Chapter 112
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Clash of the Dragon and the Tiger
They clashed.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor crossed the space. The seven secret arts of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon were not the only techniques at his disposal.
It was Shadowless Steps, one of the most popular skills in Chakra Online, also known as the standard footwork.
Kang-seok didn't lose sight of the Heavenly Dragon Emperor. Although surprised by the movement that closed the distance in an instant, he didn't lose his composure. As fast as the Heavenly Dragon Emperor was with his Shadowless Steps, it was no match for the instantaneous acceleration of Kang-seok's own secret art, Overdrive. That was why Kang-seok didn't lose him. He charged forward, extending his left arm.
A shockwave vibrated through the air. An invisible wall crashed down on the Heavenly Dragon Emperor, who swung his left hand without slowing his charge in the slightest. A sharp knife-hand strike split the air and the shockwave. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor slipped through the gap.
The distance closed. Now, the space between them was practically zero. Wielding a sword gave Kang-seok an advantage in terms of attack range, but maintaining the most advantageous distance was impossible. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor was too fast, and Kang-seok's own fighting style was fundamentally based on closing in on the enemy.
Time fractured.
It was the same moment, but it felt different. A single second was split into tens, hundreds of fragments, and he perceived each one.
Kang-seok swung Durandal. He had adjusted the blade to dull its edge, making it no different from a blunt weapon, but its speed gave birth to a new sharpness.
He aimed for the Heavenly Dragon Emperor's head.
When the attack was about halfway through, Kang-seok saw the Heavenly Dragon Emperor's body sway. The moment he thought he saw an afterimage, Durandal cut through empty air. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor, having lowered his center of gravity to let Durandal pass over his head, took another step forward. He closed in on Kang-seok and thrust out his right palm.
It was aimed at his waist.
The fractured time merged back together. Kang-seok desperately twisted his body. He used Cancel to stop his ongoing attack and, just like the Heavenly Dragon Emperor, took a step forward.
They crossed paths.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor's palm struck empty air. And in that instant, one of the seven secret arts of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon bared its sharp fangs.
The Palm of the Heavenly Demon shattered the air. The projected wave of ki took the shape of a palm, then grew massive as it charged forward. The players in the stands screamed.
*BOOM!*
The roar was followed by the sound of shattering glass. The protective barriers that the mage-class players had erected around the arena were instantly destroyed. Even then, the lingering power of the Palm of the Heavenly Demon made the air tremble.
Most of the players hadn't seen Kang-seok and the Heavenly Dragon Emperor cross paths. Therefore, they couldn't perceive Kang-seok's subsequent attack either.
Kang-seok, who had taken one step, took another. Just as the Palm of the Heavenly Demon shattered the spectators' barrier, he stomped his right foot hard on the ground. He violently swung his left arm, which was imbued with a lightning strike on top of super vibrations.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor didn't see the attack clearly. But he felt it. He used the Supremacy Steps of the Heavenly Demon to traverse space. Kang-seok's left arm only shattered his afterimage; by then, the Heavenly Dragon Emperor had already leaped into the air. He took a position behind Kang-seok and kicked off the air to charge at him.
"Raise the barriers!"
Salome, the guild master of the Chosen Guild, shouted urgently. It was already impossible to keep their eyes on the duel between the Heavenly Dragon Emperor and Kang-seok. The aftermath of their clash had already surpassed the imagination of any ordinary player.
*Shouldn't we stop this now? What if one of them dies at the end of this fight?*
*CRACK!*
The ground shattered. It was gouged out, sending up a cloud of dust, and the shock that shook the very earth caused many of those standing to watch to collapse where they stood.
Choi Yu-ra shot up from her seat. Go Min-gu rushed back to the group, hastily planting his totems and casting a protective spell.
Seong Yu-jin gritted her teeth to keep from looking away. Yang Jun-gyu, his face pale, swallowed nervously again and again. Oh Ha-na gasped for breath, and Park Han-yeong buried herself in Kim Kang-san's arms. Kim Kang-san held Park Han-yeong tightly as he stared at the shattered ground.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor was gone.
