Chapter 221

Ding.

System

You have achieved the Achievement Manifestation of Qi!

This is truly an outstanding achievement! An Achievement reward will be granted!

Spear Energy is now available!

The effect of Unaffected by a Hundred Poisons has taken root in your body!

You have acquired a large amount of EXP!

Level Up!

Level Up!

You have acquired 100 additional Bonus Points!

The System notifications echoed in my ears like a ringing bell. But my gaze remained fixed solely on the spear.

Ssssss.

Blue flames flickered over the spearhead. A thrilling shiver surged up my spine.

I did it.

Today, I had taken one step toward a higher realm and conquered one of the peaks of the perilous mountain known as martial arts.

At the same time, I became certain.

I can kill it.

No further thoughts or words were necessary. All that remained was the action that would turn years of waiting into reality.

But I wasn’t the only one waiting for this moving reunion.

The creature with its single eye wide open let out a roar filled with fury.

—Kraaaaaaaah!

No, it was closer to a thunderous boom than a roar.

Gooooooom—

The tremendous air pressure pouring from a maw large enough to swallow a car whole crushed down upon the ground. Compressed air burst around me, and it felt as if a thousand-geun boulder were pressing down on my shoulders.

Air Breath.

One branch of a unique ability granted only to dragonkin.

Since a Named Monster was using it, even a capable Hunter would have had their eardrums burst and been forced to their knees.

But not me.

Crack. Grrrk.

I continued forward in silence, enduring the pressure crushing down on my shoulders.

With every step, my ankles sank into the ground, and the pressure grew stronger. But it couldn’t stop my advance.

Even if it was a being that had surpassed the limits of an ordinary monster, I wasn’t afraid.

Because the same was true of me.

At least when it came to physical ability, I was already worthy of being called superhuman.

Strength, speed, stamina. In everything that determined the outcome of battle, I stood one step ahead of a Peak master of equivalent level—or an A-Rank Hunter.

“Ahh, that’s refreshing.”

I raised my head with a broad grin.

Above the gigantic torso that rose like a skyscraper, the red eye of the creature spewing Air Breath wavered when it saw my smile.

“What was that just now? Your fan on high?”

—Kraaaaaaaah!

“Turn the fan off. You’re blowing yellow dust everywhere, you bastard!”

At the same time as I shouted, I swung the spear shaft toward the sky with all my strength.

Whoooooosh!

The instant the blue flame of qi carved a semicircle through the air, burning it, the pressure crushing down on my entire body vanished. My body became as light as a feather.

Now!

Boom!

With a single stomp, I shot forward like an arrow.

The confused creature twisted its head and unleashed another Air Breath, but it couldn’t keep up with my speed.

Whoosh! Rat-a-tat-tat!

Carrying nothing but light leather armor and a single spear, I crossed the battlefield like lightning and reached the creature’s front before I knew it.

—Grrrrrk?

The startled creature spread its folded wings wide. But by then, I had already leaped with all my strength.

Boom!

With a powerful tremor, I soared into the air. Through my hair streaming in the wind, I saw the creature’s knee beneath its flashing black scales.

The very area people called the cruciate ligament.

“You’re exempt from military service, you bastard!”

With that shout, I drove my spear in with all my strength.

Thrust! Shrrrk!

The Wyvern’s hide and scales, said to withstand ordinary magic and weapons alike, split open in an instant.

A sharp, satisfying jolt traveled through my fingertips, like the feeling of harpooning a fish.

It went in!

The blue-burning Spear Energy cut through and shattered everything in its path.

Once the spearhead had opened a gap, the rest was easy. As if hammering in a nail, I used my fist to drive the two-meter spear into the creature’s knee.

Boom! Fwoooosh!

Dark blood erupted like a fountain. The creature, which had just spread its wings and tried to take flight, dropped to its knees with a scream.

—Graaaaaaaah!

But I didn’t stop there. I stepped on the end of the spear shaft lodged in its knee and used its springiness to launch myself upward.

As I shot several more meters into the air, a dagger had appeared in my hand.

If I don’t have one, I can just take one out.

My real-world Inventory held countless weapons, not just the ones in the Murim.

I had spent a fortune buying them before, but if it meant killing this creature, I wouldn’t regret spending ten times that amount.

Thrust!

I suddenly remembered practicing the Wall Lizard Technique in the Murim. The cliff I had climbed back then had been even higher, and there had been hardly anything suitable to use as a foothold.

Whenever I thought I’d climbed far enough, some lunatic would drop rocks on me.

Compared to that, this was hardly difficult.

I repeatedly drove the dagger into the creature’s enormous body, soaring upward, higher and higher.

Thrust, thrust! Thrust-thrust-thrust!

Before Spear Energy, neither the hide harder than iron armor nor the scales that deflected low-level magic were of any use.

It was easy to imagine a palm-sized something crawling up your body and driving nails into you over and over.

That was exactly what was happening to the creature now.

—Kraaaaaaah!

Unable to endure the pain assailing it without end, the creature writhed with a roar. It was trying to shake me off, but it was too late.

By then, I was already enjoying the sensation of floating in midair.

Open Inventory. Equip spear.

The next moment, a solid spear shaft appeared in my empty hand.

The Scorching Yang Qi that had surpassed one jiazi when I opened my Conception and Governor Vessels surged toward the spearhead like an ebb tide.

Whoooooosh. Ssssss!

Blue flames wrapped tightly around the spearhead.

Flickering in the darkness, they were the tail of a meteor.

And I was the meteor itself.

“Where do you think you’re running?”

