Chapter 415

‘Damn it.’

After landing a single punch, Myeong-hu couldn’t help but frown.

“Huh.”

Swish

Ekalim had moved his greatsword to block the punch’s path with a short exclamation.

CRASH!

The punch slammed into the greatsword, sending Ekalim reeling backward.

“Incredible destructive power. That almost got me.”

Ecalim, pushed back, muttered with a look of excitement. Myeonghu listened to Ecalim’s muttering and thought.

‘Damn it. I never expected it to be halved.’

It wasn’t even a basic attack—it was One Punch. The fact that One Punch, which had a cooldown and couldn’t be used continuously, was blocked by a damage reduction stung like hell.

‘I should have expected him to block it.’

Young Ekalim had blocked attacks before. There was no reason the stronger Ekalim couldn’t block this. He should have acted assuming it would be blocked.

‘…It’s already too late.’

But the One Punch had already been used. And Myeong-hu didn’t just have the One Punch.

‘Just land the finishing move properly.’

A finishing move twice as powerful as the One Punch. Just land the finishing move properly. Having made up his mind, Myeong-hu immediately charged at Ekalim.

‘But how much health does he have?’

As he unleashed a flurry of punches on Ekalim, Myeong-hu pondered. The boy Ekalim had blocked the One Punch with his sword, halving the damage, but over 90% of his health had vanished. Yet this Ekalim didn’t even display a health bar. Myeong-hu couldn’t fathom how much health he had left.

‘He’ll die eventually, right?’

He had no idea when that would be. But if he kept attacking, he would eventually fall. Myeong-hu dismissed the thought and focused on his assault.

Thud! Thud!

Meanwhile, Ekalim had only been blocking Myeonghu’s attacks since the initial strike.

“Hmm, that’s strange.”

Blocking Myeong-hu’s fists with his sword, Ekalim tilted his head. His expression was filled with puzzlement.

‘What does that mean?’

Seeing Ekalim’s words and expression, Myeonghu frowned. What exactly was strange?

“It’s not that your attack is weak now…”

Ekalim trailed off, parrying Myeonghu’s fist with his sword before stepping back.

“It’s a far cry from that first attack.”

Ekalim’s expression turned cold as he finished speaking. At that instant, a crimson orb appeared around his body, and simultaneously, a message appeared.

[Ekalim enters Stage 1 Awakening.]

[Ecalim’s all speeds increase by 30%.]

‘…His speed increases even more?’

Ekalim was already fast. But to become 30% faster? Myeonghu bit his lip tightly and looked at Ekalim.

“I don’t know why you’re testing my patience, but…”

Ekalim, who had been wearing a cold expression under Myeonghu’s gaze, opened his mouth and spoke.

“Give it your all.”

Swish

The moment the words ended, Ekalim vanished again.

“Blood Pool.”

The moment Ekalim vanished, Myeonghu swiftly cast Blood Pool. He knew Ekalim would reappear nearby, and this spell would at least slightly slow the now-accelerated Ekalim. After casting Blood Pool, Myeonghu scanned his surroundings.

Swoosh

And before long, the vanished Ekalim reappeared. Just as Myeonghu had anticipated, Ekalim materialized behind Myeonghu’s back.

Whoosh!

The revealed Ekalim immediately swung his sword. Hearing the sound of the greatsword ringing in his ears, Myeonghu turned around.

‘…!’

Turning around, Myeong-hu saw the greatsword approaching right before his eyes and quickly raised both arms to block it.

CRASH!

The greatsword exploded with a deafening roar.

‘4.5 million…’

Hearing the roar, Myeong-hu checked his health. He could see that 4.5 million health points had vanished.

‘Seems it deals over 4 million at least.’

First, 4 million life points vanished from Ekalim’s accelerated attack, and now 4.5 million life points were gone. Having roughly confirmed the damage output of the accelerated attack, Myeonghu opened his mouth and shouted.

“Blood Explosion!”

“Gah!”

As Blood Explosion was unleashed, Ekalim grimaced and let out a short scream. Hearing Ekalim’s expression and scream, Myeong-hu thought.

‘So instant skills can’t be blocked.’

Judging by Ekalim’s reaction, it seemed he couldn’t block instant skills like Blood Explosion.

‘Then what about this?’

Still thinking, Myeong-hu shouted next.

“Blood Wave.”

Whoosh

As he used Blood Wave, a shockwave spread out from Myeonghu’s body. The wave flew toward Ekalim at tremendous speed.

“Hmph!”

Ekalim let out a short battle cry as he saw the wave hurtling toward him. Then, the spreading wave shattered, revealing a message.

[Blood Wave has been destroyed.]

‘…So this is how it blocks things.’

Though different from a blood explosion, it was still an instant skill, and Myeonghu, who had been wondering what would happen, finished his thoughts upon seeing the vanished wave and message, then threw a punch.

Thud!

As Myeong-hu threw his fist, Ekalim raised his sword to block it, just as he always had. Then, using that force, he stepped back.

“You have an interesting ability.”

Ekalim, having stepped back, wiped the coldness from his expression and spoke with a smile.

Swish

And in that instant, another crimson orb materialized around Ekalim’s body. It was identical to the orb summoned earlier, and its appearance signified only one thing.

[Ekalim enters Stage 2 Awakening.]

[Ekalim’s total defense increases by 20%.]

Awakening.

“…Well, that’s a relief.”

After confirming the effects of the second-stage awakening, Myeonghu felt a sense of relief.

‘It’ll take a bit longer, but this is better.’

