Chapter 315 - I Am
Oh Kang-Woo clasped his hands together. He forced together the two energies that were violently rejecting one another.
‘Molting.’
And then, he slightly opened one of the Doors of the Ten Thousand Demon Core. It did not take long for him to feel a response.
Crunch—! Crunch!
“Kargh, hurgh!”
Kang-Woo’s vision flickered along with unimaginable pain. His skin was tearing open along with the chilling sound of breaking bone.
‘Fuuuuuuuuck.’
He writhed in pain that he could never get used to, being put on the threshold of death.
‘Please let me be right.’
He had realized not long ago that the opposing force from combining demonic energy and sacred power felt similar to when he used molting.
“Kurgh, kargh!”
He twisted around. Molting could not be considered a technique; to put it simply, it was a failure that had no positive effects, destructive capabilities, or degree of perfection. The only reason why he used it was because it improved his demonic energy control in exchange for being put on the verge of death. To give a comparison, it was like ingesting a deadly poison to raise one’s poison resistance.
‘But...’
Molting was indeed a failure. To be more precise, it was a technique that he had not been able to perfect.
“Haaa, haaa, haaa,” Kang-Woo panted heavily.
The demonic energy of the Ten Thousand Demon Core surged. He added sacred power to the extremely rampant demonic energy. The amount of sacred power added to his near-infinite demonic energy was like pouring a bucket of water into a gigantic sea. However, its effect had been far above his imagination.
[You have learned ‘Chaos - Burst’, a bottom-rank skill of ‘Chaos’.]
A message window popped up. Kang-Woo smirked.
“Graaaaaahh!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A giant bull charged toward him while shaking the earth. Two horns the size of a building, wrapped in black flames, pointed at Kang-Woo.
“Huuup,” Kang-Woo inhaled.
He imbued the gray energy that he had created by clasping his hands together, on his right fist. The energy that he had never felt before raged within him; it was violent, disordered, and wild, truly befitting the name Chaos.
‘I never thought there’d be energy more insane than demonic energy.’
Kang-Woo smirked. The energy formed by combining sacred power and demonic energy was running wild, trying to separate like water being poured into boiling oil.
‘But still...’
Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes, gleaming with a strange sense of delight.
‘This thing’s really rousing my pride.’
The corners of his mouth went up as he stared at the gray energy on his right hand. He was extremely used to keeping in check energy that would burst as soon as he let up for even a moment. He had done so for ten whole millennia without rest.
Rumble—!
“H-Hyung-nim!”
“Kyaaaah! M-Master Kang-Woo!”
“My king!”
Kang-Woo could hear Kim Si-Hun, Halcyon and Balrog’s shouts.
‘Focus.’ L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.
He ignored them. He took a very deep breath and lowered his stance. He pulled back his right fist imbued with the gray energy. Twisting his body even slightly raised the burden on his body in folds.
‘And here...’
Boom!
Kang-Woo aggressively stomped on the ground and used a technique that could be considered a martial art technique despite him having absolutely no knack for martial arts.
‘Skybreaker.’
He stepped forward with his left foot, twisted his waist, and swung his right fist with all his might.
“Graaaaaaahhh!”
The hundred-meter king of demonic beasts and the king of demons that wasn’t even two meters tall clashed.
━━━━━━━!!
Sound disappeared. The ground collapsed hundreds of meters, and the atmosphere around them burned up so hot that it was bubbling. An overwhelming recoil shot Kang-Woo away like a cannon.
“Kurgh!”
‘Shit!’
Si-Hun bit his lip anxiously. He wanted to create a bridge using Sword Control, but there were no weapons that he could create a bridge with.
Crumble—!
“Kuh!”
“Kang-Woo!” Seol-Ah shouted.
Si-Hun ran out of things to step on, and was pulled down by gravity.
“Shit, shit, shit!” he cursed.
He refused to die so pathetically in a place like this.
“Raaaaaaaahhh!” Si-Hun screamed like a madman.
‘If there are no weapons...’
He just needed to create them. He drew out his Qi to make objects in the form of swords. They had been made in a hurry, so they were poor in both form and power, but that did not matter since what he needed right now were not weapons but footholds for him to step on.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Si-Hun soared in the air while stepping on the swords in the air made with Qi. He looked as if he was running in midair.
Riiing.
[Raising assimilation with Martial God Tian Taihuang from 51.2% to 60.8%!]
[Raising proficiency of Heavenly Dragon Movement Technique!]
[You have learned Void Steps!]
[You have learned the basics of Formless Sword!]
Message windows popped up in front of Si-Hun., but he did not have the leeway to care.
“Hurry!!”
The purple Rift was shrinking more and more; it was now only three meters large. The party members were in front of the Rift, anxiously looking at Si-Hun and Kang-Woo.
“Go on ahead of us!” Si-Hun shouted.
It was stupid to huddle around the Rift when it was getting smaller by the second.
“... I leave the king to you, human,” Balrog remarked as he jumped out of the Rift with his eyes clenched shut.
The others also looked back in anxiety as they went through the Rift.
“Haaa, haaa!” Si-Hun panted heavily.
The Rift was now only two meters large.
‘I can do it.’
1.8 meters...
‘Just a little more.’
1.5 meters...
‘Just a little faster!!’
1.11 meters...
“Kuh!”
Si-Hun threw himself into the tiny Rift. Thump. The Rift closed the moment both he and Kang-Woo went through it.
***
Rumble!
The desolate world with a gray sky and arid land was crumbling.
[The end of the satellite world Shade has begun.]
“Hmm,” a low voice echoed within the collapsing world. “To think he would destroy Behemoth’s horn... Hah, he sure is unfathomable.”
Step, step.
A hunchback wearing a robe akin to a straw mat and holding a cane exuding black light was walking through the collapsing world. As he was leisurely walking on the violently shaking earth, he stopped in his tracks; it was the place where Kang-Woo had coughed blood.
“Oh?” Eyes shone from within the old robe. “Hahaha! Wow, the demon king is impressive, but... so are you, in your own right.”
The being put his hand on the black blood that Kang-Woo had coughed out, and grabbed a black gem made of crystallized demonic energy that had melted down to the size of a fingernail.
- U-Urrgghh.
A groan came out from the back gem.
- I-I am...
“I know very well who you are.” The being snickered in an extremely displeasing way. “It is an honor to see you again, Lord Satan.”