Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: Creation for Destruction
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When we finally arrived, the opponent who had been relentlessly generating vegetation to hinder us without pause stood utterly still, staring at me as its mouth gaped wide open.
Trees spewed wildly from its gaping maw, wrapping around its body and steadily growing larger.
"Ah, transforming at this point is a bit much, don't you think?"
If you're going to transform, do it sooner. Why make someone think they've already won?
Countless branches from thousands of trees intertwined into the form of a giant. Then it swung a massive arm toward me.
"Whoa."
The enormous power contained within that tree could heal at least hundreds of thousands of serious injuries.
And Lee Ha-yoon's body, enduring that power, would collapse soon enough, just like the others before.
—Do not mistake the throbbing wild life for mercy. We are uncontrolled, and not friendly toward you filth.
Nature isn't friendly to humans. I completely agree with that. The beautiful nature people desire isn't a sweltering jungle crawling with venomous snakes, bugs, and lurking beasts.
What people want is a well-manicured shrubbery with pretty flowers—a garden tamed by human hands.
The pulsating colossal lifeform gaped its trunk toward me.
Venomous snakes, bugs, and beasts poured out. A leopard-like creature lunged at me. I thrust my spear into its head, and flames erupted instead of blood.
A snake that had been still suddenly floated up as if gravity had reversed, then shot toward me like an arrow without any acceleration or preparation.
All the lifeforms spat out by that massive tree ignored the laws and common sense of Earth entirely.
Pollen that devoured light, massive insects that floated without wingbeats while firing venomous stingers. Beasts that spat out their gallbladders from their mouths, squeezed them to spray bile, or bled flames instead of blood.
A bizarre centipede with both exoskeleton and endoskeleton.
Plants that lunged with mouths full of razor-sharp fangs pulsing like beating hearts, flowers that hid eyes within their petals to swallow light.
Even tree roots that preyed on the earth's soil to reinforce themselves.
The essence of that massive tree was creation. The act of bringing forth the new. Its yawning abyss held boundless vitality.
Countless evolutions repeated within it. Not evolutions for survival.
"Creation for destruction."
The lives teeming inside devoured each other, reproduced, and grew. But that growth and reproduction weren't for survival.
—Harder exoskeletons, more virulent poisons, sharper fangs and claws.
Even creatures without digestive or excretory organs were emerging.
These weren't hunts for predation; they existed solely to kill.
They would grow stronger as time passed. Its vitality was infinite, and the evolutions hurtling toward destruction realized endless possibilities.
"But you don't have time anyway."
—We know that too.
Right here, the entity possessing Lee Ha-yoon's body was literally shitting out creations nonstop. Given time, it would grow beyond what we could handle.
But Lee Ha-yoon's body would collapse first.
—But what does that matter?
From the massive tree's perspective, it was just a borrowed body. Use it up and discard it. Even if I killed it, only Lee Ha-yoon's body would die—not the tree's true form.
"True, it doesn't matter from your side. You came all this way yourself and still got crushed without achieving a thing."
We'd accomplished everything we needed to here. Nothing for them.
"I didn't even use my tattoo's power. Means I can handle pests like you without it now."
We've gained a lot here.
"All you've got is safely running away, nothing else."
We agreed to call fleeing empty-handed a crushing defeat.
Ah, since it's not even human, it probably doesn't know about such social conventions.
"Still, you don't seem tense or worried, so it looks like the contract was fulfilled."
Probably something like 'take over the body and fight when life is threatened.' Contract complete, so it can escape without penalty.
The very fact they made such a deal proves they see us as a serious threat.
If they were confident in winning, why bother with such a pathetic clause? The blazing Paradox Flame swelled, finally touching the towering giant tree that scraped the sky.
Time for it to return. As it was engulfed in black flames, it opened its mouth.
—Losing a battle doesn't mean losing the war.
I replied in a low, mocking tone, mimicking its speech.
"No matter how you spin it, the loss is still a loss."
Now scram. As if delivering the finishing blow, I plunged my spear into the giant tree's center and detonated the curse and Paradox Flame.
The tree, which had stood unyieldingly, began to wither, its majestic form shrinking.
It continued to shrivel until only Lee Ha-yoon's desiccated, mummy-like corpse remained, and the tree vanished without a trace.
Next up: the phantom. While I dealt with the giant tree, Jeong No-hoon and Han Sang-ah had been handling it as a pair.
