Chapter 359

Rustle.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord brushed the bits of stone from his body, then rolled his neck from side to side. His brow furrowed as his bones ground against one another.

“Your fists pack quite a punch. Without my Body-Protecting Qi, I might have been seriously injured.”

Quite a punch, my ass.

I let out a deep sigh as I watched him get up as though nothing had happened after taking both my full-powered Flame Divine Palm and Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist.

“Forget the Body-Protecting Qi. Isn’t it cheating for someone like you to equip gear too?”

“Gear? What is that?”

I pointed at the black-scaled armor visible through the tears in his yellow robe.

“That thing you’re wearing underneath, you bastard.”

“Ah. You mean the Black Dragon Armor.”

“The Black Dragon Armor?”

Now that was one hell of a cool name.

I didn’t know exactly what the Black Dragon Armor was, but its defensive capabilities were so impressive that even calling it a divine weapon didn’t seem like enough.

It had blocked two full-powered attacks, yet all it had lost were a few scales.

With that level of defense, fists and palms won’t cut it.

The armor worn by Dark Heaven’s ordinary martial artists had been formidable too, but it was nothing compared to the Black Dragon Armor.

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

As long as he had the Black Dragon Armor, I needed White Flame to inflict a fatal wound on him.

Unless…

My gaze probed him for another opening. The Western Heaven Demon Lord smiled faintly.

“The more I see of you, the more interesting you become. Your strange techniques are one thing, but I like your refusal to back down.”

“So? Want to date?”

“I must politely decline. I already have a lover I’ve been with for many years.”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord gently stroked his sword’s winding blade. Ink-black Sword Force rose from the clean break where half the blade had snapped off.

“I’ve seen all your cards. Now it’s my turn.”

With that quiet murmur, the Western Heaven Demon Lord stepped forward. A suffocating aura rippled behind him like wings.

Only then did I realize it.

His martial arts had reached a realm far beyond what I’d imagined.

“…Damn it.”

Deng.

I could almost hear a bell ringing somewhere to announce the start of round two.

But this wasn’t a boxing match that ended after twelve rounds. There were no spectators to cheer or groan, no staff to throw in the towel.

This match would end only when one of us staked his life—nothing less.

Inventory open. Summon.

The cold spear shaft settled into my grip. I drew a deep breath and leveled the spearhead at the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

“Come at me.”

He didn’t hesitate.

Snap!

The Western Heaven Demon Lord extended one foot.

Shifting Form and Position.

His vanished figure reappeared in midair above my head.

Every hair on my body stood on end as I leaned backward.

Saaak! Boom!

His heel missed the bridge of my nose by a hair and slammed into the ground. The floor caved in, sending fragments of stone flying in every direction.

Blood trickled from the bridge of my nose where the wind pressure had sliced it, but I wasn’t given even a moment to wipe it away.

Shh-shh-shh-shhk!

Ink-black Sword Energy rained down from every direction, slashing and sweeping toward my waist, chest, and stomach without distinction.

They were attacks I could never have dodged in the past.

But not anymore.

I can see them.

In the slowed world, I sensed the Sword Energy hurtling toward me.

I could picture where that destructive energy was headed and how I needed to move to evade it.

My body was already moving ahead of my thoughts.

Kra-kra-kra-kaboom!

I dodged some attacks and knocked others aside with my spear. Thick clouds of dust billowed into the air, and craters like something out of a war movie pockmarked the ground.

And then…

Whooong!

Ink-black Sword Force gleaming with a murky light burst through the dust cloud. His gaze calm and steady, the Western Heaven Demon Lord brought his sword down in a diagonal slash.

I had no way of knowing what martial art or form he was using.

But I knew one thing.

If I backed down here, all that awaited me was death.

I have to strike back.

I needed power strong enough to stand against Sword Force. This was the moment to use the best move I had.

The answer had been there from the beginning.

One Annihilation.

