Chapter 83

They held their breath, killed their presence, and even hid their notoriously ferocious energy, but it was no use.

Vulcan had been repeating battle after battle for the past decades.

He was currently like a magnificent blade that was sharpened to perfection by a master blacksmith.

Even among the Demi-gods, only few would have been able to sneak up on Vulcan without being caught by his senses.

Moreover, the two hiding behind the bolder right now were at heights that were very lacking in comparison to Vulcan’s power. Hence, although unknown to them, the very idea of ambush was not actually possible to begin with.

Of course, that was if they did attack Vulcan.

Vulcan was suspicious of the two, but he soon shook off the thought.

‘By any chance, are they targeting me? Nah… Probably not.

They have no reason to.

It’s not like I had been going all over the places and causing troubles. I had been at hunting grounds and leveling up diligently.

Moreover, for the past 25 years, I just stayed deep underground and hung out with demon bastards.

Only ones I interacted throughout the time were Dokgo Hoo and the Blue Dragon.

I never had chance to cause badblood with anyone.’

Vulcan peeked a smile.

‘I guess I am just on the edge.’

That was understandable.

Vulcan grinded for 10 years in attempt to obtain the ‘Duke Demon Set,’ which were legendary items.

However, despite the effort, Vulcan didn’t get what he wanted in the end.

He was currently in a state where he was going to react sensitively toward anything.

‘The land suddenly cracked open, and some dark bastard jumped out of it, so they are probably just being cautious. I should stop minding them and just enjoy the fresh air.’

Vulcan lightened up his hardened face. It had been a while since he got to breath fresh air. He took a deep breath in. He then looked at the bright sunshine as he smiled pleasantly.

For a very long time, he had been at a creepy and dark place, so just those were enough to make him feel better instantly.

It felt like his body was being cleansed.

Like that, Vulcan enjoyed warm sunlight for a moment longer. He then bent his upper body to do some stretching.

It was at that moment. Dan Uu-san, who had been waiting for the right moment, charged in toward Vulcan like an arrow that was shot from the bow.

Chupat!

Huuuooooong.

His hands were full of highly concentrated Su-ra Blood Art energy gushing like twisters.

The energy felt violent as if merely being grazed by it would lead to one’s existence being erased.

The intensity was the kind that even skilled warriors in Act 2 would shy away from facing. The speed was also incredible. An opponent of equal strength would have lost his life before even having the chance to get ready.

However, this was not to the point where Vulcan couldn’t react to it.

Wheeeec.

Vulcan quickly raised his head.

His eyes looked annoyed. Facing Vulcan’s gaze, Dan Uu-san felt his heart sink.

‘Unbelievable. He responded ridiculously fast.’

Actually, although Dan Uu-san’s art was destructive, it was far from being stealthy, so it was not suitable for assassination.

However, at the moment, Vulcan’s body was unstable and full of gaps in defense.

He was bending down and looking down. He didn’t even have his sword drawn. Dan Uu-san thought he could at least land one strike against Vulcan.

However, the bastard assumed defense stance a lot quickly. That made Dan Uu-san feel uneasy and worry if Vulcan was at a height that was even higher than what he assumed.

‘… Even so, my attack is nothing but a feint move!’

Dan Uu-san ground his teeth hard, enough to make cracking noise, and focused on his role.

His role was distracting Vulcan as much as possible so he would not notice Han Surl-hye the ying-yang elemental enchantress’ paralysis attack.

To that end, he used hundred armed su-ra blood palm technique, one of the most chaotic and flashy feint move he had, to pressure in Vulcan.

Whuuuuaaaaaak.

108 bloody palms completely filled the space.

Each and every palm possessed horrifying intensity. The attack looked very dangerous.

Moreover, one could not tell a feint move from a real attack just from looking at the appearance of the move, so this was perfect for drawing the opponent’s attention.

However, Vulcan, the one who was facing the attack, looked very relaxed with much margin to spare.

He didn’t even have an ounce of nervousness in him. Dan Uu-san wondered if a tiger facing off against a puppy would look like this.

Dan Uu-san saw that Vulcan had angry look on his face. However, even that felt like it was just out of being annoyed for having had to deal with patsy and useless problem. Vulcan was not having a hard time blocking the attack.

Watching Vulcan being like this made Dan Uu-san very upset.

Vulcan was haphazardly responding to Dan Uu-san’s attack as if Vulcan was thinking Dan Uu-san’s attack lacked the power. It made Dan Uu-san suddenly feel intense desire to kill Vulcan.

‘That son of a bitch… You think I’m a pushover, is that it?’

Vampire demon Dan Uu-san suddenly thought about his past.

With the duel as an excuse, the Demi-god Tolkas beat the crap out of him, saying he is doing this for the sake of cleansing Dan Uu-san’s evil heart.

