Chapter 84
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Hell Count Patametos (2)
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Patametos panicked at Kang Sa-hu's sudden disappearance into thin air.
He hadn't taken his eyes off him for even a split second, nor had his mind wandered to any distracting thoughts.
In other words, if Kang Sa-hu had made even the slightest gesture to move, Patametos would have sensed it immediately. Yet Kang Sa-hu had vanished without showing so much as a hint of motion.
The moment Patametos recoiled in shock at this impossible reality...
...a searing pain tore through his back, as if his flesh were being ripped apart. He let out a scream of agony.
"Kahaaak!"
After the sensation of his back being sliced open passed, a scorching heat immediately followed, cauterizing the wound. Patametos whipped around and swung his fist.
It was an attack like a back spin blow from mixed martial arts—blindingly fast and nearly impossible to counter when the opponent's line of sight was blocked.
But by then, Kang Sa-hu had already shifted positions again, slipping into Patametos's blind spot diagonally behind him before the fist could connect.
Slash!
"Kraaaah!"
Patametos's thigh was sliced deeply by the great scythe as he swung futilely, leaving himself momentarily defenseless.
"You filthy little worm!"
Roaring in fury, Patametos stomped the ground, unleashing the same powerful shockwave that had sent the apes flying earlier. It surged toward Kang Sa-hu.
But Kang Sa-hu didn't resist the wave. Instead, he leaped back slightly, using its force to his advantage.
Combining his own leg strength with the momentum from Patametos's attack, he put significant distance between them in an instant. He leaned casually against his great scythe, propped upright beside him.
Sweat poured down his furrowed brow, dripping from his chin with a plink.
He wiped the sweat from around his eyes to keep it from obstructing his vision and gave a small smile.
'It worked.'
Kang Sa-hu felt a surge of pride. He had just successfully employed a skill he'd never tried before, one he hadn't needed until now.
The skill he'd used to strike Patametos was Blink Teleport, absorbed through the spirit summoning ritual from a hunter's spirit and the power of Ability Absorption.
He'd always used this skill for evasion or quick short-range movement. This time, however, he employed it to slip into the enemy's blind spot in an instant, vanishing from sight and throwing off their sense of distance.
Normally, he would have ended the fight with overwhelming summoned minions and numbers, or crushed the foe with necromancer magic before resorting to such tactics.
But facing the unforeseen enemy Patametos, Kang Sa-hu had no choice but to stake his life on this experiment.
And his success had left wounds on Patametos's back and thigh.
Yet despite the cuts, Patametos felt no real danger—just a flash of pain and surprise fueling his rage.
"Is that your trump card? Pathetic. To risk your life for nothing more than a shallow cut into skin and muscle."
Patametos sneered mockingly, his eyes narrowing in contempt as he provoked Kang Sa-hu.
It was clearly an attempt to belittle and taunt him, but Kang Sa-hu had remained calm ever since landing his attack and turning Patametos's assault against him to create distance. He had been quietly chanting a spell.
Spotting this mid-taunt, Patametos's eyes flashed, and he lunged forward.
"Worm!"
In their brief clash, Patametos had already gauged several of Kang Sa-hu's abilities.
First, the puppet-mastery that controlled those lowly creatures—what he'd initially mistaken for marionette skills.
Second, some unknown magic that pierced his supreme antimagic aura, something he'd never heard of or seen before.
And finally, the instantaneous movement he'd just demonstrated.
Among these varied powers, only the second one—the magic—had landed a meaningful blow or truly threatened his life.
"Krahhh!"
Recalling the agony of his nerves snapping, bones twisting, and blood surging as if his body would burst, Patametos charged desperately at Kang Sa-hu, swinging his arm—mockery forgotten.
Kang Sa-hu saw black flames raining down like droplets and unhesitatingly activated Blink Teleport, shifting five meters away.
"So that's the ability you used!"
The moment he saw Kang Sa-hu narrowly evade every flame, Patametos hurled himself at his target.
The over-two-meter-tall, red, muscular frame barreled toward Kang Sa-hu like a wall, pressing the attack.
Whoosh!
"...!"
In that instant, the fierce glint in Kang Sa-hu's eyes intensified. Patametos flinched and veered sharply aside.
"Wh-what?"
As if baffled by his own reaction, Patametos stared down at his hands with wide eyes.
'...Why did I dodge?'
It was just a slight strengthening of the light emanating from Kang Sa-hu's eyes.
He already knew it carried no real attack power. So Patametos hadn't felt any threat to his life from the intensified gaze.
Yet something had unmistakably halted him: raw fear.
Kang Sa-hu, tense as Patametos charged, fixed him with a steely stare.
'It's still there.'
As he locked eyes, the light pouring from them confirming the lingering traces of his magic—Fear Imprint—Kang Sa-hu poured more power into his gaze.
Intensifying it deliberately, the light cascading like a waterfall from the corners of his eyes surged upward, forming sharp, vivid horns.
