Chapter 593

Wham!

My fist slammed into Go Jun’s chest with a dull thud.

The layers of defensive Magic shattered at once, and part of his sturdy full-body armor caved inward. He gritted his teeth and roared.

“Jin Taekyung!”

That punch would have left most high-level Hunters or Peak masters with severe Internal Injury, unable to fight.

But Go Jun was different. Perhaps it was the Magic Gem’s influence, but even my Inner-Family Heavy Hand had failed to do much damage.

An S-rank Hunter. And more.

Whatever else had happened, he was already a recognized S-rank Hunter. He had learned an internal cultivation technique—what the modern world called a mana cultivation technique—and absorbed the energy of an S-grade Magic Gem from a Named Monster. His strength was immense.

“Die!”

Whoooooom! KABOOM!

The energy had gone beyond red. Now the color of blood, it burst outward like an explosion.

White Flame’s shaft trembled under the mountain of pressure bearing down from the enormous Aura Blade.

I haven’t been pushed this hard in a long time.

Right now, even three jiazi¹ of internal energy and physical abilities beyond human limits felt inadequate.

Maybe it was the fatigue I’d built up over the course of the day. Or maybe Go Jun had absorbed that much magical power.

One thing was certain: this idiot had gained far more strength than I’d expected.

Rrrrrumble. Crack!

The tremendous pressure drove me and the ground beneath me downward. By the time I was buried up to my ankles, Go Jun was baring his teeth in a grin.

“Starting to get it? Hmm? Finally feel like you’re fucked?”

He gave a low laugh.

He was enjoying this. He thought he was finally going to avenge his Master.

“Ever since the day my Master died, I’ve killed you every night. Over and over. I’ve lived for a moment like this.”

I watched for an opening as I answered.

“No wonder I felt like I’d been born again every morning. I thought I was just waking up refreshed from dreaming about Jungryong dying every night.”

Fwoosh!

The instant his blood-red energy wavered, I yanked my foot free and kicked upward.

Boom!

My toes, swinging like a beam of light, were blocked by his shin with a thunderous crash. Go Jun, who had been about to pour out his anger, let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s too late to struggle. Now that it’s come to this, killing the rest of them will be easy.”

“What?”

I blinked, not quite understanding him. Then his quiet voice reached my ear.

“You and that goddamned Peace Guild. Your parents and that bitch of a little sister waiting at home… Ah. Your father’s already dead, isn’t he? Doesn’t matter. If he were still alive, he’d be following his son to the grave soon enough.”

“……”

“Did you like having the world call you a hero? Think you’d all live happily ever after? It’s bullshit. Kim Hwajong, that old man, was only the beginning.”

His sticky, unpleasant breath touched my face. He cackled.

“This time it’s you, then Choi Minwoo. After that, I don’t care who it is. I’ll kill everyone with even the slightest connection to you, one by one. Sweeping them all away with a Monster Wave sounds good, too. What do you think?”

I stared at him, blinking as he went on.

What the fuck is this bastard saying?

It was strange. The thing in front of me looked human, but all that came out of its mouth was the sound of a dog barking.

Here stood a monster in a human shell.

He’s going to kill them? All my people?

I felt sick.

Go Jun could make good on those words. I hated that he could. And when I pictured the people I couldn’t live without lying dead, my mind went blank.

Mother. Hayeon. Team Leader Choi. Uncle Kkeokjeong, Song Song, Jinho hyung²…

Their faces flashed before my eyes, one after another. So did the graying old butler who had died on the snow-covered mountain.

He’s going to kill them all, and he wants to know what I think?

My answer came out calm.

“Fine. I understand.”

“What?”

“Go ahead. Try it.”

The smile on Go Jun’s face faded. I drew on every bit of strength I had.

Grrrrrkk.

The spear, slowly sinking under the pressure, stopped. So did my bending knees.

For that moment, I forgot my fatigue. My muscles still ached as though they might tear from the lingering aftermath of One Annihilation, but I forgot the pain, too.

