Chapter 473

Puhuk!

The Mutated Water God Dragon.

The instant I drove the tip of White Flame into its enormous eye, I realized something.

Hard. And deep.

It felt like plunging my hand into a cave with no visible end.

If it had been an ordinary human or beast, this single strike would have melted not only its eye but its entire head without a trace.

But this thing was different.

What the…!

Its head was so enormous that even after I drove White Flame in as far as it would go, the Force wrapped around the spearhead could not reach deep enough inside.

On top of that, the bones and flesh within were absurdly tough.

I was still reeling from resistance far beyond anything I had expected when the Mutated Water God Dragon let out a scream of agony.

—Kraaaaaaaaaah!

I had failed to finish it with my decisive strike, but that did not mean I had failed to inflict any damage.

The Scorching Yang Qi carried by the spearhead had melted one of its eyes.

Its enormous body writhed in excruciating pain. At the same time, a familiar System notification pierced my ears.

Ding.

System

• Lv. ??? Mutated Water God Dragon is overwhelmed by pain and rage it has never experienced before!

• Enters Berserk Status!

• Due to Berserk, all of the target’s stats increase! However, because it has momentarily lost its reason, its judgment in combat is clouded!

“…Huh?”

The moment I heard the System notification, I nearly lost my own reason.

Damn it. What the hell is this Berserk bullshit?

Do your damn job properly, System. It was already a monster. If it got even stronger, how was I supposed to make a living?

But the System had already activated, and the water was already spilled.

The Water God Dragon’s only remaining eye turned completely bloodred, and its Berserk Status began in earnest.

—Kyaaaaaaaaaow!

A roar shook heaven and earth, and an enormous gust of wind slammed into my entire body.

Before I could even blink, a cliff rushed right up to my face.

Oh. I’m fucked.

Kwaang!

A tremendous shock wave crashed over me with a roar that seemed to split the sky apart. My vision blurred, and my eyes lost focus.

The Water God Dragon had slammed its head into the cliff with tens of thousands—perhaps hundreds of thousands—of geun¹ of force, but it did not stop there.

Whoooooosh!

The length of its torso exposed above the water alone was more than thirty jang.² Counting the portion still submerged, it was comparable in size to a modern aircraft carrier.

Once a monster that enormous began rampaging like a mad thing, nothing could stop it.

Kwaang! Kwang! Kwagwagwagwang!

It repeatedly smashed its head into the cliff and the river, lashed out with its tail, and sometimes flapped its entire body like a fish caught on a hook.

Every movement devastated the surrounding area, sending countless fragments of rock and blasts of wind crashing down on me.

Just like now.

Ppeok!

“…Hng!”

Damn it. Of all places, my back had slammed into a sharp, jutting rock.

Searing pain raced up my spine, but I gritted my teeth and swallowed my groan.

This was the Water God Dragon’s desperate attempt to throw me off. If I fell now, it might counterattack instead.

I tightened my grip on White Flame, still driven deep into the bastard’s eye, and fought to keep my balance as its enormous body bucked wildly beneath me.

“You… fucking bastard!”

If it thought something this pathetic would throw me off, it had another thing coming.

I wrapped one hand tightly around the spear shaft and grasped at something invisible with the other.

At the moment, my hand was clutching nothing but empty air.

But that was about to change.

I had a magical command that only I could use.

Inventory Open. Summon.

Shhk. Tak.

The instant I gave the command, the hilt of a sharp short sword appeared in my hand.

The only sword technique I had ever learned was the basic swordsmanship taught at the Hunter training center.

But in a situation like this, who cared about sword technique?

Faster than anyone else, different from everyone else. It was time to become a sashimi master, working to a whole new rhythm atop his cutting board.

“From now on, your name is live-fish sashimi. Or maybe bone-in sashimi.”³

I made the solemn declaration and drove the short sword, its blade wrapped in blue-white Scorching Yang Qi, straight into its flesh.

Puk!

The blade was too short to stab very deeply, but the creature’s reaction made it clear that it hurt.

Its firm, pale flesh split apart as though consumed by fire, and dark-blue blood burst out.

“You’re pink on the inside? Doesn’t suit you, asshole.”

—Krrrk!

A groan burst from the creature’s maw, and its body faltered for a moment.

I did not miss the opening. I swung the short sword again.

Schk! Puhuk!

—Krrrrrk!

Puh-puh-puh-puh-puhuk!

—Kraaaaaaaaaah!

Sword technique? There was no such thing.

I simply hacked and stabbed wherever my hand went and wherever my eyes landed.

After shattering bone and slicing through flesh, the blade withdrew and shot forward again faster than a flash of light. Each time it did, the creature’s screams and thrashing grew more violent.

Huh. This is actually useful at a time like this.

My physical abilities, which could be called superhuman, certainly played a part. But the wrist snap I had trained through the USB—a treasure of humanity—was enough to make even a Peak sword master yield a move.

Ah. So this is All Streams Returning to the Source…⁴

When had it been?

Shortly after I attained sagehood, I had decided to destroy the USB, and Jinho had tried to stop me.

His words flashed through my mind.

“Taekyung, remember the words left behind by our ancient ancestors. A ghost who dies after getting one off has a healthy glow. Getting one off is always worth it.”

“…Which ancestor said that?”

“Does that matter? The problem is that you’re about to destroy a national-treasure-grade cultural artifact. If you erase that thing, I’ll report you directly to the Cultural Heritage Administration. You’re looking at a minimum of twenty-five years in prison with no chance of parole.”

Is he insane?

What did he mean, getting one off? And what was this nonsense about a healthy glow?

Back then, I had nearly taken a swing at him.

