Chapter 783

Whoooosh!

As I charged, the spearhead flashed forward, cleaving through space. Flames surged up, burning the air and erasing the wind as they pierced the thick darkness.

Boom!

One precise point pierced the invisible flow.

Some of the magical power sweeping toward me like a wave dispersed helplessly. My vision plunged through the gap in the magical power at the same speed as my thrust—and a familiar face came into view.

No. Familiar and strange at once.

Because the Michael Silbert standing there was no longer Michael Silbert.

“Not bad.”

The moment that chilling voice reached my ears—

Shhk.

His figure vanished as if it had been erased.

My target disappeared from sight, but instead of panicking, I twisted around on instinct.

Whoosh!

A sword sprang up behind me, skimmed my side, and stabbed through empty air.

If I hadn’t dodged, it would have pierced my heart. I spun and struck with my palm.

Kwaang!

His body was supposed to be flesh and bone. Yet when our palms met, the impact sounded like an explosion.

And the shock wave hit even harder.

Grrrrk!

The ground tore up beneath my sliding feet. I was driven back several meters¹ while Michael Silbert stood rooted to the spot. One corner of his mouth curled upward.

“Do you understand now how foolish it was to stand against me?”

Ptoo.

I spat out the blood pooled in my mouth instead of answering. Before it hit the ground, I stepped forward with all my strength.

Kwaang!

The ground shattered beneath my foot.

Wind swept over me as I crossed more than ten meters² in an instant. My spear and his sword flashed toward each other.

Kaaang!

The sharp clash burst the air around us. His sword had grown so long and massive it hardly looked like a sword anymore, swollen with magical power. It knocked my spearhead far aside.

Crack.

Pain shot through my wrist.

This wasn’t just a difference in physical ability. It was a difference in the sheer amount of power we held.

Absorbing the Magic Gem had made Michael Silbert’s body much stronger, and the magical power welling up without end reinforced it further. Of course he was pushing me back.

As long as I insisted on fighting him head-on.

Grrrrk!

I turned my spearhead in a smooth arc, and his blade slid along it.

Despite the enormous difference in force, Michael Silbert’s sword slipped out of his control. My hunch confirmed, I drove a fist toward him.

Fwoosh, whoom!

Flames burst forth in a flash.

The thick darkness moved like a living creature and hurried to envelop its master, but my Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist, thrown with all my strength, burned through the magical power and slammed into his chest.

Kwaaaang!

A deafening crash rang out, and his body flew away like a cannonball.

Michael Silbert hastily flung out both arms, pouring magical power toward me to keep me back. Then he coughed up blood.

Kh-erk.

I cut down every bolt of magical power flying toward me and watched him stagger. A strange feeling stirred in me.

Not because I’d finally landed a solid hit. Because the blood spilling from his mouth was red.

“So even a monster like you is still human. For now, anyway.”

Michael Silbert clenched his teeth at my mutter. His eyes trembled; he hadn’t expected that blow.

“What did you do?”

I answered readily.

“Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Catties.”

“What?”

“You don’t need to understand. There’s a shitload of things in this world you don’t know about anyway.”

“……!”

“So I don’t bother trying to understand, either. You, or those lunatics fighting over there—who knows what kind of fucked-up shit they got up to while working with you to end up in that fight? None of it makes any sense to me.”

I stared straight at Michael Silbert.

“No. The moment I understood it, I’d become the same kind of idiot.”

A new emotion spread across his face, over the traces of pain.

Anger. Or humiliation.

Watching his face twist felt better than I’d expected.

“I told you earlier. A leech is still a leech. It couldn’t become a dragon even if it died and came back to life.”

“You bastard…”

“Yeah. Putting everything else aside, I’ll give you one thing.”

My breath was as hot as a fire dragon’s. I stepped toward him.

“You’re the strongest leech I’ve ever met.”

With that, I hurled White Flame without hesitation, gripping it in reverse.

Bang!

The air burst in layer after layer, as if a sonic boom had gone off.

And at the end of its path stood Michael Silbert.

Kwaang! Grrrrrung!

Flame and magical power erupted together.

The stained glass, which had barely held its shape thanks to dozens of layers of defensive magic, couldn’t withstand the shock wave and shattered. I flashed through the rain of countless shards falling overhead and thrust out both palms.

Boom!

A gale of flame swept through the room.

Amid the haze left by the explosion, the shadow of someone staggering was etched clearly into my eyes.

That’s him.

No doubt about it.

I kicked off the ground and charged, reaching out to grab empty air.

No—two spears appeared as if drawn into existence by the command I shouted in my mind. I caught them and launched them once more.

Shweeeek!

