Chapter 640

One Annihilation was a technique that didn’t merely destroy its target. It erased it.

It drew out all my power in an instant, producing several times my usual strength. The greater my martial attainment, the more powerful One Annihilation became.

But it had one fatal drawback…

Beep. Beep. Beep-beep-beep!

System

• You have exhausted all your power!
• Warning! Warning! The effects of overusing your abilities will rebound on you in full!
• Status abnormality Internal Injury applied!
• Status abnormality Exhaustion applied!
• Status abnormality Anemia applied!
• Status abnormality Paralyzed applied!
• Due to the stacked status abnormalities, all stats temporarily decrease by 100!

As One Annihilation grew more powerful, its aftereffects grew more severe.

…Ah. Damn it.

My entire body trembled as though I’d been electrocuted. My once-clear vision blurred like a screen full of static.

Turning thousands of venomous beasts to ash had come at a steep price.

Still, I thought I’d at least level up once.

The higher my Level rose, the less EXP I gained.

Back when I had been a low-level nobody who could barely stand up to a single Peak Master, leveling up could cover for that weakness to some extent. But now that my vessel had grown larger, I needed far more EXP to fill it, and even leveling up had become difficult.

“…Hng.”

Internal Injury and Exhaustion weren’t enough. I had Anemia and paralysis, too. It was a miracle I hadn’t passed out.

I staggered, my vision swimming, and barely managed to drive White Flame into the ground.

Thud!

Leaning on my spear in this sorry state, I wished Jeok Cheongang had taught me the Dance of the Fire God and Demon. Not that there was any point begging him. I knew what he’d say.

The Dance of the Fire God and Demon? Is dying young your life’s ambition?

He said it was too dangerous, but really, the difference would be no greater than the one between a pistol and an automatic rifle.

To be honest, at this rate, I felt like I might die far from home using One Annihilation before then.

Not that I had the slightest intention of dying in a horrible place like this.

That’s why I took out insurance.

Just as I thought that, the insurance agent noticed his client’s accident and dropped out of the sky.

Whoooosh. Boom!

The heavily built old man landed on the Thousand-Year Spider, using its enormous, barely living, convulsing body as a cushion.

The Beast Miao King, his face flushed, spread both arms toward me.

“Uh, that’s really crossing the line—”

Grab! Crack!

“What an incredible bastard!”

“Argh! Aaaagh!”

“How did you do that? Was it the Fire Gate Clan’s unique martial art? Or the final ultimate technique Old Man Jeok learned?”

Whap! Whap!

“Uuuugh!”

“What a monster! I couldn’t believe it even while watching!”

“Aaaaaagh! You crazy bastard!”

“What? Crazy bastard? Yes! That’s exactly what you are—a madman born of the Central Plains!”

I nearly died far from home. I wasn’t joking.

When the madman born of Nanman finally let go of me, a mournful notification sounded in my ear.

Beep.

System

• Status abnormality Mild Ligament Tear applied!
• Strength decreases by 20 until recovery!
• Agility decreases by 20 until recovery!

“…”

This was why Doctor Octopus¹ was a villain.

I didn’t have the strength to say anything else. Gasping through the pain, I glared at the Beast Miao King and barely managed to speak.

“Spider. Spider.”

“Spider? Oh, the Thousand-Year Spider?”

“Quick. Hurry.”

At my pitiful gestures, the Beast Miao King nodded in admiration.

“I wondered if that was what you meant, but are you planning to use the Thousand-Year Spider to figure out the Poisonblood Grounds? You really are something.”

“Ah, please.”

“Ha, all right. Just as you asked, I brought it here alive and unharmed—”

Before he could spout any more nonsense, I squeezed out what little strength I had left.

“Gnnngh!”

I wrenched White Flame free and drove it straight into the Thousand-Year Spider’s head, like a patient collecting a random insurance payout.

Thud!

—Ssssit! Kieeeek!

The monster gave a brief death cry. Then heavenly bells rang from somewhere.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

System

• You defeated Level 119 Thousand-Year Spider!

• Additional EXP has been awarded for defeating a rare entity!

• Level Up!

• The damaged body has been substantially restored!

• All status abnormalities have been removed!

• Warning! Your physical condition is not yet perfect! A little treatment and rest are required!

Ah, this was why I took out insurance.

If the EXP from one venomous beast was an ant’s tear, the Thousand-Year Spider was a downpour from heaven.

Add its EXP to what I’d earned killing thousands of venomous beasts at once, and life immediately surged back into my dying body.

“Buuuurp.”

Last hit. Sweet.

As the ancient sages said, one Level Up made the five loaves and two fish² look like nothing.

I couldn’t tell you which sage said it, but someone did. It was true, too.

Whew. I almost died.

Having barely made it back from the nursing home’s doorstep, I rubbed my stomach, feeling a satisfying fullness spread through my body.

Then I looked up and met the eyes of someone staring at me with a distinctly unimpressed expression.

“Why?”

“…”

“What is it?”

