Seong Jae-myeong's Final Stand
Drip—
The blood of Seong Jae-myeong, which should have long since cooled and hardened after years of wandering as an undead, flowed a vivid crimson.
Before he could even react, Seong Jae-myeong lost his left arm and staggered back.
He stared blankly at the spot where his left arm had vanished.
The fierce glow in his helmet flickered unsteadily.
What could this undead, who had clung to him with murderous intent, possibly be thinking?
Nix felt a faint sense of unease, but he didn't halt his assault.
This was the perfect opening while the enemy had paused, even if just for a moment.
His left and right heads lunged at Seong Jae-myeong simultaneously.
The other heads followed in support, each attacking in their own way.
"Shaaah—!!!"
The snake jaws hurtling toward him. Seong Jae-myeong instinctively swung his left hand's Moon—only to belatedly realize his arm was gone.
In its place, he whipped around with his right arm.
Sun traced a crimson arc, slicing deeply into the approaching right head.
"Kyaaah—!"
The left head followed a split-second later.
Seong Jae-myeong grimaced and swung his empty left stump.
In response, the blue sword Moon, lying in a corner of the snowfield, whipped through the air.
"Kyaak—!"
The left head, pierced through one eye in an instant, thrashed wildly.
Crimson blood sprayed across the pristine white snow.
Seong Jae-myeong gazed indifferently at the sight, then leaped aside to dodge the incoming spells hurtling toward him.
As a barrage of magic grazed past him, fragments of memories flashed by like afterimages.
His fierce blue eyes flickered with unease once more at the hazy recollections.
For over a decade as an undead filled only with killing intent toward the living, this situation was profoundly disorienting for Seong Jae-myeong.
Yet it wasn't enough to impair his combat prowess.
Even amid the confusion, his body responded instinctively, drawing on ingrained experience and technique to counter Nix's attacks.
No longer pressing aggressively as before, he focused solely on evasion and defense—but his movements had grown even sharper and more precise.
And that wasn't all.
His attacks, once masterful in execution but monotonously patterned, began to gain vitality.
More varied, striking at unexpected vulnerabilities.
No longer the mindless undead, but cunning and complex, like a living person.
Nix quietly faltered at the dramatic change in Seong Jae-myeong over such a short time.
What's going on here?
Even as bewilderment gripped him, Nix's other heads pressed their assault relentlessly.
Having lost one arm, Seong Jae-myeong no longer mounted aggressive counters, but something felt off.
Despite Nix's overwhelming dominance...
The momentum is shifting to him.
The more he swung his sword, the more it felt like Nix was being drawn into the jaws of a gaping maw.
This won't do.
Decision made, Nix swiftly repositioned his body.
"Shii—"
The Moon, freely swimming through the air at the gesture of his empty left stump, halted abruptly.
The fifth head, now activating its Magic Eye, stared silently at the blade.
It seemed taxing; drops of blood trickled from the Magic Eye in the center of its forehead.
Despite the evident agony, the fifth head kept it open.
Hold on just a bit longer.
[No problem.]
The central head continued maneuvering as the fifth head's telepathic response echoed silently.
Seeing his sword immobilized, Seong Jae-myeong predictably sprang into action, targeting the fifth head using the Magic Eye.
"Shaaah—!"
The left head intercepted him.
Seong Jae-myeong swung Sun without hesitation.
The crimson arc grazed the left head perilously close, just as always.
The eighth head quietly activated its Magic Eye.
"......"
As Seong Jae-myeong's eyes narrowed at the heads aiding each other, the left head gaped its jaws.
"Kyaaah—!!!"
Faced with the enraged approach, Seong Jae-myeong unleashed a skill.
Slash—
Before it could react, the left head was bisected.
Yet Nix's other heads didn't falter.
The right head and seventh head charged from both flanks.
Moon was half-sealed by the fifth head.
His right hand's Sun couldn't be fully utilized under the eighth head's suppression.
A barrier risked shattering as before.
Evasion into the air?
Glancing upward, Seong Jae-myeong spotted a pitch-black orb plummeting from the sky.
The heavens were blocked too.
Impressive.
Muttering inwardly without noting the oddity of his own thoughts, he moved.
Slash—
Another skill that yielded only results.
The incoming attacks vanished in an instant.
Seong Jae-myeong's body staggered from the consecutive skill usage.
Even his monster-hardened flesh couldn't endure the mounting recoil indefinitely.
Thud—he dropped almost to his knees, and more heads lunged.
The fourth head's blade wind hurtled in, while the ninth, biding its moment, gaped wide from the front.
"Shaaah—!!!"
The massive jaws and slicing gale closed in.
Seong Jae-myeong whipped his right hand desperately.
The crimson blade carved a wildly erratic path.
Snap—he grimaced and unleashed the skill once more.
Slash—the ninth head and gale were effortlessly severed.
His body shuddered from the recoil.
No pain as an undead, but the physical backlash was real.
Thud—
Thrusting his sword into the snow, Seong Jae-myeong knelt, leaning on it.
The fragmented memories swirling chaotically in his mind accelerated.
Forgotten recollections resurfaced one by one.
"Kuhk—"
A groan escaped unwittingly as he questioned himself.
Who am I?
Where is this? What am I doing?
And what is this monster before me?
Before he could answer the pounding questions tormenting one side of his head...
The central head, ever watchful, thrust forward right to his nose.
[I've been waiting for this.]
A low voice resounded in his mind as the central head gaped wide.
The deeply inhaled breath exploded outward.
A breath normally requiring recovery time, but it didn't wait.
His partners had endured strain; he must bear equal pain.
Though weakened from incomplete state, it would suffice.
Skill Indomitable SS has been activated.
Skill Limit Break SS has...