Grind.

Every muscle in my body drew taut like a bowstring. My foot shot forward first, and my waist, bent as far back as it could go, snapped forward. The rotational force flowed through my shoulder and arm and poured into the spearhead.

Kraaaaaash!

It was a concentration of energy far too massive to be called mere Spear Energy.

The spearhead surged forward, wreathed in blue flames. It burned through the air and devoured the dust cloud as it hurtled toward a single man.

“…!”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes widened. At the same time, his blade trembled, and an even greater mass of Sword Force erupted from it.

The next instant, blue flame and black darkness collided.

KABOOOOOM!

A roar unlike anything I had ever heard erupted as everything within a radius of over a hundred feet shattered and exploded.

Part of the ceiling collapsed under the impact, and the incredibly solid rock was pulverized into drifting dust.

Amid it all, one man remained standing.

“Damn it.”

Even my full-powered One Annihilation hadn’t worked.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord shook his head at my dejected expression. Blood ran down from his shoulder. That was all One Annihilation had left behind.

“There’s no need to be disappointed. It was a sufficiently powerful form. For a moment, it even sent a chill through my heart.”

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“Anything.”

“If I hadn’t wasted my strength earlier and had opened with that strike… could I have killed you?”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord considered it carefully before answering.

“I believe you could have taken one of my arms. Perhaps even more than that. But you would have been the one to die.”

“Damn it. I knew it.”

“I think it’s time to end this.”

Whooooosh.

It didn’t even surprise me anymore. Sword Force surged like water from an inexhaustible spring and lashed toward me like a whip.

I gritted my teeth as the drain on my internal energy left me weak to the point of collapse.

“It’s… not over yet.”

I drew up every last bit of internal energy I had and unleashed the Fire Dragon Divine Spear.

The blue flames were visibly smaller than before. They shot toward the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s exposed throat.

Screeeeeech!

The next instant, I met his unwavering gaze and realized it.

He read me.

By the time the realization flashed through my mind, it was already too late. The Sword Force that had seemed poised to cut me down abruptly changed course in midair and struck the spearhead.

Boom!

A roar like the sky splitting apart rang out. I clenched my teeth and held on to the spear shaft as it bucked violently in my hands.

My ankles were already buried deep in the ground when the Sword Force swept toward me.

Shh-shh-shh-shh-shhk!

Above, below, left, and right.

Terrifying energy hurtled in from thirty-six directions around me.

Every nerve in my body screamed as I swung my spear like a madman.

Boom! Kra-kra-kra-kaboom!

My body staggered and my breath caught with every strike I deflected.

This wasn’t a matter of speed or strength.

It was martial arts—and internal energy.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s martial arts occupied a distant realm beyond my reach, and the terrifying internal energy transmitted through my spear battered me from within.

What the hell…!

Blood sprayed between my clenched teeth. My torn hands had been covered in blood for some time already.

I squeezed out every last ounce of strength and swung my spear at the ink-black Sword Force cleaving toward my chest.

The second form of the Fire Dragon Divine Spear.

Heavenly Strike.

Screeeeeech! Boom!

But unlike before, the fire dragon’s claw was pitifully weak, while the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s ink-black Sword Force hadn’t lost even a fraction of its power.

Krrrrk!

I was driven backward, carving a long furrow through the ground.

Before me, the underground prison shook as though caught in an earthquake, thick clouds of dust filling the air.

He’s gone.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord was nowhere to be seen. Not ahead of me, to either side, or above.

That left only one possibility.

I spun around and unleashed a palm strike.

Bang! Boom!

Two sounds rang out at once.

The heat of the Flame Divine Palm burned through the air, while the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s palm struck my chest.

My vision went white. Then came the agony of my heart meridian tearing apart strand by strand. I swallowed the blood surging up my throat and regained control of my body as I was hurled backward.

“That was remarkable. I mean it.”

“…!”

