NOVEL NEXT Chapter 204
Chapter 204: The Unexpected Battle
‘Looks like they’re pretty good.’
Igni thought, observing Si-hyun’s movements.
Her assessment of that human was spot on.
His speed was impeccable.
If he could move like that, the baton in his hand was certainly not just for show.
After all, a clash would reveal his true abilities.
‘What is he doing?’
Si-hyun wondered internally.
Even though he was clearly attacking, his opponent seemed not to have any intention to move.
Earlier, he’d called her a strong opponent, yet now, his actions contradicted that.
‘Well, I’ll just do whatever I want.’
It was a fight that could only end in a clash.
And the momentum had already escalated beyond retrieval.
Whether it ended in death or survival, attacking was the best course of action.
As he closed the distance for an attack, Si-hyun raised his right hand, gripping the guard baton tightly.
It was the exact moment when Igni showed a reaction.
Her left hand twitched slightly.
It wasn’t threatening at all.
‘What the heck?’
A look of disbelief crossed Si-hyun’s face.
Ignoring her unusual gesture, he lunged forward, swinging the baton with all his might.
After all, since the beginning, he had no intention of paying heed to any attack she might launch, focusing solely on his own.
That was the way of Po-ahim.
Whoosh!
With a momentum capable of shattering bones, the baton sliced through the air towards Igni.
In just a moment, it was about to strike her head…
It was at that instant.
An agonizing pain suddenly tore through his body like a slicing knife.
“Uaaagh!”
Si-hyun couldn’t help but scream in agony.
But even amidst that pain, he didn’t let up on the force he was putting into the baton.
It was an instinctive reaction borne from countless battle experiences.
Boom!
The sensation of landing a hit connected straight to his fingertips.
However, he couldn’t maintain that momentum and turned to assess what had inflicted such intense pain upon him.
Then.
“Y-You gotta be kidding me!”
Profanities slipped from his lips involuntarily.
The acrid scent of burnt flesh filled the air.
His clothes were charred and tattered all over, leaving him looking a mess.
Fortunately, there were no signs of burns on his most important asset, his body. An incredible physique that seemed almost unreal.
Yet that prior pain… was beyond excruciating.
And it indicated one thing.
His opponent was no amateur.
“Talk about bad luck.”
Si-hyun muttered wearily.
◈ ◈ ◈
‘What the hell kind of situation is this?’
Meanwhile, Igni was just as shocked.
She lay on the ground for a while, stunned and unable to process what had happened.
That human had clearly taken a direct hit from her Demon Flame.
Her flames were deathly fire that could burn anything to ash.
And she distinctly saw those flames engulf him entirely.
Yet even while consumed, he did not cease his attack.
It was unbelievable.
So, she vacantly received a hit in return, followed by a sharp pain, causing her world to spin.
She couldn’t recall the last time someone had hit her this hard.
Gingerly, she brought her hand to her throbbing head and slowly rose.
There was still a lingering imbalance in her senses.
It seemed she had taken quite a beating while being so defenseless.
Her expression turned irritated as she looked toward Si-hyun, her face lighting up with surprise once again.
“…What’s that?”
She hadn’t expected to end a single attack so easily.
Yet he, despite everything, looked perfectly fine.
As if the pained yells she’d heard earlier were a lie.
Si-hyun’s expression suggested to her that he was just as taken aback.
It wasn’t just her who had been thrown off by that earlier clash.
His attack had surely landed.
So…
Now was the time to keep pushing.
But she needed to be cautious of his attacks.
Thud!
Si-hyun stomped the ground again.
At that moment, he charged at Igni like a whirlwind.
She might have appeared to be standing still like before, but her mindset had sharply changed this time.
She was carefully watching Si-hyun’s movements, ready to react at any moment.
That previous hit had truly hurt.
The distance closed in a flash.
Si-hyun swung the baton fiercely once more.
But this time, it didn’t connect.