Dan Uu-san wholeheartedly threw Su-Ra Blood Art techniques at Tolkas, and Tolkas leisurely parried them all one blow at a time. That bastard Tolkas’ behavior back then was overlapping with how Vulcan was handing the attacks now. Also, the thought was rotting away at his pride even more.

However, the situation now was completely different from back then.

On Dan Uu-san’s crumpled face, there was faint smile overlaid.

‘That’s right. Keep letting your guard down like that.’

The full extent of his role was just drawing attention.

The real attack was, while this bastard was exchanging strikes with him, going to come in stealth from an angle that he never even dreamed of.

Dan Uu-san, with his face full of malicious intent, continued his feint attack.

Soon, the enchantress’ paralysis attack was going to ambush Vulcan.

That surreptitious and fatal move was going to suppress the entire blood stream throughout Vulcan’s body. Hoping for this outcome, Dan Uu-san focused even more on his palm attacks.

However, the situation didn’t flow smoothly as he hoped.

Shoooook.

‘What the?’

As if Vulcan was never there in the first place, he disappeared. That threw Dan Uu-san into chaos.

‘He suddenly disappeared when he was right in front of my eyes?!’

Absolutely surprised, Dan Uu-san quickly stopped his body from leaning forward.

His eyes could not be opened any bigger than they were at the moment.

‘Just what was that? It wasn’t even blink?!’

Dan Uu-san had lived for a very long time, long enough to see rise and fall of several dynasties.

Throughout the time, he had countless experiences in battling against mages. He had seen mages using magic to teleport numerous times.

Therefore, he was certain about this.

The technique that he just saw was at a whole another dimension from that kind of petty moves.

The unique sensation of the mana being focused, no, to be precise, Vulcan disappeared before Dan Uu-san felt any sign.

It was shocking. It was sending chill down his spines.

“Kiiiiaaaaaaaaak!”

Dan Uu-san’s head turn rapidly, enough to bend the neck.

He could see that Vulcan already was standing behind Han Surl-hye.

With his eyes open wide and strained, Dan Uu-san glared toward a place.

A black gauntlet with demon shaped engraving, that rough and powerful hand was holding Han Surl-hye’s fragile neck.

“Let go of that hand! You son of a bitch!”

Engulfed in fury, Dan Uu-san was exploding with power beyond his normal capacity.

Because of his energy, his clothes waved violently as if they were going to be torn apart. 

With his eyes completely red, Dan Uu-san glared at Vulcan and roared,

“You piece of garbage! Chewing you off to pieces won’t be enough! Unhand her now!”

Because of his agitated heart, his voice was torn. Dan Uu-san’s voice pierced into Vulcan’s ears.

Listening to the man’s desperate roar, Vulcan stared at Dan Uu-san as if he was dumbfounded.

‘What the hell. Where did this piece of X show up?’

Vulcan was so stunned that he couldn’t even find any words to say.

It was Dan Uu-san who charged in and poured out attacks first, not himself.

Vulcan came out to feel the fresh air outside after 25 years and was doing some stretching. He merely neutralized the woman in front of him in self-defense.

Vulcan thought he should be the one to be angry, not Dan Uu-san.

Vulcan casually turned his head and checked the woman’s face and then looked at the man’s face.

He wondered if he knew these people, but that was not the case. He had never seen them in his life.

Vulcan used the SYSTEM and checked the information on them.

[Dan Uu-san, Vampire Demon]

[755Lv]

[Han Surl-hye, Ying-Yang Elemental Enchantress]

[798Lv]

‘I knew it! I’ve never met these guys before! These bastard and bitch…!’

Vulcan had never seen such names or titles.

Having confirmed this far, Vulcan’s face crumpled to no end.

He felt so wronged. He even felt tears forming on his eyes for a brief moment. He was in middle of an intense battle until just a moment ago, but Vulcan could not control his emotion.

‘Why! Just why!’

Vulcan wondered why everyone in Act 2 were so eager to hurt him.

To avoid what happened in Act 1, Vulcan had been avoiding anything and everything that could lead to troubles. Like a Buddhist temple monk, Vulcan had been staying only in hunting grounds and training for level ups.

However, despite his efforts, these lunatics showed no hesitation on using deadly moves on someone they had never met in person before. As if that was not horrible enough, one of them was screaming at him like there was no tomorrow.

In that instant, Vulcan’s emotion turned violent. His hand which was holding the enchantress’ neck was tightening with incredible strength.

“Kuuu…. Huk!”

Because of his incredible grappling strength at 820 level, she was screaming in pain.

The enchantress was a powerful warrior. She would not have been shunned as a novice by anyone anywhere. However, in comparison to Vulcan, she was significantly lacking. Right now, she was even neutralized by him.

