Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP. 29: King Kong and the Hybrid Collide (10)
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It started with a light jab, tossed out like a casual probe in a skirmish.
Just a gentle punch.
But the result it created...
BOOM!
Was far from gentle.
Was this really a light jab?
KABOOM! THUD! KRA-KA-BOOM!
A power reminiscent of artillery shells.
Yet every time these devastating blows clashed or hammered into each other's guards, a frenzy of deafening whooshes ripped through the air.
WHAM!
Even when these shell-like strikes landed true, they seemed to deal no damage at all.
Both were utterly bare-handed...
The only sound echoing was like striking something elastic, like a tire.
WHOOSH!
The light probing had apparently worn thin. Maximus was the first to launch into a full assault.
THUD!
Just a shift in motion unleashed an overwhelming pressure from his fist alone.
Anyone else would have to forfeit their life just to graze that punch.
Common sense dictated dodging or fleeing.
But...
CRUNCH.
Unfortunately, he had no intention of evading.
Lee Han met the terrifying pressure head-on, thrusting out his own palm strike in return. He braced his stance, absorbing the force entirely.
The ground cratered beneath him, locking his body rigidly in place. And just like that...
KRA-KABOOM!
He took the punch with no guard up at all.
"?!"
Maximus was stunned.
Part of it was that this was the first time in his life he'd seen someone neither dodge nor block his strike.
THUD!
"...That hurts."
His fist slammed squarely into Maximus's side at the exact moment he took the hit full-on.
It was heavy.
Like a massive hammer smashing straight into his ribs.
A normal person would have had their organs ruptured on the spot.
"You don't look hurt at all."
"Haha, it hurts for real. This is embarrassing. You withstood my blow, and here I am whining like this. Jeez."
"...Withstood."
Lee Han gave a wry smile.
He'd endured it with Indestructible Training, but the impact site still tingled.
Was this what it felt like to take a bull's charge straight to the chest?
'Heavy.'
A shock even Indestructible Training—capable of effortlessly blocking swords, spears, or arrows—couldn't fully dissipate.
It hurt, sure, but it was also absurd.
'This guy's tanking it without any techniques.'
While he'd deployed a defensive technique to endure, Maximus had taken it purely on the merits of his freakish body.
Lee Han hadn't thrown a light jab—he'd aimed for a knockdown. Yet this guy just complained a bit like it was a bruise and stood firm.
A truly insane physique.
This must be what they meant by "body of steel."
'Who was it in my past life that said? A world champion's punch is just a massage to bear-like beasts.'
A sudden example popped into his mind.
And Lee Han thought it fitting.
To a lion or bear, a human's punch or kick feels like a kitten or pup thrashing about. Normal attacks wouldn't faze this guy either.
Only full power.
His all-out, heartfelt strike was the only thing that might knock him down.
Not some light jab.
'One big hit is key...'
Then.
How would he react to this?
Lee Han thrust out another palm strike.
'Fun! Insanely fun!!'
Maximus felt massive excitement and thrill surging through him.
The weight of that strike was one thing, but to casually tank his own punch!
'Felt like hitting plate armor for a split second.'
No, maybe even tougher.
Would you believe his striking hand hurt more?
Mysterious technique.
Whatever it was, his opponent clearly mastered arcane arts.
Turning the body instantly hard as plate armor.
Rumors said he made flowers bloom with his sword?
Meaning the real arcane arts started now.
'Heh heh heh!'
Maximus couldn't stop grinning with anticipation and excitement.
He'd confirmed the opponent's strength, and the mystery was novel and enchanting.
A true worthy foe!
And that's why.
'He's all the more valuable.'
Duels were always like this.
Fierce clashes with opponents like trials, where victory wasn't guaranteed.
Feeling alive through it.
'Show me what else you're hiding!'
Thud.
Maximus advanced again.
Toward the man who could take his full power—or perhaps even gift him defeat.
And as expected...
WHOOSH!
BAM!
"??"
He repaid the expectation—no, exceeded it—with an even more arcane method.
......Maximus's head spun.
His opponent's fist hadn't even touched him.
"It's called [Ridge-Shattering Palm]."
"!!"