Kang-seok was no longer there either.
"Up!"
At someone's shout, everyone's gaze turned to the sky. The air had become the new battlefield. Kang-seok kicked off the air and soared upward, and the Heavenly Dragon Emperor pursued him with the Supremacy Steps of the Heavenly Demon.
Kang-seok had seen the Supremacy Steps and the Palm of the Heavenly Demon. But he couldn't replicate them. The commands manifested as characters of light were incomplete. They weren't techniques whose commands could be deciphered after just a few viewings. Even if he could figure them out, it was doubtful he could imitate them.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor pulled back his hands again. He gathered a terrifying amount of power in them. Kang-seok watched him intently. He waited for the moment the distance between them closed and unleashed his technique.
↓↙←+K
High-Speed Descent.
Kang-seok vanished from before the Heavenly Dragon Emperor's eyes. Landing on the ground with a rapid fall that could be mistaken for teleportation, Kang-seok immediately spun and swung Durandal. A wave of black flames, enhanced with lightning, rode up Durandal's blade and set the air ablaze.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor used the Supremacy Steps of the Heavenly Demon to emit a wave of ki, putting some distance between himself and the flames. Twisting his body, he used the technique he had been preparing to counter the fire.
The Palms of the Heavenly Demon that shot from both his hands crushed the flames. As if that wasn't enough, they left giant handprints on the ground.
Kang-seok couldn't stop moving for a single moment. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor's attacks were too powerful. It was clear that allowing a single hit would mean defeat.
The players who had stepped up to provide commentary and play-by-play were all silent. The players swallowed dryly at the duel, which was far more fierce and intense than anyone had expected.
The strongest player.
Of the 370,000, only about nine thousand had passed the tutorial and survived.
Each one could be called a superhuman, and these two were the strongest among them.
They clashed again. This time, on the ground. The distance between them instantly became zero, and an exchange of offense and defense, different from before, unfolded.
Kang-seok, who had drawn Laevateinn at some point, unleashed a storm-like flurry of attacks. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor met the onslaught with his cuffed hands. He blocked or deflected Kang-seok's attacks, eventually evading and launching a counterattack.
The two didn't move much from where they stood. Because of this, the players could see their clash in more detail than before.
It was strange.
Despite the terrifying exchange of blows, there was no fierce clang of metal. Durandal and the cuffs grazed past each other but never collided.
Kang-seok's attacks cut through empty air. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor's palms and kicks struck only the space right next to Kang-seok. Even while attacking, both men desperately let the other's attacks flow past them.
For both Kang-seok and the Heavenly Dragon Emperor, their offensive power was overwhelmingly greater than their defense. For both of them, allowing a single blow would connect directly to defeat.
Lightning and flames exploded. Waves of ki shattered the ground and the air. Like walking a tightrope, they couldn't let go of their focus for even a single moment.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor smiled. In this moment where his life was on the line, going beyond a simple duel, he felt a deep thrill.
*I'm getting stronger.*
*By fighting someone strong, I become even stronger.*
*I can feel my own strength.*
A so-called genius.
One who enjoyed battle itself. One who grew stronger even in the midst of fighting.
Kang-seok saw the Heavenly Dragon Emperor's smile. He responded to that pure, childlike smile with ferocity.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor changed his attack pattern. He aimed not at Kang-seok, but at the ground beneath him. As if his internal energy was infinite, he relentlessly fired the Palm of the Heavenly Demon, and Kang-seok quickly kicked off the air and soared upward. It was exactly what the Heavenly Dragon Emperor had wanted.
Kang-seok was fast. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor had never seen a player who could move faster than him. Even Evangeline, a dhampir with the power of a vampire and superhuman agility, might be Kang-seok's equal, but she wasn't faster.
‘Yes, they're equal.’
He had fought her many times. He'd already dueled Evangeline dozens of times. Evangeline and Kang-seok were the same. The moment he chose the air as his escape route, this duel had already reached its end.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor used a Motion Cancel to nullify the recovery time of the Palm of the Heavenly Demon. Instead of looking up to find Kang-seok's position and aiming, he drew upon the power of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon. He poured in more than half of his remaining internal energy and unleashed a secret art he had not yet shown.
