Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Black Smoke Rematch
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Kim Ji-hyun, pitch-black smoke coiling around her arms and legs, charged at me with eyes blazing and unleashed a roundhouse kick straight for my temple.
"Whoa, so now you're not even thinking about taking me alive?"
The trajectory of her swinging leg trailed a burst of black smoke that spread out wide. The moment it touched my body, I felt a faint sensation burrowing into my mind.
It was a force of rage and malice that drilled into the head, gnawing at the soul and driving people insane. A curse taking the form of smoke.
"What the hell? Were you banking on something?"
"You... why."
She must have been pretty confident in the effects of that smoke she was wielding.
Powers that affect the soul don't work on me at all. My body resets, but my soul doesn't.
Unless it was something capable of sweeping away an entire continent, the smoke currently wrapping around Kim Ji-hyun's body wouldn't affect me even if she shoved every last bit of it into me.
In the end, Kim Ji-hyun, who had hoped to deal with me easily through the smoke, started moving her body directly.
"Die. No, don't die. I'll grab you alive and turn you into a worthless cripple who can't do shit ever again! Just drop dead!"
"Pick one, just one."
Die? Don't die? I muttered as I narrowly dodged the barrage of attacks pouring from Kim Ji-hyun.
Her face showed no sign of fatigue as she unleashed a frenzy of blows like a berserker, mana erupting wildly from her entire body.
Before, if she'd poured out attacks this fierce without stopping, she'd have been panting like a dog in midsummer heat after about a minute.
"Did you sell your soul to a demon or something?"
I swung my spear fiercely at the oncoming smoke, sweeping it away with the wind pressure, then observed Kim Ji-hyun. No answer.
"Shut your mouth."
"I don't know how much you hate me."
A spear blazing black swung toward Kim Ji-hyun as she unleashed explosive kicks. Naturally, aware of Paradox Flame's danger, she leaped back.
"You bastard... that shit again!"
I must have struck a nerve. I had to admire her grit. Most who faced me after tasting Paradox Flame couldn't overcome the trauma.
"Let's see just how intense it is now."
Kim Ji-hyun came back stronger? So what? Was I just sitting around? My spear stretched out, grazing past her body.
And that alone was enough for Paradox Flame to cling to her. In an instant, her face drained to a sickly blue. Just a graze, yet her entire body was engulfed in Paradox Flame like salted meat tossed into a fire pit.
"Burns nice."
It was impressive enough to draw a gasp. If it burned this well, it meant Paradox Flame had a ton of fuel to consume.
"What... you, what the hell."
Kim Ji-hyun's body twitched, her eyes flickering with rage and hatred. Right now, Paradox Flame was burning her fighting spirit.
The burning desire to fight this opponent and claim victory. Fighting spirit was one of the driving forces that made you charge at full power against your foe.
And among similar concepts, fighting spirit had a particularly low ignition point.
"If you can generate fighting spirit faster than I burn it, then sure."
She could probably keep fighting me while maintaining it. If the fuel pouring in outpaces the burn rate, some's bound to be left over.
To completely strip her fighting spirit, I'd need to burn the very essence that produces it. Unfortunately, I'm not quite there yet.
"Bullshit... cut it out."
Her words were rough, but the venom had drained from her voice considerably. Still, she hadn't lost her fighting spirit entirely.
Sparks flew as spear met leg. Kim Ji-hyun, shrouded in smoke, glared with red eyes and a demonic expression.
With blue trails weaving protectively around me, I slowly began cornering her.
"Why, damn it!"
Kim Ji-hyun retreated, shouting as if deeply wronged. From her perspective, she had every reason to feel that way. Anyone could see her mana reserves were vaster, each strike far more powerful.
Yet not only couldn't she press the attack—she was being pushed back. Unfathomable for her.
"You think I'd tell you if you asked nicely?"
Of course, I knew the reason but wasn't about to share. Why tip off someone trying to kill me on how to do it?
Kim Ji-hyun needed time to adapt to her newly strengthened body. Charging at me cocky from the power-up had been a mistake.
"Come on."
I smiled, igniting Paradox Flame amid the blue trails encircling me.
"Your worst nightmare's come back for round two."
As I closed in, Kim Ji-hyun flinched back. No matter how many times you try, you can't beat me.
She raised her hand, and the surging black smoke coalesced into a massive blade that swung at me.
"That's why you're in this mess—relying on crap like that."
The black smoke slashed through me, but it had no effect.
"All the hunters stuck in Dover went mad—they couldn't handle it. Why only you!"
I thrust my spear at her chest and replied.
"Would a tiger hunter fear a kitten's hiss?"
Her body was flung back as she blocked the spear. Kim Ji-hyun could no longer press her attack and fell into full defense.
