Chapter 32
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Territory Declaration
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Kwaaang!
A bone wall at least 1.5 meters thick formed in an instant, and the sky-rending shockwave of the Striking Heaven Fist collided with it.
The foundation supporting the fortress alongside the bone wall shook violently.
Dididada...
Shattered bones from the impact rained down like hailstones onto the ground.
And astonishingly, the bone wall—withstood the blow that could pulverize even a cliff of solid rock—retained its shape.
The magic circle that Kang Ji-ye and he had carved into the stone.
And atop it, Kang Sa-hu gazed at the fortress from his throne made of the bones of monsters stored in soul cores.
"Just right."
Not too much, not too little—just the exact amount of power needed. Kang Sa-hu muttered in a satisfied voice.
Hearing his murmur, Kang Ji-ye whipped her head around, her mouth agape.
"...D-Did I draw the magic circle wrong?"
Worried that perhaps she'd made a mistake, Kang Ji-ye examined the circle. Kang Sa-hu had conjured a bone wall of such thickness and strength in under ten seconds.
Of course, her magic circle was identical to how she'd drawn it initially.
Which meant.
"Oppa, you used that much power with this makeshift magic circle...?"
Kang Ji-ye stared at Kang Sa-hu with trembling eyes.
He nodded at her question.
"Yeah."
"......"
Normally, she might have snapped, 'Why are you so nonchalant about it!' But right now, not even a playful retort crossed her mind.
Her shock was that profound.
"This... is just a tenth of your full power...?"
She had witnessed his full strength before, so she knew this fell short of his peak. Yet it didn't feel like a mere tenth of his power—her voice quivered at the sheer magnitude.
"Probably thanks to these spirits."
Kang Sa-hu answered as he glanced at the seventeen hunter spirits orbiting his bone throne like planets, channeling power through the magic circle.
His inner lights—mingled with bitterness, rage, and unyielding resolve—surged upward in roiling clouds, mirroring his heart.
Even with a makeshift circle, the bone throne, and the spirits all in place, his inner lights blazed with an intensity incomparable to before.
"Spirits wailing in agony, spirits trembling in dread of ruin."
"Your end has come here, and this place marks its boundary."
"I am the ruler of this rift, the one who stretches instants into eternity."
"Those who set foot here shall find their rest forever deferred by my hand."
⟨ Territory Declaration ⟩
He'd paused the ritual amid the sudden ambush to cast a hasty spell, but now he resumed to complete it, opening his mouth.
The hunter spirits quivered in resonance with his incantation.
His inner lights surged even higher from his eyes.
The horn-like shape formed by the inner lights—now longer than his head—extended further.
With the chant complete, he gazed beyond the fortress.
Every being there looked up at him, so Kang Sa-hu locked eyes with Kataku at the edge of his vision.
Considering the distance, he shouldn't have been able to see it, yet Kataku's panicked pupils were as clear as if they were right before him.
Staring into those eyes, Kang Sa-hu delivered the final words.
"Territory Declaration."
As he proclaimed it his domain, the ground blackened, and storm clouds gathered in the sky.
All who beheld the night-like darkness of the sky and the ink-black earth panicked in horror.
The domain stretched beyond the fortress to where Kataku stood—and several hundred meters further.
Aaaaah!
Hwaaaah!
Eerie wails of lament echoed in the minds of every being within the territory.
Some startled souls clutched their ears to block it out, but it was an authority no one inside the domain could resist or evade.
Rumble!
Amid the thick storm clouds, two glowing orbs rose.
Like new suns in the altered sky, a blue sphere and a green one blazed brightly above Kang Sa-hu.
The spirits' power absorbed through the magic circle, refined via the bone throne for his use, and manifested as those orbs overhead.
His territory was already akin to a small world.
"......?"
Yet Kang Ji-ye—who knew this world second only to Kang Sa-hu—gazed at the sky in confusion.
"Why... are there two Spirit Origins?"
Normally, only the green Spirit Origin should have appeared, but two floated now: one blue, one green.
Kang Sa-hu followed her gaze skyward briefly before lowering his eyes without a hint of agitation.
"Must be from the awakening."
"...Ah."
One of his two green inner lights had turned blue during awakening, so the Spirit Origins reflecting that change wasn't too strange.
No, it was profoundly bizarre, but Kang Sa-hu didn't attach much significance to it.
"We can figure it out later."
He pulled a handkerchief-wrapped soul core pouch from his pocket and tossed it into the air.
The summoned beasts—critically wounded from the troll assault—emerged in ragged form and crumpled to the ground.
But that pitiful state lasted only a moment.
Stepping into their master's territory, the summoned beasts drew on its power, regenerating and reconstructing their bodies in seconds.
Awoooo!
Kueeek!
Kkiak, kkiak!
