Chapter 052
Kim Ji hyun, her arms and legs wrapped in pitch-black smoke, charged at me with her eyes blazing and attempted a spinning kick aimed at my temple.
"Wow, so you're not even thinking about taking me alive anymore?"
Along the arc of her swinging leg, black smoke burst outward. The moment it brushed against my body, I felt a faint sensation of something burrowing into my head.
It was a power that gnawed at the soul, driving people mad as rage and malice seeped in. A curse, taking the form of smoke.
"What, were you actually expecting something to happen?"
"Y-you… why?"
It seemed she'd been quite confident in the effect of the smoke she wielded.
Powers that affect the soul don't work on me at all. My body may have been reset, but my soul wasn't.
Unless it was enough to sweep away an entire continent, the amount of smoke Kim Ji hyon had wrapped around herself wouldn't affect me even if she crammed all of it into my body.
In the end, Kim Ji hyon—who had wanted to deal with me easily through the smoke—started moving her body directly.
"Die. No—don't die. I'll capture you alive and turn you into a crippled bastard who can never do anything again! Drop dead!"
"Please pick one. Just one."
Was I supposed to die, or not die? I muttered as I narrowly avoided the barrage of attacks Kim Ji hyon poured out.
Kim Ji hyon was releasing magic wildly with her entire body, continuing her rapid strikes like a berserker, yet there wasn't a hint of fatigue on her face.
Before, if she'd unleashed attacks this ferociously without pause, she would've been gasping like a dog in midsummer after about a minute.
"Did you sell your soul to a demon or something?"
I violently swung my spear toward the onrushing smoke, sweeping it away with sheer wind pressure, then examined Kim Ji hyon. There was no answer.
"Shut up."
"I don't know how much you hate me, but—"
I swung my black-burning spear toward Kim Ji hyon as she unleashed explosive kicks. Naturally, already aware of the danger of the Paradox Flame, she quickly retreated backward.
"You bastard… that crap again!"
Looks like I hit a nerve. I have to admire her tenacity. A lot of people who face me again after being hit by the Paradox Flame never manage to overcome that trauma.
"So, let's see just how intense it is."
Kim Ji hyon came back stronger? So what. Do you think I've been slacking off all this time?
The spear stretched out, grazing past Kim Ji hyon's body.
And that alone was enough for the Paradox Flame to cling to her. In an instant, Kim Ji hyon's face turned deathly pale. Even though it had merely brushed past her, her entire body was engulfed in the Paradox Flame, like kindling tossed into a bonfire.
"Burns well."
It was impressive, really. If it burned this well, it meant there was an enormous amount of fuel for the Paradox Flame to consume.
"What… are you, exactly?"
Kim Ji hyon's body, which had been gleaming with rage and hatred, twitched. What the Paradox Flame was burning right now was her fighting spirit.
The desire to defeat me in battle. Fighting spirit is one of the driving forces that makes someone charge at their enemy with everything they have.
And among similar concepts, fighting spirit has a relatively low ignition point.
"If you can produce fighting spirit faster than I burn it, then sure."
You might be able to keep fighting me while maintaining it. If more fuel is poured in than what's being burned, it's only natural that fuel remains.
To completely strip someone of their fighting spirit, you'd have to burn the very essence that creates it. Unfortunately, I'm still a long way from reaching that level.
"B-bullshit… stop it."
Her words were rough, but a lot of the venom had drained from Kim Ji hyon's voice. Even so, she hadn't completely lost her fighting spirit.
Spear and leg collided, sparks scattering in all directions. Wrapped in smoke, Kim Ji hyon glared at me with crimson eyes, her expression like that of an asura.
With blue trajectories moving around me as if protecting my body, I steadily began to drive Kim Ji hyon back.
"Why! Why is this happening?!"
Kim Ji hyon retreated, shouting as if she were being wronged. From her perspective, it probably did feel unfair. Anyone could see that her magic power was far greater, and each individual strike carried much more force.
And yet, instead of pushing me back, she was the one being pushed. It must've been impossible for her to understand.
"You think I'd answer just because you asked?"
Of course, I knew the reason—but I wasn't about to tell her. Why would I explain how to kill me to someone charging at me with the intent to do exactly that?
Kim Ji hyon needed time to adapt to her strengthened body. Getting cocky just because she'd grown stronger and immediately rushing in to deal with me was a mistake.
"Come here."
Standing amid the blue trajectories surrounding me, I raised the Paradox Flame and smiled.
"Your worst nightmare has come back to visit you once again."
As I approached, Kim Ji hyon instinctively took a step back. No matter how many times you challenge me, you won't beat me.
When Kim Ji hyon raised her hand, the gathered black smoke formed into the shape of a massive blade and slashed toward me.
"That's why you end up like this—relying on stuff like that."
The black smoke cut through me, but it had no effect.
"All the hunters who stayed in Dover couldn't endure it and went mad—so why are you the only one who's fine?!"
I answered as I thrust my spear toward her chest.
"Would a tiger hunter be afraid just because a kitten hisses?"
Kim Jihyeon blocked the spear, but her body was sent sliding backward. She could no longer continue her offense and was forced completely onto the defensive.
The black smoke she'd trusted in didn't work on me. Her intense fighting spirit became fuel for the Paradox Flame and burned away.
Once someone loses their fighting spirit, the only options left are defense and escape. And since I wasn't allowing her to run, only defense remained.
"You said you were going to turn me into a cripple."
