[What's life anyway, just live as it comes]
[What's life anyway, just live as it comes]
Shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, back, pelvis, thighs, calves, ankles—the dozens of swords flying toward him, aiming for spots that weren't even vital points, contained enough power to slice through steel even with just one blade.
Combined with the Control trait, the Vibration trait increased the cutting power of the swords reinforced with Gaia Force. A Master-class user's sword could slice through meters of concrete in a nuclear bunker in a single strike, and there were dozens of such swords.
Almost simultaneously. If there was a difference, it was only about one-hundredth of a second.
"I said fuck off."
Jjeojeojeojeojeojeojeojeok!!!!
Choi Ak moved his body. He could have just taken the hit, but this was a warning to Lee Gyeong-jin.
He moved his hands and legs to swat away all dozens of swords. To prevent them from flying back and attacking again, he sent the swatted swords deep into the ground or walls, leaving only the hilts visible.
The movement of swatting away dozens of swords in an instant was enough to make even Lee Gyeong-jin lose track of them for a moment.
"Fast. Is it an Acceleration trait?"
"No, just physical enhancement."
"Don't lie. You can do that kind of movement with just physical enhancement?"
"I'm a bit different from you guys."
A Transcendent's body has different efficiency just by itself.
If a human uses 1 unit of power to produce 10 units of effect, a Transcendent can produce 100 or 1000 units of power with the same 1 unit. The power consumed and the efficiency produced are extremely different.
The amount of Force Choi Ak possessed wasn't much compared to Lee Gyeong-jin, but the efficiency of the body he enhanced with it surpassed that of a Master-class user. That was also the reason he could be overwhelming when fighting Hibiki, a pure martial arts Master-class user.
"Are you ready to pay attention now?"
"........."
Lee Gyeong-jin silently reached out. A sword on his back flew over and was grasped in his hand.
To him, Enemy Species didn't mean much. They were just targets he had to deal with frequently. Even if the Force inflow phenomenon hadn't occurred, they were just opponents who would fall after a few swings of the sword he controlled.
Even when arresting criminals caused by Force Users that occurred occasionally, he hadn't held a sword directly, but now he grabbed one.
"From now on, I'm going seriously."
"That's kind of a defeat flag line."
Lee Gyeong-jin's sword slashed diagonally. At the same time, Choi Ak twisted his waist to dodge, and a slash mark over 10 meters long was carved into the apartment wall.
"Ah, damn! The house prices for the people living here are going to drop!"
"Is that something to worry about while fighting me?"
"The residents of this apartment will worry about house prices!!!"
For someone who owns their own home, house prices are bound to be a sensitive subject.
Although, it wasn't very convincing coming from someone who had demolished an entire building in Japan.
"Let's move locations first........"
"I won't let you run away."
"Let's just move! Just move! You're having way too much fun, aren't you?"
The moment he spoke, Lee Gyeong-jin's slash was swung at Choi Ak. Choi Ak's hands and feet had no rest as he parried not only the sword in his hand but also the attacks of the sword blades flying around like arrows.
However, he didn't allow a single effective hit. The swords kicked by his hands and feet were deflected, and the slashes were dodged or diverted.
Dozens of exchanges occurred in the time it took to take a breath, but Choi Ak didn't show any signs of being pushed back.
"Interesting."
That was why Lee Gyeong-jin was excited.
Master-class users are personnel of which there are only 9 in the entire world. And they are superhumans who transcend human common sense.
Because they are important figures in each country, they rarely go abroad, and Lee Gyeong-jin himself had never met a Master-class user from abroad except when he went to support the US. And even then, he couldn't fight the US Master-class user, not even for a friendly match.
The topic of who is stronger is sensitive, both in the past and now. That's why they can't be used recklessly.
Because of that, Master-class users are stressed because they can't unleash their full power.
"Even an Expert-class user can barely withstand one of my sword strikes......."
"Your eyes are showing a lot of interest right now, you know? Where did you sell off the goal of catching me?"
"I'll catch you. After fighting a bit."
"One thing has increased, though?"
If the opponent can take it even when unleashing their full power, it's natural for a competitive spirit to arise. Lee Gyeong-jin swung his sword, putting his original goal aside.
One slash, dodged by twisting his waist, left a scar in front of the soldiers waiting behind. Just the aftermath caused several soldiers nearby to roll on the ground. They weren't seriously hurt, but it was dangerous.
Seeing that, Choi Ak grabbed Lee Gyeong-jin's sword.
Choi Ak, who had no injuries at all even after grabbing the sword with his bare hands—a sword coated in high-density Force and vibrating at high speed to cut through metal like tofu—lowered his voice.
"Hey, fighting is fine, but let's change locations."
"........."