It was pure instinct.

At the quiet voice that suddenly came from beside me, my arm moved on its own. The hand blade shooting toward the back of my neck struck my forearm instead.

Crack!

Pain flooded through me with the sound of bone shifting out of place. Then the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s foot lashed out like a whip and buried itself in my side.

Thud! Boom!

I smashed through the rock and became embedded in the wall. The Western Heaven Demon Lord slowly walked toward me.

Admiration and delight filled his eyes.

“Incredible. Truly incredible. Do you know what you just did?”

I spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm.

“No, you fucking bastard.”

“You should be proud. You lasted more than three hundred moves against me while I was fighting at full strength.”

“Three hundred moves. I’m crying tears of joy.”

“You don’t seem particularly happy, so let me put it another way. What if I told you the Heaven-Shaking Venerable Nun and her Elders lasted more than five hundred moves?”

“Nope. Still not happy.”

“Why not?”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord looked genuinely baffled. I tossed him a curt answer.

“They died anyway.”

Three hundred moves, five hundred moves, a thousand moves—it didn’t matter. If you lost the fight, all that awaited the loser was death.

The Heaven-Shaking Venerable Nun and the Poison King had been no exception.

And…

Neither was I, probably.

“Cough.”

Blood seeped between my parted lips.

I wanted to get up as casually as the Western Heaven Demon Lord had earlier, but my body was in no condition for that.

Internal injuries aside, my left arm is fractured, and I think I’ve cracked some bones in my chest.

I’d really taken one hell of a beating. No wonder breathing had been difficult for a while now.

Panting, I planted White Flame like a cane and dragged myself upright.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes lit up.

“Do you still have something left to show me?”

“Of course.”

“That must also be the power of those supernatural powers. Show me. Quickly! Quickly!”

“I was planning to.”

I leveled my spear at the Western Heaven Demon Lord, who was practically bouncing with excitement like a child.

And that was all I did.

“…?”

“What are you waiting for? Come at me.”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord stared at me in confusion.

“What did you just do?”

“I’m showing you. The supernatural powers you wanted to see.”

“What?”

“I’m good with my body, but hopeless with my head. I’m such a dumbass that I even failed the Level Eight Hanja exam.¹ Then I came across the term ‘supernatural powers’ in a martial-arts novel. I didn’t know what it meant, so I looked it up.”

Even if I explained it like this, he probably wouldn’t understand half of what I was saying.

My vision wavered. Every time I exhaled, my lungs prickled as though they were being stabbed with needles, and the spear shaft that had always felt light now seemed like a boulder weighing ten thousand geun.²

Even so…

“‘Supernatural powers.’ Mysterious beings or phenomena that are difficult to explain through reason. That’s what it meant.”

I neither staggered nor collapsed. I simply stared at the Western Heaven Demon Lord and continued speaking slowly.

“What’s so special about supernatural powers? A bastard who keeps fighting even after he’s been reduced to this—that’s supernatural powers.”

Remaining Stat Points? None.

Physical condition? It was a miracle I could still stand.

Now that everything had flown out like the contents of Pandora’s box, the one thing left inside me wasn’t hope.

Sheer grit.

Hope could make someone rise again, but it could also make them weak.

But as long as that grit remained—as long as I still possessed the will to fight to the bitter end—I wouldn’t fall.

No.

I had decided not to fall.

Because there were people I had to protect. The Fire King and Cheongpung had fought for my sake, so even if I had to become a ghost instead of some supernatural being, I had to stop this bastard.

“So…”

I gathered every last scrap of internal energy. The meager handful of qi flowed unsteadily toward the spearhead.

A faint wisp of Spear Energy lit the darkness like a firefly.

“Quit spouting bullshit and come at me, you bastard with a supernatural-powers fetish.”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord fell silent.

Countless emotions passed across his face. When they were gone, only a pair of deeply solemn eyes remained.

Swish!