The Fall of Pride
What the fuck? Kuaaaang—! The moment my dagger was about to drive into the demon’s skull, it collided with the arm he casually lifted, and an explosive shockwave erupted. Dozens of razor-sharp stone pillars that had filled the area shattered miserably from the aftershock alone. My mana shockwave—the one I took pride in as harder than steel—had struck him head-on, yet not a single scratch marred his black skin. Instead, a violet current rippled around him and began shoving my dagger backward.
The tremendous recoil traveled through both arms and slammed straight into my brain. My joints screamed in agony, but I clenched my teeth, twisted my body in midair, and landed behind me. The barren ground sank deep with a heavy boom.
This creature was on an entirely different level from the intelligent monsters whose heads I had been smashing until now. That last strike had been my trump card, compressing every ounce of refined mana inside me to its absolute limit. And he had blocked it effortlessly with nothing but a forearm.
The demon glanced down at his faintly smoking forearm and muttered in a low voice. His tone still dripped with unbearable arrogance. Though he bore no wound, the creature he had dismissed as insignificant had pushed his body back and devastated the surrounding terrain. A flicker of interest now gleamed in his eyes.
He slowly descended from the stone pillar and set foot on the ground. The instant his foot touched the earth, the air around us grew twice as heavy as before.
Shuuuk—! The moment the words left him, the demon vanished like a mirage. Before my heightened senses could even scream their warning, a black shadow surged up beneath my chin.
"……!"
Thud—! I had no time to react. His fist slammed squarely into my solar plexus. The skin I had forged into steel over thousands of hunts and the leather cloak made from the toughest monster’s hide proved useless. A brutal impact that felt like it was crushing my insides whole tore through my entire body. I was sent flying, smashing through three or four massive stone walls in succession before embedding in the rock.
Boom! Rumble—!
"Cough…!" A rush of metallic blood surged up my throat. Agonizing pain flooded me as if every bone in my chest had shattered. If the mana circulating in my heart hadn’t instinctively raised a barrier, that single blow would have exploded my upper body and killed me instantly.
I shoved the rubble aside and forced myself to my feet. The hot mana within me spun wildly to repair the damage, scorching my veins. In speed, power—every aspect—I was being utterly overwhelmed. The realm I had reached after years of solitary, hellish training was nothing more than trivial entertainment to this horned monster.
The demon approached leisurely, his massive wings behind him fluttering. His red eyes were filled with obvious amusement. He had no intention of ending my life just yet; he wanted to savor the sight of me writhing in despair a little longer. Cruel bastard. Every step he took made the ground tremble ominously.
"Who the hell said… it was over, you piece of shit?" I spat the blood pooled between my teeth onto the ground and bared my fangs. My bones creaked and my organs twisted in excruciating pain, yet my eyes burned fiercer than ever.
I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t in despair. Only one thing ruled my mind: the vicious, dogged obsession to tear this shitty world apart and escape. He was clearly stronger than me. A head-on fight offered poor odds. But this bastard had made one fatal mistake.
He saw me as a toy he could toy with at his complete leisure. That complacency was the only opening I could exploit. Surviving naked in this fucked-up world had already forced me to make deals where I traded flesh to carve bone thousands of times over.
Swish—. Once again, he vanished from my sight. This time from the right. Without even a whisper of wind, the demon’s razor claws hurtled toward the back of my neck. I didn’t dodge. Instead, I tilted my head slightly, guiding his attack exactly where I wanted it.
Squelch—! His sharp claws tore straight through my shoulder flesh and hide. The horrific pain of my shoulder blade cracking slammed into my brain, but I clenched my teeth and endured without screaming. The instant his hand sank deep into my shoulder and lodged there, I exploded the mana within me through both arms.
"……Got you, you son of a bitch."
I flashed a bloody grin.
For the first time, the demon’s red eyes widened in shock. It wasn’t the gaze of an insect facing death. He instinctively sensed danger and tried to yank his embedded hand free, but it was already too late. My left hand clamped down on his wrist like a steel vise. I squeezed until the bones threatened to shatter, and veins bulged across his black skin.
"I won’t let go, you fucker."
At the same time, my right hand shot out from beneath my cloak like lightning. In it was the pitch-black dagger I had forged by weaving together the bones and teeth of countless intelligent creatures, its blade vibrating with mana compressed to the absolute limit. The space-twisting shockwave condensed at its tip, pulsing thickly.
Swish— Crunch!
The dagger pierced straight through the base of the demon’s massive bat wing and drove deep into the ground. A scream of pure agony—something I had never heard since falling into this world—ripped from his throat and shook the entire stone wasteland.
A complacent powerhouse was always more vulnerable than a starving, tenacious fighter. No matter how superior his rank or power, the moment he let his guard down believing victory was assured, he was nothing but a lump of meat with a tough outer shell.
"Where did all that arrogance from earlier go, you horned bastard?" I gripped the dagger tighter and twisted it viciously inside his body. Crack. Crunch.
The demon swung his remaining hand with murderous intent, aiming to obliterate my face. Instead of dodging, I slammed my hardened skull straight into his face.
Thud—! The one whose nose bone collapsed miserably from the impact was the demon. The instant he staggered, clutching his face, I didn’t hesitate. I ripped the dagger free from his wing and stabbed his thick neck again and again—fast, deep, relentless.
Splurt—!! Stab!! Crunch!
Dark crimson blood erupted like a fountain, drenching my face completely. It was hot, laced with bizarre energy.
"I told you. Let’s keep beating each other until you turn to dust."
The amusement finally vanished from the demon’s once-arrogant eyes. In its place came the very ‘terror’ and ‘bewilderment’ he had inflicted on countless beings while looking down on them. He had never imagined he would be the one carved apart while playing with what he thought was an insignificant insect.
Strength slowly drained from his massive frame as he began to kneel. But I didn’t stop. Delivering a certain kill was the only law that had kept me alive in this hellish world. I kept carving into his chest until he showed no movement whatsoever, then reached in, seized his enormous heart, and ripped it out. Only then did I stagger backward and collapse, breathing hard.
"Haa… Haa… Fuck. I almost actually died."
My entire body felt like every bone was broken, but inside my chest, a majestic and overwhelming essence—nothing like what I had gained from intelligent creatures—surged into me. The bizarre, dense mana from the demon’s heart seeped into my skin and veins in real time. Once again, I had grown incomparably stronger.
There was no status window, but every cell in my body was awakening with new life and screaming. The first creature in this world whose words I could understand—I had hunted it down using nothing but my survival instincts and stubborn grit.
"…Still, I wonder if this bastard’s heart tastes any better."
I looked down at the massive heart dripping with blood and curled my lips into a rough smile. I had taken one more solid step toward the power that would let me tear this world apart and escape.