She managed to evade.
‘Fast, damn it.’
Si-hyun muttered inwardly.
It was undeniable that he was up against a formidable opponent.
Igni’s hand moved again.
Si-hyun watched intently.
This time, he was determined to observe how she would attack, eyes wide open.
‘Where… Wait?!’
Once again, pain surged through his body unexpectedly.
“Urgh….”
Si-hyun groaned.
But at least this time he had sensed the incoming attack and braced himself mentally and physically, so he could endure it better.
Yet her attack was still shapeless.
Si-hyun grimaced and stepped back.
‘Was it from the ground?’
He knew there were flame spells that could erupt from the earth.
That seemed to be a likely possibility.
His gaze quickly scanned the ground where he had been standing earlier.
‘No?’
Yet the ground bore no marks, looking completely normal.
If so…
Was it from the air?
He could only surmise that flames had spontaneously ignited and exploded right where he’d been standing.
It was a rather tricky attack that would be hard to evade.
Today surely felt like a terrible day.
Si-hyun spat out a dry swallow.
“Your body is something else….”
Igni shook her head, looking at Si-hyun with disbelief.
Having endured the Demon Flame twice.
Not just barely maintaining it, but doing so effortlessly.
It seemed almost questionable if she had landed any hits.
“It appears normal attacks won’t work after all.”
With that, Igni was the first to move.
Si-hyun’s eyes didn’t blink as he intently followed her movements.
She moved pretty quickly, but he could still keep up.
It was crystal clear.
It seemed that speed was not her strong suit.
‘Now!’
Inevitably, as Igni entered into his range, Si-hyun executed a thrust with the guard baton.
So far, he had only swung it sideways; this could be leveraged as an unpredictable strike.
After all, a thrust could strike faster than a swing.
The baton was too sturdy to have a blade, but he knew that even a thrust targeting the neck or solar plexus could leave the air knocked out of someone.
Whoosh!
The guard baton surged toward her.
“Uh?”
In an instant, Si-hyun’s eyes widened in surprise.
Just as he was about to pierce with unerring precision, her form slipped away like smoke.
And she dodged not backward but toward him.
There was simply no time to react.
Before he knew it, her hand was flying toward his chest.
It was a very light movement, almost feeling weightless.
But Si-hyun felt that the power behind it was anything but trivial.
“Damn it.”
As Igni’s hand struck his chest, it seemed…
Nothing happened.
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
Si-hyun stood frozen, not knowing what to make of it.
She had attacked him, that much was certain.
With genuine intent.
…But to his astonishment, the attack hadn’t even tickled him.
What in the world was going on?
This opponent had already inflicted pain upon him twice.
Besides, he had been braced for an assault this time, teeth gritted and ready for a fight.
Yet here he was, standing before her unscathed.
Now it seemed like he could land any hit he wanted.
However, since she looked so defenseless, he hesitated to attack.
Was there some kind of trap?
“….”
While Si-hyun pondered this, Igni discreetly pulled her hand back.
She then looked down at her palm, confusion flickering across her face.
She had no awareness of being wide open right in front of her opponent.
It was a shock of such magnitude.
What she had unleashed was a technique called Geokgong (隔攻), which literally meant attacking through space to burn her target from the inside.
Given her incredibly solid physique, she intended to destroy his insides.
And she had firmly believed that such an attack would certainly inflict a fatal injury.
But now…
As her eyes widened in disbelief, she finally grasped the situation.
“Could it be… I can’t even pierce through with Geokgong?!”
Her body had blocked the attack.
Preventing the flames from seeping through the space.
That was the only plausible explanation.
“…What on Earth are you made of?!”
“This is unexpected, but since you asked, I guess I have no choice but to hit you back.”
Si-hyun muttered.
“Oh no!”
Finally coming to her senses, before she could even fully pull away, Si-hyun unleashed the full force of the Guard Baton Technique upon her.
Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!
The baton struck her mercilessly.