With that quiet murmur, I became one with the spear and plunged rapidly downward. My target was the creature’s wing, which served as both its foreleg and its arm.

Blinded by pain for a moment, the creature had no way to stop the meteor.

Fwoosh! Shraaaaaak!

Scorching Yang Qi, burning like a small sun, sliced through hide and scales and scorched the flesh beneath. The wing, with a vertical span of more than ten meters, split in two along the spearhead.

—Krrrk…!

It was probably the worst pain the creature had ever experienced. The red eye of the predator that had lived its entire life as a hunter flew wide open.

—Kraaaaaaaaaah!

I landed lightly on the ground and stared at it with a cold, steady gaze.

Within the thick cloud of dust rising around us, the creature’s fifty-meter bulk writhed.

“Does it hurt?”

—Kwak! Kraaaaaah!

“That little?”

Compared to what it had done three years ago, this was nothing.

A single flap of its wings had shattered entire bodies, and heads seized in its claws had vanished without a trace. Not even the corpses of those swallowed by its enormous maw could be found.

That was when I first learned that the human body held so much blood and so many organs.

That a person could die so brutally.

“You bastard. I wouldn’t feel satisfied even if I chewed you to death.”

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

This creature would die here today, by my hand. And it had to die horribly—exactly as I had imagined countless times before.

“This is just the beginning. Quit whining and get up.”

Whoooosh.

The wind rising along the spearhead as I swung it drove away the dust.

The creature, covered in blood and dirt, glared at me while breathing heavily.

—Krrrk.

Dozens of blades were embedded throughout its body, and blood poured from its open wounds like waterfalls.

Only one of the wings that symbolized the Wyvern remained.

It was still enormous and imposing, but there was no longer any trace of its dignity as a dragonkin offshoot or a Named Monster.

—Grrrrr…

Its eye, full of resentment and killing intent, glared at me.

The emotions conveyed by that gaze were unlike anything I had ever known from a monster.

“Keep that eye nice and gentle. Otherwise, I’ll pluck it out first.”

I tossed out the words and began walking toward it.

That was when it happened.

—Hu. man.

“……!”

It was a single word that made me doubt my own ears.

My feet froze in place. The corners of my eyes trembled involuntarily.

What did I just hear?

But I hadn’t misheard it. The creature’s maw shifted, and a clearer pronunciation emerged.

—Do. you. want. to. kill. me?

A monster was speaking.

That very “monster” was speaking.

A groan-like voice leaked through my parted lips.

“This can’t be happening…”

—It’s. dif.fer.ent. from. be.fore.

The instant it finished speaking, the creature’s red eye turned completely bloodred.

And then…

—Heal.

Sssssss.

Magic began gathering around the creature.

The One-Eyed Carus.

That was the Black Wyvern’s name.

Before earning that name, he had endured countless crises. He had fought not only monsters, but humans as well.

He had repeated battles hundreds of times—winning meant obtaining prey, while losing meant becoming prey.

That day in the past had been no different.

At least, until a human took one of his eyes.

How dare he? How dare a human less worthy than a bug do this to me!

Carus was furious. At the same time, he made a vow.

He would kill the human who had taken his eye. Even if he couldn’t find that human, he would kill other humans again and again.

One day, after repeating battle and slaughter countless times, he suddenly came to his senses and realized that he had become the owner of an enormous body and tremendous strength.

Why? Did I grow stronger by fighting humans?

Before long, Carus understood. The reason he had grown stronger wasn’t because of his battles with humans, but because he had eaten other monsters.

And every time he did, something inside his body grew stronger.

What did the humans call this? Oh, right.

Magic Gems.

After learning the reason for his growing strength, Carus began hunting Magic Gems.

He devoured other monsters and, rather than human flesh, studied the magic equipment the humans carried.

So this is how those human bastards use Magic Gems.

The more Magic Gems he absorbed, the higher his Intelligence rose and the stronger he became.

As a Wyvern—a lesser branch of the dragonkin—Carus had possessed remarkable Intelligence to begin with. At last, he was able to set foot in a new realm.

Magic, huh? Should I learn it?

Carus established a new nest in a nameless wasteland. He killed everything that might become an obstacle and delved deeply into magic.

That was when he noticed the humans invading his territory.

I haven’t even finished digesting the Magic Gems I ate earlier…

Knowing that he was still incomplete, Carus decided to be patient.

Even when several humans recklessly approached his nest, he tried to ignore them.

Until he smelled that bastard.

My eye! The human who took my eye!

Carus saw red and immediately raced across the wasteland.

Using one of the humans he had deliberately allowed to escape as a guide, he finally came face-to-face with that bastard.

I’ll kill him! I’ll chew him up, bones and all!

But that bastard was strong. Even Carus, who had absorbed hundreds of Magic Gems, was pushed back helplessly.

Yet he still had one last card to play.

—Heal.

Sssssss.

His wounds closed, and the bleeding stopped. He couldn’t completely restore his torn wing, but this was enough.

—I’ll. kill. you. hu.man.

Jin Taekyung, his face filled with shock, clenched his teeth.

Carus had already experienced that speed firsthand, so he cast the spell without hesitation.

—Sloooow!

Some faint trace of dragon blood flowed through Carus’s veins.

Five Slow spells overlapped, surrounding Jin Taekyung’s body.

—Kehahahaha!

Carus burst into laughter as he watched Jin Taekyung move as slowly as possible.

That was when Jin Taekyung spoke.

“One hundred points to Agility.”

—……?

Whoosh.

Carus blinked.

His enormous eye filled with the sight of a spearhead holding blue flames.

“What are you looking at, you fucking bastard?”

Crunch!