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Chapter 346

Tchpat! Christopher’s palm brushed against Yeon-woo’s ear.

Although my body had toughened since becoming a master, an attack like that was precariously dangerous even if it merely grazed me. Facing such destructive power was nothing short of foolish.

I need to kill it. There’s no reason not to. While I may speak as if sacrificing myself, that’s not the case. I feel guilt for the victims and their families, yet I simply don’t care; I will keep killing people.

“What’s left of the hero’s wall? What’s the emotional trash can? You’re just a piece of trash looking for reasons to kill people.”

“Haha, can’t argue with that.”

Christopher, smiling at Yeon-woo’s harsh words, clenched his hand in the air where his palm had just passed by Yeon-woo’s head.

…KABOOM!! An explosive shockwave erupted beside Yeon-woo’s ear with a sound like thunder.

I quickly raised my jaw and turned my ear toward the source of the shock, preventing it from rupturing my brain. However, I couldn’t stop the warm fluid that leaked from my ear.

“Ugh…!!”

Gritting my teeth in pain, Yeon-woo swiftly wrapped his ear with Dawn’s Divine Art. The stigmata that decorated Yeon-woo’s skin crawled toward his ear.

“Don’t focus too much on that. I came here to kill you, didn’t I? You should be paying a bit more attention to me.”

What a ridiculous madman. Wasn’t he the one who started this mess? This is why talking to a lunatic is pointless.

The one type of enemy to absolutely avoid is a madman with strange beliefs. We call that a fool.

*

In the midst of the battlefield, a bizarre space fittingly named the eye of the storm appeared where Choi Yeon-woo and Christopher faced off. No Undead or Hunter dared to step into that realm.

Yeon-woo’s Aura Blade clashed with Christopher’s Aura Fist, shattering into countless fragments. It resembled falling petals, yet anymore would not have been odd if an arm had been blown off upon contact.

A punch thrust with all might split the air apart. KABOOM!! It sounded as refreshing as hitting a punching bag, sending a massive shockwave toward Yeon-woo.

“Ugh!!”

He twisted his wrist to mitigate the shock to his body.

Bang!! With the barely redirected force, the ground was dug deep, scattering dirt. Although his wrist tingled, Yeon-woo thrust his body forward without hesitation.

“Oh ho!”

Christopher gasped at the sight. The outcome of the fight was still uncertain. However, it was clear that Christopher held the upper hand. It was challenging to inflict a meaningful blow using Aura Blade against someone wrapped in mana.

If the only tool Yeon-woo had was the Aura Blade, it was only a matter of time before one solid hit might send him to his grave.

If that were to happen, Christopher would kill Yeon-woo without a second thought. If Yeon-woo could barely manage a defeat, achieving anything before the Demon King would be out of the question.

Though I’d rather not admit it, the Demon King was incredibly strong. It made me wonder why he didn’t come forward himself and merely manipulated the Undead from behind. Perhaps blocking futile hopes could be considered a form of kindness in itself?

Or not.

Considering that, Christopher leisurely launched his punch. The movement was slow, but the power within was anything but.

The sharp senses unique to an Aura Master enabled him to predict Yeon-woo’s trajectory. The punch targeted Yeon-woo with pinpoint accuracy. Yet at that moment, Yeon-woo’s eyes had already glimpsed the opening.

He dodged to the left. In that moment, Christopher, having committed his force to the punch, spun around and swung a backspin blow. Yeon-woo took the hit. His upper body shattered upon impact.

To the right, Yeon-woo burrowed into Christopher’s embrace. As Christopher pressed down on him, Yeon-woo deflected weight off with his blade, but Christopher’s random left-hand swing tightened around Yeon-woo’s neck. There was a snap.

One by one, Yeon-woo’s shadowy remnants shattered, exploded, and twisted. Through dozens of deaths, Yeon-woo’s eyes found the answer.

Though it seemed thoughtless, his combat senses were razor-sharp. Specialized in killing, perhaps it could be described as an instinctive skill of a master.

Yeon-woo’s shadow extended far beneath him. He had noticed this from their previous encounter, but Christopher was so physically dominant that he didn’t even attempt to use aura to interfere.

Why bother, when simply swinging his arms and legs solves everything?

Of course, back then, Tae-oh’s shadow shattered and broke far too easily, but Tae-oh was different now. Adjusting the strength of his shadow to be difficult to break helped him resist Christopher’s power.

Engaging purely as a martial artist wasn’t a bad choice, but he was a hero burdened with countless lives. Adjusting to his opponent was only acceptable when facing someone with pride.

“Huh!!”

Yeon-woo grasped the shadow. The sensation of the rope-like shadow was foreign. Putting all his strength into it, the shadows of the two men intertwined as if playing shadow puppets.