The anger layered over my fatigue and pain covered and paralyzed everything else.

Internal energy boiled like lava through my Eight Extraordinary Meridians and hundreds of acupoints.

When I spoke, my voice burned.

“You shouldn’t have said that.”

“……!”

“You shouldn’t have talked about my people that way. At the very least, you shouldn’t have.”

I’d suspected it. Go Jun was capable of doing exactly what he’d threatened.

But suspecting it myself and hearing it directly from his mouth were entirely different matters.

“Don’t you think, you inhuman piece of shit?”

Go Jun was a monster. Whether he’d always been one or I’d made him into one no longer mattered.

He had to die for my people to live. And they had to live for me to live.

Grrrrrrkk!

I hauled my foot out of the ground and straightened my knee.

Putting my back and arms into it, I drove the spear shaft up against the Aura Blade’s pressure.

Slowly. Little by little. Without stopping.

“How are you…?”

As Go Jun’s eyes widened, I whispered a command in my mind.

Inventory open. Store White Flame.

Pop.

It happened in an instant.

The spear and the blue-white flames holding back the enormous Aura Blade vanished. With nothing opposing it, the blood-red energy plunged straight down.

Whoooooom! Slice!

It cleaved through the space where I’d stood. But I was already gone.

Dozens of hairs, severed by the sword pressure, scattered past my shoulder. My fist was already deep inside Go Jun’s guard, wreathed in blue-white hellfire.

Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist.

The world slowed. Space warped in the ultra-high temperature heat. It looked almost like the expression Go Jun was making now.

“No—”

Too late.

I answered without a sound and threw my punch.

Fwoosh! KABOOM!

The impact drowned out the rest of his cry. My fist burned through the air and struck his solar plexus, sending him flying like a cannonball.

I launched myself after him.

Whoooooosh!

Wind rushed past my ears.

In less than an instant, I covered more than ten meters³ and overtook him. As he hurtled toward me, I clasped my hands together and brought them down like a hammer.

CRASH! KRAKAKAK!

The blow struck his abdomen. Already battered, the upper half of his armor melted under the Scorching Yang Qi.

Go Jun hit the ground on his back and smashed through it. Blood erupted from his mouth.

Pshhh!

I moved to drive my fist into him while he was down, but the blood he spat drenched me.

My vision turned red. I faltered for a fraction of a second, and my senses screamed a warning.

Danger!

He hadn’t spat blood by accident. It was part of his attack.

I kicked off the ground the instant I realized it. Red energy shot toward me as I retreated.

Shhk! Slice!

Heat seared my side.

I’d moved as fast as I could, but the Aura surging from the sword Go Jun had never let go of was too large to evade completely.

Drip. Drip-drip.

I pressed a hand to my bleeding side and wiped the blood from my eyes.

Go Jun was already on his feet and charging, his helmet discarded.

His furious shout rang through the devastated corridor.

“You fucking bastard!”

Whoooooosh!

Blood-red Aura burst from the tip of his sword and tore through the air.

I narrowly avoided it with a series of backward steps, then flung both arms out.

With the Magic only I could use.

Inventory open. Summon.

Shhk-shhk-shhk!

A moment ago, my hands had been empty. Now dagger handles met my palms, and the blades flew from my grasp.

Streaks of light shot toward Go Jun. He hurriedly turned his sword sideways, holding the blade across his front.

Clang-clang-clang-clang!

Four daggers bounced off it and lodged in the walls and ceiling. I drew up my internal energy and sent it into my legs. Flames rose from the foot I set forward.

Flamefire Path.

Fwoosh! Whoooooosh!

I became a streak of flame racing toward Go Jun. Seeing me charge without my spear, he roared.

“I’ll kill you!”

His eyes were blood-red now, their glow bright in the darkness.

Then an energy unlike anything he’d unleashed before burst from his body and swept in every direction.

WHOOOOOOOOOM!