Patametos startled at the blazing glare and stumbled back two steps.
"...You're truly an enigma."
Hiding his subtly trembling legs, he grimaced and scratched at his real horns—solid ones piercing through his skin, not mere light.
"Your abilities are all so alien. You don't even show fear when you look at me. Are you perhaps a Crusader?"
Kang Sa-hu stared at Patametos through eyes streaming with light.
He feigned nonchalance as much as possible, carrying on the sudden conversation. Through his spirit's vision, he saw Patametos's own spirit cowering, confirming the demon feared him.
Amplifying the gaze had strengthened the Fear Imprint's effect, yielding meaningful results even in its residual state.
Moreover, conversing bought him information—and crucially, time—which suited Kang Sa-hu perfectly. He played along with Patametos's shallow ploy.
"What is a Crusader?"
"...Do you have amnesia or something?"
Patametos let out a hollow laugh at the ignorance of the infamous demon-haters and hunters.
Still unsure of the fear's source, he decided to drag things out a bit longer and explained obligingly.
"They stand in opposition to us demons. They serve the God of Light, claiming to bring peace to the world, but in truth, they wield their god's name to shove their doctrines down everyone's throats and ravage the world worse than we do. Ridiculous lot."
He chuckled as if the mere thought amused him.
"If you don't know about Crusaders, you probably haven't heard of the Saintess Ceremony either. Do you know how they select their saintesses?"
"No, I'm not interested in that."
Kang Sa-hu shook his head.
He'd infiltrated the mansion beyond the gate space, risking such danger, solely to learn about gates and Awakeners—not the history of other races like Crusaders or demons.
"Instead, tell me about the worlds where races like me live, outside Pandemonium."
"Your race? Do you Asraheim call yourselves the third existence or something?"
It was casual talk, but Kang Sa-hu narrowed his eyes, confirming that humans from his world were called "Asraheim" there.
"Yes, that's our culture. Anyway, tell me what you know about the world where we Asraheim live."
"What? What are you talking about?"
Patametos eyed him with a complex, puzzled expression.
"Why ask me about your own race's history? If anything, I want to ask you. Isn't all this thieving to aid your kind on the path to extinction? Why risk your life coming to Pandemonium of all places?"
"...!"
Kang Sa-hu's face hardened at the word "extinction."
"The Asraheim are on the path to extinction...?"
"Hah. You're full of mysteries."
Patametos tested his body subtly, then gritted his teeth.
'I've grown accustomed to this inexplicable fear. But strangely, my strength keeps draining.'
Quickly assessing his condition, he glared piercingly at Kang Sa-hu.
'If this drags on, I'll have to go all out. And that will surely alert Him.'
Just thinking of "Him" sent ice through his veins. Patametos fought to steady his quivering body.
'Kill this one first. Uncover the details later.'
Judging from the Asraheim's actions, something was clearly amiss in the world beyond Pandemonium, where myriad races coexisted.
With his decision made, Patametos shifted stealthily—only to feel as if manacles weighed him down like a condemned prisoner. He clicked his tongue in frustration.
'Why is my power fading like this...?'
Irritated by his unnaturally weakening body, Patametos glanced at the floor—and his eyes widened in horror. He hurriedly looked down again.
Behind where he stood, an enormous pool of blood soaked the ground.
And at the point where the blood trail abruptly thinned to near invisibility stood Kang Sa-hu's shrunken great scythe, silently sucking it up.
"...!"
As Patametos stared in shock...
...a chilling voice whispered from behind him.
"You saw it."
From the moment he'd slashed Patametos's back and thigh with Blink Teleport, those wounds had refused to heal due to the scythe's special effect: [Unstoppable Bleeding]. Blood had flowed steadily ever since.
Tensing from the fear this Asraheim inspired—whom he'd dismissed as insignificant—Patametos hadn't even checked his own body properly.
He hadn't realized a mere scratch from such a lowly being could still be bleeding unchecked.
Unseen in its [Size Adjustment] form—shrunken to portable size—the scythe had been greedily draining the overflowing blood via [Rapid Bloodsuck].
Now Patametos understood why Kang Sa-hu had so readily engaged in conversation despite seizing the advantage: to buy time.
His true colors emerged.
"You damned cur—!"
As Patametos bellowed and lunged at Kang Sa-hu...
...a sudden chill gripped his back. He whipped around.
There loomed the great scythe, enlarged beyond Kang Sa-hu via [Size Adjustment], its razor edge gleaming like a guillotine aimed at his neck.
"We'll continue our chat after I sever your legs."
Using Psychokinesis without touching it, Kang Sa-hu raised the scythe and swung at the frozen Patametos.
Slash—!
"Kyaaaah!"
True to his word, Patametos's legs were lopped off. He tumbled to the floor, spraying blood.
Gulp...
Needing no longer to hide, the great scythe voraciously absorbed the gushing blood without a trace left behind.