To be honest, he had no clue what had just happened, but Si-hyun was surprisingly thrilled at how easily he could reel in the catch.
“Uck!”
She grimaced and moaned in response.
‘Good!’
It was surely a surefire technique that had brought down two demons.
‘If I keep this up, she’ll have no choice but to throw her hands up and surrender… Wait?!’
Suddenly, something caught Si-hyun’s eye, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
From Igni’s back, bright red wings sprang forth like blood.
Those wings flapped mightily, and before Si-hyun knew it, she had vanished.
His eyes couldn’t even register the speed of her movement.
“Ugh… that really hurts!”
From a distance, he heard her irritated voice shout.
Si-hyun’s bewildered gaze snapped to where she was.
‘What the…’
After taking a hit with the Guard Baton Technique, she shouldn’t have been able to move properly, right?
But how was she able to?
And those wings?
Could it be that all demons could sprout wings?
No, that couldn’t be it.
If that were the case, the two demons he had defeated earlier would have surely sprouted their wings in the end.
This demon was…
Not to be underestimated.
“…Humans here are strong. Dagin wasn’t wrong after all.”
Igni furrowed her brow, continuing to speak.
“Hey, human.”
“What?”
“How many humans like you are there here?”
“…A lot.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Uh?”
“That’s a blatant lie.”
With her sharp perception, Igni was quick to conclude that Si-hyun’s demeanor wasn’t that of someone telling the truth.
“Anyway, I need to get rid of you first.”
For the first time, Igni emanated a killer intent.
The trial had concluded.
This human with a monstrous body was a target that needed to be eliminated with all her strength.
For the first time, she began to use both hands.
And with that, a raging wave of fire began to form before her.
Si-hyun bit his lip tightly, nervous as he watched.
The wave of flames gradually grew larger.
What had initially been the height of an adult was now as tall as an orc.
Then it grew, no, transformed, reaching the size of an ogre, no, a troll.
And it showed no signs of stopping.
It continued to expand until finally.
A ten-story building, no, fifteen. Twenty stories…
Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty… one hundred stories.
“What the hell… What on earth is that?!”
Si-hyun shouted, his eyes wide with shock.
The blazing wave of flames had swelled to the point where it seemed ready to pierce the very sky.
It was now no mere wave of fire, but a mountain of flames.
Si-hyun now clearly understood.
His opponent was indeed a true monster among monsters.
Whatever happened, he had to figure out what to do here.
If such a creature roamed an area like the capital, it would spell disaster for the country.
No, if he couldn’t stop that attack, even Ganghwa Island could be doomed.
‘But how do I stop it?’
He couldn’t think of a way.
Po-ahim had no techniques capable of countering that massive, insane attack.
Most of Po-ahim’s techniques were specialized for close-combat using a completely crazy physique.
‘…What to do?’
Si-hyun was frantically brainstorming solutions.
Would placing the prisoner’s mark reduce the fire’s intensity?
That should suppress some of her strength, surely.
And his physical capabilities would erupt even further.
If he then charged through the flames, he just might succeed in breaking through and landing an attack.
Wait!
Oh crap!
What good would it do to only pierce through for myself?
If that fire mountain moves, then the situation for Ganghwa Island would be the same!
Frowning, Si-hyun continued to delve into his thoughts.
‘What’s the method? What method is there…?’
As he pondered, the expansion of the fire mountain began to slow.
Surely it wouldn’t be long before it moved.
‘Damn it!’
In a desperate moment, something suddenly flashed before his eyes.
It was the guard baton he held tightly in his right hand.
In that serendipitous instant, an idea struck him with astonishing speed.
The last technique of Po-ahim that had remained inactive.
Prison Castle Summoning.
What if he summoned the Prison Castle there?
Could it be…?
After all this was said and done, he had no other solutions at the moment.
Without hesitation, Si-hyun shouted.
“Prison Castle! Quickly! Come here!”