They were in a razor-thin spot, but since they hadn't died yet, they'd successfully kept dodging attacks.
—Well now, looks like it's my time to go too.
"Fitting for a guy who toys with time—you nailed the timing perfectly."
It let out a low chuckle at my words.
—Still, I can't just leave empty-handed. Right?
"What's with the 'thou'? Your speech is annoyingly pretentious."
As I responded, Han Sang-ah dashed at it with blinding speed, swinging her sword.
The phantom was watching her. A pocket watch gleamed in its hand.
Its body twisted grotesquely, dodging her attack and countering. A sharp sound rang out as its blade pierced her shoulder.
"Damn. That was definitely within striking distance."
Sensing something off, I moved to protect Han Sang-ah from its attack. But its strike landed faster than I could reach her.
It shouldn't have. I should've been faster. By my rough calculations, I could've intercepted at least a second before its attack hit.
Fortunately, she managed to twist away at the last moment.
Watching that, I clicked my tongue.
"One-on-one, you're the trickier bastard."
This one pissed me off more than that giant tree. It retreated, laughing.
"With thy vast knowledge, surely thou canst predict this too."
It apparently couldn't leap into the past with attacks anymore. Otherwise, Han Sang-ah would've died from that strike.
It couldn't combine that trick with past-leaping attacks.
Its form flickered, blurring and sharpening repeatedly. It looked utterly relaxed.
"Time Imposition."
One of the foes I fought before pulled that crap.
He called his ability Pocket Time—like pulling time from a pocket to use at will.
—Impressive. I can't fathom how thou knowest this. Thou truly astonishest me.
This bastard arbitrarily imposed extra time atop existing time.
For example, say my lunge and spear swing takes 0.5 seconds to reach it.
If it imposes 1 second, it takes 1.5 seconds instead.
In fights between experts, 1 second creates massive gaps. Enough to dodge and land a lethal counter.
Even if I broke the sound barrier, absolute time units got added to my attacks. Speed alone couldn't overcome it.
But.
"This isn't the time to be surprised."
How do I know your trick? Or rather, how am I still alive knowing it?
That's the key. It means I beat someone pulling the exact same stunt.
I can't burn time with Paradox Flame yet. Never even tried. But just because it wields time freely doesn't mean I have to counter it directly.
As I slowly swung my spear, a blue trail slowly traced through the air.
"Just make it impossible to dodge."
Forced delay on my attacks? Doesn't matter. Create a situation where it can't evade no matter how much time passes.
"You two, help out a bit. Watch what I do, and you'll naturally figure out your part."
The difficulty gap between one-on-one and three-on-one here is enormous.
With that, I gripped my spear, drew blue trails in the air, and charged the phantom. Naturally, its imposed time made all my attacks miss, forcing me to weather endless counters.
"You can add time, but not subtract it?"
—Not with this body.
Means it could originally. Would've been way trickier otherwise—slow my attacks, delete its own time.
Subtract 0.5 seconds from a 0.5-second attack? Instant hit. No time to dodge.
If I face its main body later, better to quickly burn 7 seconds of tattoo power and end it cleanly. No headaches.
Worth it for pests like this.
"Slowly."
But steadily, the blue trails embroidering the air formed a snare closing in from all sides. No matter where it went, blue trails blocked the way.
Escape options dwindled. Even successful dodges let me leave more trails narrowing its movement, then pursue again.
—Thou fightest as if thou hast faced my kind before.
"Curious? Want to peek at my soul? Might give you answers."
It shook its head at my words.
—Politely decline.
Too bad. I prepared to finish it. Not quite ready for the killing blow yet. Normally, it'd take 5 more hours to complete the snare.
But here, this was enough. Time for the strike.
The moment I swung, Jeong No-hoon and Han Sang-ah attacked simultaneously. Not aiming for the phantom.
Targeting the two spots it'd inevitably end up if it dodged my attack.
—Hey, I can defend too.
It raised its sword to block mine.
"Think defense will help?"
Metal clashed, its slender blade meeting my spear. Paradox Flame bloomed, instantly spreading across its body.
That crisped the last one too. Now it'd ditch the body and flee.
"On second thought, take one more hit here."
Plants were one thing, but this ability was a pain. One mistake could kill, and countermeasures were tricky. My tattoo glowed as Paradox Flame roared intensely.
Right now, I could burn its soul. Not completely—too time-consuming—but enough irreversible damage.