Lee Gyeong-jin, who hadn't thought about civilian casualties because he was distracted by what was in front of him, also looked apologetic. But more than that, he was more surprised that his hand wasn't cut even though he was grabbing his sword with his bare hands.
A sword vibrating at high speed has excellent cutting power. It would cut through even titanium alloy.
Even if he had reinforced his defense by coating his body with Force, it should be normal to feel like he was being cut by his sword. It vibrates dozens of times per second, so it was strange that he was perfectly fine.
".........Fine, let's change locations."
Lee Gyeong-jin said in a low voice, hiding the cold sweat running down his back.
He definitely wasn't scared.
The two changed locations. They decided to have a go at a park a bit away from the residential area where there were many people.
"If it was a park, Yeouido would have been closer, right?"
"There are always a lot of people using that place, so it would be a huge nuisance if we smashed it. This place is fine. Look, is a park that looks like it's being managed like this?"
The park where the two decided to fight was a place similar to a vacant lot near an apartment. It was decorated so that people could play ball games like basketball or ride bicycles, but the vacant lot itself was located below the flat ground, making it a structure that was difficult to bring bicycles to, and it was a vacant lot that was useless because water pooled when it rained and was full of mud after it dried, ruining the scenery.
No people, and the size was decent. It was a place where it wouldn't be bad if they broke something while fighting since it wasn't used anyway.
"Let me ask one thing. When you grabbed my sword earlier......there was no sensation of being cut at all, what happened? Is that your trait?"
"I only have two traits. Everything else is just derivative."
"Only two?"
"If you have too many, the depth just gets shallow. It's obvious that there's a difference between trying for ten things and trying for one."
"There's that part, but conversely, the fewer traits you have, the fewer means you have to deal with things."
"That's just a matter of learning a good trait if you want to copy other traits."
The ability Choi Ak possessed, 'Interference', was an ability that made it easy to copy other abilities.
"Don't you remember who said the depth was shallow just now?"
"Just because a cartoonist can't use one arm doesn't mean they can't draw better than a normal person, right?"
It depends on the person, but at least someone who draws with their other hand will draw better than a normal person who knows nothing. There will be a difference in composition, expression, planning, etc., regarding the drawing.
What Choi Ak wanted to say was that the experience he had accumulated was different, regardless of whether the depth was shallow or whatever.
Even though the voice was modulated by the ridiculous raccoon mask, it was certain that he was younger than expected. Roughly early 20s.
When Choi Ak was a newborn baby, Lee Gyeong-jin was running around during the Great Depression, cutting down and killing thousands of Enemy Species alone. If you count experience like this, Lee Gyeong-jin was definitely superior, but......
In the world, there exists a species of 'old-timers' (veterans) who dance around pretending to be newbies while wearing only underwear. If it's experience accumulated in fighting and killing, few people could follow Choi Ak.
"It's not that your tongue has gotten longer in that short time. Are you thinking of ending it after just talking?"
"No, let's go."
Uung!
As Force was injected into the dozens of swords floating behind Lee Gyeong-jin's back, they made a threatening sound.
"Hup!!!"
And at the same time Lee Gyeong-jin swung his sword, the swords behind him also swung their sword strikes in the same direction. The direction was the same, but the attack where dozens of slashes were overlapped had no gaps, enough to be called a single strike.
"It's just big and has no substance."
Choi Ak aimed for the center of the slash and struck. Even if it looked like a single attack, it was an attack where dozens of slashes were combined. The slash, having lost its balance due to the fist that aimed for a gap like the eye of a needle, scattered.
Kiiing!!
A sword aiming for that gap targeted Choi Ak's back. The sword, leaving only a flash like an arrow shot from a bow, looked like it would pierce Choi Ak's back in an instant, but he twisted his body and easily dodged it.
"That reflex......it seems like you have one of the two sensory-type traits."
"Correct."
"Let's see how far that sensory ability goes."
Dozens of swords were shot aiming at Choi Ak. After surrounding him in a circle, surrounding him without gaps from top, bottom, left, and right, some were shot simultaneously, and some were shot with a slight time difference so that they couldn't be blocked.
No matter how fast your reflexes are, if dozens of swords surrounding you without gaps are shot almost simultaneously, there is no room to block them.
"Sorry, but I'm the type to skip if the game flows in a hopeless way."
Kigigik! Kigik!!
The shot swords couldn't dig into Choi Ak's skin even a little. The penetrating power of the sword shot at near the speed of sound would penetrate and smash even a thick armored vehicle, but he was fine even after taking dozens of such swords with his body.
Rather, it was the swords that were damaged. Even though they were reinforced with Force, the blades of the sword tips were ruined.
"Is this the end?"
"No, not yet."
Kwaaaaang!!!
A sword rose from the ground.
Lee Gyeong-jin had secretly sent one sword into the ground. And after moving it under Choi Ak's feet, he shot it out, aiming for the moment he let his guard down.
