Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: The Endless Clash
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Good grief, talk about seeing every absurd thing under the sun. Staring at that massive blaze devouring all the air in the area and radiating intense light left me with seriously complicated feelings.
Am I flustered? As if. I've witnessed plenty and overcome even more up to this point.
A gigantic fireball hovering in the sky, toasting the ground below? That wouldn't rattle me much.
"How much mana is that thing wasting?"
It was the kind of sight that would have most people emptying their bladders like they'd chugged lemon juice, soaking their pants.
Swallowing the sun whole? Impossible. My Paradox Flame couldn't handle something on that scale.
"Well, whatever. Might as well call it a silver lining."
Choi Yeoreum extended her hand toward me, spewing a crimson beam of light as she spoke.
"The air's thick with mana. Because of your black flames, I take it?"
I didn't answer. The Paradox Flame was gobbling up the heat from her blaze and steadily spewing out mana in return.
She seemed to have figured that much out, but she had no clue what I was doing with that mana. The mana emanating from the Paradox Flame as it consumed the scorching heat was growing denser by the second.
And as that mana coursed through my body, it was reinforcing my meridians. At a pretty decent pace, too.
If the situation allowed, I'd love to hold out like this for months. A few months in this state, and I could double the maximum mana capacity I can handle.
But that's a pipe dream. We don't have that kind of time, and Choi Yeoreum wouldn't just sit idly by.
"Dodging pretty well. Annoying."
Choi Yeoreum grimaced slightly, crossing her index fingers to form a cross. A pair of wings made of flames unfurled from her back.
At the same time, a massive cross-shaped blaze surged toward me.
"You really love the flashy stuff, huh."
I charged straight at the oncoming flames and swung my fist. The Paradox Flame devoured the cross. In an instant, the crimson cross turned black and vanished.
"…."
She was wasting mana, sure, but that didn't mean she couldn't fight. When I rushed her, she desperately pulled away.
By now, Choi Yeoreum and I were moving faster than any camera could capture.
They'd probably only catch glimpses of us flickering into view before vanishing again.
Otherwise, all anyone would see were the red flames roaring and my black Paradox Flame blazing.
"Crimson and ebony rendezvous."
Fitting description, if I do say so myself.
Time kept ticking by. The sun was setting. Though even if it did set, the spot where I stood was lit up like midday thanks to Choi Yeoreum's flames.
"How about we call it here and you crumple up?"
Choi Yeoreum looked bored.
"If you want me crumpled, make it happen."
That's why we're still going even after sunset. And we'll probably watch the sunrise here tomorrow. And the sunset after that.
Keep that up long enough, and her mana will inevitably hit its limit. That moment will be my victory.
I'll melt her down like candy.
"Never fought a guy like me before, have you?"
Choi Yeoreum didn't respond. She just amped up the firepower and attacked.
My job was simple. Same as always. Find an opening amid the onslaught and counter. Stay focused. Absorb the mana filling the air into my body and steadily reinforce my meridians.
The broadcast team spoke up, looking a bit drained.
"We're now entering day five."
There was nothing left to say. The crew relaying Yoo Chan-seok and Choi Yeoreum's fight were pros among pros.
But even pros run out of words after watching that spectacle for five straight days.
"Hunter Choi Yeoreum looks pretty worn out. Whereas…."
Yoo Chan-seok seemed fine. For someone who hadn't slept or eaten in five days, anyway.
"Her attacks have lost a lot of punch."
Choi Yeoreum wasn't floating a sun in the sky anymore. She was conserving mana for it.
"It's already common knowledge that Hunter Yoo Chan-seok's mana doesn't deplete, but it's no exaggeration."
"He's maintaining a pace that favors him and dragging the fight out steadily."
Silence fell again. The broadcast team's feelings were truly complicated. Viewers watching this legendary showdown were just as exhausted.
Come home from work, and the fight's still on. Take the weekend off, come back, and it's still going.
Even the spectators were worn out, and the broadcast team was on the verge of collapse.
Naturally, Choi Yeoreum—who'd been facing Yoo Chan-seok head-on—was one step away from losing her mind.
"Enough already!"
Choi Yeoreum's composure had flown out the window by evening. The bastard Yoo Chan-seok buzzing in front of her was like a mosquito whining in her ear on a summer night.
Annoying, persistent, impossible to swat. Her mana was down to about 30% now.
'At this rate, I'll lose.'
The word "defeat" was crystallizing in Choi Yeoreum's mind. After days of fighting, she still hadn't subdued him. That meant she never would.
But there were others who didn't want her to lose.
"Ugh, is this really how it ends? What a mess."
Mugunghwa 1st Team Leader Kim Chae-hyun, contracted with the Korean government, had been watching Yoo Chan-seok and Choi Yeoreum's duel for days with a fatigue-ridden face.
"Seriously, what kind of freak is that guy?"
Kim Chae-hyun had already seen Yoo Chan-seok fight once in Seoul. He definitely hadn't been this strong back then.
