Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Everything Can Be Stopped
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I can stop everything. That's definitely not a bad ability.
If you shout "Stop the violence!" and it actually grinds to a halt, that's no laughing matter—it's an incredible power.
"The sad part is..."
The tip of my spear grazed his arm. A small scratch on his arm slowly blackened and began to rot.
"Poison?"
Seo Shin-cheol staggered back. A red pattern floated over the wound, halting the poison's spread.
"Korea had way too many undead thanks to the Gonsal-ok."
Corpses were already dead, so the poison from the gems I'd secured in Jaun Valley had no effect. That's why the venom on my spear hadn't meant much...
But this guy was a living human made of flesh and blood. The deadly poison from Jaun Valley could work its magic properly here.
And it wasn't just poison. The gloves from Samhyeol-dong let me curse opponents through my weapon.
Deadly poison, curse, Paradox Flame. These three, specialized in slowly crushing foes, blended together like an Oriental salad to torment him.
"Even a graze is lethal."
If he couldn't dodge perfectly, he'd have to block. Every time I swung my spear, Seo Shin-cheol diligently held his axe like a shield to fend off my attacks.
"Lee Ha-yoon, how long are you gonna play around with that bitch?!"
Seo Shin-cheol bellowed, and Lee Ha-yoon shot back.
"Do I look like I'm playing to you?"
Just as Lee Ha-yoon was about to complete her barrier, Han Sang-ah barely managed to slip outside it in the nick of time.
Han Sang-ah moved with springy, flexible elasticity, like her whole body was made of springs.
"..."
But somehow, Lee Ha-yoon kept up with Han Sang-ah while stretching her hand toward me.
Countless concentric circles spread across the ground once more, dozens of barriers enveloping and pressing down on me. At the same time, the massive sacred tree Lee Ha-yoon had conjured withered as if it had always been that way.
The moment my movements slowed, Seo Shin-cheol charged at me. I swung my spear fast, but he thrust out his arm to take the hit.
His arm severed, and his other hand touched my body.
"You're done, you bastard. Movements, halt completely."
A red magic circle appeared on my body. My movements froze solid.
"You ain't getting out of that. Ha, fucker. Finally caught you."
He glanced at his severed arm, then formed a red magic circle on the stump to staunch the bleeding.
Catch me? Please.
"You think your power's not that different from my Paradox Flame, huh?"
Seo Shin-cheol wiped his mouth and grinned.
"Doesn't look any different to me."
As he finished speaking, he slowly drew something from his sleeve. The problematic gear I'd already clocked.
I just stared at it calmly.
"Soul replication."
He seemed to know that extracting Paradox Flame alone wasn't enough. To control it, he'd need my soul—or at least a copy.
He planned to analyze and replicate my soul with that device. A vessel to contain the rampaging Paradox Flame without it going haywire.
The attempt itself was pathetic. So pathetic it almost brought tears to my eyes.
I'd let it happen on purpose. If I'd used the tattoo's power, I wouldn't have gotten hit. But wasting it on something like this was too much.
"..."
I silently watched him. Seo Shin-cheol approached and jabbed the syringe-like device into my forearm.
"It's over, asshole. All that big talk, and you're nothing special."
The device in my arm emitted a faint glow, blinking nonstop. The blinking sped up.
"What the hell? Is this working right?"
The flashing was anything but normal.
"Does that look normal to your eyes?"
Analyze my soul and replicate it? What a joke. Sure, theoretically possible. After all, my soul was what controlled the Paradox Flame.
Success would mean a vessel for it.
If he succeeded. The madly flashing device spewed black smoke, emitted a weird noise, and shattered. It clattered to the ground, lights dead, sparking feebly.
"Talk about greed."
Not even Jaun Valley or the Gonsal-ok core could face my soul head-on. No way these clowns could replicate it.
One thing was clear now.
The one who made that device wasn't human. Humanity's current understanding of mana couldn't produce something like that.
Inside the broken device, something dark red gleamed. Like a gem with hundreds, thousands of facets, but no gem.
Light entering it would bounce around inside thousands, tens of thousands of times before escaping.
"Too bad Dan-gun's descendants failed their goal, but nothing changes. You can't move anyway."
Seo Shin-cheol approached with his axe raised.
"Honestly, who cares. I'll savor your screams nice and slow. Where should I start?"