“…”

After a moment, the Beast Miao King spoke, his expression gone cold.

“Why did you tell me to keep it alive if you were going to do that?”

Why else? To get the EXP, obviously.

But years of working for a shitty small Guild had given me something I had never possessed before: social awareness and people skills.

I answered with a mournful, rigid expression.

“I wanted to take revenge with my own hands.”

“What?”

“For the Nanman warriors who died at the hands… no, the slime and webs of those bastards. Tearing them apart wouldn’t have been enough.”

“…!”

The Beast Miao King’s eyes widened, emotion stirring in them. He stared at me, his gaze trembling, then spoke in a choked voice.

“I… don’t know what to say.”

“Shh. Don’t say anything. I already know.”

“You… you little bastard!”

What a romantic moment… Like hell. Fuck off. I was going to gag.

But one thing was certain: the Beast Miao King couldn’t hide how moved he was.

Well, the result’s good. That’s what matters, right?

I didn’t need to feel guilty. I genuinely mourned the Nanman warriors, and I genuinely needed the EXP to recover.

More importantly, my quick excuse had made things better.

If word of this gets around Nanman, maybe the odds of the Nanman Beast Palace joining the Murim Alliance will go up ten percent.

Even so, a weight remained in my chest.

I felt guilty because I hadn’t been able to prevent hundreds of people from being massacred less than two shichen³ away.

…Damn it.

A bitter taste filled my mouth.

Even now, countless people were probably dying across both the modern world and Murim. Some in traffic accidents. Some at the hands of monsters.

A martial artist might get into a quarrel at an inn, draw a sword, and die on the spot. Somewhere, a nameless hero might lose their life fighting an evildoer.

I knew I couldn’t save them all.

But I was human, and I hated seeing other people die.

And I felt regret, too. Regret that if I had been there, perhaps I could have saved innocent people.

Great power comes with great responsibility.

At some point, that line from a superhero movie had become a boulder weighing on my body and mind.

It weighed on me even while I circulated my qi, when I needed to give it my full concentration.

Maybe this is a Heart Demon,⁴ too.

I sighed softly, shook my head, and started walking again, leaving the Thousand-Year Spider’s corpse behind.

We headed deeper into the hidden reaches of the Poisonblood Grounds.

Splash. Splash.

The Beast Miao King and I watched our steps more carefully now. Killing five Thousand-Year Spiders and an enormous number of venomous beasts had left the area quiet, but it was too soon to let our guard down.

That bastard is the biggest problem of all.

Ailao Mountain’s Wraith.

The Black Tiger fit the name the System had given it perfectly. It was the one thing we had to watch for above all else.

Its enormous body moved like the wind. The powerful, eerie qi I’d sensed from it, however briefly, proved it was far beyond any ordinary spiritual creature or venomous beast.

—Where do you think it is now?

It was useful having someone beside me who was thinking the same thing. I moved my lips in answer to the Beast Miao King’s Sound Transmission.

—Who knows? But I’m sure it’s still in the Poisonblood Grounds.

—That’s what I don’t understand. Why lure us all this way and then fail to appear? Fifteen minutes ago, we would have been at a clear disadvantage.

He was right.

Despite their reputation, the five Thousand-Year Spiders had been easier to handle than I’d expected, and so had the thousands of venomous beasts. But if Ailao Mountain’s Wraith had joined them, things would have been different.

If it had joined the fight from the beginning, we could probably have put up a decent fight. But if it had appeared right after I used One Annihilation……

Even if we’d done everything right, it would have been a brutal fight.

Its teeth could withstand Force. It was unbelievably fast, and, true to its name, its presence was as impossible to sense as a wraith’s.

One of us might have died. Or left a limb behind.

At worst, we’d both be dead.

But why? Why didn’t it appear even under those circumstances?

I didn’t know. Only two remotely plausible explanations came to mind.

First, a classic island-nation plot twist:⁵

Heh heh. The Thousand-Year Spider is merely the weakest of our Four Great Venomous Beasts.

And second:

Ailao Mountain’s Wraith has no intention of hurting us.

I took a few cautious steps and discarded the second theory. However I looked at it, it seemed too unlikely.

Before I could think any further, the Beast Miao King, who had been following behind and watching our flanks and rear, put his broad hand on my shoulder.

Tap.

Oh, shit.

That scared the hell out of me. My heart nearly fell out of my chest.

I steadied myself and turned to look where his finger was pointing.

Beyond the Poison Mist, growing thicker with every step, and the dark jungle crowding in on all sides, a faint, unfamiliar light shone through.

Could it be?

We didn’t need to say anything. My instincts had reached the answer before my thoughts had.

Rustle. Crackle.

We pushed through grass that carried a faint trace of poison and came to the source of the light.

At last, we saw what lay before us. Both of us stopped, mouths hanging open.

“This is…!”

A vast swamp lay under the faint moonlight.

Waiting there were countless shapes hanging, each bound tight in transparent spiderwebs—and white eggs.