Enduring the searing agony from his lungs to his throat, the central head—Nix—exhaled.
A violet breath laced with virulent poison engulfed Seong Jae-myeong.
Whoosh—
Seong Jae-myeong blinked calmly at the oncoming purple breath.
The fierce blue glow in his helmet had vanished cleanly.
...I see.
Long-forgotten memories surged back.
Faces he had buried resurfaced one by one.
Memories he wished to forget crashed like waves.
The decade-plus as a wandering undead flashed by like a panorama.
In that flood, the undead realized.
I am Seong Jae-myeong.
The undead who had forgotten everything, even his own name, now recalled it.
* * *
Snow and dirt billowed up, scattering in the air.
Nix withdrew his breath quietly.
A sharp pain welled up from deep in his lungs, mingled with blood.
Flicking his tongue, Nix gazed beyond the rising dust with his regenerated heads.
This should finish even Seong Jae-myeong.
[After pouring out that much, it'd be ridiculous if he were fine!]
[It's a poison breath, not some other element. Though as an undead, he might still be intact in the worst case, main body.]
The central head nodded silently at the ninth head's measured input.
As the voice suggested, poison might not fully affect an undead like Seong Jae-myeong.
Wasn't that why Nix had conserved his poison magic thus far?
Yet Nix had his own confidence.
That crimson blood flowed.
He remembered the blood from when Seong's left arm was severed.
Blood that should have congealed hard over a decade as undead had flowed.
Rare for typical undead, but if blood coursed through him, poison should work.
Thus, Nix had unleashed the breath decisively.
No one else could have done so properly in that moment.
As Nix observed, a slight movement caught his eye.
A silhouette emerged slowly from the settling dust.
Of course, it was Seong Jae-myeong.
"Shaaah—!!!"
Nix quietly restrained his heads, poised to bare fangs and charge.
Seong Jae-myeong's state as he crossed the crater was far from normal.
His already pallid undead complexion had turned a deathly blue from the poison.
His trembling body screamed abnormality.
Step by step—
Dragging his unresponsive limbs, he trudged right up to Nix.
And gazed up silently.
The fierce blue glow in his helmet had cleared to a serene clarity.
Had he regained his sanity?
As Nix tensed, ready to strike, a sudden voice made him pause.
"Thanks to you."
A weary, rasping voice echoed softly.
Gazing up at Nix's central head, Seong Jae-myeong continued.
"I've wandered for over a decade. I nearly drifted eternally as a monster. But you snapped me out of it."
Though the process was a bit rough.
Seong Jae-myeong sat heavily on the snow without ceremony.
Nix stared at him impassively.
"No response? I know you have intelligence. Oh, don't tell me you don't speak human language? Hm. That'd be tricky..."
[...Are you addressing me now?]
Seong Jae-myeong's face brightened at the belated telepathic reply.
"What? You can talk after all. Don't scare a guy."
[...So, what's your point? Why bother talking to me?]
"Hm. Just wanted to say thanks, simply. You let me end as human Seong Jae-myeong, not some monster. Ah, sorry for 'some'—no hard feelings. Just habit."
Shrugging apologetically, he eyed Nix appraisingly for a moment.
The left head growled fiercely, as if offended by the casual scan.
"Shii—"
"Whoa, easy. No ill intent. Just thinking."
[Thinking what all of a sudden?]
"What force it'd take to subjugate you. Though as a monster myself, I'd probably get subjugated instead."
Seong Jae-myeong gave a wry smile and muttered.
"Hm. Wonder how the outside's doing? Feels like about ten years passed..."
[Over a decade since you vanished.]
"Oh? You know outside news? A monster does?"
[No reason I shouldn't.]
"Fair point. Doesn't matter to me now anyway. All pointless."
Humming, he nodded and crossed his arms.
Then glanced at his empty left sleeve and chuckled.
Awkwardly folding with one arm, he asked curiously.
"No Gwan-sik—that old guy's still the same? Always said he'd quit association president if I came back."
[Doesn't seem like he'll step down anytime soon.]
"Haha. Pity."
Chuckling softly, Seong Jae-myeong fell silent.
After a moment's thought, he asked quietly.
"Did they resent me much?"
[...More than you'd think.]
"...I see."
He nodded nonchalantly, unperturbed.
"Was the outside chaotic?"
[It was back then, but it's stabilized lately. A golden age, even. A new SS-rank hunter emerged.]
"New SS-rank? Haha! My junior? Looking forward to meeting 'em. Would've been fun."
Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he shook his head with a smirk.
"Nah, better not meet like this. Seeing their senior reduced to a monster would crush the kid."
Can't have that.
Nodding again, he spoke quietly.
"Thanks once more. You let me end fully as myself."
[No need for thanks. I just fought back against your attacks.]
"Hm... Fair. Still, gratitude's gratitude."
Muttering, Seong Jae-myeong rose slowly.
He gestured toward Moon lying on the snowfield.
Whip—it flew to him, orbiting obediently at his will.
Nix watched and telepathed quietly.
[Planning another go? Guess thanks were just words.]
"Gratitude's gratitude. I'll fulfill my duty."
[In that state?]
"I'm a hunter, after all."
Seong Jae-myeong calmly raised his remaining arm into stance.
Nix regarded him silently, then nodded.
Seong Jae-myeong smiled satisfied.
"Glad my final foe's a heavyweight like you. Got a name?"
[...Nix.]
"Good, Nix. Thanks for letting me end as a hunter. I'll repay this debt in hell."
[Do as you wish.]
With that telepathic send-off, the two monsters—no, hunter and monster—charged.
Their clash ended swiftly, neither yielding first.
In the end, the monster stood victorious.
Thus, Seong Jae-myeong, history's strongest hunter who dominated an era, met his end as a hunter in his final moments.