The Ruler of Darkness

Yeon So-Hyeon took a deep breath.

The unique stench of the back alley—the smell of urine and feces, the smell of something rotting, the stink of decay, the smell rising from the sewer, and the aroma of melted intestines and boiled blood were invigorating.

Each time his heart throbbed exhilaratingly, the magical energy of Dark Heavens Scripture coursed through his blood vessels and meridians. The magic that distorts and erodes reality whipped through his body, reaching his brain. Everything around him came into view, and everything seemed to be within his reach.

Nothing felt impossible.

It was a feeling of omnipotence, and at the same time, madness. Unbeknownst to him, a rough beast's sound growled and flowed deep from his throat. Yeon So-Hyeon, the demon of Dark Heavens Scripture, looked at the prey lined up in the hallway.

"...The feast begins."

His voice, made of rough metallic sounds, echoed in the corridor.

"Kill him!"

With someone's shout, the members of the Black Bone Faction began to run with their weapons raised erratically.

Yeon So-Hyeon bared his teeth and smiled.

The face of the guy charging in front was full of fear, and he was desperate. The blade that the guy was swinging was a cheap piece of junk, hardly worthy of being called a sword. Even the grimy threads of the tassel attached to the end of the sword hilt were clearly visible in his bid for style.

But there was no need or reason to dodge.

Yeon So-Hyeon stood still and took the blow to his head. With the sharp sound of metal on metal, sparks flew.

The blade, not even properly tempered, full of impurities, snapped off and flew away. The broken blade got stuck in the ceiling.

There was no a single scratch on him

Before the blade’s handle dropped to the ground from the shock, Yeon So-Hyeon slapped the man's head with his palm. With a deafening boom, the guy's head exploded in the direction of the slap. Like a harsh whip, the man's brain and blood and bone fragments scattered on the floor.

The blade’s hilt, now bladeless, finally fell to the floor.

The body without a head swayed to the side and fell against the corridor wall.

At this sight, Yeon So-Hyeon clapped his hands.

Indeed, no feast is complete without a dance.

"Argh!"

The next guy rushed in with an axe.

Yeon So-Hyeon reached out his hands and plucked the guy's arms out. As the man screamed, Yeon So-Hyeon threw the arms he was holding onto the floor.

"My arms...!"

After momentarily enjoying the grotesque dance, Yeon So-Hyeon slowly ripped the guy's mouth open. In the meantime, two guys charged in, but at the same time, their waists were cut off and flew away.

A man who was pushed from the back and had no choice but to be pushed forward was grabbed by Yeon So-Hyeon with a gaping mouth and had his head bitten off.

No feast is complete without food.

Even while Yeon So-Hyeon leisurely spoke in such a manner, blades flew in and blunt weapons were struck down.

However, none of those caused any damage, and every time Yeon So-Hyeon moved his body, the corridor was filled with corpses that had lost part of their bodies.

That stinky and dirty corridor was transforming into the finest banquet hall filled with song, dance, and food.

* * *

With a joyous smile, Yeon So-Hyeon pierced another torso with a knife-hand strike.

And so, another life disappeared.

But the Black Bone Faction was not just being one-sidedly oppressed.

At the same time as Yeon So-Hyeon pierced the torso, a grim sword sprang out from the opposite side. The sword rushed towards Yeon So-Hyeon at a formidable speed.

"Huh...!"

With a sneer, Yeon So-Hyeon bent his body back to avoid the blade.

The long sword, which had not even a single drop of blood on it even after piercing through the torso, reflected a harsh light on its smooth surface. And that blade was violently vibrating with an overflowing energy.

That was also the reason Yeon So-Hyeon dodged that strike.

Speed and skill, and even the clearly high-quality long sword, finally a skilled person who had mastered martial arts had appeared.

The attack did not end with a fierce stabbing.

"Puppet."

Alongside a soft chant, as if defying the laws of physics, the stabbing motion transitioned into a slash. Just like slicing through tofu, the flashing blade split the corpse apart, then plunged into Yeon So-Hyeon like a bolt of lightning.

'Got him!'

The owner of the long sword was certain that his attack would succeed. This monster managed to evade his first strike, using beast-like senses, from the blind spot. However, it was a clear mistake to lean back and dodge.

In such a state where the monster’s balance was completely broken, there was no way he could evade the continuous strikes through his one-and-only technique, Puppet.

"......?!"

However, his strike, which had severed the corpse, only left a deep scar on the innocent floor as it passed through the air in vain.

"That was an interesting technique."

The opponent's cold breath touched his ear.

If he had been a novice less experienced with the sword, he would have been at a loss at that moment.

He didn't think or judge.

His body, honed by countless battles, reflexively unfolded another technique.

“Reversal Strike.”

It was another unique technique that integrated recovery and attack into one movement.

In the direction where the attack breath previously had touched, the body of the sword’s blade sprung up as if it had just been fired, and he didn't stop there, he launched dozens of consecutive attacks in a single breath.

"Ugh…!"

As if dozens of blades had been added, it tore the space to shreds.