I looked at him and spoke.
"Your power's limits are clear as day."
Similar to Paradox Flame? Sorry, but it's on a whole different level. And frankly, even being compared to this crap pisses me off.
"I'll show you the difference right now."
Paradox Flame obliterates the destination. No destination, so no arrival, no matter how far you run.
"You just barricade the path to the destination."
Barricade the path, so no arrival.
End result looks the same as Paradox Flame—no reaching the goal. But the key difference...
"Barricades crumble if you smash them hard enough."
Once the wall blocking the path collapses, you reach the goal. I took a deep breath and gathered my mana.
Mana surged through my body, and the red magic circle on me resonated with a scream-like hum, trembling irregularly.
"And breaking your power..."
No need for the tattoo's strength. What I could muster now was plenty.
Slowly, cracks formed in the magic circle on my body.
"Wha—?!"
Panicking, he swung his axe at me.
"I've got a shield, dummy."
Crack! Countless hexagonal shields formed in midair, wrapping around me.
I wasn't sure it'd hold, but like Choi Seung-gi bragged, it boasted top-tier defense.
"One of them breaks first."
Either the shield from my gear shatters, or the magic circle he planted on me does.
"Raaargh!"
His muscles bulged massively as he hammered the shield relentlessly with his axe. Explosive blows made it vibrate and crack.
"This'll...!"
And the final strike. The axe blade finally shattered the shield and came for my skull.
"By the way, I don't gamble with my life."
I was certain the magic circle halting my movements would break first. The axe couldn't split my head—it met my spear.
The magic circle on my body was utterly smashed.
"Aw, disappointed? Wanna go again?"
No sooner had I spoken than I kicked his gut with a foot wrapped in curse and Paradox Flame.
"Psych!"
His body flew back from the hit. He frantically etched a magic circle on his belly toward the clinging curse and Paradox Flame.
"Trying to stop it? Won't matter—it's just buying time."
Paradox Flame would burn that circle first. Then the rest.
"Hearing was your pride and joy, huh."
The Paradox Flame on his belly blazed fiercely, incinerating his ability to halt everything.
"Stop, you damn... Stop it!"
Seo Shin-cheol screamed, desperately maintaining the circle.
Watching him froth at the mouth in desperation, I approached and placed my hand on his head.
"Pleasure killer, huh. I got a trick I use on scum like you."
Paradox Flame enveloped his head. Black flames spread over his body. In terror, he looked up at me.
"You get off on others' suffering, right?"
Let's switch the target a bit.
"I'm burning every sense except one. You'll feel nothing but that one. Forever."
I lifted my hand from his head and said,
"Pain."
He'd never sense anything else from now on. The human brain craves stimulation.
No stimulation drives you mad. With only pain left, you'll obsess over it inevitably.
Starts with a pinch. But deprived of all other input, the brain demands ever-intenser pain.
"Your life of pleasure from others' agony becomes pleasure from your own. Enjoy."
Ripping flesh, clawing skin, snapping fingers, bashing head anywhere for stronger pain...
Self-mutilating desperately until death.
"Not like you can hear me anyway."
The only way he survives is if someone binds his limbs.
Seo Shin-cheol was finished.
I turned to check on Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hoon.
Jeong Oh-hoon had a crushing matchup advantage. No need to help there.
Han Sang-ah dodged Lee Ha-yoon's barriers with agile moves, pressing her attack. Time to back her up.
I charged at Lee Ha-yoon and thrust my spear.
"Hey, I'm back. Miss me?"
"Screw... you."
The barrier around Lee Ha-yoon withstood my strike, emitting a low hum. Paradox Flame flared, shattering it, the spear tip grazing her collar.
"Time to sell you off. You know by now you can't win, right?"
I grinned at Lee Ha-yoon.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"What else?"
I raised my spear high and slammed it down. The barrier broke; she rolled desperately to dodge.
"Hurry up and hand your bodies over to the one you contracted with via that ore in you, then scram."
Want it simpler?
"Just call your damn parents, you punks. Let me see what kinda bastards made you."
You'd die, but you'd die to us anyway.
Lee Ha-yoon glared at my words.
"Don't talk shit. We're no one's slaves."
"Yeah, you'll rule the world. Choke on iced green tea lattes in hell, idiot."
Good thing Han Sang-ah handles electricity. Fry 'em crispy?