This bastard's body is still in its prime, but most of the experience and memories he'd built up have been blown away.
I'm the opposite. I still have all my accumulated experience and memories, but my body has grown weak.
"If that's the case…"
I swallowed my dry saliva and muttered. Then this might be doable.
If things go well, there might be a way out—maybe even a path to survival. As expected, there was a reason that hooded guy managed to capture a monster like this and successfully slap a collar on him.
Thus, a once-in-an-era matchup was born: strength versus technique.
To beat him, I'd have to drag out every scrap of experience and know-how I'd piled up over the years.
He, on the other hand, would have to crush my technique with brute force.
"This is practically a bullfight."
Or maybe it's like a freshly licensed newbie driving a Porsche 918 Spyder versus a Formula One champion driving a Morning, racing head-to-head.
Either way, I started using everything I had at my disposal.
Like a clothing store having a clearance sale, I was pulling out every tool I owned. Otherwise, there was no way I could withstand that idiotic level of power.
"Grah!"
I absorbed as much of the impact as I could and went flying, only stopping after smashing through about five sliding doors.
"Are you planning to destroy your own house?"
Sleeping in the cold at your age would leave your face twisted—but I guess it doesn't matter if you're a corpse. I brought my hand to my shoulder and forced strength into it. With a crack, the dislocated bone snapped back into place.
I'd done my best to disperse the force, but sometimes this just happens—when your opponent is that strong.
"It's fine. It's fine."
I muttered to myself as I stared at him. The paradoxical demonic flames tangled with his grudge burned fiercely. Normally, if they grew beyond my control, things would get serious.
But this was inside an erosion zone.
In the end, time was on my side again.
"I'll endure."
Even if it means having my bones shattered today. I'll hold out until every last shred of that bastard's grudge burns away.
"How troublesome!"
Once again, he charged at me with his sword raised overhead, brimming with brutish momentum. The pitch-black grudge surging from his body was enough to blot out the sky.
It was an attack packed with pure irritation, and it didn't hit me directly.
"Khahk!"
Still, to completely escape the shockwave, I'd need at least a hundred meters of distance. As if that were possible. In the end, part of the shockwave spreading from the descending blade slammed into me, and I spat blood.
With a thunderous roar, the building shook violently, and then, with a groaning sound, my vision tilted.
"Crazy… bastard."
I wiped my mouth and launched myself into the air. The fortress, having taken the impact head-on, was on the verge of collapsing.
"Begone! This is land of my family, and I am its rightful master! I have no need for those who do not serve me on this land, nor for those who are not welcome!"
Unable to land a decisive blow despite his overwhelming power, he seemed to have completely lost his temper. The black grudge pouring from his body grew thicker and thicker.
"He still has that much strength left?"
It really looked like he might split the entire castle in half. Now he wasn't even swinging his sword directly. When he slashed through the air, grudge in the form of black mist flew at me as a shrieking, crescent-shaped blade.
Even after slicing straight through the walls of the building, those slashes kept flying for a long while before finally dispersing.
"Ah… at this rate, I might really die."
As the crisis deepened, my mind grew colder, like it had been plunged into icy water. Danger that could send me into eternal sleep with a single mistake came relentlessly.
And I clawed desperately for a way out. This was still within what I could handle. This much was nothing.
"Burn. Leave nothing behind."
The grudge he'd scattered in all directions made my spine tingle—but this was actually good. The paradoxical demonic flames blooming once more at the tip of my spear used the grudge in the air as a fuse, spreading in every direction.
And as those flames devoured the grudge, they spread onto his body as well.
Black mist and black flame—smoke and fire so thoroughly intertwined that it was impossible to tell them apart—writhed like two dragons, rampaging across the heavens like Team Rocket.
"What—no, shouldn't it be getting weaker by now…!"
The black, crescent-shaped slash that came flying again was engulfed in the paradoxical demonic flames, but its power didn't seem to diminish much. I raised my mana-reinforced spear and dodged the incoming slashes as best I could.
"…"
But I couldn't dodge this one.
Gritting my teeth, I desperately moved my spear to block the slash while trying to lessen its force.
With a grinding kagagak sound, the mana-reinforced spear and the slash clashed. I could see the shaft slowly being cut through.
It's going to break.
The spear wouldn't hold. It would be sliced in half, and the aftermath of the slash would crash into me.
One. Two. Now.
At the moment it split, I shoved my shoulder guard into the slash and poured mana into it.
With a dull thud, the slash shattered the gifted shoulder guard—and my shoulder with it. My arm went limp from the destroyed shoulder.
"Again?"
There was no time to hesitate in pain. Fighting through the dizziness, I dodged another incoming slash. I wanted to burn away the pain—but if I did, all the paradoxical demonic flames burning right now would go out.
I had to endure it.
I discarded the broken spear shaft and gripped the remaining half, the part with the blade, in my good hand.
"Kgh…"
Just as he tried to attack again, his body wavered.
Yeah—right now, this entire massive castle was burning in paradoxical demonic flames. No matter how good his specs were, something was bound to go wrong by now.
"Looks like you're getting tired."
Even after that first stumble, I had to endure for another ten long minutes. My body was covered in countless wounds, and crimson blood streamed from them.
The castle had completely collapsed, leaving only rubble behind. And with the ruined fortress at our backs, I continued the fight with the core that guarded this erosion zone.
"To think this is all that's left after burning… it's honestly absurd."
