Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: Demon's 9th Floor (1)
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No matter how you sliced it, not a single clash had occurred between Yuri and Coco, yet the air between them kept exploding with sharp bursts of wind.
It was the sound of the air currents generated by their hand movements colliding.
Yuri calmly read Coco's movements.
'The cigarette's already half gone.'
Which meant he had to seize his chance in the remaining half of its length.
The problem was that his body was finally reaching its true limits.
'Can I hold out any longer?'
He posed the question to himself, but the answer was a resounding 'no.'
'Then...'
There was only one option left.
Yuri activated Radiant Blood.
Wooong-.
Golden lines bloomed across his entire body.
Coco's narrow eyes sparkled with intrigue.
In that moment, thanks to Radiant Blood's effects, Yuri recovered some mental strength, stamina, and even a bit of mana.
Soon, his thoughts began to accelerate rapidly.
At the same time, everything around him slowed to a crawl.
Pabang!
The successive bursts of air.
Sseup-.
The sound of Coco taking a short breath.
Chijik-.
The cigarette burning away.
Fook-.
The instant the exhaled smoke briefly obscured Coco's vision.
Yuri reached for the sword hilt.
And just like always, Coco's hand came forward to shove it back in.
Yuri dissected her movement down to the extreme limits of time.
Even with his mental strength temporarily restored by Radiant Blood, his head throbbed.
It felt like his consciousness might fly away at any second, but he endured.
Right as Coco's palm was about to touch the hilt.
'Now!'
Instead of drawing the sword, Yuri shoved it backward.
Coco flinched, visibly caught off guard.
"......?!"
"......?!"
Up until now, it had been a loop: Yuri trying to draw, Coco blocking.
The sudden change in this perfectly synced routine created a tiny crack.
'Reel her in!'
Until now, Yuri's hand had reached for hers, but this time, he waited for hers to come to him.
He reversed it, drawing Coco's hand toward himself.
But it didn't last—Coco's hand jerked away in escape.
Yuri smirked inwardly.
'You came this far, where do you think you're going?'
He was convinced this was the perfect moment to end the quest.
'Who knows when I'll get another shot like this... I grab it while it's here!'
After this, Coco probably wouldn't let her guard down again.
She might stop messing around altogether.
He couldn't afford to miss it.
Pachuk-!
Yuri scraped together every last scrap of mana, even deploying Thunderclap.
But even that wasn't enough to cover his whole body.
So he focused the Thunderclap on his left arm.
He lost the ability to maintain Radiant Blood, the golden glow fading, and his once-sharp mind dulled in an instant.
His body felt as heavy as a waterlogged sponge, but the hand channeling Thunderclap was sharper and faster than ever.
Patsuk-.
His arm shot toward Coco like a white dragon cradling thunder.
Yuri was certain.
'Got her!'
His hand would touch hers.
He was sure of his victory.
In that fleeting moment as time stretched.
Their eyes met.
'......?!'
A chill ran down Yuri's spine.
Even in this moment of crisis, Coco's eyes held a gleam of delight.
She was telling him with her gaze.
'You thought you won?'
In that instant, Coco's movement shifted drastically.
Pak-!
Uduk-!
Something suddenly jutted up and smashed into Yuri's left elbow.
His stance naturally wavered.
'Kuh!'
The sharp pain in his elbow made him grimace.
As he did, he saw what had struck it.
It was none other than Coco's knee.
'When did she...?'
To catch up to his Thunderclap-empowered arm.
'No way... she predicted my move and prepared in advance?'
But Yuri quickly shook his head inwardly.
'No, she definitely lost sight of me for a moment, even if briefly.'
Which meant she hadn't predicted and countered.
And yet she'd reacted this fast.
As if she knew exactly what he'd pull.
'Think about that later.'
Right now, what mattered was Coco's hand slipping away right before his eyes.
A chance missed at point-blank range.
Figuring out how to reclaim it was priority one.
'Not yet... not yet!'
In a normal situation, anyone would give up.
But Yuri judged it too early.
'I moved first.'
He still had momentum from acceleration, while Coco, just starting to move, hadn't reached her peak speed yet.
'That means I've still got a shot to catch up.'
The issue was that trying to readjust his stance now would let her hand escape even further in that split second.
And the bigger problem...
'I have no mana left.'
Not a single drop remained.
But as the saying goes, if you have no teeth, bite with your gums.
Eudeuk-.
Yuri gritted his teeth.
He gathered the lingering Thunderclap.
And channeled it to his middle finger.
A faint strand of electricity leaked out and detonated.
Pajik- Peong-!
The explosion was small, but its power was anything but.
Uduk-.
Yuri's middle fingernail burst from the blast.
Propelled by it, his left arm—which had been knocked aside by the elbow strike—hurtled back toward Coco.
It was a grotesque motion, defying all common sense.
His hand closed in on Coco at blinding speed.
"......?!"
Even Coco showed clear surprise at his improvisation.
But that was it.
Bbang-!
A crisp sound.
"Ahchoop......"
Yuri let out a bizarre groan and staggered.
"Sh......"
His eyes rolled back white as he collapsed sideways.
Two streaks of blood trickled from his nose.
"......"
Coco stared silently at the unconscious Yuri with his nosebleed, then picked up her cigarette with a bloody hand.
