The Indestructible Monster
The sharp clang of metal striking metal rang out as Wrath’s massive body was hurled backward. He slammed into the cliffside exactly as he had done to his enemies moments before. Then a man in white robes descended lightly onto the surface of the water and spoke to Do-cheol, who had just been freed from Wrath’s grasp.
“Damn it.”
Do-cheol rose to his feet, wiping the blood streaming from his forehead with his left hand. He frowned, clearly dizzy from the blow to his brain, and confirmed his own well-being with a curse.
Just who the hell is this guy?
As a 7-star martial artist, he hadn’t even been able to react to the surprise attack right in front of him. When he looked around, he saw his subordinates writhing in agony, sprawled across the ground from a single strike. Expert-level fighters had all been neutralized in one blow. And it made sense—the man hadn’t simply released his magic power like a shockwave. Every fallen warrior was coughing up blood, their internal organs clearly damaged. It was an extremely refined application of internal energy, using the principle of penetrating force to transmit destructive power directly into the body. Just from that one technique, it was obvious this was no ordinary opponent.
“Ah, that startled me.”
Wrath stood up as well, rubbing the back of his head just like Do-cheol. There wasn’t a single scratch on him. On the contrary, the attacker’s hand was visibly numb. The tip of the sword trembled faintly in time with those tiny tremors. Ye-yul, the man in the white robe, caught a glimpse of it and immediately recognized his opponent’s identity. He gave Do-cheol the answer to his confusion.
The Fan Empire did not have a clear, unified language like other nations. Because it had once been many separate countries that later merged into one, multiple languages coexisted within its borders. While a standard imperial tongue did exist, the population was vastly larger than that of other countries, and unlike the Ellemental Kingdom, there was no systematic education system. As a result, countless citizens didn’t even know the standard language.
The words the opponent had just spoken were definitely from the Fan Empire. Yet the accent carried a distinct regional awkwardness. Most foreigners would have learned the standard imperial speech first, so the presence of a dialect suggested he was almost certainly a native of the empire’s provinces. Add to that his enormous physique and skin so impossibly tough that not even a 7-star martial artist’s attack could leave a mark. All the clues pointed to only one person.
Wrath, one of the Seven Deadly Sins of the underworld.
During the past conflict between Tugwi and the Death King, this monster had stormed the headquarters of the Tugwi Guard alone and inflicted near-total destruction. At the time, both Do-cheol and Ye-yul had died while on a mission in the Ellemental Kingdom, so they had only heard the stories. This was their first time seeing him in person. And his power truly lived up to the legends.
“The information leaked from the very beginning,” Ye-yul muttered.
The direct involvement of Wrath, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, went far beyond the assumption that someone in the underworld had sold information to the Ellemental royal family. It implied that the Death King himself had issued an order.
“Why is the underworld interfering with our plans? We haven’t done anything to harm you.”
This was completely different from the time they had clashed with Tugwi and the Death King. In fact, the current situation could have benefited the underworld. The more the relationship between the Ellemental Kingdom and the Fan Empire deteriorated due to Tugwi Guard terrorism, the more profit the underworld could reap from the chaos.
That was why they had never imagined the underworld would interfere so directly.
“I heard you two died and came back to life?”
Wrath loosened his shoulders lightly and began walking forward. The two men felt as if an entire mountain range was slowly approaching them.
“We’re a little curious about who’s behind you. It’d be nice if you surrendered quietly and came along.”
Liar. The savage killing intent rolling off him said he was ready to charge at any second.
“……”
Both men’s faces darkened with dismay. So that was how they were connected. It was fortunate they hadn’t directly tangled with the Tugwi Guard, but the possibility that the underworld might now oppose them was terrible news.
“Fine. We’ll tell you everything we know later. For now, can you just let us go?”
They had to get out of this situation first. Do-cheol spoke urgently, but Wrath’s grin only grew wilder and more ferocious.
“Pride told me something. To escape from the underworld to the living world, the culprit would almost certainly be either an Ebon user with special powers or a black mage who has broken the laws of reality.”
And such beings would naturally have placed restrictions on these two. They hadn’t been swept up in the great upheaval like Dekken Nasara or Freddy, nor were they weak 5-star trash like the black mage Intel. As 7-star martial artists with relatively intact memories, the restrictions on them would be even stricter. The fact that Intel had retained enough memory to even learn the name Bulsa-wang had been a miracle-level coincidence.
These two would certainly have deep soul imprints preventing them from revealing anything about their own existence, the location of the passage between the underworld and the living world, and many other things.
“Please don’t run. Chasing after you is annoying.”
So negotiation was off the table. He would drag them before Pride and wring every last piece of information from their minds.
“It’d be best if you stayed still like before. If you resist and die, it’s a loss for both of us.”
Coming back to life once after dying in the underworld was already absurd. No matter how sloppy the Death King was, he wouldn’t make such a huge mistake twice. If they died again, they would never return to the living world. Reminding them of that fact, Wrath unleashed his unrestrained wild nature and charged at them ferociously.
“You think we’ll fall for that again?!”
This time was different. Do-cheol accurately read Wrath’s movement, contracted his muscles, and thrust both arms forward.
Pa-cheon Su-ra Gong.
Magic power concentrated at his wrists. It tore through space in the form of dark-red lightning and collided with Wrath’s fist. A massive shockwave exploded outward.
“Ugh!”
It was heavy. It felt like both his arms would shatter. But he barely managed to deflect the blow. His eyes flashed as he dove deep into Wrath’s guard.
BOOM!