The paradoxical demonic flames went out. Everything had burned away. All that remained of him now were the scraps left behind after those flames had finished consuming his grudge. Even so, that residue alone was on par with about four headless samurai I'd fought outside.
Just scraps—and still this strong!
"Monstrous bastard."
That's a compliment. It's rare for the words monstrous bastard to come out of my mouth.
"So that was the end of your twisted scheme?"
"Twisted? Coming from the mouth of a walking corpse?"
That's like a domestic abuser lecturing a common thug.
He raised his sword and approached me. I lifted my half-broken spear in one hand and braced myself.
"You think you can win in that state? You're barely holding together!"
He shouted and charged. His sword swung down—
—and my foot slammed onto it.
The blade stabbed into the ground, and his body staggered. In that opening, the broken spear plunged into the back of his skull.
"Totally doable, you bastard. Goodbye."
In the end, the so-called specs of a walking corpse—what people call an undead—are determined by the size of the grudge it carries. The fact that the burned-out remnants of his grudge were still that powerful was undeniably impressive.
Impressive is impressive, but still…
A guy who'd lost most of his memories and couldn't even fight properly anymore—and now he didn't even have that ridiculous level of power. If I lost to that, that would've been strange.
"I… even after becoming like this, what I longed for was—"
"Don't care. Stop dragging it out pathetically and disappear."
He probably had something he wanted to say. I don't have a hobby of listening to the last words or tragic backstories of someone about to die.
I twisted the spear lodged in his skull once, hard, then pulled it out. That was it—he couldn't speak anymore, and he died.
"Wow… this sword."
I checked the scabbard and blade the fallen corpse had been wearing. Even after I'd stomped on it, it was perfectly fine. Not bent, not chipped—the edge was still razor-sharp.
"Most swords would bend if you put that much force on them."
This must be what people call a famed blade. Not one that talks, obviously. There was a line of poetry engraved on the blade.
This charcoal, too, must once have been a branch crowned with white snow.
A haiku, I think. That's the poetic form used in Japan.
"Looks like it was engraved later…"
Judging by how fresh the inscription looked, it didn't seem like it had been there originally. Did he pick up a Japanese poetry collection somewhere and get inspired?
I stared at the engraved characters for a moment, then slid the blade back into its scabbard. At that moment, a heavy thud echoed out.
"Oh, a chest."
Since I beat him solo, I guess only one reward drops, right? With a bit of anticipation, I opened the large chest that had fallen in front of me.
"Yeah, figures. Take one thing, give another."
Inside was a spear—or rather, something better described as a partisan. The blade was blue, about forty-five centimeters long.
Including the shaft, the total length was probably around 230 centimeters.
I narrowed my eyes as I examined the weapon, then let out a laugh in disbelief.
"Wow. This thing."
Leaving my broken arm alone, I grabbed the spear with my other hand. When I poured mana into it, the shaft's length and weight changed. When I shortened it as much as possible, it shrank to the point where it was closer to a sword hilt than a spear shaft.
"Let's see."
When I extended it to the limit, the total length instantly stretched to around seven meters.
"Now that is a real function."
Way better than weapons stuffed with all sorts of useless gimmicks. Spears have the advantage of one-sided offense as long as you keep your distance—but the moment you let your opponent close in, things get messy.
Sure, getting hit with the shaft hurts, but it's nothing compared to getting hit with the blade.
No matter how good a weapon is, as long as it's categorized as a spear, that weakness is unavoidable.
But a spear whose shaft length can change freely means you'll never fail to maintain distance.
In other words, this spear erases the inherent flaw all spears are born with. If a weapon were a person, it'd be like gifting a bald man a thick, luscious head of hair.
After fiddling with the spear for a bit, I suddenly felt dizzy and let out a sigh.
"Ah… this is blackout territory."
I know what it feels like right before passing out. As my vision blurred, the last thing I confirmed was that—thankfully—my body was being teleported outside the erosion zone.
After Yoo Chanseok entered, the erosion zone closed. Han Sang-ah stood there blankly for a moment, then rummaged through the supplies she'd brought.
"…"
After taking out the first-aid kit and organizing it, some time passed. She sat down, staring absentmindedly at the sky, then rummaged through the supplies again.
She pulled out a burner, a pot, and bottled water, boiled some water, brewed a cup of tea, wrapped herself in a blanket, and sipped from the cup.
One yawn. Then she took out her smartphone and started browsing the web. None of her actions suggested much worry about Yoo Chanseok, who was inside the erosion zone.
After drinking four cups of tea and going to the bathroom three times to kill time, Han Sang-ah began to nod off.
"Ah."
While she was dozing, she heard something collapse with a dull thud, accompanied by a faint light. Still half-asleep, she looked at the fallen figure, then slowly stood up.
"He passed out."
Using the saline solution she'd prepared in advance, Han Sang-ah cleaned the wounds on Yoo Chanseok's body and disinfected the areas around them.
She applied tourniquets where necessary, and for wounds that didn't require them, she used sterile gauze and compression bandages.
His shoulder was broken, so she immobilized it with a triangular sling.
Hunters getting injured is common—that's why they're taught this at the academy. Of course, hunters do have fast-acting recovery stimulants…
…but those are only safe to use after all necessary medical treatment has been completed, to speed up recovery.
Injecting or applying them recklessly in a situation like this would almost certainly lead to sepsis, bones healing incorrectly, or all kinds of other complications.
While administering first aid, Han Sang-ah contacted the Hunters' Association on her smartphone and requested medical support.