Two streaks of light crossed the space between us.

When Michael Silbert twisted aside and dodged the spears, I tore through the darkness surrounding us again and closed in right in front of him.

“Jin Taekyung!”

Whooom!

Beyond his furious shout came the heavy whistle of a weapon cutting through the air.

Fed an absurd amount of magical power, the enormous blade came down as if to cleave me in two.

Shwaaaak! Shhk!

Space split open, and the sword, having missed its target, cleaved the ground.

Pain stung across my chest. I’d dodged sideways at the last moment, but the pressure behind the sword was stronger—and sharper—than I’d imagined.

His strength and speed made my hair stand on end.

But just as he had a vast store of power I could never possess, I had something he lacked.

Something more important than the amount of internal energy you held when your life was on the line.

Martial arts.

Thump! Grrrrk!

As he raised his sword again, I drew up my internal energy and stamped down.

Using the Thousand-Catty Drop, I pressed the blade beneath a crushing weight. Michael Silbert’s eyes widened.

“……!”

A natural reaction from someone encountering martial arts for the first time. I’d been astonished every day when I first learned proper martial arts from Jeok Cheongang.

But Michael Silbert was neither my teacher nor my disciple. He was a monster I had to kill.

An enemy, plain and simple. I owed him no friendly explanation.

Fwoosh.

The Flame Divine Palm, now at the eighth stage, poured out a dreadful heat.

It was too late for him to free the hand gripping his sword. As he thrust out his other hand, I gave a command in my mind.

Inventory open. Summon.

Thwack!

Instead of a crash, blood burst out. Michael Silbert clenched his teeth at the sight of the dagger that had pierced his magical power and his palm.

His eyes bulged, pain mingling with some realization I couldn’t read.

“This is…!”

Meticulous as he was, Michael Silbert might already have suspected I had an Inventory.

But I was stronger than he thought—and even better at improvising.

Even if he’d guessed, it wouldn’t have changed much.

The amount of internal energy you have is only one factor in deciding who lives and who dies.

The powerful opponents who’d fallen at my hands could serve as witnesses, prosecutors, and judges all at once.

Some called me the greatest young prodigy and the Blazing Flame Divine Dragon. Others called me a lucky man who’d suddenly gained tremendous power through reawakening.

They were all wrong.

I’d been an F-rank Hunter, born in muddy water. I’d struggled and grown through countless brushes with death.

I would keep struggling with all my might until every bit of dirt filling this pit around me was gone. Until it finally became a clear pond.

And yet…… I couldn’t hand my pond over to some leech. Not a mantis, not a toad—a leech.

Especially one that would fill it with blood instead of muddy water.

Thrust, thrust-thrust!

My hand flashed.

Still clutching Michael Silbert’s hand, pierced by the dagger, I summoned another weapon from my Inventory and slashed, stabbed, twisted, and drove it into him wherever I could.

“Graaah!”

Blood sprayed from his wide-open mouth. At the same time, the hand that had belatedly let go of the sword hilt drove into my side like a battering ram.

Whoom!

The air whistled with a weight that made my skin crawl.

He had the magical power of two or three S-rank monsters combined and enough raw strength to tear a large monster apart with his bare hands.

The System had given me a body like steel, but I wouldn’t come away unscathed if that blow landed.

At least, if I did nothing.

Inventory open. Summon.

Crack!

The impact jolted my upper body. I heard bones shift, and a little blood welled into my mouth.

But that was all.

Michael Silbert’s desperate punch had neither split my skin nor broken my bones.

It had only damaged part of the red-tinged armor that had appeared around my upper body.

Beep.

System Part of the Fire Dragon Armor has been destroyed!

Current damage: 44%

At 90% damage or higher, it will be recalled to the Inventory and enter automatic repair mode.

As the alert sounded in my ears, I smiled brightly at Michael Silbert, who had frozen in a daze.

“Mm-hmm. I can just repair it~”

“……!”

And in that instant—

Ptoo!

I spat the blood pooled in my mouth into his face.

As he flailed instinctively, his face drenched in blood, I drove my fist into him.

Like hammering a nail farther into the ground.

Kwaang! Grrrrk!

A heavy crash and tremor swept in all directions. The ground around us sank into a vast crater. At its bottom, Michael Silbert lay sprawled, coughing up blood after my Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist struck him squarely in the chest.

“Khk, k-kergh…!”

The blood he coughed up pooled in the crater.

His armor had long since been smashed to pieces. Blood and soot had stained his once-pale skin dark red.

“…You fucking idiot.”

I smiled bitterly. When I reached out, White Flame’s shaft shot into my grasp.

Without hesitation, I raised the spearhead.

Whoosh!