*If I can't aim and hit you, I'll just destroy the sky along with you.*
The power of the Heavenly Demon that shatters the heavens.
The Heaven-Shattering Art of the Heavenly Demon.
The greatest area-of-effect attack the Heavenly Dragon Emperor could unleash.
A deep, almost black, green wave of ki swirled above the palms of the Heavenly Dragon Emperor. It rapidly expanded in size, swallowing everything within his field of vision.
Because he had unleashed such a powerful technique so hastily, the Heavenly Dragon Emperor also suffered from the backlash. Blood trickled down his lips, and inside his body, the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon began to run wild.
But the Heavenly Dragon Emperor didn't take his eyes off the sky. He stared directly at Kang-seok, who was in the sky that the Heaven-Shattering Art had begun to break apart.
Kang-seok gave up on evading. There was no way around that attack other than to break through it head-on.
A surging tidal wave. A single awl to pierce through it and create an opening.
→↗↑↖← + HS
Knight of Knights!
The sword of light charged forward. It collided with the green wave of ki, and they devoured each other. Then, a string of light characters followed. The cracked green ki was pulverized. Just as the power of the Heaven-Shattering Art was breaking the sky, it created a single opening.
Kang-seok shot through it. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor swore inwardly and laughed. He forcibly cut off the power of the Heaven-Shattering Art and coughed up blood. To respond to Kang-seok, he stomped his foot once more.
Kang-seok wasn't in a normal state either. Cancel wasn't omnipotent. Each time he used it, the bones and muscles throughout his body screamed, and the forcibly executed Knight of Knights had turned his insides into a mess, just as the Heavenly Dragon Emperor's Heaven-Shattering Art had done to him.
But he couldn't stop. He didn't look away from the Heavenly Dragon Emperor, who was charging straight at him like an angry rhinoceros.
*He's stronger.*
Kang-seok calmly admitted it.
The power of his techniques, his combat sense, and his physical abilities—the Heavenly Dragon Emperor was superior in all of them. The duel so far might have seemed evenly matched, but it wasn't. It was closer to Kang-seok desperately trying to keep up with him.
The strongest player.
Indeed, the title was well-deserved. But that was all.
‘I won't lose.’
In almost every area where the Heavenly Dragon Emperor excelled, there was one thing where Kang-seok held a slight advantage.
Speed.
If so, then he would push that speed to its absolute limit.
He would sharpen a single sword and pierce the enemy's heart.
That was how it had been until now.
To use the 10-second miracle, Overdrive, he had to give up the power of the Black Flame Dragon.
But not anymore.
Among the 370,000 players, who had leveled up the fastest?
It was unknown. But Kang-seok had grown at a speed that would at least place him among the top ranks.
King of Combat.
The stage Kang-seok had reached.
What the players had obtained wasn't simply the abilities from their original games.
It was a step beyond that.
This wasn't a game. It was reality. There was no need to be bound by the rules of a game. In fact, things he couldn't achieve in the game could be achieved in this world.
Kang-seok perceived it. In the time that had begun to fracture once more, he saw the Heavenly Dragon Emperor.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor was smiling. The guy who was usually expressionless wore a bright, childlike smile while fighting.
‘That bastard.’
Kang-seok smiled like Choi Yu-ra. Unconsciously forming a savage grin, his expression mirroring the Heavenly Dragon Emperor's, he drew back Durandal.
He activated one thing.
Something that combined the speed of Overdrive with the power of the Black Flame Dragon.
[Hybrid Movement: Dragon Drive.]
Black flames erupted like an explosion. A tremendous roar shook the entire arena.
Evangeline screamed. Seong Yu-jin and Choi Yu-ra clenched their fists at almost the same time.
Not just the players, but everyone watching the duel trembled.
For the first time since the duel began.
The Heavenly Dragon Emperor lost track of Kang-seok's movements.
He couldn't read them.