There was a limit to holding out using protective energy layers.

‘N….O…. He is intending to kill me!’

It felt like her neck was about to break. The pain was unspeakable. She was being overwhelmed with the fear that she might die at this rate.

Her fear made her move.

She used all of her strength and operated her internal energy.

Whooooooung.

Using the body’s center as the line, she poured out extreme ying energy on he left and extreme yang energy on her right.

She maximized her ying yang energy art and pulled both of her arms back.

She was going to collide her two fists and destroy the wrist on Vulcan’s hand that was holding her neck.

Vulcan was distracted by his own gloomy thoughts at the moment. He then panicked after seeing her move.

‘How stupid. I let my guard down in middle of the battle!’

Vulcan criticized himself severely.

However, it was not going to lead to putting him in danger.

There was a significant gap in their abilities to begin with. Also, Vulcan was currently holding the enchantress at her critical point.

Vulcan instantly raised his mana and cast Ifrit’s Fist with the hand that he was using to hold her neck from the back. Han Surl-hye the enchantress lost her life before she had the chance to fully swing her hands.

Pwhuuuuuuwwaaaaak.

Thump…

With the head now lost, the enchantress collapsed like a kite that lost the string.

Dan Uu-san stared vacantly and shouted in fury.

“You son of a bitch!”

Shedding tears of blood, Dan Uu-san charged toward Vulcan.

Vulcan realized the man looked seriously agitated as if he just lost his wife. Vulcan put up a bitter look on his face.

‘Were they married? Ugh… They are the ones who are at fault here, but why do I feel so dirty?’

Vulcan calmly looked at Dan Uu-san who lost his mind.

He had himself surrounded by Su-Ra Blood Energy that was far thicker than what he had earlier.

He was far exceeding the power that could be demonstrated by a martial warrior of 750 level.

‘He poured in all of his life force.’

To martial worriers, the life force was more precious than their own life, yet Dan Uu-san was using all of it. Watching the situation unfold made Vulcan feel like he could mistake himself as a super villain.

Of course, Vulcan was not a villain. He also had no intention of meeting a villain’s archetypical end.

Pazut!

Slice.

Vulcan, in an instant, drew his blade from his sheath.

His Heavenly Lightning Blade, which was fully loaded with golden energy of the Thunder God Blade technique, diagonally cut through Dan Uu-san’s body. Dan Uu-san lost his life before he even had a chance to put up a fight.

Thump.

Tsuuuuwaaaaaaaak.

Dan Uu-san’s corpse collapsed lifelessly. Blood and organs poured out of the body.

Watching that horrible sight, Vulcan had displeased look on his face as he put the blade back.

Chulkuk.

The sound of his blade being placed back in the sheath was far rougher than usual. The sound spoke for how he felt at the moment.

Concerned that he might establish badblood with others that knew these people, Vulcan used fire magic to completely erase the corpses. He then thought carefully about what just happened.

Vulcan thought that it was a surprising and needless incident for him, but they must have had a reason since they wouldn’t pick a fight without one.

Vulcan was very curious about this.

‘Just what was the reason.’

Vulcan repeated casting and canceling fire magic on his left hand as he thought deeply about this.

However, he couldn’t think of anything.

It was obvious.

He had not had met any human being in the past 25 years. It would have been odd if he could think of something suspicious.

Inside of Vulcan started to boil. Unable to hold down the anger, Vulcan let it out.

“KUUUUUAAAAAAAA!”

It was enough to make the ground shake.

He quickly went toward the boulder.

It was the one that the two from earlier were hiding behind.

Without the help of mana, Vulcan used his raw strength and pounded on the boulder with his right fist.

KWANG!

Crack…

Kwarururururururu…

The crack that happened on the center spread out like a spider web. The boulder broke into small pieces.

Vulcan let out his stress through primitive violence.

However, it didn’t make him feel vented at all.

He raised his hands and started to pull out his hair as he criticized himself for his own actions earlier with the two.

‘Ugh. I ended up killing them all because they attacked me so suddenly. I should have kept at least one of them alive and learn the reason even if I had to resort to torture…

If they are the end of it, then it does not matter.’

Vulcan figured that, although he may never know why they attacked him, at least he won’t have any source of danger to him now.

‘However, if these two are not the end of it?’

If there were others besides Chimera maker who are targeting him?

If that was the case, the mistake he made earlier could have serious ramifications to his safety.

Having thought this far, Vulcan suddenly stopped thinking after hearing a sound that suddenly happened.

He looked around.

After that, with dumbfounded look on his face, he spat out a sigh.

“… Ugh.”

There were five mages who swiftly flew up to the sky.

Watching them, Vulcan felt deep inside that something got seriously tangled up