No. 181

“That’s it…” the Garam continued to mutter to itself in wonder. However…

Cheek-!

“It doesn’t matter!” Yoo-seong yelled.

In the meantime, the Lightning Bow had appeared in his hands. He immediately nocked an arrow on the bow and let it loose in an instant.

Lightning flew toward the Garam. The beast turned its body to dodge, as expected. However, it wasn’t him that Auto-Hunt was aiming for.

Huwook-!

The arrow pierced through the rock that rose behind the Garam. Then…

Taaang-!

Yoo-seong quickly ran through the air as the Garam rushed his way.

Spinnenschrift, not Explosive Acceleration.

The thunderbolt that he’d sent flying had a thread connected to its tail, and Yoo-seong began to use the thread as a tightrope.

‘Touch it if you can,’ Yoo-seong thought as he loaded another arrow onto his bow.

It was different from the previous Spider Webs he’d used. The thread connected to the lightning arrows was similar to high-voltage live wires, powered by the Psy of Lightning. Merely touching it would send out an electric shock equivalent to tens of thousands of CE.

Even though it wouldn’t be fatal damage to an entity like the Garam, the shock could at least secure a few moments of delayed movement that Yoo-seong could take advantage of.

Hu-wook-!

Hu-wook-!

Two more lightning arrows flew in different directions. Auto-Hunt had determined that limiting the Garam’s movements through the lightning threads was the best option at the moment.

Then Yoo-seong aimed the Lightning Bow at the Garam once more.

Paaang-!

The Garam twisted slightly and easily avoided the flying thunderbolt. However, it had a calm expression on its face, as if it were studying Yoo-seong.

Then, as Yoo-seong climbed another lightning thread…

Hook-!

The Garam grabbed the thread he was stepping on and began shaking it violently, making Yoo-seong lose his balance. As he stumbled, Yoo-seong looked closely at the Garam’s palm, which was touching the thread.

It was covered with the Psy of Flame, protecting the creature’s skin.

‘This guy… does it have the Psy of Flame, too?’

Yoo-seong quickly leaped off the thread that the Garam was holding. However…

Go-oh-oh-oh-!

The instant he was in mid-air, Aura shot out of the Garam’s other arm and struck him.

“………?!”

Yoo-seong felt a strange yet familiar Psy strike his body.

Surprisingly, the Garam had used two different Psy simultaneously.

One was the Flame Psy it had used to grab the lightning thread. The other was something Yoo-seong had only heard about in legends.

The amount of CE in itself shouldn’t have affected Yoo-seong’s defenses, considering the reinforced Queen’s Hug he was wearing.

However…

It had pierced through his armor as if it were nothing. Blood had burst from Yoo-seong’s mouth as his body felt the shock.

Thud-!

Yoo-seong crashed to the hard ground, feeling helpless.

The Garam calmly spoke as it observed him.

“One is the energy of a reptile that lives in the west; one that eats lava. Perhaps you got the energy from it.”

“H-huh…” Yoo-seong groaned in pain.

“The other is the energy from a tree with a size comparable to a mountain; one I made extinct long ago. Its energy was suitable to erase the energy of the Earth that strengthens your armor.”

Yoo-seong was familiar with the theory of the five elements. He’d learned it to some extent through his experience in China. The Psy of Flame had neutralized his Aura in Lightning form. And, through the Psy of Wood, the reinforced Queen’s Hug from the rock dragon’s scales had been rendered useless.

However, there was something more shocking to Yoo-seong than the reappearance of what had previously been thought of as an extinct Psy. It was how his opponent had various Psy at his command.

“The ability to reap energy was not yours from the beginning,” the Garam began. “To put it in words you can understand, I was the first hunter in all of history. I destroyed and reaped countless creatures before I made your kind, and even after I was exiled to this place…”

As it continued, the Garam stretched out its hand. It was the same action Yoo-seong made to call out lightning.

The Garam’s fingertips shone briefly, and then…

Tuduk-!

Yoo-seong almost lost consciousness from the shock that struck him. As his blurred vision slowly recovered, Yoo-seong noticed several items on the ground around him.

The Sky Needle and the Sky Scissors.

Items that had been in his Slot. And it wasn’t only that…

Aura in the form of vapor was being pulled out of his body. The vapor settled on the floor as if it had weight, and soon, it began to take certain shapes.

One resembled a pair of handcuffs with chains several times longer than usual.

The other looked like a densely packed leather duffel bag, as large as a human body.

Letters similar to faded hieroglyphics were etched on its surface.

