Blades of Sun and Moon
Seong Jae-myeong's sword cleaved through the empty air.
The crimson blade, the blood-red sword aura erupting from the Sun Sword, pierced Nix's scales and tore into his flesh.
"───!!!"
The sixth head let out a scream-like roar amid the agony of its innards being forcibly ripped apart.
But it didn't end there. A streak of light shot toward Seong Jae-myeong as he swung to sever the sixth head's neck.
The seventh and eighth heads, who had been lying in wait for an opening, charged mercilessly.
Seong Jae-myeong swept the Moon Sword, the blue blade, in a wide horizontal arc.
A long blue afterimage trailed in the sword's path.
The light magic and lightning magic cast by the seventh and eighth heads were absorbed outright.
Nix didn't panic at the attacks vanishing so anticlimactically.
The left head and the fourth head, who had been waiting, cast their spells in unison.
Fierce blade winds infused with biting cold.
Not a single-attribute spell, but a fusion magic blending two elements.
Seong Jae-myeong hurriedly swung the Sun Sword.
And as if anticipating that very move, the sixth head—which had already finished regenerating—targeted his back.
"Shaaah──!"
The sixth head lunged at Seong Jae-myeong's completely exposed back.
From the front, the fusion magic of two elements assailed him.
Moreover, from both flanks, Nix's central head and right head glared with their Magic Eyes blazing blue.
Death's shadow closing in from all directions, inescapable.
Even the protective barrier from the black shaman's waist sash couldn't block it all.
Would he invoke the War God's Blessing once more?
As Nix inferred his next move and prepared his own attack, Seong Jae-myeong—defying expectations—did not use the blessing.
His body moved in a bizarre, unnatural twist.
Fierce sword auras erupted from the sun and moon.
The red and blue auras differed markedly from Wang Feng's.
Visually, Wang Feng's were overwhelmingly more flashy, but Seong Jae-myeong's carried a fundamentally superior quality of energy.
Pure and clear, to the point where one might wonder how an undead could possess such pristine power.
The sharpness of the sword aura, compressed to its absolute limit, could cleave through anything.
In truth, the two-colored auras from Seong Jae-myeong's sword admirably blocked the incoming attacks.
No— they overwhelmed them.
The mana from the Magic Eyes of the central and right heads shattered upon collision with his sword aura and scattered.
The ice-wind fusion magic couldn't pierce the razor edge of his aura either.
The sixth head aiming for his back vanished under Seong Jae-myeong's seemingly languid swing.
The cleanly severed head above the neck began regenerating slowly.
"I'll kill you─…."
Seong Jae-myeong's helmeted eyes blazed with blue light as he glared at Nix, who had retreated momentarily.
Since the battle began, Seong Jae-myeong's attacks had grown continuously stronger and faster.
As if reclaiming long-forgotten bodily instincts, he accelerated, grew mightier.
Could he grow even stronger here?
Even faster?
Even more precise?
As if answering those doubts, his strikes intensified, accelerated, refined to perfection.
It was a vivid demonstration of what happened when an SS-rank hunter's technique merged with an SS-rank monster's body.
'I get why the Chimera Project exists now.'
Nix, pulling back briefly to catch his breath, quietly flicked his tongue.
The fight with Seong Jae-myeong grew increasingly grueling as time passed, but Nix remained unfazed.
He was subtly enjoying the situation.
The battle with Seong Jae-myeong, whom he had so longed for.
Though the man before him differed greatly from the Seong Jae-myeong of his memories, there was no regret.
No— it was better this way.
If Seong Jae-myeong hadn't become an undead monster, even the world's strongest hunter couldn't have beaten Nix.
Becoming a monster had made him far stronger than before.
It was burdensome now, but still thrilling.
The worthless porter I was, the pathetic weakling—I've come this far.
All that time wasn't wasted.
I wasn't wrong.
Each reminder filled his body with surging power.
"Shii───"
Nix roared savagely at Seong Jae-myeong.
After a brief standoff, Seong Jae-myeong struck first, as expected.
Leading with overflowing murderous intent, he swung his sword mercilessly, just as before.
The sun and moon left long red and blue trails as they sliced the air.
In the blink of an eye, the razor edge was upon him.
"I'll kill you."
"Shaaah─!!!"
Nix whipped his tail toward the oncoming blade.
Infused with far more mana than usual, the tail lashed like a whip—no, too long and massive for a mere whip.
The overwhelmingly massive tail smashed mercilessly against the swung sword.
Boom─
A trickle of blood flowed from Nix's tail.
Despite sparing no mana and even using skills, a wound remained.
Yet he had successfully blocked Seong Jae-myeong's attack, his original goal.