Using his shoulder, he delivered a merciless strike to Wrath’s solar plexus. The ground beneath them caved in from the impact. Yet even then, the valley water that should have been pushed away lingered around them, refusing to fall into the crater.
Normally, the magic power of Pa-cheon Su-ra Gong would have crushed the opponent’s ribs, then pulverized the heart and lungs. But contrary to expectation, it was Do-cheol, not Wrath, who frowned. Although he had been the one to attack, the moment their bodies collided, the recoil had broken his own bones.
As pain flared and his body was thrown backward, Wrath grabbed his head. Before he could resist, a knee slammed into his face.
“Gahk!”
His cheekbone caved in. Do-cheol spat blood, eyes rolled back, as he was blasted away. Wrath pulled his knee back again to deliver the finishing blow—only for Ye-yul’s attack to come flying in.
Clang!
Using the chukji technique to fold space, Ye-yul appeared behind Wrath and slashed at his neck. But once again, the sound of metal striking metal rang out. The blade couldn’t pierce the skin at all. Ignoring the attack as if bitten by a mere mosquito, Wrath mercilessly drove his knee into Do-cheol’s face once more.
“That can’t be all you’ve got, right? Not if those muscles aren’t just for show.”
And then a third time. Still gripping the head tightly, Wrath smashed his knee into the face again.
“You son of a—!”
But Do-cheol wasn’t about to take three hits lying down. The moment he regained his senses, he raised his right arm to block his face. The arm bone shattered instead. The grotesquely caved-in muscle split open as jagged shards of broken bone burst out in every direction. Thick blood poured down the wound, soaking his entire arm.
Twisting the ruined limb, Do-cheol crouched low. Wrath’s knee slid sideways along the now-soft, broken arm.
Bang!
Twisting his body, Do-cheol raised his left palm high into the air. The dark-red lightning of Pa-cheon Su-ra Gong struck Wrath squarely under the chin. The attack was concentrated into a single point. The shockwave soared into the sky, sweeping away all the clouds and painting a perfect circle of blue heaven above them.
“That one actually hurt a bit.”
Not budging an inch from the blow, Wrath stared straight at Do-cheol and grinned. Then he slammed his forehead down into Do-cheol’s face.
Shwaaaaaaaa—
With that final strike, the world that had slowed to a crawl snapped back to normal speed. Time, which had nearly stopped, began flowing again. The valley water that had been suspended in mid-air finally crashed back to the ground all at once.
The crater where Do-cheol and Wrath had been standing rapidly filled with water. Do-cheol, now unconscious, collapsed into it, dyeing the pool a deep crimson.
“……You monster.”
Ye-yul had heard the stories. The strongest body on the surface of the earth. A physique that no one except the Absolute Beings could possibly rival. He had heard that during the raid on the Tugwi Guard headquarters, Wrath had inflicted near-annihilation without suffering a single wound. But honestly, he had thought the tales were exaggerated—until he saw it with his own eyes. After all, there had been 8-star transcendent beings among the defenders back then.
His movements are so crude.
There was no technique, no softness, no elegance. Only rough, primitive fists and kicks. He probably didn’t even consider their techniques worth using. Yet Ye-yul could not feel the slightest bit of anger. No—he accepted it as natural. Because even so, the man was overwhelmingly strong. So strong that no method of resistance could be seen.
“If you run, you die.”
The only answer was to flee. The moment that thought crossed his mind, the voice behind him made Ye-yul flinch.
“I figured it out from watching you just now. If you really try to run, I won’t be able to hold back enough to capture you alive.”
It would be better to kill than to let them escape. Saying so, Wrath turned away from the fallen Do-cheol and spread both arms wide.
“So I’ll let you land one clean hit. Give me your best attack.”
“……Thank you.”
From the fight so far, he already knew. No matter how desperately he struggled, he could not inflict even the slightest damage on that monstrous body. Even so, Ye-yul had no choice but to accept the offer.
“……”
He sheathed his sword. He stepped forward with one foot. It looked like he was about to charge at any moment. Then he closed both eyes and focused his mind.
Pung-wol Mu — Spatial Slash.
Balgeom — Unified Strike.
Ye-yul vanished. Using chukji to leap through folded space, he raced through stopped time. His speed approached the velocity of light. Having accelerated to his maximum in an instant, he thrust his sword at Wrath.
Shiiiiiiiiiing—!
A single slash slaughtered everything in every direction. The valley was brutally severed. The destruction reached beyond the cliffs, collapsing the bridge crossing the gorge and everything else. Complete annihilation of the terrain. The full power of a 7-star martial artist capable of rewriting maps.
“Not bad at all.”
But even that failed to reach Wrath. The strike was stopped by a single finger. Having accelerated beyond the speed he could control, his legs burned out and he tilted toward the ground. Ye-yul let out a small, bitter laugh. Still, he felt satisfied that he had forced that monstrous being to actually defend himself.
“……”
Wrath looked down at the fallen man with an expression that seemed to ask why he was grinning like an idiot after getting beaten so pathetically. Shaking his head at the strange fellow, he pulled out his smartphone.
“Yeah, it’s me. Mission complete.”
“Of course not. The last guy used a bigger-scale attack than I expected and it got dangerous, but they’re both still alive.”
He had manipulated the range of his magic power to prevent the collapsed subordinates from being caught in the aftermath. Wrath shrugged his massive shoulders proudly as he reported the fact.
“……”
What followed was not praise but scolding. The silence told him the surroundings had indeed been reduced to ruins.
“……”
“Understood.”
The call ended with a click. Wrath stared at the smartphone screen with a bitter look in his eyes. His broad shoulders drooped visibly.