But looking back now, those words were unquestionably the greatest saying since the founding of Korea.

I felt profound gratitude toward Jinho and thought of the women who had now become memories.

Thank you, Uehara. I love you, dutiful daughter of the mapo tofu⁵ restaurant.

Schk! Puh-puh-puh-puh-puhuk!

—Graaaargh!

Ah, what a sugoi⁶ scream.

My gratitude-filled pro-Japanese sword technique gouged into the gaping pupil and drove deeper and deeper inside.

The Mutated Water God Dragon had no choice but to stop attacking its other enemies far below on the ground.

Whoooooosh—Kwaang!

I could not see what had happened, but I could tell from the sound.

As the enormous body convulsed in pain, the tail that had been crashing down toward the ground struck somewhere completely different.

Then, amid the rising dirt and spray, a streak of silver light changed targets and flew toward me.

Chiririririk!

From the outside, it must have been a bizarre sight.

The monster was using its own whiskers to gouge at its melted eye.

But from where I was, there was nothing funny about it.

Damn it.

No matter how enormous the Mutated Water God Dragon’s eye was, the space was far too narrow for me to avoid dozens of whiskers.

Even though I twisted my body as much as possible, the streaks of light moved with the same cunning subtlety as the black-wood fishing rod, slipping past my Fire Dragon Armor and slicing into my bare flesh.

Puhwak!

“Ghk!”

Red blood sprayed out, and searing pain flared all over me.

I had circulated my internal energy as I dodged to protect myself as much as possible, which was the only reason the damage ended there.

If I had been even slightly slower, one of my limbs might have been severed.

Chiriririk!

Dozens of streaks of light flew toward me again.

I endured the rapidly spreading pain and twisted my body.

The silver whiskers, each possessing terrifying cutting power, missed me by a hair’s breadth. A chill ran down my spine.

The space is too narrow. I’ll be cut to pieces if this continues.

Perhaps it was that sense of crisis that made me hesitate.

While I hesitated, a spear of light, twisted together like a rope into the shape of a spearhead, flew toward my face.

Shwing!

“…!”

It was unbelievably fast.

In the slowed-down world, I stared wide-eyed at the streak of light flying toward me with a sharp sound as it tore through the air.

Countless possibilities and thoughts flashed through my mind.

If I pull out White Flame right now and swing it… No. It’s already too late. And I might lose my balance before then.

Even now, the bastard’s head was shaking like mad.

If I pulled out White Flame, which was practically acting as a support, I would lose my balance for a split second.

That would be the end.

There has to be a better way. There has to be some better way…

But the time I had been given amounted to no more than a fleeting instant, and the short sword I swung in haste was helplessly knocked away the moment it collided with the streak of light.

No—it shattered into hundreds of fragments.

Kwa-chang!

Perhaps it was only natural.

The power contained in each individual whisker did not reach the level of Force, but it surpassed the Sword Energy of a Peak master.

With that much energy gathered together, there was no way the traitorous sword technique I had learned through the USB could stand against it.

Whoom!

Am I going to get hit like this?

I stared blankly at the destructive force erasing the space between us and rushing toward my face.

What moved me was something close to pure instinct.

Fwoosh—Kwaddeudeuk!

Just as the streak of light was about to pierce through my chest, I found myself gripping it with a hand wreathed in blue-white flames.

It was neither Flame Divine Palm nor Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist.

It was nothing more than a crude contest of strength. I had dragged up every last trace of energy in my body and thrown it against the attack.

It did not take long for the result of that clash to reveal itself.

Pajik—Puhwak!

Two powerful energies collided, filling my vision with a blinding flash.

And beyond that dazzling radiance, I could see my hand hanging in tatters like a rag and the streak of light, its thickness reduced ever so slightly.

There was no question who held the advantage.

Damn it. The amount of energy inside us isn’t even comparable.

I had accumulated a tremendous amount of internal energy through the System’s accelerated growth.

But I could not compare with the bastard, a spiritual creature that had accumulated qi for hundreds of years.

Kwa-deu-deuk!

Even this grueling contest of strength was slowly reaching its limit.

I gritted my teeth as pain tore through my hand.

“You live-fish-sashimi bastard!”

I could not let it end here.

I summoned every last ounce of strength I possessed, twisted my body, and yanked hard on the creature’s whiskers as though executing a shoulder throw.

It was impossible.

But even if it was, I had to try—

Kwadeudeudeudeuk—Ppok!

“…Huh?”

—Krrk?

I was stunned.

The Mutated Water God Dragon was stunned too.

In the slowed-down world, dozens of whiskers had been torn out by the roots and were fluttering helplessly toward the ground.

What the fuck? Why did those pull out?

Countless thoughts flashed through my mind.

Could they really just come out like that? Were its roots weaker than the whiskers themselves? No, but even so, could this really happen…?

At last, I reached one conclusion.

My strength is really fucking insane.

When I thought about it, this was entirely possible.

My Strength was high enough to knead steel like dough. What was pulling out a few whiskers compared to that?

No matter how enormous a monster the size of an aircraft carrier was, everything had its limits.

Unlike its scales and bones, which boasted tremendous durability, its hair roots were apparently weak enough for my Strength to pull out.

So this is how it works.

This was something only I could do, with my superhuman Strength.

Until now, I had thought only about dodging and cutting.

It had never occurred to me to tear the whiskers out.

With that great enlightenment, I retrieved White Flame and stepped forward.

Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

As I emerged from the pupil, I saw the creature’s enormous body frozen stiff in confusion and its remaining eye blinking rapidly.

“You bastard…”

I smiled brightly and tore out its whiskers.

Kwadeudeuk!