The monster began to intercept those dozens of consecutive strikes without avoiding the attack this time.

Every time the long fingernails made of black energy collided with his blade, sparks flew in all directions with a deafening noise.

"Huff, huff!"

As soon as the consecutive attacks ended, he took a deep, ragged breath.

It was a problem that his internal strength had significantly depleted with just a few moves, but a bigger problem was that the flow of his inner energy had collapsed due to the rough breath caused by the forced combination of techniques.

'...damn this monster.'

However, the biggest problem lay elsewhere.

"Is that all?"

While his whole body had been minced by the opponent's nails, and he was bathing in his own blood, the white-masked monster did not have a single cut on his clothes.

"I was just getting excited, what a shame."

The monster's rough voice scratched his ears.

"…F*ck!"

He staked everything on this one strike. He poured out all his remaining internal energy and concentration. Of course, given the monster's abilities shown so far, there was no doubt that his last strike would be blocked in vain.

'But…!’

At the same time, the corridors on both sides of the monster crumbled, and the remaining two martial artists who had been waiting launched their attack. It was a perfect surprise attack, aiming for the moment when the opponent was most off guard.

'Did we...?!'

However, what he saw the next moment was completely different from his expectations.

His blade lodged in the monster's teeth, soon shattered, and at the same time, the surprise joint attack was futilely blocked by the monster's hands.

The monster spit out the blade fragment.

"Is this your best?"

That's when he realized—there was never any possibility of vanquishing this beast, no matter their strategy. The creature had merely been toying with them before it planned to devour them.

"Ugh!"

His vision caught the two men, who had given up their weapons caught in the monster's full power, rushing in with armed and unarmed combat techniques.

Then something flashed, and a thunderous noise followed.

It was then he realized his internal energy had been entirely depleted.

The spattering blood mist, spouting geysers of blood, and the deafening noise all persisted for a brief moment.

He too endeavored to lunge at the monster again, using his residual energy, but it was not an opponent he could attack devoid of internal energy. Then, a casual gesture from the monster caused him to briefly black out, only to be awakened by a horrifying scream.

"Ahhh!"

The monster, with its back to him, was in the middle of devouring a martial artist alive. The hallway was filled with the sound of flesh being torn, bones breaking, and screams. All he could do was wait his turn, paralyzed by impotence and fear.

He cried, he prayed.

But his fate had already been decided.

* * *

"Crazy monster!"

Yeon So-hyeon, who had gathered his magic, asked the last remaining boss of the den, "...Me, a crazy monster?"

The boss, with both knees completely shattered, screamed at Yeon So-hyeon with rage, "Crazy f*cker. So, you're the crazy monster, you think you're some great master?!"

Yeon So-hyeon slowly looked around. The place he had finally arrived at was a slaughterhouse set up in an underground space. Organs gathered in one place were being boiled in a large pot, and even more organs were waiting in line. On the opposite side, bones and meat were scattered, apparently, bone extraction work was in full swing, and there was a mountain of piled bones in the corner.

And beyond that, large pieces of meat waiting were lined up on hooks.

And finally, the place where Yeon So-hyeon stood was where the blood extraction process was taking place from the meat. A large puddle was formed on the floor with thick blood, which was flowing out along the gutter to the sewer. And that blood was flowing down from the 'human corpses' hanging upside down.

Yeon So-hyeon looked at the corpse closest to him.

It was a woman who was practically nothing but bones. The peculiar thing was that, for some reason, the woman's abdomen was split. Yeon So-hyeon closed the eyes of the corpse, still wide open, and asked the boss,

".....Am I the crazy one?"

The manager of the underground human meat factory, writhing in pain from his shattered lower body, parroted Yeon So-hyeon's words.

"Stupid bastard! This is all just business!”

"......"

Yeon So-hyeon, who had momentarily forgotten what to say, picked up a bowl that had been on the manager's desk. He had been in the middle of a meal before things went south, the bowl and its contents were still warm.

Yeon So-hyeon picked out a chunk of meat from inside. Steam was rising from a wrist that was undoubtedly a fetus's by its size. This showed why the woman's belly had been split open.

"Just a business?"

The manager shouted as if he were having a seizure. "Madman! What's business?! Why do we do business?! It's all to survive and......!"

Yeon So-hyeon, who seemed to disappear for a moment, grabbed the manager's head and slammed it against the wall.

"Ahhh……!"

Yeon So-hyeon slowly rubbed the manager's head against the wall as if painting it slowly, chuckling hollowly.

Killing and eating people was madness for him, but for them, killing, selling, and eating people was 'business.'

They killed, butchered, sold, and ate people, and treated it as their job, struggling to survive in harsh reality!

Yeon So-hyeon impaled the manager's corpse, whose head was half-split, upside down on an empty hook. Blood poured out from the split head, splashing onto the floor.

It seemed like too quick a death, but Yeon So-hyeon had his reasons.

There had to be a cage somewhere in the basement where they kept people alive for fresh meat.

He had to find them.

As he moved, he asked himself a question.

Am I the crazy one,

Or is it this world?

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