Chapter 679

“Now then, come at me properly.”

With those words, Hyman’s expression changed.

The playful look that had remained on his face the entire time disappeared without a trace, replaced by that of a warrior.

Thump!

The change began the moment he took his second step.

Concentric cracks spread across the fractured asphalt, and the abandoned cars nearby bounced and leaped like live fish.

At the same time, centered around the front foot he had stepped forward with, his opposite hand whipped around like a lash.

Su-ho raised his guard again.

KABOOOOOM!!

The whip-like fist slammed into his raised guard.

It was hard to believe that such a sound could come from nothing more than flesh colliding with flesh.

Su-ho’s brow furrowed.

The Gigantification skill consumed a considerable amount of mana simply to maintain his form.

That was why he had always enlarged himself only to a reasonable size whenever possible, then concentrated his skills and ended fights as quickly as he could.

But he could not fight Hyman that way.

Maintaining this super-gigantic size alone was already burdensome, and every one of Hyman’s monstrously powerful attacks consumed an enormous amount of mana even when Su-ho merely blocked them.

‘I need to move technically.’

Instead of defending against incoming attacks, he needed to redirect or evade them as much as possible.

But Hyman knew that too, so he would probably attack in ways that forced Su-ho to take the blows directly.

Still, it was better than not trying at all.

Su-ho created some distance, took a breath, and shifted his feet.

He placed his left foot half a step forward and pulled his right foot diagonally back, lowering his center of gravity.

He slightly rolled his shoulders inward and tucked his chin to reduce his exposed area.

His left hand was in front of his face, his right beside his chin.

Seeing the fighting stance that was different from before, Hyman grinned.

“So you put some thought into it.”

Su-ho did not answer.

Hyman continued speaking as he moved.

“But it’s too one-dimensional.”

Thump!

The vibration spread before the sound did.

Thin shards of glass trembled.

The next instant, Hyman’s figure vanished from sight.

Only the air remained.

A chill instantly ran across the back of Su-ho’s neck.

Instinctively, he lowered his waist and slid a step to the left.

BANG!!!

A gigantic fist crashed down where he had been standing just moments ago.

The road caved in and buckled as though an artillery shell had struck it.

Cracks spread in every direction like a spiderweb.

He had succeeded in dodging.

But only barely.

Su-ho exhaled without holding back and twisted his body halfway around.

Hyman’s right arm was still buried deep in the ground.

His arm formed a straight line with the force running through his elbow and shoulder, and the moment Hyman turned his head for his next movement, Su-ho immediately moved in.

Using his left foot as an axis, he slid forward and drove a hook deep into Hyman’s side.

It was not merely his hand shooting forward, but a single rotational line connecting his shoulder, hips, and heel.

He did not use any tricks.

He remained faithful to the fundamentals of the martial arts he had learned and focused on precision.

BANG!!

A heavy impact rang out like metal being struck.

The punch landed cleanly.

But Hyman did not react nearly as much as expected.

At most, his body tilted slightly.

That was fine.

If he tilted at all, then the blow had clearly affected him.

Su-ho did not miss the opening.

His right straight immediately shot toward Hyman’s chin.

But Hyman was no longer simply standing there either.

The instant he sprang upright like a released spring, he turned his head.

He did not dodge or block.

He merely shifted the position of his head half a step so the impact could not land properly.

Incredible sense.

His claim that he knew how to fight had not been empty boasting.

The extended straight failed to do its job, its force dispersing before it could fully connect.

Grin-

The corners of Hyman’s mouth curved upward.

His left hand shot out like lightning.

Su-ho ducked in and raised his guard, but that attack had been bait.

The true target was his right knee.

A low kick snapped out and struck Su-ho’s knee.

Crack!

Pain shot up his thigh like lightning.

Fragments of asphalt flew into the air.

He nearly lost his balance for a moment, but barely managed to regain his center.

Shifting his weight onto his left leg, he lightly bounced backward.

His mana consumption was extreme.

The area beneath his eyes twitched involuntarily.

He felt like an athlete training at high altitude for the first time.

“You look like you’re having a hard time?”

Su-ho did not answer.

Instead, he breathed heavily.

Hyman continued.

“Except for the First King, no one ever defeated Deckers. That’s why every king born afterward carried a very old destiny. To defeat Deckers. And because of that, they trained and trained until the very day they died, challenging Deckers again and again.”

Hyman took his stance again.

“But a natural enemy truly is a natural enemy. No matter how much we trained our bodies or refined our techniques, we could never dare overcome the structure of the natural enemy designed by Overment. But.”

Hyman grinned once more.

“I merely failed to defeat Deckers. None of the other giants of my era were ever a match for me. You need to understand that.”

With those words, Hyman’s body lowered in a strange manner.

Even as his gigantic frame bent as though collapsing, his central axis did not waver.

A ducking motion that fully utilized the weight of his upper body flowed across the ruined road.

Then came a jab.

Followed by a cross.

The angle was perfect.

Each and every blow tore apart buildings, gouged the road surface, and sent mountains flying.

It resembled the martial arts Su-ho used.

Of course it did.

Once the senior realized his junior intended to compete through technique, he was showing technique himself as a senior should.

Hyman attacked again.