“This… Oh!? ”

Christopher, surprised by Yeon-woo’s unexpected action, let out an amazed cry as his body was lifted, thrown, and slammed into the ground.

There was no way it would hurt. However, in an unstable stance with limited visibility, any action would now have a chance to succeed.

“Huh!!”

With a roar, Yeon-woo pumped mana through the shadow he held. The shadow turned crimson and began radiating intense heat.

He imagined the temperature rising as high as possible, but he still questioned whether this would actually harm Christopher.

The heat built up in his hands. With the temperature high enough to break the shadow, Yeon-woo let go. From the pit where Christopher had landed, a bright light radiated through the dust cloud.

It’s wise not to utter unnecessary words at such a moment. Instead of asking if he had dealt with Christopher, it would be better to deliver a follow-up attack.

Grabbing the cold, lifeless hilt of White, Yeon-woo used it to cool down his overheated hands as he jumped skyward.

Silver mana enveloped Yeon-woo, plunging into the dust cloud. Maybe he should have been more careful to provoke an explosion of the dust, but it was already too late.

Yeon-woo’s eyes searched through the dust cloud. Blocking his visible sight meant nothing to him.

With his golden dragon eyes, he easily found Christopher’s mana within.

‘So he did use it.’

The quality and density of the mana were overwhelming. Just that fact alone confirmed it was no ordinary mana.

And indeed, it was true. An energy closer to one’s essence, known as unique mana—a step beyond elemental mana—was being used.

The unique mana of the Gloomy Monster was widely recognized as ‘Denial.’ It negated all that came from the outside, an absurd type of unique mana.

While it may spread its magical energy freely now, it was said that if it ever felt the desire, it could refuse even the Demon King’s aura and revert to being an ordinary human—an outrageous origin.

“That’s what pisses me off, you bastard!!”

It implied that he could return any time but chose not to.

In truth, there was no place for a traitor like that. I might have talked about forgiving him, but that was a lie. I could forgive others, but not him.

Suddenly, as if wings sprouted from behind Yeon-woo, an arm formed. Not a shadowy arm, but a tangible arm created from the mana of courage. Compared to the shadow arms, this was harder to control but afforded more power.

The utmost power he could draw from this was still the Walpurgis Cross. Once before, he had neutralized Christopher’s mighty fist using an incomplete Walpurgis.

If they were to clash now, the Walpurgis would dominate. However, that was under the condition that Christopher didn’t use his unique mana.

‘No matter how powerful it is, I doubt it can pierce through Denial.’

From what Yeon-woo could remember, Denial boasted the highest defensive power compared to unique mana abilities.

By rejecting external forces, it allowed one to stand solely on their own strength. That was the secret behind Christopher’s defense and destructive power, as the two were inseparably connected.

By rejecting contact, objects would progressively push away and be destroyed at the moment they made contact.

Simply put, no regular technique could breach that. Any actions taken were considered external interferences that fell within the range of his Denial.

To break that using pure technique required skill at the level of Yuri. Only someone capable of transcending space would be able to ignore it altogether.

Of course, Yeon-woo couldn’t even begin to aspire to such skills, if he even had the chance. Thankfully, it was due to his unique mana that the expenditure was extreme; otherwise, he surely wouldn’t have dared to fight.

Two pairs of arms traced their own paths. The sword danced freely along the tracks. Over that, a vertical sword aura overlapped, with two disparate swords converging at the same spot.

The destructive power of the Walpurgis came from overlapping strikes. From one individual’s strength, the destructive force of the same Aura Blade was layered upon a single point.

With the ability to swing the sword unhindered using multiple pairs of arms from the shadow arms, Yeon-woo enacted a unique technique.

To simplify, it was as if he were layering only one Aura Blade. Only dual-wielders could imitate this principle.

Yet, even imitating it would only work if it was a thrust; this truly was a technique exclusive to dark attribute duelists, including Yeon-woo himself.

The massive horizontal slash of the X-shape tore through the dust cloud. The dark blade shot toward Christopher, leaving a colossal scar on the ground.

Even if Christopher had used Denial, Yeon-woo thought there would still be some impact, yet the man simply raised his arm to block.

All that was visible was the faint scar that had formed on his forearm.

Seeing that, the arm behind Yeon-woo instantly transformed into a wing. If the Walpurgis only left a scratch, then it confirmed that assertion of possessing the world’s strongest defensive power was no mere myth.

“Ah, what am I going to do about this?”

The biggest problem was that his proud weapon was hard to use. Denial’s defense was formidable. Anything that came into contact was wholly rejected.

In other words, from now on, even White could be shattered. And if that happened, Yeon-woo would surely feel incredibly wronged.

‘How could I have made White…!’

I absolutely cannot lose it. No, I won’t lose it!! Thinking so, Yeon-woo had no choice but to bring out the Doppleganger.

(To be continued in the next chapter)

 

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