Chapter 114
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Lucas (3)
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Kwakwakwang!—
As I declared I’d kill him and unleashed my ferocious aura, the corners of Lucas’s eyes twitched.
My current presence surpassed even your average S-rank, so he’d probably sensed it and tensed up somewhat.
“Not an ordinary bastard, are you. So, you’re the Destroyer?”
“I’ll let you know after I kill you!”
I shouted that and immediately clenched my fist tight before slamming it into the empty air with my full power.
Ku-kwaaaang!!—
At the same time, the space I struck didn’t just warp—it exploded outright, sweeping up everything in front of me.
The intense shockwave battered the dozen or so corpses under Lucas’s control, sending them tumbling backward.
‘Lucas himself came out unscathed, though.’
Looks like he’d spread his own aura to cancel out the shockwave I’d generated.
‘Stronger than expected.’
From what I could tell, his physical prowess and mana capacity both outstripped Joo Tae-ho’s.
But that was only better than Joo Tae-ho, so I paid it no mind and kicked off the ground toward Lucas.
“Definitely strength outside the norm.”
Before his words even finished, I closed the distance and swung my fist at his head, dead set on bursting it open.
Pat—
“...!?”
But my fist never reached his head—he vanished in a flash.
‘Teleportation?’
Seeing him disappear like that, I immediately thought of spatial transfer.
Lee Seojun, standing beside me, must have thought the same, because he ventured a guess at the guy’s innate ability.
Lee Seojun: Space Leap? Looks like something similar to that Jake prick’s power.
Seogeok—
Before Lee Seojun’s words ended, Lucas slashed at my side with a sword gleaming dark purple.
Given my current physical capabilities, no ordinary weapon could even scratch me—but that dark purple blade carved right through with ease.
‘What the hell? That weapon?’
Thoughts aside, my body lunged with another fist aimed at him.
Seogeok—
Once more, though, his form blinked out of existence, and from behind, he sliced at my ankle.
In less than a few seconds, I’d eaten two attacks, and a strange sense of wrongness settled in.
‘Something’s off.’
The first strike had my eyes on the weapon, but now it was his attack pattern drawing my focus.
No matter how freely he teleported, that only shifted position—posture stayed the same.
‘Slicing my side, then the ankle... that I can buy.’
Slice the side, then teleport to a new spot.
To reach the ankle from there, he’d have to crouch down first.
‘That crouch got skipped.’
Put simply, he attacked once, teleported, and struck again without any wind-up.
Having pieced that together, I swung my slashed leg in a full 360-degree sweep to test further.
Puk!—
Sure enough, Lucas shifted to where my leg had passed, stabbing straight for my heart—still no posture shift.
“Your physical abilities are impressive, but they won’t be enough to beat me.”
Lucas acted like stabbing my heart sealed his win.
I didn’t care—I drove my fist forward faster than anything in the world.
“...!?”
His face twisted in real shock as he yanked the sword from my heart and leaped back.
But pulling that sword and retreating was far slower than my fist smashing into his face.
Kwaang!—
‘Tch.’
I landed the hit on his mug, but some weird barrier got in the way midway.
Sure, my fist shattered it and clocked him anyway—but the impact got heavily dampened.
‘Not dead.’
To finish the airborne Lucas, I kicked off after him right away.
Pat—
Before I could close in, though, his body vanished again.
The moment he did, I scanned the surroundings and spotted him standing there good as new, like he’d never taken flight.
‘I’ve got a rough idea now.’
By this point, I had a solid grasp on his power.
“You stopped time, didn’t you?”
If I was right, his innate ability wasn’t spatial transfer—it was time stop, more likely.
The moment I mentioned time stop, Lee Seojun’s eyes went wide, along with Kang Ju-young watching from afar.
“You caught on quick.”
“Guess you need power like that to lead the Villain Alliance.”
“You’re no pushover yourself. Stabbed through the heart and still standing.”
Obviously, the gashes on my side, ankle, and heart had healed ages ago.
My regeneration outpaced any monster’s—no way I’d drop that easy.
“Ever thought of joining the Villain Alliance?”
“I don’t take orders from weaklings!”
I spat my blunt refusal and charged him.