Fists poured down like torrential rain.

Su-ho wanted to evade them, but every time he tried to pull away, Hyman followed him as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

He felt the gap between them.

He felt the weight of experience.

It was fascinating.

To think he could feel such a difference in something as simple as hand-to-hand combat.

Honestly, he had not felt this when fighting Sword Demon.

Why?

Because the sword was familiar?

Because he thought of Sword Demon as his master?

Because he thought of him as one of the Constellations?

Because he thought of it as an extension of a skill?

All of it had been prejudice.

In truth, Sword Demon and Hyman were not that different.

Sword Demon had also fought him purely through swordsmanship without using skills.

Ah!

Sword Demon suddenly seemed truly great.

He really was an incredible man.

Once that thought passed through his mind, Hyman before him also seemed impossibly lofty.

Was this what awe felt like?

But that did not mean Su-ho intended to collapse before him.

To Su-ho, every existence standing before him was merely another mountain he had to overcome.

He had to possess a fighting spirit.

Because only then could he surpass even Overment, which everyone feared so deeply.

But fighting spirit was fighting spirit, and Hyman was Hyman.

The Hyman before him was incredible.

Every single blow tore away chunks of his mana.

At this rate, his mana seemed likely to run dry twice as fast as he had initially expected.

At that moment, a gigantic building entered Su-ho’s field of vision.

Instinctively, he grabbed it and swung it.

CRASH!

The building shattered against Hyman’s head.

Hyman did not even bother blocking it and simply smirked.

“You must be desperate.”

CRACK!

Hyman’s fist slammed into Su-ho’s face.

At the same time, his consciousness flickered, and everything before his eyes went black.

***

When Su-ho opened his eyes again, for a moment he thought he was experiencing déjà vu.

Because Jack and Hyman were sitting in front of the campfire, eating meat and drinking alcohol.

“Yo, you’re awake?”

Hyman greeted him cheerfully.

Su-ho sat up with his eyes swollen nearly shut.

“How long was I unconscious?”

“About three days?”

“Ah.......”

I slept a lot.

That meant his body had accumulated that much fatigue.

“Now that you’re awake, eat this.”

“Yes.”

Without complaining, he sat down.

The meat was cooked nicely.

This time, there were vegetables threaded onto the skewers as well.

Hyman handed him a bottle, so Su-ho accepted it and drank, but it was not alcohol.

It was a flavor he had never tasted before.

“......?”

“What?”

“I’ve never tasted anything like this before.”

“Does it taste bad?”

“It’s just that I’ve never had it before.......”

“It’s medicine. Drink it. It helps with fatigue recovery and mana recovery. That fellow drank some too.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Honestly, it tasted bad.

But if it was medicine, he had to drink it.

While drinking it, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“But where do you get all of this?”

“There’s nothing the Selection Bureau doesn’t have. Especially when a carefully selected talent has arrived, and not just any talent but the one we’ve been waiting for so long. It wouldn’t do for the Selection Bureau not to have something like this prepared, would it?”

It was their own form of hospitality.

Hyman grinned as he ate his meat.

“But at this rate, do you really think you can beat me?”

“I was just impatient. In the end, I’ll win.”

“That’s a good mindset. Yes, if you want to be a warrior, you should naturally possess the mindset of a warrior. Rest well. That way you can come at me again.”

“Understood.”

It was encouragement, not mockery.

So Su-ho devoted himself completely to resting.

It took one day to recover.

But he decided to rest for one more day.

Because he needed to review the fight.

Borrowing Jack’s vision and memories, he observed the course of their first fight from a third-person perspective, as though replaying a videotape, and reviewed it.

He watched it over and over again.

That alone took an entire day.

- Master.

“What?”

- That plan you told me about right before the fight. You know that if you want to use it, you’ll still have to be able to fight that man on roughly equal footing first, right?

“I know.”

- Then that’s fine.

This brat and his nagging.

But he was right, so Su-ho concentrated even harder.

After reviewing the fight thoroughly and even devising a new strategy, he finally challenged Hyman again.

“I’ll challenge you again.”

“Come at me.”

Ruuuuumble!

His body grew larger.

Both of them assumed fighting stances.

This time, Su-ho moved first.

Reviewing the first fight had made it obvious to anyone that he had been intimidated.

The first step was freeing himself from that psychological burden.

He decided to think about it simply.

If losing would not kill him anyway, then he only had to pour out everything he could do.

His techniques had not changed.

The only thing that had changed was his mentality.

Perhaps because of that.

KABOOOOOM!!

A fist struck home.

It was Su-ho’s fist that struck Hyman.

“Oho?”

Hyman laughed in surprise.

At the same time, a smile appeared on Su-ho’s lips.

“You should start getting nervous.”

“I don’t think I need to just yet?”

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

They exchanged blows.

The exchanges began growing faster and faster.

But.

BANG!!

Hyman’s kick slammed into Su-ho’s chest.

At the same time, Su-ho’s body twitched as Gigantification began to come undone.

He was running out of mana.

The moment his mana ran dry, his consciousness vanished as well.

Yet Su-ho was smiling.

He was certain.

‘Next time, I’ll win.’

Thud!

Everything before his eyes went black.