As Seong Jae-myeong staggered back from the recoil of his failed strike, Nix's onslaught poured in mercilessly.
Thunderclouds heavy with lightning gathered from the sky.
Without a moment's pause, bolts crashed down.
Rumble─ Boom─
The lightning didn't end with one strike.
Starting with the massive initial bolt, large and small strikes hammered Seong Jae-myeong relentlessly.
Boom─ Boom─ Crash─
When the flashing thunder obscured even Seong Jae-myeong's form, Nix's assault didn't stop.
Each head unleashed the spells they had prepared.
Meteors falling from afar, an ice storm riding fierce hurricane winds.
An earth-shaking quake, followed by a dazzling orb of light hovering in the sky's center.
And finally, a black sphere swelling ominously larger.
Magic of high rank and formidable power assailed Seong Jae-myeong.
As his form vanished completely behind the barrage, Nix quietly flicked his tongue.
'This should force another blessing.'
That would leave just one use remaining.
Regrettably, he couldn't chain breath attacks or these high-power spells easily.
Not just the mana cost—powerful strikes always carried recoil.
Until now, the heads had taken turns, allowing near-continuous heavy attacks, but against Seong Jae-myeong, that wouldn't work.
He needed to finish it decisively when the chance arose.
'Once the blessings run out, I'll fight defensively, harassing with Magic Eyes and basic spells for a while.'
Until he could unleash breath or high-rank magic again.
Seong Jae-myeong wouldn't play along so easily, but there was no choice.
Whoosh─
From beyond the ended spells, Seong Jae-myeong charged like a streak of light.
As expected, the blessing had rendered him unscathed.
His two swords swung in long arcs.
Thanks to the ninth head's precognitive Magic Eye, Nix dodged easily.
But evading once didn't end Seong Jae-myeong's assault.
As if it were his turn now, he pressed relentlessly.
Red and blue auras formed massive sword shapes, just like Wang Feng's once had.
Screeech─
The sun and moon cleaved the air, as if to bisect everything in their path.
Nix's fifth and eighth heads hurriedly activated their Magic Eyes.
One with stasis, the other refraction.
Though the stasis eye couldn't halt living beings, it targeted his swords, not him.
Considering his mana and resistance, it would last only a moment—but that was enough.
As the merciless swings hesitated and their trajectories wavered slightly, the left head and fifth head erected walls of ice and earth.
Seong Jae-myeong cleaved through the obstructing walls without hesitation.
Then, pillars of fire erupted before him.
So potent they reached the heavens, the flames engulfed Seong Jae-myeong.
Nix didn't let his guard down at his momentary disappearance.
'He'll block this level without issue.'
Indeed, Seong Jae-myeong emerged unscathed from the barrier, not even singed.
Exiting the flames, he swung at the fourth head right before him.
All directions beyond up, down, left, right—eight directions at once.
Though only two swords, his strikes felt like hundreds moving in unison.
The fourth head was shredded mercilessly.
As Seong Jae-myeong descended gracefully to target the next head—
The fourth head, which should have collapsed bleeding, vanished like an afterimage.
And reappeared unscathed, tongue flicking.
Had it regenerated in that instant?
No.
Even Nix's regeneration couldn't restore a shredded, fragmented head so quickly.
So how was the fourth head intact?
It was the ability of its Magic Eye: Illusion.
The power to create illusions or make the opponent perceive them.
Intangible, but perfect for deception.
Like the left head's charm eye, it required eye contact—a hassle—but effective even against high mana resistance, making it versatile.
Though the eye-contact condition limited practical use.
Thus, the fourth head—pristine unlike its brutal mauling—targeted Seong Jae-myeong's exposed back with a spell.
Fierce blade winds raged to tear him apart, just as he had done before.
Whoosh─
As Seong Jae-myeong swung the moon to counter, a strand of mana pierced him.
The right head, seizing the chance, had activated its Magic Eye.
With Seong Jae-myeong's mana and resistance, no petrification—but the mana constricting his body momentarily was the issue.
A hitch crept into his fluid movements.
A split-second imbalance, but the blade winds seized it, engulfing him.
Seong Jae-myeong twisted to evade, but the other heads wouldn't allow it.
Just as he had done, attacks poured from all eight directions.
Now it was Nix's turn to rampage mercilessly against him.
Reality wasn't a turn-based game where blows alternated.
You could be attacked even as you struck.
Nix quietly flicked his tongue.
"Shii───"
And then.
Slash─
Including the fourth, the necks of several heads lunging at Seong Jae-myeong were severed.
As stated before, reality wasn't turn-based.
You could be attacked even mid-assault.
Drenched in spurting blood, Seong Jae-myeong turned his quietly burning gaze on the central head staring dumbfoundedly at him.
"…I'll kill you."