Side Story 53. Monster and Monster 3
KWANG!
An explosive sound burst out from the air. Seol Jihu and the monster shot backward after clashing.
—Kiuk!
Hitting the wall, the monster let out a groan. It was a little taken aback by the sheer force behind Seol Jihu’s attack. It was so strong that he blanked out for a second.
But if the damage it received was this big, the damage its opponent received should be larger by multiple times. Thinking so, the monster collected its mind and regained its footing. However, it jumped in a startle in the next moment.
The enemy must have been sent flying back, but a blinding light was recklessly rushing in.
—Kiiiiiiik!
The monster hurriedly swung its claw. Because it happened so quickly, it couldn’t tell whether it parried him off or if he dodged. What it did know was that the light that was about to reach its neck bounced back.
The monster panted as Seol Jihu landed lightly on the ground. It would be lying if it said it wasn’t surprised.
Strength and speed. The enemy was not inferior in a single area. In fact, he was superior.
At that moment, Seol Jihu’s head tilted slightly.
“...Strange.”
He muttered.
“You’re... nothing special.”
—Kiik?
The monster flinched. Only then did it realize that something was missing.
It slowly raised the arm that it had swung at Seol Jihu. The claw-like fingers had all exploded before it noticed.
Confusion hit before it even had the time to think, How?
It couldn’t be helped. A human being would be no different if an ant they thought they could stomp to death at any second suddenly displayed extraordinary physical ability.
No longer looking down on its enemy, the monster observed Seol Jihu closely.
—....
Upon closer inspection, it was shocked further. Not only was the enemy plastered with evil-incinerating energy, but his energy had also been amplified a level further through an increase in the level of existence.
There was only one thing it was sure of. Though it had no clue who created him or for what reason, the enemy was a godslayer designed to kill gods.
—Krrrrr...!
A long tongue suddenly shot out of the monster’s mouth. It had attacked, feeling a threat to its life.
Seol Jihu kicked off the ground and leapt up. The tongue chased after him but twisted around itself in vain.
Seol Jihu circled around in the air. Successfully reaching the monster’s main body, he raised his arm.
It was then. Pukak! A thorn suddenly popped out of the monster’s broken arm and coiled around Seol Jihu’s spear-wielding arm.
Not only did the monster try to throw him off, but it also squeezed his arm tight as if to crush it.
This was a mistake on Seol Jihu’s part. He did not expect the monster’s arm to suddenly grow back when his energy was still eating away at it.
However, Seol Jihu’s face was calm.
“So you only know how to show off with the power you were born with?”
The monster was shocked again the next moment.
Puk!
Seol Jihu raised his left hand and struck down on his right arm. The right arm that was holding onto the Spear of Purity snapped off from the shoulder joint.
What the monster saw next was Seol Jihu’s left palm that suddenly approached its face.
“You kind of remind me of someone.”
A flurry of sword qi shot out of his left palm.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Struck directly by countless sword qi, the monster was sent flying back, breaking through walls.
—Kiiiiuuuuk!
Black liquid spurted out of its wrecked mouth. Though it raised its body reflexively, its mind was completely shaken.
“People like that usually can’t do a thing if they’re crushed by overwhelming power. I wonder if you’ll be any different.”
The monster flinched.
“Why?”
Seol Jihu smirked while drinking an Elixeer.
“Did you think regeneration was something only you could do?”
His bleeding right shoulder wriggled, and a new right arm sprouted out.
“Or should I have pretended to be in pain a bit more?”
Seol Jihu threw the empty bottle on the ground before reaching out.
The Spear of Purity cut the monster’s tongue and flew back.
Different. Though the monster couldn’t quite put its finger on it, it had a feeling that the creature in front of it was different. But not knowing what Seol Jihu experienced in the Path of the Soul, the monster couldn’t understand just how different he was.
Experiencing something abnormal, the emotion that arose was rage.
The last bit of pride it had flared up.
—KIIIIIIIIIIII!
A high-frequency wave struck Seol Jihu’s ears. The monster then curled up, its body transforming all of a sudden.
Crack! Crack, crack! Craaaaaaack!