As soon as the items appeared on the ground, two features disappeared from the Auto-Hunt screen in Yoo-seong’s vision.

The Slot and the Combination buttons were gone.

“These things… they are not yours,” the Garam’s deep voice rang out.

At the same time…

Tsutsutsutsu-!

The handcuffs and the duffel bag, along with the Scissors and Needle, slowly began to vaporize.

‘Did the Garam absorb them?’

Yoo-seong didn’t have much time to consider as Auto-Hunt launched another offensive… Booung-!

A thunderbolt thrown like a javelin.

After that, with Explosive Acceleration, Yoo-seong stepped on it.

The Garam did not avoid it. Rather, it swung its arms around, creating a ball of flame to stop the incoming thunderbolt.

As enormous pressure rose from the impact, Auto-Hunt swung a wrist blade filled with the Flame Psy. However, the Garam seemed to have been waiting for it.

Googuk-!

With its hands stained pale blue, the Garam caught the flaming wrist blade.

The Aura on the Garam’s hands was the same as the Aura from the Habaek and from Lee Jae-hak: the Water Psy.

A tremendous amount of steam rose where the heat and the cold met. Intense pressure erupted at two points. Despite being in a situation where the slightest change could lead to defeat, the Garam calmly opened its mouth.

“Didn’t I say that I knew you?”

“……”

“The things you have are masterpieces from the peak of the Garams’ civilization. Everything you have was mine.”

Yoo-seong did not respond.

Instead, he pulled out the wrist blade and threw a right kick. However, the Garam easily blocked his sneak attack.

It was a fierce battle between the best offense and the best defense.

“But at the end of that humiliating war… a servant I had made with my own hands, whom I once thought to be the best achievement of my life, stole them from me.”

Meanwhile, the four objects that had completely turned into vapor seeped into the Garam’s skin.

“Your movements resemble his…” the Garam said in a heavy voice.

Then…

Kugugugu-!

Yoo-seong’s legs dug into the ground with the immense pressure he was feeling from the Garam.

The situation had turned for the worse for Yoo-seong as the Garam had taken the initiative from him.

Around them, the ground was shaking, and cracks were beginning to appear, spreading beyond their battlefield.

“Are you his reincarnation… or did his power find a way to wander around the world looking for a suitable vessel? I don’t know how, but you seem to have inherited the abilities I gave him…”

Craaack-!

The sound of breaking came from the Queen’s Hug. Yoo-seong clenched his teeth as the pressure he felt continued to increase.

“That slave… nothing more than an experiment to see if your kind could exist with talents similar to mine…”

“No matter…. how much… you talk about it…” Yoo-seong’s words escaped his gritted teeth. “The past… it doesn’t change!” he yelled.

“…….”

There was no expression on the Garam’s face, except that it looked somehow regretful.

Just then…

Huwook-!

The Garam’s hand grabbed Yoo-seong’s right arm. The armor that covered the top of Yoo-seong’s arm split as easily as brittle bamboo. Some of it pierced Yoo-seong’s flesh.

“Aaargh!” Yoo-seong screamed.

The bones and muscles on his arm were twisted. The Garam pulled back, releasing Yoo-seong’s arm. Then, filled with Aura, it came back, striking Yoo-seong square in the chest.

Kuuung-!

The impact was so powerful that it seemed the whole world shook.

This time, Yoo-seong was not thrown back. Rather, he collapsed helplessly at the Garam’s feet.

Now, in his defenseless state, the Garam could hit him as much as possible, and the creature took advantage of it.

Kuwoong-!

Kuwoong-!!

Kuwoong-!!!

After several earth-shattering blows, there was a deep pit under the Garam’s feet, with Yoo-seong beaten to a pulp.

The Garam turned around to look at the battlefield where the goblins had been slaughtered.

“……….”

It felt the furious heartbeat in its chest.

Even before it faced Yoo-seong, its heart had already been beating fiercely. The Garam had thought it had forgotten the hatred it felt, but it seemed that it had survived.

“Now… if I could decorate my end with your misfortune, that would be a proper ending, too.”

Go-oh-oh-!

A blue Aura appeared on the Garam’s hands.

It was the ability of the Sky Scissors that it had absorbed earlier. With a swing of its arms, it would now be able to cross over to the human world and bring hell.

The Garam would bring its slaves back to their rightful place.

Just then…

The Garam turned its body halfway and looked back. Yoo-seong had climbed out of the pit and stood limply behind him.

“You’re… strong,” Yoo-seong mumbled.

The Queen’s Hug had been smashed off by the Garam’s fists.