"You'll probably feel dizzy."
With a courteous warning, the opponent threw a light one-two combo just like before, which he could block the same way...
WHAM!
But Maximus failed to block again, eating the strike full-on.
An invisible blow.
Dizziness and bewilderment like a ghost's touch!
The opponent's disorienting fist strikes and ghostly hands toyed with him mercilessly.
Maximus admitted his senses were thrown into chaos, like being haunted.
'Sending out fist pressure? From any direction?'
It came ignoring front, back, left, right.
Even...
Clang!
"...Incredible. How the hell do you do that?"
From below and above.
Truly defying physics, striking from all directions.
Maximus was floored.
"I'll teach you later."
"Haha, stingy."
WHAM!
Maximus's body flew back.
Ridge-Shattering Palm.
In a way, it's the prototype for Hundred-Step Divine Fist.
While Hundred-Step Divine Fist thrusts power in a straight line, Ridge-Shattering Palm demands exquisite fine control of that power.
Lee Han's fist energy shoots out with a whoosh, reflecting off nearby obstacles to hit blind spots the opponent can't react to or see.
Normally, pulling this off requires mathematical calculation skills.
To gauge angles and directions in real-time.
Mess it up, and you might hit yourself or allies.
But...
Thwack!
"Hitting every mark like it's nothing."
"Hurt a little, would you?"
Lee Han's senses.
His superhuman intuition handled all the calculations instinctively.
Mystical sensory arts.
Plus precise technique and optimal power distribution let him land strikes impossible to block even if known.
A whoosh of thrusting fist energy, paired with one strike of Ridge-Shattering Palm.
Like compressed air bullets exploding.
Such blows relentlessly pummeled the opponent.
Fist energy giving the illusion of eight arms instead of two.
And Ridge-Shattering Palm ignoring reach entirely.
Even a large monster would be ground into hamburger patty by now.
Yet...
Crunch!
"Oh ho, I see. So blocking like this works?"
"......"
The opponent didn't budge.
He was even starting to react.
Less than three minutes since deploying Ridge-Shattering Palm, and he was already counterattacking.
Of course...
WHAM!
"Ah, my mistake."
He couldn't block everything yet.
But even in his advantageous position, Lee Han let out a hollow chuckle.
The superhuman reaction speed was one thing...
'This guy's body is ridiculously tough!'
Facing such unreasonable durability made him laugh in disbelief.
How damn sturdy could it be?
'My punching hand hurts more—seriously?'
He prided himself on a solid build too, but this was another level.
His own came from endless training, beatings from nasty Aura Users to build toughness, then forging Indestructible Training to avoid more.
This guy? Born with it.
Skin, muscles, bones—all insanely resilient.
If Lee Han's body draped illogical chain-link muscles like armor, Maximus's was diamond.
A raw diamond from birth, polished to perfection.
That's why it was tough.
Petty attacks wouldn't pierce it.
Then...
'Go big!!'
KABOOM, a small explosion erupted inside Lee Han's body.
Layering energy to gather power in real-time.
- Layered Energy.
Normally not for live combat.
The massive focus required left him vulnerable.
But Lee Han used it.
Not because he was a reckless gambler...
'That guy doesn't dodge.'
Ridiculously, Lee Han trusted his opponent here.
Absolute certainty that the brute wouldn't disrupt his technique.
Why?
Why trust a guy he'd just met?
Northerners knew the answer.
Rivals who'd dueled him once would empathize and say:
- Because it's Maximus.
Roooar!
"Haha! That's some threatening momentum!"
And sure enough.
Amid the ominous aura, Maximus boomed heartily.
This moment more enjoyable than any, thrilled by the novel technique, utterly satisfied!
Glancing sidelong at him—
'...What a weirdo.'
Lee Han unleashed Hundred-Step Divine Fist laced with Layered Energy.
FWOOOOSH!
The fusion of Hundred-Step Divine Fist and Layered Energy wasn't mere addition.
The already linear, devastating fist energy now packed an extra explosive bomb.
Weight plus explosive force—taking it full-on, no body could endure, tough or not.
Not when the opponent was still primate flesh in the end.
Lee Han finally expected that smug face to crumple.
But...