The once-boastful Kim Ji hyon had completely lost the momentum she'd had just moments ago.
"Come on. Charge at me like you're going to rip out my guts and gouge out my eyes. Tear my limbs off, make me scream, make me beg for my life."
It seemed the black smoke that swept over my body hadn't been entirely without effect. A faint trace of madness poked at me unnecessarily. It didn't drive me insane—just pissed me off.
When you clumsily meddle with someone's soul, side effects like this tend to happen.
I kept talking in an excited voice as I swung my spear at Kim Ji hyon.
"Don't come… don't come any closer, you bastard!"
As storm-like smoke surged toward me from Kim Ji hyon's trembling hands, my mind grew terrifyingly cold.
The malice and rage struggling to burrow into my soul were instead overwhelmed and devoured by the soul roiling within me.
"This isn't enough."
Grabbing Kim Ji hyon by the collar, I locked eyes with her. Even as I held her, she flailed, snapping her leg up to aim a kick at my temple.
I raised my arm and blocked the kick. A heavy boom rang out as a shockwave exploded outward. Amid the thunderous noise, I examined Kim Ji hyon.
Something was definitely wrong. Both her sudden increase in strength and this unpleasant black smoke. Muscle strength burned away by the Paradox Flame couldn't possibly recover in such a short time.
Even if I was angry because of that soul-tampering smoke, I wasn't so irrational as to kill her before figuring out why she'd suddenly grown stronger.
"This is…"
I could feel a liquid flowing through Kim Ji hyon's body. It wasn't human blood. It was absurd.
"What kind of lunatic did this to you? Do you even know what's happening to your body right now?"
Kim Jihyeon panted as she answered me.
"They said there'd be no problem."
"Sure. Qin Shi Huang thought mercury was harmless when he drank it, and the Romans thought lead was fine when they smeared it on their faces."
What do you people even know about magic? How many years has it been since you started researching it?
I lived in a world that devoted thousands of years to the study of magic. And based on that experience, humanity's understanding of magic is nowhere near sufficient.
To exaggerate just a bit, if magic were science, you'd still be happily chiseling stone tools and making comb-patterned pottery.
And you're telling me it's 'fine'? What a load of crap. You shoved a bomb into your own body and charged in proudly. Looks like the descendants of Dangun stumbled onto this one.
No—this isn't a discovery. It's something deliberately planted. A landmine, arranged by some entity.
"It's like feeding chocolate to a dog."
When you give a dog chocolate, it eats it happily. It has no idea what it'll do to its body. That's exactly what Kim Jihyeon looked like right now.
"Don't talk bullshit… you're the one who ruined me and turned me into this."
"Isn't that a bit of a cheap accusation?"
Anyone listening would think I'd sucker-punched Kim Ji hyon from behind while she was out for a stroll. She was the one who struck first on Tsushima, and all I did was face her as an enemy and defeat her.
I tried to examine her calmly, but she kept struggling. After blocking a few attacks, I finally snapped and swung my fist with an irritated expression.
"Just stay still for a second. You're pissing me off."
Kim Ji hyon was going to die here. Honestly, she was in a state where death would be the kinder option. After beating her down with a few punches, she vomited blood and went limp.
Slowly, I examined the liquid flowing through her body. This was a contract—one made through magic.
A powerful being extracts its own magic and gives it physical form. When someone accepts it into their body, it means they've agreed to a deal.
"I thought you were just a dog that ate chocolate."
But looking closer, that wasn't it. This was more like a naïve kid who'd just gotten their ID, signing a blank contract without hesitation.
Power was given as the price of the contract—but what the other party would take in return wasn't defined. I could dress it up in fancy words, but it could be summed up in two characters: a scam.
Even if someone agrees to the contract, if the being that manifested the magic doesn't like the other party, it can just kill them immediately after the agreement.
"You probably didn't even know what you were doing in the first place."
After examining Kim Ji hyon a little longer, I grabbed her and hurled her with all my strength. Her body flew through the air and then exploded entirely midair, obliterating everything within about a fifty-meter radius around her.
What just happened wasn't an explosion—it was annihilation. As if something had torn her away, the area around her body literally evaporated without a trace.
"Sick bastard."
Even if it was a blank contract, to dispose of her this immediately. I stared at the spot where Kim Jihyeon had vanished, deep in thought.
There were only two possibilities.
"Either someone among the descendants of Dangun isn't human…"
Or they are human—but have no idea what they're doing and are deluding themselves into thinking they've made some incredible discovery.
Usually, at least one of those options would be good news. But this time, both were bad. I didn't even know where the descendants of Dangun were based, and even if I stormed in to explain things, there was no way they'd listen.
"Why does everything have to get this damn twisted?"
I scratched my head roughly, my face contorting. This was no longer a situation where I could just keep an eye on the descendants of Dangun and be done with it.
Then again, when I thought about it, my life had always been like this. As I ran toward Dover—where Han Sang-ah and Lee Se-eun were fighting—I mulled these thoughts over.
I didn't know who the being that contracted with Kim Ji hyon was, but it had to be extremely powerful. On top of that, the method was disturbingly familiar.
"A demon."
Back when I lived in the other world, I'd seen demons—ones who built houses and lived in hell—make contracts with humans in exactly this way.
Not every demon could do it… but there were maybe around fifty demons powerful enough to pull something like this off.
Of course, this raccoon here wiped them all out, so now every last one of them is dead.