Their bodies mended instantly.
The troll flesh, bones, and blood they'd absorbed but not yet fully digested integrated seamlessly into their forms.
"Go."
At his command, the summoned beasts surged away from their positions.
Only the King Forest Lizard—too massive and inherently slow—remained at his side, exempted from advancing.
It glanced sidelong, wary of reproach for being the only one left behind.
The situation inside the fortress resolved in a flash.
Kang Sa-hu's summoned beasts, fighting desperately against trolls amid the hunters, transformed utterly upon the Territory Declaration. With newfound speed and strength, they tore into the trolls.
Crunch!
A Giant Hound bit deep into a troll's skull, pulverizing its brain. The troll died instantly before it could regenerate, becoming a soul core on the spot.
Thud, thud.
A mana stone—rarely found in gates—dropped alongside it. A Corpse-Eating Ape darted about, eagerly collecting both.
The fortress trolls were annihilated in moments, and all summoned beasts charged toward Kataku's position.
Charge was an understatement; having assimilated troll muscle via Devour, they shot forward like projectiles.
[My king, we shall handle them.]
Four elite trolls stepped forward.
Unlike before, Kataku didn't block them. Arms crossed, he silently watched his elites advance against the oncoming summoned beasts.
Kataku's eyes trembled.
'My judgment was right. They were hiding a trump card.'
He should have felt some satisfaction at being correct, but his expression hardened.
'But I never imagined it would be this much.'
No matter how off his estimate, there were limits.
He'd figured there might be a few more with power like Bae Deok-ho, the one they'd met at the cliff.
He hadn't anticipated anyone vastly surpassing that.
[...Absurd.]
He'd muttered the same earlier, but now it meant the utter opposite.
Watching his elite trolls shredded by the horde without landing a counterblow, Kataku's eyes bulged with veins.
[Grraaaah!]
Kataku clenched his fists and unleashed a barrage of punches.
It might seem futile thrashing, but each strike carried the Striking Heaven Fist. Even grazing blows crumpled and shattered the summoned beasts' bodies.
However.
Kwajijik, tsurruk.
[......]
Kataku stared in horror as broken bones realigned, muscles knitted, and skin regrew in seconds.
It was inevitable.
That was their pride—the trolls' monstrous regenerative power that had let them dominate the world, crushing any foe.
[What kind of freakish monsters are you?! Raaagh!]
Kataku kept punching, then lunged toward the mobile cages holding the captured hunters.
The hunters—watching the summoned beasts' rampage through tears, gagged and unable to scream—convulsed in terror.
[If I grab even one...!]
To use a hunter as a sacrifice and temporarily amplify his power, Kataku kicked off with all his might.
Propelled by his trollish muscular might, the summoned beasts couldn't match his speed.
His desperately outstretched hand was inches from seizing a hunter's throat.
[......!]
A chilling gaze.
Irresistible dread.
The moment he sensed it, Kataku's mind was yanked to a distant void.
His soul—unable to defy the overwhelming force—was dragged instantly before Kang Sa-hu.
Severed from his sturdy body, Kataku's soul alone floated there, confronted by piercing blue inner light laced with sharp menace and deep green inner light thick with vital energy.
Before those blazing inner lights—like twin suns—Kataku's soul felt insignificant, worthless, powerless to its core.
"How dare you."
The god with suns for eyes spoke.
That was the end.
Kataku's soul, incapable of even conceiving resistance, faded away.
As if it had never existed.
"What."
Kang Sa-hu was bewildered.
Right after declaring his territory, he'd willed his empowered summoned beasts to slaughter the trolls and collect the spoils.
But against this gate's boss, Kataku, an unexpected mishap occurred.
The hunters he'd thought dead.
Not all were gone—about ten huddled like beasts in the cramped, filthy mobile cages.
He'd hurriedly ordered his beasts to prioritize Kataku over rescuing them, but Kataku moved far faster than imagined.
'How dare you.'
Acting out in his territory.
Furious, Kang Sa-hu invoked magic.
With the territory declared, no chants, no targeting, no mana gathering was needed.
The Spirit Origins floating in his domain's sky were its core; mere will sufficed to enact his desires.
But he'd only meant to drag Kataku's soul and prevent the hunters' deaths.
He hadn't intended to kill him.
'...Or did I?'
Perhaps in his rage, he'd harbored a sliver of killing intent.
No matter how he pondered or replayed the moment, no answer emerged.
And above all.
Something shocking beyond thought was unfolding in his senses.
'...Impossible.'
No, he couldn't say if it was possible or not.
Gates, awakenings, monoliths—too much remained unknown.
But one thing was clear.
'There's something I don't know.'
Sensing the potent spirit of Kataku within the newly formed soul core from his death, Kang Sa-hu let his inner lights intensify.