Skin grew on its long arms and legs, and sharp thorns sprouted out on its body. In the next moment, the curled up monster kicked off the ground.
It closed the distance in an instant and swung its left arm. Though the power behind the swing was large enough to cut a continent in half...
Koong!
All Seol Jihu had to do was not get hit by it.
The monster swung its right arm at the hastily moving Seol Jihu, but Seol Jihu jumped up lightly and got behind the monster’s back.
The monster pulled its left arm out and struck while twisting its body back. Unfortunately, it only hit the empty ground. Seol Jihu had already leapt back. The monster felt like it was being toyed with.
Puk! This time, a blunt force struck down before it even twisted its body. Seol Jihu had jumped up a beat faster and struck it with the spear shaft.
The monster’s body swayed. Even then, it managed to swing its arm, this time from left to right.
Seol Jihu lowered his body as soon as he landed on the ground.
Chwek!
A chilling sensation brushed past his neck and back. He straightened his back as soon as the monster’s hand went by, then rushed to the monster’s direction.
A spear blade spraying out golden light pierced the monster’s stomach.
—Keeeeeeu...!
The monster panted hard. The stomach penetrated by the Spear of Purity billowed out...
—Kuaaaaaaa!
Then, a bone suddenly popped out from its tailbone area and wrapped around Seol Jihu. Raising him into the air, the bone threw him back violently.
A fierce explosion echoed out. The ceiling tiles crumbled, and a cloud of dust rose from the broken wall.
—Kiik... Kiiik....
The monster grinned, panting with its mouth wide open. Though the enemy was good at dodging its attacks, now that he was hit directly, he certainly must be...
—Kiik?
The monster shut up. A golden light suddenly flashed from the rising smoke.
Next, a powerful whirlwind rose, dispersing the smoke. Then, a powerful wind stormed out.
Level 9 Divine Spear, Secret Art — Mutilation.
Shwiiiiiiiing!
The monster shrieked at the blades of wind mutilating its body. Pushed back in a state of confusion, it barely grabbed ahold of its body when a drop of blood fell on its forehead.
The monster hurriedly looked up. Seol Jihu, who was bleeding from his forehead, was shooting down from the ceiling.
Psh, psh, psh!
Feeling a sense of danger, the monster shot out hundreds of thorns from its body. What surprised it, however, was that Seol Jihu kept spiraling down while striking away every thorn.
Seeing his flickering body disappearing and then reappearing several times within a single second, the monster was overwhelmed with an inexplicable sense of terror.
The spear in his hand turned the thorns into smithereens. Next, the Spear of Purity cried out, emitting a golden pillar of light.
Sensing the compressed energy inside, the monster clenched its teeth. Concentrating its bones in one spot, it also pulled out a large, pillar-sized bone thorn.
Seol Jihu struck down with reinforced sword qi at the same time as the bone pillar flew like a whip and struck the air.
Kwang! Kwaaaaang!
Bright sparks flared up from the point of impact. The surrounding area rumbled from the aftershock.
—Kuaak, kuaaaaak!
The monster swung the bone pillar madly. Was there ever a time it used its full strength since it was born? The problem was that it was being pushed back even though it was giving its all.
No, it could feel that the enemy’s energy had gotten weaker too.
Kwang!
—Keeeeeuuu...!
Blocking the reinforced sword qi that tried to blow up its face, the monster gritted its teeth. It could feel cracks forming on the hard bone pillar. Still, the enemy’s energy was weakening. If only it could last a little longer...!
Perhaps its wish was granted as the reinforced sword qi that was fiercely pushing it back grew faint.
The monster, holding on while clenching its teeth, cheered. Pushing away the Spear of Purity that lost its light, it swung the bone pillar at the hurriedly fleeing Seol Jihu.
At that moment, the monster could clearly see Seol Jihu sneering coldly and thrusting out his spear as if he was waiting.
Just as it realized it had fallen for his trap...
Level 9 Divine Spear, Class Ability — Nemesis: Punishing Vengeance Spear.
The monster’s jaw dropped. It had no idea what happened just now. All it saw was Seol Jihu thrusting his spear into the air, and its attack seemed to have reversed, returning the damage it dealt until now multifold.