It was a raging storm, a fog with no way out. Far from tiring, he was giving off an even stronger wave of energy.

I kept going, shooting through that murky, violent fog of magical power.

Go Jun charged through it toward me.

Zzzzzzzzz!

His Aura Blade, an absurd two meters⁴ long, came cleaving through the air.

Each time I twisted aside to avoid it, the sword pressure carving up the space around me tore my skin and drew blood.

That was fine. As long as I didn’t fall.

As long as I could bring him down, make him pay for Kim Hwajong’s death, and protect everyone still alive from another threat.

Slice!

A burning pain swept across my chest.

My clothes and armor had long since been torn away in the fight. A thin line appeared on my bare skin, then reddened.

Fwoosh!

Blood spurted from my chest. The cut was shallow, but the immense energy forcing its way through it made my vision swim.

I steadied myself and kicked off the ground.

Boom!

I shot forward, leaving the crash behind me. At the end of my path stood a monster who had chosen to stop being human.

“Jin Taekyuuung!”

Go Jun charged with his sword held upright. The Aura Blade around it had turned a murky, dark red.

The closer I got, the more clearly I felt that sticky, unpleasant energy.

That isn’t mana anymore.

The world had another name for energy so corrupted and ominous, the opposite of pure mana.

Magical power.

The moment the words came to mind, I knew I had to use everything I had.

Go Jun and me. Me and Go Jun.

We were close enough to kill each other now.

I could see the fury in his eyes and smell the stench on his hot breath.

And then…

We extended our arms almost at the same time.

Shhk!

The world slowed to a crawl. The wind split, and space vanished between us.

Faint delight spread across Go Jun’s face as he thrust his sword toward my chest.

I’ve won.

That was what his eyes seemed to say.

I was empty-handed. His sword was wrapped in murky magical power, with strength and reach on its side. Of course he thought he’d won.

He was wrong.

Inventory open. Summon.

Thought was faster than light, and the System answered without hesitation.

White Flame appeared in my hand as though it had been there all along.

Blue-white hellfire coated its transparent spearhead.

Fwoosh!

The searing heat burned through the air.

The spear had started after Go Jun’s sword, yet it slipped past the murky Aura Blade and reached its target first.

Squelch!

Flesh parted with a sickening sound, followed by the smell of it burning.

Go Jun’s eyes bulged. There was no delight left in them.

He stared down at the spear piercing his chest, shock and pain filling his eyes, and forced out a few words.

“What… is this?”

I answered calmly.

“Striking Second, Hitting First. You got your strength from a Magic Gem. You wouldn’t understand it even if you died and came back.”

Every fight, every movement, had a flow.

Know your opponent’s movement, predict it, and you could reach your target first even if you started later.

Training and experience had taught me the principle of Striking Second, Hitting First. Go Jun had pursued nothing but greater power.

That was what decided this fight.

“Idiot. You should’ve used that rock of a head at least once to think about why your dead Master never recommended Magic Gems to you in the first place.”

“……!”

At the anger and disgust in my voice, Go Jun’s eyes trembled as if he’d accepted his fate.

Then the sword that had fallen short of me shot upward like lightning.

Shing!

It happened in an instant. Murky energy—much smaller than before—gathered at its tip and thrust toward my heart.

A fraction of an instant earlier, I’d spoken another command in my mind.

Inventory open. Summon.

KRAK!

The concentrated energy, with all its destructive force and cutting power, struck an obstacle.

Go Jun’s eyes widened again. Reflected in them was armor with a faint red glow.

Fire Dragon Armor.

“What, what is this……?”

“What do you think, idiot? Life insurance.”

I’d kept Fire Dragon Armor hidden all the way to the top floor, even after taking that shallow cut across my chest, for a moment just like this.

And I’d been right.

“You… What the hell are you…?”

I looked into his frightened eyes.

The eyes of a human—no, a monster—driven to the edge.

Then I drove the spear deeper into Go Jun’s chest.

KRAK!