Of course, increased defense wasn’t exactly a favorable situation. But it was better than gaining speed or higher attack power. Having made up his mind, Myeong-hu opened his mouth.

“Shadow Shift.”

Shadow Shift, moving over the target’s shadow. He had never used it even once until now. That meant Ekalim was unaware of Shadow Shift, making the attack highly likely to succeed.

Swish

Moving behind Ekalim via Shadow Step, Myeonghu thrust his fist toward Ekalim’s back.

“Behind you!”

As Myeonghu vanished, Ekalim flinched, but quickly spun around at the sensation of Myeonghu’s presence behind him. However, Myeonghu’s fist had already closed in to within inches of Ekalim’s face. Realizing he couldn’t block it, Ekalim braced for the impact.

Thud!

“Gah!”

Myeong-hu’s fist struck, and a short cry burst from Ekalim’s mouth. Watching Ekalim stagger back slightly with the cry, Myeong-hu thought.

‘Should I have used my special move…’

He hadn’t expected the attack to land so cleanly. Had he known, he would have used his special move instead of a normal attack.

‘No, if I had used a special move, it would have been too late.’

But the thought that followed soon soothed Myeong-hu’s regret. Unlike a normal attack, which only required extending his fist, a special move required casting time. Had he cast it, Ekalim would surely have blocked it. Soothing his regret, Myeong-hu began attacking Ekalim in rapid succession.

Thud! Thud!

“Guh! Guh!”

Had something gone wrong with the first attack? Strangely, Ekalim couldn’t dodge Myeong-hu’s subsequent punches.

‘What the hell? All of a sudden?’

Minghu’s fists kept pounding into Ekhalim. As this situation persisted, it was Minghu, the attacker, who grew flustered.

‘Why isn’t he dodging?’

After landing the first successful strike and launching a follow-up attack to satisfy his frustration, Myeonghu expected Ekalim to block or dodge with his sword. But Ekalim wasn’t even attempting to dodge, let alone block, and kept taking the hits.

Thud! Thud!

“Guh! Ugh!”

Meanwhile, Ekalim, screaming in agony under Myeonghu’s relentless barrage, thought to himself.

‘I have to dodge. Or at least block…’

He couldn’t keep letting these attacks land. Even if he couldn’t dodge, he had to block. Ekalim knew this well too.

Thud!

“Guh!”

But the absurd pain felt with each punch, the mind turning completely white, the body stiffening in agony—it wouldn’t let him.

‘What kind of human is this…’

Ekalim himself was a human who could hardly be called human. Yet the Minghu he felt now was a human even more absurd than himself.

Of course, he hadn’t thought this from the start. At first, he’d merely considered Myeonghu a slightly stronger human. But after taking the blows directly, that notion vanished completely.

‘If this keeps up, I’ll die.’

He had to find a way. He couldn’t just keep taking hits like this. If this continued, he would surely meet his end. Whether he knew of Ekalim’s thoughts or not, Myeonghu continued throwing punches while thinking.

‘Should I use my finishing move?’

His attacks kept landing. Right now, it somehow felt like he could use his ultimate move.

‘No.’

But that thought lasted only a moment. The next thought that followed made Myeong-hu shake his head briefly.

‘I can take him down without it. No need to introduce variables.’

There was no real need to use the finishing move in this situation. Using it would only speed things up, but he could still defeat Ekalim without it.

‘Trying to end it quickly could backfire.’

Trying to use his ultimate move could change the situation, allowing Ekalim to dodge or block, leading to an unfavorable outcome.

‘Let’s proceed as is.’

After thinking it through, Myeong-hu decided to just maintain the current situation.

Thud!

“Kraaah!”

Then, a moment later, a scream unlike any before erupted from Ekalim’s mouth. Hearing the scream, Myeonghu sensed change approaching.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh

An immense number of red orbs began to materialize around Ekalim’s body. Watching the countless red orbs appear, Myeonghu recalled the boy Ekalim he had first met. The boy Ekalim had also clearly summoned an endless number of red orbs.

‘His vitality was less than 10%.’

And at that time, young Ekalim’s condition had been one of extremely low vitality.

[Ekalim’s health has fallen below 10%.]

[Ekalim enters Hyper-Awakening state.]

[Ekalim’s attack power increases 3x.]

[Ekalim’s defense increases by 3x.]

.

.

‘As expected.’

In his Hyper-Awakened state, Ekalim’s attack power, defense, and other stats had skyrocketed. Yet, Minghu couldn’t help but smile.

‘Less than 10% left.’

The reason Myeong-hu smiled was precisely because of Ekalim’s remaining vitality.

‘He’ll be dead soon.’

His health was below 10%. Even if the buff reduced the damage he could take, it wouldn’t take long to eliminate what little health remained.

Thud! Thud!

“Guhk, guh!”

Ekalim’s state had changed, but the situation remained the same. Myeonghu’s fists continued to rain down on Ekalim, who screamed in agony.

Shortly thereafter.

“Kyaaaah!”

Ekalim screamed even louder than when he entered his hyper-awakened state. The moment Myeonghu heard that scream, he knew the moment he had been waiting for had arrived. And Myeonghu’s hunch proved spot on.

[You have defeated Ekalim that day.]

[The pillar of curses begins to shatter.]

============================ Postscript ============================

It’s been a while since I posted.

My leg is almost fully healed now.

My neck is still sore, but it’s improved enough that I can move it a little.

I expect to be fully recovered within this week,

and I should be able to resume regular updates starting next week.

Wishing you a good day.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.

I hope you have a happy Christmas Eve.