Before the monster could understand and react to this phenomenon, the indescribable attack arrived.
Kwarrrrr!
A deep crater was dug out in the area the monster was standing in, and smoke rose into the air.
Seol Jihu, who landed on the ground, exhaled.
“Hmm?”
Then, he raised his head. A hint of surprise flashed across his eyes.
Soon, a broken bone pillar shot out of the cloud of smoke.
—Kiaaaaaaaaak!
The monster jumped out, screaming. Its body cracked, and the tip of the thorn it spent all its effort to create was splintered, but it had somehow endured the punishing spear and counterattacked.
Seol Jihu snorted.
‘How stupid.’
Though the monster’s physical strength and durability surpassed what Seol Jihu imagined them to be, that was all there was to it. If a tree didn’t go down after one swing of the axe, all he had to do was swing the axe ten times more.
Moreover, Seol Jihu loved fighting enemies that lost their cool from the heat of battle. At times, as much as he did not know the enemy, the enemy did not know themselves.
In such cases, what determined the battle’s outcome was: first, one’s ability, second, compatibility, and third, the experience and reason needed to utilize the first two points.
Seol Jihu did not lose to the monster in any aspect.
Moving behind the monster with Ethereal Shift, Seol Jihu activated Thousand Thunder and attacked like a flash of lightning.
Though the monster managed to notice and look back with its good intuition, Seol Jihu’s spear was already smacking the monster’s face.
The monster tried to push Seol Jihu off with the bone pillar and crush him, but Seol Jihu raised the Spear of Purity. Reinforced sword qi shot out and cut the already half-broken bone pillar in half.
“Little Chick was right.”
Seol Jihu jumped up in an instant and then murmured.
“Your physical abilities are above an Army Commander’s.”
He aimed the Spear of Purity at the sorrowfully crying monster while clutching onto the severed bone pillar.
“But overall, you’re weaker than the Parasite Queen.”
Seol Jihu’s eyes shot open as he poured his energy in. Woooong! Dozens of reinforced sword qi formed around Seol Jihu as well as on the Spear of Purity.
Next, Seol Jihu swung the spear, and the reinforced qi radiating a golden light rained down at the neutralized monster.
—Kuaaaaaaaaaa!
A long shriek echoed out. But even that was buried by the explosions reverberating in the area.
After the dust and the explosions subsided, all that remained inside the deep crater was a monster lying face-down like a frog.
The bone pillar it boasted had shattered into pieces and was hard to make out. Its legs seemed to have crumbled into pieces as they could not be seen. Only tiny remnants remained crackling with electricity.
The word pitiful did not begin to describe its state, though it still seemed alive, judging by the way it twitched.
After the short but fierce battle came silence.
Tap, tap.
The sound of footsteps rang out.
The monster winced and tried its best to move.
Though it raised its shaking head with great difficulty, it was slammed back down to the ground by a foot that came hurling in.
Looking down at the monster with an emotionless face, Seol Jihu plopped down on its back.
“Have you ever heard of the Golden Commandment?”
He asked, pulling up the monster’s chain-like hair.
It, of course, did not answer.
Seol Jihu smirked and pulled the monster’s last remaining arm.
Craaaaaaack!
The dangling arm was torn off with a horrible sound.
The monster’s mouth widened. However, it could not scream. It was because Seol Jihu turned its head forcefully and stuffed his hands into its mouth.
“Since you don’t have eyes, I will use your mouth. That’s okay, right?”
What the monster felt next was excruciating pain from having its teeth shattered, and its mouth ripped open.
—GIHUEEEEEEE!
A hoarse shriek leaked out.
Seol Jihu wasn’t done yet.
—Gihuek...!
A choking sound came out as Seol Jihu tied the monster’s chain-like hair around its neck and pulled it up.
“This is gonna hurt a bit.”
Then, he stuffed his hand into its head. Forcefully drilling holes in its scalp with his fingers, he folded and opened his fingers repeatedly.
—Gik... giheu... gik, giikk...!
Squirm, squirm! Saliva dripped down from the twitching monster’s mouth, almost as if they were tears.
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