A single word, almost a groan, slipped between my lips.
“…Lei Fei?”
Wei Fenghu’s only nephew through his sister. An S-rank Hunter secretly trained by China.
And a hero who had vanished alongside a thousand Hunters from the Public Security Armed Forces Department on the day the Monster Wave erupted.
If you happen to meet that child, Mr. Jin…would you be able to bring him back?
The old general’s desperate request echoed in my ears. That was probably why my body suddenly froze.
—You wicked human! Get a grip! He is no longer human. He is a fallen monster!
The Skeleton Warlord was stating the obvious.
Among the monsters I had defeated so far were Hunters and civilians resurrected as undead. Lei Fei was merely one of them.
The being before me was no longer an S-rank Hunter who had died carrying out his mission. He was a Death Knight Lord leading a monster army.
But…
Something’s different.
Crack, crack, crack!
—Kgh, k-khgh. Kraaah!
His body trembled in tiny spasms, groans escaping him at irregular intervals.
Each time the red glow in his eyes flickered like a traffic light, stark-white irises and pupils appeared beneath it—unmistakably human.
I had never heard of or seen an undead react this way. They had lost all sense and reason, driven solely by the instinct to slaughter.
What if—just maybe—his transformation into an undead isn’t complete?
If that was true…what was I supposed to do?
Right now, a single blow would end the battle and allow me to console the souls of the victims.
But what would I be killing? A hero who had given his life to protect others, or a Death Knight Lord who had led a monster army through countless massacres and acts of destruction?
“Fuck…”
My hesitation was brief.
There was no helping it. The die had been cast, and he and I had already crossed the point of no return. He wasn’t an opponent I could subdue with half measures. I had to end this now.
Rest easy.
Lei Fei. Death Knight Lord. Whoever he was, he would finally find peace.
My Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist, unleashed at full power at the eighth level, would end it without pain.
Fwoosh! Whoooooosh!
My fist, engulfed in blue flames, shot forward to bring everything to an end.
At that moment—
—My. Lord!
A chilling voice slipped between dark-red lips. The flickering glow in his eyes suddenly steadied, and tangible mana erupted from him.
Crackle! KRAAAANG!
Flames and darkness collided.
The two tremendous forces crashed into each other and exploded in an enormous shock wave.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The deafening blast left my ears ringing. The tremendous recoil hurled me backward, but I flipped in midair and righted myself.
The ground and the monster remains caught in the explosion had been blown to pieces.
Through the pale smoke blanketing the devastated area for hundreds of meters1, a being wrapped in darkness approached.
—I am that person’s most loyal servant.
Sssssss.
Darkness rose from the ruined earth—the death energy held within the fallen monsters.
—I am the supreme commander who leads the legion of the dead.
Whoooooosh!
The swirling darkness rushed toward him and was drawn into his body. His half-destroyed armor repaired itself, his broken bones rejoined, and the red glow in his eyes blazed fiercely.
As he recovered, his power grew.
Now filled with even greater mana, the being slowly raised his sword.
—By my lord’s command, I shall fulfill my duty.
He was wrong.
His duty had been to serve as humanity’s shield and guardian. But the hero who had given his life for others had lost his memories and been corrupted by the Arch Lich.
System
Lv. 140 Death Knight Lord
Lei Fei no longer existed.
The being approaching me was nothing but a monster.
In that case…
“I have a duty to fulfill too.”
The instant I murmured those words—
Whoosh!
A sword shedding mana came down toward my head.
Slash!
One handspan2.
That was the distance by which death missed me.
Mana honed sharper than ever grazed my arm and sliced into the ground. There was no deafening crash, no spray of debris. More than ten meters3 of earth simply split apart like cheesecake.
Slice!
At the chilling sound, I thrust out my hand.
The searing heat of the Flame Divine Palm collided with the blade, which had already changed course.
KRAANG!
A tremendous shock wave exploded outward from between us. Through the swirling dust, I saw the red glow of his eyes burning brightly.
“Eat this.”
—……!
The Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist shot forward like a cannonball.
The bastard’s eyes flew wide as he drove his knee upward. My flame-wreathed fist collided with his knee, wrapped in darkness.
KRAAANG!
The world shook.
The tremendous recoil hurled me backward, and the outer wall of a building rapidly filled my vision.
I twisted my body in midair. The tips of my feet touched solid concrete.
Flamefire Path.
I channeled internal energy into both legs.
Concentrate.
Explode.
Crack. Boom!
The outer wall received all the force and speed loaded into my toes and burst apart.
I shot forward like a streak of flame. The Death Knight Lord was only just regaining his balance when I appeared in the air above his head.
Inventory open. Summon.
A sturdy spear shaft filled my hand. The energy coursing through my body surged down to my fingertips and into the spearhead.
Blue hellfire bloomed in midair, becoming a fire dragon’s claw as it slashed downward.
Fire Dragon Divine Spear, Second Form.
Heavenly Strike.
Whoooooooom—
Ultra-high heat burned the air.
The Death Knight Lord raised his sword toward the spear plunging down like a lightning bolt, his mana swelling as if about to detonate.
KRAANG!
The spearhead shattered, and a blue-black flash filled my vision.
