Chapter 527: Intense (2)

Chapter 527: Intense (2)

For a brief moment there, Vator failed to comprehend the spectacle unfolding before his eyes.

'What am I seeing here?'

How was he supposed to interpret this situation?

Kang Jin-Ho was like a real devil brought to life while enveloped in the thick demonic qi so dark that merely looking at it could almost suck out a person's soul like a black hole! Even Vator, a man who didn't feel fear once in his life, shuddered a little at this sight.

That was when Vator's head lowered reflexively, his gaze zeroing on the ground. Doing something like this while facing a deadly enemy was basically begging for someone to behead him, but Vator didn't care about leaving an opening. Something else had already stolen his attention by then. And that something was a footprint.

Vator saw a clear footprint right in front of where he was standing. And it was too large to be created by an average-sized man. And in this abandoned location, only Vator was large enough to leave behind a footprint of that size.

That could mean only one thing!

'...Did I actually step back?'

Shock quickly dyed Vator's expression. Kang Jin-Ho's appearance was already plenty shocking enough, but Vator was even more shocked by how he had unconsciously retreated from the enemy.

Even when he confronted the Crimson King, Vator never backed away. However, he had done just that against Kang Jin-Ho!

“You...!”

Seething rage rushed up to Vator's head. The fury he had never felt before boiled from the pit of his stomach, the burning heat even reaching the crown of his skull. However, something else happened at the same time and sent a deathly chill down his spine. His brain had recalled the Crimson King's advice!

“Underestimate him at your peril.”

Vator suddenly gained an understanding of what those words meant.

'So... This is a true demonic cultivator, then?'

The sight unfolding before Vator's eyes was far too outlandish to say it belonged to this world. Something that should only exist in fairy tales had become a part of reality!

Martial artists generally possessed a much higher level of tolerance than regular people, and that was also true for Vator. However, even he was left swimming in disbelief by Kang Jin-Ho's sinister and terrifying appearance.

“Fuu-woo...”

Vator's hearing caught the low but audibly heavier sigh coming from the figure of the devil. But why was it heavier? Because rousing up & controlling that much demonic qi was too difficult? That couldn't be it...!

Kang Jin-Ho's rough, heavy breathing should be the result of his trying to restrain himself. Indeed, he must be unconsciously gasping while forcibly suppressing the urge to pounce on Vator right away!

Vator began shuddering. Once shock and fear ebbed away, excitement began ruling over him next. An opponent with powers he had never fought before! Here was an opponent that awakened the feeling of fear in Vator, an emotion that not even the confrontation against the Crimson King could rouse in his heart!

Such an opponent now stood before his eyes.

'It is... spectacular!'

Vator stared enraptured at Kang Jin-Ho. The demonic qi enveloping Kang Jin-Ho's figure was like thick, heavy tar. The density alone made Vator suck in a deep breath.

The surface of this demonic qi, thick yet surprisingly viscous and existing in a state somewhere between gas and liquid, rumbled and billowed like living flames.

“Hah. Hahaha...!” Vator shuddered as uncontrollable laughter burst out of his mouth. “I see. So, everything we knew turned out to be wrong!”

Kang Jin-Ho's glowing red eyes narrowed. “...?”

“The true demonic arts...! Yes, you are the true demonic cultivator.” Vator animatedly nodded away. “Now I understand why we have legendary tales about demonic cultivators. I have to say, no one would've imagined seeing this kind of sight from the worthless trash of demonic cultivators left in the modern era. Yes, this is why... Why people started calling the demonic cultivators demons. Even I'm shaking a little while looking at you.”

However, Vator managed to block the strike with his bare body. And that strike contained power incomparably greater than when Kang Jin-Ho was single-handedly destroying the Yeongnam Group!

How was Lee Hyeon-Su supposed to accept the situation where a human body made out of flesh and blood blocked a sword strike capable of cleanly slicing through steel?

'This... isn't a battle between humans!'

Lee Hyeon-Su's common sense, shaped over the years of watching South Korea's best martial artists fighting each other, couldn't comprehend this scene. If one exchange of moves was enough to shock him this much... Just how many more shocking things did he need to witness before this duel produced its victor?

“Fuu-woo...” Kang Jin-Ho let out a harsh-sounding groan. “You're built rather tough.”

“Ke-hehehe! Obviously!”

Bang! Boom!

Vator pounded his chest like a gorilla. “The path of cultivation is all about training oneself. And oneself obviously refers to one's physical body! Behold, Kang Jin-Ho! Divinity permeates this body. My god walks with me!”

Kang Jin-Ho didn't retort. More correctly, he couldn't. After all, his body was currently heated up like a boiling furnace, almost ready to burst at the seams.

Demonic qi, roused to its absolute limit, circulated throughout Kang Jin-Ho's meridians. And demonic qi reaching his baihui point agitated Kang Jin-Ho's consciousness, too.

It was now telling him to kill. To kill his opponent! To kill, to maim, to destroy, and to obliterate everything his eyes could see! This voice was screaming at him to leave nothing alive. And Kang Jin-Ho didn't particularly feel like rejecting that demand right now.

“A physique blessed by a god, is it...?” Kang Jin-Ho began to slowly walk toward Vator's position. “Cutting that apart should feel... quite special, then.”

“Kekeke! You can certainly give it your best shot!” Vator replied fiercely, his eyes bloodshot.

Even he had almost surrendered himself to an extreme level of agitation and excitement by now. As soon as his mind perceived the presence of a worthy opponent, his body instinctively began tempering itself. It was egging Vator on to exert even more strength. To become even more powerful, so that he could utterly trample and crush that pitch-black thing!

“I should thank the Crimson King later on,” Vator muttered loudly. Well, that man was generous enough to dispatch Vator to this place, didn't he!

Obviously, Kang Jin-Ho wasn't the only powerful expert in this world. As proof, Vator still hadn't forgotten the taste of bitter defeat at the hands of the Crimson King.

However, the yardstick of pure strength alone wasn't enough to describe Kang Jin-Ho. Look at his terrifying killing intent! His horrifying hostility!

The whirlpool of malice that must be the amalgamation of every darkness existing in the world swirled around Kang Jin-Ho to stimulate and excite Vator to an unbelievable degree.

If pure evil had a material form, it must look like Kang Jin-Ho's demonic qi!

Griiiiit!

Vator loudly gritted his teeth. “I shall rip you apart!”

“If you can, that is,” Kang Jin-Ho casually replied.

“Kuwa-hahahaha! Here I come!” Vator roared, then viciously kicked the ground.

BOOOOOM!

The sprint of a body supposedly blessed by a deity was simply extraordinary. When Vator's foot stomped on the ground, a deep crater caved in on the spot as if a massive sledgehammer had slammed into a layer of clay.

Vator utilized that explosive power to charge toward Kang Jin-Ho like a bullet. That scarcely believable speed, something that a giant like Vator shouldn't be able to produce! That was a truly terrifying demonstration of extraordinary power capable of silencing anyone fortunate enough to witness it! However, the one welcoming that attack was also no mere common-or-garden martial artist.

Instead of getting scared by that overwhelming power, Kang Jin-Ho's expression distorted into enjoyment as he charged toward Vator, his entire body still burning in the pitch-black demonic qi.

“Kang! Jin! Hoooooo!”

Vator pulled his fist back before powerfully punching at the incoming Kang Jin-Ho.

Kang Jin-Ho also swung the blades of the Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne dyed in darkness.

Two experts capable of shaking up the world had begun a life-or-death battle in a remote nameless mountain.