I’d sized up his full strength by now, but he’d done the same to me.
He’d gauged my limits plenty, so he’d switch up his attacks from here.
‘Time stop, though...’
A real pain of an ability, but I figured there had to be a counter.
‘My [Absolute Clone] and Lee Seojun’s [Infinite Power] have limits too, after all.’
[Absolute Clone] was tough to puppeteer and shared its energy pool.
One clone burns all its mana, the others are tapped out.
‘I patched that with power from another world.’
[Infinite Power] capped at ten minutes, once per day.
Even EX-grade innate abilities had drawbacks, so Lucas’s time stop had to have some too.
‘Hm?’
I threw another punch at Lucas, and as expected, he blinked away.
It was just a casual jab anyway, so I halted to track his landing spot—then froze.
‘A jar?’
Right where he’d vanished sat a random jar.
Peok!—
My fist stopped maybe a centimeter shy.
The instant it shattered, black smoke gushed out and latched onto me.
Lee Seojun: [Urn of Vengeful Spirits]! Lee Seongmin, your physical stats and regen have tanked hard!
Sure enough, as Lee Seojun warned, my body felt heavier, regeneration sluggish.
I ignored it, kept pressing Lucas, racking my brain solely for a time stop counter.
Seogeok—
A few more strikes landed in seconds, and my body weighed even more.
With my close inspection, I realized each dagger cut stacked the curse stronger.
‘Fitting for the Villain Alliance boss—packing cheat-grade gear.’
Not that I lacked ways to kill him.
Skills from that online game, infused with the Creator God’s authority, would flatten him in one go.
“...”
But resorting to that meant admitting my own power fell short.
He wasn’t some transcendent or god—just a mortal like me. Hated pulling game skills for this.
‘Time stop really is broken-tier.’
Head-on clash, he’d be mush—but this one trick had me on the ropes.
A few more minutes like this, and him piercing my heart for the kill didn’t sound impossible.
‘...Wait. The heart?’
Come to think of it, why no time stop on that heart stab earlier?
“...”
If it wasn’t that he didn’t—it’s that he couldn’t—then maybe a counter existed.
‘Worth a shot.’
I attacked again, activating a certain power mid-swing.
Lucas dodged predictably, striking at empty air, gearing up for another time stop.
“...!?”
But it didn’t trigger—he looked outright stunned.
With that opening, I smashed a fist into his face. Felt the barrier again, but I poured on more force.
Kwaaaang!!—
‘Dead?’
As I watched him fly, a sudden white flash erupted from his body.
His half-smashed face reverted to normal, and my expression hardened despite myself.
Lee Seojun: [Spare Life]. Figured as much—he’s got every rare artifact in the book.
The bracelet on his left wrist shattered to pieces the moment Lee Seojun spoke.
One-use artifact, probably. I chased to end it, but no dice.
Pat—
‘Gone again.’
I tried blocking his time stop the same way as before.
“Looks like killing you will take a bit more preparation.”
Instead of counterattacking, he pulled back a good distance and spoke coolly.
Thinking I’d cracked his time stop gimmick, he was on maximum alert.
“Running away?”
“I’ll concede this round to you.”
Pat—
I lunged again, but the instant my feet left the ground, he blinked out.
Chasing someone who moved while time was frozen was no easy feat from the start.
‘Should’ve finished him with that last hit.’
Regretted it inwardly but kept a straight face as I directed the healer to purge the curse.
I could tap the healer’s powers through Destroyer too, but I minded Kang Ju-young staring blankly from the sidelines.
“You okay?”
Sensing the fight over, she approached cautiously and asked.
“No big deal.”
I said that much, but the bleeding was picking up.
Regen bottomed out, wounds refused to knit.
‘Bleeding’s nothing healing can’t fix, though.’
My healing even restored lost blood.
So I didn’t sweat it and waited for the healer to arrive.
“More importantly, the Villain Alliance leader... what an absurd innate ability.”
While waiting, Kang Ju-young spoke with a gravely serious look.
“Mind sharing how you countered that innate ability?”
Not hard to explain, but how many could actually pull it off? Big question mark.
One thing for sure: Kang Ju-young couldn’t, so I didn’t bother answering.
“Why would I tell you?”