“But… let’s try again.” Yoo-seong raised his hands. He was standing by pure will, not with Auto Hunting’s help. However, he couldn’t even raise his left hand properly.

“Damn…”

Yoo-seong grabbed his left wrist as if fiddling with its broken bones.

But far from reviving it…

“Eh, uh, uh!”

Crack-!

It sounded as if he had broken it some more. Yoo-seong’s left hand drooped like a withered branch. “Pathetic,” the Garam remarked. “I know… you are now without the slave’s protection.”

Instead of answering, Yoo-seong gathered blood sputum from his throat and spat at the Garam as hard as he could.

“Come on, fuck you!” he yelled desperately.

As he did, Yoo-seong considered his situation.

‘Without my left hand…’

‘Without Auto-Hunt…’

‘I have to defeat that monster.’

‘Can I do it?’

‘No…’

‘I must do it.’

If he turned Auto-Hunt on right now, it would no doubt allow him to escape the danger.

If so…

‘I just have to do my best.’

Taaang-!

With Explosive Acceleration, Yoo-seong flew forward with his right arm pulled back, aiming at the center of the Garam’s chest.

As expected, the Garam easily blocked it, but Yoo-seong’s right knee was already flying in.

The Garam turned to the side to avoid it.

This time, Yoo-seong pulled out his wrist blade once more and swung it. At the same time, he threw Spider Webs over the tip of his toes toward the Garam.

Even though he knew the Garam could cut off the Spider Webs, he was hoping to at least distract it.

The result wasn’t really that bad.

Yoo-seong’s attacks missed the Garam, but at the same time, the Garam didn’t have a chance to counter-attack.

Without the assistance of Auto Hunt, Yoo-seong continued his offensive. His movements were the result of his endless concentration, analysis, and training.

His attacks were not far behind Auto-Hunt’s movements.

No, considering that he was fighting without his left arm, perhaps his performance was already at an equal level with Auto Hunt.

The Garam couldn’t hide its surprise. It was as if that slave had successfully passed over his movements to Yoo-seong.

“Ah ah ah ah ah!”

Once again, Yoo-seong’s right arm, infused with Explosive Acceleration, almost caught the Garam’s chest.

Unfortunately, it was the only way he could inflict fatal damage at this point.

His attacks were bound to be monotonous. At the same time, Psy continued to punish Yoo-seong.

Scorching, freezing, electric shocks.

Soon, Yoo-seong’s body had reached such a point of destruction that no one would be able to recognize him anymore.

The Garam’s moment of victory had come. As Yoo-seong’s right arm drew another hook, the Garam easily leaned to dodge it.

Now, Yoo-seong’s left side was exposed. However, something shone on Yoo-seong’s left wrist.

Aura.

“I was waiting,” Yoo-seong said as the Garam exposed itself to his left wrist.

However, the Garam smirked at him.

“You wasted too much time waiting.”

Yoo-seong swung his broken left arm.

It was too obvious and slow an attack to be considered a surprise.

The Garam easily struck his limp left wrist to stop the weak attack, severing the wrist and sending it flying off.

That was the end.

Hoo-wook-!

“……….”

“……….”

Both monsters froze as if time had stopped. Everything went silent.

“Fuck it,” Yoo-seong said.

“……….”

The Garam’s wide-open eyes looked down on Yoo-seong, then toward its own body. Its own abdomen.

As it struck off Yoo-seong’s wrist, it had exposed the bone on Yoo-seong’s left arm.

The sharp bone that was now embedded in the Garam’s unguarded abdomen.

Through the absorption tattoo, the entity’s CE was being sucked out in real-time.

Inside the creature’s core, the bones of Yoo-seong’s arm had a sharp tip as if they had been cut at an angle.

Right after crawling out of the pit, just before he rushed toward the Garam…

As he’d fiddled with his broken arm, Yoo-seong had created a bone blade.

The limp wrist attached to his arm had acted as nothing more than a lid.

And when the Garam had struck the lid off…

The blade had reached its destination.

“……….”

The Garam couldn’t turn its head or even speak.

It was the end of it. All its power, its experience, and achievements…

They were being sucked out of him and into Yoo-seong’s core.

“It’s over. You damn child,” Yoo-seong whispered.

The pain in his arm was excruciating. However, he had a satisfied smile on his bloody face.

This wasn’t just about absorbing the Garam and all the tools and Psy it had accumulated.

The reason behind Yoo-seong’s smile was that last attack he’d made.

It was a blow that had transcended Auto Hunt.