And yet, in no time at all, he'd smashed another rank-1 Erosion Core and turned into a monster who could seize the upper hand against Choi Yeoreum.
"Ruthless. Absolutely ruthless."
And the way he was securing that upper hand was suffocating. From start to finish, his condition barely changed.
This wasn't a fight anymore. Choi Yeoreum was prey, and the massive serpent named Yoo Chan-seok had already swallowed her whole and was digesting her. Kim Chae-hyun made a call somewhere.
"This is Kim Chae-hyun. Looks like we have to proceed. If things keep going like this, we'll lose Choi Yeoreum."
Everyone watching the duel could sense her impending defeat.
From the Korean government's perspective, this couldn't actually end in her loss.
But they couldn't make Yoo Chan-seok lose, either.
In other words, the fight had to end without a decisive victor. And they had a plan for that.
It was the very reason this duel had been allowed in the first place.
"Is this really the right call?"
But the plan gave even Kim Chae-hyun pause. It wasn't exactly a noble method.
—Everything's already prepared. If Choi Yeoreum collapses like this, cleaning up afterward will be a nightmare.
"They're civilians, though."
Even before the duel began, operatives disguised as charity workers in the foreigner residential area near Anseong had slipped crystals into capsules, passing them off as vitamin pills with meals.
Research had advanced to the point where the crystals could be dormant, activated only when needed. Now, all that was left was a real-world test to confirm results.
And the projected outcome? Every single person who'd ingested the crystals would rampage.
Cull some foreigners, halt the duel, secure data. One operation, tons of gains.
Kim Chae-hyun was bound by contract anyway. No backing out. Government contracts weren't something you could just drop because you felt like it—and she'd learned far too much after signing on.
Trying to pull out now? The consequences were obvious.
"Understood."
Dormant crystals could be activated via special equipment. And activating that equipment required a substantial amount of mana.
Only a hunter of Kim Chae-hyun's caliber could pull it off. She placed her hand on the device and poured in her mana.
The equipment glowed a deep greenish-black, vibrating at steady intervals. Green was supposed to calm the mind, but this shade felt ominous somehow.
Not fresh forest leaves, but the murky moss in stagnant sewage.
"I still don't get it."
Kim Chae-hyun glanced at the foreigner residential area from afar. Crude 3D-printed shacks everywhere—no plumbing, no wiring.
The equipment's vibration stopped. Kim Chae-hyun stood and left the site immediately.
"Ah… huuuh?!"
Suddenly, weary pedestrians began trembling, vomiting thick black sludge from their mouths as they let out agonized groans.
Weird noises emanated as their bodies lifted slightly into the air.
Joints twisted in unnatural directions with sickening cracks. Some had shattered bones piercing through flesh and skin; others screamed as veins bulged grotesquely across their skin.
In moments, the land swarming with exhausted, sickly, starving foreigners turned into a living hell.
The screams of over a thousand people died out almost simultaneously. No humans remained. Those with bones crushed and muscles torn while alive had been fully reconstructed.
Shaggy monsters with black goat heads and bat wings sprouting from their backs. A foul sulfur stench poured from their bodies, and eyes made of flame blazed fiercely.
The monsters' backs writhed, unfurling black wings.
A massive siren blared instantly, kicking off the emergency broadcast.
It was a swift response, like they'd been waiting. Because they had been.
The Korean government had fed crystals to 1,500 people. Their goal: at least 1,200 of those 1,500 rampaging.
But the number who'd rampaged and mutated in the foreigner residential area? All 1,500.
100% success rate. Every crystal recipient had rampaged, transforming into winged black goat monsters.
"…."
The incident in Anseong's foreigner residential area was immediately relayed to Yoo Chan-seok and Choi Yeoreum dueling in the Anseong Plains.
It hit right as Choi Yeoreum staggered back from a punch to the gut.
"Duel suspended?"
She whipped out her smartphone and called someone right away.
"This is your doing, isn't it?"
—I have no idea what you're talking about, Hunter Choi Yeoreum.
"These bastards must think I'm a total idiot. The mana I just felt from the foreigner district—that was that balisong prick's mana."
Choi Yeoreum knew Mugunghwa's 1st Team Leader Kim Chae-hyun was working under government contract. Feeling her mana meant the government had pulled some shit.
Just like always.
Her words were met with brief silence on the other end.
—But it worked out neatly, didn't it?
"Worked out… Ha, did you just say 'worked out'?"
—Hunter Choi Yeoreum was on the verge of defeat. We were helping.
Her face flushed red as she bellowed into the phone.
"Hey, you son of a bitch! If I'm gonna lose, it's my loss! Who the hell are you to make me dance to your goddamn tune?!"
That's exactly why she was pissed. Not because they'd interfered with a fair fight.
After all, she'd pulled strings against Han Sang-ah and Jeong O-hun in the prelims and finals herself.
Acknowledging their "help" this time would mean owing them a debt.
And she'd have to pay up. But she had no intention of doing so.
Sure, she did owe those bastards—but this was unsolicited aid, plain and simple.