Cracks spread like a spiderweb around the bastard, who had taken the full force carried by the spearhead. The next moment, the ground within a radius of more than a hundred meters4 sank inward.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The collapse opened a gigantic sinkhole.
Monsters caught in the aftermath of the battle shrieked as they plunged hundreds of meters1 into the depths.
The Death Knight Lord used a falling ogre as a foothold and shot back toward the surface. Then he looked up at me.
At me, standing high in the sky.
Stepping on Empty Air.
Another supernatural feat granted only to those who had reached the Supreme Peak realm.
Feeling the immense drain on my internal energy, I stepped on empty air and shot upward. Before my feet could touch the ground, mana lashed toward my side like a whip.
Inventory open. Summon.
Clang!
I managed to block the attack, but the spearhead shattered into countless fragments.
White Flame had already been hurled away as a javelin. Even if the weapons stored in my inventory were of usable quality, in a battle like this they were nothing more than disposable weapons.
But the story changed when I had dozens—hundreds—of them.
Inventory open. Summon.
Whoooooosh! Clang!
Summon.
Crack!
With every exchange of blows, a spear shaft bent and a spearhead broke.
I didn’t care.
Every sense in my body was honed to a silent edge, telling me exactly what was happening and what would come next.
Summon. Summon.
I crossed the spears in my hands and swung them like streaks of light.
Crack!
One shattered against his sword, but the other slammed into his side.
Boom!
As the earth-shaking impact drove him backward, I stepped forward.
One step.
That was all it took to appear before the Death Knight Lord. I advanced faster than he could retreat.
Blazing Flame Divine Spear, First Form.
Fire Dragon’s Single Tail.
Whoooooosh! Thrust!
A new spear, already drawn from my inventory, pierced the pitch-black armor and drove into the area around his knee.
The restored armor was tougher than before, but even the mana it had absorbed could not stop the Force coating the spearhead.
He can’t feel pain, but he should still feel the impact.
Contrary to my expectations, however, the Death Knight Lord did not waver.
Slice!
He severed the spear with his mana-coated sword. Instead of retreating, he charged straight at me.
Slash!
Space split open, and every hair on my body stood on end.
I thought I had turned my head in time, but a thread-thin streak of mana grazed beneath my earlobe and sliced halfway through it.
Ssshhh!
Blood spurted from the wound along with a sharp, stinging pain.
Feeling it run down my neck, I thrust my palm toward his face.
Flames surged, and the Flame Divine Palm was about to erupt—
KRAANG!
My eyes widened amid the resounding boom.
The palm that should have blown his head off had been stopped by a pitch-black gauntlet.
What the hell?
I wasn’t surprised that he had blocked the attack.
The Death Knight Lord’s movement was still clumsy, but what he had just used was a type of palm technique I recognized.
More specifically, it had taken the form of the Flame Divine Palm.
This bastard…he’s copying my martial arts.
As I stared into his unwavering red eyes, a thought flashed through my mind.
An S-rank Hunter secretly trained by China.
I had forgotten for a moment.
The being before me, now reduced to a monster, had once been a genius chosen from among 1.2 billion people—a secret weapon China had intended to keep hidden until the very end.
Impressive. Truly impressive.
I admired him inwardly.
At the same time, I became certain of one thing.
You can’t beat me.
If he was the man chosen from among 1.2 billion people, then I was one of a kind among nearly seven billion.
The blood I had spilled traveling between the modern world and Murim, and my countless brushes with death, had made me who I was.
“Let’s…end this.”
I stepped forward as the quiet words left my mouth.
My mind was calmer than ever, and my five senses were razor-sharp.
Fwit!
I tilted my head, and the mana the Death Knight Lord unleashed in an explosive burst narrowly missed me.
Feeling the Scorching Yang Qi filling my entire body, I drove out my fist.
KRAANG!
An earth-shaking boom rang out, and his body shuddered.
He hurriedly tried to block by imitating a grappling technique, but the Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist broke through his clumsy defense and slammed into his chest.
More.
Whoosh, boom!
More. More. More.
I repeated the words in my head as my hands and feet struck without pause.
Every blow laden with Force crashed against his sword or found an opening, battering him without end.
And it wasn’t only the spears summoned from my inventory.
My fists, legs, elbows—everything that made up my body was both weapon and shield.
Crack! Slice!
His wrist was severed along with the gauntlet, and the once-mighty mana flickered like a candle flame.
The Death Knight Lord’s armor slowly disintegrated, unable to withstand my physical power, which far surpassed human limits, and my internal energy, vast as the sea.
KRAANG!
We each struck without bothering to defend.
A System notification informed me that the Fire Dragon Armor’s durability had fallen, while the armor covering his body shattered like glass.
Clatter.
His bare flesh was finally exposed.
Dark patches of lividity mottled his pale skin.
The red glow in the dead man’s eyes flared more fiercely than ever, as though heralding the end.
—I am, I am…!
But his cry went unfinished.
Thrust!
A translucent spearhead punched through his pale skin and burst from his chest.
I had pulled White Flame back to me with Seizing an Object Through Empty Space.
Looking at him, I answered.
“That’s enough…rest now.”
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