The sword, aiming for the moment he let his guard down from right under his feet, soared up, aiming for Choi Ak's chin. It had already reached his chest. In the first place, the very fact that something suddenly pops out from the ground is hard to imagine easily. Even more so if the opponent is a swordsman.
"This one is a bit novel."
Kagagagak!!!
Choi Ak blocked it by grabbing the blade with his hand without any sign of panic. The sword, which stopped a finger's width below his chin, was smashed by Choi Ak's hand.
The sword's vibration resisted, but Choi Ak's defense was beyond that, so it was crushed like paper.
"I expected you to endure it with defense, but you grabbed it.......?"
Lee Gyeong-jin acknowledged Choi Ak's defense, at least. Even Hiei Hibiki of Japan, a Master-class user of the martial arts type, wouldn't be up to that level. Since there wasn't even a small scratch from his attack, it must be because there was that much difference in level.
But that was a different problem beyond reflexes.
Sensory-type traits usually don't detect underground. Unless it's an Enemy Species that acts underground, if you detect even that far, the range becomes more than twice as wide.
That's why Lee Gyeong-jin deliberately attacked all at once from around Choi Ak, not giving him the room to sense, and aimed for that moment to attack with the sword that was underground.
Even so, the fact that he blocked it and, at the same time, didn't show a single sign of surprise.
"Precognition trait?"
"Uh, well. It's similar, but......"
Just as there is a saying that highly developed science is indistinguishable from magic, extremely developed senses can detect even a little bit of the future.
But even so, it's only knowing a few seconds ahead, and even that can be used during battle, and all you can know about the distant future is vaguely and uncertainly.
If you really want to do precognition, you must first have excellent sensory ability along with a brilliant brain.
Whether it's unfortunate or fortunate, Choi Ak's brain isn't exactly very good.
"There were almost no people with the Precognition trait. There was one before, though......."
"Ah, I saw it on the news. But they died, didn't they?"
"Nominally, they died of a chronic illness."
"Actually, it's overwork, right? It's a full HD live broadcast even without looking. Precognition abilities are all like that because they overwork the brain."
Even Choi Ak only sees a few seconds ahead. Let alone sensing things happening in a whole country, even if you have better sensory ability than Choi Ak, death from overwork is guaranteed.
"With those reflexes and a Precognition trait, my attacks don't even make a dent........"
It was a fight with no chance of winning. Even if he attacked simultaneously, he blocked or swatted away most of them, and even if it got through, it couldn't pierce a single layer of his skin.
No matter how I look at it, I couldn't bring myself to knock him down. If Choi Ak had been injured even a little, I would have thought differently, but Choi Ak didn't have a single cut on his clothes, let alone a wound, and not a single speck of dust on him.
It's enough to despair at the fact that everything he had built up didn't work.
A man is a creature whose fighting spirit rises when looking up at a mountain that is too far to climb.
"Huuuuuu"
Lee Gyeong-jin exhaled and steadied his Force. The swords he was controlling lost their power and fell to the floor.
He focused to the point of abandoning even his specialty, for which he was called the Thousand Swords. What is needed now is not a thousand swords, but a single sword.
At the same time, the air settled calmly. Like water. The air encroached upon by Lee Gyeong-jin's spirit became heavy like water, changing to the point where it was difficult to even breathe nearby.
"Oh? This bastard?"
Choi Ak became serious for the first time.
The attitude he had taken toward battle until now was nothing more than an adult playing with an elementary school student throwing a tantrum.
Because the result was obviously scheduled, and there was such a gap, there was no need to worry.
However, if the opponent is not an elementary school student but about a high school student, the story changes.
If they have grown to a certain extent and are rushing in with a firm will, not throwing a tantrum, he can treat them seriously in his own way.
Uung!!
Lee Gyeong-jin's sword was dyed 'gray'.
"I've thrown away all distracting thoughts. All that's left after throwing everything away is a competitive spirit. I just want to determine whether you are strong, or I am strong."
"Gray, huh.......I get it. But what kind of bullshit is it to use a colored resonator, surpassing space resonance?"
The threateningly trembling gray sword made his body stiffen just with its presence. The calm aftermath shook the ground and froze the air.
Choi Ak couldn't ignore that technique either. The interference force field using the 'Interference' ability was the strongest defensive wall for Choi Ak, but it was too risky to collide with that with his bare body, trusting only one force field.
Above all, that technique is a technique that can only be used by someone who can establish their own will and make it pure to manifest it. It is only possible if there is not a single speck of distracting thought.
Human distracting thoughts cannot be easily eliminated. Perhaps a realm more difficult than the subconscious. That gray sword was drawn by sharpening only one emotion like a blade.
"Gray means competitive spirit. The trait I have is 'Amplification'. Know that."
"How do you know this technique?"
"Because someone who knows it uses it. I can use it too."
