth.

Moments later, Ravien’s muffled voice murmured a few words—

spoken in a strange, incomprehensible language.

"Hoo... I didn’t expect you to dodge that.

Come on, let’s keep going.

This fight is turning out to be quite fun."

As soon as the sentence ended, a subtle tremor rippled through his body.

The scattered eyes across his form gleamed momentarily, shining more intensely than before.

He moved again—

but this time, he didn’t vanish like before.

Instead, the air around him shimmered slightly—

as if it had been torn open—

and he reappeared in front of Welto, just a few steps away, suspended in the space between.

This time, Welto didn’t retreat.

Focusing on Ravien’s motion, he clenched his right claw tightly.

The moment Ravien reappeared, Welto lunged forward.

His target: Ravien’s chest—specifically, the area covered in eyes.

The claw reached its mark with speed.

But Ravien didn’t raise his sword.

His eyes narrowed slightly, his body unmoving.

He tilted his head and offered the faintest smile.

"Go on... show me.

Show me what you’ll do."

Just as Welto’s claw touched the chest area— dozens of slender, crimson structures

exploded outward from Ravien’s abdomen.

They were a chaotic mix of thick and thin tendrils,

writhing in multiple directions at once.

In a split second, the tendrils latched onto Welto’s limbs—

each one attaching to a different point on his body.

There was a moment of stillness.

Then—

at the tips of those tendrils, small openings appeared—

lined with sharp, slicing edges.

They opened in unison, all at once—

and tore away tiny fragments of flesh from Welto’s body.

Welto instinctively tried to pull back—

but a strange heaviness had overtaken his limbs.

His movements were sluggish.

Something inside him was being drained.

That’s when realization struck:

"They’re not eating me...

They’re stealing my energy."

The weight in his body increased.

His breath caught in his throat.

His senses dulled, as if a fog was closing in on his mind.

His body was still upright,

but his awareness...

was starting to vanish.