A third of it remained.
She inhaled it all in one go.
Chiiik-.
It turned to ash in an instant, the glowing ember finally touching the boundary line.
Fook-.
Amid the thick exhaled smoke.
Coco looked down at Yuri and murmured with a grin.
"Let's have some fun for the next 99 days, kid."
* * *
After Coco left.
Paeng!
A loud nose-blowing echoed through the vast space.
But it wasn't nose-blowing—it was clearing the clotted blood from his nostrils.
Paeng!
Yuri expelled the thick bloody mucus.
He grabbed his nose and twisted.
Uduk-.
"Ow."
With a grotesque sound, he could finally breathe properly and flopped onto his back.
"Ahheheh... I'm dying here."
He let out weird groans that could have been laughter or sobs and gasped for air.
He closed his eyes and replayed the recent events.
'What the hell was that?'
Coco clearly hadn't predicted his move.
And yet she'd countered as if she knew?
It was too contradictory.
"Ugh... no clue."
The questions wouldn't resolve, and his mind was foggy with horrific fatigue.
Yuri gave up thinking.
'Whatever... rest first.'
Since it had come to this, he could take his time chipping away at Coco from now on.
Plenty of time left.
'No way I can't land a hit in 99 days?'
With that conclusion, he slowly released the thread of consciousness he'd been clinging to.
Puhyuhyu-.
A boy's steady breathing echoed softly through the vast space.
Twelve hours passed like that.
"Slept enough?"
Coco appeared again, a fresh cigarette in her mouth.
Yesterday she'd welcomed him; today, Yuri greeted her with a smile.
"It's gonna be different from yesterday."
Srrrrung-.
Sword already drawn, Yuri charged at Coco, smile fading.
Seeing him, Coco lit her cigarette and said.
"Who knows? Doesn't look any different."
She wore a faint sneer.
Soon, a golden arc streaked toward her.
Kwarung-!
And so began Day 2 of Yuri's hellish challenge, stamina restored.
At that point, Yuri still had some confidence.
'You'd better not lump today's me in with yesterday's quick-shot self.'
With full stamina and mana unlike yesterday, he figured he could at least graze her clothes.
But that was overconfidence.
From then...
Two days passed.
* * *
Day 4 of the Hundred Days Tower challenge.
"Ugh."
Yuri groaned, shaking his head as he sat up.
He grimaced at the burned cigarette butts scattered at his feet.
"Damn... just as I thought."
Yuri reviewed the past four days.
Day 1 of hell mode: arrived exhausted on the 9th floor, toyed with, nose bone twisted.
Day 2: recovered stamina, charged in full of confidence, got beaten silly and knocked out.
Day 3: cautious from the lesson, challenged three times total, ended the day unconscious again.
Then Yuri sensed something off.
Today, Day 4, he challenged five times and passed out like the day before.
But it made him realize for sure.
'At this rate... it's impossible.'
Not in 96 days—even 960 days, he wouldn't touch her hem.
He had to find it.
The gap between him and Coco.
Why she always stayed one step ahead.
'What is it?'
Yuri pondered deeply.
Along with it, info from four days of challenges organized itself.
Why did she always read his moves?
Why could she always move first, no matter how hard he predicted?
After long thought, Yuri grasped a clue.
'One thing's clear: Coco doesn't predict moves.'
She reads them.
'Not calculating possibilities—she already knows what I'll do and acts.'
Like, for an easier analogy: if he solves a problem hard to get the answer.
Coco reads the answer-giver's lips and writes it just before.
'Yeah... like she instantly knows how I'll move right before I do.'
How is that possible?
Yuri muttered nonstop.
"Why doesn't reading her work on Coco? Because she's strong? No... I read Greta and the Demon King fine. So why only her?"
As his muttering lengthened, his thoughts broadened.
'No, wait... I have read her moves. But it just doesn't land. Why? What makes her different? Only her? Why? What's the gap? No matter how strong she is, I've grown too—should be able to keep up. It works on others fine? So why her? The difference... Ah! The difference!'
Finally, he reached the answer.
"Haha, what an idiot...!"
He'd been agonizing over something so simple.
Yuri let out a hollow laugh.
The answer he'd overlooked in overthinking was simple and straightforward.
'Certified 7th Dan or higher.'
Coco was at Certified 7th Dan or above.
Among the powerhouses Yuri had faced, some were tough for his level back then.
Black Sword Soldier, Greta Wigan, the Demon King.
But they were all Certified 6th Dan or below.
Yohan didn't count—like showing homework to a teacher.
This was Yuri's first real exchange with a Certified 7th Dan or higher.
Meaning, his first taste of the unknown realm called the Domain.
'That's it!'
Coco's incomprehensible movements.
Explained as the unknown Domain he hadn't grasped yet.
'Master said it.'
The Domain used by Certified 7th Dan expands senses.
Treats a space as part of the body and controls it.
Which meant...
"So basically, I've been fighting from inside Coco's stomach all this time?"
Everything he did was transparent.
Yuri's face hardened.
He'd found why he was losing—and how to land one on her.
But it was simple yet impossibly hard.
'I need to open my Domain.'
In the remaining 96 days, reach Certified 7th Dan, the realm of absolute senses.