Her prized black smoke didn't work on me. Her fierce fighting spirit became fodder for Paradox Flame, burning away.
Without fighting spirit, all that's left is defense or flight. I wasn't allowing escape, so defense it was.
"Didn't you say you'd make me a cripple?"
The bravado from moments ago was gone.
"Come at me. Rip out my guts, gouge my eyes. Tear off my limbs till I scream, make me beg for mercy."
The black smoke that swept over me hadn't been entirely ineffective, it seemed. A faint madness had stirred needlessly. It couldn't drive me insane, but it sure pissed me off.
Messing clumsily with a soul can cause side effects like this.
I swung my spear at Kim Ji-hyun, my voice rising with excitement as I kept talking.
"Stay back... stay back, you bastard!"
Terror gripped her as smoke surged toward me like a storm from her hands. My mind grew chillingly cold.
The malice and rage clawing at my soul were instead overpowered and devoured by my surging spirit.
"Not enough."
I grabbed her by the collar and locked eyes with her. Even collared, she lifted her leg in desperation for my temple.
I raised my arm to block the kick. A boom echoed with the shockwave. Amid the roar, I examined her.
Something was off. Her sudden power-up, this disgusting black smoke. Paradox Flame had burned her muscle power—it couldn't recover this fast.
I wasn't losing my head enough to kill her before figuring out why she'd grown so strong, even if the soul-probing smoke pissed me off.
"This."
I sensed a liquid flowing through her body. Not human blood. Unbelievable.
"Which crazy bastard did this to you? Do you even know what's happening to your body right now?"
Gasping, Kim Ji-hyun replied.
"They said it's fine."
"Yeah, Qin Shi Huang thought mercury was fine too, and Romans slathered lead on their faces thinking it was good."
What do you know about mana? How many years has it even been since you started researching it?
I lived in a world immersed in mana research for thousands of years. By that experience, humanity's understanding of mana isn't that advanced.
To exaggerate with a science analogy, you're at the level of cheering over stone tools and incised pottery.
And it's fine? What bullshit. Implanting a bomb in your own body and charging in like it's a good idea. Dangun's heirs must have found this.
No, not found. It's a landmine deliberately planted by some entity.
"Like feeding chocolate to a dog."
Dogs eat chocolate happily when offered because they don't know what it does to them. Kim Ji-hyun was exactly that right now.
"Quit your crap... this is all because you ruined me."
"Isn't that a bit unfair?"
Anyone hearing that would think I clubbed her over the head while she was just out for a stroll. She struck first in the great labyrinth, and I just fought and beat her as an enemy.
As I tried to examine her calmly, she kept thrashing. I blocked a few attacks, then swung my fist with an irritated grimace.
"Just stay still for a sec. You're annoying as hell."
I'm going to kill Kim Ji-hyun here. Honestly, death's a mercy for her right now. A few punches left her vomiting blood and limp.
I slowly probed the liquid flowing inside her. This was a mana-based contract.
A powerful being extracts its mana, materializes it externally. Accepting it into your body means agreeing to the deal.
"Thought you were a dog that ate chocolate."
But looking deeper, that wasn't it. More like a naive newbie signing a blank contract.
Power in exchange for the contract, but what they take in return? Undefined. In two words: a scam.
Even if you agree, if the materialized mana entity doesn't like the deal, it can kill you right after.
"You probably didn't even know what you were doing."
After examining her a bit more, I hurled her with all my strength. Her body exploded midair, obliterating everything in a 50-meter radius around her.
That wasn't an explosion—it was erasure. No trace left, as if something had ripped the area away. Her body and surroundings simply vaporized.
"Sneaky bastard."
Even with a blank contract, disposing of her instantly like this. I stared at the spot where Kim Ji-hyun vanished, deep in thought.
Two possibilities.
"Either someone in Dangun's heirs isn't human."
Or they are human, but clueless about what they're doing, lost in the delusion of a grand discovery.
Usually one of two should be good news, but both are bad. I don't even know Dangun's heirs' base, and storming in to explain wouldn't work anyway.
"Why's everything such a goddamn mess."
I scratched my head furiously and scowled. It wasn't as simple as just dealing with Dangun's heirs anymore.
Well, come to think of it, my life's always been like this. I sprinted toward Dover, where Han Sang-ah and Lee Se-eun were fighting, sorting through my thoughts.
I didn't know who Kim Ji-hyun contracted with, but it was undoubtedly powerful. And the method felt awfully familiar.
"Demons."
Back in that world, I'd seen demons who built homes in hell make contracts with humans that way.
Not all demons could do it... but the ones strong enough numbered around fifty, I think.
Of course, this big guy took care of them all, so they're all dead now.