"...Ah, I get it now. So that's how it works."
WHOOOOSH!
For a moment, Lee Han wondered if he'd lost his mind.
......That bastard?
Maximus assumed a mirror-image—no, identical—stance, astonishingly—
FWOOOOSH!!
Unleashed
[Hundred-Step Divine Fist].
RUMBLE.
With similar...
No, fiercer lightning-like energy.
'Shit, this bastard's been playing dumb too...'
Lee Han's impression as the two energies clashed.
GROOOAN!
CRACKLE...
The burrow, this century-old underworld, crumbled.
Scroll explosion.
Mother Worm's thrashing.
Catastrophes piling up in one day were bad enough, but now Lv. 8...
Two era-defining superhuman titans clashed.
The underworld, already shocked, collapsing was inevitable.
Surviving artillery-blast clashes? The burrow would have to be miraculous.
But sadly, it was fragile.
Probably...
"Instructor, it'll collapse in at least 30 minutes. So, uh, I'm gonna head out first."
"...Go on. Thanks for sticking through the mess."
"......I kinda want to politely say no, but... I can't bring myself to."
Derek's condition was a total wreck.
Being at ground zero of two titans' fight? Looking fine would be weirder.
Others might've cursed and cut ties immediately, but Derek was unusually kind and diligent for a kid his age—a true big-hearted guy.
Crunch...
Despite the damage, Derek wore an unbothered expression as he asked the man embedded in the wall.
"Instructor, just in case—wanna come with? Looks like you're just wasting time here."
...Kids these days sure had sharp tongues.
But he wasn't wrong.
"...I know."
This was all pointless now.
Truth was, the two knights had no more reason to fight.
Their goal—whatever the reason—was rooting out the shady group in the burrow...
I.e., capturing the cultists and extracting intel.
In that sense, the end was anticlimactic, but they'd proven the cult's existence, captured members, and even slain the massive Mother Worm bred here.
...Bonus: Nabbed what looked like a former colleague and high-ranking cult exec.
Now, pooling intel or reporting to superiors to wrap up made sense.
RUMBLE!
Especially in this unstable underworld on the verge of collapse.
Unless they wanted to be buried alive, escaping now was rational and wise.
And these knights weren't fools or naive—they were sharper than most.
Just...
"Weird, right? Right now, I kinda wanna act like an idiot."
"Huh?"
Derek blinked at the sudden confession.
Confused at first, but then he heard Lee Han's honest follow-up.
"I don't think running's shameful. Not into risking life for thrills either. ...But weirdly, I don't wanna run from that guy."
"...Competitive spirit?"
"Uh, probably?"
"What kinda answer is that..."
Vague response.
Even Lee Han seemed awkward admitting he had such a competitive streak.
Hate to lose.
Didn't want to flee before the northern champion.
Wanted to beat him!
That drive fueled battle lust, turning him into an idiot.
Keeping him from running.
Crack!
As he rose, the wall crumbled again, pain flaring in his cheek.
Seemed he'd taken a hard hit.
"Ow..."
Crunch!
"Haha! Flew pretty far. Never thought my back was weak, but this is embarrassing, kahaha!"
Lee Han shook his head at Maximus emerging from a distant wall, just like him.
"Freakishly tough bastard! Is that even human?"
"Not something you should say, Instructor..."
"Compared to him, I'm nothing!"
"...You two look alike to me."
Ignoring the nagging, Lee Han loosened up.
His throbbing body was healing steadily.
Such bruises wouldn't even count as wounds for either of them.
As Lee Han advanced...
"I don't think it's bad. Having someone you don't wanna lose to. Feels kinda friendly knowing you're the same as me, Instructor."
"...Is that so."
"Yeah. So."
Shing.
"Win if you can. Might as well look cool if you're gonna act dumb."
"...Ha."
Derek handed him a sword.
When did he snag that?
No time to ask—the kid hoisted No. 4 and bolted.
"...Yeah, that's the way."
Lee Han gripped the sword tight, belatedly replying to the retreating figure.
Yeah, if you're gonna act dumb anyway.
'A winning idiot's the cool one.'
Lee Han grinned.
More refreshingly than Maximus.