A technique that manifests the color of the heart can be learned while crossing the line of death, even if you don't learn it specifically. The Vibration trait, one of Lee Gyeong-jin's traits, is similar to resonance, so he reached it, albeit superficially, without learning the intermediate process.
It's not perfect, but it's powerful enough. Perhaps a single sword strike swung roughly could easily destroy a high-rise apartment building.
"This also consumes a lot of Force......at most, it's just one strike."
"........"
He could ignore it. He could avoid it. It's just one strike at most, and since it's a technique that requires mental concentration, it's easy to break if you disturb his mind.
It also took a long time to prepare the technique from the beginning. He could have interfered as much as he wanted if he wanted to.
The reason Choi Ak didn't do that was because his pride as a man wouldn't allow it.
To put it simply.
If the opponent comes with a finishing move, it's common sense to counter with a finishing move!
You can curse him for being stupid or an idiot. If you say he's foolish for going to counter it on purpose when he could just run away or avoid it, Choi Ak didn't have such a cowardly nature.
He doesn't break promises.
He values affection.
He keeps his principles.
"Then I should also counter with something awesome!!!"
Something that had been sleeping in Choi Ak's inner self, not his body, but his soul, squirmed and stretched.
Infinite Force Core.
Perpetual motion spirit engine.
The heart of power, which contained enough power to be called perpetual motion itself, began to beat. The power that could crush a city began to squirm in Choi Ak's body for a moment, then disappeared like a lie.
Choi Ak, who perfectly controlled the energy that could easily blow away a city just by releasing it without leaking a single piece outside, had a gleam in his eyes. The red light visible through the mask gave off a fierce aura.
"I could counter with the same resonator, but a resonator isn't my specialty."
The characteristic of the Infinite Force Core wasn't just having infinite energy.
He could also generate supernatural abilities he could perceive. The current Choi Ak could use the Ki used by martial artists, the Mana used by mages, the Spirit Power used by spirits, the Magic Power used by demonkind, and even the Divine Power that only gods could use, even if it was half-baked.
"Instead, I'll deal with you with something similar, so please accept that."
Turbid gray haze began to rise from Choi Ak's hands. The gray light, which squirmed as if alive and burned quietly, was the same color as Lee Gyeong-jin's sword but completely different.
If Lee Gyeong-jin's gray was a bright gray with black on a white background, Choi Ak's gray was a turbid gray with white on a black background.
A power that a Demon King honed for revenge against dragons. It boasts power that is practically an instant-kill move if used against a dragon species, but even if it's not that, it's a power that erodes and destroys what it touches.
Dragon Slayer.
Beyond material things, concepts must exist in the principles of how the world works. However, there is a hierarchy among such concepts.
It's impossible for common concepts like water or fire to be the same as invisible and undetectable concepts like time or space. Likewise, unless he clashes with ordinary Gaia Force, he needs an ability equal to it to deal with something that is no different from a branch of will.
Pajijijik!!
Two energies collided in the air. The quietly trembling gray and the violently devouring gray met, sparking in the empty air.
Along with the battle of spirits, there was no such thing as who would rush in first. They explored each other and looked for gaps. But such a battle of spirits didn't last long.
At the same time as the sound of rustling was heard from afar, the two collided.
A sword that, if completed, would go beyond smashing buildings and could even create valleys alone.
And a power that could kill even a dragon that had reached the Transcendent species in one blow collided simultaneously.
The sword was from top to bottom. It was a downward slash with nothing special. It is the most basic movement among swordsmanship, but if his sword is there now, it becomes a finishing move of offense and defense combined.
Choi Ak didn't miss that movement. Lee Gyeong-jin moved first, but Choi Ak's reflexes had already grasped his movement and thought of a way to deal with it.
He kicked his foot vertically toward the sword swinging from above.
"Dragon Slayer Heaven-Shattering Wing!"
Kwaaaaang!!
A roar that seemed to tear the eardrums rang out. As if that wasn't enough, the shockwave covered even the nearby road, cracking the asphalt floor.
"Ku, ugh?!"
Lee Gyeong-jin frowned at the pain felt in his wrist. It wasn't as much as the sword dyed in gray, but because a similar power was flowing, he didn't think about the defense of his hand part. The sword that was trying to swing down from top to bottom was blocked by the foot Choi Ak kicked up vertically.
Lee Gyeong-jin was in an awkward position where he couldn't cut or swing his sword, and likewise, Choi Ak was in an ambiguous situation where he was just confronting each other with his leg kicked up vertically.
"Are you trying to have a power struggle?"
"No."
Uung!
Gray haze rose from Choi Ak's leg.
"This is a downward strike technique."
Like a dragon's maw. The wingbeat of the Dragon Slayer, trying to greedily devour the opponent, was struck down.
Kwagagagagaga!!!!